Thank you for being a part of this journey. I hope you enjoy the new Dance Central game, whether you play it yourself or watch a stream!
There's an original character I named Nitro, inspired by the upcoming game's character creation feature. He's a male dancer with brown hair and striking blue eyes. I imagine him with a French accent, but you're free to give him any voice you want. And by the end of this chapter, I'm sure you'll be able to tell who's my favorite Dance Central character.
The National Championship of Disc Jockeys was inspired by the EDC show Mom watched on YouTube last weekend.
'Gaesaekki' is a Korean curse that means 'son of a bitch'. Headcanons say Glitch speaks in his native language when he's under emotional stress, whether he's angry, really sad, scared...
Cheers!
He's like the light you see pouring through your window. Bright and untouchable one minute, gone the next. I try to keep him, try to get him to stay, and he smiles at me, but it never connects. His feet are planted in the earth, planted right before me, and he smiles, but he's not really there. Memories I can't see or touch are keeping him away from me.
He's been trying to reach the shore. He's back in the game, eyes alive, pulse pounding, feet against the floor like the rage within a storm. He's a light like no other-but he's not what he used to be. That jackass swiped some of the light out of him. So he's trying to be a lighthouse, but his light's barely there.
Mom's all right with me hanging out with him more. She's always all over the place whenever I bring over a study budy or whatever. She's all over Mo like fudge on a sundae whenever he drops by. She's pretty cool with everyone and everything unless you get under her skin. She's definitely one hundred percent cool with Momo. Definitely makes things a lot easier. I think she knows something's up, too. She's a mom-she's got those instincts.
Just when I thought things were getting better, just when I thought he'd finally reach the shore, there he went. Back out to sea. Quicker than the wind could ever hope to be. I don't know what happened, or if I'll even be able to get him back, but I've got to try. I'm going to do anything and everything in my power to save him.
After all, he saves me every damn day. Just by being there.
I guess Oblio's been rubbing off on more than just Hart.
No longer were they in the park, but in the club. Racing towards the unknown. He glided across the floor with Hart alongside him, arms pumping, mind racing, reeling with a thousand and one possibilities. Scrambling for a way to reach the one that had given him a home, a place to breathe. A rhythm to call home. The moment they met, the moment Mo laid his eyes on 'Nanobyte', it was kismet. An unbreakable connection born amidst a sea of lights and song. The least Nanobyte could do was be there when needed.
And according to Emilia's call twenty minutes ago, Mo needed him.
Glitch treaded upon territory previously forbidden, Hart alongside him. The excitement that normally would have been there never even came. In a sea of faces, frantic voices and lights, there was Mo. As still as a mountain. Emilia, Miss Aubrey and another one of the Brea's admirers-Nitro, wasn't it?-were there with him, hands about the breaker's shoulders, trying to reach him, trying to stop what was happening. Every last drop of color, blood and strength became ash, Glitch looked up-
And there it was.
The world was about to stand still for not just one tournament, but two. All throughout the club, plastered on every screen, was news of the second tournament-the National Championship of Disc Jockeys. Fixated on the screen, as though they were trapped underneath a spell, the six of them watched and listened as the news enveloped the club. One after one, the contestants were revealed-then ihe/i appeared. The very one that could stop time with the flick of his wrist.
Coy.
"It's goin' down next week," Nitro said breathlessly, breaking the trance between the six of them. His blue eyes tore through the deafening silence, worried and angry. "The biggest stand-off any DJ worth a dime could ever hope to go to! Seven of 'em are going to be fighting for the crown-and Coy's one of 'em! First time, too!"
Radiant and effervescent, like meteors lighting up the darkest sky-that summed Coy up in a heartbeat. He was but a mere flicker on the screens, there only for a moment, but luminous enough to command attention from the heavens. So was Mo. Glitch redirected his attention back to his partner, his friend, his core. If it hadn't been for Emilia and Aubrey, the Brea would be on the floor. "Outside, inow,"/i the fireball beside Mo commanded, urgent, thoroughly concerned about the friend she loved fiercely.
They began their flight, friends sweeping Mo out of the club, away from the tidal waves that continued to crash. Hart saw the breaker stumble and took the opportunity to sweep him into her arms. There was no argument, no struggle. The six of them were out of the club in what was either seconds or hours-too hard to tell.
They were there murmuring, patting him on the back. Telling him to breathe, just breathe, keep breathing. Glitch was without a voice, unable to grab a hold of what was happening, of what had happened, unable to grab a hold of the one he wanted to keep forever. Something isomewhere/i returned his voice, his strength. Reminded him of how he'd move mountains for the one without a voice.
"It's okay, Mo. We're here. I'm here."
The young techie threw his arms about his partner. Mo suddenly sprang back to life, casting his arms around Glitch, breathing, sniffing, hurting, bleeding, wanting to scream but unable to find his voice. The Brea opened his mouth to speak, but found himself without a voice. Without the words to even do justice to his emotions, the thoughts spiraling inside of him. Glitch just held him, rocked him back and forth, traced the curve of his back, murmuring the same words:
"It's okay. I'm here."
And there was nothing else.
Emilia sighed, bitterness lacing her fiery eyes like cyanide. "The DJ League couldn't have had better timing. You know what they say, though-the news doesn't do anything but bring people down."
Once there were six. Then there were five. Mo had been escorted back to his apartment, silent and tearful the entire way. His only words came out in tears. Present time saw him asleep, with his wingman beside him. They were all stationed in his bedroom, a haven full of Marvel comic books, old hip hop records and cassette tapes. Glitch's hand was in his, tight, bond unbreakable even if the gods themselves were to order him to let go. "Knowing Mo, he'll probably want to go," Hart put in, just as bitter as Emilia, and despite her only being a part of the group for a short while, her words hit like a volley of arrows.
"And, as we all know, that would only make things worse. As if we already didn't have enough to deal with."
Glitch grimaced. Hart was referring to his partner's sudden migraines. The dehabilitating pain that shot through Mo's skull out of nowhere, sometimes at the worst times imaginable-all of which happened on the dance floor. According to Oblio, it was a form of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. A result of whatever he went through with-
Coy. That flicker of radiance.
Brown-haired Nitro voiced his thoughts, his deep, warm voice alive with worry. "Are you sure?" he asked, in response to Hart's last statements. "About Mo going to the contest, I mean. Maybe Hummingbird iknows/i going would be a waste of time."
Miss Aubrey sighed, head sinking beside him. "And you know full well you're full of crap. Nice try, sweetheart, but we all know how our tiger and Coy talked about the contest. Being invited to it was a dream come true for 'our boy Maccoy'."
"I'll go with 'im."
All eyes fell on Glitch, alive with tension. Shock struck him, but disappeared as quickly as it came. "I'll go with 'im," he repeated, still holding his sleeping partner's hand. "There ain't gonna be nothin' to worry about. I'll be there."
He'd have to work something out with his mother, but she'd be cool with it. Whenever it came to Mo, she was ialways/i far and beyond cool. Hart was edging her way up on the 'far and beyond cool' list herself. "I knew I could trust you," she smiled, shocking everyone in the room-Glitch included.
"You may be a runt, but you've got a whole lot of heart."
"Apparently a whole lot more than 'our boy Coy'," Nitro snickered, not at all malicious but warm, charismatic, playful. "Too bad you're a runt when it comes to the numbers, kitten. You could definitely steal the spotlight."
"Gaesaekki," Glitch snarled, face as red as the sunset. "Keep talkin' or I'll throw you off the damn balcony!"
"Don't you mean 'and'?"
"Just you wait," came the low, venomous but oh-so-rosy growl. "If I wasn't holdin' Mo's hand-"
Aubrey purred, smiling at her friend with a world of mischief. "Nobody's forcing you, sweet pea."
The barrages just kept on coming. Before Glitch could defend himself against Aubrey's, though, a phone rang yet again.
His.
I think I've had enough of phones for today.