So uh...yeah. I'm going to be completely honest with you all. My health sucks. I've been sick a lot (thankfully not gotten covid) and college is a bitch. On the plus side, I'm no longer under my parents' thumbs anymore so I can actually add in things like cursing without worrying that I'm going to get in trouble so that's cool.

So yeah with everything that's been happening I sorta forgot I had this. But uh, ig I wrote a really crappy earlier version of this story and then tried rewriting that and then health said no and uh yeah here we are, I'm working on this again. Hopefully it works out this time. Sorry for keeping all of you waiting :( I'm not going to spoil things but I do want to give a small preview of what one can expect:

- Better plotlines, including the removal of plot holes and/or confusing/cringe-worthy subplots

- More worldbuilding, usually in the form of a small snippet at the end of each chapter

- Original characters are now not as stilted, stereotyped, or otherwise bad. Canon characters are more fleshed out as well, but try to remain faithful to the original work

- *Some* cursing, cause we all know that if it weren't for the fact that this was a kid's show Markie would've cursed Kurt out at least once

- Longer chapters (no more 1000 word short ones)

- Better grammar, especially surrounding the dialogue

- Hopefully a semi-regular upload schedule? I'm hoping to write enough over break to get me through the semester

Idk how well the last one will go but eh, it'll happen when it'll happen.

Disclaimer for the entire story: I don't own anything official, do not sue me, I'm a broke college student with plenty of debt

Also since I'm publishing this on Dec. 26, Merry belated Christmas and Happy New Year

One last note: recommended window size when reading on a laptop or pc is about half the screen, since that's the size window I used when writing it. Just makes it look nicer in my opinion


It was a day like any other in the small city of Buena Costera. Located only a few short miles from the northern end of the Virginia Barrier Islands, it was in many ways just like many of the other towns that dotted the seaside. The wind carried the scent of salt and the calls of waterfowl away from the ocean towards the inland areas. When it blew just right, it brought storms that drenched the town as well. The people were, for the most part, friendly; an example of the good old southern hospitality that outsiders loved. It was in western residential area of this city, at the end of a dead-end street, that a bright green house sat. The paint color clashed with the few Fourth of July decorations that adorned the front door, as well as the deep red and black car sitting in the driveway. The vehicle's outside was busted up, as if it had been in one crash too many. Its owner was a sixteen year old African American girl who was sitting on the front seat. She was focused on a letter that was in her hand.

"Huh…" she mused before folding up the paper and slipping it into the envelope. "This Tezla guy wants to form a racing team. Kinda weird that I got an invite then considering that I've never met him. I wonder who else got one..."

As she trailed off, deep in thought, a sleek green vehicle pulled into the driveway. Another teen, this one a Latina, climbed out of it. She, too, held an envelope in her hand. Noticing this, the teen smirked and raised her voice.

"Oh wait, I bet Talia got one. After all, she's almost as good of a racer as I am. Almost."

"I am a much better racer than you are, Verity, and you and I both know it," Talia replied in a mock serious tone as Verity lazily stretched before standing up. Normally a comment like that would cause sparks to fly, and result in an impromptu race in an attempt to prove the other wrong. Given the air of mystery surrounding their present situation, however, Verity chose to not take the bait.

"Better racer aside," she murmured, "I see you got one of those letters as well."

"Sure did. No surprise though since the two of us are some of the best in the area," her friend replied with a nod. "Told me to meet up at that old abandoned parking garage on Sage Street to meet my four teammates...or well, my three teammates I suppose, since I know you got one. The thing that I'm confused about is how this Dr. Tezla guy got our names."

"You're worried about the names? What about the fact that he managed to find our addresses?"

"Okay, that's worrisome too." Talia let out a sigh before leaning back against her car. "This whole thing is nuts. If this is some stupid way for one of our rivals to challenge us to another race in Headstone Alley I'm gonna be pissed. It's not like Buena Costera is some famous racing mecca. How does this guy even know if we're any good?"

"I don't like it either," Verity admitted. "This whole situation is beyond suspicious. I don't think we should go."

Talia didn't say anything in response, causing the green-eyed teen to look up at her. She had that look on her face, one that said she was thinking of doing something stupid. That could only mean one thing.

"Oh please Talia, don't actually tell me you're thinking of going."

"Think about it," the Latina said with a shrug. "If this thing is legit, then we could actually get on a racing team just like we've been dreaming about. If it isn't, then we get a race. What's the worst that could happen?"

"We could get murdered, we could get kidnapped, we could get beaten up, we could get-"

"Okay, okay, I get it!" Talia rolled her eyes, a frustrated look on her face. "A lot of bad things could happen. I don't know though, my gut's telling me that this letter is legit."

"The last time your gut told you anything it was that you had too much chili."

"Your sass isn't appreciated," she replied flatly.

"Hey, the sass doesn't come out often." Verity waved her hand dismissively before sighing. "Well, regardless if we go to this or not, my car needs a new gearbox. Mind giving me a ride over to the scrapyard so I can snag one?"

"Hm, I don't know, can I?" Noticing the look on Verity's face, Talia grinned. "Obviously I could. The real question is, do I want to?"

"Now who's being sassy…" Verity shook her head and walked over to Talia's car before climbing in. Her friend cackled slightly and slid into the driver's seat. Minutes later the vehicle rumbled to life, pulled out of the driveway, and peeled down the street.


"Yeah, I'm doing great bro," the Asian American teen said, bobbing her head to the beat of the music playing over her speakers. "College is going great, city living is amazing, and I've got a few nightclubs back home interested in playing some of my music on their dancefloors. I'm going back over the weekend so I can meet with 'em, see if I can get a deal signed."

"Yo that's great, Geisyuku." On the screen, her older brother smiled and adjusted his orange-lensed glasses. He was wearing three layers, even though she could see the California sun through the window in the background of the video feed.

"Man, you're the only one who calls me that now aside from mom," Geisyuku complained. "Everyone just calls me Gale now. That's way easier to say. Plus DJ Geisyuku is wordy. DJ Gale though, now that's a hot name on the underground."

"I'll try to remember, but no promises." He sighed, a slightly sad look on his face. "You shouldn't be embarrassed about your name."

"I...I shall try, but it is hard after public school. Enough about the boring stuff, though. How are the races going?"

"Awesome as usual. Got a big one with the Metal Maniacs in a couple of weeks. Nolo's been raring to have another go at Tork."

"Oh really? Well, tell him I wish him luck."

"Dude, will do." The sound of a doorbell ringing drew the boy's attention and he glanced at the door. "Sounds like the gang's here, so I gotta go. Talk to you later, sis."

"See you around, Shirako." The girl leaned back in her chair and ended the video call. With a sigh she swapped tabs and returned to her homework. MUS 486, better known as Classical Music Theory. It wasn't her favorite course, but it was a requirement for her major.

"Man, wish I didn't have to take this boring class," she grumbled. "It's not like I'm going to be composing string quartet music for a living."

With more grumbling, she went back to answering the questions on her screen. A few minutes later, however, she was distracted by someone knocking at the door. Eager for an excuse to get away from her homework, she pushed the laptop away and stood up. Lazily she sauntered over to the door and turned her music down before opening it. After all, she didn't need another noise complaint added onto her record.

"Let's see," she mused, pulling the packages in as she spoke. "New beat pad, secondary synthesizer, new keyboard, oh what's this?"

Mixed in with the large cardboard boxes was a slim white envelope. Curiously, it had no return address. It was something that caused a small alarm to sound in the back of her mind. Who would send her a letter without putting a name or return address on it? It was just plain weird. It also meant that it had been hand-delivered, probably by whoever had knocked on the door.

"Man they must move quick. I didn't see anyone out in the hallways…" Gale trailed off before sighing. "Hope this isn't a prank."

Choosing to ignore her suspicions, the teen carefully opened up the envelope. She half expected something to explode out of it, maybe glitter or confetti. Nothing, however, happened. Breathing a small sigh of relief, she slid the contents out and began to read.

"...So whoever wrote this knows I'm a student at college, living in NYC, and they still want me to meet up with these supposed teammates back in my hometown?" Gale rolled her eyes, an annoyed expression flashing across her features. "Whoever this Tezla dude is, he has no concept of how much free time and disposable money college students have. They're lucky I have to go back anyways to review those contracts. Hope the bigwigs can bump up the meeting a bit. Looks like I'll be going back sooner than I expected."


"Terra, there's a letter for you!"

The girl in question sighed and got up out of her bed. She had been hoping that it would be possible for her to sleep in a bit, but it looked like that wasn't going to happen. Stumbling slightly over to the door, she opened it up.

"Be right there, Uncle Tomas," she yelled back. "I just need to get dressed first."

With that, she shut the door again for privacy. Quickly she changed out of her pajamas and into a t-shirt and pants. Blinking her eyes a bit, she tied her hair back in a ponytail before shooting a glance at herself in the mirror. Her reflection stared back at her - a slim girl with sunken brown eyes and tan skin. A few wisps of her hair weren't in place, causing her to frown and adjust her ponytail a bit. Once she was satisfied, the girl strode out of the door, into the hallway, and headed to the kitchen. When she got there, Uncle Tomas was at the stove prepping some ribs.

He was a chubby old man with a graying beard and mustache. Long scraggly hair framed his face, and watery blue eyes were set above a moth that was constantly twisted into a smile. His clothes were tarnished with grease stains and smudges of dirt, interspersed with rips and tears. He almost looked like Santa Clause, if Santa Clause was a grease monkey that is. Despite his disheveled appearance, he was a kind soul that had taken Terra in when he found her wandering around his scrapyard.

"Good morning," he said, handing her an envelope. "There's no return address so I don't know who sent it. Is it from one of your friends?"

"If the few orphans who I made a connection with wanted to contact me, they'd have come in person," Terra replied evenly as she opened it up. "It doesn't really matter though. Did anything come in this morning?"

"Yeah, we finally received those two cars that crashed in Headstone Alley a few days ago. A couple of girls already took a gearbox out of one of them, but you're free to pull out any parts or pieces you need for that car you're building. Just be sure to let Jose know when you've stripped everything out that's useful so he can melt the rest."

"Alright, I'll get on that right away." Terra walked out the back door and into the scrapyard. Sure enough, two badly mangled cars were out near the melting shack. She walked over to them while scanning the contents of her mail.

"So, a racing team, huh," the girl muttered. "More like a weird racing challenge. It's probably a prank from one of Jose's friends, but I'll bite. Guess I'll have to finish up my car real fast."


"So let me get this straight," the blonde woman said with a sigh. "You want me to let you drive over to that abandoned garage - which is a huge safety hazard - to meet up with four other people that you've never met before."

"Yeah, Ma," her daughter replied as she munched on a bowl of Corn Flakes. "This Tezla dude's like, asking us to form a racing team. Isn't that awesome?"

"I don't know, Aurora…" her mother hesitated as she continued to wash the dishes. "I know that racing is something many of your cousins and friends do, but I'm getting worried about how much you seem to be doing. Every time I turn around you've got another race lined up. It's a dangerous pastime."

"I know that, Ma, but I really want to go." the girl exclaimed, jumping up from her seat. "Please Ma? I'm sixteen, old enough to look after myself. Besides, maybe this way I'll get to see Greenie again. Last I heard he was in some racing team, it'll be a great bonding experience!"

"Well…" her mother hesitated some more, but before she could say anything else her daughter interrupted her again.

"Plus I've been dying to test out Road Rage's new improvements! This would be the perfect opportunity to do that!" She stopped and fell to her knees, hands clasped out in front of her as she looked at her mother with pleading eyes. "Please, Ma? I promise I'll be good and I'll stay inside the car until it's safe."

"Fine, but you have to be careful." The older woman finally relented. She knew that her daughter would end up going one way or another, so she might as well give the teenager her blessing Aurora's ocean blue eyes lit up and she leapt to her feet with a whoop.

"Thanks Ma!" The bubbly blonde raced upstairs. "Woo-hoo! Headstone Alley here I come! Watch out world cause Aurora Wheeler's coming to rock the races!"

"Headstone Alley?" Her mother froze, a shocked look on her face before carefully setting down the plate she was washing. "Aurora Ivy Wheeler, get back down here this instant!"


From the desk of Dr. Peter Tezla

File [REDACTED], created 5/4/2003

Driver Candidate H35-P4

Name: Talia Rosalia Guadalupe Cortez-Pasero

Age: 13

Birthday: 7/1/1990

Ethnicity: Latina (Mexican, Venezuelan)

Blood Type: B

Family: Maria Pasero, Tone Pasero (Deceased), Nolo Pasero, Father, Mother, Simon "Spinner" Cortez (Cousin), Sherman Cortez (Cousin)

Current Location: Buena Costera

Notes: despite age, displays a passion and talent for racing, as does her siblings (see their respective files for more information). Due to her prior experience driving in both a nearby canyon and in the city, she is a strong candidate for being placed on either the "Road Beast" or "Street Breed" teams. Temper may pose a problem, further observation is needed before deciding whether or not to recruit her.

Edit 7/12/2003: Candidate did not make final cuts for the World Race. Due to potential, however, candidate will be placed into an outside racing team that can be brought on for further exploration of Highway 35 after the Wheel of Power has been obtained. Candidate will be revisited and reconsidered at a later date.