I do not own any anime or any video games…
Druid Hills; Ping's garage.
3:00 p.m.
With Deangelo….
Sai Saici, Shikamaru, Choji, Neji, and I stood around Hinata's car as we continued to reminisce about the events of 2007 and back.
"Deangelo…..can you guys do one favor for me?" Neji asked as he was choked up with emotion.
"What's that?" I asked him softly.
Neji turned away from the S14; he was on the verge of tears, "Please…..keep this car in good condition…..you guys take good care of it just like Hinata did when she was alive." He said.
I placed both of my hands on his shoulders and smiled, "We will man, we will….trust and believe that." I said.
Just then Nuchu and his friends entered the garage and right off the bat Nuchu noticed the vehicle, "No way, this is…Hinata's car," he said as he, Andrew, and Makoto started to check the vehicle out, "Wow you guys did a real good job with restoring it man."
"Thanks, it took a lot of effort but in the end, all of it paid off." Sai Saici stated.
"How long it took you guys to get it repaired?" Andrew asked.
"It took us some months," I answered, "Naruto really wanted to start on this car once we got back here."
"Hinata would be real proud to see this, you know I've seen this car last year on Mt. Konoha," Nuchu said, "It was late at night and I was practicing for a race, this car had appeared out of nowhere for a moment I thought it was a ghost. But it was real after the car overtook me, I tried to keep up but the S14 disappeared into the darkness."
"That was Naruto you encountered that night," Sai Saici said, "On Hinata's birthday and on the day she died, Naruto will take the S14 to Mt. Konoha and try to beat Hinata's record time, so far he's been close to beating it."
Nuchu reached into his pants pocket "Same here, I almost tried to beat her time but I was a split second off."
Nuchu showed us a photo on his cellphone, on the photo was a stopwatch that read "3:16.45," out of all the times I've seen that's has to be the closest.
Looking out the corner of my left eye I noticed somebody standing outside near what appears to be a white import tuner with red colored rims, turns out it was Tenten who was on her cell phone trying to call somebody.
Tenten had brown colored eyes and long brown hair gathered in two Chinese-style buns on both sides of her head. She was wearing a white t-shirt that had a red Chinese dragon on it and red baggy jeans matching with a pair of Reebok sneakers that were colored red and white.
Next to her was her favorite vehicle: a second generation Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder, the Eclipse was colored white and had red 18 inch rims from Volk, a wide body kit from Veilside, custom headlights that were colored red, dark red tint on the windows, a custom hood scoop, and a large red colored spoiler.
Looks like Tenten installed a roll cage inside, along with two bucket seats from Sparco, Tenten is Neji's teammate and is the most ambitious street racer I've known. She believes that females can be good at street racing just like the males. One thing I like about her is how much of a very skilled mechanic she is, she has personally tuned a few of my vehicles a few times.
She has great respect for Neji and has a huge respect for Tsunade (who Tenten says is her role model), she shows a strong distaste for weakness or being overly dependent on other people, she also has a naturally inquisitive nature and doesn't like to be kept out of the loop when it comes to races.
"Man he is such a square!" the 17 year old said in annoyance as she pressed the numbers on her cellphone, "How could Lee run off knowing that we got to practice for the tournament!"
"Something's going on with Lee?" I asked getting Tenten's attention.
She turned around and greeted me with a quick hug, "Hey Deangelo, it's nothing, just Lee being Lee as usual." She said.
"You know where he's at?"
After calling Lee's phone three times, Tenten gave up and sighed in frustration, "All Lee said that he was going to some new park that was built in the Downtown area of Birmingham." She informed.
"Hmm, I think I know which park she's talking about too." I thought.
Railroad Park; 3:30 p.m.
I walked down the freshly paved sidewalk of the brand new park that just opened a few days ago (side note: Railroad Park was completed and opened in the late part of 2010), the park consisted of three giant lakes, a three different types of playgrounds, and three different size bowls for skateboarders and BMX riders to trick out of.
"Wow this place is nice, I'm surprised I haven't been out here sooner." I said to myself as I began looking for Lee.
The park was pretty active around this time as people participated in different activities, one thing that I was amazed by was the diversity of the civilians here, and there were people of different ethnic backgrounds out here in the park. Perfect for getting to know and exploring the cultures around here.
"Hmm, I think I'm going to enjoy this park, I don't know why but it has such a peaceful vibe to it that makes you want to kick back and relax." I thought.
Up ahead I saw Rock Lee sitting in the middle of a grassy area of the park meditating, Lee had a very unique appearance to him. He had very thick eyebrows that led people to call him "Bushy Brows," my brother Naruto calls him that every time, Lee also had black bowl-cut hair, black eyes, and had bandages that were worn around his hands and wrist.
He was wearing his martial arts gear which consists of a green jumpsuit, orange leg warmers, and a black belt that was tied around his waist emulating his coach Might Guy.
Lee is a professional in Jeet kune Do just like Guy and spends most of his times training at dojos when he's not training on his motorcycle, Lee has never driven in a car at all for he believes that sports bikes are the best vehicles out there, his dream is to become a professional bike rider just like Guy was (and still is).
A few yards away sitting in a parking lot was a Kawasaki ZX-RR, which was colored green and had orange colored rims. The bike had a longer swing arm that was colored black, a custom gas tank, lights, and had the word "lotus" on the back of the license plate, "That's Lee's bike?" I thought, "What happened to the Suzuki Hayabusa he had?"
I stopped just a few inches away from Lee who was sitting Indian-style underneath a tree still meditating, "Yo Lee." I said calling out to him, Lee just sat there with his eyes still closed.
I shook my head and sighed, "Lee."
"Just a minute Deangelo-San." Lee said breaking his silence, after a few minutes Lee stood up and exhaled after assuming the fighting position.
I just stood there with my left hand on my hip with one eyebrow raised, "Are you done now?" I asked.
Lee wiped his forehead with a towel he had around his neck, "Yeah I'm done." He answered.
"Tenten's pretty pissed off about you ditching training." I stated as we began to walk back to Lee's bike.
"I haven't ditched it," Lee objected, "I'm still going to train, but I'm training with those guys."
Lee pointed down the street to a group of bikers that was hanging out near Pizza Hut, the bikers were wearing jackets that were colored green and black and had the Kawasaki logo on the back of it, these guys were called the Kawasaki Clan.
The Kawasaki Clan is a group of bikers that rode motorcycles that were made by Kawasaki hence the name, the crew started in the late 80's and early 90's in Kawasaki, Japan by a biker whose last name is Kawasaki.
The crew started to grow steadily as different chapters started to form in Konoha, Tokyo, and a few other places.
Most of their hangouts are traditional Japanese houses that are colored green and black on the inside and bear the logo on the wall, when a member joins the crew he/she last name is Kawasaki and will gain a few patches on their jackets.
The clan holds different fund raisers for the community, putting on stunt shows and holding races on privately owned tracks or open spaces in the neighborhood.
The crew is the most respected so far and is good friends with Choppers of America, Original Riders, Stealth Riders, the Biker Boyz, the Ruff Ryders, the Uptown Riders, and shockingly the Outlaws MC.
"I guess that explains the new bike you have." I said.
"I traded in the Hayabusa for this in order to join the clan," explained Lee, "After I became a member I started training with them."
"Is Guy okay with that?"
Lee gave a nod as he started to get on the bike and put on his helmet, "Guy-Sensei is a member," he answered, "Tell Tenten and Neji to go on with the training without me."
*VROOM*
The sports bike came to life as Lee lowered his visor on his helmet, he gave me a thumbs up and drove out of the parking lot and headed down the street to his crew, suddenly the sound of multiple engines revving made me turn around out of curiosity.
There was a group of Corvettes (old school and new school) driving casually down the road headed to where Lee and the other bikers were chilling out at, "N 2 Deep Corvette Club?" I muttered reading the decal off the windshield of one of the muscle cars, "They must be new, because they're not on the Midnight Club network."
The sound of my cellphone started to go off as it vibrated in my pants pocket, I looked on the screen and saw dad's name flashing, "What's up dad?" I answered.
"Have you checked the weather lately?" my father asked as I heard music and other ambiances in the background.
"No I haven't, what's going on?" I replied.
"There's a giant snowstorm coming down here to Birmingham in the next two days, just wanted to call and give you a heads up."
"Hey, hey Ping, can I use the phone for a minute once you're done?" said a man in the background, the voice sounded all too familiar.
"Yo dad, where are you?" I curiously asked, "And who's that talking and carrying on in the background."
"Oh that's just Jiraiya, we're hanging out here at Mike's Crossroads." He answered.
I shook my head, "Why am I not surprised, the first place Granddaddy Jiraiya stops at is the local strip club."
"Well tell him I said 'hi'."
Later on….
Northside Lounge; 5:00 p.m.
North Birmingham..
With Deangelo….
The Northside Lounge is a favorite spot that most street racers hang out at; this place has been around since the 70's and has been known for holding parties and racing events on special occasions.
As I got out of the car I noticed a purple colored Scion tC (TRD edition) sitting in the parking lot, along with Nuchu's and his lieutenants cars, Shikamaru's Subaru, Sai Saici's FD3S, and finally Choji's fifth generation Honda Prelude.
There was a vinyl of purple colored rose pedals on both sides of the Scion, "Yeah this is Ino's ride, never really seen a TRD version of this, looks pretty cool."
The Scion had sort of a stock TRD body kit to it along with a small spoiler on the back; the car did have a new exhaust and muffler kit that was from Borla and some new rims from Enkei Performance Series, taking a quick peek through the driver side window Ino did a few modifications inside.
Inside I saw a purple colored titanium shift knob, the handbrake lever also had a titanium finish to it and was colored purple, the seats were stock but had purple colored seat covers over them that were velvet and had Ino's name stitched in the middle.
There were floor mats that were colored purple and had Ino's name on them too, there were extra meters and gauges in the middle of the dashboard and hanging from the rearview mirror were purple fuzzy dice.
"With those extra gauges, I wonder what she did under the hood?" I wondered.
Hardly anyone was hanging around inside as I walked through the front door, Ino, was sitting at a table with Sai Saici and Shikamaru texting on her iphone while Shikamaru was laid back listening to his music on his mp3 player, Sai Saici was focused on watching the news about the snowstorm that was about to hit Birmingham.
Choji was sitting at another table preparing to munch down on a steak he just ordered.
"I've never seen this place so empty like this." I thought.
Near the bar Nuchu and his friends were busy playing pool, "Yo Dee!" Andrew said waving his right hand, "You want to play some pool against me next?"
"As long as there's money on the line." I answered back as I pulled out a small stack of money.
Andrew gave a nod as he pulled out his stack of cash, "Alright man it's on."
"I saw your car outside Ino, it's pretty nice." I complimented as I sat between her and Shikamaru.
"Still got a lot more work to do however," she replied, "My boyfriend and I are going to convert it into rear wheel drive."
"She's got a boyfriend! So much for me trying to hook up with her." I thought as my face showed a smidge of disappointment for a few seconds.
"Going through the tires?" I guessed, turns out I was right as Ino gave a nod.
I kinda figured that, FF (front engine, front wheel drive) vehicles are good for both accelerating and cornering, but over time the front tires will start to wear down.
In an FR (front engine, rear wheel drive) vehicle its responsibility is to push the car forward, for people like Ino there is a certain way you have to drift when driving in a front wheel drive vehicle, there are people out there that'll say that it's impossible to drift in an FF vehicle but in truth it is possible.
"Yo Deangelo, we're gonna have to head to the salvage yard for some parts," Sai Saici informed, still looking at the television, "There are some parts on the Acura RSX that aren't working properly."
"Well just order some more off the internet or catalog." I suggested.
"Can't do that right now, kinda low on cash."
"Well we can head to the salvage yard tomorrow, not right now." I stated.
I managed to get out of my seat once Andrew called me over to play him in a round of pool, with a 20 dollar bill in my hand I walked up and placed it on the pool table.
"So how about it," I asked, "Bet 20 bucks?"
"Shit, how bout 50?" Andrew replied placing the money on the table, "Think you can do that?"
I chuckled and placed down another twenty and a ten, "Alright, bring it on then brotha."
8:00 p.m.
later that night…..
Both Andrew and I walked out of the front door muttering in frustration and anger, not too far behind us was Nuchu and Matoko snickering gleefully as they counted the money they won from us.
Things were going real good and I almost hustled Andrew for every thin dime he had, that is until everything started going downhill when Nuchu and Matoko decided to challenge us.
It got dark outside really quick and it was extremely cold, so cold that it was almost unbearable; the streets around here were quiet and empty, all three off us stood in front of an alleyway for a couple of minutes.
Nuchu placed the money he won in his coat pocket, "Man shit, this really sucks man," he complained, "First the Birmingham police is hindering us from street racing and now we got a snowstorm coming this way, what else can go wrong?"
Suddenly a bright light came out of nowhere and shined directly on us, practically blinding us, and then we saw blue and red colored lights as well.
"Birmingham PD, stay where you are!" A voice said over the PA.
"Oh shit, one-time!" Andrew said in a panic.
Placing my right hand in front of my face to prevent the floodlight from blinding me, I noticed something that was unusual about the police car, it was a 2001 Crown Victoria but it had a royal blue paintjob and from the looks of it 23 inch rims from TIS.
"Don't move," the person on the speaker warned, "Don't you guys dare move!"
"I don't think that's an actual cop car." I thought, I tried to walk up to try to get a closer look that is until I heard the sound of the door opening and a dog barking and growling.
Suddenly we saw a dog charging towards us, Nuchu and his boys made a break for it cutting through the alley, suddenly Ino and the others came barging out of the building to see what was going on.
I couldn't hardly see the dog because of the light still blinding me but it was huge and had white fur, "Wait a minute, this dog, it's…it's..oh god!"
With Nuchu, Andrew, and Matoko….
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
Me and the boys stopped dead in our tracks as we heard that brutal scream coming from Deangelo, "Shit man the mutt got him!" Andrew said.
Inside I was having an internal debate whether to go back and help or not, I already had a pretty big rap sheet on me, the same went for Andrew and Matoko.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
Another agonizing scream came from Deangelo, "Fuck it I'm going back!" I yelled making my mind up.
"Nuchu!" Matoko said trying to stop me.
"No man, I'm not about to sit up here and let Dee get messed up, those police dogs are vicious as hell!"
I quickly reached into my back pocket and took out a combat army knife; it was pretty much the only weapon I had on me seeing that I foolishly left my gun inside my Supra.
I went rushing back through the alley with Andrew and Matoko right behind me.
Next chapter coming up…
