"He's humiliating me! I swear I'm not going to lose!" Poodle screams.
He enters the second lap, and Takeshi ganders into his rearview mirror.
Takeshi comes to a halt, and his tires squeal. Smoke fills the crowd.
"He's doing this while he's in the lead?" Vulcan announces confusion evident.
"OVERDRIVE!!!"
Takeshi soars forward, making his lead even bigger than before.
In one swoop he passes the first turn, before slowing down slightly. Poodle develops a temper, and full throttles passing the first turn of the second lap.
"Right if I keep up this pace I should be able to catch up." Poodle says.
"Even though I'm behind a whole turn I should be able to make a comeback!"
"You tried to embarrass me now look where you are!" Takeshi brags.
"I'm destroying you"
The crowd changes suddenly, They all quit cheering and one voice rings out from the crowd.
Then another and another, until eventually the only word that's heard is "Takeshi, Takeshi, Takeshi!"
Takeshi is overwhelmed with joy, but stays focused and nears the third turn, seeing the finish line is in sight he is Ready To Win!
Poodle enters the second turn, then drifts to conserve momentum.All while Takeshi is placed three inches away from the third turn!
"Why aren't they cheering my name, Fuck you all, you just switch up on me like this."
Takeshi passes through the third turn going a decent speed, he looks through his rear mirror. Then looks back down.
"My lead is massive, I'm near the finish line…"
"This is the best feeling ever!!!"
Across from the finish line is where Takeshi stands. Takeshi appears as a giant spider while Poodle is a tiny cricket waiting to be digested.
Takeshi regains his full throttle, and soars. Poodle enters the third turn, he's going at record speed.
Poodle exits his drift, and surpasses full throttle. He shifts gears going even faster, and he is now only a few meters from Takeshi!
"He's about to pass me, I know damn well I'm not losing my debut!"
Poodle catches up, Takeshi slows down slightly to shift gears, Poodle takes the lead.
8 meters away from finish line.
Takeshi accelerates, and is placed side by side to Poodle.
5 Meters
Poodles heart skips a beat.
1 Meter
And finally, the war is over.
4 Black marks cover the finish line.
One winner one loser.
Takeshi exits his car, and stands proud. The sun glimmers across his face, He raises his arm to block the bright light.
The man raises both arms towards the heavens.
"I WOOOOOONNNN!"
Takeshi has claimed victory in his debut match, and moves on to the second round of the tournament!
Gooman exits the stands and walks to his car. He watched the whole match.
As Gooman is driving back to the training track, he's thinking about Takeshi's match.
"There's no way he just came out as this good of a racer. Poodle was an overtake specialist and Takeshi destroyed him."
"He cut off almost every single attempt by poodle."
"Takeshi Kano, where did you come from to be this good at racing?"
Later that night Takeshi is lying in bed. He's staring at the ceiling unable to sleep.
"This was the most fun in a day I've ever had."
"this was the best day of my life!"
Takeshi is terrified. He slows down a ton. Loud engines and crowd cheering surround him.
"Where am I?"
Takeshi puts pedal to metal and speeds up.
He looks in front of him seeing a car he recognizes, "That's huntsman!"
"I have no clue what's going on but I'm not giving up!"
Takeshi nears huntsman, and breaks slightly, then accelerates left, and full throttles.
Takeshi and huntsman are side by side, now he taps his breaks and shifts gears. Takeshi is passed up.
Takeshi now in a higher gear swiftly rally's Huntsman. The two rally through the first two turns of the final lap.
At the end of exchange, Takeshi takes the lead. He hurls passed the third turn and maintains his lead.
The finish lines in sight!
He looks in his rear mirror, then gets a weird feeling.
Takeshi is jerked up, awoken from his dream.
He shakes his head, his heart still pumping strong. It's now daytime, so he heads to the shower.
Later that day he's sparring with one of his fellow racers on the team. Takeshi is winning with a massive lead.
After passing the finish line Shiba and Takeshi sit side by side, glass bottle in hand.
"So Takeshi can you answer a question it's been on my mind lately." Shiba asks.
"Yeah what is it?"
"How did you become so good at racing if you just started."
Shiba takes a swig.
"It's simple, I've been training for almost two years on a daily basis!"
Shibas eyes widen and he sets down his drink.
"Two years?! He told us he hasn't raced before besides swimming."
"Who is this guy to be motivated this long."
Shiba walks away, his hand shaking slightly. "He's not a noob, he's been doing this longer than me."
That day at the Forrest track, Takeshi had done 15 more overdrives than normal.
"I need to invent a new move for my next match! Otherwise I could… Lose"
His goal is to shorten down the move as much as possible but his attempts are futile.
After a wasted day of practice he goes home incomplete.
"I only have 1 week until my match, I have to take this seriously."
"Since the coach couldn't get the tape of my opponents match we don't know who my opponent is."
"Or more importantly how he races."
"My only solution is too spar as many people as I can in this week."
"I need too prepare for anything"