It was a dark night, as Ken Kogashiwa roamed the slopes of Iroha, like a wolf in hunt of his prey. He pressed the accelerator again, while drifting out of another hairpin, his tires giving out white smoke in the trail. "That bastard just won his race against the Akina SpeedStars yesterday. Whatever happens, I am not losing to him again!" Ken shouted in his car, as he continued racing down the hill. He turned another left, and counter steered, his car hitting the apex of every corner as he continued downhill. "I don't understand this...... HOW WAS I DEFEATED?!" Ken shouted again, frustrated that even though his cornering was nurtured to perfection, He was defeated. However, blinded by his rage, Ken tried to take another hairpin, but managed to take his car too much on the inside. He managed to spin out, his tires going too wide. His car hadn't exactly stopped, however, when disaster struck. Due to his mind being in a mixture of panic and anger, he managed to hit the accelerator, causing the engine to rev. The wheels gave out a small squeak as the accelerator was crushed, and then.... The car left the ground.
Ken's heart skipped a beat, when he realized the consequences of what was about to happen. The car was slightly tilted toward the front, along with being diagonal to the direction of the road. Ken could feel every single beat of his heart, and time had seemingly slowed down. the car, however, seemed to be straightening up to a horizontal position. The weight of the engine, which was at the back of the car, straightened out the nose. Finally, the wheels touched the ground, the protected underbody sparking slightly in the bare asphalt, and then the car's suspension finally straightened out.
"The hell was that now?!" Ken shouted in fear and surprise. He had just performed a technique by which he would be recognized, with only two more people being able to copy him in the future. This.... was the legendary new technique superior to any type of cornering. It was unique to the Iroha course, more so to the MR2 of Mt. Iroha. This.... was the Irozhaka jump.
Ken raced as fast as possible to the bottom, though this lap was far behind his record. He then went around the mountain to reset, and found a BNR32 GTR just about to climb up too. The driver of the GTR had seemingly spotted him, and the stopped on the side of the road. Ken, who was looking for someone to challenge, decided to stop behind him. The person who was inside the GTR got out, and came over toward Ken's car. Ken, too, got out and faced the person, who looked like another teenager out for a night of practice. "Hey there. I was looking for someone to challenge, and I though you might be someone good to challenge. " Ken said, as the person agreed. "Yeah, I was bored too. Iroha is my home course, anyway. " The person said. "Hmm..... Nice to meet you. I am Ken Kogashiwa, By the way." Ken introduced himself. "Your name has a nice ring to it.... As for me, My name is Dai Nakazato" The teens exchanged their names and then got into their cars. "Alright, then. We will start from here, and end at the point where we need to reset. Is that fine with you?" Ken asked Hideaki. "Yeah, seems okay to me." Dai replied, and the two then crawled up to the starting line.
(Play the song now. I do not own the song.)
Ken flipped on the light on his MR2, as two yellow beams shot out of it, lighting up the road in front of him. The GTR released white light, lighting up the road with two cones of light. They revved their engines. The sound of '5...4....3.....2....1...GO!' rang out through the night, as the mighty RB26DETT 2.6-litre twin-turbo engine backfired once, and the race began. The GTR, being far more powerful than the MR2, took the lead. The two cars entered the corner, with the GTR flicking the tail into the corner, making all four wheels lose traction. The car then drifted through the corner with ease, as the tires rotated into a blur. The MR2 braked before entering the corner, using controlled oversteer to clear the corner after that. "Huh... I thought that with a car that is moderately powerful, this guy would be a pushover. But he knows his tricks and when to use them!" Dai said, amused. The MR2 began falling behind, for the twin turbo DOHC easily outran the naturally aspirated 3S-GE. However, Ken noticed something after that. The GTR, though extremely powerful, was forced to slow down a lot in order to prevent himself from plummeting into the guardrail. "I remember Bunta's classic statement of 'The advantage of having a lower powered car.' I wonder if I can do something about it here." Ken thought, while taking the next corner, trying his best to be able to keep up with the GTR's pace. He then saw the weakness of the GTR. "That's it! He needs to brake a lot while I do not! I suffered from the same problem with Bunta because I was having a power advantage over him!" Ken finally realized, and then crushed his accelerator. The MR2 roared with the new input of throttle, and lunged forward. Four dots of red light lit up in the field of view of Ken, which was definitely the GTR. "This is it..... my chance to get closer to him!" Ken shouted, coming in fast for the corner. He then let off the accelerator, just like how Bunta had done, and then began turning much earlier due to his car having more power than the Eight-Six. "This should help me win." Ken said, as he then took the corner, with controlled understeer helping him all the way. "No way! How did he do that now?!" Dai said, finding the two yellow specks of light staring to close in on him. He then pressed on the accelerator harder, the turbines of the turbo spinning faster, and the GTR suspension compressed at the back, being subjected to stress due to the sudden increase in speed. The gap, however, stayed the same, for the faster exit speed made up for the slightly increased acceleration by the turbo. Though Dai could have crushed the accelerator to the bottom, he didn't because that would mean he would be plummeting right into the guardrail. He remembered the words he read on his search engine while looking up on the BNR32. 'A common weakness of the GTR is its understeer. If the speed is even a little too high, the GTR's front tires will begin losing grip due to the car being front heavy'. Dai, however, could now see that if things continued like this, then the next corner would almost completely even out the gap, because he would then need to brake hard again, and that would give up whatever advantage he had. He decided to grin and bear it, and approached the next corner. He braked again to the right speed for a four-wheel drift. The MR-2, however, used its advantage of having an MR layout. He pulled the handbrake, and touched the brakes once to make all four wheels lock up, before allowing the forward wheels to continue. He was now right on the tail of the GTR, but the Turbo kicked in again, causing the GTR to speed up once more. Turn by Turn, the race proceeded, as Dai managed to pull away on the straights, and Ken closed in on the corners. However, finally the cars reached the peak, starting downhill. "The GTR's weakness is the downhill. Excess speed will be killing me now!" Dai said, now staying alert for corners. However, as for Ken, he was able to crush the accelerator, slowly closing the gap between the MR2 and the GTR. The cars approached the first corner downhill, with the MR2 now in the offensive. The GTR decided to block both the inside and the outside by drifting, with the MR2 now being forced to twin drift. "This guy's good!" Ken complimented, as the race continued. Ken then noticed a small drop on the next hairpin as he turned it. "I remember that event at that time...... Should I do it on purpose?" Ken thought, approaching the 33rd hairpin. "You know what?! It's now or never! LET"S GOO!" Ken yelled at the top of his voice.
Dai began his 4 wheel drift entry again, when he saw Ken's car acting up, with Ken having a serious look on his face. "Is he going to pull something?" Dai asked himself, but focused on his drift. Ken used the handbrake to pivot his car to position, and then did exactly what he had done on his last run.
(Play the song from 0:22. I do not own the song)
The car jumped into the air, the underside's protective metal glistening in the moonlight. Dai was speechless. A small 'what the-' escaped his lips, as the car imitated an Ebisu Jump on steroids. The car landed it, and the metal again screeched on the asphalt, as the four tires made contact with the ground, the protective metal again generating sparks on the asphalt that the R32 went over. "How the hell did he pull that off now?!" Dai shouted, completely flabbergasted.
"Honestly..... that was...... awesome, smooth and gracious at the same time.... I'm impressed!" Ken said, as he pumped the brake once and then straightened out the car. He then dumped the brake and clutch, with him crushing the accelerator again, and approaching another corner. "I must remember one thing though. I must not repeat this jump too many times, or else my suspension will be toast." Ken thought, as he took another hairpin with ease. However, Dai was having an extremely hard time, for he was both dazed by the jump, and was fighting extremely hard to prevent understeer. His braking has become even more messier, his car even managing to miss the apex of the hairpin turn. The MR2 then continued across the rest of the track, flying through the corners. Though the GTR constantly added pressure on him using the AWD drift, Ken was able to hold him back by forcing him to twin drift behind him. Finally, they exited the hairpins of the mountains, coming along the straights now. Ken was trying his hardest to block the GTR, but at the end, it managed to edge its way in. "Shit!" Ken cursed, though his car had gained a lot more speed than normal due to the downhill. The two cars crossed the first bridge, with the GTR inching ever closer to being able to beat the MR2. The two cars hit a small jump that they both again landed, and continued racing. The two had to slow down for the few curves of the road that came along, but continued speeding once they were cleared. The two approached the second bridge, with Dai now lining up his front with the MR2. "I think this will be a tie. Whatever happens, I will not lose! I will either stay with a tie or win!" Ken said, now pushing his car to its max. The two cars crossed the second bridge, with the GTR landing first due to it being front heavy. The GTR slowed down a little, while the MR2 landed later, putting him ahead. The turbo of the GTR soon allowed it to catch up, its front almost about to line up with the MR2.
They finally approached the goal, and Dai's GTR lined up perfectly with the MR2, and the two cars crossed the finish line. Both of them pulled their handbrakes to stop, and then got out, both of them panting. "That..... was a good battle. " Ken said with a pause to catch his breath. "It was a tie, Ken. You are fast." Dai replied in a similar fashion. "I think if I ever think of making a team, you are a good choice." Ken told Dai, as the two then shook each other's hands. They then got into their respective cars, and left.
A/N: Is a certain guardrail-loving Nakazato known to you? Does that Nakazato drive an R32 too? If you know him, Then you will be able to connect the dots and understand who Dai Nakazato really is. *winks*
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Initial D: Preliminary Stage
FanfictionWe all know the great Takumi Fujiwara and his exploits on the mountain passes of Kanto. But Did we ever stop to ask how this came to be? This is the story of Bunta Fujiwara, who is Takumi's father. Born into a house that ran only the business of del...
