The Elemental Drifters: First Stage (2017 Edition)

Episode Eight (Clip One)

*Alarm clock rings*

Louis woke up lazily from the guest bed. He turned on his smartphone and looked at the time.

It read: 6:00 a.m.

Still tired he dozed back to sleep when someone woke him by opening the curtains letting in the morning sun rays.

Louis: "arrrggghhhhh!! MY EYES!!"

"Are you a vampire or what?" David asked the hoodie making a fool of himself. "Rise and shine sleepy head! Come on we're going for a jog!"

Louis sits up lazily on the bed. "A jog this early in the morning?" He groans not being a morning guy.

"Well, it isn't a request. This is part of your training so get a move on!" David yelled louder to wake Louis a little more.

"How can jogging be part of my drift training?" Louis thought.

"Oh come on lazy bump. JL is already waiting at the beach." David dragged him to the washroom.
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Episode Eight~The Ultimate Drift Training!!!

It was a beautiful morning in the beach with the sun rising from the mountains. Louis struggled to keep up with David as he was out of breath. The two were jogging on the dry sand, making swish sounds as they went. Louis was falling behind David, from slow jogging became walking and then he finally stopped to take a breath.

"Come on Louis!" David said turning back at the tired hoodie. "We haven't even passed one round yet!"

Then JL came jogging at a speed that overtook Louis who's eyes filled with envy.

"H-How come he is so good at this?" Louis blurted out.

"He's an athlete, it's normal for him to jog rounds early in the morning." David replied.

Louis: grrrrr....
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When the morning jog session was finally over Louis felt like he was about to faint. As soon JL opened an energy drink for him. He snatched it a gulp it down immediately.

"Whoa, slow down you'll choke off your drink at that speed," JL told the hoodie who obviously didn't care. When David glance at his watch, it was already 9:30 a.m.

"Alright guys see you two at 6 this evening, I'm going to work." The doctor stood and went to his Evo 5, waving Louis and JL goodbye before driving away.

"So we got the whole day for ourselves till 6. Where you wanna go?" JL asked, "I heard there's a lot of tourist attractions here in Hakone."

"Nah, let's just head back to the hotel and get some rest." Louis yawned.

JL: *Rolls his eyes* "Really....."
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(Later..... )

The sound of burning rubber echoed through the mountains. Louis was drifting out of a corner in his mercedes with JL and David riding shotgun.

"You seem stressed." David noticed the sweat falling from Louis's head. "Calm down, relax. Stress is your number one enemy in a race, it'll make you lose your concentration during a drift or mess up your technique. You'll have to focus."

"Focus." The words cling on Louis mind as he steers his Mercedes into a tight corner. 

*Tyres squealing*
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The group was at the summit taking a break. Louis was exhausted, his arms were sore from all that steering and his legs were like jelly due to the braking and accelerating. He sat down beside the guardrail listening to the conversation JL and David were having. 

"So Sensei, how's he doing?" JL referred to Louis's technique they saw during his runs.

David shook his head. "From what I saw, he's very poor at his technique. He'll need a month so to complete his training at this rate. Maybe even longer." These words shocked the both JL and Louis.

"A month?!" Louis widens his mouth.

"I'm sorry Sensei, but we only have five days left to his next battle. Is there any other way Louis can improve faster?" JL asked

David crossed his arms. "I'm not trying to be rude here, but it's impossible for Louis to complete his training in just a few days. Well, it'll take some miracle to do just that."  

Louis then thought of the Elemental Drifters. He couldn't fail them again. He couldn't just left that jerk Taiki take all their money.

"Damn, was I not trying hard enough?"

Then he remembered something before he left.

Flashback...

"I'll be going now, guys," Louis said waving to the team behind. 

"Wait, Louis!" Airi ran to him. "Listen, you don't have to do all of this for us. You could lose all your money."

Louis smiled. "Hey, I'm a racer now. It's what we do if we are challenged to a battle. we have to accept it." 

"And I'm being challenged," Louis said with pride.

Airi began to blush a little. "Well, I'll be looking forward to your battle then!"

End of flashback

Determination struck Louis in an instead. He knew what to do  

"Guess I wasn't serious enough today. But mark my words I'll push myself if I had to." Louis thought.

"I'll do it for them, I'll do it for her..." Louis thought of Airi for a while as he snapped out of it.

"Why did I just thought of her?!" Louis blushed and quickly covered his face.

JL and David: Hmmm?

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