Chapter 5 – by Tei/Disk
"Aaaa-kiii-naaa!!"
"Matrix! Yo, Matrix!"
Scorn sat crouched on one of the rails in Little Grind City, watching the Love Shockers and Noise Tanks scurry back and forth, looking madly for their lost members. He snickered; they'd never find the lot of them the way they were carrying on like that.
"Somethin' funny, renegade?" spoke Combo's deep voice from an unnerving proximity. Scorn started, then looked over his shoulder to see the large black man wearing a slight frown, his white eyes piercing the darkness from under his bucket hat.
"Just watching those idiots go at it," Scorn snorted. "I mean...they haven't got the brains to realize that all three girls disappeared in the full-pipe."
"You're sayin' there's a connection there?"
"Hmm...possibly," Scorn nodded. "I can't be sure. And it's not like I'm gonna go over to them and say it; I don't look like the Pink no Shijin, do I?"
"No, but you do look like you're on my turf; get off now, unless you want to have your back decorated with my symbols. You're starting to grate my nerves."
Scorn shrugged and jumped off the rail. "Fine, see you whenever," he said, waving over a shoulder as he skated away.
Combo narrowed his eyes at the renegade's back as the shadows began to roll across the ground, clouds blocking out the sun's rays. It'd been doing this all day, and the air smelled of oncoming rain. Beat would be relieved; he'd been a bit reserved lately, dealing with the fact that neither Gum nor Garam were interested in hanging out in this place. The rain would be a good excuse for the gang to stay home and do something together, if it came.
Combo looked into the distant horizon, and saw a minuscule patch of green swirled inconspicuously with the blue, and a slight frown came onto his face. Yes, that was his sign, the way he could always tell if it was gonna rain. But, the rain was a whole tomorrow away, and Combo didn't feel like standing around and moping, and decided that if Scorn wouldn't let him in on what he'd figured out, then he'd go check things out for himself. He made sure his grip on the ghetto blaster was tight before he headed in the direction of the full-pipe.
Gum and Garam were back in Shibuya already, talking with each other. Garam laughed loudly at something Gum said, and Gum gave a smile. Neither were paying attention to the white-clad figure that was lurking against one of the buses, making a strange tag on its' side.
That is, until they walked full into each other.
Garam stumbled, and Gum fell backwards, landing on her rear. The Noise Tank they crashed into also fell backwards, but managed to catch the bus with his robotic arm and haul himself back to his treds.
"Hey, what are you doing here, huh?" Garam demanded, wearing something that was a mix of a scowl and a curious frown.
The Noise Tank glanced nervously at both of them, and said something in Tankspeak--the series of clicks and beeps and whirs that filter what they're actually saying--before stopping and switching off the filter and starting again.
"I'm here trying to do something," the Noise Tank said, shrugging. "My gang and my girlfriend have all gone off to that damn skate park; I thought you GGs went there, too."
Gum snarled. "Right bloody likely! The rest of our gang has, but being a Rudie means something to the two of us."
The Noise Tank gave a small, victorious cry. "Finally, I thought I was the only decent-minded Rudie left in the city! My name's Disk, by the way. I know the two of you: Gum and Garam."
"How would you know about that?"
"Are you kidding? After you guys saved Tokyo from Goji, everyone knows who you are," Disk explained. "Thank Professor K for that. Not everyone idolizes you, though."
"Do you?"
"Well...to be honest, no. I have a lot of respect for you, though. Even more for you two."
"So, our little gang's up to three now, then," Garam said, placing a fist on his hip and pointing to Disk. "That means we won't be as bored, I hope." He added, wearing a playful smirk to Gum. Gum sneered, and kicked Garam's legs out from under him, before climbing up to her own.
"Okay, enough with the innuendos," Gum begged, sounding frustrated.
Garam laughed again, ignoring the pains in his butt. "Okay, I got it! Now that we've sort of found each other, what do you propose we do?"
Disk ran a finger along the chin of his mask, and made a thoughtful sound. "Hmmm....I think I'm getting an idea...yes! Come on, let's head for Kogane and mess things up a little bit, huh?"
The day wore on, and eventually, most of the Noise Tanks and Love Shockers grumpily settled upon their missing members had gone home. Kell refused to be swayed, and kept up her mad, near-homocidal search for Akina and Shar, but nobody else persued.
Combo had been watching the full pipe most of the time. There wasn't a whole lot to stop him from going in, aside from that creeping sensation of apprehension that rose up inside him, that one that he hated and refused to admit existed. But, he wanted to make observations, like they taught in high school...yeah, as if he paid attention to that! But standing around wasn't gettin' much done, so with a mighty shrug, Combo surged down into the full-pipe.
Around the corner and hidden from view, Scorn watched with a derisive sneer. "Idiot." He pulled around and headed down after the largest GG.
Thunder rumbled off in the distance as day began to melt away into night. Gum shivered as paint worked a teardrop trail down her arm, wearing a triumphant grin. On either side of her, Garam and that Noise Tank, Disk, stood tall with an aura of unsurpassed victory floating thickly through the air like a soup.
"Yes," Garam said, slapping Disk on the shoulder triumphantly. "We did it. We had fun--we managed to prove that we don't need that damn skate park!"
Disk flashed a V for Victory sign, and Gum swore he was grinning under the mask. Below them, Kogane was splattered with greens, blues and grays, swirling and swallowing Kiboagoka up. The three Rudies were likewise covered in green, blue and gray, but felt indifference towards the cold, crawling tendrils snaking down their bodies, since they'd been born out of fun and insane romping.
Gum felt like shouting at the moment; so she did. Throwing her paint-stained gloves up to the sky, Gum cried to the winds, "WHO NEEDS SOME GOD-DAMNED SKATE PARK ANYWAY?" The air was alive with electricity, and Gum could feel it living and crawling across her skin. Garam and Disk felt the same way, and it showed. Jet Set Radio was blasting some song with a sexy beat, and the trio began dancing to it just to release all the pent-up energy.
And then there was a gunshot, and Garam fell forewards suddenly. Gum and Disk cried out, but Garam was sitting up and bleeding from a small cut in his forehead. Another gunshot rang out through the air, and a familiar shout echoed.
"Aha! Gotcha!"
Gum never felt more grateful of Onishima's presence. Garam got up to his skates--he felt sorta dizzy, but he was otherwise fine. 'Nishima's shot had missed him by feet.
Below them, with his hands on his hips, stood Shorty himself, wearing a smug grin. "Well well well, looks like I got me some Rudies!"
Gum sportingly flipped him the bird. "Well, it's about damn time you showed up, Pug-face!"
Cockily, Onishima whirled his six-shooter around on one finger by the safety. "It is my job to chase after your lot and slam you all in Sing-Sing, after all."
Gum sat cross-legged on the roof, resting her chin in her hand. She stared down at Onishima with a thoughtful glance. "Hey, I get it--you're in the same boat we're in. Thanks to the skate park, nobody's around."
"Except us," Disk pointed out.
"That doesn't mean I'm gonna get all buddy-buddy with you," Onishima growled, grabbing the six-shooter from it's spin and pointing it up at the bunch of them. "So, if you want to make my day interesting, get up and start running."
Gum snickered. She grabbed up an empty can of spray paint, tossed it up a couple times, then pitched it, clocking Onishima on the noggin. He stumbled backwards, and there was a loud BANG sound; when he regained his senses, the trio were gone, leaving behind a trail of sparkles in their wake.
"DAMN!"
It was night in Central Point by the time Scorn emerged from the other mouth of the full-pipe. He stared around in bewilderment, as if he were looking for something; then Beat approached him from the side, looking somewhat furious. He grabbed the renegade by the collar, startling him out of his reverie.
"Where's Combo?" Beat rumbled. Thunder shook the sky, as if God himself was backing the GG leader's rage. "Don't bullshit me. I saw him go in, and I saw you follow."
Scorn put on a smug grin. "Maybe he got lost? That GG's not the brainy type."
Beat growled. "I told you, 'don't bullshit me.'"
Still grinning, Scorn shook his head. "If you want to be humorless, so be it: I don't know. It was dark down there. I could hardly see where I was going."
Beat shook the renegade mightily, then lashed out and slapped him in the cheek. Scorn's grin fell away into a frown as a welt grew on his cheek. He pushed Beat's hands away, and turned on a dime. Looking over his shoulder, Scorn spoke in a strange, cold voice.
"Listen, GG. I never liked your kind much. I'll be honest and admit that. I hate gangs because it involves too much reliance on someone else who can and will let you down. But, I ain't got a reason to go around kidnapping Rudies. You don't know it, but already one renegade has gone missing, on top of the two Love Shockers and the Noise Tank. The reason being because nobody keeps track of the renegades. We fly solo for a reason. Why would I kidnap a renegade if my main beef is with gangs?"
He was met with a snarl. Beat came slowly at Scorn, but Scorn waved him off with a hand.
"Don't. Beating me up won't solve anything. The Love Shocker wailing on you didn't bring her members back."
"Slate saw you talking with him earlier," Beat hissed. "I don't know what you guys were talking about, but if Combo found something out about you, then it only makes sense that he'd disappear just after you go in with him."
Scorn froze. He had told Combo about the full-pipe and how it connected to all of the disappearances...shit, shit, shit! Okay, keep your calm...as long as Beat doesn't find out, then he can't accuse anything without sounding rediculous--
"I heard him," spoke Tracer's buff Australian voice from nearby. Beat and Scorn turned to see him backed by a few Noise Tanks and Love Shockers, but the numbers were pretty thin. "I heard him talking to the big guy earlier; he said that the disappearances were all connected to the full-pipe. He didn't have plans on telling anyone, either."
Lightening struck. Beat turned to face Scorn, but the renegade was long gone.
From the shadows of the mouth of the full-pipe, Kell watched with narrowed eyes. Nobody noticed her.