Welomce to another installment of Street Dreams. THe race's are getting fierce as our nine lovly ladies duke it out with the rest of teh world. With out further ado, i give you...

Episode 8: Moonlight Reflection.

"You work for me now, to pay off that piece of crap sitting in my garage. I dont care if you home sick or in bed with Beyonce. I call, you come." Han to Sean from Tokyo Drift


It was coming around noon and the road leading into Tokyo was fairly quiet. Every so often, a car would fly by, heading towards the city of Tokyo. A single bird circled in the sky directly above the road, beady eyes staring at small worm crawling across the hot asphalt. Swooping in for the kill, the bird captured his prey and proceeded to eat his well-earned his meal. In peace.

But in the distant, a low, ferocious growling was heard. The bird cocked his head in the direction of the noise, temporarily forgetting about his meal. Underneath the bird, the road started to tremble as the terrible growling grew louder and louder. Closing in on the bird at high speeds were a Skyline and Charger, barreling down the road, solely intent on getting to their destination. The bird, realizing the danger he was in, rose up and abandoned his meal, flapping his wings in a frenzy to get away before he became road kill.

In the Skyline was a seemingly cool Halibel Tai, pushing the pedal to the floor as she sped towards Tokyo, followed by Nel in her banged up Charger. With no disregard for any speed limits, the two racers hurled into the city limits of Tokyo, not noticing the two police cars slightly hidden on the side of the road. Without a moment's hesitation, blue and red lights lit up and sirens blared at full volume as the police entered into pursuit.

"Damn." Halibel cursed. "Should've been paying more attention. Nothing I can do about it now. Just gotta shake these guys off our tail."

Taking a hard right, Halibel screeched on to another road, Nel following suite. Not far behind were the police cars, kicking up the speed and bearing down on the drivers. Shaking her head in frustration, Halibel looked for another distraction as quick as she could. Eyes landing upon the streaming traffic at the next light, she sped up towards it. Seeing what Halibel was doing, Nel could only shake her head.
"C'mon Halibel. You know I'm terrible at navigating through traffic. My car's already beat up as it is." She muttered.

Coming closer to the light, Nel looked for a way to get through the traffic. Noticing a small gap, she switched on her Nitro and pushed the pedal as hard as she could, barreling towards the gap as it was slowly closing. Pumping as much as she could, Nel closed her eyes shut as she came to gap. With just a bit of luck, Nel made it out; gaining only a slight scratch that caused her to lose control of the car for a few seconds. Barely making it through, Nel was able to breathe a sigh of relief. Halibel, on the other hand, took complete control of her Skyline and executed perfect maneuvers, dodging and weaving through the mass of cars. In addition to making it through the traffic, she helped to cause an accident that caused a traffic jam, effectively shutting the path off and blocking the police cars.

Safely away from the cops, the two girls navigated their cars to the nearest parking garage. Getting out, Halibel went to Nel to make sure she was fine.

"Sorry about that, Nel." Halibel stated. "It was the only way I saw at the moment."

Sighing, Nel replied. "It's fine, we made it out safely. But for now, we need to figure out where we need to go."

"Right. Let me give Lily a call." Halibel responded. Pulling out her phone, Halibel quickly dialed Lily's number and waited as the phone rang.

"Halibel sister?" Lily answered. "Where are you and Nel? Are you fine?"

"Yes, we're fine. We're in Tokyo, finally." Halibel answered. "We had a slight run-in with the cops but for now, we're safe."

"The cops?" Lily exclaimed. "What happened? And more importantly, where are you guys in Tokyo?"

"Don't worry about the cops for right now." Halibel coolly said. "We're at a parking garage right near the entrance to Tokyo. You know where that is?"

"Yeah, I believe I do." Lily replied. "I'll be there in a few. Hold tight."

Turning on her stereo, Halibel relaxed in her car and Nel popped open a can of Red Bull as she looked at the scratch on her car. After waiting for a little while, they heard the sound of an approaching car. Entering the parking garage was Lily in her Lancer. Pulling up to the two girls, she stopped her car and got out immediately. Without even a second thought, she hurled herself at Nel, wrapping her arms around her.

"Nel sister! Are you fine?" Lily fretted over her recovering teammate.

"Yes, yes! I'm fine. Don't worry." Nel replied. "Nothing is going to happen to me, or any of us, during this race."

"Right. Enough of the chatter though." Halibel stated. "We need to get to the next part before we get disqualified. Do we still have time Seo?"

"Yeah, the next race won't start for a little longer. But we should definitely hurry anyway. You guys must not have gotten a lot of rest, plus I need to get you up to speed." Lily replied.

"Alright then, let's get going." Halibel said.

Getting into their cars, the girls started up the engines and Lilynette started to lead them to the hotel where she was staying...

Meanwhile, on another part of the city. The girls of Shinigami were relaxing themselves in an expensive restaurant. Delicacies lined their tables as they spent some well-earned race money on pricey gourmet meals.

"Well I suppose this is going to hamper our... skills", Momo said blatantly.
"Nonsense!" Rangiku exclaimed, "A good driver needs a nice full stomach to ever win anything!"
"What if you're too fat to drive?" Rukia asked.
"Well at least I drive happy." Rangiku smiled
"So how are we, I mean...where are we racin'?" Momo asked.
"I have no clue, but i'm sure we'll get information somehow." Rukia replied. Lo and behold Rukia's phone began to vibrate, it was a simple text message. Forwarded to many people, drivers of the race, it gave directions on the next rendezvous point of all.

"Well, that's a coinkydink" Rukia smiled.
"What's it say?" Rangiku and Momo asked simultaneously.

"Girls, we're going to the beach!"

Tokyo Beach was a renowned attraction of Tokyo. (Sorry, I really don't know about the beaches there.)This day however, would not be filled with half naked swimmers or waders, but with the roaring engines of several hundred cars. Minute to minute, cars zoomed in to the road side, the buildings and the parking lots next to the buildings. It was a slew of a mess all over of colored coated machinery; many people around them did not know what to think.

A couple blocks away, at all intersections, hastily disguised cars, all driven by people obviously in on the race, blocked the paths to the beach. Those with identification could pass those who looked confused, befuddled, or bewildered, were turned away. The disguised cars, with horribly painted Hangul on the sides attempting to imitate authority worked however, and suspicion was only at the slightest.

By the time Shinigami had arrived, Y2TIGER were already undergoing preparations for their own individual races. Orihime had been paired with 3 others, none of which were from her own garage, in one of the first races. Lisa was assigned a later race, and Mashiro was right in the middle in terms of time.

"Well you made it!" Orihime greeted the shinigami girls, "Go 'head and sign up for your list!"
"Where's the other 3 buffoons?" Lisa asked.
"No idea, haven't seen them since Seoul, hope they're alright, Lilynette was here with us though..." Rukia responded.

A whistle blew from the mouth of Ulquiorra. Who was dressed simply in a flowery Tommy Bahama shirt and beach shorts.
"Alright, next set!" Ulquiorra yelled. Orihime smiled.
"That's me! Gotta run!"
"If you don't win this," Lisa said, grabbing Orihime's arm, "You know you don't pass."

"I'll win it," Orihime giggled, "It won't be much!"

Orihime ran towards her car, drove up towards the starting line, and with the dropping of a cheaply made flag, four cars set off. Rukia and the rest of her garage went up towards Ulquiorra and asked for their times.
"Well you made it, almost on time, but hey, no worries." he laughed.
"Can we still get our times?"
"Naturally, here you go!" Rukia handed the papers out to Momo and Rangiku.
They looked at their times briefly and nodded.
"I got 1:15," Rangiku complained, "Well at least i'll get it over with fast."

Shortly after the engines were barely audible on the set course, the three girls of Espada drove up towards the mass of partying drivers. Halibel quickly ran out of her Skyline, and signed herself up as well as identified she was viable to even participate in the race, as well as her fellow garage-mates.
"Bit late are we?" Ulquiorra asked.
"Just a bit." Halibel grinned, "but you shouldn't worry about that."
"It's not a big deal, here," Ulquiorra handed Halibel three small strips of paper, "That's your estimated race time."
"Thanks" Halibel hastily told Ulquiorra.

She opened up the folded strips of paper. Lilynette and Nel were both placed within the same hour, which was only two hours to come. Halibel herself however, was given a later time... a far later time.
"8:45 pm? You gotta be joking me?" Lisa approached Halibel to spy a little on their assigned race times.
"You're in luck, mine's only at 8."
"Well Lisa, if we had the same race time it would've been you eating my exhaust gas again."
"Hm, well, this isn't your beloved traffic, or your mountain pass, it's a plain and simple track, and you'll know i'll win it."
"Lucky i'm not in your time slot then," Halibel retorted sarcastically. Halibel walked back towards her Skyline, where the rest of her garage mates were nearby. She gave Nel and Lilynette their slips of paper with their race times.

There was a bar nearby, quickly made out of someone's portable folding table and a few sodas and alcoholic drinks on top. Halibel and Lilynette approached it.
"Water please," Halibel demanded.
"Sake."
"Lily!"
"I was just kidding Halibel, i'll have a water too." The improvised bartender handed the two girls small bottles of water, and demanded for some change in return. Halibel reached in her pocket and threw down whatever she had, which was, a lot of money.
"Hey, girl, you gon' pay this much for two bottles of water?" the bartender retorted, "Take most 'dis back, unless you feelin' generous."

The bartender was a strange Jamaican man, but kind enough to offer Halibel's wad of money back to her. Few more minutes passed as the four drivers from the previous race finally drove in. Orihime was, as she promised, first place. The other drivers, all male, exited their cars in rage and made a disgusting look towards the bashful Orihime inside her steamingly hot car.

ulquiorra stepped down from his simple podium, and opened Orihime's door for her.
He crouched and winked.
"Congratulations, you're goin' through." He smiled brightly.
"There was nothing bad about that! Just a good old race!" Orihime laughed.
"Like I said." Ulquiorra grinned. Ulquiorra stood from his crouched position and yelled, "Next up! 1:15 pm race!"
"That's me," Rangiku said. "Wish me luck!"
"Good luck!" Momo and Rukia yelled.

Rangiku climbed into her Mustang with great agility, and drove up to the start other drivers joined her at side. Rangiku glared inside a souped up Honda Civic right next to her, the man inside stared back and gave a smile. Rangiku raised one eyebrow at him, and looked back towards the front, focusing herself on the race. The flag dropped, and the racers were off.

Rangiku grabbed a nice lead, the road was relatively clear and rough only in a few places.
The Civic trailed behind her, trying to seize any opportunity it could to pass her up.A surprise came not long after the 1:15 set started up. Ulquiorra had called for the next set of racers to drive up to the start line and prepare to race."What's this?" Halibel asked.
"Well, we're squeezing in our time, due to reports of suspicion growing, when it dies however I can slow things down again." Ulquiorra beamed.

The next set of racers drove up; none of them were from any of the three garages. An hour passed, and the next race was just about to begin. This time with Mashiro taking up a spot. On street blocks far away, the lookouts were still attempting to derail suspicion of the "Legal closing" of the beach and the roads near it. Rangiku had won her set; the man in the Civic however, had tied with her. After much arguments, he was also allowed to pass, much to his excitement.

Time flew by, Mashiro also won her set, followed by Momo, and then Rukia. Lilynette and Nel were lucky to have raced in separate sets, so close yet far enough away. Nel, when it was her turn to race, and for having sustained simple injuries, managed to pull off one of the fastest times of the entire event. When the car behind her was merely halfway done with the objective road, she had already finished. The simplicity of the road's path was key to allowing Nel her nice boost of speed in a demonically charged Charger.

Time flied even faster, until it was 7:45 pm. The sun was already down, and the moonlight beamed against the ocean water.
"Guess you're next." Halibel said to Lisa, "Good luck."
Lisa smirked, "I do believe I don't need any of it, i've got me." Halibel raised her eyebrows, "Don't be too stingy on accepting a good luck gesture, you never know."
Lisa responded, "I know, trust me, I won't do badly."

A few paces away, Ulquiorra was on the phone, speaking with what appeared to be an out-of-breath man.
"Sir, cops just pulled up, they finally caught us, but we ran off," said the man on the phone, "But don't linger 'round, they're gonna come down on this whole thing and they're gonna come down guns blazing if you don't get out!"
"Goddamnit!" Ulquiorra yelled, "Derail them for as long as you can, I gave you firearms, and USE them!" He roared at eh men. He turned around and rtained his calm, yet hip mood.
"Alright folks!" Ulquiorra screamed at the other drivers left. At this time there were fewer than 25 that have not raced.
"Get this show on the road, get in your vehicles and get on the start line!"

The confused mass of remaining drivers, Lisa and Halibel included, scattered in a baffled frenzy.
"LISTEN!" Ulquiorra roared, "No time for bullcrap! Get in your cars and get ready to race! Authorities will shut this down if you don't, this is a getaway, AND the last race, go!" Ulquiorra jumped into his own car, the Ford GT-40, and revved up towards the start line.
He rolled down his window, the drivers were beginning to follow his orders and ready themselves to drive.

"I'll be your guest in this race."

Lisa and Halibel looked at each other with a competitive stare. Halibel gave a muffled breathy laugh, Lisa did not budge. They went towards their vehicles, started up their engines, and drove right up to the start line, next to each other. From afar, sirens could be heard and approaching very quickly.
Ulquiorra yelled through his now open car window.

"The rest of you! Get out and good luck! To those who are going through! I know who you are, you'll receive information soon enough... Now SCRAM!"

Ulquiorra grabbed a revolver from under his seat, he raised it out of his car and up into the air. "Get ready!" Ulquiorra said as the gun clicked, "Go!" He fired, and soon, the racers were off.

The night was now turning into an apocalyptic get away from the arms of the law. Lisa and Halibel speeded down the road, trying to get ahead of each other, but most importantly, trying to get ahead of Ulquiorra, who now has a massive lead over the other twenty something drivers behind him. His abilities over a vehicle showed, as he dodged idly parked cars with amazingly reactive reflexes. Tis was Ulquiorra in first, and Halibel and Lisa neck and neck, with many other drivers trailing them not very far away, in fact, dangerously close. Halibel then came upon a lethal conclusion. The road they were taking led right back to where they started. All the other drivers had driven this way and came back through the other.

If they would take this road, there would surely be officials to take them all in, if not, they surely have enough firepower to put an end to their cars, and them, forever. Halibel quickly grabbed her cellphone, and searched her received calls. Nothing. Yet now it started ringing. She picked up the phone, looking beside her through the window, she saw Lisa pick up her phone as well. Struggling to keep her good neck-and-neck standing in the race with Lisa as well as answer the phone, Halibel spoke in a strained manner.

"Hello?"
"Halibel sister! Don't follow the road! There's police everywhere at the end!"
"But i've got to? This is the path! The only one made!"
"It's suicide!"

Halibel was now tired of the incessant voices over the phone and in her head. In an act of exhaustion and panic she threw the phone down on her car floor. She slammed the gas pedal even harder, turned her wheel 180 and braked. She drifted right in front of Lisa's car, but now she was facing the wrong way. Halibel reacted quickly by switching into reverse, and slamming the gas yet again.
Now they were, literally, face to face. Halibel drove only with her rear view mirror to guide her. While Lisa had an entire Skyline facing at her, obstructing her vision. Lisa was frustrated, her eyes winced, Halibel paid no heed, and her eyes still lingered on her own rear view mirror.

Lisa slammed the gas even harder, with more violent intent. Trying to force Halibel off of her front. Impact again and again, minimal, but both drivers could still feel it. Halibel now stared into Lisa's eyes. Lisa stared back. Panicking yet cool, Halibel turned her head, and her steering wheel, and took a right or Lisa's left, out of the main road. Lisa, now instilled with a speed fever, followed fervently.

It was now a duel. Both cars rushed through the new roads and crossings without any idea of direction. What was important now is whoever's going to be first. How could there be a first place if there is no path?

They were now entering more and more into the heart of Tokyo and into more and more traffic. When cars busied, Halibel would drift cleanly out of a few, whereas Lisa would find the widest opening and ram right through. Her car having a massive endurance due to her own mechanical tampering. Behind them however, Ulquiorra and his GT-40 now followed. Why he did so, was unclear at this moment.

Lisa and Halibel now zoomed past pedestrians, trucks, and all sorts of traffic and busy road mayhem that might be bestowed as a gift to illegal street racers. As they zoomed past one intersection, sirens were now in full audibility. They now had several police vehicles chasing after the three. They rode past another intersection; the police were now at their tail. With their sirens, few cars were now moving around.
Halibel looked behind her, Ulquiorra had opened his side window.

Gunshots were fired, as Ulquiorra stuck his head and arm out, firing his revolver at the wheels of the police cars with deadly efficiency. Two police cars had crashed into a building, with no fatalities, the other had crashed into another car, and the driver of which, a policeman, was mightily injured with glass cuts.

Now the race had become a demolition derby. On the main path, the other twenty drivers were still racing. While Lisa, Halibel, and Ulquiorra were causing their own personal mayhem through Tokyo's heart. Sensing the futility of it all, Halibel broke off. She was not however left alone, now she was trailed again by Lisa and then Ulquiorra.

Frustrated, Halibel grunted angrily inside her car. A block away, was a hotel with a parking lot.
Sensing her advantage, she depressed her gas pedal all the way down. Half a block in almost half a second, and her speed was increasing, the parking lot getting nearer; she jerked right, and braked. She drifted right into the parking lot entrance; she slammed the gas again, then quickly braked, and switched gears. This drifted her car straight into a spiral, and continued to drift her up the floors, floor 2, and floor 3, now 4.

Moving forward now, she zoomed straight across the final floor towards the edge. She braked screeching, put on the parking brake, removed her keys, and rushed out of her car. She ran towards the elevator room nearby, and ran behind it to hide. Twenty or so seconds later Lisa and Ulquiorra had finally scaled to the parking lot's final floor, seeing Halibel's Skyline idle there. Lisa exited her Mazda, and walked towards the Skyline, examining it, looking for the Espada driver. She saw the elevator room nearby, and walked towards it slowly. Her shoes clacked with the floor and scraped its hard concrete. As she approached near it, leaning her head closer and closer, Halibel lashed out. One arm went over hers, and another around, and sooner than later Halibel had Lisa in a tight fully bind grip.

"What's your problem?" Halibel yelled.
"What's YOURS?"

Lisa elbowed Halibel in the stomach, breaking the hold, as Halibel countered with a kick to Lisa's shin. Lisa, now pained in one leg, began to lash out again. However, Ulquiorra, who had been behind them, stopped with his own intervention.

"Relax you two."
"its cause of her I lost the race!" Lisa yelled
"I lost too, idiot." Halibel said, with her hands clasped towards her stomach.
"Nobody lost anything." Ulquiorra retorted.
"What?" Lisa asked.

Far in the distance, the other twenty something drivers had drive the right path straight into the arms of the stationed policemen. Arrest came quickly for those who gave up, for those who continued to try to run away, they were swiftly halted.

"When I saw you two drive like that behind me, it was truly a feat." Ulquiorra said, "But when I saw you had broken away, I had no idea why." Ulquiorra smiled a bit.
"Then I realized the very path I had picked out led straight into the place where we had started, which would have been crawling with policemen." Halibel laughed a bit, strained however, with her pained stomach.

"So saving your own skins, I decided to save mine as well, but i'm not sure if I would've noticed without your breaking away."
"So what?" Lisa said, breathing pretty heavily with her stained street ride.
"I'm thinking you both deserve this." Ulquiorra said, handing them both envelopes. Lisa and Halibel opened the envelopes to find a couple thousand dollars worth of Won, and a plane ticket into Los Angeles "For feats of madness and crazy stunt age, also for saving me from my own stupidity, I'm letting both of you go through." Ulquiorra panted.

"You're joking?" Halibel said somewhat unimpressed, yet somewhat bewildered.
"Nope, we'll arrange ways to transport your vehicles to L.A, but as for you two, and the other winners, you get to fly in comfort towards L.A. Though it's a slightly shorter ride than you'd want in a luxury flight, it's still a chance to relax a bit."

More sirens could be heard in the distance now, but they soon faded away. The parking complex was a great place to end a night ride of illegal troubles.
"You should both get back to your friends, I'm sure they're worried." Ulquiorra laughed. Lisa and Halibel looked at each other one more time, both still breathing fairly heavily. Giving each other a deviant smile, they turned away towards their cars, and drove into the night, or whatever remained of it. Ulquiorra stayed back, his long black hair covered his eyes as he leaned against his car.

"So…all three are going through?" A voice said as Ulquiorra nodded.

"Yeah…Espada's drift queens, Shinigami's demonic speed and the Y2TIGER's all rounded skills." Ulquiorra turned around and looked at the man behind him, "Kisuke; why did you want me to pick them?"

"Because…as a top racer; you know what to look for." Kisuke walked over to the edge of the parking lot and leaned over, "America; get ready, because we're going to tear your streets up."


Well thats all for now. I will be doing some volenteer work in Japan, so the next one will be a while. Next time on Street Dream's, Episode 9; Los Angeles, The City of Nine Angels.