Summary: The story of the other pair in the first four days. Beat and Rhyme's experiences throughout the Game.
Disclaimer: I do not own The World Ends With You.
My Dream: Live for Me
I'm running, chasing after someone…or something. I…don't remember…There! On the other side of the street! I have to get there! There's never much traffic at this time of day, maybe I'll just cut across. I take the first step, and that's when I hear the car, brakes squealing, but it's already too late…too late…
Rhyme lay on the pavement, her body amazingly whole. Memories came flooding back, as though snatched from her mind and just now returning. There were new ones it seemed, an explanation of what had occurred and what she was expected to do. Others had fled, leaving holes, leaving her empty as she searched for a reason to participate in this "Reaper's Game."
She started to search her mind for the answers she somehow knew were there. The words forced themselves up from here subconscious the longer she looked: pact, mission…seven days total. And, apparently, she had a cell phone now. As she sat up to search for her new phone, her hand pressed painfully into something on the ground. She picked it up.
"A pin?" Rhyme muttered, curious. Pins weren't exactly popular in Shibuya at the moment. However, she didn't think she would mind this one. It was black with a white skull on the face, and Rhyme had always liked clothes with skulls; she didn't know why. She ran her thumb across the surface.
Oh no! I can't find my bus! There-
OMG! It's the prince! He's so-
What is she wearing? It's hideous!
So many thoughts invaded Rhymes at the same time it hurt. Grimacing against the pain, she brushed the pin again, and the voices in her mind vanished. There was a new sound she hadn't noticed over the chatter, a high beeping. It took her a while to realize it was coming from her pocket. She dug around and found not only her cell, but several other pins as well. She put them away to examine later and looked back at the phone. The front screen revealed nothing, so she flipped it open and read the message there.
"Reach 104. You have 60 minutes. Fail, and face erasure. –The Reapers."
Rhyme looked around to see how far she was from her destination. "Let's see…I'm at the station underpass now, so it shouldn't take too long to reach 104…Ouch!" she yelped, feeling a sting in her palm. She glanced down to see a timer, already ticking away the seconds. "Better hurry…" she said to herself. She was already up and running, searching for someone to pact with, when someone yelled behind her.
"Yo! Wait up!"
Surprised, Rhyme turned on the spot, finding a boy a few years older than she was rushing toward her.
"You ain't formed a pact yet, right?" he asked, breathing slightly heavily. Rhyme couldn't believe her luck.
"Um, no. Would you be my partner?"
"Hell, yeah! Le's do this!"
The moment the boy agreed, a shimmering light engulfed them both. Rhyme had to blink a few times to clear her vision. Then she smiled, glad she had formed a pact with such an eager partner. Now it was time for introductions.
"Nice to meet you!" the young girl said. "I'm Rhyme."
Her new partner stared at her with a dumbfounded expression bordering on dread.
"Wh-Whatchu say?" he managed to choke out. He started to reach for his player pin.
Rhyme tilted her head to the side, confused. "I said, 'I'm Rhyme.' What's your name?"
"B-Beat, yo…" Beat activated his pin, scanning the spot where his partner should be. It came up empty. "I can't scan you."
Must be 'cuz I'm a player…" she said, wondering why Beat would try to scan her. She shook it off. "So do you have other pins, too?" she asked, fishing for the pins she had pocketed earlier.
Beat took a quick look at them. "Yeah, they the ones I got." He happened to glimpse Rhyme's timer buried under the pins. "Crap, yo! We only got forty minutes left. We gotta haul ass!"
Rhyme struggled to keep up as Beat literally sprinted toward the statue of Hachiko. Energetic was one thing, but this…this was insanity. Every so often, he would glance back to make sure she was still there. Suddenly, he was stopped by something solid and invisible that caused him to rebound and land painfully on the ground.
"Beat, are you OK?" Rhyme asked, finally catching up to him.
"Yeah…The hell was that?!"
Rhyme started searching around for whatever had stopped their progress, feeling for the invisible object. Her hands brushed across a wall of some sort, and she followed it. When it met the edge of a building, she looked up and saw someone in a red hoodie. "Pact confirmed," he said, and Rhyme jumped back. It took her a few seconds to realize that her maneuver should have sent her straight into the wall. Feeling for it again, she found it was gone, as was the guy in the hoodie.
Rhyme sighed, confused again, but just said, "Beat, it's gone," and they started their way back to 104 again.
Once they made it to Hachiko, they had thirty minutes left. Beat tried going faster, but before Rhyme could tell him to slow down, they had another obstacle in their way, a girl with pink hair blocking the road to the scramble crossing. Rhyme noticed the black wings holding her aloft.
"Move, yo!" Beat shouted at her.
The girl looked shocked and offended. "So rude! Does that mean you're not interested in what I have to say?" she asked, baiting him to answer.
"Whatchu want?"
"Oh, just that I might have found a way to get you out of the game early. Want to hear about it?" the girl said, as though about to give them some information of great importance.
Rhyme stared at this new arrival, wary about what she was saying. It didn't seem like she was giving them the option to ignore her and finish their mission, and Beat just seemed the type to go along with this girl, wanting to finish the game as quickly as possible. She grabbed Beat's arm and led him back a little before he could say anything.
"Wha's wrong, Rhyme?" Beat wondered, staring at her, confused.
"Beat…I don't trust that pink-haired lady. What she said just doesn't add up. Let's take it with a grain of salt, OK?"
"We ain't got time for salt!" came his predictably hasty response.
Rhyme almost sighed. "We don't have time for mistakes, either. Slow and steady wins the race!" she added with a smile. She walked back to the girl, who was eying them suspiciously. "I'm sorry, but I think we'll just finish the mission," she said, edging her way around to the scramble crossing. Beat tried to scan her on the way around, but like with Rhyme, nothing happened.
"Where do you think you're going?!" the girl half-screamed, cornering them again. "I didn't say you could leave!"
"We're going to finish the mission," Rhyme repeated, remarkably calm.
"That's what you think, squirt! I'll make sure you never make it to 104!" No sooner had she spoken, than several red symbols bore down on the pair; Beat and Rhyme disappeared from each other's vision.
"Beat? Beat, where are you?!" Rhyme yelled, receiving no answer from her friend.
"Rhyme! Not again, dammit! Whatchu do to Rhyme, yo?!" he shouted at the pink-haired Reaper, who replied, "Oh, grow up!" and glided away, smirking.
Left with no choice than to fight the monsters surrounding them, seemingly without the help of their partner, they tried their best to destroy every one they could. Beat used his skateboard, agilely clearing away any frogs that had the misfortune of crossing his path. Rhyme, however, was stuck using Shockwave, the only pin she could use. The close-quarters fighting left her dangerously exposed, and she could feel herself becoming weaker. Just as she started slipping away, the final frog dissolved into what looked like TV static, and Beat reappeared beside her.
"Rhyme, you OK?!" he said, checking her to see if any of the wounds from the frogs had lasted after the battle.
"Y-yeah…I'm fine. I just feel so weak, though…" she sighed, a little shaken up. "Oh no! How much time do we have left?"
Beat moved his hand so fast it was like he had been burned, but the skin on his palm was clear and unbroken again. "The timer's gone, yo!"
Rhyme let out a sigh of relief. "Really? Maybe we're safe, then…" she said, slowly losing consciousness.
"Yeah…maybe…" Beat agreed, also becoming incredibly sleepy.
Without even realizing it, both just collapsed on the ground where they stood, unknowingly being prepared for the second day.
End of Day 1
Did you enjoy the look into Beat and Rhyme's day? I hope it didn't seem to monotonous...Please review, as all are very welcome. Reviews will also help me update if you feel this story is worth it. I hope you do, and thank you just for reading!
millenniumthief