Jet Set Radio is a registered trademark of Smilebit and Sega Corporation. Any characters in this story from or based on characters in Jet Set Radio are the property of Smilebit and Sega Corporation. Any original characters - in this case, Shoda, are property of um, me! They are being used for entertainment purposes only. No money is being made from this fic.
And that's all the copyright mumbo jumbo done with.
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Chapter 1: Anyone else getting a headache?
Garam angrily stumbled into the garage following Slate, muttering as loud as he could.
"I did not break the plunger off your God damn pinball table! Why do you have to blame everything on me?"
Slate turned around, pointed an accusing finger and snapped back.
"Because whenever I find anything of mine missing or broken, who is the one person whose been using it last?"
Garam was caught there. He still hadn't replaced the brake on Slate's spare set of skates. Slate continued, arms folded and nose flopping out over his coat.
"Just accept that you're clumsy and irresponsible and that you broke my plunger and we'll leave it at that."
The look on Garam's face shot back to one that could spew daggers.
And so began a day that would change the GG's lives forever.
Gum sat on the sofa normally occupied by Tab, with her helmet discarded on the floor before her and her long blonde locks scrappily laced over her eyes. She had a hand to her head, propping herself up on the torn arm. She was struggling to even keep her eyes open, which she'd found as strange, given that she'd had an earlier night than normal. She distinctly remembered why; the gang was going on their biggest tag mission of the year, up to
Bugger. She couldn't remember.
Over on the other side of the garage, Slate was still trying to fit the plunger onto the table. He was fuming and muttering deliberately loudly, just to annoy Garam who had slinked off to his usual spot near the car. The mood was restless; Professor K's ramblings were largely ignored by the group who were either lacing up, pacing up and down or nervously drinking tea, sake or - in Yo-Yo's case - munching away at stale, leftover takeout pizza from several nights ago. The tags that normally blazed so wildly from the walls were dull after so many weeks of neglect. The paint was beginning to fade and strip away, almost as if the GGs were reaching their ends and had nowhere to go.
The serenity was suddenly broken with a Mew scream. It wasn't hard to see why; Yo-Yo had cornered her with several pieces of pizza shoved into any facial orifice he could find and was now trying to act like a monster with a heart.
"But I just want to be loved," he yelled in a falsetto voice. "Love me!"
He lunged to smother Mew with squelchy hugs and kisses but she spun out of the way.
"Yo-Yo, you're gross!"
Yo-Yo grinned as he turned and gave chase. What he didn't count on, however, was Cube sticking a well placed foot out.
Various, crusty toppings from the pizza made themselves acquainted to the air.
Gum continued to rack her brains for answers whilst the horrific scenario played out before her. She knew it was something big, something to get revenge maybe? She couldn't recall, not with all that noise. Some big bass drum in her head.
"Where we going again, guys?" she quizzed, having given up on her own thoughts.
Mew laughed, Tab smirked and Beat just looked in confusion at Gum.
"I hope you're being sarcastic" he murmured, barely audible. Gum frowned and shot back.
"No, I can't remember. It's called forgetfulness, you jackass."
Beat was in no mood to take Gum's anger today. He was a little nervous and jumpy, and took the bait.
"You've got a real attitude problem, you know that?" He said, angrily.
Gum stood up to confront him, but as she did a stabbing, hot pain reverbed around her head. Her knee-jerk reaction was to grab at it, but she didn't; never show weakness in a confrontation. Instead, she just sat down and rested back against the chair. Beat stood before her, but he was grinning now; not a grin of victory, more of malice.
"What?" Gum said, annoyed that she couldn't fight back with more vigilance. "You want a medal or something?"
"No," Beat shook his head. "I want to screw you."
Gum's eyes flew open wide. It was the most awake she looked - and felt - all day. She blinked, fleetingly, and then, when her eyes popped open once more, he was gone. Everyone in the garage had gone, and it was dark, black. She could barely make out Potts sleeping, his face partially submerged in his bowl of water, blowing bubbles as he snored.
"What the f-"
If she was looking to the word Fuck for an answer, she wouldn't find it there. Not even Fuck knew what was going on right now. She slowly but surely rose to her feet from the sofa, and looked outside. It was pitch black, the night sky lit up with faint stars. The only real light came from the buzzing of the faulty street lamp that flickered on or off throughout the alley. Gum was baffled; how could they leave her just on the sofa like that?
She turned on the garage light and flumped herself back down on the sofa, looking at her watch and checking the time. It was hardly late, for GG standards, so she assumed they must have still been out on the big tag 'n' dash.
She waited. There was little else she could do. Time crept on as she looked at the garage door endlessly, like a mother staying up in darkness, waiting for her curfew breaking children to slowly slink back in, trying not to disturb anything. She sighed deeply with this thought and for the briefest of moments, wondered if her place in the group was really that valid anymore.
"No. This is like family. Family has its ups and downs."
That's what it was, just a down.
Time had ticked on someway by the time the GGs all thundered through that door, conversing loudly and chattering happily. They'd obviously had a great time, and took even greater pleasure in telling Gum all about it.
"Gum! You missed a humdinger! We wound that place up so much; you can see the tag shining off it for miles! 'He' is going to FREAK!"
Saddened that she had missed all the action, Gum couldn't express any interest. Her words came out like that of a vunerable mouse.
"Why didn't you guys wake me?"
"You were so spaced out. We thought you'd been on the joints again to piss Beat off."
Piranha and Mew giggled; Gum's lips thinned. They knew she didn't like to talk about her drug habit, how dare they, she'd
What? Since when did she have a drug habit?
They were gone. More to the point so was she.
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Gum had snapped out of her trance sometime earlier. She wasn't sure whether it had been real or fake, but from what she gathered now, they were gently skating in groups of two so as not to be detected. Beat and her were heading to Shibuya - clearly Beat was still angry. He'd not said a word to her the whole way there.
She'd already checked herself all over mentally for any signs of losing time somewhere. She pinched herself, asked short-term memory questions and mused to herself about what just happened. It had felt so real; falling asleep and being left in the garage whilst the rest of the guys went to do what she was going to do now. Just like before; the sudden realisation hit her that this may be something more serious than a passing phase.
"Beat," she suddenly called. "Beat, listen, I'm sorry."
Apologies seemed to come harder to Gum, so Beat knew she was serious. He slowed himself to a glide and sighed, opening his mouth to speak. Gum wanted to just shut him up and tell him everything but she couldn't; it was so hard to make sense of herself, let alone everyone else.
"Gum, when are you going to calm down? You don't need to go off like a whirlwind every time something doesn't go your way."
Gum sighed to herself. It was best just to agree with him; she didn't want another fight, not now.
"Yeah, yeah, you're right," she began. "I guess I have been a little cranky recently."
Beat could feel the anxiety in her voice, and decided not to press it any further. He smiled warmly to show her no hard feelings.
"We'll talk about it when we get back, ok?"
Gum nodded, putting on a false ease not normally in her personality. Beat laughed, and began to dash away, shouting as he did.
"Let's give Shorty something to really look up to!"
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The GGs had arrived at Rokkaku Tower without being detected. It had taken some a little longer: Yo-Yo decided he wanted to stop for some KFC along the way, and trailed a path of grease that Combo slipped up on, but they had made it all the same. Dusk had fallen, and the downtown area was lit up like a 50-mile high Christmas tree. Neon signs and strip lights illuminated the street after street that bustled with tired workers and late night shoppers.
Goji might have been dead and buried, but his successor, Shoda Ataru had hardly led the company into new times; it was merely a cleverly disguised work of restructuring and resource pooling. The Golden Rhinos acted as the corporations national guard, preventing anyone from getting in unless Shoda himself had requested their presence, and it had been rumoured in the underground that the Tower now extended deep into the Earth's crust as well, harbouring a nest of research facilities, all dedicated to something less than human. The Tower was a horrid sight to see, reflecting the myths; grey and darkened, only the fearsome swirly logo of the global conglomerate reflecting the vaguest bit of light.
Gum swallowed. If wasn't for Beat, they wouldn't be here right now, risking injury and even death at the hands of such a stupid stunt. He'd gotten drunk one night after a highly successful and ruthless takeover of Love Shocker territory, and unfortunately took a wrong turn on the way home. Inevitably, the Love Shockers had taken full advantage of Beat's intoxication and got off with a very impressive deal - if the GGs couldn't paint the Tower red, then he would have to hand over the rights to the garage and officially retire the GGs. It was quite literally do or die.
Cube stared in awe at the structure.
"Beat, we owe you one for losing that bet. This is gonna be so dope."
Beat, somewhat embarrassedly, smiled as the rest of the group nodded their heads. Gum rolled her eyes.
The creation of the tag had somewhat flown past. After the long tedious task of breaking in through the loading bays past the Rhinos and their own personal army, it was only a short wait before the GGs, in groups of 5, had ascended the tower on either side, reaching the top with relatively little difficulty. Armed to the teeth with the finest quality paint, they perched themselves carefully on the walkway and began to do what they did best; tag - in style.
However, as expected, their artwork did not go unnoticed. Bystanders informed the police, the police dispatched several units and informed the Golden Rhinos; the Rhinos loaded their guns and ran up the stairs. All this had happened a lot earlier than the GGs had expected; it would be a lot harder to finish the tag. They'd come prepared though. Beat, Slate, Piranha, Mew and Cube would use their speed and tricks to distract the forces as best they could whilst the others would finish up the tag.
Gum quickly dashed across the girder that was holding up one part of the structure. She'd not been on the mark with the others, who had vanished from all sight - she only hoped they had finished their bits and made it out alive.
'Easy does it, easy does it,' Gum winced to herself as she hung herself upside down from the bar, her feet precariously balanced from the walkway above. She could hear the yells of the police, the helicopter around the other side of the building and the Golden Rhinos approaching ever nearer, but she sprayed ever so slowly across the incomplete delicate black surface. Just as she finished, and hoisted the can away, one of the helicopters banked around the side of the building. Lights blazed in her face and wind whipped itself up at her from the rotors. She blew like a rag doll, her helmet slipping off, almost instantly out of view to a horrible smashing death below. She shook inside, desperately hoping that her feet would keep locked in on the walkway long enough for her to regain her composure.
Gum used every muscle in her aching body to try and pull herself up to the ledge. The chopper's whirring and buzzing as it got closer and closer, barking instructions for her to give up and telling her she was under arrest, made it tough but made her more resolute - after what she just did, she was either getting out alive as a legend, or falling to her death as a freedom fighter - she would not be carted off to prison like some common street thug.
As she struggled, her stomach tensed and strained. It was pointless, she wasn't strong enough. She thought quickly at her options, keeping her eyes on the lower levels as well as the odd glance at the heli. Rhinos on both sides were darting up the stairs, homing in on her whenever their greedy eyes could take a look. She assumed that either her compadres had been dealt with, or escaped. Still, she wasn't hanging around to find out; it was make or break time; the flying chunk of metal had gotten as close as it could have without ripping its blades into the side. Gum tucked up close to the wall, said a prayer, and then pushed as hard as she could.
She glided through the air, just managing to grab on to the front of the chopper. The pilots looked in terror as they swung away, Gum gripping on for dear life with one hand, and casually taking out her spray with the other. There was barely anything left in the can but she did her best reworking of her token "Gum" tag that she could. Without vision, the helicopter spun helplessly out of control, flat lining towards the ground. Gum slipped and fell with the motions, but by the time she did, the chopper had gotten close enough to one of the bigger walkways on the tower.
She turned back quickly to admire the job they had worked on. The best, most impressive rendition of "Crazy Crew" ever seen blazed across the top few rows of the building in bright, blazing paint. There was no way anyone was going to forget this in a hurry. The Rhinos came nearer, so she flicked her hair up at them and then hopped off the side, hurtling towards the tarmac below.
It was a perfect landing. Her feet came down together in parallel unison, and her knees bent at the exact moment needed to avoid spilling the contents of her legs all over the floor. Her arms balanced her like a tightrope; she could be gliding across telegraph poles and wires flawlessly right now. The feeling would be the same; She got in, she tagged, she was free, and she felt great. Pressing her foot forward, she stopped, and suddenly, she didn't feel so great anymore.
Thud. Thud. Thud. The sounds of GG skates dropping all around her to the pavement as they too made their escapes, each and everyone of their landings nearly as good as hers, exploding in her head as weights dropping.
The images went awash with colour, the sounds mixed into one another, and then, she felt her whole body shatter into a million pieces with a dull thud.
"Anyone else getting a headache?"
Her weak words went unheard. The only colour left was black.
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"It's working," said Kobashi to no one in particular, his voice little more than a whisper. Donned in a white lab coat, the scientist stared eagerly at the side of the gigantic telescope object that was pointed up and out of Tokyo-to Police Headquarters. His hand tapped buttons on the console whilst he sat, staring at the shaky black and white screen. Staring at the downed Gum as she lay with her face crushed into the tarmac and Beat and Combo gently trying to lift her without hurting her anymore, the rest of the GGs panicking.
'I can't believe I'm picking on her,' Kobashi thought.
He really couldn't, and he'd seen enough torture for one night. He gently leaned across to the main control panel, backed up his program settings and flicked the large power switch. The whirr of the generator, once synonymous with the background of the room, spluttered, slowed and died, removing the shroud of fake silence from the room.
Onishima folded his arms and looked at Kobashi. Timidly, he could only stare back at those intense, dark eyes for a matter of milliseconds before he was forced to change his direction of vision.
"Does it work?"
"Yes, bu-" He was cut off again.
"Who was your target?"
Kobashi consulted his notes quickly. He could feel Onishima's presence as if it were a demonic force, breathing hot fire down his neck. Trailing a finger down the page, he picked out the name of his subject.
"She goes by the name Gum."
"You couldn't have chosen a better subject," Onishima said, gleeful malice in his voice as he rubbed his hands. "Deploy it on all of them. The time has come to round up our little friends."
Kobashi gulped. He hadn't counted on Onishima wanting ALL of the GGs. He wasn't even sure his machine would be able to handle all 10 at once; he needed more time. His protests were not met with the greatest of concern.
"Now you listen to me, punk," Onishima yelled as he scrunched Kobashi's collar up, and pushed him against the machine, rattling its innards with force. "I don't care where you came from and I don't care where the hell you go once this is all done. I don't want this machine here in my police station any longer than it takes to capture that hell-on-wheels! I don't care about your research and I don't care if this doo-hickey is even stable; I. WANT. THEM. DEAD."
The tone had progressively dropped until it had become a vicious snarl. Onishima kept Kobashi pressed up against the machine. He struggled, weakly and futility to break the hold but the pressure was too much to fight. Every struggle Kobashi made, Onishima tightened his hold. In no time at all, it began to hurt.
"Listen, you geeky psy-whatever you are, this is the deal. You put the hurting on all of them, you get your stupid little test results and I get my busts. YOU GET ME?!"
The delivery of the last three words proved Onishima's mouth was more than a worthy substitute for a Professor K certified speaker.
"Sissy little girls, the lot of them," Onishima grumbled, deliberately over-exerting his voice so Kobashi could hear, as he left, slamming the door behind him.
"What I lack in strength I make up for in intelligence," Kobashi stated, for the first time showing his defiance. It was a shame that for such a life defining statement, no one was in the room. He stared at the door as the rage burnt silently in his eyes.
"You'll see. You'll all see!"
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Right, just cos Tal
was nice enough to talk to me on AIM I made a special effort to get this out
as soon as possible; and I think it came out rather well ^_^ Apologies for the
brief moments of foul language. For my next couple of projects, I will actually
read and review the last 25 fics on the JSR fic page, and then go and finish
Kingdom Hearts (because it wants me to!). Therefore, don't expect an update
any time soon. But it'll happen oh yes!
Merry Christmas everyone!
- Foo, 18th December 2002