Team AA (Double Ace)

Chapters

Prologue: Hakuba region
Hondo (本土) Stage Intermission 0.5: Team Mugen
Hondo (本土) Stage STAGE 1: Lift Off (Hien VS Nose Shunt)
Hondo (本土) Stage STAGE 2: Descent (Zero vs Civic)
Hondo (本土) Stage: Intermission 2.5: Competition
Hondo (本土) Stage STAGE 3: Still Rising Stars (Hien vs Hayabusa)
Hondo (本土) Stage STAGE 4: Burning Remnants (Zero vs Hayabusa)
Hondo (本土) Stage Intermission 4.5: Old Wounds
Hondo (本土) Stage STAGE 5: Equalizer (Hayabusa vs Integra)
Hondo (本土) Stage Intermission 5.5: Haunting Power
Hondo (本土) Stage STAGE 6: Friendly Rivalry (Zero vs Hien)

Prologue: Hakuba region

FiM: Team AA(Double Ace)

Prologue: Hakuba region

On the North-Easternmost part of Equestria lies a region that, while integrated into Equestria’s rule, fiercely holds onto their original culture. Not a lot is known about the region, except for the fact that the region is protected by the ruler of the area, an alicorn in brilliant white, determined to protect the surrounding lands from whatever is hurled their way. The locals aren’t allowed to say her real name (it’s deemed disrespectful), but they are allowed to say her honorific name, and they say it with unmatched pride.

“She is none other than- HAKUBA-SAN!” The region was named after her honorific name, the staunch defender of the region.

To many ponies today, the name “Hakuba region” goes hand in hand with “bucket full of mountains”, some of which often have well-laid routes for non-pegasi to get up and down, snaking towards the peak, and racing towards the bottom again. Convenient? Definitely. Safe to use? Covered, with iron fences, given low, reasonable cruising speeds. The routes are meant to only be used by non-pegasi, but pegasi take it one step further.

The pegasi living near the mountains tend to use these routes for high-speed, technique-intensive, no doubt dangerous racing. Hakuba is well aware of this, but leaves the racers unbothered because the races are often organised. I won’t lie, the pegasi of Hakuba region are a very kind lot. At the two ends of the routes, pegasi stand by to take non-pegasi up or down the mountain whenever a race is underway, and they made sure that the route was clear of non-pegasi before starting this risky run. Most risk their lives for the fun of it, but some take it very seriously, racing purely for supremacy of the mountains, seeking to be the fastest.

All the mountains of the Hakuba region have their own racing team, except the Twin Mountains of Mt. Mitsubishi and Mt. Nakajima, two mountains that actually look like twins: The same yellow-green grass with the top being bare rock, the same height, nearly next to each other. However, it is home to a skilled, yet slightly aged flyer, Hayabusa. He speeds up and down the Mt. Nakajima route very often and, while having little experience in the Mt. Mitsubishi route, once defended both mountains against rival teams alongside friend and legendary flyer, Kyuu Roku. Even though he is still capable of racing, however, there is a problem.

Hayabusa strictly refused to race again under the normal circumstances ever since Kyuu Roku got his wings injured beyond healing after a disastrous race against Team Amemiya’s downhill ace, Ray Enigma, at Mt. Matsuda, home to the most dangerous mountain pass in all of Equestria to race on. It dealt a permanent, crushing blow to Hayabusa’s feelings, which could have been drastically worse if Kyuu Roku died in the incident. He is still upset about it and won’t race with that in his mind, even when Team Mugen is basically knocking at the door at Mt. Mitsubishi.

That would conclude that Team Mugen has nobody to challenge. But Team Mugen insists that they challenge two pegasi, one for the hillclimb, another for the downhill. Not one was able to convince them to call the race off.

Who, then, will Team Mugen race against? Which side will win?

This is MLP: FiM: Team AA (Double Ace)

Hondo (本土) Stage Intermission 0.5: Team Mugen

Hondo (本土) stage Intermission 0.5: Team Mugen

MLP: FiM: Team AA

Intermission 0.5: Team Mugen

“It has been 3 hours and nobody has come to challenge us. I’m asking one more time: WHO WILL FACE US?!” The booming sound of Team Mugen’s hillclimb ace, Nova Expert, echoing all over Mt. Mitsubishi, suited up in a clean white uniform and ‘無’ for the suit’s cutie mark, with his blunt maroon nose, ears and wings sticking out of it, and black, somewhat messy hair, while the downhill ace, Divine Civics, looked aimlessly at the sky with his blank and neutral eyes, and yellow body that didn’t mix too well with his white uniform, with ‘眼’ for a cutie mark, and black, tidy hair, not caring about whatever Nova spitted out.

The locals knew of Kyuu Roku’s tragedy and didn’t want to injure Hayabusa’s feelings any further by sending him into the fray, but who else, other than him, could possibly stand a chance against these two? The locals that gathered around looked at each other, looking concerned. None of them were confident of ever beating Team Mugen in a touge.

While it is true that Hayabusa didn’t race on regular circumstances anymore so that it didn’t give him memories of Kyuu’s accident, it troubled him to see all the locals in a quiet panic at Team Mugen’s threat.

Then, in the midst of the crowd, a voice called out:

“You want a challenge?! Here is your contender!”

The crowd went silent, and Team Mugen watched closely at the mare who slowly walked out into the open… She has a smooth body with light grey tinted fur and a somewhat dark greenish, ponytailed mane, and two black eyes with two black irises to compliment, and wings burning in an orange aura for a cutie mark.

Nova, in a mocking tone, replied to the mare:

“Hehe…, and what do we have here?”

“Don’t you say ‘hehe’ to me, you bully! I’m here to challenge the hillclimb, just so that you can shut up and leave us alone!”

“Aw, look at her, the mare who wants to be a heroine. Being in a rage will only make you lose, hothead.

"In short, you’re up. Anyone want to challenge Civic here?”

“I volunteer this stallion!” The mare then raised the hand of the stallion in pale yellow just next to her, but in her fit of rage, she didn’t realise that she had just picked one of the slowest pegasi in Mt. Mitsubishi. The stallion in pale yellow fur, with a blue-white-blue stripe hair color scheme, and eyes similar to that of Civic’s, and a WW2 Japanese roundel with “万” inside it for a cutie mark, jumped in shock that he was chosen, but remained silent about it.

“What do you think, Civic? He looks easy enough to beat for you?”

“Alright, I think the locals had enough of your rudeness, Nova. Hey, stallion. Don’t mind him, he’s like that. I’m looking forward for our race.”

“Alright. Hayabusa will be left alone. But you two? Be sure to be here tomorrow, especially you, you hot-headed stone brick.”

The mare was in the verge of exploding, which would definitely happen if the stallion didn’t calm her down.

The downhill challenger happened to be the mare’s best friend in high school, and he understood that she was in a very disturbed state of mind to even think straight, and managed to make her fully calm and cool again after they had a can of Tamashi soda.

“Hey, uh…, Zero. Sorry for putting you in this mess. It’s just that, I can’t grab a hold of myself whenever I get angry, and that doesn’t happen often.”

“Hien, it’s ok. I knew you were going to do that, anyway. But I don’t think Team Mugen will accept a switch now. Well, with Nova being so rude and hot-headed… No matter, I’ll do my best for the downhill. You do the same.”

“Thanks for forgiving me. It’s not often that I am forgiven for my mistakes.”

Zero gave a warm, but weak smile towards Hien, who shyly looked away for a moment, giving a smile back to Zero without his notice.

==================================================================================================================

That night, Zero was sitting idly in his house; an onigiri shop-turned two-storey house that was painted white and had one large window on the second floor where Zero's room is located. In front of the house is a stall where Zero's father, Kyuu Roku, a white pegasus with a red, short mane and a blue comet as a cutie mark, sells his onigiri. It was on the same village where Nova started the bickering, where all of the buildings looked vaguely similar to Zero's house.

Kyuu Roku was preparing for tomorrow’s batch of onigiri. It often gives Zero a sense of pity, seeing his father work very hard for the sake of the family, all the while seeing his deformed, bandaged wings and looking at his face all tired, weary and very deserving of a long rest. Zero often helps as a delivery boy and he does his job very well and without rest, in turn giving Kyuu a sense of pity towards his hardworking son, but if it wasn’t for Zero, their business would have not received any profit and instead get break-evens. In a monthly basis, Hayabusa sends the Sentouki family (Kyuu and Zero) money to help them in their life, and pay for Zero’s final year in high school, despite Kyuu and Zero’s constant rejection of the offer.

In a quiet, respectful voice, Zero began to speak:

“Father, have you heard of Team Mugen’s arrival to Mt. Mitsubishi?”

“Yes, why?” Kyuu raising an eyebrow with one eye looking at Zero, preparing the rice.

“Well, Hien put me in charge of dealing with Divine Civics, Team Mugen’s downhill specialist. We’ll be racing tomorrow at Mt. Mitsubishi.”

Kyuu paused for a moment, then looked at Zero with a curious face.

“Hm? You never liked going too fast. I remembered the time you tried to clear the Mt. Mitsubishi route when you were a bit younger with me, the pace of Mt. Mitsubishi was a bit too much for you to handle.”

“I remember that as if it was just yesterday. So embarrassing…”

Kyuu gave a small chuckle, as he prepared the seaweed.

“But no matter. I am part of the defending volunteer team of Mt. Mitsubishi now, and I will not let Team Mugen get past me… Not even Civic.” Zero started to shudder a little mentioning Civic’s name.

Kyuu turned his focus back to the onigiri. “Well, if you’re so sure, do your best tomorrow, Zero. Lucky you that tomorrow’s a day off for you.”

“Haha… yeah, lucky me, but I don’t want you to get too tired in your work, father.”

“Don’t worry about me. You’ve done a lot for me and our little shop, Zero. Why, if your mother was here right now, she would have been so proud of you from top to bottom… You better rest now, son. You’ve got a big day tomorrow.”

Zero tried to hold back his tears longing for his mother, who died from an accident high above Ashigaru pass, after being struck twice by lightning in a violent storm at the borders of the Hondo area. She died seconds after the incident, and neither Kyuu nor Zero could do anything about it. Only Kyuu knew her name, and for some reason won’t try to mention it, not even to his son, Zero. Gulping down his grief, Zero slept with the few tears that did escape his eyes that night.

“Mother, if only you are still here…”

Hondo (本土) Stage STAGE 1: Lift Off (Hien VS Nose Shunt)

Hondo (本土) stage STAGE 1: Lift Off (Hien VS Nova Expert)

MLP: FiM: Team AA Hondo Stage

STAGE 1: Lift Off (Hien VS Nova Expert)

Race day…

Hien, Nova, Zero and Civic gathered on the base of Mt. Mitsubishi route, hinting that the hillclimb race was to commence first. The locals that gathered yesterday have also gathered for the race that day.

“We meet again, hothead. Ready to lose badly?”

“You’ll be eating those words right after you eat my dust!!”

“Hmhm… That’s one great comeback if I ever heard one.”

“SHUT IT, CIVIC!”

“Just payback for threatening the locals here at Mt. Mitsubishi… So, which match will go first?”

Zero cut in to answer after a brief moment of silence between the flyers. “Since we’re at the base of this route, how about the hillclimb match go first?”

Civic nodded politely in acceptance, living up to his name. “Alright, the hillclimb shall go first. Behave yourself, Nova. Your poor manners are starting to annoy me.

"Downhill challenger, let’s go to the top of the route. You know, to prepare for the downhill.” Civic then flew to the top of the route, with Zero following suit.

The hillclimb was about to commence. The crowd that gathered round were cheering loudly at Hien, their possible saviour that might just send Team Mugen scurrying away, but the cheering also pumped Nova up. There were informers scattered everywhere on the route to keep track on the race progress, mostly on the corners, keeping in touch with the announcer at the starting and finishing point through fully functional walkie-talkies.

Hayabusa, the pegasus in dark green with a maroon, tidy mane, and a peregrine falcon for a cutie mark, was with one of the informers in this race at the first hairpin of the route, along with his friend Kamikaze, a jade pegasus with red, messy mane and a cherry blossom cutie mark that flies along Mt. Nakajima for leisure with his subpar skills.

Hien and Nova, standing right behind the starting line, waited for the pony to start the hillclimb. The starter pony then walked towards the front of the starting line. Walkie-talkies ready, the starter pony shouted to the crowd: “Let’s Begin!!” and started counting down from 10.

“I’ll make you wish you kept your mouth shut, hothead. You’re toast against me.”

“Speak for yourself.”

“3!...2!...1!...GO!!!”

The flyers boosted into the pass as they run through the first corner, with the screaming crowd behind them. Nova thought correctly that he’d burst into the lead, but didn’t expect the one thing that happened just after the initial boost.

'What the…?! She’s keeping up…! How could this be?!'

Nova made a serious mistake, what he thought would be a walk in the park became an intense hillclimb battle, as Hien began to aggressively catch up to Nova into the first hairpin.

Nova was the first to tackle the hairpin. Hayabusa observed closely to Nova’s cornering technique, and subtly showed a sense of displease. His reply to Hien’s cornering was very different – she cornered very close to the inner apex, nearly touching the rain gutters. Hayabusa could have smiled if the cornering was near perfect.

“Those two are very good flyers, yes?” Kamikaze spoke out.

“Nova’s approach to the corner was anything but good. He went in too quickly and didn’t turn hard enough for the hairpin. As a result, he left the hairpin noticeably slowly.”

Hayabusa then tilted his head slightly down and squinted his eyes, showing that there was a good side in Nova’s flying.

“What does save his back is his knowledge of the Throttle Burst technique, a common technique mastered by the pegasi of Team Mugen, where the user flaps his or her wings twice as fast for a brief period of time whilst exiting a tight corner to fling him or her back into speed. The effect isn’t too subtle, but if used correctly, can significantly influence the outcome of a race, especially in a hillclimb. That alone, however, won’t save him, not if he is taking on the corner that badly. Strange, since flyers from Team Mugen tend to do it very well."

“So you’re saying that Nova is just one of Team Mugen’s students?”

“Maybe, Nova’s flying is a bit novice, or at least, that’s how I see it. Team Mugen’s leader, Civic, knows better than to send a novice into a battle. But I know him well, and I know that it’s easy to convince him to do things. Yesterday, Nova seemed very pumped up to challenge someone and Civic wasn’t even thinking of stopping him. That, and with his unbearable behaviour, it isn't a surprise Civic followed his direction. Obviously, it’s ending up in disaster for him because Civic knows better than to blindly challenge the locals on a mountain and expect to win, just because the mountain has no racing team. One must take into account if he is able to hold his or her own in a selected course without too much difficulty, and must also be weary that the mountain they are about to attack houses pegasi that almost always has the home advantage.”

“I see. And the challenger?”

”The challenger managed to tackle the hairpin quite well. A few rough edges to smoothen up, though, like her timing when on the approach, and the magnitude of her braking. I could see that she isn’t from here. Through careful observation, her flying style is more suited to the faster, but more relaxed Mt. Nakajima than to Mt. Mitsubishi.”

“Well, I leave it to you when it comes to figuring out how well they’re racing.”

“There’s more, and it’s to do with their bodies. Did you see Nova go out of control during that corner?”

“Out of control like…?”

“As he is exiting the hairpin, I saw him bank wildly to the right just to avoid hitting the mountain, just scraping the rocks, before doing a Throttle Burst.”

“No. Why?”

“Nova’s body is built to be stable only at high speeds, as I see it. In Mt. Honda, it won’t be a problem because that route has a near lack of any very slow corners. As such, Nova should be able to dominate Mt. Honda’s hillclimb.”

“But this is Mt. Mitsubishi, and the route here doesn’t allow a lot of room for high speed cornering, with all the tight hairpins here, especially after the second section.”

“Exactly, which is the very reason why Nova is struggling in this course. He is not very well trained, and his body just isn’t made for technique-based racing. If he did have proper training, he would have been able to cover his physical weakness with a technique, like the infamous “free drift” technique, or the easier “hoof slide” technique. Any frequent slow cornering and he’ll end up racing on hoof. Though it won’t matter anyway because his body isn’t given training enrichment in the field of wing stability. In other words, he is nothing more than a novice. A very pumped up novice that is racing for an already lost hillclimb.”

By the time they finished the talk, the match was already into the Second quarter. Hien was starting to close the gap even more. What stopped Hien from overtaking was that this quarter has very few tight turns and only one hairpin, which gave Nova a bit of breathing room as he tried in vain to think of a strategy.

'Even with this breathing space, it’s all going to disappear at the third section. I would be weakest at the twin hairpins of Mt. Mitsubishi, where the hairpins give a lot of room for an overtake. A simple Throttle Burst will only delay the inevitable… If I am to keep my lead throughout the touge, I need to pull away faster than this, much faster, or think of a strategy, something that time gives me little room for…!'

Nova started to perspire. He hadn’t been so tense in his life.

'Maybe Civic was right. I am not ready for a real touge yet, even an easy one. I shouldn’t have mocked that mare and threatened the locals with my shouting. I really did need practice before jumping straight into a battle… If only the great Hakuba-san could give me a restart on this week, maybe I could have stopped all this mess from happening in the first place…'

Nova prepared for one last stand for the third quarter.

'But, there are no restarts in life. I started this, I said I’ll win, I WILL win!'

Nova’s soul started burning ablaze, as he pushed himself beyond his limits, determined to win, soaring through the hairpin of the second quarter.

The informer on that quarter's hairpin spoke through her walkie-talkie, her face bright with joy and dying to tell the news to the locals listening with concerned, open mouths.

“This is informer of second quarter hairpin! The flyers have passed our position! The challenger is scavenging the situation for an opening and is leaving Nova’s pride shaking down to the ground! Our only question would be, will she ultimately put his wings to sleep? We are all rooting for our hillclimb challenger!”

Those who heard the broadcast were brimming with invigoration and excitement. Their silent prayers have been answered, and Nova is getting desperate.

The route returned into its winding state, with Hien aggressively charging at Nova, as they reached the end of the second quarter.

'This is crazy! Her cornering is so much better than mine. We’re nearing the middle of the third quarter and she’s tailing me like a shadow… My throttle burst technique can only take me so far and the final kilometres of the route are mostly short straights and tight corners… She’ll overtake me at any moment and the next overtaking point is 2 corners away. What do I do?'

'I might be able to pass him in the twin hairpins at the third quarter, then block him using the aerial drift technique to keep him there. The first hairpin at Mt. Mitsubishi’s hillclimb third quarter should allow for very easy overtaking if I’m fast enough…'

Meanwhile, at the top end, Civic and Zero were all ears to the informers through a local’s walkie-talkie. It was difficult to comprehend what the informers are saying with the crowd around them screaming with joy that Nova was sweating in the suspense. They did, however, manage to pick up what one informer is saying.

“This is informer on the section 3 hairpin 1, we’re currently picking up the sounds of 2 flyers. It seems like they’re very close together.”

Civic looked down with a hoof against his face: “I knew this would happen. That newbie wanted to participate in this campaign so badly and I accepted. He really doesn’t know how tough a touge can be, especially when you have to face the suspense of being tailed, which you simply have to ignore if you don’t want to make a mistake.”

Zero's mouth was still sealed shut, as always, understanding how Civic felt.

2 medium left turns passed and the forest cleared for the hairpins. Hien lied in wait for Nova to make a move and tackle the approach.

'He has nowhere to run now. Everything is set for the overtake.'

Nova was unaware of the upcoming danger that he was about to face. He blindly performed a “slow in, fast out” cornering, giving a critical opening for Hien’s setup.

'Now!'

Hien lunged to Nova’s side as they entered the hairpin. Nova skewed his wings to a vertical position to brake for the corner. The pace of the hairpin was enough to keep him aloft. Hien, on the outside curve, twitched a braking position as she cleanly overtook Nova, and before he had time to perform a Throttle Burst, Hien prevented the comeback with an aerial drift.

Nova started panicking the very moment he realised what just happened.

'Wh… What’s with this mare?!'

'Me? Shut up after you shouted at nearly everyone at Mt. Mitsubishi? Don’t make me laugh. I may be from Mt. Nakajima, but I also care for the locals over here!'

The same informer that informed Civic started showing great enthusiasm.

“This is informer on the section 3 hairpin 1! The flyers have passed this corner, with the challenger in the lead! She challenges Nova through the outside curve, and stops his comeback with a well-placed aerial drift! What technique!”

Hayabusa also picked up the news through the nearby informer’s walkie-talkie, smiling.

“And so, the truth unfolds.”

With Hien in the lead as the match reached the final quarter, Nova started to panic and was losing hope fast.

'Please make me snap out of this dream. I admit it. I admit that you’re fast, skilled and whatever. Just let me snap out of it, please!'

It wasn’t a dream, no matter how much Nova wanted it to be one.

The Final quarter of Mt. Mitsubishi’s hillclimb route was where Hien would completely demolish Nova. Tight, blind, consecutive corners are everywhere, absolutely no long straights and little room for Nova’s Throttle Burst, wasn’t Hien’s cup of tea, but it’s certainly not Nova’s. His bad dream was about to turn into a horrendous nightmare.

Back at the first hairpin, Hayabusa and Kamikaze was informed that the match was reaching the final quarter.

Kamikaze shivered in goose bumps: “Man, I hate that quarter…”

“It is no doubt that the final quarter here may be the ultimate separator between the flyers. The straights are near non-existent, and the corners are nearly all blind and directly connected to one another, not to mention that it’s the slowest part of the course. One must be careful not to bank too hard on this quarter, or it will have a serious effect on his or her overall time, as well as give him or her a bit of a concussion.” – Hayabusa made a small giggle – “Even I have issues trying to clear that part. Heck, not even Kyuu Roku can clear it without a single flop. He would always make that one mistake in trying to corner through that nearly impossible-to-master chain of corners.”

Hien entered the long chain of tight corners, struggling to even keep herself stable. As she banked hard continuously to the left and right, Hien started getting dizzy and began to teeter whenever she was on the straights. It was worse for Nova – he started to lose control of his flying at the first few blind consecutive corners and had no choice but to actually run on hoof on some of them just to keep going. Eventually Hien cleared the final obstacle of Mt. Mitsubishi’s hillclimb and headed into the last corner, with Nova still in the midst of the saw-jagged corners.

As Hien pulled out of the final corner, the crowd went crazy for her, cheering as loudly as they could, nearly completely dampening Civic and Zero’s voices, when Civic realised that Hien was on an imminent collision course towards Zero. Even when she saw that she was clearly about to crash into Zero, she sped on, afraid that Nova may be just behind her – afraid to look back.

Hien charged towards the finish line and crossed it, marking a victory in the hillclimb, with the crowd cheering even louder. Turning his head to the finish line, Zero turned his head towards Hien and saw her charging at him like a missile. In an attempt to screech into a halt, Hien curved her wings into a cup and slammed her hooves onto the track, but by then it was too late to prevent a collision. She bumped Zero, both falling to the ground.

Hien immediately got back up to her hooves, and quickly and sincerely apologised to Zero, while Civic helped Zero get back up on his hooves.

“Oh by the great Hakuba-san, I’m so sorry! Are you ok? Where does it hurt? Can you still move?”

Zero checked literally every limb of his body. His wings, legs, head, even his tail. “I’m fine.”

Seconds later, Nova arrived running along the final corner, filmed with sweat, with the crowd still cheering wildly, as he weakly flapped his wings to propel himself to the finish line. Too tired to stop himself with his hooves, he trotted to a halt.

“See what I mean? I don’t do comebacks for show, you know.” Hien started to light heartedly tease Nova with a pout and a slap of his face with her tail, giving a smooth, low giggle as she walked to Zero’s side, all the while softly catching her breath. It’s very much her way of showing off if she beats an annoying pony in a race. “Not so ‘Expert’ now, huh?”

Nova had no more energy to spend on mocking her back, so he went to Civics’ side, and spoke to him.

“ok… The hillclimb is done. You guys better start the downhill, and I need a good and long rest after this.” And with that, Nova dropped down to the ground, panting, his mouth wide open.

Civic, knocking himself in the head,

“He doesn’t even have the energy to complete a touge. He’s going to need serious help, and intensive total training.”

Then, towards Zero,

“So…, are you ready?”

“…ready.”

The downhill match prepared themselves as they walked towards the starting line.

Hondo (本土) Stage STAGE 2: Descent (Zero vs Civic)

Hondo (本土) stage STAGE 2: Descent (Zero vs Divine Civics)

MLP: FiM: Team AA Hondo Stage

STAGE 2: Descent (Zero vs Divine Civics)

The downhill match lined up. The starter pony was standing there, already set to start the downhill. The informers kept their walkie-talkies up and running. A tense ambience covered the scene like a blanket. Zero and Civic stared at each other with their blank expressions.

Then, the starter shouted out and raised his hoof.

“Let’s begin!”

The crowd shouted out in a cheer, and the starter counted down from 10.

Among the crowd, Hien encouraged Zero without a sound, in her mind.

‘C’mon, Zero. You can do it. Beat him in the downhill! I know you can!’

“3!...2!...1!...GO!”

Civic and Zero took off from the ground. Civic pulled away quickly, with Zero slowly trailing him as he swinged to the first corner. Zero followed suit seconds after. It was as if he wasn’t even trying.

Back at the starting line, Nova barked at Zero’s slow pace, mocking him. “Wow your friend sure is slow. There is no way he can beat Civic like that!”

Hien didn’t respond. Her mouth was closed shut. She knew that Nova was right. Her mind was deprived of comebacks. Instead, she thought to herself, ‘What are you doing, Zero? Speed up! You’re losing him!’

Civic was already tackling the dreaded saw-jagged corners. He didn’t manage to nail the corners so well – something not even the legendary Kyuu Roku could master.

Civic turned his head back. Zero was absent in his sight. He began to get skeptical.

‘I don’t like this. He’s nowhere behind my tail. Maybe it’s some sort of technique?

‘…No. It can’t be. The saw-jagged corners of this quarter shouldn’t allow for any effective technique. Neither is there any strategy or tactic that can work here. But…, I can feel it in the air.

‘Something’s up and it’s not good.’

Zero slowly approached the dreaded corners. The informer, standing just ahead, watched him closely. The informer then raised his walkie-talkie, and spoke to it.

“This is informer of first quarter at the entrance of the saw-jagged corners. Zero is in sight, slowly about to tackle the corners. He is going so slowly, it’s like he knows that he is going to lose. All hope is failing!”

Zero easily ignored the concerned looks of the informer.

The corner was coming close.

The corner began.

He etched a weak smile on his face.

Then, without warning,

*GYAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!*

He stalled his wings, swinged his body to the right, keeping it fixed to that alignment, flapped his wings irregularly and constantly adjusted the alignment of his wings to keep him in a drift, while softly touching the road with his right hoof. It was a technique only a very few handful can perform, but even fewer can master it – free drift, with a hoof slide.

The informer, off guard, was caught in a flood of shock as he saw Zero fling through him.

“Wh…What’s with that stallion?! He tackled the corner at speed with his rear end free without braking, and exited the corner at incredible speed! I wouldn’t be surprised if he hit the guard rail back there. We’re having shivers in our spines!”

All the while, Zero’s face slowly and slightly became less blank, his eyebrows squinting, slightly showing determination. He remembered the time when he did the same downhill once with his father. He used to hate the pace. Now he was going faster than ever, albeit slightly.

While free drifting the consecutive corners, Zero reflected on his past experience on the downhill.

‘People say that this section is impossible to master. Not even my old man could do it perfectly and I perfectly remember how these corners felt when I was still on his back as a young colt the first time I went downhill here. It doesn’t seem so fast anymore. If nobody is able to nail it right…,

‘Then why is it so easy for me?’

Zero burned through the corners like it was a single, long straight, up until the final turn.

The informer on the final chain was taken aback by Zero’s “sudden change in pace”. There was a pegasus that watched Zero tackle the saw-jagged corners. His heart skipped a beat when he heard from the watcher that a pegasus had successfully taken on the dreaded chain, at speed, without a single mistake. The informer, still in shock, spoke through the walkie-talkie.

“Informer on the final chain of the consecutive corners here. I must be hearing things! A watcher informed me that the challenger has just tackled the saw-jagged corners, without a single mistake at great speed! A feat like that gives no room for luck. At this rate, he’ll catch up to Civic well before the Third quarter!–“ Zero swooshes past the informer “–WHOA! He just flew past! He’ll definitely catch up to Civic at the Second quarter like this!”

Hayabusa and Kamikaze picked up the informer’s words. Kamikaze shivered, as if in a state of frostbite, to hear that someone had broken what he called “The curse of Mt. Mitsubishi”.

“I’m getting serious goosebumps, man. Who would be crazy enough to take on that section at speed? Crazier yet, that guy made it without a scratch! It’s like he is some sort of racing ghost or something.”

“I thought I felt it in him that he has certain greatness. But this is another level.

Hayabusa halted, his lips closed. He tilted his head down, and switched the topic.

"With the speed that Zero is using in the initial burst, Civic should be showing a bit of concern. Zero is the slowest pegasus he has faced in his life, and I know Zero well enough that he won't be going at full speed. Given the unusual circumstances, Civic should be taking that into account. Think about it – how would you react if a pegasus you’re racing against is going way slower than you expected?”

Kamikaze started to realise what Hayabusa meant. “Well, I’ll just think to myself, ‘something’s up’ if my rival looks fast.”

“Exactly. That is how Civic is feeling right now. The pace that Zero is going at is downright ominous. Any professional-minded pegasus will try and figure out what is going on."

Back at Zero’s side, Zero was struggling to ignore the fear that he was getting from the speed he was going at. He had never attempted to fly at high speeds – even though he was a grown-up pegasus, pieces of his childhood still lived in him, and in his childhood, he was afraid of speed.

‘I really feel that I just simply want to slow down. It’s as easy as slamming all four hooves to the ground and screech to a halt. But at the same time…, I feel a sense of something surging through my body. It’s as if it’s telling me to speed up. It’s nothing like the things I felt before.

‘But why? Why do I feel this way?’

Zero dug deeper and deeper into his mind as he soared past the twin hairpins. He was so deep in his own world he didn’t realise the shocked faces of the informers. Nor did he realise Civic’s tail poking out of a corner just up ahead.

The latter informer spoke through his walkie-talkie shortly after Zero zinged past him.

“This is informer on Second section hairpin 2! The challenger is closing in fast against Civic. The challenger is undoubtedly fast in the corners. His free-drifting is also pitch-perfect! It’s scary enough to think that the challenger could catch up to someone like Civic. It’s even scarier to think of the possibility of Civic being overtaken! We’re making wild guesses of what is to happen next!”

Hayabusa, again picking up the news, spoke as if he knew this was coming.

“It almost sounded as if Zero beat Civic in a downhill battle before.”

His words are met with almost exaggerated gasping.

“Zero beat Civic once before?! You’re kidding, right?!”

Kamikaze spoke so loud that the informers nearby turned their heads back to check on the commotion. Kamikaze, sensing that he may have been too loud and disrespectful, lowered his voice. The group, except the informers, huddled together.

“You’re joking, right? The same Zero? That spacey, absent-minded Zero? I don’t believe you. Only a well-focused, well-trained pegasus could pull off a free drift like a pro, you know.”

Civic prepared for the approach of the first hairpin of the third section. He looked back one more time to check if Zero was behind his tail. The sight of a pale yellow pegasus confirmed his fears.

‘I knew it.’

Civic tried to lose him by flapping his wings like a bee just at the hairpin's exit – an extended Throttle Burst. During the burst, however, he turned his head and looked back to see the shock of his life.

‘…! F…Free drift?!’

It wasn’t long before Civic got back to his senses. By the time that happened, Zero zoomed off the hairpin.

‘I admit. You’re surprisingly skilled. You may be a newbie, but that, and your shockingly impressive skills in your first try, can make everyone’s jaws open wide.

‘You’re amazing, you know that? Show me what you got!’

Civic burned what little boost is left in him, whizzing past the informer on one of the easier corners of the third quarter.

Zero saw Civic pull away once again, and spotted an obvious advantage Civic has against him.

‘While taking on corners, I’m definitely faster. But Civic keeps pulling away on the straights. It must have something to do with one of his techniques. The corners here may allow for somewhat high speeds, but the straights in this quarter aren’t long.

‘Overall, it works in my favour. In this quarter I’ll surely catch him, but the setup point, will be at Mt. Mitsubishi’s final hairpin!’

Zero was only centimetres behind Civic, tailing him like his own shadow as they entered the final quarter. Another informer spoke through the walkie-talkie.

“This is informer at the entrance to the final quarter! The challenger is literally centimetres behind Civic’s tail! They are about to tackle the final hairpin of the downhill!”

The match reached a long straight. Civic inched away from Zero. The hairpin could be seen up ahead. Hayabusa and Kamikaze watched them in the final seconds of an unintentionally intense downhill battle. The informer spoke through the walkie-talkie.

“This is informer of final hairpin! The match are spotted coming up fast!”

Civic reached the hairpin’s braking point.

Civic braked with his wings. Zero flew past him. He wasn’t slowing down.

“THE CHALLENGER’S SPEEDING UP! WHAT IS HE DOING?!”

‘Oi…! Slow down! It’s a darned hairpin! You can’t hope to take it at speed!’

Zero wasn’t giving a care. He continued to speed up.

Civic and the informer’s group watched with bated breath.

He banked for the hairpin.

Then,

*swoop*

*NEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!*

The witnesses held their breath longer.

“…” The sudden complete silence of the walkie-talkie was enough to make everyone understand – something miraculous happened.

Hayabusa was the only one unaffected by the spell of the son of the ‘Ghost of Mitsubishi downhill’. Even he was at a loss of words for a moment.

“…Impressive…”

Kamikaze snapped out of the trance.

“Hu, huh? Oh, of course he is impressive! He is the one and only Zero! Told you he won’t lose.”

Hayabusa burned half of his fuse in annoyance, his face struggling to keep its sense of anger locked in, then slapping himself to calm down. “Sometimes I wonder how I ever managed to still be friends with you for so long…”

Zero began to pull away from Civic. Civic felt the chill of defeat, as he took on the second to last corner. But, somehow, he still managed to smile.

‘I’ve never been so cleanly overtaken by someone like this before. That Gutter technique is proof enough that you’ve got an advantage over even some of the fastest Equestria has to offer. You deserved the win, boy.’

Civic eased his wings, letting Zero go.

Zero took on the final corner and crossed the line with everyone screaming for the win that came out of thin air. Civic, crossing the line moments afterward, walked towards Zero and spoke to him.

“Hey, hotshot. You sure you’re new to touge battles? What you did back there is nothing short of the skills of a legendary racer.”

“Well, thanks, but this is really my first time racing on the route, though I sometimes go down this route for fun, and sometimes I’m my father orders me to fly right on the route when doing deliveries.”

“It counts as practice,…er…, what’s your name?”

“Zero, sir.”

“If this your first race, then I can see you dominating the skies in the future, Zero.

“Of course, if that’s what you want to be, but it would be a shame to waste that special talent of yours.”

“Racing is…, my talent?”

“You’re not saying that there is something you can do better than racing, are you? You’re a blast to race against, you know.”

“I don’t know. Maybe you’re right.”

Hien and Nova flew down from the top of the mountain.

Nova, the first to try to speak, got cut off by Hien.

“Guess I didn’t make a mistake in choosing a volunteer, eh, Nova?”

Nova kept quiet, glaring at Hien. He had become tired of clashing words with the mare.

“I think you’ve learned your lesson, Nova. Once we get back, you’ll be undergoing intensive training, and maybe some living values.”

“Living values will definitely suit you, Nova. Now get out of here!” Hien barked.

Nova took a step back.

“Oh, scared of being scolded, are you?”

Civic cut in.

“That’s enough. Now if you excuse us, we must go back to our home mountain.”

Zero replied, “It’s been nice knowing you, Civic. Let’s go to our homes, Hien.”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

They everyone said altogether, “Goodbye.”

==================================================================================================================

Zero returned home shortly afterwards, seeing his father wait for him outside the shop, looking towards the sky.

“Hi, father.”

“Hello, Zero. I heard that you won against Civic.”

“That’s right, father. But…,

“I don’t understand. Everytime I try to go down the route before, I always felt so slow. The victory I had over Civic just didn’t feel right. It’s as if he let me win.”

A moment of silence followed. Then Kyuu broke it.

“You should go inside, Zero. I’ve made dinner and it might get cold the longer we wait here.”

Inside, Zero was eating his dinner – plain onigiri with tofu. He saw his father once again working on the onigiri for tomorrow. Zero knew of the state his family is in, and takes care not to get caught in the temptation of his wants.

Zero was about to finish dinner, when the phone went ringing.

Kyuu picked it up. “Sentouki Onigiri shop. How may I help you?”

“Kyuu. It’s Hayabusa. May I speak to Zero?”

“Sure.”– Kyuu then turned his head to Zero and spoke to him. –“Zero. It’s Hayabusa. He wants to call you.”

Zero stood up and picked up the phone from his father.

“Yes, Uncle Hayabusa?”

“Zero. I saw you take on Civic back at that last downhill battle. I can see a lot of potential in you as a professional racer. You already know that I refuse to race under normal conditions ever since your father’s accident at Mt. Matsuda, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t help other pegasi become racing legends.

“Look. I’ll make it brief for you. I’m about to make the Twin Mountains’ first ever racing team, whose goal is to beat all the time attack times on all the mountains of the Hakuba region, as well as ‘defend’ both mountains from ‘attacking’ racing teams, should they do just that.”

“That’s good to know, but I don’t think I’m the one you should call if you want someone to race for the team. There are many other talented pegasi out there that could outperform me.”

“I’m not looking for the fastest pegasi out there. I’m looking for pegasi with the potential to be the fastest. There is a huge skill difference between raw skills and skills that reach their potential, and of all the pegasi of the Hakuba region, you show the biggest potential of all the pegasi I’ve seen.”

“Ok, but I know for one thing that touge racing teams must include a pegasus for the downhill and another for the hillclimb.”

“Obviously you’ll be the downhill ace. I will keep the identity of the hillclimb ace a secret, however, to surprise you. I’m not going to force you into the team if you’re not interested, so do you want to join the team?”

Zero’s mind reached a stalemate. He looked to his father, worried about his family’s wellbeing.

“But what about father? I don’t want him to get too tired working all the time.”

“Zero, I’m pretty sure that your father won’t even try to keep you working as a deliveryboy. He sees great potential in you as a racer. Surely he won’t allow you to waste it delivering onigiri all your life.

“…If you’re still unsure, you can change your mind tomorrow once you get to see the team.”

Zero kept quiet in concern for his father. He shows deep care for him, especially with his wings broken. Eventually, he decided,

“Alright. Where do we meet?”

“At the warehouse next to the convenience store at the top of Mt. Nakajima, at tomorrow noon. I’m looking forward to see you there... You should rest, Zero. It’s dark out.”

“Alright, Uncle. I’ll see you later.”

Zero hung up the phone, yawning shortly after.

Kyuu emitted a small giggle. “Tired already, Zero?”

“Yeah. That battle against Civic really took its toll.”

“I expected that. Go to sleep now, Zero. No one wants to be caught off-guard, after all, especially if Hayabusa wants you to come to him.”

“Wha…? How did you know I am to meet him tomorrow?”

“He’s been talking of making a racing team ever since I got injured. He also won’t make calls out of the blue like this often. When he does, it’s probably something important to him, or something he would absolutely want to do.”

“Oh…, ok.–“ Zero yawned again. ”–Wow, I’m really that tired. Well, I’ll be sleeping. Night, father.”

“Night, Zero.”

Hondo (本土) Stage: Intermission 2.5: Competition

MLP: FiM: Team AA

Intermission 2.5: Competition

The next day, still a holiday for Zero,

Zero’s eyes open in response to daylight. It was the day he promised Hayabusa that he went to meet the team. He glanced at his alarm clock. The absence of that annoying sound,

RING! RING!

Was by no means a surprise.

’11:45? That means I have 15 minutes to spend before having to go.’

Zero trudged downstairs from his bedroom, with eyes no less drowsier than last night, to see his father stand outside his home selling the onigiri made that same night.

Zero walked outside and spoke to his father from behind, opening his lips a bit.

“Any deliveries to be made, father?”

“Not at the moment. You better go meet Hayabusa now. Besides, today looks like it’s going to be quiet.”

Zero nodded and flew straight to Mt. Nakajima’s upper village. The valley that separates the mountains apart houses a Shinkansen railroad and a generated jet stream used only by pegasi. The latter has the power to push pegasi to speeds around Mach 6. This jet stream connects multiple points in Sadoruporo and Hashima.

Eventually Zero made contact with Mt. Nakajima’s upper village with his hooves – the place where the warehouse is located. The village is covered with greenery. Trees and bushes covered most of the empty space yet to be built on; much more greenery than that of his home village. The buildings are minimalistic and cleaner than his home village. The ambient sound of village could be heard – birds chirping, the faint sound of voices in the distance, and the mild breeze. The metal warehouse, on the right side of the road, had a similar look to a fighter hangar: Giant metal doors, a roof in the shape of an upside-down half pipe and nothing to light up the insides of it, except a few open windows.

But, added to those sounds, Zero heard someone call out his name from not so far away,

“Zero! Over here!”

It was Hayabusa in the distance standing nearby the warehouse. Zero could recognise that dark green fur anywhere.

Zero could do nothing but trot towards him, his head tilted down in respect, and spoke softly,

“Yes, Uncle?”

“Alright. I saw you in that downhill battle yesterday against Civic. Beating him in your first shot is a remarkable achievement. Civic is only one of the experienced flyers in this region, though, so when trying to battle against tougher opponents, like Ray Enigma, you will need to put special emphasis in improving your speed and acceleration,

“Which is why I want you to do Mt. Nakajima’s downhill. The straights here are long enough to provide good speed and acceleration training.”

“Shouldn’t there be someone to supervise me to see if I’m improving?”

Hayabusa pointed a hoof to the grey warehouse. Zero rotated his head a bit and stared at it.

“In there is something that can help me do better than simply supervise.”

Hayabusa and Zero walked into the dark semi-void of the warehouse to see some sort of machine. The machine was painted black and was the shape of a flat cylinder, and that’s that for the exterior. What was intriguing was the,

ZZZZZZZZZT. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT

The sound of a welder coming from the inside of the contraption.

Hayabusa approached the machine slowly.

“Spark, you finished?”

The cracking of the welder halted and gave way to the ambience again which was now dimmed by being indoors.

Then a crackly voice was heard from inside the contraption.

“Wait! Just this fiddly little piece to go…

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZT.

“There. Done.”

The pony stepped out of the machine, going through the cloth that veiled the inside of the contraption. He was orange with a white mane, and a welder for a cutie mark. His face was covered in small patches of oil. He was gripping a welder and his welding helmet was still tied to his head.

Spark shot a look at Zero. Then, turning his head to Hayabusa,

“So this is the downhill ace you’ve been talking about?”

“You guessed right. The plan is, I get in this flight simulator or whatever you want to call it, and Zero is to use the suit and that headset,”– Hayabusa pointed a hoof at a suit and headset that was folded on top of a box nearby. –“over there.”

Spark glanced at the suit, then looked at Zero.

“You know the drill, get to it!”

Spark sounded quite assertive, his loud voice nearly echoing around the warehouse, enough to spook Zero while he headed towards the suit and headset. While trying to find a way to wear the suit, Zero felt some odd, bulging, foil-like patches on the suit. It turned out that certain spots on the suit were made of a different material from the rest of it. Zero suspected, without showing a hint of curiosity, that behind these spots were sensors or some other device.

Hayabusa, then already inside the up-and-running simulator, spoke to Zero through the headset.

“Using this simulator I can make a full assessment of your flying, as well as see if you are improving. Now, I know that you haven’t practiced here yet, but this is part of the program. Neither will I speak to you until you finish the downhill. You’ll know why soon. Now do the downhill of Mt. Nakajima with all you have!”

“Roger, roger.”

Zero left the darkness of the warehouse, stepping on brightness once more and onto the route.

He breathed deeply and, after a brief moment of idle standing,

He charged for the downhill, his wings beating hard.

Seconds before the first corner, his hooves were no longer in contact with the mountain.

The first part of the course was patched with trees and bushes at the ends of the corners. The first corner was a left turn that led to a long straight, the exit hidden behind the mountain. Two tight hairpins followed, connected by a short straight, with the first hairpin abruptly narrowing for a few metres to allow only one pony to pass, in order to preserve a historical statue, and the other was, on the downhill side, narrower on the approach but wider on the exit.

Zero entered the first corner sideways. His wings are yanked to keep him flying forward. He beat them in irregular intervals – the free drift returned.

The long straight followed. Zero was frantically flapping his wings to get himself to speed. He didn’t realise the gimmick that was about to appear before his eyes.

Hayabusa, in the simulator, thought to himself,

‘After this straight Zero should be careful. The road abruptly tightens at the exit of the first hairpin. If he doesn’t see it coming, it could cost him a victory should he ever race here.’

Hayabusa was about to warn Zero of the statue. The words were about to slip right out of his mouth, until he swallowed it back in. He thought that it would be a better idea to let Zero try and adapt to unforeseen incidents than give him a heads-up.

Zero was at the approach of the twin hairpins. He yanked his body sideways again.

He kept drifting.

Then, just at the exit,

The statue flashed into Zero’s sight.

‘…!’

Zero, in the shock, quit the drift. He banked his body hard to the right. He was on the verge of flying upside-down.

It was barely enough.

He scratched the statue with his stomach. The near miss took its toll on Zero’s already small confidence. He thought to himself,

‘That statue might not be the only surprise Mt. Nakajima has to offer…’

Zero had very little time to stabilise himself as the second hairpin approached. Zero was taking the hairpin at the inner apex. He was still banking to the right.

The fear of hitting the guard rail instantly overwhelmed Zero. He skewed his wings to brake.

The edges of Hayabusa’s lips were pulled down, but he expected the fault to occur. He thought to himself,

‘Zero isn’t known for his bravery. Back when I was in the same school as he, he was still a young colt. He never took part in any sort of conflict, and instantly shut his mouth when scolded. It’s clear that he hasn’t manned up yet, apparently.’

Zero barely managed to stabilise himself by the time he entered the hairpin. He was going too slow to drift.

He attempted to grip through the hairpin, banking hard to the left. The hairpin’s wider exit saved him from hitting the guard rail.

After the hairpins was a long, gentle curve to the left. Zero went back to flapping his wings vigorously.

Hayabusa squinted his eyes.

‘That’s not the way you speed up. Sure, a Throttle Burst is useful to get yourself to speed, but overuse it and you’ll possibly tire yourself just after the first half.’

The curve became tighter. A piece of road then revealed itself in front of Zero’s eyes. It wasn’t joined to the curve.

‘This can’t be good. There could be a corner just up ahead…’

Zero shifted himself to the right side of the road.

The curve got even tighter.

Then, at the exit,

The curve made way to a sudden left turn. He banked left to take on the corner.

‘Understeer…!’

He exited the corner, yanking his body left, scratching against the guard rail.

The simultaneous hairpin caught him by surprise. Zero was at the inner apex.

However, seconds before the approach,

SWOOP

Zero swiped himself to the outer apex and entered the hairpin sideways. His wings were yanked again – another free drift.

The hairpin ended, with Zero clearing the exit, his body in line again.

Just after exiting the hairpin, Zero felt that surging feeling in him from his race against Civic. It was as if his spirit was about to emerge into vision.

‘There it is again, that surging feeling yesterday. What is this feeling? It feels like goose bumps, but it isn’t…’

Zero quickly disposed of the curiosity. He diverted all focus towards the route. It now boasted an assortment of hairpins and medium turns – the technique-intensive part of the downhill had begun, introduced by a left turn.

Zero made the hasty decision to use grip cornering to tackle the turn. He didn’t suspect the hairpin that came shortly after.

Zero was met with a surprise as he exited the turn. The initial part of the section was in the shape of a terrace. It was completely exposed to the naked eye, nearly completely deprived of trees. It was also more sloped than the rest of the course, exposing part of the section.

While Zero, on a short straight, had no time to analyse the slope. He did, however, get an idea of what was to come up next.

‘After this hairpin should be a long curve to the left, followed by a tight right turn, then two hairpins, a straight, and finally a medium left turn.’

Zero swung his body sideways to tackle the hairpin. He exited the hairpin with his body in line with the straight.

He began tackling the curve. It became much tighter as he kept banking left.

‘If I try to shoot this curve at full speed I might hit the guard rail. The right turn up ahead needs me to be at the left side of the road.

’If that’s the case, then I need to slow down…’

Zero eased his wings, allowing him to shift to the left side of the road – a perfect approach to the upcoming corner.

Zero skewed his wings. He tackled and slid through the tight turn, touching the inner guard rail.

Hayabusa, still on the simulator, remarked on Zero’s current status. His eyes squinted as he focused on the flying.

‘His cornering so far is excellent for a starter. His throttle control is also commendable in a free drift. But…,

‘When faced with unforeseen gimmicks, he doesn’t react on time to make it out without a scratch. I should look on that…’

Zero had already cleared the twin hairpins, and was on a good approach position for the left turn.

But, as he tackled the corner,

‘Eh…?’

A pegasus was sighted going the opposite direction. She was about to collide with Zero. She looked like someone he knew – Grey body, green, ponytailed mane.

‘…It can’t be…!’

Zero quickly barrel-rolled clockwise. The pegasus did the same, through her point-of-view.

They crossed paths. Zero turned his head down.

Zero felt time slow down for a moment.

‘Hien…’

Zero, caught in the sense of confusion, wedged his lips open a little.

‘Hien isn’t the kind of pony to practice when there is no need to. What kind of event pushed her to actually practice here?’

As Zero scavenged for answers to the question in his mind, Hien sped through the previous corner.

The other part of the section was like running while blind. Zero’s view was directed only to the route. A thick bristle of trees and bushes completely surrounded the outside of the road. While all the green was soothing,

This sudden blindfold took Zero by surprise.

‘Like this, I’ll be completely deprived of any warning of the next corner. There won’t be warnings of any upcoming gimmicks either.’

Miniscule cramps began to pound on Zero’s wings – a sign of fatigue. His frantic flapping of his wings took its toll on Zero’s energy.

Hayabusa was immediately informed of the fatigue through the simulator.

‘This might just be one of the errors most amateur flyers do in a race – misusing the Throttle Burst. It should only be used outside of a tight corner, and is recommended only to grip-style flyers, or those doing the hillclimb. Misusing the technique will gobble up one’s energy. Therefore, there will be less energy used for other techniques, and the user’s flying will become sloppy.

‘…Then again, this minor fatigue could just be a symptom of Zero’s inexperience. It’s just a matter of time until this no longer becomes a problem.’

It was exactly how Hayabusa predicted it – Zero was switching to an energy-conserving flying style, easing his wings and banking less wildly on the corners.

By the time Zero cleared the section, small drops of sweat began to form on Zero. All of them were hooked to the skin, as if resisting gravity.

The rope of corners led to a crooked straight – Mt. Nakajima’s ultimate challenge of speed. The green, peaceful plains of the Hondo area could be seen below the bright blue sky.

The cramps from the technique-intensive section were still anchored to Zero’s wings.

‘No. Doing any more hard flapping will only exhaust me more. There should be something here that could help.’

Zero’s mind suddenly clicked.

‘The slope here is quite steep. Maybe I could…’

Zero’s eased his wings, beating them much slower than usual. He still felt the same force of acceleration pull him.

But even so, back at the simulator, Hayabusa’s face was like a brick wall, showing absolute blankness.

Zero was, by that time, more or less gliding down the crooked arrow of a section.

‘These corners should allow for brake-less cornering. Agility and grip will prevail in times like this.’

Zero’s mind was then focusing on gripping the curve. The thought of drifting was absent.

Zero was trying hard to ignore the fear of hitting the guard rail. His last mistake, him scratching a guard rail, proved to have left a lasting pain on Zero’s body.

The crooked straights were about to be successfully cleared, when,

‘Wait, that’s…’

The sight of one final hairpin at the last minute caught Zero off-guard.

He slammed his hooves to the road – braking very hard in an attempt to sweeten the approach, in vain.

‘At this rate, I will definitely approach the hairpin too quickly. A free drift won’t work here, what do I do?’

And then he saw it.

The rain gutter.

‘There!’

Zero approached the hairpin from the inside. Not even this punched an emotion into Hayabusa’s face – he knew Zero was about to do ‘that’.

Then, it came.

SWOOP.

NEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeee!

He slipped his wings into the rain gutter, acting as railroad tracks. In effect, linking Zero to the inner apex as he burned past the hairpin.

The sight of a village just ahead marked the conclusion of Mt. Nakajima’s downhill. He barged into the village before slamming his hooves to a full stop. The contraption way higher up then became idle.

“Okay, the downhill is finished. What next?”

“Wait for me. I’ll be down there in a bit.”

In an attempt to regain his strength back, Zero walked towards a bench and sat there looking at things as always when he has nothing to do. The lower village had old-fashioned, red, traditional houses that looked like they were built hundreds of years ago. The stalls were made to look like torii gates on maroon carts, and there was a cable car line connecting the upper and lower village together.

Moments passed and Hayabusa came flying down from above landing right next to Zero, still sitting down.

“Zero.”

“Uncle, how did I do?”

“This is more or less a practice session, but for someone who has never taken on the Mt. Nakajima downhill, not to mention inexperienced, you actually did very well.” – Hayabusa then shot a weak glare at Zero. – “However, your reaction time is going to need some work. Also, while you were able to clear the gimmicks that were coming your way, I could see your surprise when faced with one.

“Surprise lengthens your reaction time, and gives chances for fatal errors to occur. The ability to keep cool under pressure, and under sudden incidents, is a trait that isn’t only beneficial on racing.

“With that, I suggest you try and grab a hold of your fears, suppress your vulnerability to surprise, and then apply that to your racing style, so that you absolutely know what to do without wasting those precious microseconds in panicking. That’s a trait a true mountain pass flyer possesses.”

Zero’s mind was filling with invigoration; determined to improve his racing – improve a trait that he never thought was his talent.

Hayabusa suddenly cut in, and all that daydream came leaking out.

“I’m assuming that you’ve met Hien early on, yes?”

Zero widened his eyes in bewilderment, but after realising that Hayabusa watched his every move through the simulator, that bewilderment flashed away and his face became emotionless again.

“Yes.”

“She’s our hillclimb ace.”

Zero’s eyes were wide open once more.

‘Maybe that’s why she was practicing the hillclimb…’

Hayabusa’s relaxed his eyes and gave out a faint smile.

“When taking on a hillclimb, Hien shows the most potential of all the pegasi I’ve seen. She’s also your friend, so it could help boost her - not to mention your - performance even more.”

“Maybe so.”

Ruining the ambience, Hien flew down from above, landed and bowed to the two.

“Zero, Hayabusa, sorry if I’m interrupting.” – Hien turned her head to face Zero. – “It was a nice surprise to see you take on Mt. Nakajima’s downhill.”

Zero remained silent.

Hayabusa answered in Zero’s place.

“You didn’t interrupt us in any way. Nice to meet you, Hien. How is your training?”

“It worked just like you said. Renzan and Hayate kept my times, and after 10 runs I improved!”

“By how much?”

Hien blushed in embarrassment. Her improvement wasn’t too significant.

“…er…100 milliseconds…”

“That’s actually a good start. 100 milliseconds is actually a good improvement. Keep it up.”

“Thank you.”

Zero cut in, in a fit of asking a question.

“Hey, if we are going to be part of a new team, then what will the team be called?”

Hayabusa was struck dumb. He lowered his head in silence while scratching his hair.

This time, Hien cut in.

“How about: Team AA?”

“You’re naming us after batteries?”

“No, no. It’s shown as Team AA, but you call the group: Team Double Ace!”

“Sounds a little cheesy, don’t you think?”

“Well, how about your team? You know, you with Kyuu Roku. You remember what the name of that team is?”

“Project F.”

“Sounds a little off too, don’t you think? That F could be wrongly interpreted as ‘Fail’ or ‘Feeble’.”

Hayabusa was about to reply when he saw Zero leave the bench. Guessing that he may have comments on the team name, he kept his mouth shut.

“Shouldn’t it be called Team Triple Ace? Uncle Hayabusa is with us.”

Hayabusa replied in an instant. So instantly did he reply that words from Hien didn’t make it out.

“Actually I won’t be a very active participant. I would only be giving tips and tricks every now and then, according to which ones work best for which mountain pass against which team.”

“Ah. In that case…,”

“So we can stick to my idea?”

Hayabusa placed his chin on the bottom of a hoof and replied after a moment of silence.

“I don’t see why not. Team AA it is!”

“Woo! Brohoof, Zero!”

Zero lazily raised his hoof; but his smile made it clear that he wanted it.

Then,

TACK!

Hien punched Zero’s raised hoof.

Hayabusa suddenly remembered of something that he should have talked about.

“Do try to practice on either Mt. Nakajima or Mt. Mitsubishi when you have the time.”

Hien raised an eyebrow.

“Why? Our victory against Team Mugen not good enough?”

“You were racing on your own territory, and Nova isn’t the true hillclimb ace of Team Mugen.”

Hien started to act as if she just got spooked. Her mind was all over the range of ways that the true hillclimb ace could be better at over Nova.

“For now, we must assess your problems on performance. Zero, you know how I said that you work on speed and acceleration. Add reaction time and quick-thinking to that list.

“As for Hien, she should work on her timing when approaching a corner, and braking magnitude.”

Both the young flyers said together with enthusiasm,

“Yes, sir!”

“Alright. For now, you should take a rest. After all, your father might need you, Zero.”

“Maybe… I should get back there and check on him.”

“Later, Zero.”

With the closing remarks, Zero flapped his wings and lifted off, shooting himself back to Mt. Mitsubishi.

On the way home, Zero reflected deeply on the practice run. That sudden surging feeling, the excitement he got from the fear he was pitted against, it was all coming down to the ground.

‘Perhaps my true talent really IS touge racing. I never thought that I would follow my father’s footsteps this close before…

‘That feeling, I want to feel it again. That surging feeling, like my spirit has gone wild…

‘Looks like I have no choice but to get it again through practicing. I will be the fastest touge flyer in all of the Hakuba region!’

His soul started to shake in the excitement. The son of a legend was about to extend that legend for far farther than Kyuu Roku could ever imagine.

=================================================================================================================

Back at Zero’s home village, Zero saw his father still standing there at the onigiri stall. Kyuu was right – very few ponies were buying the onigiri. Apart from a few onigiri missing from the table, it was as if no one touched them. Not a lot of ponies were walking near the vicinity either – strange because the village is often more crowded at that time of day.

Zero walked towards his father and asked,

“Not many ponies wanting onigiri today, correct?”

“I did say that today will be quiet.”

“You did, but why?”

“I’m not sure myself, but there is word that we have a competitor coming from the lower town. Another onigiri shop.”

Zero lowered his head and looked down. Until that time, Kyuu was the only onigiri producer on Mt. Mitsubishi. Rumours of another onigiri shop made Zero frown in concern.

Zero, turning to his father,

“Should I go down there and check on the shop, father?”

“If you wish.”

Zero then dived down towards the lower town, Koumashima. The town, from above, looked far bigger than Zero’s home village as it stretched into the horizon and covering it white. The concrete jungle was nearly completely made of buildings like shops, houses and what not, and that usual bustling of a busy city could be heard hundreds of metres away. A railroad connected the town to the rest of the region and a cable car line connected the town to the upper village. However, the new onigiri shop was nowhere to be found in the bird’s eye view.

Zero dived lower to get a closer look at the town. The onigiri shop was still nowhere in sight, but the sight of a waiting-line of ponies in front of some sort of tan-coloured shop caught Zero’s attention.

‘Ah, maybe that’s the shop.’

Zero dived down and landed just behind the waiting-line. Indeed, it was the new onigiri shop; and it was gaining customers. A pegasus in brown, with a dark brown mane and a shipment box for a cutie mark, kept calling out the same words:

“Onigiri, straight out fresh, made just today! One for only 10 En!” The Hakuba region, while integrated to Equestria, still uses its own currency – the En.

The waiting line shrank over time and eventually, Zero was the next customer.

The brown pegasus raised his eyebrow up and stared at Zero. It was as if he knew him.

“…eh? You look familiar.”

His words confused Zero as he too raised his eyebrow and stared at the pegasus.

“eh…, what do you mean?”

“You don’t remember me? I’m your pal from Primary school.”

“Wait, I think I do remember. T, To…,”

“Ah, forgetful as always. I’m Toryu, your best pal from Primary school! Remember now?”

Only then did Zero recognise him.

“Oh, of course! Toryu, it’s been a long time since we last met at Grade 4.”

“I know right? I missed you, old buddy.”

“Same here. But I came here to say that your onigiri shop is right now competing with my father’s, so sales have been going down for him, recently.”

“Really? Bummer. Man, I wish I could help, but I gotta get money for my own life, you know.

“Look. I care about you and your dad, especially if he happens to be Kyuu Roku, but this is pretty much my talent other than carrying very heavy things and, well, you don’t get paid much from carrying things from here to there. Sorry, bro.”

Then, outside the conversation, another customer complained,

“What’s taking so long? Buy something already!”

Zero didn’t hesitate to follow the complaint. He switched the topic of the conversation.

“Ah, well, I would like your specialty, please, Toryu.”

“You mean the one wrapped in fried tofu? That would be 10 En, Zero.”

“Ah? Er… ok.”

Zero handed over 10 En to Toryu, who simultaneously handed over his special onigiri to Zero.

“It’s been nice knowing that you’re still around, Zero. See you later!”

“Bye for now.”

Zero, holding the onigiri, flew off the waiting line and towards a bench nearby and landed bottom-first on top of it.

‘Is it really that popular? Only one way to find out.’

Zero ripped apart the paper envelope of the onigiri and took a bite. The taste was unique, a little sweet, taking into account that instead of seaweed, the rice is wrapped in fried tofu. Zero couldn’t help but smile at the sensation.

‘This actually tastes quite good. No wonder father’s shop is running behind.’

As Zero finished off the rest of the onigiri, he felt much more concern for his father. If this kept going his father’s shop would have to close down for good. Still concerned, he jumped off the ground and flapped his wings straight back up to his father’s shop, keeping in mind what his father’s shop was up against.

=================================================================================================================

As Zero landed in front of the shop, Zero creaked his mouth open.

“This competitor happens to be my friend Toryu. I told him about the competition we’re in but I don’t think he has ideas of closing down his shop.

“…On another note, I was thinking of practicing on Mt. Mitsubishi’s downhill tomorrow after school. Do I have your permission, father?”

“Sure, given you deliver onigiri through that route whenever it must be done.”

“That I will surely do.”

“Speaking of deliveries, we’ve got deliveries coming up from the lower town. Now would be a good time to practice.”

“Alright. I’ll get my baskets and be set for getting loaded up.”

Zero went inside the shop, picked up his straw-woven baskets from a table and balanced it on his back with a stick. The stick had twigs on the edges that kept the basket from dropping. Then Kyuu Roku dumped the onigiri to be delivered into them. Names were written on all of them, and Zero was given addresses so that he knew where to go.

“Get going now, Zero.”

“Yes, father.”

Zero zoomed off towards the route to practice while delivering the onigiri. The delivering continued well into the evening as Zero returned back home with En replacing the onigiri in the baskets. By the time he returned, it was 6 o’ clock.

“Alright. Looks like today wasn’t as quiet as I thought.”

“That’s nice to hear, father. At least we still get some money from the business.”

“Yes, it’s quite a relief, really. Get in, Zero. Dinner’s ready.”

“Ok.”

Zero’s shift had ended. He had done his job and went in to have dinner and rest.

Hondo (本土) Stage STAGE 3: Still Rising Stars (Hien vs Hayabusa)