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The referenced album title of Part 18.1 was Chiastic Slide by Autechre. (A chiastic phrase has 4 parts.)
[s2_10.2: Part 18.2] Down to the Earth! Hyper Downhill Battle!
<22120214>
Friday, February 14th, 2212
Mt. Haruna, Gunma, Kantō, Japan.
Brandon and Nico lined their cars up at the start, ready to go. Brandon then took the time to make minute changes to his car's settings, as he noticed the car wasn't at its optimal setting.
<night of fire | niko_>
"Okay! I'm ready" Brandon signalled.
"Alright! Starting the countdown!" A local said, who somehow managed to get pulled into the race. "5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO!"
<21:25:00>
<mt. haruna pass_>
<touge race_>
The two cars took off at an incredible pace, the black Angelus starting to pull in front. Brandon decided to hold off, keeping pace with the white RX-7.
"I want this battle to be fair, but when we hit the first corner, I won't hold back." Brandon said.
True enough, at the first corner, Brandon entered the corner in a slide at an amazing rate, his tuning allowing him to do so. However, Nico's RX-7 was not slow at all, he had also been holding off. When he reached the first corner, he entered the corner in an even more outrageous slide, and nearly overtook Brandon at the end of the corner. However, he was on the outside lane of the second corner, giving him a disadvantage.
Brandon, having helped build the car from the ground up, and having tuned the car himself with help from Angelus' engineers, had known every single detail of the Razer.X's performance, and could handle it in his sleep. Nico had the experience of racing down mountain passes, and knew about the techniques and skills needed for touge battles. These two different skills had cancelled each other out, so neither one had the major advantage over the other.
Then it happened. Brandon's method of taking the corners, even though he was drifting, consisted of the "Outside-Inside-Outside" approach when racing. Nico took this approach, and weaponized it. He kept to the inside during the latter part of the corner, somehow keeping his speed up and overtaking him. He then used his techniques to prevent Brandon from overtaking him.
This, however, gave Brandon to look for a weakness in Nico's driving style, or even the car itself. "Hmm, Nico seems to be in relatively good control of that car, considering how much of a monster it is." He thought. "That 16X rotary is light and powerful enough, but it's been tuned to extreme amounts. There is no turbo lag, the anti-lag system takes care of that nicely, even though it makes a racket. It shows that it has been tuned properly, by someone who knows the strengths and weaknesses of different engines and different tuning types. It just so happens that the one who tuned that is one of, if not, the greatest racers in the world! Geez, Jonathan! That thing's mental!"
He found no faults with the car being driven, so maybe there was some small weakness in the driving techniques being used by Nico? Well, none that would allow him to overtake him. his drift blocked the road perfectly, unless...
"That's it! The car actually has an unintentional fault that no amount of tuning can fix!" He yelled in surprise. He decided to take action.
They were coming up to a long, straight enough piece of road. After the corner, he made his move, getting faster and closer to the white rocket. Then...
"OH, YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" Nico yelled as the black car slowly accelerated past him.
"Sorry, Nico. Your car actually can't use all its power effectively." Brandon thought "You see, the wheels are the problem. It creates friction with the road, resistance. The car needs extra power to overcome the force, but an AG car doesn't have contact with the ground, hence, it can use its power more efficiently."
However, the race wasn't over yet, they were about 2/3 through, coming closer and closer to the 4 consecutive hairpins, still relatively neck-and neck. However, on the last corner before the hairpins, the FG4 was nowhere in sight. Suddenly, Brandon heard something odd just as he entered the hairpins.
<mandragora | medicine drum_>
"Huh? I... what the? Has that fool turned his lights off?! He has, that engine sounds familiar... no, wait a minute. That doesn't sound like a rotary..."
A car was drifting extremely close to Brandon, with it's lights off. Just as Brandon came round hairpin #2, it made its move, turning on its lights.
"WHAT?!"
The tiny purple car was now side to side with him, then cut in front of him at the entrance of hairpin #3. It took the corner at a fast pace and was drifting at a wide angle.
"Obake? Finally, we meet again... LET'S DO THIS!"
As he yelled, he grabbed the power adjuster and cranked it to full. Brandon now had 720hp at his disposal. He was able to keep up for a few reasons. He had gained experience racing on mountain passes since 2 years ago, he had driven on Haruna before, and his car was running at 100%. Just keeping up with the mysterious car made Brandon lose his sense of speed, and was travelling faster than he ever was, but was leaving less and less of a margin for error. Not that he needed the margin, the race was nearly over.
Brandon moved to the side of Obake on a longer straight near the end of the course. There were only a few corners left, and it seemed that Obake was going to win. However, they were still side to side at the final straight. It was there that it happened. Due to the higher power, Brandon slipped ahead at the final possible second, taking the inside of the finishing corner.
Brandon pulled over and waited for Nico. He saw Obake pull into the parking lot. After a few seconds, the car started to move again, this time towards Brandon. It stopped next to his car, the driver got out and walked over to him.
"Well, I never thought the fastest downhiller was female. Then again, one of the fastest F12000 racers is female." Brandon commented, finally seeing the driver of the purple car.
Obake spoke, introducing herself. "My name is Katsuo Tsukiko. We will meet again for one final race. Next Saturday, 10pm. We race at Hakone's Tsubaki Line."
"...wait..." Brandon squinted in the dark, trying to see, "Katsuo?! It was you?! It's me, Brandon Smith!"
"E-Eh?! Smith?! I... never knew you were into touge racing!"
"It's a recent thing I've picked up."
At that point, another car entered the parking lot. Jonathan's FG4.
"D-Did you see th- Wait, what?! You know the driver of that purple car?!" Was the first words to come from Niko's mouth after getting out.
Before Brandon could answer him, Katsuo introduced herself.
"Oh, hey! I remember passing that car! So you're a friend of Brandon's? I'm Katsuo Tsukiko, I know Brandon too! I'm sure you know me too, though, I race for Syncline."
"Ah... Syncline. Well, it's nice to meet you." Nico greeted himself, "I'm Nico von Bovier, leader of Jennter Enterprises."
"It's nice meeting you too."
He then turned to Brandon, "So, how do you know her, considering she's with Syncline?"
"Ah, yes." Brandon replied, "I knew Katsuo through some odd jobs I did for her boss, Nikole Carole."
"Nikole?"
"Yes. Unfortunately, through... recent events that had occurred, it seems that Syncline are actually the kind of team I would expect from this league."
"What do you mean... they're...?"
"Excuse me, I'm right here..." Katsuo interrupted.
Brandon turned around and faced her, a cold expression on his face. "Do I look like I care?"
Katsuo stepped back, alarmed. "Ngh... p-point taken." She said.
He turned back to Nico, "I saw... no, I was involved an attempt by Syncline to cripple our team and, to me, that's not on at all. Some stupid racing team should not stoop to that in order to get the victory they so damn care about."
"What are you talking about?" Katsuo asked, trying her best to play dumb.
Brandon was almost amused by her attempt to look innocent. "I guess I don't know what to expect from a thief who races on the side"
"I... Don't know where this is coming from, I'm pretty sure last we met was for that thing with Rameala."
"Whatever, I don't want to deal with this right now, I need to sleep. Nico, I'll see y-... oh."
Nico had left, not wanting to deal with their argument.
"Fine." Brandon said simply, getting back in his car.
"If you're leaving, then don't forget our-"
"Yeah, yeah, the race, I'll be there. Goodbye."
After leaving those cold words, he drove off, leaving Katsuo where she was.
Screw this, have an early part. The next one will be up this Friday.
The referenced album title of Part 18.2 was Down to Earth by Flight Facilities, quite an amazing album if I do say so myself. Works perfectly as driving music.
[s2_11.1: Part 19.1] Do You Know Sidewinder
<22120216>
Sunday, February 16th, 2212
Sidewinder, Kantō, Japan
"Alright, guys... Race time. I have faith that your new training will provide fruitful results. I am sure that this time, we won't be eliminated. You guys can do this.... alright, let's rock!"
The two pilots went to their respective rooms to prepare for the race. When Gareth stepped inside, he started psyching himself up.
"Yeah... you can do this... you can do this... HAHAHAHA! I can do this!"
He immediately strode out of his room to Kyoko's. Somehow she had forgotten to close her door, leaving it wide open. When Gareth stepped in, and saw the scene laid out in front of him, he gasped loudly. Kyoko was, naturally, in her room, but her helmet was open, which would give anyone a clear view of her face... had she been facing the doorway. She had her back to the door, drinking from a can. When she heard Gareth's gasp, she started choking on her drink in surprise. After coughing a few times, she reached up and pulled her helmet closed.
"何だ一体!?1 Ugh, why would you just walk in here?!"
"Th-the door was open... Wh... wait! Is... that... drink what I think it is?" He asked.
She held up her can. "This? It is beer. I will not lend you any."
"Oh, I thought it was a soft drink someone liked. Sorry. Anyway, good luck with the race." He started to walk out, but turned on the spot. "Wait, can I ask you something?"
"No. We have no time." She said, mere seconds before the 5 minute warning announcement sounded.
"Crap. Alright, let's go then."
They got to their craft and navigated to their positions on the grid...
3, 2, 1... GO!
<10:00:00_>
<sidewinder: short fwd_>
<race: lap 01 of 72_>
01. FUJ616.0.43.194 (#43 | Kyoko Fujisaki | AX2.0_r1)
04. ARD889.1.19.194 (#19 | Gareth Ardos | AX2.0_r1)
22. SCA308.0.7.329 (#7 | Lucia Scarlatti | F0-RA8/00015)[/B]
As expected, the course greatly favoured the high-handling craft, as the course featured many tight hairpins like the mountain passes it was inspired by. As such, Leon Turner, obtained a final qualifying position of 27th, due to the craft's extremely low handling stat, putting him out of the race.
Naturally, Angelus was competing for the lead against many of the teams that focused on handling than all else. However, two people were not focusing on the race...
"Ah! We meet again! Hi Alexandra!" Came the voice of the now green haired girl.
"Oh... it's you, Catherine. What do you want?" Alex replied.
"Ooh, as cold as always! I just wanted to say hi!"
"You said hi already... Pfftaahahaha! I'm kidding, please, let's talk!"
Catherine breathed a sigh of relief as they begun to converse.
<quoth | polygon window_>
Angelus were having a great race, getting into non-violent battles with the likes of Jennter, FEISAR and Wyvern, under new leadership by David Mendel's son, Alex.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Crinale was having a miserable time, with second pilot Leon turner out of the running and lead pilot Lucia Scarlatti barely trying to so much as keep up with the other teams. Even Syncline, whose V.ult-2X1024 craft was heavier than the F0-RA8, was able to beat them in terms of handling due to their unique craft design, called a Semi-triple hull by their technicians.
Lucia was able to get a quake, immediately firing it just as she got to a small but significantly faster section of the track, which was laced with less hairpins, which allowed her to make use of the craft's high acceleration and speed to catch up.
"Quantum Destabiliser!"
<contender eliminated_>
Slowly, she had started to climb up in the ranks the only way she would be praised for: violence.
<11:29:39_>
<sidewinder: short fwd_>
<race: lap 43 of 72_>
Suddenly, Brandon got a call from the guards outside the pits.
"Hey, Smith. We have Carole outside wanting to speak with you."
"Ugh, Sh*t. Fine, I'll get down there now." He replied, placing a few trusted employees in charge.
"Brandon, this is urgent, we need to talk." Nicole spoke as soon as she saw him.
"Do you now? A tactic to impede our race maybe? I thought I told you I terminated our partnership?"
"I don't have time to deal with your distrust." She retorted "I'm just going to get right to it: There is a spy amidst your team. We have obtained sufficient evidence to support our claims, including intercepted documents from the spy themselves. It is the irrefutable truth."
1Nanda ittai?!, What the f*ck?!
I forgot to put up a new part yesterday, ugh! >.<
The referenced album title of Part 19.1 was Do You Know Squarepusher by... Squarepusher.
[s2_11.2: Part 19.2] The Path of Total Truth
<22120216>
Sunday, February 16th, 2212
Sidewinder, Kantō, Japan
11:34:42
"I'm just going to get right to it: There is a spy amidst your team. We have obtained sufficient evidence to support our claims, including intercepted documents from the spy themselves. It is the irrefutable truth."
"'The irrefutable truth'?" He thought for several moments before replying. "Fine, I'll play along. Who is the spy?"
"We don't know, they have assumed the identity of one of your team members."
Brandon chuckled softly at the absurdity of her words. "There it is. There's your tactic. You are attempting to place distrust on my team?! NOT. GOING. TO HAPPEN. They are my family."
"I'm not saying that. Just... think! Is there anything that has been odd about any of your members? Anything at all? It doesn't matter how insignificant."
"I assure you, there is literally noth..." Brandon stopped mid-sentence, his eyes suddenly growing wide. "It... can't... be." He muttured under his breath. Before she could speak however, he spoke up. "This... does not mean I trust you again... not completely at least."
"Better than nothing, I guess. I'll be off then, I did what I came for."
"Right... bye."
<indignation | desimal_>
Brandon ran back up to the control room. When he entered, he searched around frantically for something.
"What? What is it?" One of the employees asked.
"There's some kind of device here, I need it for a thing.... ha HA! Here it is!" He proclaimed, holding up a white device about the size of his hand. He turned it on and started typing away at a fast speed, then after tapping the screen a few more times, set it down on the desk beside him, letting the files download to the device.
"I need to send off an email too." He thought out loud, doing just that. When Brandon sent off the email, he checked up on the device, which was gathering the files he specified at a consistent pace. At that moment, Alex walked in the room.
"Hi, sorry I'm late, I got caught up talking to a friend." She apologised.
"It's fine, just check up on those readings there, see if they're normal." He pointed in a general direction to the opposite end of the room, as he examined other readouts from the ongoing race.
"What's that?" She asked, moving towards the odd device.
"It's nothing," He said, snatching it up and putting it in his pocket. "Just some stuff I'm working on."
"Stuff?"
"Plans, they have little to do with Angelus, though, so you don't have to know."
"Oh..."
"[sigh], I guess I could tell you a bit about it, though. It's a two phase plan. Phase 1... is getting Crinale in the hands of someone trustworthy. The top priority is you, though. I have been testing you to see if you can, or have, become trustworthy enought to take Crinale back."
"...R-Really?! You're helping me get Crinale back in my hands?! I... don't know what to say, I thought you hated the thought of me returning there out of fear of me doing the same things I did back then!" She seemed extremely happy to get Crinale back in her hands.
"It depends on if I think you're trustworthy enough, but yeah." He replied, though an odd look filled his face when he looked at her.
"Hey, Brandon, you there?" Gareth's voice came through the comms. Immediately, Brandon moved over to the front of the room and turned on his headset.
"Yeah, what's up?"
"Is... Is this it?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean... it seems too easy, we haven't had to deal with any team being excessively violent towards us."
"Well, the track is littered with sharp hairpins, that's why Crinale can't touch you, you are outmaneuvering them."
"Fantastic!"
Unfortunately, he spoke too soon, he was bombarded by all sorts of weapons, dropping his position by several places. He was surprised to find that it wasn't Crinale, but quite a few other teams that did the damage. Thankfully, he was able to restore the damage done.
However, his nightmare soon turned into a reality. Somehow, the racing prodigy had found her way up to 7th place, right behind Angelus' second pilot. The race was, however, nearly over, with only one lap remaining after the current one. Gareth slowed down, allowing Lucia to pass him.
"Hahahaha, not this time! Sayonara!" Gareth taunted, firing the EMP Railgun he had held on to. It was a direct hit, the craft had lost control, slamming into the wall of one of the tight hairpins. This gave Gareth the edge to prevent Crinale from catching up to him again.
<race: complete_>
<fifth place_>
While Kyoko had no problems placing first, Gareth had to make do with a reasonable 5th. Even though, it was considered a success for Angelus.
The referenced album title of Part 19.2 was The Path of Totality by KoЯn.
[s2_12.1: Part 20.1] Enter: The Devil
<22120222>
Saturday, February 22nd, 2212
Hakone, Kanagawa, Kantō, Japan.
21:50:28
>>TARGET ACQUIRED
>>ENGAGING SG_R-000
The young girl was waiting at the meeting point, a parking lot. Soon, she saw a familiar car pull into it, the driver getting out.
"Brandon, hi." Tsukiko Katsuo greeted him.
"Hello." He greeted back, "Interesting place you picked."
"Well, I've never raced here yet, that's the only reason. Now, have you had any practice?"
"Going down there?" He pointed towards the Tsubaki Line, "Yeah, I got a few runs in."
"Good, that's where we're the course is." She started to explain the course. "Further up the road there's a parking lot, that's where we start. The end of the road is the finish point."
"Okay, let's get on with it."
The two of them got into their cars. Brandon in his Angelus Razer.X, and Tsukiko in her Icaras-Lotus Elise, both were modified to some degree. They set off uphill to the starting point. When they reached it, they both spun their cars 180°, stopping by the starting point.
"How are we going to start? There's no-one to count us down." Brandon asked, the two speaking through comms systems.
"How much power does your car have?" Katsuo asked after thinking for a second.
"720 horsepower max, but I've set it to 300. Though I can give you my word that I won't, I do have the ability to adjust it on the fly."
"Okay, either way, yours is more powerful than my Elise. May I suggest a handicap start? Since I have less power, I can start the race whenever I want, as soon as you see my car move, you can go."
Brandon thought about it for a moment, before voicing his opinion, "Sounds fair. Well, whenever you're ready, you can go ahead and st-ugh!"
<crazy on emotion | ace_>
He was cut off by Katsuo dropping the clutch and taking off as he was talking. The instant he realised that, he set off after her. He nearly caught up to her when the first corner came up. A right hander meant that she had a better line into the turn, but Brandon was close enough that she couldn't move on the inside of the next turn, a left hander. The sharpness of the turn gave Brandon the lead for the initial part of the course.
The next right hand corner was even sharper, but they hadn't hit the hairpins yet. Even then, that corner was sharp enough that Brandon lost sight of Katsuo. He expected to see her once he was out of the corner, but the headlights of the purple Icaras-Lotus were not right behind him, and had disappeared out of sight.
"Really? Isn't it a little early to be doing your little trick? The race has only just begun."
Suddenly, a set of headlights turned on, but they weren't from Katsuo's Elise. They were 3 purple dots arranged in a triangle on each side.
"Huh?" Brandon uttered in surprise.
While the mysterious car kept behind him for a couple of seconds after its lights came on, it suddenly lurched forward with incredible acceleration. It rushed past him as he entered one of the last corners before the rest of the course, which contained hairpins. As it got ahead of him, it broke hard, sliding so it was perpendicular to the road. Brandon had no choice but to slam on his brakes.
Illuminated by the Razer.X's lights, the new car could now be seen in full view. While it had flowing edges, the dark matte grey machine primarily looked like a jet fighter, having two large thrust ports at the rear of the car where a rear window would generally have been. The most interesting thing, however, was that the car had no windshield or other windows.
The car was positioned in a way where it blocked the road to the Tsubaki Line, but left the Hakone Turnpike free to enter. Brandon had noticed, and went to drive onto the unblocked road, but Katsuo called him.
"Brandon! Did you see it? That stupid car spun me out. Thankfully, I avoided any damage, you have no idea how much this car means to me. However, I am probably unable to continue the race, since I bet you're racing them now."
"Actually, it blocked off the pass we were going to race on, I've stopped by the fork. I... think it might want me to go onto the other fork."
"Be careful, that other fork is an extremely high-speed pass with a toll booth at the end. Please, be careful but... I want you to take. Them. Down!"
"Yeah," He replied, "I'll do that." He hung up, then looked up at the car, still stationary. "Fine, I'll take you on, if that's what you want."
He turned onto the Turnpike and floored the accelerator, racing up the split in the road, onto the high-speed piece of road. When he looked back, he saw the car following him. As soon as he entered the Turnpike itself, however...
THUD
Posting this a day early, hence there will be no new part tomorrow.
The referenced album title of Part 20.1 was The Devil by Blue Stahli.
[s2_12.2: Part 20.2] Shinigami One: The Demon of Racing
<22120222>
Saturday, February 22nd, 2212
Hakone, Kanagawa, Kantō, Japan.
22:02:38
"Brandon! Did you see it? That stupid car spun me out. Thankfully, I avoided any damage, you have no idea how much this car means to me. However, I am probably unable to continue the race, since I bet you're racing them now."
"Actually, it blocked off the pass we were going to race on, I've stopped by the fork. I... think it might want me to go onto the other fork."
"Be careful, that other fork is an extremely high-speed pass with a toll booth at the end. Please, be careful but... I want you to take. Them. Down!"
<on your wings | rich hard_>
"Yeah," He replied, "I'll do that." He hung up, then looked up at the car, still stationary. "Fine, I'll take you on, if that's what you want."
He turned onto the Turnpike and floored the accelerator, racing up the split in the road, onto the high-speed piece of road. When he looked back, he saw the car following him. As soon as he entered the Turnpike itself, however...
THUD
The matte grey car made it's move, smashing into the rear quarter of Brandon's car, making it spin out of control. Brandon, however, had known how to control his car as if it were part of his body, and had kept the car spinning, until it had spun all the way around, where Brandon stopped spinning, and mashed the accelerator as far down as it would go.
"Heh, I see your dirty tactics... DON'T THINK YOU CAN GET AWAY NOW!"
The rate of acceleration the car produced made it seem like Brandon would have a very difficult time catching up to him, however, he saw the distinctive rear lights and glowing blue exhaust system of the car.
"Huh?... oh, I see how it is. You just wanted to show your speed, how you could defeat me in a fair race. But this was never supposed to be one, wasn't it?!"
The two cars battled at high speed down the Turnpike, and it didn't take long for Brandon's opponent to start its tricks again. It moved to the side of the Razer.X and rammed, hard, into the side of it. The car lightly tapped the guardrail, due to Brandon locking the wheel all the way to the right. That also allowed him to enter the corner sideways, in a large, but controllable drift.
The grey car continued it's attack on Brandon. Eventually, it had enough. It sandwiched Brandon between it and the guardrail. He had no escape. Sparks flew fron his left side as the car ground against the guardrail. The matte grey car then stopped pushing Brandon into the guardrail, moved to the far right, then slammed into the rear side of the car, spinning it once more as it took off at high speed.
As Brandon rounded two more corners, he saw that the machine had once again stopped for him, seemingly taunting him. Like last time, it took off with such a high acceleration, it had caught up to him in mere seconds and passed him, the exhaust spitting out blue flames.
This time, Brandon fought back, pushing his car into the back corner of the grey machine. he was able to push it's rear out, but it simply swung back, colliding with the Razer.X. Brandon had attempted to slow down to avoid the counter, but the other vehicle slowed down as well. The force of the heavy car colliding with the lighter one caused it to bump against the guardrail again.
"YOU... CANNOT WIN." A synthesized voice called out from Brandon's on-board comms system as the grey car once again accelerated ahead. Even through the distortion, Brandon heard the unmistakeable voice of Chris Scarbrough.
"...YOU! What are you up to now?!"
THUD
"Me? Eliminating you. Oh, you mean the car. A little experiment I call... Shinigami. This is just one part of my experiment, it's called the RXK. If you survive this, you will see a LOT more of my experiment. Oh, and don't bother, I'm not the one driving. It is an experiment, after all."
"Don't worry, I intend to survive our deathmatch." Brandon replied simply, "Your 'experiment' will fail when I emerge victorious." He floored the pedal unleashing his racing technique that he called the '01-X Technique'. It was designed to best work with Brandon's custom Razer.X. This time around, the RXK did not stop at the side of the road to catch up, it merely slowed down, waiting for the moment when the Razer.X's headlights filled the rear vision.
Finally Brandon exited a corner onto the same straight the RXK was on, so Chris had the engine turned off, the rear losing it's glow. As Brandon careened down the straight, closer to it, it's engine re-ignited, the same blue flames appearing. He drifted into the next, relatively sharp corner, which was where the RXK finally made its move. It turned in the corner at a speed far greater that was needed to clear it, and forcefully used Brandon's car as a battering ram, being able to clear the corner and pushing the Razer.X uncontrollably into the guardrail with a loud, sickening 'CRUNCH'.
Brandon's control hasd been severely compromised. 'Sh*t... did that break the stabiliser?' He thought. At that point, he had decided that it would end. He used 2/3 of his accelerating power on the straight, fighting the controls of his wounded car.
>CALCULATING TRAJECTORY...
>COLLISION AVOIDABLE
"HAH... had enough yet?" the RXK taunted.
Brandon flipped open a hidden panel, flipping a switch and pressing 2 of the 3 buttons in it as he spoke. "I have... one final trick up my sleeve." He pressed the final button, and mashed the accelerator down. He had activated 'Fury' mode, which powered 4 electric motors to give the Razer.X a boost of power from 720 to 984hp. A panel in the rear of the car between the taillights opened up, revealing two thrusters which promptly switched on, giving the car even more boost as it rocketed down the straight, right at the RXK.
>FATAL ERROR: TRAJECTORY INCALCULABLE
>COLLISION POSSI-
At that point, Brandon had turned hard into the corner, not drifting with help from the broken stabiliser. He made impact with the matte grey car, which collided with the guardrail and flipped over it. It crashed somehwere beyond the road, off the cliff. The Razer.X, due to the angle of the collision and the stabiliser, had flipped around, facing the opposite way at the end of the corner. He was moving to the outside, so instead of fighting it, he let it happen, but used the guardrail to absorb his momentum by tapping it a few times before pushing away on the final tap, engaging the brakes as he did so to bring the broken car to a halt.
Relieved that it was finally over, Brandon took his hands off the wheel and laid back in his seat. A few minutes later, when he had calmed down, he called Katsuo.
"It's done." He spoke.
"Wait, what is?" She asked.
"Shinigami – that grey car – is gone... I destroyed it."
"Shinigami?" Katsuo was confused, as she wasn't in the conversation where the name was brought up.
"A-Ah, I didn't name it that, that's what Ch-..."
The air was filled with a massive, cracking explosion, which somehow looked familiar.
"...P-plasma...?!" He thought out loud.
"What?! What happened?!"
"It... it exploded like a plasma."
"A plasma? Like, massive purple blast?"
"Yes."
"Huh, that's odd."
"You're telling me. Anyway, I'm not going to bother with it, it's over... if you don't mind, I'm heading back, I'm too tired and exhausted to race you. Also, they wrecked my car a bit, I have no idea how bad the damage is, but I can barely keep it in control."
"Do you need a lift? I can drive you back." She offered.
"Nah, it's fine, I'm near the hotel anyway. I can make it."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'll be fine."
"Okay then... well, you take care." Katsuo said, ending the call, leaving Brandon to make his way back to his hotel.
------------
Sunday, February 23rd, 2212
Kantō, Japan.
09:42:48
The next day, Brandon decided to see what last night's battle had done to his car, now that it was bright. An Angelus technician was there with him.
"Most of the damage is cosmetic, like the dented front bumper, and these scratches all over the car." He explained, "The main thing that's concerning is this." He pointed to the rear of the car. "The rear left stabiliser has shattered, which takes considerable force to do."
"That explains why it was hard to control. Only one rear stabiliser isn't good at all for control."
"Yeah. Once we take her and everything else back to HQ, I'll get the team to replace the stabiliser and fix up the rest of the damage for you."
"Thanks, I appreciate it."
It's April 14th, so a very happy birthday to Gareth Ardos! (Which means you should also listen to this) Anyway, here's a new part!... which doesn't feature Gareth at all. Whoops.
The referenced album title of Part 20.2 was Shobaleader One: d'Demonstrator by Squarepusher.
[s2_13.0: Part 21.0] How I Learned to Stop Caring About Revenge and Love My Enemies
<22120303>
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2212
Angelus R&D HQ, Perth, Australia
09:15:53
The next F12000 race was set to be in a month's time from the last race, due to the Geneva Motor Show that took place every year in early March. Angelus had taken part in the show since 2205 with the introduction of their critically acclaimed R205 GT supercar. They were taking part in the 2212 show to show off their new Neko compact.
For the first time, Brandon was not at the show. Instead, he was helping to complete their project for the 2213 show, a full working concept with a unique design. The design was even smaller than the Neko, similar in design to an enclosed motorcycle, yet retaining design elements from cars. The front stabiliser pods were situated on either side of a large front wing. There was only one rear stabiliser, which was situated on board the main body.
That was just the Design Specification, though; the vehicle itself was incomplete.
"The main body, front AG stabilisers and the Gen 2 prototype engine are now completed." Brandon explained, giving one of the many weekly updates to the development team. "The electrics, external parts like the front wing, the wiring and... pretty much everything else are left. As always, the most important components take priority. For now, attaching the front wing and installing the electrics are what we shall do next."
Despite the main concept being Brandon's idea, several design elements were actually Alex's suggestions. In the original concept design by Brandon, given the design code KA-D219, most of the entire front end was completely different. The front wing was shorter and more angled, but Alex's first revision made it longer and less angled, which gave the vehicle more stability. She made more revisions to the design along with Brandon, finally culminating in the final design which was being constructed, design 273.
"Why don't we call it the Tsunami?" Alex asked Brandon.
"Huh? Why 'Tsunami'?" Brandon asked back
"I was speaking to Kyoko about the project, I just happened to mention the code number 273, and she just mentioned something about some Japanese thing, saying that 273 meant Tsunami."
"Ah, she might've been referring to a Goroawase num-"
"That's it! That's what Kyoko said. It was a Go...ro...w... ah, forget it." She looked over at the vehicle, or more, the large pieces of it laying about, ready to be put together. "I don't know how, but I feel like the name somehow fits."
Brandon stared at it for a few seconds, tilting his head. Finally, he said, "Tsunami... Sure, we can give it that model name."
The front wing was being attached to the vehicle's backbone and also on the main body via a hydraulic system that would allow the body to lean in when turning. The rear end of the vehicle also had hydraulics attached to a rear section, which housed the engine and rear stabiliser. The front stabilisers were installed on the edges of the wing and connected up to the body.
After connecting the stabilisers, they started installing the wiring, before the components went in. The engine side of the wiring was completed beforehand, so they simply worked on feeding the wires throughout the vehicle, only connecting up the components that were already on the vehicle itself, which at that point, only consisted of the stabilisers.
Despite the vehicle being far from finished, they had done a lot of work on it, the wiring had taken most of the day to be put together and installed on the car.
"Brandon, I'd like to ask you something." Alex said.
"What's up?" Brandon asked.
"Would you mind telling me more of your plan?"
Brandon just stared at her with a smile on his face that yielded no information. It was like a poker face, a mask.
"More... information?" He queried.
"Y-yeah, like, what are you going to do after you get Crinale out of Viktor's hands?"
Brandon kept his piercing, unyielding, smiling stare for several seconds, before answering. "Well, you see, t-"
<phone call:_rez/area 5: fear | adam freeland1_>
Brandon fished his phone out of his pocket and answered it. "Hello?.... yeah, speaking... yeah, I know him...."
At that moment, his smile disappeared from his face, but his mask still remained.
"...WHAT?!"
------------
Fiona Stanley Hospital, Perth, Australia
15:05:34
Brandon ran through the building, entering one of the hospital rooms, his long lab coat flapping behind him. Finally, he reached the bed of the one who called for him, Ramaela De Rosa sitting by his side.
"Matt, I came as soon as I heard! What the hell!?... O-oh... hi Ramaela."
"B-Buona giornata.2" She greeted.
"Brandon... please, relax" The older man spoke calmly, "My time has simply come, nothing can change it... well, actually, I got them to prolong it for a while longer, just until I tell you what I need to. However, I am just an old man, at least I get to go from natural causes."
"Matt... Anyway, I won't stall for time, what do you need to tell me."
"This whole time, I was testing you. Seeing if you were the man you said you were. See, I need someone who is like me, who sees the purity through all the corruption, and can bring it out. You have that talent, I can see it in you. Therefore, I shall impart to you my most valuable piece of information..."
The two men talked for a while longer, however, Matt's time had finally come.
"Please, you may leave now. I have faith that you will use that to good use. I will see you around... someday."
"Very well. Goodbye for now... Matthew O'Reilly."
The man gave a weak smile, as Brandon left, leaving the doctor to come in and grant Matt's final wish. His life support systems were shut down. The old man could finally rest in peace.
His final words were but a weak whisper, but was very powerful im emotion as he departed from the world.
"Ramaela... ti voglio molto bene.3"
1 This is actually my ringtone, I love it.
2 "Good day!"
3 "I love you very much"
Looking at her gourmet dish in a five star restaurant wearing a gown worth more then a house, Nic Carlo only now came to see how far she'd gone. She never lacked appreciation of her current lifestyle, as a matter of fact, it fed into how she'd always acted for most of her life. For once Nikole was free from the times of her late childhood; shoplifting to survive, and her early piloting career betraying those she respected, to finally focusing on a nobler cause, only to stay on the run without a place to call home. At last the opportunity to take a breath seemed to present itself, but Nikole chose to stick to her nasty habit of paranoia. How much does she have, how much does she need, and how much could she lose at this moment, she could barely grasp the concept before it was whisked away by her company.
“Good evening, time to wakey,” greeted Natasha, though they had spent a few minutes together already.
“Sorry about that,” Nikole said as she scrambled back to reality, “I was just trying to work something out.”
“You mean, some sort of riddle.” The youngest Belmondo leaned forward to listen, seeing as her friend has sprung back to life.
“Well, no, its just that...” Nikole paused to find some other subject to ponder, and rushed to the first subject she could find “when do you think I should retire?”
“You're already thinking about leaving the league?”
“I, guess... I think I'm getting a bit worn out, and I don't really need that much.”
“Why not just take a season off and relax, or coach others to pilot? You can't retire yet, you'll make me fell old!” Natasha jested.
“I guess I could do something like that. I just kinda wanna live a simpler life, or something.” If only Nic could find the courage to spill her worries, she realized among her thoughts, as she did bothered to ask for some sort of advise.
“Are you ok,” Natasha saw Nic grow a bit more timid, “with everything?”
“Ehh, I think I'll just sleep on it.” Nikole responded, as she finally started on her dinner.
The two stumbled upon other subjects to ramble on about, leaving Nikole distracted from her worries for a time. Natasha got a call from work after a few minutes, taking her out of her evening long vacation, and Nikole promptly returned to questioning what her own reality is. Even the check that was suddenly her responsibility tonight was a relief to her, if only because it set her free from her five-star confinement and allowed her to have a panic attack in the privacy of her home.
Along her walk to the car, Nikole just wanted to pass out and sleep at the parking lot instead. Her rekindled anxiety resulted in her looking past every corner she could see, as though it were still the 2170's, as though she were still hated by the most powerful people of all the inhabited planets. Even entering her car, her eyeballs kept darting in every which way, until finally spotting a flashing, yellow light highlighting an alley in the distance.
Now her attention was fixated on the anomaly. She tried to focus on the road and drive away, but resisting her worry was futile. She made the decision to drive along the road perpendicular, get a quick peek at what it could be, and put it behind her. She kept half an eye on the light, nighttime traffic and peered inside. She confirmed that the source of the flashing was the rear end of a car, hazard lights switched on.
The car was the one Natasha arrived in.
There was no more uncertainty on whether Nikole was over thinking. She pulled over immediately and removed her heels. She didn't have any fear for her own self, as her worries were of the well-being of her mentor turned friend. She made haste to the alley, picking up faint banging from the trunk. She went right to the drivers side, the door still being unlocked, and released the hood in the back.
Nic went back to the trunk to make sure Natasha was alright, already assuming she was the in the back. Natasha jumped out at the sight of Nic Carlo, barely able to stand after being trapped for so long. Nikole opened her mouth to ask Natasha what happened, just as a migraine took over head, and Nikole fell to the pavement. She saw Natasha take the keys to Nikole's car out of her hand, but seemed too hesitant to run.
Nic caught herself on the the car next to her and tried to get herself together. Her sight readjusted to reality, allowing her to spot a tire iron inside. Natasha was being grasped by someone in a lightweight armor, originally a prototype for a more mobile firefighters suit, now being used as a weapon.
Nikole had lost her wit after getting knocked in the head. The only immediate action she could think was to swing away at the back of the capture. With one solid hit, sparks flew out the side of the panel, and Natasha ran to the outside in a panic. Nikole took one step forward before the damage in her head came back to bring her back to her knees.
Nikole was forced awake by a breath machine shoved to her face. She tried her best to keep her mouth forced closed, but her nostrils helpless to the fowl gas blowing down her throat. Her lungs did what it could to reject the expansion of toxic air. Nikole tried to at least make out the room around her, instead being blinded by a light with brightness only rivaled by the sun.
Her face was at last free from the mask. Nikole could finally take in oxygen and try to use her sore brain. She wasn't alone in the room, a fact only made apparent by the fist pulling her hair. She wouldn't dare open her eyes to the light again, hardly being blocked by her eyelids, but her head was kept still by the grip behind her head. She heard muttering in the background of a language she didn't understand.
“Tell me where she is.”
The voice directed at her didn't specify who 'she' was, it seemed self explanatory. As bleak as the situation was, there was a bit of hope in Natasha getting away in the end. If Nikole were close to the alley, it would just be a matter of waiting. But then, if that where the case, they should have been here before she came to. It didn't seem likely that her torturers wouldn't leave the scene of the crime. There was know way she could make a break for it, even if she managed to get her hair free, there were possibly a dozen people around to stop her.
The machine was pushed back to her face. She made an attempt to push the mask off, something she had no hope of doing while holding her breath. Even when she managed to break the seal, the pressure was too strong to let any breathable air in. Nikole was going weaker at the second, and she turned just desperate enough to try to stop her panicking. Her chest felt as though it was going to burst open. She did her best to blow the gas out of her throat, even though being deprived of oxygen confused her into nearly thinking there wasn't and air keeping her diaphragm stretched.
She had to have had the machine to her face for longer then last time by now. She tried to count in her head, if only to keep her from another panic. It was never made a point for her to hold her breath for longer then a few seconds. She twitched her fingers to each number she reached. Even spacing out every number with a “1000”, she reached the end of both her hands and started over. Taking into account the time before she started counting, she must have gone 40 seconds without breathing. She wondered if they even intended to let her breath again. It nearly impossible to keep from rushing her counting, at least that's what she hoped when she reached 10 seconds another 3 times. Her lips numbed and would no longer stay closed. Counting was brought to a halt, as though that would be enough to stop all of time.
The mask was finally lifted, and Nikole was forced to cough from the change in air. Her dry throat collected as much air as it could gasp. It occurred to her she couldn't tell where Natasha had gone if she wanted. What would happen if no one else comes? There's no way she could survive longer and longer intervals without air. They may just let that happen if it becomes clear she is without use. Nikole was almost disturbed to see that the sign of acceptance, that her entire experience among the living had shown itself for a single instant. Among all of the poverty, starvation, disease, conspiracy, and war she triumphed over, it wasn't until she became among the highest social classes she could imagine when they would finally get her.
It was rather amusing to, for once, let go of her instinct for survival. Whoever it was keeping her in one place, how cute of them to have found a way to break her for good. A mild chuckle started to manifest in Nikole. Her eyes popped open and embraced the fire they contacted. Every little facet of her predicament, from the hairs slowly snapping of her head, to her ruined evening dress, added to the comedy of her new found mortality.
She made one big breath in preparation of a storm of laughter, only to have the machine shoved back at her. Again, she grabbed it, only this time to force it shut on her head. Her eyes stayed fixated on the light as she maintained an inhumanly gaping smile. It was no longer a matter of being unable to give in, it was all to damn those who thought she would betray her past after all this time. Overtel could not touch Nic Carlo, so why believe for a second that anyone else could.
The grip on her head was released, Nic dropped on her back, her eyes still effected by the light. Releasing her hands from the mask was out of the question. In fact, her attempt to do so only farther locked them in front of her face. Her conscience began to fade again, despite her feeling wide awake. She succumb to her own autopilot and drifted off at about the same time she stood completely.
After feeling time go by without memory, her chronology caught up to her. The first thing she saw was a window with daylight seeping threw. She gathered that the bed wasn't hers by the beeping on her right side. She saw her heart rate next to an iv, and a desk calender to her left, displaying the date to be three days ahead of what she last remembered. Her instinct was to grab it, as though she hadn't seen the date right. After several attempts to reach it, she realized that her wrists were strapped to the frame of the bed.
The realization of being other than herself for days left an island of humiliation among a sea of depression. She waited desperately for a nurse to come, especially to be interviewed, to find out what happened while she was away. Acting calm and rational would hopefully lead to freedom from the bed, and then a day or two to prove that she regained her sanity would mean she would be able to walk outside again. Her placement in a traditional hospital implied that she never did anything unspeakable, nothing that would charge her of a crime. As much as she wanted to believe that no one else was hurt from whatever happened to, she felt suspicious that she was so fortunate. That she would have any bit of comfort outside of simply not getting caught.
Probably going to get back to writing present day things, but until then I might as well finish some back story. But for now, imma go get burgs.
:burger:burger:burger:burger:burger:burger:burger: burger:burger ok thats enough
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