1

"Come on, come on!"

Anala was being dragged further along the crowded streets by Moose, who was brilliant at ignoring her permanent moaning. Not that she didn't like shopping – she's a girl, goddammit! – but slowly walking around some malls, looking at showcases and being forced to run the whole way by a hyperactive curly head who wants to see as much as possible are waaay too different…

"Moose, stop it, will ya?", she whined, slightly pissed. "You know, if we want to find some ass-kickin' rags for dancin', you should at least consider looking at somethin' than just rushing past it!" That was at least her method of buying clothes – was Moose kinda stupid or did she do it wrong her whole life long?

"Moo-""Sssh!" Suddenly the boy stopped, something seemed to has caught his attention.

"Do you hear that?"

The redhead listened, or at least tried to, but there was nothing in her ears. Exept for the usual sounds of New York streets, of course. "From over there!" And here she was pulled again for no reason…

She was enthusiastically lead through some smaller side streets, trying to remember the way back 'cause she was 100% sure this guy wouldn't, guided only by what he seemed to hear from somewhere.

Moose looked around, trying to concentrate on what he heard just now. Darn, where did that sound come from? He could swear there had been music somewhere, pretty familiar song… dammit! Now it was gone. Did he run the wrong way?

Ignoring whatever came out of Anala's mouth again, he changed their direction and dang!

– There it was again! So loud even his companion couldn't overhear it now, cleary just one block away.

A crowd had gathered, so much people trying to look at the scene they stood around that you couldn't see a damn thing from outside.

"Moose, what'cha doing?" The boy did – finally! – let go of her arm, diving into the mass to get a closer look and leaving her standing there.
"Excuse me, I have to- Would you let me- Oh, come on, dammit-!"

Slowly he made his way through, thanking god or whoever gave him ellbows for this wonderful present.

The closer he got to the cause of this, the louder the audience was, cheering whatever was there on as loud as they could. Suddenly there were no more people before his hands and he stumbled forward, staring at the figure which was moving in front of him.

Well, not just moving – actually, the figure turned out to be a female, and she was dancing. He couldn't even take a second glance, when she suddenly made a backflip and landed right under his nose, making him jump in surprise. People laughed at the reaction but it didn't bother him at all, being busy staring at her smooth movements in awe.

She threw him a cocky grin, starting to do some sort of crunk dance around him, apparently teasing him. Moose stood still for a second, then realized she seemed to take his sudden burst through the crowd as a challenge.

"Wheeya, watch where ya goin', Lady!", he shouted, ready to give some hell of a show. Anala waiting for him was long forgotten.

"Wait guys, that's – that's Moose! It's really him!" The second he started moving they recognized him, now getting really wild about this battle. The girl's smile grew wider. Now that was something!

She stood aside while her opponent was dancing, watching and looking quite impressed. Well, what else do you expect from a member of the House of Pirates?

It continued for a while; when he stopped moving, she sprang into the battlefield and the other way round. Both of them clearly were enjoying themselves, seeing this as a just-for-fun-battle with a fuckin' awesome-skilled partner rather than a death-serious-contest.

At least until sirenes turned up, heading in their direction.

While everyone paused, confused, the dancing girl jumped at the sound, grabbing the boombox and a bag with money collected in it – which Moose didn't even notice before – and disappearing in the crowd.

"Freeze!"

Policemen suddenly appeared, making their way through the mass, searching for something and obviously not finding it. Only seconds later the place was as good as empty, most people smart enough to flee when therey smell trouble; leaving behind a very irritated boy who just lost his opponent and his forgotten redheaded companion who shot him a "What the fuck?"-glare.

"Shit, we're late… okay kids, go away, here's nothing to see!" The Policemen shooed them away and returned to their cars so now there was only the two of them.

"Moose, what-the-hell was this all about?", Anala squeaked, completely oblivious about anything that happened to him after he left her aside since she didn't bother going after him(he would tell her anyways, so where's the point?). The brunette just grinned sheepishly and scratched his head, leaving it to her to lead them back to where they came from. "Actually, I don't really know myself…but it was awesome!"

[]

Darn, that was close.

She should really watch the volume next time… damn police, damn law. Not that it ever disturbed her that much, but this was getting annoying. She really had wanted this battle to go on, after all you don't get the chance to dance with a Pirate every day.

Sighing, the girl counted the money she earned today - wow, after all people are more generous when it comes to celebrities!

Speaking of which, there he was, wandering around with Anala, another member of the Pirates. From the roof she was sitting on she had a good view so it didn't take much ability to find them they were still close.

"Dang, should give him his due, after all…", she mused before she got up and started climbing down the roofs and walls in their direction, careful 'cause of the boombox she still had on her in a backpack.

"Heeey, Moosey!"

Said person jumped at the sudden call, him and Anala looking around where that voice was coming from. Moose recognized the girl only the moment she was beside him as he paid more attention to her moves rather than to her looks earlier, but that was a thing he could catch up now. Her hair was the only slightly unusual part of her:

Except for dark bangs that framed the face her hair consisted of long dreads tied up in a messy bun, only a few of them falling over her delicate figure as they managed to escape while she had been dancing. Some of them had strands of shrill colours in them.

She stretched out a finger-gloved hand, and after a second of irritation both Pirates saw the money which was held in it. "It's your part, after all you were dancing with me earlier… and god, they so liked the show!"

"Err…what?"

The girl sighed. "If you don't want it, I'll keep it. But honestly, I wish we could do this more often, it was so awesome! I never even dreamt of dancing with someone from the Pirates, lucky me! By the way, I'm Keyla!" The hand was held out again, this time empty. Anala bumped fists with her while Moose still stood kinda confused, until it clicked.

"You! You come with us, now!", he suddenly shoutet, grabbing Keyla's arm and dragging her hastily with him, the other girl just following headshaking.
She knew this spark which she just saw in the boy's eyes, and that meant he wouldn't accept a 'no'. He would tug this poor girl with him, leaving her totally oblivious about what was going on in this crazy head of his and disregarding any protest, struggling or what else came to her mind.

Ans so he did.

After a while Keyla gave up objecting, seeing there was no use. She was led – well, rather pulled to the Vault, which she only knew as the club that belonged to the Pirates.

A quiet sigh of relief escaped her mouth when Moose finally let go of her in the elevator.

"So, Keyla…", he announced solemnly when the doors opened, "welcome to the Vault!"

The girl's eyes widened.

It-… it was amazing! Music came from what seemed everywhere, many of the Pirates jumping and dancing around in their own various styles – of course she knew everyone's face from the internet, they're kinda celebrities after all. But seeing it before her own eyes, especially in their private place: Wow.
"Yo Moose, Wazzup?" The sudden voice brought Keyla out of her trance, only now noticing someone came up to them. Said person was Jacob, teamleader since Luke left. He noticed the stranger and raised his eyebrows. "Who's this?"

That comment raised the other's attention since some of them stopped dancing and came closer to see their guest. The next thing Keyla knew were so many voices at the same time that she couldn't understand a word.

Soon the people around her realized this didn't work, so they went quiet – except for the twins who had occupied both of her hands for caressing and kissing them, first babbling something about what a beautiful senorita she was, then telling her not to listen to what the other one says and finally falling into an intense spanish discussion with each other, totally forgetting they were still holding her hands.

Moose laughed at how much she looked like a frightened deer, with big eyes and helplessness written in her face. "Guys, guys, calm down, will ya? Don't scare her away or you'll regret it!"

"Why's that?" See, now they stopped and were paying attention.

The student grinned as he continued: "Well, first 'cause of my foot up both of your asses, and second she's a fuckin' awesome dancer!"

Excitement went through the crew, and the babbling returned: "Really?"- "Come on, show us!"- "Yeah, dance!"- "Dance!" "Dance! Dance! Dance!" Now only this word filled the room, shouted by all present Pirates.

Keyla shook her head. What has she gotten herself into? This was as much exciting as it was embarassing. To remind you – this was the world's best crew, after all.

To have them want you to dance – awesome.

If they don't like it – epic fail.

But hey, the battle with Moose was great, so what? She was a good dancer, that she knew.

"Okay, bring it!" Cable hopped away and turned the music louder, the others making room for her. One deep breath, a few taps to feel the rhythm and there she goes.

You couldn't really say Keyla had one style of dancing since this changed a lot. It was more aggressive than other's, most of it reminded of crumping. Depending on the music and what she felt like it was more jerky, more smoothy…

Unlike earlier in the park she did more breakdancing after a few wide moves to where she had more room – the entry wasn't really suitable for this. The others seemed to like her performance since she heard lots of whistles, "Whooo!"'s and clapping. Moving from one corner to another, making them jump out of her way practically all the time, she ended with a twist, jumping into the hole filled with rubber foam cubes in the padded dancing area.

The music was turned down, making the applause seem even louder than it already was;
some of them even jumped after her.

The girl had closed her eyes when she was finished, lying there and breathing heavyly, but as soon as the first one landed across her she opened them and half-shrieked, half-laughed at the surprise. "Okay, whichever twin you are, get off me! And whose legs're in my face dammit?" The words didn't really come out clearly since she couldn't stop laughing among those crazy guys.

It took them a while to untangle the ball of dancers within the cubes, but finally everyone was out of there and unharmed.

"Babe, you're so staying with us!", they announced and she couldn't save herself from a ton of hugs from all directions. "Moose, how did you find her?"

All heads turned to him now, when he jumped on a nearby chair and spoke with glowing eyes: "She was dancing on the streets! You should've seen it, I was like 'Hey what's goin' on?' and she was dancing like 'Come on, bring it!' and I was like 'Hell yeah I will!' and then we battled and it was totally awesome but then the cops were like 'Uiiiuuuiii freeze everybody!' and she was gone and-"

Suddenly he stopped, remembering something. "Wait, why did you run from the cops?"

Damn.

That question brushed a deep shade of pink over Keyla's cheeks. "Errm…You know, I-.." She looked away, scratching her head in embarassment. "Actually, they didn't exactly give me a permission for this. Ya Know, it's kinda illegal to earn money performing without this stupid license…"

Silence.

After a while Moose broke it: "Now that money offer makes sense. Why'd you earn bucks with dancing?" A sheepish grin appeared on the girl's face. "Well, you need some for a livin', don't'cha? I came here a couple o' days ago."

"And lemme guess:", Jacob commented, "Ya don't have somewhere to live?"

The blush returned. "Not yet-" "From now on, you have. Stay here."

She blinked.

What?