//------------------------------//
// Training (Part 3) 
// Story: Run That Race 
// by The Unseen 
//------------------------------//


20TH NOVEMBER 2023


------ROAD AMERICA, WISCONSIN------

It was 7:00am in Wisconsin. It was another exciting day for the remaining 5 trainees. They would be doing more laps of Road America today. They had started the previous day. After their final session on the rallycross track on the 18th, Comet Flash disqualified 3 of the 13 remaining trainees, saying that their performance was not up to standards. After their first track day the previous day, he had disqualified 3 more trainees for the same reason. The previous night, he had disqualified 2 more trainees for the same reason as well. Thankfully, Sunset, Sonata, and Powerslide were not among those disqualified. 

Ever since Sunset had told Powerslide about the past between her and Sonata, Powerslide had been a little wary of Sonata now that he knew she was a monster from another world. Also, the relationship between Sunset and Powerslide had gotten more serious, but not fully serious yet, as they wanted for Sunset to turn 18 first. As for Sunset, her school stuff was going well, since they hadn't had any tests in sometime, and they wouldn't have any major tests until next month, so all she had to do was notes and homework, which Principal Celestia was allowing her to email to all her teachers.

Today, they would learn some more track racing techniques, but instead of doing it on the simulator, they would do it on the actual track. Their track time yesterday resembled the scenes at track days held by car companies, as Comet Flash was checking how well they drove on a track in real life. This would be the ultimate test for the trainees, to see how good they could be, ahead of their graduation at the end of the month. It was hard to believe it had taken them less than a month to learn and practice real racing techniques on a real track, thanks to Comet Flash's very intense training regime.

This would be the ultimate test of all of their skills, and it would be the stepping stone to their graduation, which would occur at the end of the month. The graduation would be a race, which would test all of their skills, of the 5 drivers who would remain by then. Only one would win, and that winner would be the person who would drive on the team of Thunderbolt Motorsports.

The 5 remaining trainees first did their morning jog, then, had some breakfast, played the impulse game again to get their reflexes ready for the track, and then, at 9:00am, headed towards the pit area to hit the track. The car that had been involved in the wreck the other day still hadn't been fixed, and was currently was sitting at a Porsche service center waiting for parts, so Porsche had delivered a substitute vehicle.

As they arrived at the pits, they saw that Comet Flash was not there. That was surprising. Usually, he was always at a place on time. The trainees were worried about why he hadn't showed up yet, even if he could be a hard-ass sometimes. That was when they heard the roar of an engine. An aircraft, probably, since an airport that served private jets and small planes was nearby. That was when they heard a chopping sound, and the engine roar was getting louder, as if it were flying really low. It was probably a helicopter, going by the noise, but why was it flying so low?

That was when they saw it. A helicopter was approaching the track, as if it were about to land. It was getting louder as it approached, but the trainees didn't cover their ears, as they were now used to loud sounds from sitting in the cars. They watched as the helicopter descended lower, and touched down on the track. As the helicopter's engine was shut off, and its rotor blades stopped spinning, Comet Flash climbed out of the helicopter. That was a relatively anti-climatic entrance, though the trainees, as Comet Flash walked from the helicopter to the pit area.

"Well, I'm guessing you're all wondering why I've showed up in a helicopter, huh?" asked Comet Flash.

"For dramatic effect?" asked one trainee sarcastically.

"Does this look like a movie set to you? No, it's to monitor you guys from the air, at the speeds you are doing." said Flash. "You're also going to have to learn more techniques today. In a race, you can't always be faster than your opponents, but you can be smarter than them. One of those methods is be letting your opponent do all the work for you, by drafting. All you have to do is just stay close behind their car, and when the slipstream from their car gives you more speed, you overtake when the window opens. But for today's track day, I'm going to give you a little challenge." said Comet Flash, as the roars of engines could be heard.

As the trainees wondered what it was, two beautiful hypercars, a black Porsche Carrera GT, and a yellow McLaren P1 drove into the pit lane. Seeing the P1 made the trainees' eyes look like glass, as they admired the two machines in front of them, built for speed. As they fawned over the lovely cars, their drivers got out. The driver of the Carrera GT was a young man, in his early thirties, with black hair, and red skin. The driver of the P1 was a woman, also in her thirties, with gray skin and blond hair. She reminded Sunset of Derpy, but without crossed eyes.

"Alright, guys! Meet my old friends, Straight Arrow, and Electric Harmony. These two were my best friends back when I still raced. They don't race anymore, but Harmony here is a commentator for Moon Sports Network, which broadcasts a lot of FIA races, and they will also be broadcasting our series. Arrow, on the other hand, now works as a test driver for a car company, you can guess which one." said Flash, introducing them.

"Well, kids, we're here to help you out with training. We're going to be basically simulating your opponents in this track day, and you have to try to beat us, even if we have more powerful cars. Although the cars you will be competing against won't have KERS systems, mine has, so that's an advantage you'll have to beat." said Electric Harmony.

"Basically, we'll be like sparring partners you have to beat. The thing is, we'll head out first, and once we're around 30 seconds ahead of you, you will be sent out, and you'll have to catch up to us and beat us in just 3 or 4 laps. It'll basically show us how to catch up to your rivals in a short period of time, and how you can recover from something like a bad pit stop or a penalty." said Straight Arrow.

"That's the plan, Arrow, that's the plan. I will be monitoring you trainees from the helicopter, which will have cameras trained on you and a radio setup to talk to you, so I will be chewing you out if you make a mistake." said Flash, as he began walking towards the helicopter. "Alright, I'm gonna have to get in and have the pilot take off, so that Arrow and Harmony can get on track. I'll be seeing you out there!" said Flash, running to the helicopter, and signalling to the pilot to start it up, which he did the second Flash climbed in and closed the door. 

As the helicopter's engines spooled up to full power, and it rose off the ground, Harmony and Arrow ran to their hypercars, and started up their engines. Once the helicopter had cleared the track, they headed on to the track to begin their laps, as the first trainees began running to their cars, eager to race the two beautiful machines. As they waited eagerly to hit the track, they watched as the two beautiful hypercars sped down the main straight of Road America, engines roaring, which sounded like music to their ears.

The trainees were soon in their cars, waiting at the exit of the pit lane, to get on the track, as Arrow and Harmony continued their lap. The second they hit the halfway point, the trainees began revving their engines, as they would head out in 30 seconds. As that signal came, the pit lane lights turned green, and all of the trainees headed out, accelerating the second they hit the main track.

They were pushed back in their seats, as the cars began accelerating down the main straight, aiming to beat the two hypercars, which were currently way ahead of them. They had put their feet down, intending to beat the two veteran racers. This felt like a very important school test, albeit one that involved driving racing cars instead of writing a few pages. They were really intending to beat the two veteran racers, and soon, the gap had reduced to just 28.5 seconds. However, they still had a bit to go before catching up to the P1 and Carrera GT. They could also, in their rear view mirrors, see the helicopter following them.

This was a tougher race than normal, as all of the trainees wanted that first place finish. None of them were willing to give up their positions either, so it was a huge high-speed battle as they sped towards the hypercars. The battle was on, as they used the techniques taught to them by Comet Flash. As they sped through Turn 3, heading into the second straight, Sunset who had started in last place, which was 5th, moved up to 4th place, by using drafting.

They went into Turn 4 and into the Morane Sweep, and on Turn 5, Sunset drifted onto the inside, forcing the 3rd place guy into the outside, and overtook him, as she sped off, towards Sonata and Powerslide, who were in 1st and 2nd places respectively. The battle was on between the two, with neither of them willing to give up their positions. They were battling it out, as if they were in a real race.

On the final turn of the first lap, the gap between them and the hypercars had reduced further, to 21.5 seconds. As they entered this final turn, Powerslide got ready to overtake Sonata. Just as he was about to do so, Sonata dangerously cut Powerslide off, causing Powerslide to almost spin his 911 out. Sunset then realised Sonata was willing to do anything to get that first place finish, so she had to be careful, as they entered the second lap.

As they passed the main straight once more, the gap reduced to 21 seconds. However, the hypercars were still ahead of them, despite their best efforts to catch them. The battle was getting harder. As they entered Turn 7, Sunset and Powerslide finally managed to gain on Sonata, but however, just as they finished the overtake, they slowed down, allowing Sonata to catch back up. However, as they entered the Hurry Downs straight, Sunset and Powerslide sped off a little bit, but Sonata was hot on their rear bumpers, trying to find a spot to overtake.

As they entered the Hurry Downs, Sonata was weaving behind Sunset and Powerslide's cars, trying to overtake, despite the fact that the Hurry Downs couldn't really hold more than two cars at a time. As Sonata continued pushing on Sunset's side, she purposely bumped Sunset's car. At first, Sunset thought it was an accidental bump, but that doubt was cast aside when Sonata purposely tried to push Sunset off the track. That was when she heard Comet Flash barking over their radio systems. "Hey, Miss Dusk, stop trying to wreck your fellow trainee! That's illegal, you know?"

"I don't care! She ruined my life! She deserves to lose this!" shouted Sonata, bumping hard into Sunset's car again, this time causing Sunset's car to spin.

"Look, Miss Dusk, I don't know what happened between you two, but on the track, you HAVE to put personal differences aside, and focus only on a race! You're out for the remainder of this session for endangering a trainee's life, GET IN THE PITS, NOW!" shouted Comet Flash, as Sunset attempted to recover her car from the spin, which she successfully did. However, the spin had dropped her back to 3rd, behind Powerslide and Sonata, who was reducing her speed after she got ordered to pull into the pits, now that Sunset was temporarily behind them.

As the battle continued, now with Sonata out, the gap between the racers and the hypercars had reduced to 19 seconds, as they headed towards Turn 12. By the time they reached the Road America Straight, where Sonata pulled into the pits, out of the session. As they flashed by the main straight, entering their 3rd lap, Sunset could see the blue-haired girl in the pits, hanging her head in shame, now disqualified from the session.

The remaining trainees flashed by as well, the gap now back at 20.5 seconds, as the hypercars were more powerful on the straight sections of the track. The next one minute of the race was spent with Sunset in 1st and Powerslide in 2nd as the trainees attempted to catch up to the two hypercars, which were starting to suffer tire wear. The gap began reducing, to 19.5, to 18, to 17.5, to 16, and to 15 seconds, as they progressed through Road America's multiple turns. 

In fact, on the end of the Morraine Sweep, the Carrera GT was visible for a second, before they took the turn. On Turn 9, the gap went down further, to 13.5 seconds, and then to 12.5 at Turn 11. Finally, on Turn 12, they could begin to see the two hypercars clearly in their windshields, as the gap reduced to less than 10 seconds. The final lap would be the lap where they would hopefully beat the hypercars.

As they reached Turn 14, the final turn before the Road America Straight, the gap reduced to 8.5 seconds, but as they all hit the straight, it increased again, to 10 seconds. However, despite entering the final lap, the trainees would not give up. The gap once again reduced, to 9 seconds, as they entered Turn 1. Over the next 4 turns, the trainees could see the rear of the Carrera GT getting closer and closer to them, and that of the P1, which was in front of the Carrera GT.

Finally, on Turn 5, the gap between them and the two hypercars reduced to 2.5 seconds. On seeing this, Straight Arrow, who was driving the Carrera GT, began driving more defensively, to stop the trainees from overtaking him. Electric Harmony braked relatively early on Turn 6, to recharge the KERS system of her P1. However, despite Arrow's skilled moves, the Carrera GT's tires had badly worn down, and he began sliding a little. The trainees took this chance to catch Arrow on Turn 6, dive bombing and forcing him to the outside, finally overtaking him. Harmony would be harder, since her car was much faster, with the P1 having more than 900 horsepower, compared to the 500 horsepower 911 GT3s driven by the trainees.

She was also doing good on her defensive moves, but was also braking relatively early, to charge the KERS system in her car. That would be what the trainees would use to try and overtake her. On Turn 12, that chance came. She braked a little too early this time, earlier than planned, and the trainees used this chance to overtake the McLaren P1. Since her car had a twin-turbo hybrid V8, it would suffer a little turbo lag, while the trainees had cars with NA engines, so they were easily able to gain some speed a little faster. On the Road America Straight, Harmony's P1 did gain a little, but not much before the trainees' cars crossed the finish lines first.

As the trainees began their cooldown before they arrived in the pits, on Turn 3, as Sunset braked, her brakes did not seem to want to engage, and even though she attempted a drift, she couldn't do it without her brakes working, and Sunset's Porsche crashed into a track barrier. As the track officials ran to the car, coming with fire extinguishers and everything to get Sunset out of the car if she was injured. However, as that was not so, as Sunset was uninjured, and got out of the car herself, as Comet Flash's voice came through her radio. "What happened, Miss Shimmer? Why did you wreck into that barrier? That was totally avoidable!" 

"No, Comet Flash, the brakes didn't engage. They were glazed, and I couldn't drift without my brakes working properly, and I ended up hitting the barrier!" said Sunset, through her radio.

"Okay, I'll have the mechanics check the car, but I'm not sure if gamer girls like you or Miss Dusk are built to handle real racecars. Head back to the training center, and I'll let you know what caused the accident once the mechanics have had a good look at the car." said Comet Flash, mockingly, as a disappointed Sunset hopped into the medical car of the track, in this case, a Chevrolet Colorado ZR2, which would take her back to the main training center. It was now 9:15am. As she arrived there, she could see the trainees' cars, along with those of Arrow and Harmony pulling in, as Comet Flash's helicopter landed on the Road America Straight.

"Okay, you trainees did well to overcome the challenges of this course. You successfully caught up to Harmony and Arrow's cars, despite them being 30 seconds ahead of you, and having much more powerful vehicles. You all did well, except for you, Miss Dusk." said Comet Flash, as Sonata again lowered her head in shame of being called out for trying to wreck Sunset. "Dismissed for today, once that last car is fixed, we'll hit the track again."

As Comet Flash went off to talk to Arrow and Harmony, the trainees all headed back to the RaceWorld Academy center, where the 5 trainees wanted to know why Sonata had attempted to pull a dirty move on fellow trainee, and why Sunset had managed to get in a crash, being such a good driver. Sunset told them all that she felt the brakes were glazed. Sonata on the other hand, refused to talk to her fellow trainees for some reason, and went crying to her bed in their room. That was odd.

Later, as Sunset was sitting in the cafeteria, hoping she wasn't going to get disqualified, Comet Flash came in. Sunset just hoped fervently that she wasn't getting disqualified, as Comet Flash sat down in front of her. "Well, you were right." said Comet Flash, which surprised everybody. "We checked the car. The brakes were indeed glazed, from all of that hard driving you guys have been doing lately. How did you know that?" 

"I'm not sure, to be honest. I've worked on my own car multiple times, but this time, it's as if I just... knew." said Sunset.

"Well, I can tell that what you're saying is the truth, but, the thing is, only a true racer would have such sharp instincts, to know something like that without even seeing what condition the brakes were in. You have something in you. Don't let those skills go to waste." said Comet Flash, as he got up, and walked off. The trainees, including Sunset, were all surprised by that. They thought Sunset would have been disqualified for crashing one of their cars, but he had let her off easy. Plus, he had been relatively nice to her, something that he hadn't really been to the other trainees.

As the trainees headed back to their rooms after dinner, surprised by the outcome of the conversation, they saw Sonata, still in her bed. She was definitely sleeping, but she hadn't come to dinner at all. She was definitely alive, as her chest was rising and falling, indicating she was breathing normally. However, they saw that her pillow was soaked. Dried tears, probably. As the trainees went to sleep, their hopes were higher than ever, as graduation rapidly approached.