The sun had completely gone down by the time the GG's made it back to the garage, it was a partly cloudy night with the nearby city lights obscuring most of the stars. Everyone was chilling inside the warehouse.
Rhyth's eyes glanced around innocently, "Hehehe… this is the hideout?"
"Sure is." Corn confirmed, "Gum and I were the ones that found this place and claimed it."
"Hmm, I like it! So… you and Gum founded the GG's?"
Gum entered the conversation, "In a way, yes. The gang was Corn's idea, and I was the first member."
"Ooooh I see, cool!"
"So how long have you been on the streets Rhyth?" Combo asked.
Thinking, she rolled her violet irises, "Um… About two months now."
"Two whole months?"
"Yeah."
Beat raised his eyebrows slightly, "For someone who's been on the streets for two months she's awfully perky. I mean the streets are in no way welcoming so I would think… never mind."
He said aloud, "That's remarkable Rhyth. Yoyo here says he was on the streets for three months before joining the GG's."
She looked at Yoyo, "Is that so?"
Yoyo hesitated before answering, "I uh… yeah… yo."
"Where did you say you came from again? Kogamiwa?" Beat brought up.
Rhyth nearly fell over in shock, "Kogamiwa!? The city that's like, a million miles away? You made it all the way here!?"
When Yoyo nodded the affirmative Rhyth skated to him, stopping directly in front of him. She had a look of wonder, and he had a look of surprise… and uneasiness. Made a bit more awkward for Yoyo because she was taller than him.
"That is the coolest thing ever! To make it all this way, you're amazing!"
Yoyo felt himself blushing badly, a rose garden could've bloomed across his face. He couldn't help it he just thought this girl was so… cute!
"I'm I seeing what I think I'm seeing? Is this Yoyo getting flustered?" Beat sounded dumbfounded and amused at the same time. This embarrassed Yoyo even further.
"No! Yo! I… Yo, whoa!" He took a few steps back and slipped, and before he knew it he was on the ground. He hit the floor with a bang.
"Whoa!" The rest of the GG's cautioned in a drawn-out manner.
"Careful!" Gum advised firmly.
"Okay… that hurt yo…!" Yoyo cringed.
Rhyth got on her knees near him, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine yo!" He blurted, springing to his feet, "I…"
He had started rolling back again, only this time he had managed to hit the window right and fast enough to tumble through, "Yo, yo, yo whoa!" hitting the ground outside.
Rhyth got to her feet and watched the window, "Yoyo?"
He stuck a thumb up, "I'm okay yo…" Then let it fall.
"Ruff!" Potts leapt out the window and sniffed Yoyo while he was down.
"Gah, Potts! Dog breath is the worst yo!"
The lively bluenette giggled, "Hehehe!" she looked at the rest of the GG's, "He's funny!"
Everyone responded the same with an amused nod of casual agreement, except for Beat. He had his face buried in the arm of the couch and his upper body was tremoring from heavy silent laughter.
Roboy appeared into the window, "Excuse me… my sensors are detecting high levels of apprehension in Yoyo. What's goin' on in here?"
"Roboy you-! YO!"
Everyone bust out laughing. Beat lost it, he threw his head back laughing hysterically. Rhyth just shyly smiled and put her hand over her mouth.
"I'd never would've thought that Yoyo would have a bashful side." Gum admitted.
Beat took an inhaled breath, "Man that was funny! With that face and his hair he looked like Christmas!"
Yoyo jumped up and charged Beat, "Why you-!"
Beat grabbed him just before Yoyo would've tackled him, "Whoa, whoa! Gettin' a little too feisty!" then sumo flipped him to the ground.
Gum approached Rhyth, "Don't worry, this is how they always are."
"Okay." Rhyth said understandingly, "It must never be quiet around here then!"
"Not at all." Gum agreed.
Corn slowly shook his head in hilarity, "Oh, the craziness…" He paused when the radio got quiet, "Hey, everyone! Shh! A broadcast is about to begin!"
All got quiet instantly. Beat flipped over Yoyo and stood.
"This is your very own, one-punch knockout broadcaster, Jet Set Radio! Bringing you to 99th street, the city's hottest nightlife scene centering around Benten Tower. Here, it's just one bloody showdown after another because it's where the mafia kingpins keep their offices. There's been some baaad stuff goin' down lately, ever since the mysterious power outage. Hmm…
Rapid 99 seems to have made this their home. Which one of you punks wanna step in the ring?"
Beat was the first to speak after the informative announcement, "Rapid 99 doesn't really show their faces in public too often."
"That's true." Corn pondered, "Meaning that finding them is going to be a challenge."
"There is a lot of mystery to them, and some weird stories floatin' around too." Beat explained, "A friend of mine once told me that the ladies of Rapid 99 are real lookers… I think he was too afraid of them to say otherwise."
Gum shrugged, "They probably aren't all that, and I'm sure that once we tell 'em we're trying to take down Poison Jam they'll tell us where their den is. It's probably somewhere gross knowing them…"
"Yeah, Rapid 99 and Poison Jam are sworn enemies aren't they?" Beat cited, "Something big went down a while back but… I don't know any of the details."
"The reason doesn't matter." Gum stated, "We just gotta take advantage of that, they'll give us info for sure."
"Um…" Rhyth spoke up.
"What is it Rhyth?" Corn asked.
"Well… besides the power outage that Professor K talked about, the Rokkaku police have been swarming all over left and right. Onishima and that scary commander guy are getting really pissed at us. According to the rumor mill, the commander gets really scary when he's mad."
"Aw, don't worry about it Rhyth." Beat assured, "Hayashi is all bark and no bite, Onishima is too. They've been trying to stop us, everything they've tried has failed. Heh heh."
Gum pointed out, "Yeah, and 99th street has a lot of spots to rail grind and wall ride. We could easily traverse via the rooftops if we needed to. They won't catch us."
Corn stood up, "You know, with the Rokkaku police running all over like you say they are. Rapid 99 might be easier to find."
"You think so?" Combo queried.
"Yeah, the police could be flushing them out of their hiding places. There's a good chance they're hiding where we could get a hold of 'em."
Gum stood, "So does this mean we should head for 99th Street now?"
"Yup!" Corn declared, he rolled to the window and leaned out, "Yoyo! Get up off the ground man, we're going to 99th Street!"
"All right yo!" He got to his feet, "Let's roll out!" and raced away.
Corn chased him, "Hey that's what I'm supposed to say!"
"Let's go!" Gum hopped out the window.
"Yeah!" Beat followed.
"Bring it on!" Combo affirmed.
Just before following the others, Rhyth petted Potts, "Later Potts, we'll be back soon!" and skated away, "Hehehe! Wait up guys!"
HQ TO ALL SQUADS: THERE ARE REPORTS OF JUVINELE SKATERS HEADED FOR 99TH STREET. ALL UNITS IN THE AREA PLEASE INVESTIGATE.
"Squadron Commander to all personnel. The youths have been spotted in the area, all personnel await instructions in the briefing room."
"How many times are we going to get humiliated by these punks?" Onishima stomped his foot, "Rokkaku is getting very tense and I don't want him to lose it!"
Hayashi fumbled with his gun, "He… hehehe! They won't get us this time… and if this doesn't work I have another plan!"
Onishima scowled unconvincingly at him, "I think you're starting to lose it too…"
"Wh-what!?"
"Never mind that! Let's just stop those kids!"
99th Street! Big, bustling, and full of lights and neon signs. This is the prime destination for the nightlife partyers. The GG's arrive in secret using an unfinished highway.
Rhyth was a tad behind everyone. Gum was skating behind Corn, Yoyo, and Combo and next to Beat, there was a small pothole in the road that she didn't notice, and she tripped. Beat caught her just at the moment where she would've fallen over completely.
"Whoa there-!" He said. Gum hurriedly corrected herself, feeling embarrassed.
"M-my bad…" She mumbled.
"No problem."
"Whoa!" Yoyo yelled all of a sudden, making everyone jump.
Corn flipped around, "Yoyo, what's the matter?"
He was looking down into the city, "Check it out yo!"
99th Street looked like Hollywood with all the spotlights, but this was no red carpet rendezvous. This was the Rokkaku force's new tactic. Armed and ready vehicles with attached spotlights filled the area.
Rhyth peered over the edge, "Wow! I've never seen 99th Street get so bright before! It's like, someone famous is in town!"
"They're all over the place!" Beat announced, "Look at this! They really are swarming all over the place just like Rhyth said."
"I think we see that Beat." Gum replied, "What are we supposed to do now?"
"We gotta think of somethin'." Combo stated, "We can't afford to wait."
Corn sighed, "This is just great…"
The GG's were so occupied in trying to figure out what to do that they didn't notice three female skaters approaching them. Rhyth was the first to notice the women, she nudged Corn and got him to notice.
"Well, well. Look who it is. What do you guys want?" Getting everyone else's attention, "If you came here to fight you came at a bad time!"
"Rapid 99, we're not here to cause trouble." Corn clarified, "We just want information on Poison Jam."
The leader crossed her arms, "Really?"
"Really. Somethin' tells me that you know more about Poison Jam than anyone else. Considering what went on a while ago…"
She pouted, flipping her vibrant aqua ponytails, "Just ask us what you want to know already."
"Where's their hideout?"
She looked out at the swarmed city, "Hold on a sec." She gathered her crew and the trio rolled a short distance away.
Yoyo whispered, "What are they doing yo?"
"It looks like they're having a conversation." Combo answered.
Beat softly snorted, "Are they seriously trying to decide whether they want to tell us or not? I figured since they really hate Poison Jam-."
"Just hold on Beat." Corn hushed.
A few seconds later they returned, "Okay, I'll tell you what. Let's make a deal."
The GG's listened.
"As you can see, Rokkaku's minions have mobbed this place. Our point being… if you can't get rid of these cops, we'll tell you where Poison Jam's hideout is."
"Hmm… okay." Corn faced his team, "All right guys, let's get those Rokkaku fools outta here."
"How are we going to do that?" Gum asked.
"Good question, first of all we need to get a better view. Let's get to the top of the tower."
As the GG's skated off, Rapid 99 began to ponder.
"You think they can pull this off?"
Sighing, she replied, "From the stories I've been hearing, yes. But don't worry, I have a backup plan involving Poison Jam's hideout."
"Do you mean… that…?"
She nodded with a roguish grin, "So let's just… "forget" to mention that…"
"That's so wrong."
She paused a moment before answering nonchalantly, "I know." And the girls giggled.
"Woow! This is such a great view! We can see forever from up here!"
"Now's not the time to be sightseeing Rhyth." Gum reminded, "Focus on the mission."
Yoyo laughed lightly, "This whole thing is hilarious if you think about it yo. The Queens of 99th Street can't drive Rokkaku's goons out of their kingdom, yo! Hahaha!"
Rhyth giggled at this, "Hehehe! I guess they aren't very strong queens after all!"
Beat agreed, "It is a joke now that I think about it."
"So how are we going to clean up this mess?" Combo asked.
Corn appeared in thought, "We gotta tag out those lights, or we're gonna get shot to swiss cheese. We need to stay on the rooftops, it'll be too dangerous to travel on the ground."
"It's a good thing there are a lot of those in close enough proximity." Gum remarked.
"That's right, now let's get started. Everyone, down this line right here!" He guided the gang to a line holding up paper lanterns.
Flashback…
"That was awesome as always Miss Gum! Especially since you had the disadvantage!"
"Thanks Lolli." Gum thanked her right hand lady, "It's good to be queen."
"I'll say. Screw guys, right Gum?"
"Heh... yeah." She then announced to everyone, "All right everyone, stay here at base! I'm going for my routine runaround!"
"Okay, bye!" Everyone answered.
Gum's usual patrol usually consisted her of making sure that their graffiti wasn't covered, checking for intruders, and winking at cute guys. After rolling casually around the streets, she took to the roofs using rails and billboards to get there. She skated near the edge to get a view of the whole city.The darkened sky was just her kind of environment... nothing against the sun, this was just preferable.
While she was looking out into the city, she was surprised when she suddenly started to fall forward. That surprise snapped into terror when she realized it was because she was teetering right on the edge, with the street miles below. She desperately tried to correct herself to no avail, time slowed down in that frightening moment.
"AAAAAHH!" She screamed, certain she was going to meet her end in a messy splat down below. She squeezed her eyes shut and prepared for the impact.
Just before she almost plunged, something stopped her mid-air. As if being held up by a wire. When she gathered some of her senses she felt that someone had her by the arm. Before she could turn to see she was hoisted back onto the roof. She came face to face with a guy who looked just about her age dressed in a light blue jumpsuit along with a large dark blue hat covering his eyes. His roller blades were mostly yellow.
"You all right?" He asked her.
Gum adjusted her low-cut neckline in a huff, humiliated at what happened, "I'm fine." She angrily replied and began to leave.
The guy didn't take that to kindly, "Is that how you say thanks to someone who just saved your life? You oughta pay more attention skating in high places like this, what would have happened if I wasn't here to catch you?"
Gum didn't know why she didn't ignore him and keep going, but she stopped and faced him again.
"I wasn't just gonna let you fall." He continued, "I'm not like that. By the way, name's Corn."
She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, "Yeah, like I haven't heard that a billion times... I'm Gum."
Corn recognized her, "I know who you are. You're the leader of the Love Shockers! Huh... in that case I'm surprised you haven't tried to put the moves on me or somethin'."
"Say what!?" Gum balled her hands into fists.
He put his hands up, "Whoa, whoa. Don't get hostile Gum. I'm just saying isn't that what you girls do? Breaking hearts all over? Seducing guys under your thumb and then leaving them?"
She relaxed somewhat, maintaining her angry face, "S-so... it's not like we do that... all the time..." She muttered insincerely.
Corn shook his head, unconvinced, "That's not what I heard. Or everyone else for that matter."
Gum's expression melted into sorrow, "Look... don't get the wrong idea about me. I may be the leader of the Love Shockers, and I may have agreed to this on my own will but..."
He listened to her, "Yeah? But what?"
She couldn't believe she was telling him this, but she just couldn't pass the opportunity to get her emotions off her chest to someone who probably wouldn't care, "My crew accepts me but I don't accept myself there."
"Why don't you leave?"
She sighed, "I don't have that choice. If I leave..." She fell on her knees, "I just can't... that's all."
Corn sat down next to her, "Listen... I know we just met and all but... I'm always hanging around here. Anytime you need an ear, or a shoulder, or anything like that. Come find me okay?"
The distressed leader looked at him in awe, this high level of kindness from someone she just met was so unfamiliar to her. No one has ever said that to her before, not even her own teammates.
"I..." She was tongue-tied at first but she managed to say, "Okay." with a smile.
For the next several weeks, Gum continued to meet with Corn on a daily basis unbeknownst to her team. Their friendship steadily grew over that period of time. What the Love Shockers did notice however, was the slight elevation in Gum's overall mood. Gum didn't really care about her crew's questioning, she just made up smooth excuses. Gum was beginning to feel for the first time that she had a true friend.
Then that one important day... when it took her a little longer to find him...
"Gum!"
"There you are Corn! I was looking all over for you! What's going on?"
"Listen Gum, I have something to ask you."
"Yes?"
"I've been thinking of starting my own gang in the city of Tokyo-to. You know that city right?"
"Yeah, so... you're leaving?" Disappointment was in her voice.
"Yes, but I was hoping you'd like to join me. How would you like to be the first member?"
She was surprised at the suddenness, but at the same time she was happy, "R-really?"
Smiling, he nodded, "You bet, so what do you say? Wanna get outta here?"
"Oh hell yes!" She agreed hastily. Then she stopped, "B-but what about my gang? I mean... I'm..."
"Ah they're not going to be a problem. Just leave them a note! It'll give us a head start." He suggested, "Besides, Tokyo-to is far away, so I doubt they'll find us."
Gum was comforted, "Yeah, you're right. I'll do that!"
"Right on! I'll wait for you."
"Okay!"
On the way back to base, she grabbed a napkin from a food stand and used a pen from a corner store. Luckily, she had finished writing just before the storekeeper noticed her and kicked her out. Afterward, she headed back to base but she did not make her presence known when she arrived. She left the note on a small table, then took of her eyepatch and set it on top of the note.
Not even taking one last look of the place she exited back into the night and returned to Corn.
"Ready?"
She answered enthusiastically, "Let's go! We better get going before they see the note!"
The two friends skated off for Tokyo-to, setting off for a new beginning.
Author's Note: Hi everyone! What's up? ^.^
I hope no one minds the flashback that kinda took over this chapter, there are three things I'm trying to do.
1. I'm trying to give at least a few of the GG's backstories.
2. I want to portray the relationships between the different members a little more.
3. I think I can portray their personalities a little better.
Nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed this! :D
P.S. Poor Yoyo... X3
