Chapter 7

Sometime late that night

Slice and Dice, the idiot brothers of the Poison Jam, stood snickering at the mouth of the full-pipe on the far end of the entrance. Being so dumb, they were completely ignorant of the ice-cold buckets of rain being dumped all over the place, themselves included.

"Hey, you know what they've been saying about this thing?" Slice asked, punching Dice in the chest.

Dice punched Slice back and kicked his legs out from underneath him. "No."

"Well, I heard that GG with the green glasses yelling at some stupid renegade this afternoon." Slice snickered again. "Rudies are disappearing in this thing."

"Ohhh, sweet! Just like in I Know What Hannibal Screamed Last Winter III!" Dice jumped up and down and did a happy dance, and Slice smacked him on the head.

"Stop acting like a retard," Slice said, not realizing how much of a stretch that would be for any member of the Poison Jam. "We can go into this thing and see whatever it is that's taking the Rudies away--then we can capture it and act out the movie!"

"Fuckin'-A!"

Of course, the two stupid Poison Jammers did the coolest thing that they could think of, and hunkered down into the full-pipe, following its downward slant until they were completely immersed in shadow. They sniggered the entire way down, not realizing that within the past twenty-four hours, not one, but at least three Rudies had gone missing. And since it was really after-hours, the half-pipe was completely bathed in darkness; no lights were on, and seeing as the pipe was underground, the only light came from the moonlight shining through the occasional grate overhead, but even that was sore and pathetic. Their only real advantage was that they were used to the darkness, as constant occupants of Kogane's sewers or something like that.

"Dude, we been skating down here for hours," Dice groaned.
"We ain't been down here longer than a few minutes, dumb-fuck. Get over it." Slice went to punch out at his idiot brother, but was interrupted by a flash of pink and blue. Both Poison Jammers stopped in their tracks; half-bathed in shadow was some thin, lanky, wire-frame of a person. There was cloudy moonlight shining down from overhead, so all they could make out on him was one thing on it: the "Uki Uki Waku Waku" Broken Heart T-shirt of the Love Shockers.

"What the hell are you doing here, you bitch?" Slice demanded. "Get outta our way--we're monster-hunting!"

This drew no response out of the person wearing the shirt, and Slice's furor increased--he didn't like being ignored. He was used to at least getting a response of some kind; he was goliath enough to draw one no matter what it was.

"Answer me. Come on!" Still getting nothing, Slice shook his head and advanced on the Love Shocker--just to get a wiry hand wrapping around his sides. Slice screamed. Dice rumbled, wishing he'd eaten something that wasn't so gas-inducing, and before he realized it, whoever his brother had been yelling at was gone.

And Slice had gone with it.

Deciding that sitting in his own fart wasn't fun, Dice hunkered and continued forward through the full-pipe, oblivious to his brother's disappearance.

The Next Day

Tab and Mew skated across the park, frowning. Neither Beat nor Cube had returned the night before; Tab was sure that if the latter had not disappeared, she'd know something was up by now. It was still raining, so the park was empty save themselves. They kept looking back and forth, cautiously, nervously, wanting to avoid any and all conflict with anyone until this mini-mystery was solved.

There's no way Beat's gone like that, Tab thought to himself hysterically. No way on earth. He's one of the damn toughest Rudies I know, and he's my best friend. He CAN'T be gone. I won't believe it. He's prolly...he's prolly just asleep under the awning of a Snack Shack or something! Yeah...it was raining so hard last night and he didn't wanna come back home without catching pneumonia, so he crashed here somewhere. He's NOT gone.

"Little Grind City's empty, I think," Mew murmured distantly, standing up on the toes of her skates and shielding her eyes. "Let's go over there and check. That's Combo's and Cube's turf, remember?"

"D'uh. Mew, there's nothing to hide them there, it's just grind rails. We'd be able to see someone if they were there," Tab growled bitterly, shaking his head.

"Right...okay, then what about ChiBenten?"

"Those bowls must be filled with water by now," Tab murmured, shivering slightly as cold water seeped through his boiler suit, coming in contact with his vulnerable skin. Drops of ice wriggled their way past his collar and down his back. "The drains don't get opened for another hour yet."

Mew growled. "Christ, here I am, trying to help you find our leader. Yes, I realize that there could be something more to this than meets the eye, but standing around and moping won't help us get the job done! ChiGane?"

Tab shook his head, and Mew threw a frustrated growl his way. "All right, then, Mr. Know-it-all, where would they be?"

"The full-pipe," Tab mumbled. "That's the center of all the disappearances, right? Maybe they wound up crashing there."

"I hope that you're right," Mew muttered, shaking her head and shrugging. "Because if you aren't, I'll harm you."

Tab hung his head. "Please, do that. I want to wake up from this god-forsaken nightmare. Mew, Beat is my best friend! I feel like...like I've abandoned him. I didn't step forward to come here last night. I was too lazy, I insisted on staying at the garage, and now Beat and Cube are gone, too." He scowled, then blinked, realizing that tears had been welling up in his eyes and blurring his vision. He swallowed deeply to hold them back.

The pair skated towards the full-pipe. As they got closer, they heard voices--heated voices, hushed voices, as if they were arguing and not trying to be too conspicuous. The two GGs exchanged quick glances from the corners of their eyes, slowing down to a lurk. The argument was taking place on the other side of the full-pipe, and from the sound of it, quite a few people were involved. Mew and Tab crept around the big mystery's gigantic mouth, which was cool and damp; peeking around it, they saw the Poison Jam huddled close to each other, arguing fervently while their leader, Thrash, stood over all of them with her hands on her hips and a scowl etched onto her face. Neither GG was sure what the Poison Jammers were arguing about, but the words "full-pipe," "missing" and "Love Shocker" were the most dominant words.

Interrupting this argument would either take a lot of balls, or a lot of stupidity; thankfully, Tab prided himself on both traits. Thus, he stepped past Mew and walked up to the ring of Jammers, coughing slightly.

"BRAHHAARR!" The nearest ones screamed, jumping and whirling on him. Tab panicked and took a few steps backwards. Mew appeared behind him and held him by the shoulders.

"It's okay, Tab," she whispered into his ear. "This might help us find Beat and the rest."

"H-h--ohio," Tab stammered, raising a hand nervously. "We couldn't h-h-help but hear you arguing, and--"

"One of our members was kidnapped last night," Thrash growled impatiently. "Yes, and we've got a witness, too." She pointed at Dice, who stepped forward hesitantly.

"Well, Slice an' me was in the pipe, coz we wanted to reenact I Know What Hannibal Screamed Last Winter III," Dice mumbled stupidly, "but we was interrupted by someone wearing a Love Shocker shirt. Then they both was gone. I farted and left."

Mew gagged, and Tab fell to the ground, scowling.

"So now we know for sure who did it," Thrash cut in, pushing Dice out of the way. "It was that damn Love Shocker leader--whasser name--Kell?"

"Yeah, that's her, all right," Mew coughed.

"Once she shows up, we're gonna bum-rush her and throw her in a cage till she fesses up where the rest of the Rudies are," Thrash added, drawing cheers from the rest of her gang. "And we'll torture her, just like in House on 13th Street II! We'll rip her spleen out and feed it to the rats! We'll force her to eat goo! We'll--"

"That's QUITE ENOUGH!" Tab yelled, blowing his top. "I so do not want to hear this!! My best friend is missing, and--"

Thrash blinked. "Wait, you've never seen House on 13th Street II?"

"No, I haven't, I--"

"YOU POOR DEPRAVED SOUL!!" Thrash wailed. She grabbed Tab by the wrist and hauled him away. "The rest of you, keep an eye out for that whore! I'VE GOT ME SOME EDUCATIN' TO DO!"

"Nooooooooo!!!" Tab screamed, tears streaming down his face. "I don't waannaaaaaaa!!"

Mew sighed and sweat dropped. She'd better go back and report this to the rest of the GGs...

Later

The ambush was set.

Slate and Yo-Yo sat crouched in the mouth of the full-pipe with Mew. Nearby, Hexadecimal and Tracer were lounging in one of the bowls. Crash and Mince of the Poison Jam were waiting in the shadows of the half-pipe, which was raised above the ground. The rain was still falling, not quiet as hard as it had been before, but still just as cold. A few Rudies were scattered elsewhere--Scorn had been seen lurking near ChiBuya, but nobody paid any attention to him. That Noise Tank that Gum and Garam had befriended, Disk, was dashing like mad through the park, practically screaming for his lost love, Matrix.

"So, what if the Shockers don't show up?" Tracer murmured.

"Then we just wasted a whole day lying here and doing nothing," Slate admitted, never one to embellish the truth. "Soooo...we have to wait."

"Wonderful, mate."

"No, I don't think this day's a waste yet," Hex murmured. "I see the Love Shocker colors heading this way...yeah, it's her."

"How can you tell?"
"She's the only black Love Shocker, isn't she?"

"Ahh."

"And she's coming this way..."

"Good."

Hex climbed from the bowl and skated casually past the hiding spot of the GGs. "Hey Kell," they heard her say easily.

"What to you want?" Kell replied, sounding impatient.

"Well, you know how people've been suspicious of that renegade? The one who made all the Rudies disappear?"

"Yeah."

They came closer, the sound of their skates grating on concrete becoming apparent.

"We've found out who really did it," Hex replied. "It isn't the renegade."
"Really? You've got people who saw whoever was doing it?"
"Yeah, we do. We're gonna bust them today."

Kell and Hex came into sight, and Hex flashed a sign with her right hand. That was the signal. Mew and Yo-Yo charged from the full-pipe, not noticing their third member's inactivity. The other three Rudies popped up from their own hiding spots, surrounding Kell. Tracer grabbed her wrists and pulled them behind her back, holding her in place.

"Fuck!" Kell growled, trying to pull free. "What the hell is this all about?? Do you think I did it??"

"A Poison Jammer went missing last night," Mew snarled. "And three GGs. One of them was our leader, and...and..."

"What, you loved him?" Kell sneered. "That's so cliché. Good of them to get lost like that! It isn't my problem; I've got my own gang-mates to worry about!"

A frown etched itself into Mew's face, and she reached out to slap the Love Shocker. Kell's head jerked to the side, and blood fled from her mouth, splattering across the damp ground and disappearing into the water. In the distance, Disk's screams fell quiet, their echoes bounding off the moist rails and soaked pipes and bowls, off the cold gates surrounding the entire place. Even the brightest, liveliest of the graffiti seemed to be taken down by the horribly deteriorating mood of the day.

"The Poison Jammer's brother saw someone wearing a Love Shocker tank top," Tracer said coldly. "You know, that infamous "Uki Uki Waku Waku" one. The one that you're wearing."

"You know how dark it is in that thing?" Kell demanded. "How hard it would be to see a shirt like that??"

"We're used to darkness," Crash thundered.

Kell stared, wide-eyed. "No. No, no! Akina's missing! And Shar! Why would I kidnap my own gang?"

"To prove that you didn't do it," Yo-Yo grumbled. "But you did, you dumb bitch. You fucking kidnapped our leader! You only get so many lives before it's game over, and you've done a real good job of pissing all of us off."

"Let her go."

Heads turned to look at the speaker--Scorn, standing on the top of the half-pipe that the Poison Jammers had been hiding behind.

"What do you wanna make of it?" Yo-Yo demanded. "This excuses you."

"She didn't do it, that's why," Scorn growled, jumping down from the half-pipe and landing just outside the circle of Rudies. "I know she didn't. I dunno who it was, but it wasn't her."

"Maybe it was both of you," Mince pointed out. "We don't have any proof that you're not helping her. And you're suspicious."

"I didn't do it, either," Scorn growled, narrowing his eyes. "You guys don't get it! Look at that full-pipe. It's practically drowning in shadow, and you're willing to jump to a conclusion drawn by an idiot who only had a little bit of moonlight to help him see a stupid tank-top! Your evidence is weak and mal-formed."

"Shut up," Hex said, cracking Scorn on the back of his head with her tagging arm. He whirled and glared at her hatefully, just before his eyes rolled up into his skull. He fell to the ground, unconscious. Tracer likewise hit Kell, and slung her limp form over his shoulder. Crash grabbed Scorn.

"We'll take 'em off to the sewers," Crash grunted. "There's a room there we can lock 'em into that they won't be able to get out of. Till then, the rest of you keep a look out for the others." They skated off, and the other Rudies dispersed. They were wet and wanted to go home.

As Mew and Yo-Yo went for the exit, Yo-Yo stopped, realizing something was missing. "Yo, kat...where's Slate? And where'd that weird Noise Tank go, the one that was screamin' for their leader?"

Mew paused. "Uh-oh."

Yo-Yo heaved a curse, and dashed back to the full-pipe to look for Slate, but the tall Rudie was nowhere to be found. He came back to Mew wearing a bitter expression on his face, a frown tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Okay, so...what. Last we saw him was before we charged, right? And when did the Noise Tank stop yelling?"

"I don't know," Mew wailed, swallowing the lump rising up in her throat. "If--if it really is Scorn and Kell working together, he could have nabbed them easily, since we weren't paying attention to them! And then he could have climbed up onto the half pipe's lip--you--you've seen h-how he can just appear and disappear like he does...." She felt vulnerable--the four toughest GGs had all disappeared in such a short time span...

Yo-Yo felt awkward hugging Mew, but he felt that it was the best he could do to stop her tears from flowing.

Bus Terminal

Gum sat on the cold roof of one of the bus shelters, rain pattering down around her, splashing her face in dirty water that was colder than ice. Garam had split Tokyo for the day, saying he wanted to check a hunch near the borders and around the Rokkaku Tower. While Yo-Yo, Slate and Mew had gone to spring the ambush and Tab was being "educated" by Thrash, Piranha had opted to stay at the garage. Gum really couldn't blame her; there was just too much going on to absorb effectively. Beat, Combo and Cube were missing. Matrix was missing. Shar and Akina were missing. That renegade--the one Mew had mentioned the night before--was missing. The garage might have been warmer and definitely drier, but it was too claustrophobic, too stifling. She could ignore the icy fingers crawling down her neck, her legs, her spine, chilling her, numbing her, making her breath come out in chops, her lips turn blue. She needed to be some place where she could think without the cramped atmosphere of the garage to drive her insane. The rain helped her out, keeping her head cool and her mind lethargic.

A shiver worked its way up her back, and she heaved a mighty, cold yawn. She should have at least worn a jacket, she decided. Or a blanket. And a pillow. Yeah...sleep actually sounded good right now. She hadn't gotten any at all last night. Please come back, Beat...it was almost too painful to bear. She could have dealt with the rivals and renegades vanishing, but Beat...Beat was invincible! There was that brave smirk he was always wearing, even in the heat of danger, and he was always cool-headed enough to think a way out of the biggest traps...there's no way he'd let some filthy bugger come and snatch him away.

She flopped backwards onto the metal with a hollow thud, her legs dangling over the edge, dripping cold water from the wheels of her skates. Her socks were damp on the inside, and she couldn't feel her big toe. Rain tapped her helmet with a wild rhythm, and she stared up at the gray sky with blurring vision. The way the clouds were rolling, all in one solid direction, and the sound of the rain landing all over her body, the feel of a numbing massage...Gum didn't care if she was lying on surrogated metal. It was as close to a bed as she could get, and she so did not feel like getting up again.

"Rain, rain, go away, come again another day..." Gum murmured, eyes half-closed. 'Pain, pain, go away...' her mind echoed. Beat...

I hate you, too.

Gum closed her eyes fully, and her breathing became heavier.

I hate you, too. I hate you and all of your friends. I'll rise from the bottom and snatch them all away, and nobody will realize it was me before it was too late. And then you'll be all alone, and you know what? We can hate each other equally, with nothing and no-one to come between us.

"Rain, rain...go away..." Gum whispered, drifting into a cold sleep. Water continued to fall from the sky, and now it was becoming hard again, but she was oblivious to all of it...