Codename: Snow Queen

Chapter Two

After winning the Xfinity Series virtual championship event at Road America in a tight battle with Ashley, Liberty packed some clothes, as well as her gaming equipment, among other things, and headed to the airport to fly to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, where she would compete in the Cup Series race. She had confidence in her ability to get the weekend sweep by winning the Cup Series race as well. When she arrived at the airport in Wisconsin, she got a rental car and drove to the hotel she was staying at for the next few days. Upon arriving, she learned that she would be sharing a room with one of the other drivers, and she picked up her hot pink bag and proceeded to her room. When she entered the room, she thought it was empty at first, but then the bathroom door opened a crack, and Liberty saw a pair of ocean blue eyes that she recognized as Ashley's. She gave the other leopardess a quick wave, which caused Ashley to abruptly close the door again, much to Liberty's disappointment. Fortunately for her, the door reopened a few minutes later, and Ashley stepped out, wearing a flowy pale pink nightgown with matching slippers. She had her hair wrapped up in one of the hotel towels, and she smiled when she saw me. "Hey, pretty kitty! It's so nice to finally meet you in person!" Ashley said excitedly. "Um... I'm sorry. Did you just call me 'pretty kitty'?" Liberty asked. "I might've," Ashley replied casually. "You act like it's perfectly normal," Liberty said. "I call plenty of other gals 'pretty kitty'. See, I'm into girls," Ashley said. "Oh. Okay, so what do you want to do for tonight?" Liberty asked. "I don't know," Ashley said. "Me neither," Liberty said, then remembered that she had brought her tablet with her, just in case she needed something to do to pass the time. "We could play a game together on my tablet, if you want," she offered. "Sure. What games do you have?" Ashley asked with a sweet smile. "Well, I have a digital version of Monopoly, Battleship, Connect Four, and Uno," Liberty replied, slightly flustered by Ashley's smile. "I like the sound of Monopoly. Can we play that?" She asked. "Whatever you want to play, Ash," Liberty replied, giving Ashley a sweet smile. "Yay!" Ashley said happily, briefly giving in to the little girl in her.

The next afternoon, the pair of them had taken their seats across from each other, and they each wished the other luck as they began the pace laps. "Hey, I have a bet we could make," Ashley said, smiling her sweet smile at Liberty, making the other snow leopardess blush slightly. "I'm listening," she said. "If you finish better than me, then I'll tell you how I feel about you," Ashley said. "Okay. Let me guess, if you finish better than I do, then I have to tell you how I feel about you?" Liberty asked. "Pretty much, yeah," Ashley said. "You're on. May the best driver win," Liberty said, shaking paws with Ashley from across the table. The pace car pulled onto pit road, leaving the virtual field in Ashley's hands, and she hit the gas as soon as the green flag waved. She cleared the second place driver with relative ease as she entered turn one, while Liberty was being held up by some slower cars, having started twenty-fifth after struggling in qualifying. When she had finished qualifying, she internally cursed herself for not doing what Ashley had done in practice and ran some laps in qualifying trim, but none of that mattered anymore. She managed to gain three positions as she exited the second corner, and she was determined to get more. Back at the front of the pack, Ashley was executing her chosen strategy perfectly, by running a bit conservative to save her car for the end of the race, but not so conservatively that she was getting passed. She reminded herself in her mind that she just had to hit her marks with precision and skill, and she would be in good shape.

About seven and a half laps into the race, Liberty had made her way up to thirteenth place, when another car in front of her had to lift off the throttle considerably to avoid hitting another car, and while she was trying to avoid cars, she made pretty hard contact with the car running eleventh, causing her to have a right front tire rub. The caution flag came out for debris, and she brought her car to her pit box for service, as did several other cars who were trying to get off-strategy from the leaders. The race restarted on lap eleven, and just as she had at the start of the race, Ashley cleared the second place car as she entered turn one. Further back in the field, Liberty was coming with a full head of steam, moving into fifth place as they began lap twelve. By the time that the field reached turn five, Liberty was up to second place, closing in on Ashley for the lead. On the downside, Ashley proved to be much harder to pass than Liberty had anticipated. Wow, she's got a really good car. That, or she's just got a lot of experience on this track, combined with having a good car, Liberty thought to herself. On lap twenty, the final lap of the first stage, she drove into turn five deep, trying to outbrake Ashley. Instead, her plan backfired, and her car started to wheel hop, causing her to overshoot the corner and end up in the runoff area. She was able to get back going easily, managing to secure a second place finish in stage one.

During the pit stops at the end of stage one, everyone who had pitted earlier, with Liberty, decided to stay out on track, while the rest of the cars went to pit road. "Hey Ash!" Liberty said enthusiastically. "Yeah, Libby?" Ashley replied. "Congrats on that stage win, girl!" Liberty replied. "Thanks, girl! Talk to you after stage two, kay?" She asked. "Sure thing," Liberty replied. The race restarted a few laps after the pit stops, and right from the start, Ashley and Liberty started racing like they were going for the lead, not tenth place. When Liberty managed to pass Ashley, the voice of her spotter, Bobby James, came through her headset, telling her she was clear of Ashley. Just as she was moving to shut the door on Ashley, the latter gunned it off the corner, not realizing that Liberty was coming up the track to slip in front of her, and she wound up hooking Liberty's left rear bumper coming out of the carousel turn, causing Liberty to spin out, bringing out the caution. "Oh my God, I didn't mean to do that, Liberty! I'm so sorry!" Ashley said right away. "Don't worry about it. No harm done. It was my fault anyway. I didn't see you coming in my rearview mirror, and my spotter had told me that I was clear," Liberty replied calmly. Once the race restarted, the stage went green all the way to the end, with a door-to-door photo finish between Ashley and Liberty, with Liberty just edging out Ashley.

When the field came to pit road, Ashley congratulated Liberty on her stage two win, and gave her props for racing her the way that she had. "I like racing hard like we did at the end of that stage. It's part of why people watch the sport in the first place," Ashley said. "I agree, even if a lot of other drivers don't," Liberty replied, pushing her glasses up her nose a bit. She won the race off pit road, and she prepared for the third and final stage of the race. This is where the fun begins, she thought to herself as the race restarted.