Six days has passed, and the riot still continued to go on. CJ had Lisa spend the night at the Johnson house and got to sleep in the same bed as her. Despite everything that he went through, CJ was still feeling rather confident. C.R.A.S.H. has now gotten weaker, which meant the Ballas and Vagos were getting obliterated and Grove Street was coming back on top. All CJ was focused on now was finding Big Smoke and confronting Tenpenny. He was just about to prepare himself when he heard his cellphone ring. CJ pulled the phone out of his pocket to answer.
"Aye," he answered.
"Yo what's up, CJ?" he heard Ryder say over the phone.
"What's happenin', Ryder?" CJ greeted back. "Good to hear from you. How you doing?"
"I'll be alright," Ryder answered. "The doctor surgically removed the bullet out of my shoulder and says I'll be fine. I did, of course, have to get stitches to close that wound up, and I gotta get some rest for a few hours before I'm back outside ready to blast on them Ballas punks and Vago pussies. No motherfucking bullet gonna bring me down."
"That's cool, man," CJ replied. "You still ice cold, homie – which is why I got so much love for you. Where you at now?"
"I'm over at LB's," Ryder said. "He picked me up just this morning. But like I said, I'll be fine and ready to go back out to join y'all to take out them Ballas and Vagos and catch Big Smoke's fatass."
"Okay, man," CJ said. "Just get some rest, homie. I'll go see where Smoke's hiding in and we gonna finally catch Tenpenny so we can end this riot once and for all."
CJ then hung up the phone and decided to go next door to the house on his right. Big Bear was now living there now that he was an active member of the Grove Street Families again. He knocked on the door as he approached it and waited for a few seconds for Big Bear to answer.
Big Bear then came at the door. "Yo what's crackin', CJ," Big Bear said giving CJ a high five.
"I'm straight, Bear," CJ replied walking into Big Bear's house. "What's up with you?"
"Glad to be back, homie," Big Bear told him. "It feels good to be back on Grove Street and taking out them Ballas and Vagos again. I tell you, CJ. This city's falling apart, homie."
"I know, Bear," CJ said. "But everything's going well. We may still be in a riot, and Ryder's still recovering from his gunshot wound. But Grove is finally climbing on top, we free to take out the Ballas and Vagos now that C.R.A.S.H. isn't harassing us anymore, Seville Boulevard and Temple Drive are now cool with each other and backing us up, and Emmet's got us some much stronger weapons now that his shop is back. All we gotta do is find Big Smoke and we good."
"I know, man," Big Bear replied. "You know B-Dup's been working for Smoke this whole time too, right?"
"I know that," CJ told him. "I figured that out when I found out he was into selling drugs rather than helping the homies. That time he set me up when he sent the Ballas after me in Willowfield was what really hit the shit for me. That's when I knew he was working for the Ballas, and it was only when I found out Smoke sold us out that I discovered that B-Dup was one of his allies."
"So what do you suggest we do, CJ?" Big Bear asked him.
"We first of all," CJ started to explain, "we gonna take down most of the baseheads around the hood that's supplying Smoke with that crack and then get them to spill the beans to where that crack is being supplied to. That would get us closer to Smoke."
"Great plan, CJ," Big Bear answered. "I can take down them base slingers and destroy the supplies. Your brother really did teach you well, homie."
"Hey," CJ replied unassumingly. "Sweet's the leader of Grove Street for a reason. He's the one who taught me everything I need to know."
"Yeah, let's go then," Big Bear said as he and CJ headed out of the door.
CJ and Big Bear walked around to find that Sweet had taken the Greenwood with him as he and his gang were busy taking over most of the neighborhood from the Ballas and Vagos. Luckily, Big Bear had a green Savanna parked in front of the house. So Big Bear took shotgun while CJ got into the driver's seat. He started the engine and drove on the road.
"Those baseheads are the ones supplying Smoke with the crack," CJ said. "So we beat a little info out of them, we find where that crack is being supplied. The Loco Syndicate may be a done deal now, but Smoke still got many other allies supplying him with the goods."
"I got you, CJ," Big Bear replied. "We beat down every crack dealer in this riot and they'll tell us where Smoke's supplying that shit."
"Yeah," CJ told him. "One of the best way to take down the drug lord is by beating the crack dealers and finding the supplies."
"So where do you suppose we find some crack dealers, CJ?" Big Bear asked.
"We just gotta cruise through the hood and find some baseheads that would spill the beans," CJ replied.
"Man, you really did learn from your brother, CJ," Big Bear told him. "Maybe Sweet can make you the leader of Grove Street someday."
"I don't know if I'm down with that, Bear," CJ said skeptically.
CJ drove around the neighborhood and finally found some baseheads around Los Flores. "Okay, Bear," CJ told him. "We gonna beat the info out of those punks and make them spit it out."
"I hear ya, CJ," Big Bear replied. "Those base slingers won't get past me."
So CJ and Big Bear got out of the vehicle and ran up to the baseheads. One by one, they each beat down a basehead. The baseheads decided to fight back, but were no match for CJ and Big Bear, especially the latter. CJ then remembered the moves Lisa had taught him in San Fierro, as well as the boxing moves he learned in the gym in Ganton and the martial arts he learned in San Fierro. So he decided to use those moves to counter each of the baseheads' attacks towards him. CJ and Big Bear were beating each of the baseheads to a pulp and finally held the last member hostage.
"Yeah, you got him now, CJ," Big Bear said. "Now let him have it."
"Alright, punk!" CJ told the basehead. "Spit it out! Where'd all that crack come from?! Tell me where that shit is being supplied in?"
"I ain't telling you nothin'!" the basehead replied smugly.
CJ then gave him another punch to the nose and the jaw. "Where's the fucking crack being supplied to?" CJ asked again. "Tell me now!"
"Fine!" the basehead answered. "Big Smoke has a storage over at his old place in Idlewood. There's a bunch of them being trafficking to him by the other slingers."
"You real lucky," CJ whispered as he pistol whipped the basehead. "Come on, Bear. We gotta go to Idlewood."
CJ and Big Bear hopped inside the Savanna and drove off. "Now I know why Smoke moved out of the Grove," CJ said. "That house he claimed to buy with his aunt's money was the house he supplied the crack with. I can't believe I was too blinded to see that."
"Man, I think Smoke's lost it, man," Big Bear replied. "That crack really fucked up his brain."
"No kidding," CJ replied. "Now all we gotta do is storm into his old place, beat down the drug traffickers, and torch the house."
"I'm right behind you, CJ," Big Bear answered. "I got those two flamethrowers Sweet let me hold onto in the trunk of my car."
"Cool," CJ said. "We'll use those to burn the place after we beat down them drug traffickers."
So CJ continued driving through the riotous streets and saw one of the black vans driving through.
"Hey, CJ," Big Bear informed taking notice of the van. "That must be them drug traffickers!"
"I'd figured they'd show up in this fashion," CJ said. "I'm finna catch them fools!"
So CJ darted after the van and rammed it to the side. The van continued driving, and the people inside were shooting back at CJ, who followed suit and did a drive-by shooting on the van. The chase continued through Jefferson across the train tracks, and CJ continued to fire his bullets at the van until it finally caught on fire. CJ watched as the van continued to ride through East Los Santos right before finally exploding.
"Now that the drug traffickers are out of the way, let's head over to Smoke's place in Idlewood," CJ said.
He turned back around and drove through the riot in the street. It was getting worse out there, and CJ was still determined to get closer to Big Smoke to finally confront him. He could think about nothing but vengeance at this point.
CJ finally made it to Idlewood and parked right in front of Big Smoke's house. He then turned to Big Bear.
"Okay, Bear," he started to say," here's what we gonna do. We gonna torch this place, and after everything's on fire, we gonna watch it blow. I got some satchel charges and I'll plant them everywhere around the house."
"Cool, homie," Big Bear said. "One crackhouse down, and nobody would be trafficking that shit to Smoke."
CJ and Big Bear hopped out of the car and popped open the trunk. They each pulled out a flamethrower inside for them and walked into the house, where they encountered four more base slingers.
"Oh shit!" one of them shouted. "How they know we be here?"
CJ and Big Bear decided to drop their flamethrowers and beat down the slingers. CJ used his counter attacks taught to him by Lisa against one of them and he and Big Bear beat down every last member, knocking them down unconscious one by one.
"Okay," CJ said. "Now I'm finna bug the place with the satchels."
So CJ ran around the room and placed each satchel charge in different rooms: the kitchen, the living room, the bedrooms, the bathrooms, and even the basement.
CJ returned to the living room and looked around. He sighed in depression, upset over Big Smoke's betrayal.
What happened, Smoke? CJ thought. You was my homie, my brother. And after all the good times we had, you decide to stab me in the back?
It was unbelievable that CJ would ever contemplate Big Smoke ever turning his back on him. He just didn't know what else to think. So as Big Bear picked up his flamethrower, CJ sadly walked over to his and picked it up. He said nothing as he and Big Bear used their weapons to spread the flames around the entire house. They spent fifty-five seconds burning up everything around the house and quickly darted out through the front door.
CJ and Big Bear watched as Big Smoke's old house was now burning up as the flames inside it expanded. CJ was still looking at the burning house in depression as he slowly pulled the controller out of his pocket, ready to trigger the satchels planted inside. As he slowly hesitated, he finally pressed the read button on the controller and watched as Big Smoke's house exploded tremendously, pieces of the house flying everywhere and shooting in different directions.
Sorry, Smoke, CJ thought. But you were wrong.
"Let's get back to the Grove, CJ," Big Bear said as he and CJ hopped inside the vehicle.
CJ drove away, still not believing it. "Looks like Smoke has no crack to be delivered now," he muttered.
"Yeah," Big Bear replied. "You gotta watch your back out here, CJ. We have to survive in this riot if we want to get Grove Street back together."
"I hear you, Bear," CJ said. "We damn sure as hell ain't letting Tenpenny get away with this shit."
"That cop's gonna regret the day he even tried to screw with us," Big Bear replied.
"F'sho," CJ responded.
He finally made it back to Grove Street and parked in front of Big Bear's house. The two exited the vehicle.
"So Big Smoke won't be getting any more crack after this," Big Bear said. "And with Sweet leading the Grove Street Families, these Ballas and Vagos ain't got a chance."
"Yeah, by the time this riot's over, this city's gonna be ours," CJ declared.
While he was determined to take down Big Smoke, part of CJ felt that he would feel guilty to take his own friend out after his betrayal. He still couldn't figure out why Big Smoke would sell him and his gang out. So without any more thoughts of his former friend, CJ decided to roam the neighborhood to help the Grove Street Families take over more gang territories. He wasn't just fighting for the hood, he was also fighting for Sweet and the rest of his friends and family.
