Biker Mice From Mars - Redline

6: Round Table

"Nice job telling off that poser, Yuya." Throttle said.

"Hey, no problem. To be honest, it just comes and goes, you know?" Yuya said. "Anyways, Takumi should be here in three, two, one..."

Shortly after that, the Eight-Six ripped around the corner in a fashion that only Takumi Fujiwara could deliver! It slid to a stop right in front of them! Takumi then rolled down the window. The group then noticed that Bunta was in the passenger seat. Yuya motioned for Takumi to pop the hood.

"How's it handling, Takumi?" Yuya asked, opening the hood.

"It's incredible!" Takumi exclaimed. "With this new engine, the AE86 is like nothing I've ever driven before! It's fast and savage when it needs to be, but it still handles the way the AE86 did with the old engine!"

"Glad you like it, Takumi." Yuya said. "Anything you'd like to add, Bunta?"

"Like I said in the garage, you did a good job. However, I think we may need to stiffen the suspension, depending on the event we're going to be competing in. I noticed she's not handling some of the corners as well as she could."

"Got it." Yuya replied. "Let's head back to Brimstone, see if we can't iron out those settings. After that, let's have a break."

"So it's tea time and lunch after we finish up the Eight-Six's settings?" Manuel smiled. "Sounds good to me."

Brimstone

Stratos Needle Tower – Revolving Lounge

Yuya took a sip of Martian redroot tea as the group sat at a table. Stoker was kind to bring them the packets, and Yuya didn't mind preparing it. The tea had a kind of combination of cinammon-like spice and berry flavor to it, though it wasn't unpleasant. The group was catching up with each other as they discussed past and current events.

"So, Shinji nearly beat you?" Throttle asked Takumi, eating a tofu dog. "It must have been a close race."

"It was a very close race." Takumi answered. "A little too close for my taste."

"Yeah. I remember Ryoske calling me about it." Manuel added. "He said it was the best race of your career."

"Speaking of which, I think we need to make some memories of our own at this event." Mika said, getting out a camcorder from a backpack she had. "I don't intend to show this to anyone else outside our circle, just so you guys know. I just want to capture the memories, for good time's sake. I also brought some extra recording discs."

"We must think alike, Mika." Reina smiled. "I also brought my camera and some equipment. Borrowed it from the 'Drive Go! Go!' studio, with permission. I told them I was going to do some amateur filming for fun. I sent Akio, Iketani, and Itsuki to get it for me. They should be here any moment now."

Shortly after she finished that sentence, Akio, Itsuki, and Iketani walked in with three cases. "The camera is in the first case. The second case has extra discs. The third case, however, has a studio-quality editing computer that can edit recordings from any camera. Perhaps we could mix our recordings together, and make something like a home movie out of this?"

Mika beamed at the thought. "That's an excellent idea! We could even record when we're at the race, too!"

"You sure that's a good idea?" Modo asked.

"Well, no offense to anybody, but knowing humans, who would believe them if they saw it anyway?" Carbine said. "I say, let them record away! One condition, though: Just remember to give everyone copies of the complete media." She finished with a grin.

"Gladly!" Mika and Reina replied in unison. With that, Mika fired up her camera, and started to record the Lunch Meet. "So, here we are. Today is August 1st, 2014 on the Earth Calendear. We are on the planet Mars for the racing event Redline, with friends abound from Gunma and Tokyo, to the United States and beyond!" She panned the camera's view from Takumi, to Keisuke and Ryoske, then to Akio and Yuya, and finally, to Kitanmi and Bunta. "Here, we have Project: D, our racing team, during a small break before the opening ceremonies of the Redline event! Say Hi, guys!"

Everyone waved at the camera, in good spirits.

"So Ryoske, how do you think the team will do in this multi-platform event?" Mika asked.

"I think it's a little too early to say at this point, but don't count us completely out. We plan to give this all the effort we have. Isn't that right team?"

"Yeah!" Everyone cheered. "Givin' it everything for Mars and Earth!"

"That's what I like to hear." Ryoske smiled.

Before Ryoske could finish, Captain Scabbard came in with two officers behind him.

"Carbine, we have a problem." He said.

Carbine sighed. "What is it?"

Everyone turned pale with his next words.

"We've found two stowaways on your craft that came back from Earth. A young boy, and a woman. They claim to know one of our guests."