Jet Set Radio is a TM and copyrighted by Sega Enterprises. I do not have any ownership over JSR (apart from owning an official PAL/E copy of the game on Dreamcast), and so any characters, settings etc etc are all used courtesy of Sega.
Sega, if you read this and don't like
it – don't sue me! Just ask me to take it down.
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Poisoned Affair – A Jet Set Radio fanfiction by Rob Bowker, aka foolife
Chapter 1 - Gunshot
I'm going out skating, I'll be back later.
No one answered, but then again, probably no one heard. Piranha's voice didn't have the same zing as usual. Her skates slung over her shoulder, she stepped outside her house. The sun beat down hard on her in the late afternoon as she gently walked along the front of the quiet estate she lived on. There wasn't a sound to be heard.
But Piranha's thoughts had embedded themselves in her consciousness, and she couldn't stop hearing them. It was the same thing over and over. She moaned to herself, wishing that they would vanish, or that something would come along and displace them.
She didn't stop walking until reached the GGs garage, only stopping once to make sure she'd switched the radio clipped to her belt off. She hadn't wanted to be disturbed with happy music right then.
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Split! Now!
An instant after Beat's voice echoed through the air, the soft yet intense scuffle of five sets of blades speeding over well paved tarmac could be heard, swiftly followed by two police cars rumbling along, with sharp sirens blazing and lighting up the surroundings. There was no mistaking what was going on. Above all boomed Onishima's voice.
Chase those damn punks! I want their heads on a platter!
Beat, Combo, Cube, Mew and Piranha all pushed themselves to their own limits. Of course, this wasn't the first time they'd had to quickly think up an escape from Onishima; on the contrary, they were becoming masters of navigation. Naturally, the entire group were very competent skaters. With Beat at the head, they certainly weren't going to lose to the cops on home territory. Not in Shibuya.
The group slid into a single file line as they took a sharp turn off the main road, and blasted through a narrow alleyway, Cube taking the lead and Piranha bringing up the rear. It was apparent why Piranha was at the back of the line; she was skating a lot slower than her comrades. Her short dread locks blew lightly in the wind, and tinted red goggles rested on her forehead. She was wearing her typical GG gear – some of the most fashionable. Her unbuttoned tank top emblazoned with red stars, with long baggy pants trailing down her legs, just covering the top of her skates. She was the ultimate vision of a GG in looks, yet her mind wasn't with her today. She was deep in thought, focused on some strange issue when Combo bellowed.
Piranha, watch it!
All they could hear was the loud, ear shattering noise that was amplified by the closed in nature of the alley. Piranha realised now how small the alley was. She felt as if the walls would crush her in an instant, with unforgiving venom. As movement transcended into slow motion, Combo glanced over his shoulder. He could see how lost in her thoughts she was, and how slow she was moving. It was the skating equivalent of dawdling to him. He realised he had little choice, and threw himself to the ground. His plan worked; a mere second later, Piranha tumbled effortlessly over him onto the floor. Onishima's deadly slug flew over them and hit a nearby drain pipe, ricocheting off down the alley for a few feet before sliding to a halt on the rough floor, the empty, metallic shell shining in the setting sun. Piranha began to get up, but Combo briefly restrained her, whispering gently.
Hey, whatever it is, we'll work it outbut we shouldn't really dwell on it right now.
As ever, his words of wisdom worked wonders. Piranha sadly smiled; Combo knew something was up, but she still picked herself up and began to dash down the rest of the alley at her full potential. Combo followed suit, and soon all five blazed out into the open bus terminal. Beat jumped as high as he could, landing on the rail of one of the bridges whilst the others tore through the terminal itself, narrowly avoiding citizens and the slow moving buses, simply trying to get out onto the main road without running anyone over.
Poison Jam watched from a far vantage point as their nemesis' skated out, followed by the cops. Behind his mask, one of them grinned maniacally. He spoke gruffly.
Hit them.
The command was to be obeyed, and all three of the slasher gang present launched themselves away simultaneously.
At the top of the bridge, Beat had the full view of the surrounding area. Every race, people from all backgrounds busily crowding desperately for places on the tired coaches, wanting to get as far away from Tokyo as possible. Amongst the hundreds, Beat could clearly see a number of police officers dressed up in full riot gear. He chuckled to himself as he reached the end of the rail and began to slide down back towards the ground.
I never knew we were that much of a menace, he quietly mentioned to himself. As he hopped off the rail at the end and back onto the road below, he kept his gaze on the riot squad, plotting his route to evade their view and escape the vicinity entirely. He could always rely on his cool and relaxed composure; he wasn't the GG's leader for nothing. However, he couldn't help but feel something was wrong. He couldn't see Combo or Piranha. He slid to a stop, using a loading bus as cover, and pushed himself along to the end, looking around the corner.
The police presence he saw was a growing one. Quite a few cars and a SWAT van had already arrived, and he could only guess at what else Onishima had ordered to the scene.
He's probably told them we have nuclear spray paint' thought Beat to himself. He was just about to make a dash for the nearest exit out of the area when the worst thing could have happened.
JET SET RADIOOOOOOOOOO! We're slammin', jammin', laying the tracks out for all those rudies out there! I hear Captain Onishima's called a SWAT team; maybe he's got some flies to kill!
Beat fell back and fumbled with his radio transmitter, which had loudly blared out DJ Professor K's introduction for the evening's pirate radio antics. By the time he'd got the volume down, the police were already coming at Beat in force, and he could only maintain about a second's distance as they chased him. He wiped his brow; he was sweating hard. Within just 10 minutes, a regular artistic night had turned into a total nightmare for the GGs.
Cube, Combo, Mew and Piranha all grouped collectively next to a gate leading off the road, down into a half piped rail track near the sewers. They'd used this route a million times to escape, almost as if they were criminals with a well-worked getaway routine. There was a train every 5 minutes even – simply split, lead the cops on a wild goose chase through the bus terminal, then hop over the fence and down onto the train. Ride the open part of the tube until the next tunnel, and then jump off the back and into the workers entrance of the sewers. Hit and run, smash and grab, illusion and evasion, but now things weren't looking so good. Beat was in serious trouble.
He grabbed the outer rail leading back up to bridge and flipped up onto it, gaining some speed, but not enough. Being on the outer rail, his turn was slow and just as suddenly as he'd lost them, he had the police back on his tail, except now; they were right next to him. If one reached out and tripped his leg, he'd fall all the way to a world of concrete hurt. As the rest of the GGs watched on in shock, Cube felt the ground beneath her rumble. She glanced at the gate – it was rattling. The train's arrival was imminent.
20 seconds! she yelled, and pushed one skate forward in front of her, rolling her back towards the lower part of the fence, and laying her hand firmly onto it. She had full confidence that Beat would make it in time. The rest of the GGs present did the same, all except for Piranha. Her thoughts were bugging her again. Something was missing, something wasn't quite right.
Combo broke her thoughts.
Piranha! What are you doing? Fall back!
She shook her head sharply in an attempt to snap herself out of her daze. Combo interpreted it differently, and skated back up to her. Cube sighed, and Mew squeaked.
What are you guys doing?!?!
Her cry was left ignored. Combo's voice picked up some bass.
Kid, are you alright?
She was about to reply in the negative when they heard a crash. Looking up quickly, they saw Beat coming down the other end of the bridge, landing on the concrete and swiftly skating over. He's seemingly evaded the police, but instead, a lone member of Poison Jam, someone isolated from the rest of his group, had been grinding in the other direction. He hadn't been able to turn in time, and mowed through the police, sending them sprawling off the bridge as if they were pins and clearing Beat's way in the process. He now dangled dangerously over from the bridge by his foot, and desperately tried to pull himself back up. He'd been halfway to succeeding when Piranha spotted Onishima, slowly making his way through the crowd of officers. He gestured for them to stand down, and yelled something. From here, it was inaudible, but as soon as he closed his mouth, he aimed the gun straight up.
yelled Piranha, Shima's going to kill him!
Unlike the rest of the GG's, Piranha didn't hesitate. She broke away from the pavement without a care for the sudden agonising pleas against the daring move from her friends, or the vehicles being forced to break hard and swerve to avoid turning her into a messy patch. Everything ran in slow motion for the unfortunate Poison Jammer, who was strung up badly, and at the complete mercy of Onishima's deadly 6 gauge.
The train came out of nowhere. Cube and Mew didn't stick around; they hoisted their weight over the low fence and landed perfectly on the first carriage of the speeding train. Combo pulled Beat back without a word, and the two jumped hastily down to the last carriage. They landed without the same grace, and fell into a heap on the very edge. Beat sprung himself up and squinted back to the scene. It had become just a mere blur though, and he couldn't see a thing. Then he heard the gun shot echo distantly through the night.
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Whee! Added a few chunks and sorted the formatting now, to replace that icky job on the last version; please review! ^_^ - Chapter 2 is coming tomorrow! - Rob (7th April 2002).