A/N: Cue the "everybody stay calm" clip from The Office because I'm finally in a place where I'm comfortable with starting to post this mother! :D Here it is, 3 years and 19 days after I announced it would be coming "soon," and it's not even fully written yet... Without further ado, I give you... TIME WARP: THE SEQUEL TO SET IN STONE! *fanfare!* ENJOY!

Chapter 1;
"Just an Ordinary Day"

Speed woke up to a typical Sunday morning.

It was the same routine as any other weekend morning; he would lay there for a few minutes in bed, wondering whether to get up or sleep in. He almost always chose the former. Even if he wanted to sleep in, X's snoring from across the room would distract him from dozing off. He would then get up, get dressed, take a shower, brush his teeth, and head down to breakfast. By the time he was in the cafeteria, X had gotten up and was getting ready to head down to the cafeteria himself. By the time X actually got there, Speed was usually halfway done eating, if not entirely finished already.

Right on schedule, X sat down across the table from his brother with his tray as Speed was nearly finished with his own meal.

"Good Morning," Speed said, having looked up from his tray when X walked in.

"'Morning," X replied as he started on his breakfast.

Speed looked around the half full cafeteria. "How's the work on the Shooting Star going?" he asked in an attempt to start an idle conversation.

X glanced up at him. "Actually, I'm getting pretty far. Should be done by tomorrow if I keep working on it, and dad said he'd help later after his session with Mitch."

Speed smiled. "Cool. I might help a little, too. I need to wash the Blue Jet first, though. It's still covered in dust from Professor Winn's lesson on low visibility yesterday. But once I'm finished I'll give you a hand." X nodded in appreciation.

After he finished his breakfast, Speed threw away his trash and left the cafeteria, heading towards his and X's garage.

Once there, he stopped for a moment, looking at the coating of dust obscuring his car. He frowned, drawing a finger across part of it and observing the amount of dirt that stuck to his fingertip with disappointment before glancing at the line his finger had made in the dust, the true light blue color of the car showing through it. 'Better get started if I ever wanna finish,' he thought as he picked up a bucket and went to fill it.

By the time he was back, X was already in the garage, seemingly oblivious of his brother's presence as he fiddled with the front end of the Shooting Star. Speed didn't bother him and started going over his own car with a sopping wet sponge.

Rinsing the Blue Jet this way didn't take Speed too long. The dust came off easily as the water washed over it, dripping down onto and running over the slightly slanted floor into a drain that had been installed partly for that very purpose. After the dust had been rinsed off, Speed emptied the leftover water out of his bucket, wrung out the sponge, and replaced both objects where he had gotten them.

Now that it wasn't covered in dirt, the silvery blue car gleamed like it was supposed to. Speed had gotten the car as a present for his 16th birthday along with an acceptance letter from the academy. It was one of his father's original designs; a streamlined, rounded car that tapered downwards in the front and up in the rear. The entire car was a light, crystal blue with the exceptions of some dark blue wavy decals and a matching 'M' on the hood of the car. Speed had eventually decided to call it 'The Blue Jet' after a type of lightning.

X was still hard at work on the Shooting Star, sinking deeper into his task as time went by. Speed glanced over his brother's progress. X had been trying to install a small blaster into his car for a few days, and all of the five times he had already tried testing it, it had either glitched and shot too late or too early, or hadn't worked entirely. Their father had finally taken pity on his eldest son, and agreed to help him the first chance he got. Speed decided to head down to the track to see how his father's tutoring session was going.

Speed found his father where he expected to, coaching Mitch via headset as the student navigated the track.

He waited for Mitch's car to drive by before sprinting across the track to the pit where his father stood. Speed Sr. acknowledged his son with a small smile. "Hey, Dad," Speed said as he jogged to his father's side.

"Hello, Speed," Speed Sr. replied as he watched Mitch drive. "You're looking better, Mitch. Try braking less in the turns; your car can handle them faster without losing control," he continued into the headset.

"How's it going?" Speed asked, watching as Mitch went around a turn slightly faster than before.

"Better, but we've still got some work to do," Speed Sr. said, directing his statement at both Mitch and his son. "Any advice, Speed?"

Figuring he was being tested, Speed crossed his arms and watched Mitch's driving with a critical eye. "I would accelerate more on the straightaways. It could help make up some of the time he loses in the turns," he said confidently.

"Did you catch that, Mitch?" Speed Sr. said into the headset, smiling with approval at his son.

"Yeah, ok," Mitch replied on the other end.

"We'll probably be another 20 minutes," Speed Sr. said, knowing what Speed planned on asking him. Speed nodded. "Ok, cool. I'll be in the garage with X."

Speed left his father alone to finish the lesson and went to go give X a hand.

His brother, as expected, was still in the garage, positioned beneath the front of the Shooting Star.

"How far along are you?" Speed asked. X peered out from under the car, pausing his work. "Oh, hey. Pretty far, I was just tightening some of the wires and stuff." Speed nodded and X went back to work. "I was thinking that maybe it was the way the wires were placed that was making it glitch. Like, maybe the engine was knocking them out of place or something while it was running."

"Yeah, that seems reasonable. It's hard to tell what's in the way when the car isn't running."

X made a sound of agreement.

They were both silent for a few minutes until X spoke again. "Ok, let's try that. If it stays in place, then we can go out to the Salt Flats and test it," he said, sliding out from under the car. Speed stepped aside to allow X to pass him. Once X had started the car, Speed peered into the hood, trying to see anything that was obviously out of place. X stuck his head out of the car. "See anything?"

Speed shook his head. "No. Looks okay so far."

X smiled slightly and turned off the car, checking everything from underneath once more. "Seems like everything's still in place. Now let's see if it actually works," he said.

Their trip to the Salt Flats was fruitless; the blaster still wasn't working right, and X was ready to give up. The trip had taken half an hour, and by the time they got back, their father was waiting patiently in the garage, looking over the Blue Jet critically. He looked up as the Shooting Star pulled into the garage and the brothers stepped out of it.

"Any luck yet?" Speed Sr. asked, already predicting the answer from the look on X's face. Speed shook his head.

"I give up," X replied flatly, resisting the urge to kick his car. "I'm starving and I have no clue how to get this dumb thing to work right."

Speed Sr. gave X a sympathetic look. "I'll take a look at it; you two go get some lunch."

The brothers left the garage and headed towards the cafeteria while their father began to work on the car.

"I just don't get it," X grumbled as they walked. "I mean, I've tried troubleshooting that blaster at least a thousand times! If dad gets in there and finds out it's something really simple and obvious, I might just lose it."

Speed snickered. "I'll keep a camera handy if that happens. I bet your face will be priceless."

X rolled his eyes. "Just don't use it for blackmail."

"What the heck am I gonna blackmail you for?"

X just shrugged. "How should I know? We've been doing just about everything together for the past sixteen years and I still don't know what you're thinking half the time."

Speed just smiled slightly and shook his head.

A comfortable silence descended between the two of them that wasn't broken until they had sat down at a table with their lunch trays.

"You know, things would be easier if we had a mechanic," X said finally, absently poking at his food with a fork. When Speed eyed him with slight confusion, X continued, "At least until Sparky gets back. And even then, it'd still be nice. Him and dad are busy enough without having to worry about fixing up our cars on top of it all."

"I guess you've got a point," Speed replied. They were able to do basic maintenance on their cars themselves, but both had to admit that becoming a mechanic was not for either of them. Sparky had been more than happy to help them out in the past, but he had been away for several months collaborating with a mechanical engineer in Russia, something he had been looking forward to for quite a while. Their dad had been helping them out instead, whenever his schedule permitted, but Speed always felt a little guilty about bothering him. Their only other options were to hire a mechanic, find one of their peers to help out, or to take the cars to a shop every time they broke down. Speed thought that the second option sounded more appealing, but they didn't really know anyone who fit the bill. "You know, I actually had a weird dream last night…" he said suddenly, looking thoughtful.

X raised an eyebrow. "That was random."

"Yeah, but in the dream, I was friends with that one kid, and he was pretty much my mechanic," Speed explained while X only half listened.

"What kid?" X asked absently, taking a bite of his sandwich.

"You know, that weird kid who's completely obsessed with dad," Speed clarified, trying to remember more details. "What's his name… Um, Cameron? Clark?"

X glanced up. "Isn't it Connor or something?"

"Yeah!" Speed exclaimed. "That's the one."

X snorted. "Weird."

Speed mumbled his agreement as he took a bite of his own sandwich, but he couldn't help but notice that it felt strange, him agreeing with his brother about that. He easily shook off the feeling.

"Yo, X and Speed!"

The brothers looked up as Jared and Jesse approached. "Hey guys," Speed greeted as they sat down. X's mouth was full, so he just settled for nodding at the Deuceys.

"Hey X, did you get that blaster thing on your car to work yet?" Jared asked.

X swallowed. "No, and I've given up. Dad's taking a look at it," he replied.

"Well that sucks," Jesse said.

"How's Annalise?" Speed asked.

"She's getting better," Jared answered with a slight smile.

Jesse nodded. "Yeah, she'll probably be in class tomorrow."

X snickered. "Just in time for Aniskov's driving test, I bet she'll love that." The others snickered, conversing idly for the rest of lunch.

Afterwards, the boys traveled back to their garage to see how their father was doing. When they got there, Speed Sr. was just driving back in, presumably returning from testing the blaster. "Did it work? Were you able to fix it?" X asked eagerly as his dad stepped out of the car.

Speed Sr. smiled at his son. "Yeah, it's working now. It was a minor problem with the wiring, not a very big deal."

X eyed his dad suspiciously. "What kind of wiring problem? Was it something obvious?" Speed remembered his earlier promise not a moment to soon and quickly fumbled in his pocket for his phone, just getting it open as their father answered.

"Nah, you were just using the wrong gauge of wire."

Speed snapped a picture of X's blank expression, and X nodded once before walking out of the room without a word.

"We definitely need a mechanic," Speed said.

Speed Sr. smiled. "That's not a bad idea," he said. "I'm sure there's someone in one of your classes who isn't already helping another team."

"If we're lucky," Speed replied. "I can't think of anyone off the top of my head. Maybe I can put up a flyer or something, that'd at least attract some attention."

"Sounds like a plan. While I'm here, is there anything else you two need? Is the Jet running okay?"

Speed looked at his car for a moment. "Yeah, she's ready for the test tomorrow. Speaking of which, I should probably go over the course one more time. Better safe than sorry."

Speed Sr. raised a brow for a moment as if the statement had taken him by surprise before dropping it. "Good idea," he agreed with a nod. "I'll leave you to it..." Speed was a little put off by his father's subtle surprise, but that surprise was overshadowed by his approval; approval which distracted Speed from how admittedly unusual his plan was.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful; Speed reviewed for the test for a while, then headed down to the game room to hang out with X and the Deuceys, where X and Jared got into a heated discussion about whether or not melee weapons were better than ranged attacks. X argued that melee weapons were all-around better and looked cooler, while Jared insisted that they were no match for ranged attacks and Jesse backed him up when asked. X tried to drag Speed into the argument on his side, but Speed argued that magic attacks and buffs could "completely own more mobs in a fight" than any kind of traditional weapon. After dinner, Speed went to bed early while X stayed up for who knows how long.

All in all, it was just another typical day at Racer Academy.

A/N: Don't worry, it picks up speed pretty quickly from here. ;D Hope it's at least satisfactory after y'all had to wait sooooo friiiiigggiiiiin' loooooong for it, and I'm going to update once or twice a week from here on out for at least the next 6 chapters (see, I can promise that because they're already written; love how that works...). If any parts are confusing at any point, then just let me know and I'll tweak it or explain if necessary, but hopefully I won't have to. (I say that because I've had this story in my head and partially on digital paper for so long that I know what I'm talking about even though you might not, sooo yeah. Just let me know.)

I'm actually pretty proud of what I've written of it so far... Should be fun! :D I am thoroughly sick of this chapter, though, because I've read and tweaked it at least 50 times, and it took me a while to get it written at first because it's kinda slow. The next chapters were fun for the most part, though, so that should tell you a little something or other. ;) See ya soon in chaptah twooo!