Jet Grind Radio
A fanfiction by: Chris Smith
As the sun rose in the peaceful town of Shibuya-cho, and revealed another great day, a radio starts playing in a small house, the house of Beat. As we listen more we find that the DJ on the radio is actually Professor K, which means that this guy has got to be a "Rudie" or as people who don't know skater lingo would call him a nuisance or a menace, but that's a whole different thing. Beat then lifts his head off his pillow and stops the radio from playing. He then reluctantly sat up and reached up to find that his hair had been so messed up over the night that it was actually standing on the very top of his head. Oh well. He thought to himself as he slowly tossed his feet over the side of the bed. After about 10 minutes he was ready for the day. He had his glasses on which had green lenses with little orange squiggles in it that made it look like he was wearing a heart monitor on his face. He also had his headphones on, which he never left without, and attached to the headphones was a small radio permanently set on a station called Jet Grind Radio, which was an underground radio station that was run by a man named Professor K. He also had his trademark skates that he cherished more than anything. He looked over and saw that his dog Potts was gone. He must have left a little early today. Well I guess that's the only way he'll ever get any exercise, due to my occupation. He then walked on his skates over to his door and walked out into the world to try once more to join a gang. He didn't know why he was made fun of so much by the other gangs but he knew on thing that if he didn't get into one soon he was just going to make one up himself. He slowly skated away from his house and down the street, heading toward the sewers, you see he has an appointment with a gang called Poison Jam and he was really stoked to get going. He then thought that he was going to practice his skills a bit, he skated faster than what he had been and jumped at a rail that went down the street and did a Unity grind, making it to the other end in a moment of seconds. When he reached the end he did a backflip, landing on his skates and continuing on his way. He reached the entrance of the sewers and ducked his head to get into the tunnel. He then began skating into the tunnel until he came to the main part of the sewers. He looked around and saw nothing but tunnels leading off to his left and right, along with many boxes and barrels. "Hello! Is anyone here!" He screamed. As he listened for someone to say something he heard nothing but the sound of his own voice reverberating off the walls around him. He shrugged his shoulders and skated out of one of the tunnels to his left into a big part to the sewers. He looked around out here and saw that it was mostly just a bunch of catwalks and rails. On the other side however he saw that there was a staircase that lead down to a large opening in the wall. I bet if I went down there I'd find them. As he thought this his feet had already began to move, always one step ahead of his mind that's why he got in trouble so much. He made his way to the other side and decided to grind down the rail that lead down with the stairs. He jumped off at the end and found himself facing a long hallway. "Hello! Is anyone down there?!" He screamed into the tunnel. He stood there listening for a minute or two and before long he heard the familiar sound of wheels on pavement. He strained to look into the darkness of the tunnel to see if he could see the people coming toward him, but saw nothing. He didn't have to wait long though because within a few seconds he saw three guys in masks coming out of the tunnel. He ducked as they jumped over him and landed on the catwalk behind him. When all three of them had landed they stopped skating and looked at Beat. "Who are you?" Said one of the masked men. "I am Beat. You know the guy you wanted to see about joining your gang?" He replied extending his hand. The Poison Jam looked at Beat and his outstretched hand. They began to smile and before long they were holding themselves up against a wall to keep from falling down, laughing. "Are you kidding us?" They laughed. "We wouldn't let a scrawny guy like you in our gang, even if you were the last Rudie left on earth." He stood looking at them for a minute, not believing what he just heard. "But. but you guys said you would let me try out." He said. This made them stop laughing. "We didn't say that." One of them said. "Yes you did. I came here yesterday and you guys said you would let me show you my skills and you would even consider letting be one of the Poison Jam." He replied. "Yeah whatever. We said that yesterday, now we change our minds. Too bad try again some other time, loser!" They all said together. "But. but." He started, but before he could finish they skated away from him, faster than anyone that he had ever seen before. Damn. Those guys promised. Man, this pisses me off more then anything. That's it I'm going to form my own gang and we will be the best in Tokyo-to. He thought to himself skating off. He made it back to the street and skated back toward his house. He had a lot of work to do before he could even go looking for people. A name for instance. Hmmm. The Golden Guns.no, too long. I got it! The GG's. As he thought about the name for his gang he wasn't really paying any attention to the road ahead of him. As he was rounding the corner to his house he didn't even see the girl that he ran into before it was too late. As he began to stand up from the collision he noticed that he had run into a skater chick. Wow a chick skater. You don't usually see girls that like to skate around here. He walked over and extended his hand to help her up. "Sorry there. I wasn't watching where I was going." He said as she grabbed his hand. She stood up and brushed herself off. "I would say so you jackass." She replied in a very pissed off tone. He just looked at her for a second. Then he noticed that she had dropped her radio. Being the nice guy he was he leaned down and picked it up. He listened to see if there was a song on that he liked and instead heard Professor K's voice. "Hey you listen to Jet Grind Radio." He said as he handed the small pocket radio to her. "Yeah, what's it to you?" She said as she put the radio in the front pocket of her dress. "Well only rudies listen to that radio station and, well, you don't really look like a rudie to me." He said. "Well I guess you've never heard of the freestyle and totally awesome Gum have you?" She said with a smile on her face. "Of course I have. She tagged up almost all of Kogane-cho before Poison Jam got in there and messed it up." He said. "What does that have anything to do with you?" "Well do you remember what happened to her once Poison Jam tagged up all of her old tags?" She asked. "I heard she went into hiding. But I guess nobody really knows for sure, but still I have no idea how all of this ties in with you." He replied. "Well guess what. I am Gum." She said smile fading from her face that she hadn't been recognized. "No way." He said back to her. "Uh huh. I can prove it too." She said as she lifted her leg to reveal a small tattoo of her name in Japanese. A trademark for Gum. He rolled back. He was standing in front of Gum, just about the only notable girl rudie in the entire world. Hmmm I wonder. "Hey I know that you have kinda gotten out of the whole gang thing but I was wondering. You see I am sick and tired of getting rejected by all the other gangs out there and so I decided to make my own." He said. "Oh really. How's it going? How many rudies you got?" She asked. "Well to tell you the truth, I really don't have anybody yet. That's what I was going to ask you. Would you like to join my gang?" He asked with pleading eyes. She thought for a minute before replying. "If you can copy my moves then I will be happy to join your gang but if you can't then you never bother me again ok?" She said. "You got it! I'm pretty sure I can copy your moves." He said, sure of himself. "Alright then, follow me." She said as she started to skate away, knowing that this guy would follow her. She skated around the corner and down a long wooden walkway over to the other side in Shibuya-cho. She skated until she came to a bus terminal with four buses parked at each of the four parking spots. Along the side of a few of the buses were tags that someone had put up. Beat skated up behind her and stopped next to her. "This is it." She said. "This is where we will test your skills. Oh yeah by the way what's your name?" "My name's Beat." He replied. "Well let's see just how good you are Beat." She said, winking. She skated up to a rail and jumped doing a 360 and grinding until she reached the end of it. When she reached the end of it she jumped and landed on a car that was parked across the street. The car's roof caved a little under her wheels and so she got off the roof and landed on the ground, skating over to Beat. "You think you can do that?" She asked a little out of breath. "Of course." He said, once again sounding sure in his voice. In his mind though was another story. Hopefully I can do this. I don't want to look like an idiot in front of Gum. That would be embarrassing. He thought this as he skated toward a spot about 4 feet from the rail. He would get enough speed and then try his hardest not to screw up. He then started skating toward the rail, picking up speed as he went, his electromagnetic skates pushing him along. He got to about 1 foot in front of the rail and jumped, while in the air he did a 360 and landed on the rail, grinding it. When he reached the end he jumped with all of his might and closed his eyes. When he opened his eyes he felt the roof of the car caving in a bit from his weight. He quickly jumped off and skated over to where Gum was standing. Wow I actually did it! He thought as he skated. "Good job!" She said as he reached her. "But can you do this one?" She then skated a few feet over and jumped, landing on a rail and grinding it. In the middle of this rail though was a gap that had a giant concrete wall in it. She had to jump off of the one rail and do a backflip over the wall and landed on the other side, on yet another rail. She grinded that one until the end and then jumped off and landed on the railing that was leading up a set of stairs on a walkway that went over the road. She proceeded to grind that and then turned in her grind onto the railing over the walkway. She went with that for a few seconds and then turned again and went down another set of stairs leading back down toward the ground. Instead of waiting to hit the ground though she jumped and landed on the roof of the bus stop. She then turned around and jumped down onto the bus and then onto the ground. She skated over to Beat who was standing there with his mouth open, amazed. "Oh my god. How the hell did you do that?" He asked. "Well it's all in the hips, Beat, it's all in the hips." She replied. "But now it's your turn. Go at it." She said giving him a little push. He began to skate forward, a little unsure of his skills. He had done stuff like that before but never a grind that long and never so many jumps and flips. He shrugged it off though, thinking Well I guess I'll learn if I can do this or not. He picked up speed and headed for the rail. When he got a foot in front of the rail he jumped and landed on the rail. He grinded that until the end and jumped doing a small backflip. When he landed though he landed too close to the end of the rail and had to jump real fast to save himself from just falling to the ground. He jumped and landed on the stair rail, almost losing his balance and falling off. He regained his composure and continued the grind until he reached the top and turned grinding until he reached the other staircase. He then went down and jumped before he reached the end onto the bus stop roof. He turned than and jumped off onto the roof of the bus and then to the ground. He skated over to where Gum was completely out of breath. "That was good." She said when he reached her. "Really. you thought. I did. good?" He said between gasps of breath. "Really." She said, smiling. "I guess you're good enough. I'll join your gang." She said. He suddenly shot straight up. "Really." He said, hardly believing his ears. She nodded her head and Beat's heart skipped a beat. Yes one member for the GG's. He thought. "What is the name of your gang anyway?" She asked. "Well I was thinking somewhere along the lines of the GG's" He replied. "Sounds good to me." She said. "We do need to get more members though. I have one in mind right now. I'll bring him tomorrow, ok." "Sure, the more the merrier." He replied suddenly enthusiastic about making a gang. "Well I'll see you tomorrow at around 10:00 ok?" She asked. "Yeah sounds ok to me." He replied to Gum as she skated away. Yes! My gang is going to finally get out of my head and become reality. He thought as he skated off toward his house.
The next morning Beat woke up and began to get ready as soon as his feet hit the floor. His floor was cold to his bare feet but he didn't even feel it because he was so excited with the thoughts of his gang with more members. I'll show those assholes for rejecting me. I will make the greatest gang of all of Tokyo-to. When he got dressed and was ready to leave he almost forgot his radio. He had to run back in and get it before he left. "Wouldn't want to forget this." He said out loud to himself. He then skated outside and toward the place where he was yesterday. The sun was out and the sky was blue. As he took a deep breath he could taste the freshness of the air. He skated across the bridge that led to Shibuya-cho and heading toward the bus terminal. He got there in a moment of seconds due to the fact that he pushed harder on his skates than any other day so far. He stopped in the middle of the terminal and looked around. All he saw was buses and the occasional car and person. "Where are those guys?" He said out loud. He then heard two pairs of skates from behind him. He turned around and saw Gum with a guy that was dressed in a blue jumpsuit and even though it was a hot day he had a ski cap on his head which was also blue. "Don't worry we're here. I had to get sleepy head here out of bed." She said pointing at the guy. "Oh yeah by the way Best this is Tab. I know he doesn't look like much but his skill makes up for the way he looks." "Hey, don't be dissin' me. I look fine, now you on the other hand." He said but then trailed off as she gave him a look that said "you better watch your words". Beat reached out and shook Tab's hand. "Nice to meet you Tab." Beat said, letting go of his hand. "Ditto." Tab replied. "Well let's get down to business. Gum here says you want me to be part of your gang. Is that true?" "Yeah. Well would you like to?" Beat asked. "Well I won't just join. I mean you're going to have to prove yourself worthy of my time. How 'bout a race?" He said. "Sure I'll race you." Beat replied. "Ok here is a map." He reached in his pocket and pulled out a small map. It led him through most of Shibuya-cho and then there was a big "X" at the end of it. "Yeah first one to tag first wins. Are you ready?" "Hold on, let me just look this map over and then I'll be ready." Beat replied. He then stood there for a second looking at the map intently. When he was sure he had gotten it he skated up to the line that Gum had put on the road for them to start on. "Ok listen you go when I say "Go" ok?" Gum said. "Got it." Both Tab and Beat said together. "Go!" Gum said, throwing her arms down. Tab got a pretty good start but once Beat started really getting on the move he caught up. When he got within a few inches of him Tab threw out his arm, trying to knock Beat off balance. Ok so that's the way it's going to go then? He thought as he skated out of the way of the elbow. They came to a turn in the map and as Beat was turning he was knocked down another road by Tab. "What the?" He screamed as he headed down into traffic. He dodged cars left and right and as they came flying past him he realized that he was within inches of getting killed by an oncoming car. He reached the intersection at the bottom of the hill and stopped across the street to see just where he was. He then took out his map and found that he was within a block's distance from the tag spot and if he moved fast enough he could make it there before Tab. He skated as hard as he could to his right and as he went along he saw a road to his right and looked down at his map fast and saw that that was the street he was supposed to be on. He then turned and looked up at the top of the hill and saw Tab barreling down the hill heading for the tag spot. Beat picked up speed and headed for the wall of the building where it was and started spraying. He made a small version of his name in Japanese and stepped back to wait for Tab. When Tab pulled up and stopped Beat had a big smile on his face. "Thanks for the push Tab." He said. "No problem there." He said, out of breath. Gum came skating up to greet both of them. She looked at the tag and started to laugh. "Wow, you beat Tab. Not that many people can beat him. So what do you say Tab? You wanna join the GG's?" She asked. "Sure. Why not? I mean it's not like I have anything else to do." Tab replied. Beat skated over to Tab and extended his hand. "Welcome to the GG's." He said. Tab took hold of the hand and nodded his head. "Oh yeah by the way I found us a little place that could be a sort of headquarters for us." Said Gum. "It's a little dirty but with a little paint it could be great." "Sure maybe then we'll start to get moving along." Said Beat. "Where is it?" "Just follow me." Gum said as she skated off not waiting for them to follow. Beat and Tab took off after Gum. She first turned a corner and went down a street that was near Beat's house and then turned and went down though an apartment complex, knocking stuff over as she went. She then took them across a wooden bridge and over to Kogane-cho. "It's in my old neighborhood." Gum said as she was skating. She then proceeded through a few streets until she found an opening leading to the underground. She took the direct route down by grinding along a rail that was there and landed in an old train depot that was no longer used. Beat landed shortly after Gum followed by Tab and started to look around. There was a window that they could see out of on the far right wall, there was a map of Tokyo-to in the middle of the floor, used by the trains that used to run here. Over to his right there was a couch and over to his left there was a small car that was of no use to anybody anymore down a small flight of steps. "Wow this is pretty cool." Said Beat, still looking around. "Yeah I found this when I was skating around looking for places to hide from the cops. They chased me around until I landed down here. I'm glad you like it. What about you Tab?" Gum asked. "Well I guess it meets the Tabster's requirements." Tab replied sitting on the couch. "Great. I guess from now on this will be the headquarters for the GG's: the greatest gang in Tokyo-to!" Beat said, while him and the others through their fists in the air in triumph.
One week later.
As the sun rose in the peaceful town of Shibuya-cho, and revealed another great day, a radio starts playing in a small house, the house of Beat. As we listen more we find that the DJ on the radio is actually Professor K, which means that this guy has got to be a "Rudie" or as people who don't know skater lingo would call him a nuisance or a menace, but that's a whole different thing. Beat then lifts his head off his pillow and stops the radio from playing. He then reluctantly sat up and reached up to find that his hair had been so messed up over the night that it was actually standing on the very top of his head. Oh well. He thought to himself as he slowly tossed his feet over the side of the bed. After about 10 minutes he was ready for the day. He had his glasses on which had green lenses with little orange squiggles in it that made it look like he was wearing a heart monitor on his face. He also had his headphones on, which he never left without, and attached to the headphones was a small radio permanently set on a station called Jet Grind Radio, which was an underground radio station that was run by a man named Professor K. He also had his trademark skates that he cherished more than anything. He looked over and saw that his dog Potts was gone. He must have left a little early today. Well I guess that's the only way he'll ever get any exercise, due to my occupation. He then walked on his skates over to his door and walked out into the world to try once more to join a gang. He didn't know why he was made fun of so much by the other gangs but he knew on thing that if he didn't get into one soon he was just going to make one up himself. He slowly skated away from his house and down the street, heading toward the sewers, you see he has an appointment with a gang called Poison Jam and he was really stoked to get going. He then thought that he was going to practice his skills a bit, he skated faster than what he had been and jumped at a rail that went down the street and did a Unity grind, making it to the other end in a moment of seconds. When he reached the end he did a backflip, landing on his skates and continuing on his way. He reached the entrance of the sewers and ducked his head to get into the tunnel. He then began skating into the tunnel until he came to the main part of the sewers. He looked around and saw nothing but tunnels leading off to his left and right, along with many boxes and barrels. "Hello! Is anyone here!" He screamed. As he listened for someone to say something he heard nothing but the sound of his own voice reverberating off the walls around him. He shrugged his shoulders and skated out of one of the tunnels to his left into a big part to the sewers. He looked around out here and saw that it was mostly just a bunch of catwalks and rails. On the other side however he saw that there was a staircase that lead down to a large opening in the wall. I bet if I went down there I'd find them. As he thought this his feet had already began to move, always one step ahead of his mind that's why he got in trouble so much. He made his way to the other side and decided to grind down the rail that lead down with the stairs. He jumped off at the end and found himself facing a long hallway. "Hello! Is anyone down there?!" He screamed into the tunnel. He stood there listening for a minute or two and before long he heard the familiar sound of wheels on pavement. He strained to look into the darkness of the tunnel to see if he could see the people coming toward him, but saw nothing. He didn't have to wait long though because within a few seconds he saw three guys in masks coming out of the tunnel. He ducked as they jumped over him and landed on the catwalk behind him. When all three of them had landed they stopped skating and looked at Beat. "Who are you?" Said one of the masked men. "I am Beat. You know the guy you wanted to see about joining your gang?" He replied extending his hand. The Poison Jam looked at Beat and his outstretched hand. They began to smile and before long they were holding themselves up against a wall to keep from falling down, laughing. "Are you kidding us?" They laughed. "We wouldn't let a scrawny guy like you in our gang, even if you were the last Rudie left on earth." He stood looking at them for a minute, not believing what he just heard. "But. but you guys said you would let me try out." He said. This made them stop laughing. "We didn't say that." One of them said. "Yes you did. I came here yesterday and you guys said you would let me show you my skills and you would even consider letting be one of the Poison Jam." He replied. "Yeah whatever. We said that yesterday, now we change our minds. Too bad try again some other time, loser!" They all said together. "But. but." He started, but before he could finish they skated away from him, faster than anyone that he had ever seen before. Damn. Those guys promised. Man, this pisses me off more then anything. That's it I'm going to form my own gang and we will be the best in Tokyo-to. He thought to himself skating off. He made it back to the street and skated back toward his house. He had a lot of work to do before he could even go looking for people. A name for instance. Hmmm. The Golden Guns.no, too long. I got it! The GG's. As he thought about the name for his gang he wasn't really paying any attention to the road ahead of him. As he was rounding the corner to his house he didn't even see the girl that he ran into before it was too late. As he began to stand up from the collision he noticed that he had run into a skater chick. Wow a chick skater. You don't usually see girls that like to skate around here. He walked over and extended his hand to help her up. "Sorry there. I wasn't watching where I was going." He said as she grabbed his hand. She stood up and brushed herself off. "I would say so you jackass." She replied in a very pissed off tone. He just looked at her for a second. Then he noticed that she had dropped her radio. Being the nice guy he was he leaned down and picked it up. He listened to see if there was a song on that he liked and instead heard Professor K's voice. "Hey you listen to Jet Grind Radio." He said as he handed the small pocket radio to her. "Yeah, what's it to you?" She said as she put the radio in the front pocket of her dress. "Well only rudies listen to that radio station and, well, you don't really look like a rudie to me." He said. "Well I guess you've never heard of the freestyle and totally awesome Gum have you?" She said with a smile on her face. "Of course I have. She tagged up almost all of Kogane-cho before Poison Jam got in there and messed it up." He said. "What does that have anything to do with you?" "Well do you remember what happened to her once Poison Jam tagged up all of her old tags?" She asked. "I heard she went into hiding. But I guess nobody really knows for sure, but still I have no idea how all of this ties in with you." He replied. "Well guess what. I am Gum." She said smile fading from her face that she hadn't been recognized. "No way." He said back to her. "Uh huh. I can prove it too." She said as she lifted her leg to reveal a small tattoo of her name in Japanese. A trademark for Gum. He rolled back. He was standing in front of Gum, just about the only notable girl rudie in the entire world. Hmmm I wonder. "Hey I know that you have kinda gotten out of the whole gang thing but I was wondering. You see I am sick and tired of getting rejected by all the other gangs out there and so I decided to make my own." He said. "Oh really. How's it going? How many rudies you got?" She asked. "Well to tell you the truth, I really don't have anybody yet. That's what I was going to ask you. Would you like to join my gang?" He asked with pleading eyes. She thought for a minute before replying. "If you can copy my moves then I will be happy to join your gang but if you can't then you never bother me again ok?" She said. "You got it! I'm pretty sure I can copy your moves." He said, sure of himself. "Alright then, follow me." She said as she started to skate away, knowing that this guy would follow her. She skated around the corner and down a long wooden walkway over to the other side in Shibuya-cho. She skated until she came to a bus terminal with four buses parked at each of the four parking spots. Along the side of a few of the buses were tags that someone had put up. Beat skated up behind her and stopped next to her. "This is it." She said. "This is where we will test your skills. Oh yeah by the way what's your name?" "My name's Beat." He replied. "Well let's see just how good you are Beat." She said, winking. She skated up to a rail and jumped doing a 360 and grinding until she reached the end of it. When she reached the end of it she jumped and landed on a car that was parked across the street. The car's roof caved a little under her wheels and so she got off the roof and landed on the ground, skating over to Beat. "You think you can do that?" She asked a little out of breath. "Of course." He said, once again sounding sure in his voice. In his mind though was another story. Hopefully I can do this. I don't want to look like an idiot in front of Gum. That would be embarrassing. He thought this as he skated toward a spot about 4 feet from the rail. He would get enough speed and then try his hardest not to screw up. He then started skating toward the rail, picking up speed as he went, his electromagnetic skates pushing him along. He got to about 1 foot in front of the rail and jumped, while in the air he did a 360 and landed on the rail, grinding it. When he reached the end he jumped with all of his might and closed his eyes. When he opened his eyes he felt the roof of the car caving in a bit from his weight. He quickly jumped off and skated over to where Gum was standing. Wow I actually did it! He thought as he skated. "Good job!" She said as he reached her. "But can you do this one?" She then skated a few feet over and jumped, landing on a rail and grinding it. In the middle of this rail though was a gap that had a giant concrete wall in it. She had to jump off of the one rail and do a backflip over the wall and landed on the other side, on yet another rail. She grinded that one until the end and then jumped off and landed on the railing that was leading up a set of stairs on a walkway that went over the road. She proceeded to grind that and then turned in her grind onto the railing over the walkway. She went with that for a few seconds and then turned again and went down another set of stairs leading back down toward the ground. Instead of waiting to hit the ground though she jumped and landed on the roof of the bus stop. She then turned around and jumped down onto the bus and then onto the ground. She skated over to Beat who was standing there with his mouth open, amazed. "Oh my god. How the hell did you do that?" He asked. "Well it's all in the hips, Beat, it's all in the hips." She replied. "But now it's your turn. Go at it." She said giving him a little push. He began to skate forward, a little unsure of his skills. He had done stuff like that before but never a grind that long and never so many jumps and flips. He shrugged it off though, thinking Well I guess I'll learn if I can do this or not. He picked up speed and headed for the rail. When he got a foot in front of the rail he jumped and landed on the rail. He grinded that until the end and jumped doing a small backflip. When he landed though he landed too close to the end of the rail and had to jump real fast to save himself from just falling to the ground. He jumped and landed on the stair rail, almost losing his balance and falling off. He regained his composure and continued the grind until he reached the top and turned grinding until he reached the other staircase. He then went down and jumped before he reached the end onto the bus stop roof. He turned than and jumped off onto the roof of the bus and then to the ground. He skated over to where Gum was completely out of breath. "That was good." She said when he reached her. "Really. you thought. I did. good?" He said between gasps of breath. "Really." She said, smiling. "I guess you're good enough. I'll join your gang." She said. He suddenly shot straight up. "Really." He said, hardly believing his ears. She nodded her head and Beat's heart skipped a beat. Yes one member for the GG's. He thought. "What is the name of your gang anyway?" She asked. "Well I was thinking somewhere along the lines of the GG's" He replied. "Sounds good to me." She said. "We do need to get more members though. I have one in mind right now. I'll bring him tomorrow, ok." "Sure, the more the merrier." He replied suddenly enthusiastic about making a gang. "Well I'll see you tomorrow at around 10:00 ok?" She asked. "Yeah sounds ok to me." He replied to Gum as she skated away. Yes! My gang is going to finally get out of my head and become reality. He thought as he skated off toward his house.
The next morning Beat woke up and began to get ready as soon as his feet hit the floor. His floor was cold to his bare feet but he didn't even feel it because he was so excited with the thoughts of his gang with more members. I'll show those assholes for rejecting me. I will make the greatest gang of all of Tokyo-to. When he got dressed and was ready to leave he almost forgot his radio. He had to run back in and get it before he left. "Wouldn't want to forget this." He said out loud to himself. He then skated outside and toward the place where he was yesterday. The sun was out and the sky was blue. As he took a deep breath he could taste the freshness of the air. He skated across the bridge that led to Shibuya-cho and heading toward the bus terminal. He got there in a moment of seconds due to the fact that he pushed harder on his skates than any other day so far. He stopped in the middle of the terminal and looked around. All he saw was buses and the occasional car and person. "Where are those guys?" He said out loud. He then heard two pairs of skates from behind him. He turned around and saw Gum with a guy that was dressed in a blue jumpsuit and even though it was a hot day he had a ski cap on his head which was also blue. "Don't worry we're here. I had to get sleepy head here out of bed." She said pointing at the guy. "Oh yeah by the way Best this is Tab. I know he doesn't look like much but his skill makes up for the way he looks." "Hey, don't be dissin' me. I look fine, now you on the other hand." He said but then trailed off as she gave him a look that said "you better watch your words". Beat reached out and shook Tab's hand. "Nice to meet you Tab." Beat said, letting go of his hand. "Ditto." Tab replied. "Well let's get down to business. Gum here says you want me to be part of your gang. Is that true?" "Yeah. Well would you like to?" Beat asked. "Well I won't just join. I mean you're going to have to prove yourself worthy of my time. How 'bout a race?" He said. "Sure I'll race you." Beat replied. "Ok here is a map." He reached in his pocket and pulled out a small map. It led him through most of Shibuya-cho and then there was a big "X" at the end of it. "Yeah first one to tag first wins. Are you ready?" "Hold on, let me just look this map over and then I'll be ready." Beat replied. He then stood there for a second looking at the map intently. When he was sure he had gotten it he skated up to the line that Gum had put on the road for them to start on. "Ok listen you go when I say "Go" ok?" Gum said. "Got it." Both Tab and Beat said together. "Go!" Gum said, throwing her arms down. Tab got a pretty good start but once Beat started really getting on the move he caught up. When he got within a few inches of him Tab threw out his arm, trying to knock Beat off balance. Ok so that's the way it's going to go then? He thought as he skated out of the way of the elbow. They came to a turn in the map and as Beat was turning he was knocked down another road by Tab. "What the?" He screamed as he headed down into traffic. He dodged cars left and right and as they came flying past him he realized that he was within inches of getting killed by an oncoming car. He reached the intersection at the bottom of the hill and stopped across the street to see just where he was. He then took out his map and found that he was within a block's distance from the tag spot and if he moved fast enough he could make it there before Tab. He skated as hard as he could to his right and as he went along he saw a road to his right and looked down at his map fast and saw that that was the street he was supposed to be on. He then turned and looked up at the top of the hill and saw Tab barreling down the hill heading for the tag spot. Beat picked up speed and headed for the wall of the building where it was and started spraying. He made a small version of his name in Japanese and stepped back to wait for Tab. When Tab pulled up and stopped Beat had a big smile on his face. "Thanks for the push Tab." He said. "No problem there." He said, out of breath. Gum came skating up to greet both of them. She looked at the tag and started to laugh. "Wow, you beat Tab. Not that many people can beat him. So what do you say Tab? You wanna join the GG's?" She asked. "Sure. Why not? I mean it's not like I have anything else to do." Tab replied. Beat skated over to Tab and extended his hand. "Welcome to the GG's." He said. Tab took hold of the hand and nodded his head. "Oh yeah by the way I found us a little place that could be a sort of headquarters for us." Said Gum. "It's a little dirty but with a little paint it could be great." "Sure maybe then we'll start to get moving along." Said Beat. "Where is it?" "Just follow me." Gum said as she skated off not waiting for them to follow. Beat and Tab took off after Gum. She first turned a corner and went down a street that was near Beat's house and then turned and went down though an apartment complex, knocking stuff over as she went. She then took them across a wooden bridge and over to Kogane-cho. "It's in my old neighborhood." Gum said as she was skating. She then proceeded through a few streets until she found an opening leading to the underground. She took the direct route down by grinding along a rail that was there and landed in an old train depot that was no longer used. Beat landed shortly after Gum followed by Tab and started to look around. There was a window that they could see out of on the far right wall, there was a map of Tokyo-to in the middle of the floor, used by the trains that used to run here. Over to his right there was a couch and over to his left there was a small car that was of no use to anybody anymore down a small flight of steps. "Wow this is pretty cool." Said Beat, still looking around. "Yeah I found this when I was skating around looking for places to hide from the cops. They chased me around until I landed down here. I'm glad you like it. What about you Tab?" Gum asked. "Well I guess it meets the Tabster's requirements." Tab replied sitting on the couch. "Great. I guess from now on this will be the headquarters for the GG's: the greatest gang in Tokyo-to!" Beat said, while him and the others through their fists in the air in triumph.
One week later.