Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Initial D Fan Fiction ❯ Initial D: Anything Goes Drift Racing ❯ Season 2: Chapter 5: Project D Arrives. ( Chapter 14 )

Initial D: Mt Furinken. Anything Goes Drift Racing.

Season 2: Chapter 5: Project D Arrives.

The sound of drifting, a symphony of man, machine and road as one. The sounds of rubber on tarmac, of metal on metal, of engines travelling the octave scale, the base beat of the hart and that minute hum of satisfaction that rings in a street racers ear with ever successful corner. To Ranma it was the sweetest music imaginable and when he drove, he was the conductor guiding each note in the flow from start to triumphant crescendo and tonight he was performing for the assembled crowd, a truly flashy number not aimed at speed but going as sideways as possible, crab crawling even the toughest of corners to amaze even the toughest cynics.

But tonight he wasn't performing alone, there were five other's with him. The five street racers considered the fastest on Mt Furinken and one stranger drifting in parallel but not for the crowd's pleasure, tonight their show was to decide who would race the other two strangers who'd appeared on the mountain, the members of Project D.

*Flashback* Earlier That Night*

There was a nervous tension on the mountain as the three unknown cars and several vans pulled into the launch strip, a yellow RX7FD, a white 86 Trueno marked Fujiwara Tofu Shop (private vehicle) which received some laughs and a white RX7FC. The drivers stepped from their cars, they looked confident and calm though had they not know Ranma they would have been surprised at the young age of the middle driver, the rear driver scanned the crowd and located a familiar vehicle.

"Where is the owner of that NSX?" Ryosuke asked pointing at the Dark Blue NXS type R parked at the far end of the launch. There was a moment of confusion before Ranma stepped forward.

"I'm here, who are you?" Ryosuke looked with puzzled eyes at the young martial artist turned street racer.

"Don't you drive a green S15?"

"I used to, now I drive that." Ranma was a little uneasy, was this some old rival of Edy's back for a re-match.

"Where is the former driver of that car then?" Ryosuke was uneasy too, he had planned his simulations around the six specific drivers and their cars he'd identified on his scouting mission, he hadn't counted on drivers changing cars in such a short space of time.

"He has retired. If you have a grudge with him I think you're out of luck." Ryosuke frowned and watched Keisuke and Takumi for a second as they checked out the other cars nearby while the tuners gave their own cars a once over.

"We have no grudge, we are Project D. Our aim is to prove we are the fastest racers in Japan by defeating the best teams and setting the fastest course records. So this is our challenge." He said now turning to address the crowd in general. "We wish to race you're two fastest racers, one up hill and one down hill and then time trial to try and set the fastest lap." There was a general commotion among the gathered racers at this till someone else stepped forward.

"I am Mitzuki Hayai, fastest on Mt Furinken." There were murmurs of approval and disagreement at this but he ignored them. "As for the true second fastest Soatome is right, he has left." Ranma started at hearing his name. Despite all his time on the mountain he had rarely come into contact with Mitzuki since he'd been with Edy's team and it somewhat surprised him he knew his name even through Ranma knew he was now well known among the regulars. Mitzuki continued. "So here is my suggestion and how we used to decide challenges. There are four others here I consider my closest rivals, Kyoko my teams number two," He said indicating a blond woman sitting on the hood of a yellow Evo 3, "Alex Haddara," He indicated a surly looking guy in his mid twenties propped against his yellow and black Nismo tuned R33 who nodded back, "Tatiwake Kuno," Mitzuki said waving in Kuno's general direction, "And Ranma Soatome there."

Ranma was a little surprised at Kuno's inclusion and practically fell over when he heard his name. Ranma knew he was good but since Kuno was the only truly difficult challenge he'd faced so far he didn't really know where he stood in the rankings and realised now he'd been rather sheltered under Edy's tutelage. He always avoided challenging Mitzuki out of respect for Edy but the other's he had never seen race and didn't know. Ranma suddenly realised Mitzuki had started talking again.

"The five of us will put on a display for you and you can challenge the two you wish. How does that sound?" Ryosuke could feel his team mates eyes on him, this was a situation they'd never experience before but the oldest Takahashi brother was equal to the challenge.

"It is acceptable, show us you're skills and one week from today we will race the two we choose as the fastest. I presume in the mean time you'll have no objection to us practising here?"

"Of course not." Mitzuki replied. "If you'd care to follow us." There was some minutes of activity as the six cars got lined up on the start line and Mitzuki explained the plan. "Ok, I'll lead going down and we'll just showboat, so all just copy and parallel my line, if you can't keep in line then drop back and you're out of the running. On the return give it all you've got." He then turned to Ryosuke. "On the way down just follow us, coming back up do as you please."

With that they climbed into their cars and after a short countdown began.

*Flashback End*

Ranma felt a new exhilaration, he'd done showy parallel drifts with Edy, Sakura and Neji but now it was with complete strangers whose styles and skills he didn't really know and he was in the midst of it keeping a perfect 10 centimetres from the car in front through each corner and knowing another car was only centimetres from his and it was here he began to understand that it was these people around him who were the true challenges he'd been lacking and on the uphill run it would be a battle royal race, he could test his skills against them all.

In his FC Ryosuke was concentrating carefully to follow the line Mitzuki's FD was leading but he was also thinking about the potential opponents carefully. The Mitzuki guy was clever, hiding the racers true downhill abilities by doing slower show drifts and therefore hiding their uphill ability since the tyres would be worn and limit their speed. Still the battle royal uphill would decide who the second racer would be, Mitzuki already being the first though whether he'd race uphill or down he hadn't decided. It was true though all these racers did posses high control skill levels."

Finally they were at the bottom and the cars turned round ready for the uphill. There was a brief pause and then they were off and Ranma felt the adrenalin begin to pump. He had been the fourth car coming down behind Mitzuki, Kyoko and Kuno, there had been no reason for the order except the lead and tailing RX7's, so going up he had the same three in front he could try and over take and the Nismo R33 tailing him, he had no clue what the challengers RX7 would do.

The gentler corners at the bottom required little drifting and were more about horsepower and it was quickly obvious to Ryosuke the Mt Furinken cars possessed more than any of the Project D cars as they rapidly opened distance on him, only the blue WRX remained close overtaken by all the others but he knew they were approaching three hairpins and there he would see if their straight line speed was all that made them fast. He had known when he'd done his scouting there were more powerful cars here but downhill it didn't show as much and it concerned him, if they were any good it would make for a very tough race.

Ranma watched Kuno's WRX slide backwards past him as he overtook on the straight and began closing on the Evo while feeling the R33 breathing like a monster down his back but the first hairpin that signalled the true start of the uphill was approaching and he wondered what would happen as he watched for his braking point.

The Evo in front suddenly braked sharply, much earlier than Ranma was expecting and he was forced to swing out wide to avoid a collision but now he was off his line and likely to under steer the corner, he had no choice. He shift locked to indicate his special technique and will his car all the way just clear the corner, had he been driving the S15 still he doubted he would have made it and thanked again the well balanced design of an MR setup.

He noted Mitzuki had opened at least a five car lead over him and looking back saw the Evo and R33 exiting the corner but rapidly falling back. There was no time to dwell on it however as the next corner was there and he wanted to catch Mitzuki but to his annoyance Mitzuki opened up another car length on him and a third leaving the last hairpin.

Rationally thinking he realised that it wasn't unexpected Mitzuki was faster than him but since Edy had never really shown him how fast he could drive he didn't really know if it came down to seconds or minutes between them. Ranma gritted his teeth in determination and prepared for the next series of corners, a 5 consecutive set of sharp S curves. Behind him he watched the other cars leave the last hairpin, the fist was the white FC of the stranger which surprised Ranma greatly when he thought how far he been left behind at the start, two seconds later Kuno's WRX appeared, then the Evo and the R33. Ranma's mind began to race again as he thought about this, where the Evo and R33 drivers that good or not?

Then the question didn't matter because it was time to take the corners. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8, and leaving the fourth S curve he found the dark red RX7 right in front of him, only two car lengths away at most and they were taking the last of the S curves and the distance was still closing and as they left the 10th corner Ranma was nose to tail with Mitzuki.

Ranma was puzzled, Ranma had lost speed in the hairpins but not enough for Mitzuki to gain so much distance without being faster than Ranma but in the S curves he'd been considerable slower, what was the truth to Mitzuki's technique. For the next few corners both cars stayed together as though glued but Ranma could see behind him the FC had closed distance on them too, the other sets of headlights Ranma assumed were Kuno, probable too far behind to catch up and the other two cars weren't even in the picture anymore.

Ahead though Ranma knew was the tunnel exit corner, or entrance on the uphill and Ranma was trying to plan his move. The special technique was no use on hairpins uphill so what could he do, Ranma realised his techniques had hit their limit again and felt angry. How could he become faster? He focused his attention on Mitzuki wondering what he would do and then they were at the breaking point for a normal drift but the RX7 did not brake and Ranma made his decision fighting his impulse to slam down on the pedal.

Then the RX7 turned the wheels and braked the car hard locking the front wheels, under steering heavily, barely moving turning at all and Ranma wondered if he'd made a mistake and Mitzuki had lost it but suddenly smoke erupted from the rear tyres as they too locked up and the brake lights went off as the front wheels turned first full lock right, the brake lights flickering briefly and then full lock left inducing a feint drift and Ranma had only an instant to understand what had happened and copy the manoeuvre but he had been trained his whole life to do that and once again his martial arts training paid off big time.

Ranma steered into the corner and braked hard to initiate the under steer then yanked the handbrake and held it up sliding the rear wheels and Ranma felt a sensation like floating as the car slid forward on only the flaking rubber of the tyres gripless traction, then he steered right and tapped the brake as the wheels were momentarily straight to return grip to the front tyres then full lock left to start the feint away from the corner and then full lock left to pull the front of the car round using the weight to pull the back after it and let the hand brake down.

To the onlookers it was as though the RX7 and NSX were one, drifting only two inches apart round the hairpin and everyone felt a chill run through their bodies and soul at the awesome site and the cars were out of the corner and tearing up the tunnel straight still nose to tail.

For Ranma it was a moment of jubilation, he had found a new technique that would make it possible now for him to go faster even though the one handed heavily steering had left his arm sore and shoulder painful. He hadn't been able to see it before at the three hairpins as he'd been concentrating on not hitting the Kyoko's Evo but it was clear why the RX7 had been so fast, but it was a technique that wouldn't work on the S curves but maybe Mitzuki had never needed to worry about anyone catching him there before. So now Ranma's mind ran with ideas and possibilities of how he could use the technique to maximise his performance.

Meanwhile Mitzuki was fuming and a little scared. He knew of only one other person who could perform a floating faint, Edy but it was a technique that took years of dedicated practise to master, there was no way even if Edy had shown him that he could already have perfect it, yet the evidence was there to see. After the NSX had caught up unexpectedly at the S curves Mitzuki had realised Ranma was better than he thought so he would put him in his place but the idea had failed because the NSX had copied his move exactly. He'd seen Ranma grow under Edy's tutelage and he was certainly fast, faster than Kuno but he had never expected this. "You're prodigy is doing well Edy but he will never beat me." He gripped the steering wheel even tighter. There were the next set of hairpins approaching, and he would show Ranma the true power of the air faint technique.

Ryosuke himself was closing the distance but as he'd feared slowly. The RX7 and NXS ahead were truly beasts of this mountain and their drivers immensely skilled but still he was catching them and at the hairpin into the tunnel he would close to only a few car lengths. However when he round the corner he felt his nerve shaken to the core for at the other end of the straight the tail lights of the two cars were just disappearing round the next corner. They were fast machines but even with that straight to accelerate on with his skill he should have closed easily but they gap had grown greatly.

A cold shiver ran down Ryosuke's back, what kind of monsters could take a corner like that at such speed. He had felt like this only once when he'd first heard the description of Takumi using the drains against Keisuke but this time there were no drains and no explanation of how they'd done it. Had they bitten off more than they could chew this time? Ryosuke already knew the answer, this mountain was different, the racers here were different. The two racers skills ahead were great, even to Keisuke and Takumi and maybe even himself but they had more raw power and without more horsepower in the FD and 86 he knew for sure Project D would loose their challenge.

Of course the downhill wouldn't rely on power so much but there were still plenty of straights and until he understood that strange drift they'd used he couldn't begin to predict what would happen but as it was the uphill was already lost. Of course they could always pick the slower racers but then that was betraying the ideal of Project D since it was to defeat the fastest racers on each mountain.

Ranma was frustrated again, he had been able to use the technique to keep up with Mitzuki through the hairpins though there was a slightly wider gap between them now but he had seen without Mitzuki ahead to show him the points to initiate the locks and feints he wouldn't have been able to continue the technique for the complete set of hairpins as the start points became earlier as you used the technique repeatedly so when they exited the penultimate hairpin they immediate initiated the feint and crab crawled the seven car length straight to the last hairpin. Ranma now understood why Mitzuki was considered the fastest and had begun to have an idea of how fast Edy really was and wondered why he'd never shown him the techniques, he had to ask him somehow now, or those questions seemed like they would burn a hole in his head.

As they finished the uphill Ranma found the negative side to the technique, since the tyres received so much battering there wasn't much left by the end and without careful control you would crash very easily but it made drifting easier to start and there was the key to just go with it. Even so Mitzuki had the experience there and crossing the finish line there was a several car length gap again. Even so Ranma knew he'd just put in his fastest lap time yet including his downhill times, so this was the true horror of the best racers on Mt Furinken.

By the guard railing Keisuke and Takumi shared worried looks. They'd both expected Ryosuke to be right their with the RX7 and NSX or even ahead of them but it was at least 15 seconds before he arrived and the others could tell from the car he had been driving hard so when the car had stopped they went over to find out.

"What happened brother? Were you watching the slower racers?"

"We made a mistake. We can't beat these guys yet, our skills are pretty even but they have too much power compared to our cars as they are. I couldn't keep up on the up hill." Keisuke looked at his brother in despair and Takumi with shock and probably the most expression he'd ever used.

"You can't be serious?"

"I am, we will have to postpone our challenge till we can increase the output of your cars." Keisuke clenched his fists in frustration and Takumi looked anxiously at his 86.

"Can we get more power out of the 86, I didn't think a naturally aspirated tuned engine could take a turbo?" Ryosuke shook his head.

"It can't, this will take a lot of work."

"Damn it!" Keisuke swore in frustration.

Mitzuki and Ranma stood opposite each other sparks of electricity almost popping off each other.

"You're good Soatome, much better than I'd expected using the air feint like that but you still need a lot of practise. Challenge me again sometime, when you think you're ready." Ranma couldn't think of anything to say in return before Ryosuke appeared.

"I am afraid we will have to postpone our challenge for next week." Mitzuki smirked.

"Yeah most people run away when they see my skills." Ranma looked disgusted at Mitzuki as he spoke before the self proclaimed fastest on Mt Furinken turned and walked away. It had been a night of revelations for Ranma and he was now starting to see why Edy had detested Mitzuki so much, he was a total slime ball. The martial artist turned to Ryosuke to apologise.

"Why are you postponing the race?"

"It is an uneven match up at the moment, the racers on this mountain have considerably more horsepower than most and those such as yourself who posses' great drifting skills are an unbeatable combination till we too have more powerful cars."

"I understand. Can I ask you, if our cars were even, how would you rank my skill?"

"Honestly I can not say but I would guess you are equal to both Keisuke and Takumi in natural talent and maybe better in practice. When we return we will find out." There was a sense of respect between the two before they parted to return to their vehicles.

"Come on, we shall go home, there is no point practising much so enjoy the trip down." Ryosuke said to his two team mates. As he watched them speed off into the night he thought gain about the young racer he'd just been beaten so easily by. There was something strange about him, he wasn't the same guy he'd been when they'd raced downwards, somehow in that time he'd changed and become even faster and even talking with him Ryosuke could feel a fierce racers aura coming from him. In truth he would have ranked Ranma's skill now much closer to his own than either of the others, a truly remarkable kid and a likely candidate to race Takumi in the downhill. Still before they got to the racing there was still the matter of find a way to boost the power of the FD and 86. Maybe he should ask the Soatome guy to join Project D. It was certainly an interesting mystery but then as he'd once said to his little brother, interesting things are fun to observe.

Ranma too was thinking again, without realising it he'd just had his most difficult and intense battle yet, against the fastest racer on the mountain. Yes he'd lost and it had been uphill which was not his `preferred' direction but still it had been a valuable lesson and he'd got a new technique now one that needed to be practiced and honed and he had to ask Edy why he'd never taught him that one and a million other questions.

However they would have to wait at least till morning for it was late now and he was tired and Akane too who come to greet him as he'd arrived back was anxious to get home as she had promised to make lunch the next day and besides Neji wasn't about so he couldn't ask him how to contact Edy anyway so together they headed for home Akane showing off her drifting techniques to all who cared to watch though of course after the unexpected battle they'd just witnessed it seemed rather tame. But someone did watch the two cars leaving the mountain and then pressed dial on his mobile.

[Authors Note] Phew a biggy and it didn't come out how I planned at all. Oh well. Anyway surely someone's got a comment or two on that chapter, I wanted to show the difference in driving styles between that of the original Initial D cast who use less power and compensate with more actual grip in the corners to perform fast course times and the guys who use much more powerful cars to perform really outrageous drifts on the corners which among the really skilled can be just as fast as the more grippy ones but travel much faster on the straights and easy corners which I think makes for more interesting races if a little more dangerous.

Oh and a P.S. would you rather see Ranma win or Project D, your comments will affect the story. (Heh heh naughty me, pitching Ranma fans against Initial D fans, who will win this battle. :D )