Top Girls! Six

"Aaaaaaah!" Misato yelped as her BMW completely failed to get traction and slid down the tilted section of highway.

Thankfully she finally skidded to a stop just short of the water, but it was very close to a serious emergency. Not that the camera crew helped, as Misato getting dunked would be good theater. Maya puffed out a sigh of relief, while Ritsuko perched uncomfortably on her motorbike.

The Porsche Ritsuko had been driving had, sadly, lost it's wheel completely a few hours into their second day of driving. Not just the wheel, in fact... they busted the entire rear axle. Both the three hosts and the team of mechanics they brought along had to give up, as there was no way to fix it short of a fully equipped machine shop. So Ritsuko was forced to abandon her car and take the punishment vehicle, the motorbike.

"Are you all right?" Maya yelled from her now mud splattered and banged up Beetle. Which, it should be said, was holding up best so far.

"Once I get some clean pants maybe," Misato growled out as she very carefully edged her car back up the slope.

"At least we're in the home stretch," Ritsuko sighed.

"Which means Gendo will spring something on us," Maya noted grimly.

Just then a figure in a lab coat trotted up with a envelope, handing it to Misato.

"You HAD to say it," Ritsuko accused Maya, shaking her head.

"Sorry, Senpai," Maya sighed meekly.

Misato flipped open the paper, reading quickly. A smirk appeared on her face as she read aloud, "We are interrupting the trek across Tokyo for a special Rally Stage!"

"Rally...?" Ritsuko echoed.

"The three vehicles will run through a course in the old Tokyo streets, handled by our tame racing driver," Misato said. "Some say that her helmet is actually her face, and that her plugsuit is really all colours combined, but we just call her the Stig!"

"The Porsche is dead. What is she going to...?" Ritsuko wondered as she stood by her parked motorbike.

"Ride the bike I guess," Maya said as the Stig stalked towards Ritsuko.

In fact the Stig did mount the bike, if somewhat dubiously looking. She revved the engine, adjusting her seat slightly.

"Ready..." Misato called out, "GO!"

With a rev of the engine Stig was off. The old road was both slick in parts and badly broken in others, giving the Stig a bit of a challenge. There was even a shelf she did a jump off of, landing hard but recovering quickly. She raced to the end, then skid to a stop.

"Wonder how my BMW will take the jump?" Misato wondered.

"Oh my poor Beetle," Maya whimpered, knowing it would NOT do well at this.

The BMW was next, and the already heavy and banged up vehicle swerved and careened around the course. The Stig appeared to be enjoying herself, but the poor BMW was shedding pieces like leaves in fall.

The BMW leaped off the jump, came down hard... and just rolled to a stop. "Fuck," Misato swore.

The Stig tried the key, working the pedals with a intent focus. Finally she shrugged and got out, as several of the mechanic team members hurried over to push it out of the way.

"Poor thing," Ritsuko noted as Misato and the mechanics started to look it over.

The Stig calmly got in the VW Beetle and started it up. With a belch of black smoke from the exhaust, it rolled out onto the rally stage.

"I can't look," Maya sighed, covering her face with her hands.

A few moments later Misato arrived. "They think Stig managed to jar something loose in the engine, but they can't find it. Looks like the BMW is dead."

"Well, the VW is actually not doing too bad," Ritsuko noted.

Maya peeked between her fingers as it skidded down a slick road, drifting. Stig floored it, sending the bug lurching forward and then off the jump. It crunched down hard, denting the front fender, but lurched onward to cross the finish line.

"And the beetle survives!" Misato declared. "And surprisingly, still lost to the motorbike." she added dryly.

"I don't know if I should be happy about that or not," Ritsuko noted. "All right, final leg... let's get this over with!"

"The BMW is toast... what do I do?" Misato wondered aloud.

The director said something and Ritsuko sighed. "Hop on," she ordered as she climbed on the motorbike, "looks like we go together."

"Whee," Misato noted dryly as she climbed on behind her then held on for dear life.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Back at the studio all three were sitting as they went over what happened. "As you can see, we all died horribly when the VW exploded," Misato lied breezily

"It did not!" Maya protested indignantly.

Ritsuko smiled wryly, "Actually the only vehicle that we chose that actually crossed the finish line was the Beetle."

"Which would have the original Top Gear hosts having a fit," Misato shrugged.

"So what have we learned?" Maya offered brightly.

"Don't pick cars, take the punishment vehicle and go with that," Ritsuko shrugged too.

"Pretty much!" Misato agreed.

"And always buy Beetles," Maya added but was completely ignored.

"And now, the news!" Ritsuko declared as they sat back comfortably in the padded chairs.

"I'm sorry to report that the United States is still producing muscle cars...," Misato said, mock mournfully.

"Oh, you like them," Ritsuko laughed, "you're just tsundere about it."

"I am neither dere or tsun," Misato crossed her arms and pouted.

Maya hid a smile as she continued, "Well, I like them. They are fun to drive."

"That's just because you're secretly American on the inside," Misato noted cheerily. "Billy-jo-bob Ibuki."

Maya just stuck her tongue out at that.

"Anyway, the new Mustang has been released, and it's a plasticy horror show," Misato gestured to the sleek looking car on the view screen, "I mean, it looks fast, no question. But they plunked a rebuilt TOYOTA engine in it!"

"Toyota does produce quality engines," Ritsuko tried to argue.

Misato snorted, "It was a V8! With, admittedly, super chargers. But still," she shook her head mournfully. "What a piece of crap."

"And will we be taking it around our track?" Maya asked mildly.

"They won't lend us one," Ritsuko noted dryly as she said, "SOMEHOW they think it won't get a fair review."

They looked at Misato. Misato looked innocent. Crickets chirped in the background.

"Where DO those crickets come from?" Ritsuko looked around in confusion.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Satsuki Ooi hurried down the hall, camcorder in hand as she recorded. "So what did you think of the Tokyo race?" she asked.

"Horrid," Ritsuko admitted frankly, "when the wheel popped off, I thought I was going to die."

"That was a spectacular crash," Satsuki admitted.

"Yeah," Ritsuko made a face, "tho admittedly I knew I had bought a car that had been in a crash. I should have known better."

"Did you find out anything more about the car dealership that sold you that car?" Satsuki asked, knowing Ritsuko had previously said she'd look into it.

"They have mysteriously closed up shop and gone out of business," Ritsuko said dryly. "I have a line on the owner, tho, so hopefully I can make him regret selling me that piece of junk."

"That bad?" Satsuki asked, startled.

"Our mechanics examined the broken axle," Ritsuko shrugged, "the wields and repairs appear to be very sub-standard."

"Well, I hope it goes well," Satsuki nodded, "excuse me."

Maya Ibuki looked up, blinking as Satsuki hurried up to her. "Yes?" she squeaked.

"Congratulations on winning the Tokyo race," Satsuki purred to the cute, boyish younger woman, "How do you feel about winning?"

"Uhm, I..." Maya stammered.

Ritsuko firmly stomped on any feelings of jealousy. She knew Maya had had a crush on her, but was hoping her assistant had gotten over it. She was welcome to find being confronted by Satsuki's bosom pleasant...

Satsuki looked up to see Ritsuko's death glare and paled slightly. "Uhm, excuse me," she told Maya, "I should go interview Misato too." And with that she fled.

"Thank you," Maya sighed.

Ritsuko blushed, "No problem."

To be continued...