Top Girls!

Chapter 11

"I WANT TO BE IN MORE EPISODES!" Mari demanded.

Gendi just looked amused.

Aoi, who was sitting in on the meeting, noted, "You're under age. There's various legal complications."

"Plus featuring you means fans will wonder if you're the Stig or not," Gendo added.

There were a LOT of rumours going around about who the Stig was. Rei, Asuka and Mari were all considered to be serious contenders, along with Maya Ibuki and, amusingly, Shinji in the suit wearing false breasts.

At least one of the fan manga they had discovered was based on that, in fact. It was amusing, if a bit disturbing too. Anyway...

"I can totally fill in for the Stig," Mari added, "I learned to drive on the island."

"You crashed the test type, AND multiple vehicles," Gendo noted.

"I never said I was good at it," Mari shrugged casually.

Aoi snorted. She looked at Gendo, "Well, we DO need gofers and such, during the show."

"Put me in the 'sexy' plugsuit again," Mari suggested, "we were THE biggest download on 4chan that week."

Everyone just kind of ignored that...

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Hurry! Hurry!" Ritsuko barked as they raced between trains. The station was huge and built like a maze, and there were a lot of people rushing about too. At one point they had been so packed in with other passengers, they nearly lost each other.

'We REALLY should have done more than one trial run,' Maya thought to herself as she kept pace with Ritsuko.

They two had done one run through a few weeks ago, without a camera crew. She had argued they should do more, but Gendo had vetoed it. He wanted their trip to feel 'realistic.'

'Well, we're about to miss a train for added realism,' Maya thought grumpily as they hurried up the platform.

"Hold the door!" Ritsuko yelled as they charged.

Ritsuko and Maya hurried through the door, which shut immediately behind them. They both nearly collapsed into seats as they finally relaxed a bit.

"Whew," Maya sighed in relief.

"We uh.. lost the sound guy," a voice noted off screen.

Maya and Ritsuko looked out the window, where YES the sound tech was left standing on the platform as they rolled away.

"Shit," Ritsuko muttered.

"We still have our clothes mics and backpacks," Maya noted ruefully, "we just lost the boom mike and sound balancing."

"He can rent a vehicle and catch up to us," Ritsuko said, then added somewhat dubiously, "Well, hopefully."

The video guy moved off a bit, and everyone settled into their seats. "We're about half way along," Maya noted, "and on the bullet train. Senpai, he is NOT catching up."

Ritsuko groaned softly.

There was a loud gurgle from Maya's middle.

"Hmm?" Ritsuko looked amused.

Defensively Maya said, "I've only had breakfast. Besides, we've had no chance to eat while rushing about..."

"Yeah, this has been a bit more tightly scheduled than the original Top Gear trip," Ritsuko conceded. "We'll try to get something..."

The camera guy also nodded firmly. They had been running around a lot!

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The Stig was a machine, driving without stop as they raced across Japan.

Satsuki, on the other hand, was becoming very aware of the disadvantages of a long car trip. Including a very sore butt.

"Okay, we're nearly half way across Japan," Shinji noted cheerfully, "According to a feed from Rirsuko and Maya, we're slightly behind them."

Shinji, on the other hand, had actually gotten into being a host, especially since the Stig didn't talk at all. She was honestly quite impressed. He had willingly acted as needed, including playing with various prop toys and even putting up with 'soothing' whale music.

"Do you think we can close the distance?" Satsuki asked. The Stig, of course, didn't answer and remained focused on the road.

"I think it'll depend on traffic through Tokyo-2. That'll be where things get decided," Shinji admitted thoughtfully,

Stig tightened their hands on the steering wheel.

Satsuki sighed as she shifted, trying to find a position that didn't bother her ass. They had been running at exactly the speed limit for hours, and occassionally going over in areas they knew the speed cameras were down, with the occassional potty break. Which Stig timed in a frightening anal-retentive kind of way. And gas station stops.

(When they were planning the episode, there had been some debate on using a newer, battery powered car for the trip. But Gendo wanted to follow the original show, and a battery car generally couldn't match a gas car for preformance. With rare exceptions, obviously.)

"Okay, the staffers packed us some lunches," Shinji tapped a cooler on the seat, "Stig, did you want some...?"

Stig just gave him a look, then concentrated on driving.

"Okay, Satsuki, you pick from the snacks first," Shinji offered.

"You don't have to...," Satsuki started.

"Knowing our staff the way we do, they picked the odd snacks. Get what you want first," Shinji advised her dryly.

"Point," Satsuki agreed.

Both ate, then had some soda as they raced across a series of suburbs. After impact a LOT of previously farm land was built on, as people moved inland. Mind you, the island's population had overall fallen, but land area had also declined.

"Ha!" Satsuki laughed.

"Hmm?" Shinji asked as the Stig looked curiously.

"It looks like Ritsuko and Maya lost their sound guy while changing train routes," Satsuki snickered softly.

"Poor guy," Shinji noted.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Wha hoo!" Misato cheered as they gunned the engines.

"Sit DOWN, ma'am," Kaede ordered from the wheel.

"Spoil sport." Misato sat.

They were making good time as they took the speed boat out and around the shores of Japan. There had been some complications though. Even though it had been years since impact, there was debris they needed to avoid.

"I thought all the junk had been cleared?" Misato wondered as they dodged around a piece of floating wreckage.

"Yes and no," Kaede answered as she deftly dodged a floating log, "there's a constant amount of stuff that floats up from everywhere that was sunk after impact. The shore patrol has to do regular sweeps for the larger stuff, and the small chunks get left."

"All right, that makes sense," Misato conceded.

They bumped something, hard, and Misato fell over with an alarmed cry.

"And THAT is why we keep our seatbelts ON, please," Kaede added as Misato climbed back in her seat again.

"Okay, okay," Misato conceded as she belted in.

(Like the other teams, they had a film crew. Well, one guy, plus cameras mounted in the boat. Unlike Misato he had stayed strapped in, though he was having issues keeping the camera steady...)

"Whoop! Hold on," Kaede ordered as she saw another large object, which the dodged around.

"Whoa," Misato echoed her, holding on to the dash. 'Thank god I don't get seasick,' she thought with a sigh.

"Uuurkh!" came from behind them.

'Unlike the cameraman,' Misato added mentally. "Don't you have gravol or something?" she asked him.

"I took some earlier," he sighed, "it'll pass."

"If you HAVE to puke, do it over the side," Kaede noted heartlessly.

"You are SO mean," Misato snickered. She looked out over the water as she mused, "Think we'll beat the train?"

"Honestly, probably not," Kaede admitted. "Might beat the car, though," she added.

To be continued...

Notes: Sorry for short chapter. It is hot as hell up here in Canada...