The Grey Desert

07.ghosts from the past… Final

2009-07-04T09:21:00.003-03:00

An empire without enemies, some would say as looking upon them. That was by far the worst reality for a racing team. How do you strive to be the best, when you are already at the top, and the only possible way is down? Looking down the horizon, the Feroci members knew what awaited them from now on, and even thou no other team around was able to defeat them, nor even dreaming of reaching their level anytime soon. The idea of not having a worthy challenger was uneasy.

Within their return to the highways, not a month passed till both Wangan routes were dominated, quickly restoring back their position as one of the legendary teams. Every possible challenger was subdued under their strength and none of the new and old active teams posed a threat to them. Strategic wise, this was a perfect situation, both for their name and their business, as the team shop were never this full before, with people avid for having a piece of their craftsmanship imbued on their own cars.

But for the racing team, the signs of the calm times started to ask for their dues. As the time passed, the eroding notion of their problem claimed its price. History always proves that no empire is eternal, and Feroci was nowhere different on that aspect. History was about to follow its course, one way or another…

At first it wasn’t noticeable, every once and while members would leave to pursue their own ambitions. Some would become test drivers for some major car companies, others, would end up being mechanical consultants or even going on with their regular lives. That was a normal thing, it never affected the team. As Rumors went, as long Feroci has still one active member, they would still be unbeatable. But then meetings were becoming sparse, and the number of members was always diminishing… The team was dying… dying from inside.

From outside, most of people could not understand why this was happening, after they were the strongest team around. But for few, being strong was the problem, and Feroci, they were too strong! They became unreachable. So powerful that people would consider racing them a privilege, not a challenge. That was simply not right.

By the end of a year, almost all regulars had left, only the veterans sticking in. Most of the time, they would end up either racing each other to test their own setups, or partaking secluded meetings inside their shop, chilling around on their own way. Growing fat and soft some would say…

Their incredible team was no more... and that was the chance someone was waiting to happen…

06.ghosts from the past… pt.03

2009-06-27T06:27:00.005-03:00

The Tokyo Police Dept waged war on the highways… and for long, many were caught off-guard and stripped of their domains.

But time passed…

Within time, less and less police cars could bee seen on the highways. It was notorious, and expected, that the Tokyo Police Dept couldn’t hold such operations for such long time, and, with them slowing down their activities, soon life started to come back to its original pace.

At the usual gathering spots, night after night, people would be able to see the return of wangan regulars, as well the appearance of new faces. Tuned cars from several degrees of performance and looks could be seen after each night. Soon, small race teams reappeared, with renovated ranks to replenish lost members.

Everything seemed going fine. People were back in the action, slowly but steady, things even seemed safer, with racers being more cautious about when and where they would set their races. The whole matter of not rising up the police awareness over them was being taken very seriously. And for some, it was paying off. Setting races on the very late hours of the day was making them able to set some nice time records on several sections of the highway.

But still, even with all this action, going on, for all that was worth, something was still missing…

Within months of the “aperture” of the highways, people started noticing the lack of certain race teams, teams that news told that they escaped from the gripes of police and went into hiding to protect themselves, but somehow decided to not come back after the dust settled down. Normally this wouldn’t be much of a problem if the involved ones were one of the several minor teams that exist around. But the ones missing were the four legendary ones.

None could explain why they didn’t show up after such long time. Rumors grew around, with stories ranging from main members turning into professional racing to leaders declaring disbandment. On Shinkanjyo, the Bayside Blue* were claimed to be retired after most of its members were stripped of their cars in a massive police raid. On Yokohama, the members of Office prestige were seemingly active, but none seemed interested in partaking racing again, as they seemed pleased with organizing car meets and tracks days, not really a surprise considering their vip sedans. Over C1, the powerful Kanjyo Ocelots were happy within racing on their own academy course back at their school HQ.

This left a whole room of space for newcomers to set their marks and gain their ground, bringing up to notoriety teams like the Shinbuya Nitro-Boys, RB Squad, Sorciere Elite Magicians, Crimson Rotary and Midnight Orochi.

But on wangan, things were different…

Wangan was Feroci, always. Around the highways, that was considered an immutable truth. When the police struck down with force, they were the only ones who did not run, did not hide. With the help of friends on several important positions and people experienced with such situations among their ranks, they managed to pass through the storm unscratched. And once everything was back to normal, they came in with force…

New cars, new members, new records. It seemed that the face off against 「Tokyo’s Fastest」 only fueled them with more power. On the first week of their return, all the lesser challengers were wiped out in a streak that felt like someone angered God itself. On the second week, they were back at the top, undefeated in every way. Still, many couldn’t help but notice, that some veteran members were amiss…

Specially that one, involved on that accident…

Continue...

05.ghosts from the past… pt.02

2009-02-14T16:55:00.002-02:00

The Tokyo Police Dept went on war on the highways…

Tired of seeing the barbaric behavior from where the street racers tried to impose their supremacy among other drivers, leaving several innocents injured on accidents all around the highways, they orchestrated a plan to put an end on everything. The Operation Backstab.

Going directly over the teams would result in nothing. They knew they didn’t have the necessary resources and evidences to convict most of the street racers. The only way to win this battle was to destroy them from inside. To that, selected officers would have to become what they hated most in order to succeed, and that was not an easy task.

For months, a selected group of high skilled officials were unofficially trained on racing schools, acting as weekend track-day drivers looking for a bit of training. For their rides, apprehended illegally modified vehicles from ex street racers, who were unlucky to be caught on one of the several roadblocks set on the highways. Soon, these officers were racing the highways, wandering around, taking down on some competition, and being able to show some serious skills learned through their training. These new players made a name for their selves. Being able to be recognized once they showed up on the usual race spots. The most famous one was Katsushiro Uenada, a loose gun who managed to beat one of the members of Ocelots on their proving grounds. Even thou he never joined one of the teams who invited him, he still managed to gather a small fan club over the display of his skills. Secure of their position among the street racers, officers decided to take the next step into the operation, collecting evidence.

Every street racer that crossed their way were catalogued, their cars, pictured. Soon the police had info about almost all active teams, and even rumors about inactive ones. Some street racers were even followed home, establishing their links with local shops and other venues used as meeting points. Teams depictured completely, with members and leaders properly investigated. This job took months, but once done, they advanced more and more into the operation’s final steps.

First, lesser teams started disappearing. Many thought that the natural highway selection was the one to be blamed, as the competition was really though with stronger teams eating up the weaker ones on a daily basis. But soon, higher profile teams started to being affected, their meetings were cracked down, with several people being busted, receiving huge fines and having their cars apprehended. Surprise roadblocks were made on the highway, taking down many others. The ones that escaped from being caught on the highways were visited at their homes and confronted with evidence. Only a few managed to escape from being arrested.

Racing now was nowhere possible. Teams who once reigned supreme over the roads now were in hiding. Wanderers disappeared. Even the craziest racers who were always challenging the cops dared to show up on the highway anymore. Anywhere you would look, at anytime you expect, there would be a cop car around, looking for street racers. With that scenario, many teams ended up retiring, other, still wanting to have some fun, went legal and started racing on circuits and sanctioned events. The highway was there, empty for anyone crazy enough to take it. But the price to own it at such times was too high to worth the effort…

But time passed…

Even thou with the great results they achieved, the Police Dept couldn’t maintain such larger scale operation for a long time with the resources they had. So it was only a matter of time for them to call it off. And, after considering the results achieved, they were assured that they could leave the highways for a while, as the amount of active teams were almost nonexistent.

This was a new beginning for the survivors, but still a dangerous one… Even thou the police slowed down their activities, people were still aware of their presence. Many knew that several unmarked cars were roaming the roads now, and even in less numbers, they were a nuisance to be dealt with. Slowly, the activity along certain areas started to come back to its normal, meeting points moved, finding new places away from the knowledge of the cops.

The race to redraw the domains of Wangan was on.

Continue…

04.ghosts from the past… pt.01

2008-08-03T00:25:00.001-03:00

Weeks have passed since that dreaded day…

With the defeat still marked on their minds, the members of 「Tokyo’s Fastest」 gathered in the Daikoku rest area once more, to evaluate their position and problems… Still, within weeks passed since the event, everyone was still trying to understand what really happened. The feeling of despair could be felt in the thin cold air of the night. How could Suigoshi managed to lose under such advantageous circumstances?

This was a new situation for them, ever since they rose to the top, no other team managed to challenge their supremacy. Previously formed by Atsushi Kusaronada, the high profile car turner known as “The Executive”, 「Tokyo’s Fastest」 was a team composed by the finest exotic known in main Tokyo. Its wealthy members were notorious for never being afraid to invert any quantity of money on their rides, always having the last available parts and accessories of the market. In time, such investment paid off by giving them enormous vantages against other less wealthy and tuned teams. To them, the dominance of the highways was just a matter of time…

After defeating all other lesser teams, 「Tokyo’s Fastest」 was drawn to a point where a race against the Wangan’s fastest team was an inevitable fact. They were the last barrier between them and the complete dominance of Tokyo highways. Armed with his best members, “The Executive” paid a visit to the Feroci lot, expecting another easy win. He even brought his pristine black colored Mclaren F1, to celebrate his future conquest in grand style.

But that didn’t happen…

Against all odds, against all disbelief, they were taught what “fast” really meant. In a fierce battle around C1 outer, a clash that would be remembered for ages, a reddish small Mitsubishi Mirage UTE, one that was considered the weakest car among Feroci ranks, marvelously outrun the black F1. True balance defeated overpowerness .

Noone ever imagine such outcome for that race, which made people start to doubt if 「Tokyo’s Fastest」would ever be able to defeat Feroci. But that didn’t stop them from coming over, and over, and over. Each time stronger, more prepared, more fierce. Soon, they were able to race toe to toe with their opponents, but there were still something missing for them to gain the victory. Something that their opponents had by plenty.

It wasn’t power, it wasn’t technology, it wasn’t knowledge…

For a long time, after each race, Atsushi kept asking himself what was that they had of so special. Each race, he learned a bit more about their differences and similarities. Getting closer and closer to know what kept him away from his opponents’ level. But before he could get to an answer, a shady racing accident almost took his life, so as well the life of his opponent. The aftermath of it lead to a total chaos on the highways. With their leader in hospital, 「Tokyo’s Fastest」 slowly retreated till disappearing from the highways, giving space to all other previously defeated teams to regain their positions. Battles for supremacy took place over the various sections of the highway. Soon, all those action turned into accidents, many times involving innocents.

With this shattered scenario, the police came down hard on the highway, cracking down every possible meeting, arresting people who were involved in races. The situation started to became unbearable. Teams and wanderers started to disappear. Even the four legendary teams: Bayside Blue*, Ocelots, Office Prestige and Feroci had to take a time out on their activities, leaving the highway, once again, a empty place…

Continue…

03.in the silence…

2008-07-04T00:38:00.000-03:00

Rain… late night heavy rain…

As the highways get their natural cleansing, street racers are long gone. Speeding through wet roads is notoriously dangerous, and no one in sane mid wants to bring in a battered car back home. Daikoku gets empties than the normal under such weather, leaving the place with a comforting silence.

With the approach of the day hours, people disperse to prepare theirselves for their side lives. Even the so called “owners of Daikoku”, the 「Tokyo’s Fastest」 team is long gone. Nobody said that being a high profile CEO on some company does allow you to come to work late. Still, a small group of cars is gathered, in a very secluded area of the parking lot, away from curious onlookers. In this group, if there were any old-timers around, they would recognize the four well known machines from an extinct team, whose last breath was taken away by a mischievous scheme that now allows 「Tokyo’s Fastest」 rule the highways with iron fist yet in a reign shadowed by dishonor.

Feroci Racing was here

Back in the day, these guys were the true rulers of the highways, unbeatable ones. Racing against they were a privilege that few had a chance to taste. You couldn’t step up to them and demand a race. The best you would get is a chance trying to chase them down the highway. And even under those circumstances, the outcome was always the same, the view of their taillights fading into the horizon.

Inside a nearby coffee shop, a heated discussion was going on. Served with their cups and snacks, this small group was seemingly debating the last week events, specially a certain race…

“Why you had to smoke him? Now the will be all over you…” one well dressed man asked. Being actually the only one who wasn’t dressing a mechanic overall on the group. “For once I didn’t understand what the hell you were doing here so early to start with…”

“Ah c’mon, it wasn’t like that, if I really raced him, he wouldn’t see me right after the start, besides , I’ve had my reasons, they were getting too cocky and annoying for my likeness…” one of the guys replied, looking to be the center of the discussion of the night. “Also, I don’t know why you guys are so worried about; first, ever since their former leader left they are nowhere near what the real 「Tokyo’s Fastest」 team where. Anyone here could beat their entire team alone. Second, the accident is past, I recovered for it. And third, no one has ever seen the Pi ever since I took care of their leader… I don’t see how this would be a problem now…”

“Heh, you haven’t changed a bit, you are still one mean no brain crazy bastard…” another guy exclaimed, bursting the group into laughs and more jokes, lighting up the mood of them. For the rest of the meeting they kept discussing their cars, setups, something that for anyone from outside would consider it as one of their usual team meets, held at the end of every good race.

But this one wasn’t... For they, this was a farewell meet…

As they left the coffee shop, they gathered around their cars. In silence, one by one, the stickers emblemizing the colors of their team were removed and ripped apart, meaning that for now on, at four hours and twenty seven minutes of a monday morning, Feroci Racing, despise all know data and rumors about it, ceased to exist…

But, would it, truly be the end?

02.freedom…

2008-04-27T14:42:00.001-03:00

Tokyo, past midnight, Daikokou rest area…

Tension…

Tension so strong and lively, almost like a living being… the air smelled like tension… 「Tokyo’s Fastest」 would finally have the answers of their inquiries, being they good or not. Parked next to the area where the late night truckers rendezvous, away from the rest of the crowd, the Mirage was silent. Its owner, resting near it, was sipping a small cup of coffee, enjoying what could be one of the last moments of peace he would have, because after tonight, he knew that everything would change…

A man approaches him, seems like an emissary from his opponents. They chat for a bit and agree on the race route, going out in direction of Tokyo going through Yokohama, till they reach the beginning of C1, a short route, but a smart one, with more than enough to measure anyone’s power right from the beginning. Starting on Yokohane North Bound, the route would be filled with long straights with low banked corners. Cars with big engines were notorious to reach speeds above 300km/h over there, making the place look more like a speed test track than a highway. Cops long gave up patrolling the area for racers, as they were never able to pursue them with their factory tuned patrol cars. It was a perfect scenario for a show…

Within the time chosen for the race approaching, more and more people were draw to the rest area, tuned cars of several models and levels were able to be saw around, just waiting to see who 「Tokyo’s Fastest」 would choose to race the mysterious guy. Suigoshi Kogawa offered himself to race the guy. To his mind, his well tuned Lamborghini Gallardo SE was more than enough to handle his opponent. Equipped with a last gen ceramic twin-turbo system, pushing up to 680PS, the AWD machine was perfectly balanced to expose an excellent cornering ability even on the highest speeds. Still, among the 「Tokyo’s Fastest」 ranks, he wasn’t one of the fastest ones, even thou he never lost a race against anyone who wasn’t from his team. As “entry level” as he was, people still feared racing him…

Suigoshi was the best for this moment, some people thought, he had the power, he had the skill and he was driving a well named exotic. Nothing could beat that combination… or at least that was what they thought…

From the other side of the rest area parking lot, at the time combined for the race, an engine could be heard staring. The faint, thing silence that permeated the air was shattered by loud explosion, followed by high pitched idling noise. Creeping from its usual parking spot, the Mirage sounded different. The well know faint grumble that everyone was used to hear while the car was moving in and out of the rest area was nowhere to be found… all that was left was this guttural, devilish sound…

He kept his pace, moving over to the exit of the pa, where his opponent waits. A sea of cars follow him, seems that the event gained more interest than the expected. He parks near Suigoshi Gallardo, who jumps out to greet him.

“I’m Kogawa, Suigoshi, I’ll be your opponent for tonight’s race” he said with a smirk on his face. “May I know your name?”

The driver of the Mirage turned its engine off, and jumped out of it. Starring everyone around him, his dark brown eyes were filled with anger and sadness, clearly expressing how much he didn’t want to do that…

“I’m Ozymandias… that’s all you need to know…” he said with a saddened voice, before restarting his engine…

Nothing more was left now… both cars made their way to the highway, a sea of colorful cars followed them. No race was so anticipated like this one, and everyone wanted a piece of it for memory. A amalgamate of engines could be heard from the distance, crawling up the on-ramp, several contenders from several teams can be seen, even some rare to see around wanderers showed up. But nothing of that is important. As soon as they hit the highway, two cars disengage from the group, cruising through the Rainbow Bridge rolling up to 100km/h… they see the exit to the path that leads to Yokohane North Bound…

… And it’s on.

The Lamborghini shoots forward, being quickly trailed by the Mirage. Other fast cars follow suit, keeping a certain distance. They enter Yokohane North Bound nearing 250km/h. with the Gallardo in the lead. Suigoshi presses on. He shifts from 3rd to 4th gear. A blue flame of unburned fuel is produced on his hot exhaust before the twin turbo kick in. His speedometer flys up, reaching 297km/h in mere seconds, he pressed more, shifts from 4th to 5th, 334km/h… he just disappears from everyone’s sight, even loosing the Mirage from his rear view mirror.
His confidence is boosted sky high. He knew that no one would able to catch him after such start, nor be able to keep up with him at such speed. Holding back against him was just insanity. And the way he opened such lead demonstrated that his opponent was no match for him…

But he wasn’t right this time…

Minutes deep into Yokohane, he feels a dark vibe through his skin… “This can’t be” he thinks, as a pair of yellowish headlights creep over his mirror. “It can’t be him!” he swears, steeping harder on the gas pedal. Giving his twin-turbo Gallardo everything he could, pushing his speed to nearly 370km/h…

But no avail...

Like a demonic reaper hunting its prey, he starts hearing the notorious high pitched noise of the Mirage, coming closer, growing into something unnatural, devilish. Within seconds from appearing on his mirrors, the dark colored UTE reached and rocked past him with no signs of slowing down, only gaining. The air pressure pushed by it was so immense that it even rocked the Gallardo out its track, forcing Suigoshi to fight his steering wheel to avoid a crash. He tried to give it a chase, pushing his car more, but with the rev needle already over the redline mark, he knew he was maxed… ahead of him, the mirage quickly pulls away, disappearing from his sight…

“I can’t believe it…” he thinks looking at the empty road ahead him. Lifting his foot from the throttle, he pulls in on the emergency lane. Not understanding what exactly happened, the only thing he knew was that 「Tokyo’s Fastest」 suffered its first loss… now everything was going to be different…

They let the demon go free…

01.lone racer…

2008-04-02T22:07:00.001-03:00

Tokyo, past midnight, Daikokou rest area…

Blooming with life, “hashiriyas” from all around gather for another night of thrills, clubs, teams, wanderers... Everyone looks for a race, prancing around on their tuned rides. Sedans, coupes even random wagons can be found among then. In a constant movement, vehicles come and go, challenging their selves through the highway night inside…

In a place like this, it’s hard to not be swept away by the beauty of some of these machines, pure mechanical marvels capable of reaching incredible speeds. Some even named their selves after this attribute, going great lengths to uphold and prove it. Within time, legends on these city tracks appeared, names started to be made. And everything followed its natural flow…

Till they appeared…

Team [Tokyo’s Fastest]…

Like a tidal wave they invaded, armed impeccable exotics that were tuned to the near perfection, they attacked with an unstoppable force, moving over anything that opposed them. From the weakest to the strongest, everyone was crushed under their almighty speed and sleazy tactics, till only the very best were left. But that wasn’t enough to impede them from claiming the rest area as their domain. Everyone who entered there could feel who owned the place, and soon they would be all paying respects to them.

Except for one guy…

He never showed any respect other than simple politeness towards the other racers, usually showing up at very unusual hours, he would be often seen coming to the rest area when most of the people would be going home, making the visitors of the area almost unaware of his presence. He would come, park, get 2 cans of iced coffee from one of the machines and head back to the highway… just to come hours later, from then he would vanish again. Normally, this wouldn’t be something to catch anyone’s attention if it wasn’t for his car.

Dark Sakura was the name of its color, a shade of red that felt like having a demon enshrined on it. The body, crafted from an old C73A Mitsubishi Mirage Coupe body, was turned into a speedy truck, which was an impressive yet strange sight to common onlookers, more so the bolted on wide fender flares. The rear held an aero setup capable of holding a small plane on the ground, yet was subtle with a low profile shaped wing and custom designed air diffuser. Whereas on the front, huge air intakes were responsible from feeding air to the enormous and apparent intercooler and front brakes, being the last ones carefully fitted on Advan Racing RS rims prancing Advan A048 racing tires…

But as expected, even thou he would show up when almost no one was around, with car’s looks, people would be often draw to it. People interested into knowing what he was packing, how fast he was, or even wanting to challenge him, but with polite answers, all those questions were denied for their answers, within time, they realized that even thou he was surrounded by mystery, he was just another guy trying to enjoy himself and his ride, so they let him be…

But not those guys…

To [Tokyo’s Fastest] he was saw as a threat. This was their new domain, a place where they would dictate the rules, and, having someone whose power was unknown to them was unacceptable threat. So soon they started harassing him, scouting the guy up and down the highway, challenging him… but whenever they meet, he would deny it, take the first highway exit, and disappear for the rest of the night.

This was driving them nuts. Attention started to be draw to it. Everybody wanted to know who was the guy whose [Tokyo’s Fastest] wanted to race so bad… with that, more and more people started chasing him on the highway, trying to discover why he was so special… everyday he would have to dodge waves and waves or challengers, slowly taking away his pleasure of driving… until it happened…

No one knew how to explain it, or how it even happened, on the middle of the night a challenge was finally accepted, and a race ensued. [Tokyo’s Fastest] would finally have their answers; people would have their show…

But… whose show would it be…

00.there was a time...

2008-04-01T01:52:00.002-03:00

There was a time… back in the day, where things were simpler…
People were simpler, work was simpler, life was simpler…

Cars were simpler…

Tokyo was a blooming place, ready to accept anyone who had the will and skill to endure its challenges. You opened a shop, worked hard, built a good car and soon people would know you nationwide… There was commitment, there was friendship, and most important of all… there was respect…

But that was a time… a gone time…

The highway is not as sacred as it was, its asphalt is tainted now. With the arrival of the new age, lost were the old traditions, the untold rules. The new blood claims its space ruthlessly, poisoning everything its touches. Engaging a clash of forces that go beyond time… A time… back in the day…

When things changed…