Chapter 07 – Recuperation and Revenge
(Blah, disclaimer, blah, blah, yadda yadda yadda.)
(Charles Rocketboy Reilly, I warn you now you may not like this chapter – but
read it anyway! And don't flame too much…)
(Sorry it's rather long, but I guess I got carried away.)
Cube opened her eyes to the garage ceiling. She ached all over, but she was
warmer – and dryer – but there was something wrong –
Slate!
She struggled to sit up, but someone pushed her back down. Cube
blinked, and realised it was Piranha. "You okay?"
"What's happened to Slate?" Cube said. "You – I mean – he's not –"
"Relax," Piranha said. "He's fine. We found both of you, and called an
ambulance – we were pretty worried you'd both get arrested again, but you
looked so cut up we didn't have a choice. Anyway, we got away with it
because Tab and Mew staged a raid in the furthest corner of Benten-cho and
made sure all the cops knew about it, and so you and Slate were left alone."
Cube's heart stopped pounding, and she managed to start breathing
normally. She looked around and realised she was lying on the garage sofa,
covered by a blanket.
"What happened, anyway?" Piranha's voice was concerned. "There
was a dead Love Shocker next to you guys. Someone have a little territorial
dispute?"
Cube shook her head. "It wasn't – that Love Shocker was a friend."
She felt tears sting in her eyes, and quickly blinked them away. "It was another
one. You know, Kell – that leader we were locked up with. She tricked me –
she wrote the note – and then she was waiting, with four others. Slate came to
save me."
She closed her eyes, and saw Kell, posing with the knife, her mouth
swimming red. 'Ever wonder what would happen if this got stuck in your eye?'
The ropes cutting into her wrists, The Love Shocker laughing, rain running
down her face like blood…
"Cube?"
She opened her eyes. It was okay. She was dry, and safe, and there
were no knives. But her hands were clenched into fists, and her nails were
digging into her palms so hard that her fingers ached.
"I'm fine," she said, feeling Piranha look at her. "Where are the others,
anyway?"
"Gone out into Shibuya. You see, we've been pretty busy trying to
create distractions for the cops that are far away from Shibuya hospital, so we
haven't really been tagging in it much. In fact, I think this is the first time
we've gone out there. And, also, we didn't want to run into Little Miss Psycho
until we knew the full story from you."
"When did I get back here?" Cube asked.
"Last night. The others headed out this morning."
Suddenly the door flew open and crashed against the wall, and Beat and
Gum skated in, looking murderous.
"What is it?" Piranha said.
"The Love Shockers," Gum snapped out through gritted teeth.
"What about them?"
"They're gonna be dead." Gum threw her spray paint at the wall and
then skated off into the kitchen. They heard her crashing cupboard doors, and
the occasional smash of a plate.
"We headed out to tag the town," Beat said. "We decided to hit the bus
shelter first…"
Beat skated along, enjoying the warm sun and Gum's hand in his. She
appeared to have forgiven him at last. Already his – uh – slip up – with Cube
seemed centuries ago.
"Bus shelter?" she said.
"Sure." Beat would've gone wherever she'd suggested.
They turned the corner, and skated into the terminal –
– and their jaws dropped.
Every surface, every wall, every bus, every car, was covered in neon
pink graffiti. It looked like the town had been invaded by Barbie.
"How come we didn't notice this last night?" Gum croaked, staring at
the heart-and-arrow pictures around them.
Beat shrugged. "Too dark?"
He knew he should feel furious, but at the moment he just felt horrified.
This was a clear message from those bitches. Die, GGs.
"Hey!" Gum pointed up to a billboard. "I haven't seen that tag
before…"
Her voice trailed off as she realised what it was.
Beat looked at it, and realised that now he was angry.
It was a caricature of Cube, lying on the ground in a pool of blood, and
underneath someone had written: Are All The GGs This Tough?
"Right! When I find those – those – bimbos – " Gum's chest rose and
fell as she shouted. Beat tried not to get distracted by it. "Then we'll see
who's tough. And for starters…"
She dashed off, leapt up onto the roof of a lorry, and from there to the
platform in front of the billboard, and began to cover up the picture.
Beat took out his own can and began to paint over the Love Shocker
tags himself, but for once he couldn't enjoy it. The GGs had just been insulted.
Majorly. And he felt powerless to do anything about it.
It took them two hours to redo the bus station, and when they headed
out to the hill district they found the same thing had happened there. And in
Park Street. And in the half pipe.
Gum threw her spray paint onto the ground and jumped up and down
on it. Beat wanted to do the same, but someone had to be rational. He wished
it didn't have to be him.
Mingled with the Love Shocker tags were more caricatures, with
different slogans. Whoever had done them was good at people, Beat
grudgingly admitted. Cube and Slate stared at him everywhere he looked.
"How could they have managed it?" he said to Gum, who was now
pounding her fist into her other hand. "How long would it take?"
"They took advantage of us being out for the last few days. If they
worked non-stop they could do it. God, I'm gonna kill them when I get my
hands on them!"
"But why didn't Onishima do anything?"
Gum shrugged. "Who cares? They probably bribed him or
something."
"Let's get back," Beat said. "We need to make a plan."
Cube looked at Beat, dread slithering down her spine. "You mean they've
tagged all of Shibuya?"
"Every last brick." Beat threw his own spray paint can down. "And of
course, the public are gonna freak when they see it because it looks like a paint
explosion, and guess who's gonna get a lot more support for his smush-the-
rudies campaign?"
"I don't understand why you're not mad about being plastered all over
Shibuya-cho yourself," Piranha said to Cube. "That really is a scummy thing
to do."
Cube knew she should be mad. But she just felt scared. She wanted to
hide in her room with the blankets over her head, like when she'd been little.
Which was truly feeble.
"Does Slate know?" she said.
"No, he's out in Kogane with Garam and Yo-Yo."
"Lucky him." Cube had been trying not to look at the plaster casts on
her legs. She felt like she had a ball and chain on each foot.
"I know we're supposed to be believing graffiti is an art form," Gum
said, walking back into the room with a large bag of crisps, "but that shit out
there is horrible. Horrible."
She crunched a handful of crisps viciously. Only Gum could threaten
people by eating crisps at them.
"They've insulted us twice now," she said, sitting down on the sofa by
Cube's feet. "First they tricked you and ganged up on you, and now this.
We've got to fight back."
Ganged up on you. 'Let's see you crawl through barbed wire.' Hand on
her wrist, falling off the walkway, agony searing through her bones…
"Cube, you're all white. Are you okay?"
Cube managed to nod. Great. Flashbacks.
"Well, what can we do?" Piranha said. "Just tagging over all their stuff
doesn't seem much. They'll just know they got us mad."
"Well, what are we supposed to do?" Gum licked salt off her fingers.
"Just leave it up there?"
"Maybe we should." Piranha leaned back against the sofa. "Think
about it. The public'll want it scrubbed off. They can get rid of it for us. And
it'll show the Love Shockers we don't care."
"But we do care!" Gum said through a mouthful of crisps.
"Yes, but we don't want them to know that."
"Okay. So we leave the tags. Any other ideas?" Beat asked.
"Smash their stupid, punky faces in!" Gum yelled.
"Oh, great, a battle," said Piranha. "What if we lost it?"
"We won't."
"You might. Those girls fight dirty," Cube said. She felt the other three
studying the scars on her face and arms, take in her broken legs. She met their
eyes, and they all looked away.
"Anyway, beating them up will probably just aggravate them," Piranha
said. "They're pretty tough. At least, Kell is. We need to hit them in their
weak spot."
"Not all of them are tough," Cube said. "I mean – not all of them are
psychos. There was San…and one of them helped me when Slate stepped in.
It's Kell, really. If you hit her weak spot – I mean, really hit it, she'd collapse,
and then they'd all lose faith in her, that'd work. That's what happened in jail,
when I fought her before."
"Huh?" Gum said.
"I sort of beat her in a fight, and most of the Love Shockers totally
abandoned her, came onto my side. If that happened again, they'd probably
give up trying to get to us."
"This has one small problem." Beat sighed. "What is Kell's weak
spot?"
There was a short silence.
"Couldn't you just beat her in a fight again?" Gum said at last.
"I'd rather not."
"No, but Gum's right," Piranha said. "We need to beat her using
physical violence –"
"Yessss!" Gum punched the air.
"With all the Love Shockers watching."
"You realise if we don't beat her we'll have to leave town," Beat said.
"Take up residence in Grind City or something."
"Which is why we use her weak spot to make sure we win!"
"I don't understand," said Gum.
"Don't worry. You will."
It was all very well to say they were going to win, but as time went by Cube
found it harder and harder to believe it.
Because of her legs she obviously couldn't skate, so she was stuck in the
garage all day. The other GGs were worried about her being left alone, so
someone stayed with her. When this someone was Combo or Slate, that was
great. When it was Yo-Yo, it was a drag. But she needed to get out. She was
going stir-crazy.
The flashbacks were getting worse. Cube didn't talk about them. It
seemed pathetic. She knew she should be angry, and sometimes she was, but
mainly she was scared.
Gum was with her when the letter came. They were watching TV when
suddenly Gum said, "Hey – what's that under the door?"
She got to her feet, and Cube saw her pick up a folded piece of paper.
She handed it to Cube. "It's addressed to you."
Cube unfolded it, heart pounding. She was fighting down memories of
the last letter she'd got.
This one wasn't any better.
Hey, honey, how's your face? And your legs? I guess you think we
parted pretty rudely last time, but don't worry, I'll be back to finish the job.
And I'll get your friends too. Wouldn't want them to miss out, huh? Hope
they liked the décor in Shibuya. I reckon the Love Shockers are kinda
upstaging you guys. Not that I'm surprised. I saw how weak you were in the
bus terminal.
Don't go out on your own, Cube. Wouldn't want you to get hurt.
Kell.
"Bitch!" Gum had been reading over her shoulder. "This is really low – Cube?
You okay?"
Cube pressed her lips together and crumpled the note, then threw it with
all her might at the wall. Swallowing tears, she said, "I'm fine. Stupid Love
Shocker."
"Look – I – I don't know if I ever told you – but –" Gum sounded
nervous for once. "I'm really sorry I got you kicked out of the GGs, okay?
Not that I'm saying it was okay to kiss Beat," she added hastily. "But I'm still
sorry."
"Oh – thanks." Cube hadn't been expecting apologies from Gum of all
people. "I don't mind any more, but thanks."
"Cool." Gum grinned, and for the first time Cube grinned back. It was
nice to know someone was on her side.
Later that day, Gum headed out to Shibuya-cho. The others had got back so
Cube had someone to look after her, and the Love Shocker graffiti was making
Gum sick. Sure, Piranha had said to ignore it, but come on. She was a rudie,
and she didn't ignore rival tags. Especially not salmon horrors like these.
It was getting darker as she reached Park Street, and the air had a cool
bite to it. Gum walked into the playground, and began covering up the tag that
had been splattered over the by-laws sign.
(Author's Note – yes, I know Shibuya has perpetual daylight, but I see
this scene taking place at night, so there is gonna be night. Okay?)
She had nearly finished when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She
turned to see five Love Shockers behind her.
"Quit tagging," the tallest Love Shocker said. "Now."
"Yeah, right. Who do you think I am?"
"I know who you are, GG. And I think you ought to know that Shibuya
belongs to the Love Shockers now."
"Like hell it does."
Each Love Shocker held up a can of spray paint. Then, as though on a
given signal, they began to shake them, slowly at first, then faster and faster.
The clicking drummed into Gum's ears, echoing her heartbeat. She debated
running, but she wasn't going to act scared of a bunch of brain-dead psychos.
Even if most sensible people would.
"Frightened yet?" the tall Love Shocker said.
"In your dreams." Gum turned back to her tag.
She felt the paint hit her back, cold on her spine, and spun round. The
leader's face wore a sharp, satisfied grin, but her eyes were like lead marbles.
"Run." The Love Shocker's voice was harsh.
"No way."
"You know what happens if you're tagged ten times."
Gum knew, and for the first time she felt nervous. If you were tagged
ten times, you were out. Finished. Washed up. It was rudie law, always had
been. But she'd never been in any danger that way. She was the tagger, not
the taggee.
"Even your little friends won't support you if you're tagged ten times."
Gum didn't answer this time. She was looking for an escape route. But
the Love Shockers had her surrounded.
"Go on." They moved back, leaving a gap. "Go on. Run. Run."
They chanted it now. Gum's fingers tensed on her paint can. She had
no option. Her heart crashing in her ears, she dashed forward. She felt more
paint slice down her back, staining the already damp fabric of her dress. Eight
tags left.
She leapt up onto the fence, ground along it, felt it judder as the girls
leapt on behind her. Along the fence, and up onto the handrail of the bridge.
She felt them get closer. Two more tags, the paint hissing in her ears like an
artificial snake.
Then down into the half pipe, wheels echoing on the concrete. She
pushed herself to her fastest speed, hearing her pursuers' skates growling
behind her. It was night now. The pipe was full of shadows.
She remembered Cube, lying there, broken and bleeding…saw her
sitting pale, scarred, legs in plaster…
For the first time Gum was scared of the Love Shockers.
She made to take the left fork, but they moved to cut her off, and she
had to take the right one. She felt another tag brush her shoulder blades. Paint
fumes made her cough.
And then she saw the bars.
She'd somehow skated towards the dead end.
She reached it, stomach lurching, fear singing in her ears. It was no
good. Rusty bars cut off her route. They were corroded and old, but she
couldn't break them, and she wasn't skinny enough to crawl through.
Desperately trying to spot an escape route, she too late remembered what they
were gonna do to her.
Five more tags hit her like bullets.
Gum froze. It couldn't be. Slowly, she turned round. The Love
Shockers had big grins on their faces. Gum itched to punch them off.
The leader held up ten fingers. "You're out," she said. "We know
you're out. We'll make sure everyone else knows it. And if anyone catches
you skating, we'll know you're not only a wimp, you're a cheat."
Gum couldn't talk. It felt like her mind had been scooped out of her
head, leaving behind nothingness, except one thought – I'm not a rudie.
"See ya." The leader blew her a kiss, and said, "Let's roll."
Gum watched them skate away. When they'd finally moved out of
sight, she sank down onto the step in front of the bars, shivering as the cold
concrete hit her skin. She held out her hands in front of her, and they were
trembling.
I'm not a GG. I'm not a rudie. I'm not anything…
All her life, she'd either been a rudie or practising to be one. Even when
she'd been little, she'd been doing flips and jumps in the street to improve her
skating skills. She'd covered her room with spray paint. She'd taken all the
jobs she could find to pay for her skates and paint, she'd listened to Jet Set
Radio since she could talk, she'd never been friends with anyone who wasn't a
rudie…
What the hell was she meant to do now?
Beat switched on the radio and tried to forget his stress. All of the GGs were
worried. Yo-Yo was telling pathetic jokes and then laughing uproariously at
them, Mew was talking very fast to anyone who'd listen, Combo was playing
rap music at ear-splitting volume, Garam was trying to flick bits of paper into
Potts's kennel and doing his victory dance whenever he succeeded, Piranha
was pacing the floor like a caged lion, Slate was playing pinball and doing his
victory dance whenever he won, Tab was chewing the edge of his bobble hat,
and Cube was looking spaced out, basically. She sat on the sofa, staring into
space, fingers occasionally fiddling with a loose thread from one of the
cushions.
And Gum wasn't there.
"Didn't anyone see her?" he yelled over 'Let Mom Sleep.'
"No. She said she was going to Shibuya to try and tag over the Love
Shocker tags. She could still be out there."
"I guess." Beat tried to concentrate on the music, but he felt too nervous
still. There were a lot of nasty things out on the streets tonight, and he didn't
want Gum to get mixed up with them.
The music faded out, and Professor K's voice blasted from the speakers.
"Martians come all the way to Earth just to listen to us! We're your…"
"He's already said that," Yo-Yo said.
"Give him a break, how many catchphrases can he think up?" Mew said.
"How about this one. What do you call a fly with no wings? A walk!"
Yo-Yo threw back his head and burst into raucous laughter.
"Shut up." Beat threw a can at him. "I want to see if there's any news."
"And the GGs are one member down! Gum got tagged ten times by the
Love Shockers – bet she's spitting nails! She's down and out in Park Street,
and the Shockers are playing for keeps this time! Could Shibuya-cho be
having a change of management? Tune in for the latest news on the street, on
your one-and-only –"
Beat turned off the radio, and the garage went very quiet.
"She can't be," Piranha said. "K must've got it wrong."
"He never gets things wrong." Beat was surprised how normal his voice
sounded. His brain wanted to pick the radio up and throw it out the window,
preferably in a Love Shocker's direction.
"Well, where is she?"
"Maybe she thinks we won't let her in now she's not a rudie," said
Cube.
"That's crazy. I'm going to find her." Beat grabbed a can of paint.
"And if I see any of those bitches, I'm gonna break their skulls. This is the last
straw."
He slammed the garage door and skated out.
It was night in Shibuya-cho now. This happened very rarely, and it
made Beat uneasy. He reached Park Street. The elephant slide was twisted
against the moonlight. The playground was empty.
Under the rage he shivered. He'd never been scared of the Love
Shockers before. The GGs – everyone – had laughed at them, called them
stupid and ugly. Even when Combo and Cube had quit – well, all right, been
kicked out – Beat hadn't been scared of the Love Shockers. Not really.
They'd suddenly got a lot nastier. The GGs had still despised them.
Remembering this now, Beat wondered if it was too late to take all that back.
And where was Gum?
He skated slowly along and stared down into the darkness of the half
pipe. He sincerely hoped there wasn't anyone lurking down there.
Then he jumped into it.
His skates screeched along the concrete. Ahead of him the bars loomed
out of the blackness. There was someone leaning against them.
"Gum? Is that you?" I really, really hope the answer's yes…
"Yeah."
Squinting in the darkness, Beat saw her stand up and come towards him.
"You been here all evening?" he said. He wanted to go and comfort her,
go kiss her, but he didn't know whether that was the right thing to do. Being
demoted from rudiedom was the ultimate humiliation.
"Yeah," she answered, arms crossed, glancing down at her feet. "Didn't
think I could come back to the garage."
"Come on, you don't think I was gonna kick you out, do you?"
She shrugged. "You might do."
"Gum! You're still a GG –"
"No, I'm not! You know the rules. I shouldn't be wearing these skates,
and I can't tag, and basically I've got nothing." He could almost taste the
bitterness in her voice. "So don't tell me I'm still a GG. If I am I'm useless."
Beat put his hand in hers. "You're not," he said. "I'm not letting you
give up. Now come back, it's freezing out here."
He looked into her eyes, and gave her his best, most engaging grin.
Gum threw her arms around his neck, and he nearly rolled over
backwards. "Hey, come on!"
She was crying. He hugged her.
"I thought – I thought I'd never see you again…" Gum rubbed her eyes.
"You sure you aren't gonna kick me out?"
"Don't be stupid." He kissed her. "Now let's go home."
When they arrived back in the garage, they saw the other GGs listening to
Piranha, who was reading out another note.
"What's that?" Beat said.
"A little letter from the Love Shockers." Piranha spat out the words.
"Beat, that Kell really hates us. Read this."
Beat took the note. Gum glanced over his shoulder.
Well, GGs, that's one down. You see, I'm gonna hurt all of you. I
know you guys. I've watched you laugh at me for years. So I have a pretty
good idea of your weak points. And how to hit them. Oh, by the way, Cube –
Beat glanced at the Gothic GG, who was as usual lying on the sofa. She was
pale, and he could see her hands shaking. He turned back to the note.
By the way, Cube – you think you've got it over with? Hah, no way sweetie.
What happened before was just a preliminary, a warming-up, if you like.
When I get hold of you later on, you'll really wish you could go back to the bus
shelter.
I'm sick of all your laughter, and now it's payback time. Boy, I haven't
stopped laughing for weeks. Who'd've thought the GGs were such headless
chickens when the going got tough?
Catch ya later, Kell.
Beat crumpled the note, feeling rage building. He hated this girl, hated her
sneers, hated the fact that she was destroying everything he'd gained. He felt
Gum's fingers grip his shoulder, and realised she was furious too.
"We've got to get her," she said.
"How's she delivering these?" Beat asked.
"I guess she gets a Love Shocker to push them under the door," said
Piranha. "But often we don't notice them for some time. I guess we could
catch whoever delivers them – if we kept a watch…"
"Do that," Beat said. "And everyone else be careful. That's two rudies
she's put out of action."
"Oh, yeah, Gum, how are you?" Piranha looked concerned.
Gum shrugged and gave a little twirl to show the rest of the GGs the
pink tags on her back. Piranha gasped. Yo-Yo whistled.
"You're gonna stay, right?" Cube said.
"Course I am. I'm not letting them kick me out of here. Whatever they
do to us."
"We don't have to – we could leave," Tab said slowly.
"What? Are you crazy?" Gum whirled towards him, fists clenched.
"Over my dead body!"
"Um, that may actually happen."
"No, they've fixed me. Now it'll be somebody else's turn." Gum
grinned evilly at him. "Maybe they'll pull off your hat."
"We can't leave," Beat said. "We have to kill or be killed. Beat or be
beaten. Smush or be smushed…"
"Thanks, we get the idea," Cube said. "I just hope we do kill, beat or
smush, then."
"Well, I'm not letting them stop me," said Mew, jumping down from the
speakers. "I'm supposed to be tagging tonight."
"Take someone with you," said Cube.
"No. Look, I'll be fine, okay?"
"Your lookout," Gum said. "But I don't think Kell's gonna make an
exception for you."
Mew rolled her eyes and sauntered over to the door. "Quit worrying,
guys. I'm not that weak."
"Nor am I, and look what happened!" Gum yelled.
"Yeah, but I'll be on my guard. See ya."
Mew dashed through Shibuya towards the hill district, stopped in front of an
empty shop window, and began to paint. Normally she enjoyed tagging, but
tonight she was slightly annoyed. Why did they always act like she was a
wimp?
Just because Gum ran away from home…Mew sprayed paint viciously
down the glass. Just because Cube's a goth…Just because Piranha dropped out
of school…I did stuff like that too. I'm just a good a GG as they are.
The night air rippled, and she shivered. She had to admit she was a little
nervous. She'd always despised the Love Shockers, and when Cube had got
hurt she'd thought it was a lucky break, a fluke…but now Gum had been put
out of action. Maybe they were tougher than she'd thought…
Mew finished the tag and skated on. It was very quiet. Far away she
could hear traffic, someone's TV…sounds that made up the city-growl. But
the hill district itself was empty of cars and people.
Mew clicked on Jet Set Radio and tried to relax on the familiar sounds
of music and chatter. Where was everyone tonight? Even Onishima didn't
seem to be after her.
For that matter, why hadn't he stopped the Love Shockers in their
Shibuya attack? Even the GGs agreed it looked terrible. Onishima should've
been out there with tanks, guns, dogs, paratroopers…Yet they'd heard nothing.
She stopped to tag a wall, and then she heard it.
Skaters, coming towards her. Her hand began to shake, and the line she
was painting wobbled like a heart monitor.
They were coming up the hill. She could jump onto a fence and grind
past them. But she felt frozen. If she just stayed here, maybe they'd not notice
her.
And then, as the skaters rounded the hill, she saw the pink hair and bare
legs and her stomach lurched. Three Love Shockers.
Why are you scared of them? a part of her brain asked reasonably.
Because they're Love Shockers!
Yeah. Only Love Shockers. Stupid rejects with an attitude problem.
Mew swallowed and forced her legs to move. She skated towards the
fence and began to grind down it. And then she heard one of the girls yell,
"There she is! Get her!"
Mew gathered speed, the air stinging her face. Darkened shops, trees,
lampposts flew past her. If she could just get to the bottom of the hill…
They'll tag my back if I'm lucky, she thought miserably. And I'll never
get to spray Hello Kitty on Onishima's trenchcoat again…
They were below her, waiting at the bottom of the fence. Mew jumped
off, and quick as snakes they encircled her.
There were no insults. One of them just yelled, "Grab her!"
Hands wrenched her arms behind her back. She screamed, and one was
clapped over her mouth. Struggling, she felt them drag her towards an
alleyway. Her heart froze for a beat. What were they going to do to her?
The alley was small. Mew's skates crunched over crisp packets and
chocolate wrappers. One of the Shockers kicked a Coke can, and it clattered
down to the wall at the end of the alley.
Two of them held her arms. The third stood in front of her, and held up
a knife.
Please, God, please get me out of this, Mew's thoughts begged.
"You're that girl who always likes to look nice, aren't you?" said the
Love Shocker, her voice crooning. "I've seen you, always checking your
reflection. Showing off your butt to the guys. Well, kitty, you won't have the
face to do that in future."
She raised the knife. Mew fought to get free, but the hands held her
wrists firmly. She closed her eyes as the knife scored down her cheek.
Blood, warm and sticky, ran down her skin. Absent-mindedly she
licked some of it away. It tasted bitter. She felt very dizzy. The pavement
rocked beneath her feet.
"I wanted to stick this in your friend's eye, but I guess I'll have to do it
to you."
Mew looked into the Love Shocker's eyes. The girl's face was alight
with happiness, like Gum's was when she kissed Beat.
"Ready?"
"Please don't…" Mew felt her voice tremble, and hated it. Why
couldn't she be braver?
"Steady?"
Mew gritted her teeth.
"G – "
"Leave her alone!"
"Huh?" The Love Shocker turned. Mew looked towards the alleyway
entrance.
A Noise Tank stood there. In his hand was a strange, vaguely gun-like
object.
"Let go of her," he said.
"Or what?"
"Don't make me use this."
"Go play in traffic," the Shocker sneered, and turned back to Mew.
"You asked for it."
He fired.
Mew heard a faint ringing, like the sound a TV remote makes. The
Shocker screamed, and clapped her hands to her ears, dropping to her knees.
"Let go of her," the Noise Tank said again.
The two other Love Shockers glanced at each other, then released Mew,
who dashed away from them.
"Get them!" snarled the Shocker on the ground.
They came towards Mew, but the Noise Tank fired again, and they were
knocked back. Then the Noise Tank took Mew's hand, and they skated away.
(Well, like I said, I didn't plan for this to be so long, but it is. Sorry! Please
r+r. Oh, by the way, NoiseTank13, this Mew-Noise Tank thing isn't a rip off
of your story, I had it in mind before I read it, but on the other hand it would be
cool if it was Beta, huh? What do you think? Hope you're not mad.
Rocketboy Reilly, I wasn't trying to make Mew a ditz, a wimp, or
anything else here, it just seemed appropriate for this to happen to her. There's
nothing wrong with wanting to look good, and Kell grossly exaggerated it
anyway. Honest!)
(Blah, disclaimer, blah, blah, yadda yadda yadda.)
(Charles Rocketboy Reilly, I warn you now you may not like this chapter – but
read it anyway! And don't flame too much…)
(Sorry it's rather long, but I guess I got carried away.)
Cube opened her eyes to the garage ceiling. She ached all over, but she was
warmer – and dryer – but there was something wrong –
Slate!
She struggled to sit up, but someone pushed her back down. Cube
blinked, and realised it was Piranha. "You okay?"
"What's happened to Slate?" Cube said. "You – I mean – he's not –"
"Relax," Piranha said. "He's fine. We found both of you, and called an
ambulance – we were pretty worried you'd both get arrested again, but you
looked so cut up we didn't have a choice. Anyway, we got away with it
because Tab and Mew staged a raid in the furthest corner of Benten-cho and
made sure all the cops knew about it, and so you and Slate were left alone."
Cube's heart stopped pounding, and she managed to start breathing
normally. She looked around and realised she was lying on the garage sofa,
covered by a blanket.
"What happened, anyway?" Piranha's voice was concerned. "There
was a dead Love Shocker next to you guys. Someone have a little territorial
dispute?"
Cube shook her head. "It wasn't – that Love Shocker was a friend."
She felt tears sting in her eyes, and quickly blinked them away. "It was another
one. You know, Kell – that leader we were locked up with. She tricked me –
she wrote the note – and then she was waiting, with four others. Slate came to
save me."
She closed her eyes, and saw Kell, posing with the knife, her mouth
swimming red. 'Ever wonder what would happen if this got stuck in your eye?'
The ropes cutting into her wrists, The Love Shocker laughing, rain running
down her face like blood…
"Cube?"
She opened her eyes. It was okay. She was dry, and safe, and there
were no knives. But her hands were clenched into fists, and her nails were
digging into her palms so hard that her fingers ached.
"I'm fine," she said, feeling Piranha look at her. "Where are the others,
anyway?"
"Gone out into Shibuya. You see, we've been pretty busy trying to
create distractions for the cops that are far away from Shibuya hospital, so we
haven't really been tagging in it much. In fact, I think this is the first time
we've gone out there. And, also, we didn't want to run into Little Miss Psycho
until we knew the full story from you."
"When did I get back here?" Cube asked.
"Last night. The others headed out this morning."
Suddenly the door flew open and crashed against the wall, and Beat and
Gum skated in, looking murderous.
"What is it?" Piranha said.
"The Love Shockers," Gum snapped out through gritted teeth.
"What about them?"
"They're gonna be dead." Gum threw her spray paint at the wall and
then skated off into the kitchen. They heard her crashing cupboard doors, and
the occasional smash of a plate.
"We headed out to tag the town," Beat said. "We decided to hit the bus
shelter first…"
Beat skated along, enjoying the warm sun and Gum's hand in his. She
appeared to have forgiven him at last. Already his – uh – slip up – with Cube
seemed centuries ago.
"Bus shelter?" she said.
"Sure." Beat would've gone wherever she'd suggested.
They turned the corner, and skated into the terminal –
– and their jaws dropped.
Every surface, every wall, every bus, every car, was covered in neon
pink graffiti. It looked like the town had been invaded by Barbie.
"How come we didn't notice this last night?" Gum croaked, staring at
the heart-and-arrow pictures around them.
Beat shrugged. "Too dark?"
He knew he should feel furious, but at the moment he just felt horrified.
This was a clear message from those bitches. Die, GGs.
"Hey!" Gum pointed up to a billboard. "I haven't seen that tag
before…"
Her voice trailed off as she realised what it was.
Beat looked at it, and realised that now he was angry.
It was a caricature of Cube, lying on the ground in a pool of blood, and
underneath someone had written: Are All The GGs This Tough?
"Right! When I find those – those – bimbos – " Gum's chest rose and
fell as she shouted. Beat tried not to get distracted by it. "Then we'll see
who's tough. And for starters…"
She dashed off, leapt up onto the roof of a lorry, and from there to the
platform in front of the billboard, and began to cover up the picture.
Beat took out his own can and began to paint over the Love Shocker
tags himself, but for once he couldn't enjoy it. The GGs had just been insulted.
Majorly. And he felt powerless to do anything about it.
It took them two hours to redo the bus station, and when they headed
out to the hill district they found the same thing had happened there. And in
Park Street. And in the half pipe.
Gum threw her spray paint onto the ground and jumped up and down
on it. Beat wanted to do the same, but someone had to be rational. He wished
it didn't have to be him.
Mingled with the Love Shocker tags were more caricatures, with
different slogans. Whoever had done them was good at people, Beat
grudgingly admitted. Cube and Slate stared at him everywhere he looked.
"How could they have managed it?" he said to Gum, who was now
pounding her fist into her other hand. "How long would it take?"
"They took advantage of us being out for the last few days. If they
worked non-stop they could do it. God, I'm gonna kill them when I get my
hands on them!"
"But why didn't Onishima do anything?"
Gum shrugged. "Who cares? They probably bribed him or
something."
"Let's get back," Beat said. "We need to make a plan."
Cube looked at Beat, dread slithering down her spine. "You mean they've
tagged all of Shibuya?"
"Every last brick." Beat threw his own spray paint can down. "And of
course, the public are gonna freak when they see it because it looks like a paint
explosion, and guess who's gonna get a lot more support for his smush-the-
rudies campaign?"
"I don't understand why you're not mad about being plastered all over
Shibuya-cho yourself," Piranha said to Cube. "That really is a scummy thing
to do."
Cube knew she should be mad. But she just felt scared. She wanted to
hide in her room with the blankets over her head, like when she'd been little.
Which was truly feeble.
"Does Slate know?" she said.
"No, he's out in Kogane with Garam and Yo-Yo."
"Lucky him." Cube had been trying not to look at the plaster casts on
her legs. She felt like she had a ball and chain on each foot.
"I know we're supposed to be believing graffiti is an art form," Gum
said, walking back into the room with a large bag of crisps, "but that shit out
there is horrible. Horrible."
She crunched a handful of crisps viciously. Only Gum could threaten
people by eating crisps at them.
"They've insulted us twice now," she said, sitting down on the sofa by
Cube's feet. "First they tricked you and ganged up on you, and now this.
We've got to fight back."
Ganged up on you. 'Let's see you crawl through barbed wire.' Hand on
her wrist, falling off the walkway, agony searing through her bones…
"Cube, you're all white. Are you okay?"
Cube managed to nod. Great. Flashbacks.
"Well, what can we do?" Piranha said. "Just tagging over all their stuff
doesn't seem much. They'll just know they got us mad."
"Well, what are we supposed to do?" Gum licked salt off her fingers.
"Just leave it up there?"
"Maybe we should." Piranha leaned back against the sofa. "Think
about it. The public'll want it scrubbed off. They can get rid of it for us. And
it'll show the Love Shockers we don't care."
"But we do care!" Gum said through a mouthful of crisps.
"Yes, but we don't want them to know that."
"Okay. So we leave the tags. Any other ideas?" Beat asked.
"Smash their stupid, punky faces in!" Gum yelled.
"Oh, great, a battle," said Piranha. "What if we lost it?"
"We won't."
"You might. Those girls fight dirty," Cube said. She felt the other three
studying the scars on her face and arms, take in her broken legs. She met their
eyes, and they all looked away.
"Anyway, beating them up will probably just aggravate them," Piranha
said. "They're pretty tough. At least, Kell is. We need to hit them in their
weak spot."
"Not all of them are tough," Cube said. "I mean – not all of them are
psychos. There was San…and one of them helped me when Slate stepped in.
It's Kell, really. If you hit her weak spot – I mean, really hit it, she'd collapse,
and then they'd all lose faith in her, that'd work. That's what happened in jail,
when I fought her before."
"Huh?" Gum said.
"I sort of beat her in a fight, and most of the Love Shockers totally
abandoned her, came onto my side. If that happened again, they'd probably
give up trying to get to us."
"This has one small problem." Beat sighed. "What is Kell's weak
spot?"
There was a short silence.
"Couldn't you just beat her in a fight again?" Gum said at last.
"I'd rather not."
"No, but Gum's right," Piranha said. "We need to beat her using
physical violence –"
"Yessss!" Gum punched the air.
"With all the Love Shockers watching."
"You realise if we don't beat her we'll have to leave town," Beat said.
"Take up residence in Grind City or something."
"Which is why we use her weak spot to make sure we win!"
"I don't understand," said Gum.
"Don't worry. You will."
It was all very well to say they were going to win, but as time went by Cube
found it harder and harder to believe it.
Because of her legs she obviously couldn't skate, so she was stuck in the
garage all day. The other GGs were worried about her being left alone, so
someone stayed with her. When this someone was Combo or Slate, that was
great. When it was Yo-Yo, it was a drag. But she needed to get out. She was
going stir-crazy.
The flashbacks were getting worse. Cube didn't talk about them. It
seemed pathetic. She knew she should be angry, and sometimes she was, but
mainly she was scared.
Gum was with her when the letter came. They were watching TV when
suddenly Gum said, "Hey – what's that under the door?"
She got to her feet, and Cube saw her pick up a folded piece of paper.
She handed it to Cube. "It's addressed to you."
Cube unfolded it, heart pounding. She was fighting down memories of
the last letter she'd got.
This one wasn't any better.
Hey, honey, how's your face? And your legs? I guess you think we
parted pretty rudely last time, but don't worry, I'll be back to finish the job.
And I'll get your friends too. Wouldn't want them to miss out, huh? Hope
they liked the décor in Shibuya. I reckon the Love Shockers are kinda
upstaging you guys. Not that I'm surprised. I saw how weak you were in the
bus terminal.
Don't go out on your own, Cube. Wouldn't want you to get hurt.
Kell.
"Bitch!" Gum had been reading over her shoulder. "This is really low – Cube?
You okay?"
Cube pressed her lips together and crumpled the note, then threw it with
all her might at the wall. Swallowing tears, she said, "I'm fine. Stupid Love
Shocker."
"Look – I – I don't know if I ever told you – but –" Gum sounded
nervous for once. "I'm really sorry I got you kicked out of the GGs, okay?
Not that I'm saying it was okay to kiss Beat," she added hastily. "But I'm still
sorry."
"Oh – thanks." Cube hadn't been expecting apologies from Gum of all
people. "I don't mind any more, but thanks."
"Cool." Gum grinned, and for the first time Cube grinned back. It was
nice to know someone was on her side.
Later that day, Gum headed out to Shibuya-cho. The others had got back so
Cube had someone to look after her, and the Love Shocker graffiti was making
Gum sick. Sure, Piranha had said to ignore it, but come on. She was a rudie,
and she didn't ignore rival tags. Especially not salmon horrors like these.
It was getting darker as she reached Park Street, and the air had a cool
bite to it. Gum walked into the playground, and began covering up the tag that
had been splattered over the by-laws sign.
(Author's Note – yes, I know Shibuya has perpetual daylight, but I see
this scene taking place at night, so there is gonna be night. Okay?)
She had nearly finished when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She
turned to see five Love Shockers behind her.
"Quit tagging," the tallest Love Shocker said. "Now."
"Yeah, right. Who do you think I am?"
"I know who you are, GG. And I think you ought to know that Shibuya
belongs to the Love Shockers now."
"Like hell it does."
Each Love Shocker held up a can of spray paint. Then, as though on a
given signal, they began to shake them, slowly at first, then faster and faster.
The clicking drummed into Gum's ears, echoing her heartbeat. She debated
running, but she wasn't going to act scared of a bunch of brain-dead psychos.
Even if most sensible people would.
"Frightened yet?" the tall Love Shocker said.
"In your dreams." Gum turned back to her tag.
She felt the paint hit her back, cold on her spine, and spun round. The
leader's face wore a sharp, satisfied grin, but her eyes were like lead marbles.
"Run." The Love Shocker's voice was harsh.
"No way."
"You know what happens if you're tagged ten times."
Gum knew, and for the first time she felt nervous. If you were tagged
ten times, you were out. Finished. Washed up. It was rudie law, always had
been. But she'd never been in any danger that way. She was the tagger, not
the taggee.
"Even your little friends won't support you if you're tagged ten times."
Gum didn't answer this time. She was looking for an escape route. But
the Love Shockers had her surrounded.
"Go on." They moved back, leaving a gap. "Go on. Run. Run."
They chanted it now. Gum's fingers tensed on her paint can. She had
no option. Her heart crashing in her ears, she dashed forward. She felt more
paint slice down her back, staining the already damp fabric of her dress. Eight
tags left.
She leapt up onto the fence, ground along it, felt it judder as the girls
leapt on behind her. Along the fence, and up onto the handrail of the bridge.
She felt them get closer. Two more tags, the paint hissing in her ears like an
artificial snake.
Then down into the half pipe, wheels echoing on the concrete. She
pushed herself to her fastest speed, hearing her pursuers' skates growling
behind her. It was night now. The pipe was full of shadows.
She remembered Cube, lying there, broken and bleeding…saw her
sitting pale, scarred, legs in plaster…
For the first time Gum was scared of the Love Shockers.
She made to take the left fork, but they moved to cut her off, and she
had to take the right one. She felt another tag brush her shoulder blades. Paint
fumes made her cough.
And then she saw the bars.
She'd somehow skated towards the dead end.
She reached it, stomach lurching, fear singing in her ears. It was no
good. Rusty bars cut off her route. They were corroded and old, but she
couldn't break them, and she wasn't skinny enough to crawl through.
Desperately trying to spot an escape route, she too late remembered what they
were gonna do to her.
Five more tags hit her like bullets.
Gum froze. It couldn't be. Slowly, she turned round. The Love
Shockers had big grins on their faces. Gum itched to punch them off.
The leader held up ten fingers. "You're out," she said. "We know
you're out. We'll make sure everyone else knows it. And if anyone catches
you skating, we'll know you're not only a wimp, you're a cheat."
Gum couldn't talk. It felt like her mind had been scooped out of her
head, leaving behind nothingness, except one thought – I'm not a rudie.
"See ya." The leader blew her a kiss, and said, "Let's roll."
Gum watched them skate away. When they'd finally moved out of
sight, she sank down onto the step in front of the bars, shivering as the cold
concrete hit her skin. She held out her hands in front of her, and they were
trembling.
I'm not a GG. I'm not a rudie. I'm not anything…
All her life, she'd either been a rudie or practising to be one. Even when
she'd been little, she'd been doing flips and jumps in the street to improve her
skating skills. She'd covered her room with spray paint. She'd taken all the
jobs she could find to pay for her skates and paint, she'd listened to Jet Set
Radio since she could talk, she'd never been friends with anyone who wasn't a
rudie…
What the hell was she meant to do now?
Beat switched on the radio and tried to forget his stress. All of the GGs were
worried. Yo-Yo was telling pathetic jokes and then laughing uproariously at
them, Mew was talking very fast to anyone who'd listen, Combo was playing
rap music at ear-splitting volume, Garam was trying to flick bits of paper into
Potts's kennel and doing his victory dance whenever he succeeded, Piranha
was pacing the floor like a caged lion, Slate was playing pinball and doing his
victory dance whenever he won, Tab was chewing the edge of his bobble hat,
and Cube was looking spaced out, basically. She sat on the sofa, staring into
space, fingers occasionally fiddling with a loose thread from one of the
cushions.
And Gum wasn't there.
"Didn't anyone see her?" he yelled over 'Let Mom Sleep.'
"No. She said she was going to Shibuya to try and tag over the Love
Shocker tags. She could still be out there."
"I guess." Beat tried to concentrate on the music, but he felt too nervous
still. There were a lot of nasty things out on the streets tonight, and he didn't
want Gum to get mixed up with them.
The music faded out, and Professor K's voice blasted from the speakers.
"Martians come all the way to Earth just to listen to us! We're your…"
"He's already said that," Yo-Yo said.
"Give him a break, how many catchphrases can he think up?" Mew said.
"How about this one. What do you call a fly with no wings? A walk!"
Yo-Yo threw back his head and burst into raucous laughter.
"Shut up." Beat threw a can at him. "I want to see if there's any news."
"And the GGs are one member down! Gum got tagged ten times by the
Love Shockers – bet she's spitting nails! She's down and out in Park Street,
and the Shockers are playing for keeps this time! Could Shibuya-cho be
having a change of management? Tune in for the latest news on the street, on
your one-and-only –"
Beat turned off the radio, and the garage went very quiet.
"She can't be," Piranha said. "K must've got it wrong."
"He never gets things wrong." Beat was surprised how normal his voice
sounded. His brain wanted to pick the radio up and throw it out the window,
preferably in a Love Shocker's direction.
"Well, where is she?"
"Maybe she thinks we won't let her in now she's not a rudie," said
Cube.
"That's crazy. I'm going to find her." Beat grabbed a can of paint.
"And if I see any of those bitches, I'm gonna break their skulls. This is the last
straw."
He slammed the garage door and skated out.
It was night in Shibuya-cho now. This happened very rarely, and it
made Beat uneasy. He reached Park Street. The elephant slide was twisted
against the moonlight. The playground was empty.
Under the rage he shivered. He'd never been scared of the Love
Shockers before. The GGs – everyone – had laughed at them, called them
stupid and ugly. Even when Combo and Cube had quit – well, all right, been
kicked out – Beat hadn't been scared of the Love Shockers. Not really.
They'd suddenly got a lot nastier. The GGs had still despised them.
Remembering this now, Beat wondered if it was too late to take all that back.
And where was Gum?
He skated slowly along and stared down into the darkness of the half
pipe. He sincerely hoped there wasn't anyone lurking down there.
Then he jumped into it.
His skates screeched along the concrete. Ahead of him the bars loomed
out of the blackness. There was someone leaning against them.
"Gum? Is that you?" I really, really hope the answer's yes…
"Yeah."
Squinting in the darkness, Beat saw her stand up and come towards him.
"You been here all evening?" he said. He wanted to go and comfort her,
go kiss her, but he didn't know whether that was the right thing to do. Being
demoted from rudiedom was the ultimate humiliation.
"Yeah," she answered, arms crossed, glancing down at her feet. "Didn't
think I could come back to the garage."
"Come on, you don't think I was gonna kick you out, do you?"
She shrugged. "You might do."
"Gum! You're still a GG –"
"No, I'm not! You know the rules. I shouldn't be wearing these skates,
and I can't tag, and basically I've got nothing." He could almost taste the
bitterness in her voice. "So don't tell me I'm still a GG. If I am I'm useless."
Beat put his hand in hers. "You're not," he said. "I'm not letting you
give up. Now come back, it's freezing out here."
He looked into her eyes, and gave her his best, most engaging grin.
Gum threw her arms around his neck, and he nearly rolled over
backwards. "Hey, come on!"
She was crying. He hugged her.
"I thought – I thought I'd never see you again…" Gum rubbed her eyes.
"You sure you aren't gonna kick me out?"
"Don't be stupid." He kissed her. "Now let's go home."
When they arrived back in the garage, they saw the other GGs listening to
Piranha, who was reading out another note.
"What's that?" Beat said.
"A little letter from the Love Shockers." Piranha spat out the words.
"Beat, that Kell really hates us. Read this."
Beat took the note. Gum glanced over his shoulder.
Well, GGs, that's one down. You see, I'm gonna hurt all of you. I
know you guys. I've watched you laugh at me for years. So I have a pretty
good idea of your weak points. And how to hit them. Oh, by the way, Cube –
Beat glanced at the Gothic GG, who was as usual lying on the sofa. She was
pale, and he could see her hands shaking. He turned back to the note.
By the way, Cube – you think you've got it over with? Hah, no way sweetie.
What happened before was just a preliminary, a warming-up, if you like.
When I get hold of you later on, you'll really wish you could go back to the bus
shelter.
I'm sick of all your laughter, and now it's payback time. Boy, I haven't
stopped laughing for weeks. Who'd've thought the GGs were such headless
chickens when the going got tough?
Catch ya later, Kell.
Beat crumpled the note, feeling rage building. He hated this girl, hated her
sneers, hated the fact that she was destroying everything he'd gained. He felt
Gum's fingers grip his shoulder, and realised she was furious too.
"We've got to get her," she said.
"How's she delivering these?" Beat asked.
"I guess she gets a Love Shocker to push them under the door," said
Piranha. "But often we don't notice them for some time. I guess we could
catch whoever delivers them – if we kept a watch…"
"Do that," Beat said. "And everyone else be careful. That's two rudies
she's put out of action."
"Oh, yeah, Gum, how are you?" Piranha looked concerned.
Gum shrugged and gave a little twirl to show the rest of the GGs the
pink tags on her back. Piranha gasped. Yo-Yo whistled.
"You're gonna stay, right?" Cube said.
"Course I am. I'm not letting them kick me out of here. Whatever they
do to us."
"We don't have to – we could leave," Tab said slowly.
"What? Are you crazy?" Gum whirled towards him, fists clenched.
"Over my dead body!"
"Um, that may actually happen."
"No, they've fixed me. Now it'll be somebody else's turn." Gum
grinned evilly at him. "Maybe they'll pull off your hat."
"We can't leave," Beat said. "We have to kill or be killed. Beat or be
beaten. Smush or be smushed…"
"Thanks, we get the idea," Cube said. "I just hope we do kill, beat or
smush, then."
"Well, I'm not letting them stop me," said Mew, jumping down from the
speakers. "I'm supposed to be tagging tonight."
"Take someone with you," said Cube.
"No. Look, I'll be fine, okay?"
"Your lookout," Gum said. "But I don't think Kell's gonna make an
exception for you."
Mew rolled her eyes and sauntered over to the door. "Quit worrying,
guys. I'm not that weak."
"Nor am I, and look what happened!" Gum yelled.
"Yeah, but I'll be on my guard. See ya."
Mew dashed through Shibuya towards the hill district, stopped in front of an
empty shop window, and began to paint. Normally she enjoyed tagging, but
tonight she was slightly annoyed. Why did they always act like she was a
wimp?
Just because Gum ran away from home…Mew sprayed paint viciously
down the glass. Just because Cube's a goth…Just because Piranha dropped out
of school…I did stuff like that too. I'm just a good a GG as they are.
The night air rippled, and she shivered. She had to admit she was a little
nervous. She'd always despised the Love Shockers, and when Cube had got
hurt she'd thought it was a lucky break, a fluke…but now Gum had been put
out of action. Maybe they were tougher than she'd thought…
Mew finished the tag and skated on. It was very quiet. Far away she
could hear traffic, someone's TV…sounds that made up the city-growl. But
the hill district itself was empty of cars and people.
Mew clicked on Jet Set Radio and tried to relax on the familiar sounds
of music and chatter. Where was everyone tonight? Even Onishima didn't
seem to be after her.
For that matter, why hadn't he stopped the Love Shockers in their
Shibuya attack? Even the GGs agreed it looked terrible. Onishima should've
been out there with tanks, guns, dogs, paratroopers…Yet they'd heard nothing.
She stopped to tag a wall, and then she heard it.
Skaters, coming towards her. Her hand began to shake, and the line she
was painting wobbled like a heart monitor.
They were coming up the hill. She could jump onto a fence and grind
past them. But she felt frozen. If she just stayed here, maybe they'd not notice
her.
And then, as the skaters rounded the hill, she saw the pink hair and bare
legs and her stomach lurched. Three Love Shockers.
Why are you scared of them? a part of her brain asked reasonably.
Because they're Love Shockers!
Yeah. Only Love Shockers. Stupid rejects with an attitude problem.
Mew swallowed and forced her legs to move. She skated towards the
fence and began to grind down it. And then she heard one of the girls yell,
"There she is! Get her!"
Mew gathered speed, the air stinging her face. Darkened shops, trees,
lampposts flew past her. If she could just get to the bottom of the hill…
They'll tag my back if I'm lucky, she thought miserably. And I'll never
get to spray Hello Kitty on Onishima's trenchcoat again…
They were below her, waiting at the bottom of the fence. Mew jumped
off, and quick as snakes they encircled her.
There were no insults. One of them just yelled, "Grab her!"
Hands wrenched her arms behind her back. She screamed, and one was
clapped over her mouth. Struggling, she felt them drag her towards an
alleyway. Her heart froze for a beat. What were they going to do to her?
The alley was small. Mew's skates crunched over crisp packets and
chocolate wrappers. One of the Shockers kicked a Coke can, and it clattered
down to the wall at the end of the alley.
Two of them held her arms. The third stood in front of her, and held up
a knife.
Please, God, please get me out of this, Mew's thoughts begged.
"You're that girl who always likes to look nice, aren't you?" said the
Love Shocker, her voice crooning. "I've seen you, always checking your
reflection. Showing off your butt to the guys. Well, kitty, you won't have the
face to do that in future."
She raised the knife. Mew fought to get free, but the hands held her
wrists firmly. She closed her eyes as the knife scored down her cheek.
Blood, warm and sticky, ran down her skin. Absent-mindedly she
licked some of it away. It tasted bitter. She felt very dizzy. The pavement
rocked beneath her feet.
"I wanted to stick this in your friend's eye, but I guess I'll have to do it
to you."
Mew looked into the Love Shocker's eyes. The girl's face was alight
with happiness, like Gum's was when she kissed Beat.
"Ready?"
"Please don't…" Mew felt her voice tremble, and hated it. Why
couldn't she be braver?
"Steady?"
Mew gritted her teeth.
"G – "
"Leave her alone!"
"Huh?" The Love Shocker turned. Mew looked towards the alleyway
entrance.
A Noise Tank stood there. In his hand was a strange, vaguely gun-like
object.
"Let go of her," he said.
"Or what?"
"Don't make me use this."
"Go play in traffic," the Shocker sneered, and turned back to Mew.
"You asked for it."
He fired.
Mew heard a faint ringing, like the sound a TV remote makes. The
Shocker screamed, and clapped her hands to her ears, dropping to her knees.
"Let go of her," the Noise Tank said again.
The two other Love Shockers glanced at each other, then released Mew,
who dashed away from them.
"Get them!" snarled the Shocker on the ground.
They came towards Mew, but the Noise Tank fired again, and they were
knocked back. Then the Noise Tank took Mew's hand, and they skated away.
(Well, like I said, I didn't plan for this to be so long, but it is. Sorry! Please
r+r. Oh, by the way, NoiseTank13, this Mew-Noise Tank thing isn't a rip off
of your story, I had it in mind before I read it, but on the other hand it would be
cool if it was Beta, huh? What do you think? Hope you're not mad.
Rocketboy Reilly, I wasn't trying to make Mew a ditz, a wimp, or
anything else here, it just seemed appropriate for this to happen to her. There's
nothing wrong with wanting to look good, and Kell grossly exaggerated it
anyway. Honest!)