Part 2: Back home

Chapter 4 The Turf

Petals of cherry blossoms blew across the park. The GG's stood in silent shock. The park was suddenly cut away from the city that existed a few short meters away. Many of the GG's wanted to say something; anything to the person they owed their pride, their city too. The youngest member did not know how he had affected them in such short a period of time. Z-ro looked at his mother, squeezing her shoulder in reassurance. Z-ro and his mother got up to walk away. Beat bit his lip and rolled up to Z-ro's mom to place a hand on her shoulder. She turned, her eyes were wide with... Terror. Beat finally decided. She is more than just afraid, thought Beat. She is terrified. Out loud he said, "You are not going anywhere, I will go with Z-ro." Z-ro's mother looked up at the leader of the GG's. Her tears swelled up and she gave him a weak hug. In the back of his neck Beat heard her breathe, "thank you."

Beat helplessly patted her back and held Z-ro's mother until she was steady on both legs. When he let go he felt someone behind him. "I'll be damned if your going Beat!" Beat looked suddenly at Z-ro. Z-ro's face was in a hard scowl. "You have no clue what the hell your committing yourself to." Z-ro walked to up to Beat making sure he was making eye contact with his leader.

Beat felt all of the things he knew Z-ro must have felt. Z-ro saw the reflection of his life in Beats eyes. Beat kneeled down to looked at Z-ro square in the eye, remembering how his own brother, Rhythm, died. How his GG's tragic circumstances brought them all to become a family. Beat then looked at the older woman who was still in tears. "Z-ro your wrong. I think I have a pretty good idea of what I am getting myself into." Z-ro cut himself off as he saw his mother. She already showed relief of Beat going in her stead. Z-ro nodded in agreement.

As soon as Beat gave a sigh of relief over not going to take care of his GG, he heard from behind him, "Then I'll be damned if you are going by your self Beat!"

Beats' eyes suddenly went wide and gave a heavy gulp. Beat stood up and tried not to look in that general direction the voice came from, saying, "I'm not going to argue with you Gum." With that, Beat tapped Z-ro's shoulder and said, "Lets get our tickets, you can fill me in on the details later when we are on the plane." Beat and Z-ro began to skate and made it around the corner and stopped. Z-ro looked up at Beat. Beat mouthed 'wait'.

Gum smiled at the audacity of completely ignoring her challenge. She nodded to Piranha and said, "Pack my stuff, I am going too."

Piranha laughed and said, "Yes ma'am!" Piranha saluted and grabbed Slate. "Com'on man! We got some packing to do." Slate gave a slight "ehe" feeling a sweat drop appear on his forehead.

Gum skated around the corner going after Beat, and rolled up to walk beside Beat. He turned to look at her and smiled a smile of appreciation. Gum suddenly felt like a young school girl and gave a blushing smile back. Beat picked up her gently swaying hand and the three went to the airport about some flight tickets.

"How much!?" Beat pinched the bridge of his nose then grabbed Gum by the waist, pulled and picked her up and away from the counter and said, "Calm down. I knew it would be this expensive. Especially if we want to leave by tonight." Gum grumbled about half a million yen as a lot of money.

Z-ro looked at the flight chick slightly agitated and asked, "Are there any flights that are not going to DC?"

The Flight chick shook her head apologetically. "I am sorry, but the rest of the cities in the area are under a blockade because of gang war activity."

Z-ro purchased the tickets and gave Beat and Gum theirs. "Umm guys where did you get this much money?"

Beat smiled and said, "You know that new pinball machine and stereo speakers Slate and Mew have been saving up for?" Z-ro gave a toothy frown. "Let's just say they are in for a longer wait than they expected."

Z-ro looked at him for a moment, eyes narrowed. "They don't know do they." he said flatly.

"Of course not!" Beat huffed. "They might- you know, hurt me." He then looked as sheepish as possible. Z-ro turned his face away in disgust.

Gum sighed and said, "I'll tell Mew but you guys have to break it to Slate." Both Beat and Z-ro mumbled non-committal sounds.

Z-ro thought about the cost of the stuff the tickets were replacing and said, "Wait a minute, that only covers hal-mf umf damfmf."

Gum suddenly turned around and said "what?"

"Nothing" Beat said quickly then let his hand go that was covering z-ros mouth. Gum gave them both a funny look then went to the ladies room. When she left Beat looked at Z-ro, "You didn't want me to tell you where the rest of the money came from in front of her…" Beat stopped in mid-sentence and looked up when someone said "yo".

Garam came through the south gate and dodged a couple of weary travelers when he finally pulled up to them and said, "Hey guys, all your stuff is packed. When do you guys leave?"

Beat looked at the clock and said, "Three hours, just enough time to get our stuff then be back here."

Garam shook his head, "I've got my mom driving the stuff up here already. I think everyone is busy and said for me to tell you guys good bye."

Beat looked at Garam for a moment. Of all the GG's, except for Z-ro, Garam was the only one who was on any kind of speaking terms with his parents. Beat knew that if his mother is bringing their things, it must have cost a lot from Garam. Instead of saying anything about it, Beat said, "What?! No good bye to their fearless leader?" He scowled and then let it slide to a smile. "Just don't trash the place alright. Who's coming over?"

Garam gave a wide stupid grin and said, "a couple of lover shockers and two guys I've met over near Benten-cho."

"Garam go to Bonis, and tell him Z-ro had a family emergency and will not be able to work for the next few weeks." Garam nodded and left. "Tab already knows but make sure no one doubts that I left him in charge, alright? Oh and before I forget, please for the love of God feed my dog." Beat pause after he said that then said, "I just didn't make a bad pun did I?"

Garam smiled and said, "I won't tell if Z-ro won't." Z-ro shook his head only now getting the joke after he thought about it.

Garam nodded. Garam pulled Beat to the side and asked, "What about the Stone Tears? What we do nothing for half a month until you guys come back?"

Beat said, "Yes, you do nothing. We may have been in a stale mate with them for a while, but that was simply because, you, Gum or me were there to ensure it. Besides, they are inactive right now too."

Garam nodded again, and looked to Gum. She was busy talking to Z-ro about New D.C. "Why did you let her go?"

Garam had a good point; Beat usually did things like this alone. A nasty habit he formed over the years as leader was going off to fight some ones' else's' cause, first it was Combo and Cube, then Beat defended The Love Shockers, attack when the Stone Tears came. Beat said, "A couple of reasons: One, all the girls have grown quite fond of the kid." Garam could attest to that, remembering an earlier conversation with Mew. "Two, she is the only other GG besides me that can passably speak English, and three I think it would comfort both me and Z-ro to have some one who is a little headstrong to come along."

Garam sighed and said, "Just be careful not to piss her off, you do, and you'll be stuck with her for the rest of the trip."

Garam waved to them as they moved to the entrance of the plane terminal. As it turned out all of the GG's arrived with ten minutes to spare before they had to board except for Mew. Z-ro took her aside sometime ago to look after his mom. When the gates finally closed and the plane was taking off, he looked at the large clock centered over the left wing check out center. Mew will probably be with Z-ro's mom by now. Garam began to slowly skate out of the airport and back to the garage, the rest of the GG's had gone ahead of him, he liked hanging back to think. He heard the jet liner fly overhead and looked up. What are they getting into? The image of Z-ro's mother flashed through his mind. Seeing grief and fear griping at her soul.

Just as the plane was taking off, Mew was trying to console the woman who knew the answer to Garam's question.

Mew sat down next to her and just listened to the woman. "What kind of mother am I?" She just barely stopped crying moments ago, but Mew thought in consternation that it was because she was out of tears. "Sending one son to save another in that hell..." She began to shack as she said the last word. Z-ro's mother lowered her head and whispered to herself again, "What kind of mother am I?"

Mew grabbed one of the mothers' hands firmly and said after a moment of silence, "Your the kind of mother who understands her son, you know when to love and when to let go. Isn't that why you came here? So that you can let him go?" Z-ro's mother suddenly slowed her breathing and finally stopped her minor sobs to looked at Mew.

"But I couldn't even go and say goodbye to him." Mist covered her eyes again.

"You couldn't go say good bye because you were not ready to go back. He was ready to go back the moment something happened. You should know that better then anyone." Z-ro's mother only nodded. Mew hugged her feeling a sudden clarity and understanding. Mew would probably be in a worst condition if her child would go off to god knows what. Mew hugged her tighter and began to cry at the thought.

"I think not."

"What do you mean? ' I think not.'" As soon as they landed, Z-ro changed. Beat was slightly unnerved by it.

"I told you guys that the rules here are different." Apparently thought Gum. She looked to Beat who only nodded. Z-ro was oblivious to what they were doing he was only concentrating on what was outside of airport doors. "Look. In here, we are in international boarders, but once we leave the airport we are in Free Flyer zone. They will at least question us, but they won't like who I am. If we get pulled over just let me talk all right? "

Beat only gave a slight nod; Gum ground her teeth a little. "Z-ro, are there rudies here or just blader's or what?" Gum was beginning to want to know what got Z-ro so riled up about. They had hoped for an explanation on the trip over there but he was simply quiet the whole time.

Z-ro looked at her for a second, the first time he had looked at either of them since landing. "There are all bladers, no one here has rudie gear, its too expensive. That's why I was thinking of just wearing shoes, but it would be good to have the extra speed. You look Japanese but I am definitely Ameran. So I think it best I lead, Beat, I don't know how you fight, but they like fighting from long distances. If we start fighting, get as close as you can." A couple of people were staring at them. All three seemed like they were preparing for war. Beat and Gum had no idea how close they were right.

After all three had placed their back then an their additional duffle bag around there shoulder and gripped it like it was a gun. Beat looked around and suddenly realized how badly they stood out. Many people were openly staring others gave quick side-glances. Beat didn't know why but dragged Z-ro and Gum to a smaller hallway that was isolated. When they were huddled, he said, "I think it would be better if you start speaking English, a lot of people were staring at us when we were just carrying on in Japanese. O.K?" Beat said, trying to hide his accent.

Z-ro started to cough and said, "Just let me do the talking, they get wind you guys are from Tokyo-to we are as good as dead." Beat and Gum both had a delayed reaction as both were translating English to Japanese in their minds.

Beat asked "Why?"

"I'll tell you guys after we get to safety." With that they all finished putting on their blades and moved to the entrance. Z-ro put on his shades and nodded.

"Um Z-ro?" Z-ro turned around to look at Beat. "can you see in those, I mean its almost morning here so its pretty dark."

Z-ro said, "I am fine."

Gum leaned closer and said "How many fingers am I holding up?" Her tone absolutely serious as she laid three fingers right in front of his eyes.

"I got a finger for you." said Z-ro his patience wearing thin.

Both Gum and Beat looked at him then began to laugh. "At least your not so serious now. You were creeping us out, relax Z-ro." Z-ro cracked a smile, the first one he had shown since they boarded their flight. "Lets go already." Said Z-ro with a snap. But he still kept his smile.

Some of the people saw them and backed off. Gum gave a slight frown. Beat looked to Z-ro he shook his head not to ask.

They approached the exit to the airport and a guard stopped them and said "Is there anything I can do for you perhaps escort you to your hotel?"

Z-ro shook his head and said in his most youngest voice possible, "We are fine thank you, I am just taking my friends to visit my family it isn't far from here." Z-ro's voice changed so much that gum almost forgot to close her own gaping mouth.

The guard looked at both beat and Gum with a gauging glance. He nodded and let them pass through his gate station.

Just as they were leaving Z-ro turned and said, "K guys we need to move fast, this is Free Flyer territory."

Beat remembered something and said, "Wait, Z-ro why? Didn't you say earlier that your brother is the leader of the Free Flyers?"

Z-ro gave a long looked and then suddenly turned away. "Exactly."

Gum looked at him confused, "So what's safe territory?"

Z-ro turned back looking towards the guard the passed and sighed saying, "Ghost town."

They left the airport and bladed as fast as they could out of what Z-ro called Free Flyer territory. Four minutes passed, just shy three blocks when they were stopped. Beat and Gum looked around seeing bladers crowd the streets around them. Fires burned in cans lighting the streets better than the old street lamps could. "Z-ro there must be a hundred of them!" Gum had her mouth open slightly in pure awe of the number of members.

"There are over three thousand members, we are lucky. We only walked in on a party." Beat gave an incredulous glance to Z-ro before the head of the group moved up to them.

In harsh syllables of another language the group leader said, "Well... guests, I guess we should give them our hospitality." Beat was just able to understand the English like dialect.

Z-ro looked behind him to Beat, "We can grind faster than they can skate. Trust me you don't want their hospitality!" he said in quick Japanese.

Beat smiled tightly, "Gum think you can do what Z-ro did that one time." Gum gave a slight nod. Z-ro turned back to the group leader and smiled. The leaders eyes narrowed. Gum, Beat and Z-ro turned to a blur grinding up a building corner enough to reach power lines some twenty feet above the party.

The Free flyers only heard a couple of slurred syllables before their prey moved. By the time the bladers realized it, they were gone.

"We were lucky that a construction site was near by. A lot of them didn't even see us." Gum stood on a higher girder to get a good layout of the area.

"Hey you're speaking decent English!" Z-ro looked at Gum in true surprise.

"Yeah, I was born in England ya know."

"We were lucky. That guy making the "offer" was Ian, he probably didn't even recognize me." Z-ro looked up and said, "That's a good thing."

Gum jumped form her spot and asked, "So what is really going on?"

"My brother was the leader of the Free Flyers. That was until what ever happened to him. That leaves me as the next possible leader. Whoever did what to my bro, Jules, will be looking for me."

Beat nodded glad he did not get lost with anything Z-ro had just said, "So why can't we speak Japanese?"

"That is also because of my brother. I don't look much like my mother but my bro does. A lot of minor gangs have been known to commit hate crimes against anyone who even looks like they are an easterner. That's why that guard in front of the airport was reluctant to let us out, especially at night." All three heard shouts and moved fast grinding onto power lines. "We got seven mile before we get into friendlier territory." Gum gave a moan. Beat sympathized with her. His feet were killing him too.

Three bladers began to catch up to them and began to throw glass bombs at them. Though all of them missed there was a couple of close calls with Beat. Z-ro guided his friends through a tight weaving paths over fences in back alleys of the dense residential area they had entered a few blocks ago. The three were still following them even though they stopped throwing bombs. Beat looked over his should and shouted "No way!" Gum did a quick back glance and saw that two of the three were blading on the side of the buildings and were catching up.

The third blader cruised after them on the ground and took out a can and pointed at them. "Z-ro! Gum! Screw it! Lets Jet!" With that, all three of them rocketed up to speeds that the chasers were not able to match. Z-ro felt the heat of the flame thrower shave his butt and moved faster.

"Well that's that," Said Z-ro in irritation. "They will spread word that someone in town has rudie gear."

"We had no choice. We just were fast enough to escape. How did those guys skate against a wall?" Beat looked at Z-ro expecting an answer.

Z-ro laughed and said, "How should I know? I can't do it. I told you I was a novice compared to some of the other guys."

"You could have at least told us about that. They moved faster skating on a wall then they did running on the ground or grinding!" Beat felt a sudden vein pop out of his forehead.

"And say what exactly?" Z-ro asked raising his voice to the same level as Beats. "Oh hey Beat, I know that you know that some of the best bladers are here, but just in case that you forgot, we are both out classed here without using our netrium skates."

Just then Gum laughed. It was odd having this conversation after escaping certain painful experiences. When she said as much, Beat and Z-ro flushed feeling really stupid.

Two bladers skated across a building's roof and spotted them. "Ian was right, not many bladers can grind at that level of skill. Lets see who they are." The speakers' companion nodded. They moved in to intercept the three grinding along the length of the street/pedestrian rail. The two bladers came charging in after running against the side of a wall. The leader was able to knock off Beat. His companion was successfully able to clothes line both Z-ro and Gum. All three hit the ground hard. Beat got up from the attack quickly and saw that both Z-ro and Gum were getting on their feet too. Beat yelled, "What do you want?"

The two bladers laughed. "You are trespassing on our turf and demand what we are doing? That is rich." The two bladers did not look like much. While both were easily a head taller than Beat, they didn't seem as intimidating as the Stone Tears. The bladers wore dark jeans and loose shirts. The leader wore a bandana covering his shaved head. His companion had holes in his pants where his knees are and wore thin-framed glasses. Something that was odd in Beat's opinion.

Z-ro averted his eyes and stayed quiet. Beat got the message. "We are not trying to cause trouble. We are just trying to get to the other side of town."

The leader gave them the same gauging look that the guard gave them. "K- where did you learn blading from?"

Beat pushed Gum and Z-ro ahead of him to start going, "We travel a lot, had to get good to travel easier." The guy nodded and let them past.

.

Gum swallowed the hard lump in her throat. Z-ro rubbed his eyebrow. "At least we got away."

Gum nodded. Beat looked at Z-ro for a second, "that last guy didn't seem so bad, is he from the same gang as the asses we met earlier?"

"Yeah, you just spoke to one of my brothers friends, I hope they didn't notice me. I don't want to say to the world that I am here just yet."

Beat said an 'oh' then looked at the city. It was mostly over populated and dirty. Smog covered the horizon of what was fast approaching daybreak

"So what do we do now?"

When the three left, the leader said, "Laz you know who we were just speaking to didn't you?" Joseph looked at his friend and smiled.

"A rudie judging from his blades. What did I miss?"

Joseph smiled and said, "That was Gered. From what I can tell those guys were good friends of his if he is traveling with them."

Laz stood there for a while then whistled out, "What do we do?"

"Nothing, I trust Gered as much as I Jules. Don't tell anyone about who we just met got it? If Gered is in hiding still, then he has his reasons for it." Laz nodded and both turned around heading back to their headquarters.

Mew reached the garage about the same time Cube and piranha got back from their beer run. When they came in, Garam was already plugging in the music celebrating that Gum and Beat would not be arguing at him to turn the music down. "Hey when did you get back?" Garam turned away from his console mixer and hugged Mew.

Mew saddened a moment. When Garam gave a reassuring smile she told him of his conversation with his mother. "It is just so sad. I guess I can see why my parents were so upset when I left." Garam nodded. All of the other GG's were quickly starting an old super famicom basket ball game. Mew sighed and nodded that she was going to go read.

Garam looked at her for a second. Not quite sure what to say. Instead of saying anything he grabbed her hand and led her to the living room on the far side of the garage. Some of the other hooted and hollered them on. When they got there though, Garam sat her down and asked, "What's bothering you Mew?"

Mew began to cry. When she slowed then stopped Garam was sitting beside her making quite reassurances that he was there to help. Mew leaned against him and said, "Will our child be a rudie?"

It wasn't long after they left the construction site behind that Beat stopped in mid step. Z-ro turned to ask him what was up, but Beat shouted, "Whose there?" in his best English.

There was a sudden buzzing sound and the three jumped back. A glass ball exploded leaving a wall of flames blocking their path. Two bladers jumped from the surrounding buildings and nodded to the three of them. "I am Nack. This is Neebol. What are you doing in... Gered?" Nacks' voice choked on itself.

Z-ro moved ahead of Beat and Gum and said, "Yeah its me...." He took off his shades; slight bags were under his eyes. The three of them had been grinding the whole night to get out of Free Flier territory and were all tired. Beat and Gum did not like the sound the blader, Nack, said Z-ros' name.

"If they are with you then I supposed it is alright." Nack gave a gauging glance at them then nodded. "Jonel said to bring you to him if in the unlikely event someone found you." When he said it twelve other bladers surrounded the rooftops and blocked all ways of escape. Z-ro didn't say anything to Beat or Gum.