Chapter 8 Unity

Beat and Gum lowered their guard but were still blinded by the spot light. Z-ro took in a steadying breath and moved forward towards the source of the light. "I am glad to see you Bro, but what happened to the police?"

Jules shook his head and said, "What? You don't think I wouldn't know when the police captured my little bro right? Anyway, I just had to get one of the officers in D.C. to come down here and pull all of the officers out of there for a bit. We couldn't break in. We are not even supposed to be here. So you had to let yourselves out." Z-ro walked up to his older brother and made a quick hand shake. "I can't believe you're here Gered." The leader waved behind him. A blader turned off the patrol car light and got out. Now that the three GG's could see they noticed there were fifteen bladers besides Z-ro's brother. "It took me days to find out where you were. Your hard to nail down as actually being here or not." Beat smiled at that. All of the bladers piled into a large freight truck and left the little sheriff office.

After an hour on the road Gered explained what had happened and why he was here. "Oie, sorry about that, I couldn't say anything. I had to disappear. Well actually I needed time to train these guys, but couldn't do it with everyone watching every move I make." several bladers shouted in agreement.

Beat took his goggles off and shook his head at Gum not to get into the conversation. Beat knew that family reunions were always awkward for rudies. Z-ro turned to his brother and asked, "So what are you training these guys for anyway? Its not like you need an elite force or anything." Jules gave a huff then leaned back against the van wall smiling. Gered left his next question unasked.

The truck came to a halt in front of a large factory. The truck was greeted by dozens of bladers at the factory gates While both bladers and rudies were piling out, Jules shouted. "Everyone to the fields, lets show em what we have been doing!" Shouts and yelling roared again as teenagers and young adults moved away from the gates of the factory and moved inside. The three GG's followed Jules into the building. The factory felt like it was hollowed out. Pipes wrapped themselves around the building like veins.

The GG"s were led to the center of the factory. Pipes screeched and rang as bladers grinded lines on pipes and walls. Beat wanted to smile as he saw Gum's mouth drop. Several bladers were playing a balancing game where they threw a ball at each other and tried to hit it back and not get knocked off the pipes.

The GG's along with Jules stood on a balcony. Though they were on base level the building bottom floor was still two stories below them. "I have been recruiting a new gang for a specific task. Each one here is as good as you are Gered." Z-ro looked up at his brother. "Even though I have been called the hero of the streets, it hasn't been getting better. The same problems are just being burrowed deeper. The three gangs are beginning to break down. Even my Free Flyers are falling apart." Z-ro thought of Adam. How much control does he really have left? Beat looked away from the amazing bladers below him. He recognized pain of being a leader but said nothing. "I needed to create a new gang from scratch…" Beat snapped out of his daze. Hairs on the back of his neck tensed. "from places other than D.C. That town is diseased with corruption. New D.C. deserves to have a chance with out the gangs from the old city over it." Beat had heard something similar to this when he was younger. It was one of the last times he was with his brother. "This is where I will make my next and last gang, Ragnarok, and like our name, we will bring the end of days to our own world and unite all bladers under a new one." Beat heard this from rudie trying to recruit his brother to the Stone Tears. "With this team of elite bladers I will be able to lay down all of the old grudges. I know it won't happen over night but it will happen. Several of my gang and some from the other two are willing to help. I am not the only one who can see where this fighting will take us. Under one name we can better settle disputes and prejudices that laid against names." Jules turned away from the bladers and looked at the three rudies with a smile on his face. Beats' lips drew tight and looked at the creation of another Stone Tear army below him.

The GG's were silent for a moment. Gum looked away from the bladers below them and yawned. "Sorry, but unlike these idiots I need to eat and sleep. Hey Jules you got anything for either of those two problems?" Jules nodded and motioned for them to follow one of his bladers to the galley. The blader they followed was a teenage girl though older than any of the GG's. She wore a single left earring that was a single cross that was long enough to hang near her shoulder. "You guys can crash over there at the end of the hall there is a couple of beds in a room. You guys can eat here in the galley or eat in your room." The lady blader left them in the galley. The GG's grabbed some food then went to the room they were given. Though the factory must have been abandoned years ago. It certainly was well kept. Even the rooms where the original staff lived were nice and clean.

Beat and Gum ate in silence but Z-ro downed his food as fast as possible. "What's the hurry?" asked Gum.

Z-ro's mouth was full as he pounded his chest to force food down his throat faster and then said, "This is the first time I have seen my brother in three years. We may have lived in the same town but it was still in different worlds." Z-ro finished the last of his water and stood up. Beat caught the empty eyes.

Beat looked up at him for a moment. "You never wanted to be a blader did you?" asked Beat, sudden realization reflected of his face.

Z-ro took of his bag that was still attached to his back. When he looked up he took of his shades and said, "You are right. I never had any intention to be a blader, or even a rudie. I had to be though. It was the only way for my to get from point A to point B safely. My bro may have tried to protect me but he isn't God. I had to learn how to handle bladers his size and age and get a way alive."

Z-ro left. Beat and Gum found themselves alone for the first time in weeks. When Beat finished eating he set his tray from the galley on a dresser drawer next to Z-ro's. Gum chewed on the last of her food then said, "Out with it, you have been upset about something since you talked to Jules."

Beat gripped his hands. "I can't stay here Gum." He said in a still tone.

Gum looked up from her tray then became suddenly alarmed. "Why? What's so wrong with these guys?"

"Damn it! Don't you get it? This is how the Stone Tears started out. First they 'unified' one city. When that wasn't enough they went and destroyed hundreds of gangs in a hundred cities. You know they took everything from Nagasaki to Osaka to even as far north as Sapporo. They did not do it to unite rudies of Japan they did it to gain power and control of those rudies. Do you think that no matter how justified Jules group is, they will not become as warped as the Stone Tears are?"

Gum didn't know what to say to this. Then she remembered what Beat had told her. "Beat," she got up and set her tray down on her bed. "Don't you think that Jules has the right idea though? He is trying to calm a city that we have seen is falling apart on itself. And even in the Stone Tears case, didn't you say at one point there was at least one person trying to change it?" Beat exhaled loudly remembering how Silphie declared how she did not like how some things were run. Gum went over to him and placed her arms around his waist. Beats' body stayed rigid. "Beat you told me that the Stone Tears were formed years ago to fix problems in their own city. But you forgot that they did their job, and for years it was fine. It was only after they gained bad leaders that things went down hill." Beat gradually relaxed under her embraced. "We'll just have to make sure that whatever happens here, Jules knows what happened in Kyoto so it won't happen here too."

Beat finally placed his arms around her and sighed. Beat eyes softened when Gum looked at him. "Your right as usual. Damn you suck." Gum gave a content murmur. "So these Rags won't be like the Stone Tears. I can still hate the Stone Tears right?"

Gum laughed, then said, "Only the ones I don't like." Beat nodded then kissed her on the forehead. Gum looked up at him happily While they were kinda sorta girlfriend boyfriend they never made any real moves towards each other. This was the closest Gum has gotten to any kind of affirmation of his feelings. Gum nuzzled her face into his neck and kissed hit jaw. Then just as suddenly has he had kissed her, she pulled away and said, "We really should go and see how the rags are training if they plan on taking on guys like we have seen." Beat felt the emptiness that was against him then dismissed the feeling with a smile. What ever their relationship is will just have to play out a little longer.

Z-ro found his brother eating alone on a high pipe with no way other than grinding to get there. Crouched and perfectly balanced. Gered gave a rueful smile and grinded to his brother. Jules smiled in amusement, Gered grinded several pipes that looked like they led to a dead end only to grind the actual wall of the building to get to another pipe. When there seemed to be no more pipes to get to the next level Gered leaped onto a lower pipe that moved up the length of the wall. Gered grinded the wall pipe then backfliped to a pipe that was closer to Jules. He was still far away. Gered slowed to a slow grind to look around and noticed a curved pipe that led to a wall but no other pipes. Then he had an idea. Gered kick grinded to build momentum up the sloping pipe to the top then slowly turned around concentrating only on balancing. A hundred foot drop was something he wanted to avoid. The rudie then went down the steep pipe, building momentum. When he came to the end of the pipe that hung in mid air, he jumped into a 720 spin an landed ankles cross in a fast grind to another wall that he grinded then jumped to a higher pipe. Gered landed on a pipe approaching his older brother and slowed his grind to stop right in front of his target. Jules silently put one more forkful of noodles in his mouth, then said, "Nice. You have gotten a lot better since I saw you last. Still don't want to be a leader? A lot of the guys would really like to see you take over." Z-ro scowled. "heh I guess not. Oh well." Jules took one more bite of food then looked at his brother for a moment, "Bro, what do I call you now?"

Z-ro understood the what he meant. He was no longer his little brother, he was rudie. "Its Z-ro now bro." Z-ro stared back at his brother.

"Z-ro" he marveled at the name. "Did nothing else fit you?"

"Heh, after being hunted down so many times as a zeroed blader, Z-ro seemed like the only choice. But I like it."

Jules gave a hearty laugh that echoed the off the pipes from their vantage point. "You know since you left, no one uses that name. Kids who can't blade from blader families actually don't get harassed at anymore. I guess it reminds a lot of guys that anyone can be a blader regardless of skill, birth or privilege."

Z-ro smiled but did not respond immediately to the joke. That's right I was a joke here. Not able to blade at all. Me the super genius. After fighting off all those bladers that wanted to get back at my bro. "I am not a genius Jules, I am a survivor. You shouldn't forget that especially when you are a leader of a couple of gangs."

Jules smiled, "Yes I can." he scoffed "You're my brother, I can take liberties to distort my view of my bro as much as I want." This time Z-ro laughed.

"So how did you get up here with a tray full of food?" Z-ro looked down below him. There was a couple of hundred feet below them. Suddenly Z-ro noticed that half of the guys below them that were training were looking up at the both of them.

"Well this is a test. Heh, so far you're the only one to pass the first phase."

Z-ro gulped. "Great all I need now is to be told that I am a genius. So what is this test then?"

"Its to test who will actually join Ragnarok. See, none of the guys below us are in the gang they are trying really hard to join. All of them can get about a third of the way here. Only three have gotten halfway. And you are the only one besides me to get to the top."

"Oh" said Z-ro inadequately.

Jules laughed again then said, "Don't feel too bad, the second phase is for people who want to lead groups of the new gang. They have to carry a bowl of soup on a tray and do all this with out them spilling." Jules picked up his bowl and shook it there was nothing left it in. all the soup was moped up by bread he had for his dinner. Z-ro eyed his brothers' tray. There was not a drop of soup on it. "O.K. now you are just showing off."

"That is so wrong."

"Who would have thought?"

"That was his first try?"

"DAAAAMMMMN!"

It wasn't long till all of the bladers gathered at the pipes to see Z-ro and Jules sitting at the top and occasionally laugh.

A young blader with dark green eyes shouted "Hey! We can't be shown up by anyone! Lets go!" There were shouts and all the bladers started to try their climb to the top.

That was the scene when Beat and Gum entered the Pipe room. "What are they doing?" Gum walked ahead of Beat and looked strait up. Forty bladers were trying to grind their way to the top. A few were brave enough to try the wall grind-jump they saw Z-ro do only to fall then be caught by someone below them. Beat grimaced as he saw several people fall off pipes only to land on one below them and try to go up again.

"Hey!" he called someone that just landed from falling off a low pipe. "What's going on?"

The guy looked at them surprised. He didn't recognize them. He shook his surprise and said, "This is a test to join Ragnarok. No on has passed it yet but Jules brother just did it on his first try. I think Troy got a little miffed that he wasn't the first." He laughed easily then said, "What I think is funny is that I don't think Jules' bro knew it was a test he just wanted to talk to his bro." The blader waved at them and jumped on the nearest pipe to try his climb again. Gum and Beat looked at the pipes then decided to just wait. They both sat down against a wall and saw the spectacle of raining bladers above them. After twenty minutes a couple of the bladers were happy to break their old records in height. Others were disappointed they couldn't get to the top. Beat was surprised that none of them were angry or bitter. Geez how did Jules choose these guys did he hand screen all of them himself? Beat then remembered how a selective group of bladers disappeared from around the Virginian border. I guess he did.

"Hey you!" A green eyed blader with a thin white shirt waved to them. "Why don't you try? To worried to embarrass your selves?" he chided.

"Heh come on Gum lets show them how its done." Gum smiled and the two of them sped to the nearest pipe and began their grind up the maze of pipes.

There were hoots and hollers from the bladers below them but Gum and Beat didn't mind. It was fun to be grinding again. Thought Beat. It had been a long time since he had relaxed. Beat ran out of pipe again and grinded the wall to the bottom and waited for Gum. She looked like she ran out of line to grind up to the top and was only going in circles. When she swore in Japanese a couple of the people who understood laughed hard. Gum landed next to Beat who was smiling. "Careful Gum they will think Japanese ladies are foul mouthed all the time." Gum playfully punched him then looked back up at the pipes above them. "You know this is like home but we are really missing professor K."

Beat suddenly hit his forehead with his palm then said in English, "Do you guys have a radio?"

The green eyed blader who challenged them earlier said, "Yeah what do you want to listen to? Like its going to make a difference in how you skate."

Beat smiled then said "Anything you can dance to." Gum looked at him curiously. Beat said in quick Japanese. "Can't you tell that we both have been out of rhythm when we grind? I think we need music to get that sense of balance back." Gum nodded then looked at what the bladers brought in it was a large stereo on wheels. The speakers towered over even the tallest blader. Beat laughed as the green eyed blader kicked it to get the stereo going. A heavy baseline shook the floor and pipes. Pounding sound pulsed in a slow but urgent tempo. Beat looked up smiling. The whole place moved in time to the beat.

The green eyed blader mouthed out "Go for it!"

Gum and Beat dashed up onto the pipes moving in rhythm to the music that made the walls, pipes and the very air dance. Beat and Gum moved with grace that made the bladers gape. Gum grinded then jumped off a dead end pipe reaching on hand in the air in a slow motion dance move. If the bladers could see her up close they would see her eyes were closed. Gum grasped a pipe above her and swung around it on full rotation then let go. She launched her self into the air in a flat spin and landed on another pipe that was above her. Beat moved his hands in rhythm to music that possessed his body. He jumped and switched to a reverse grind and danced-grinded between two parallel pipes. The song ended and a faster tempo took its place. Both Beat and Gum seemed to wake up from their trance only to move faster. Both began to grind faster around and towards each other on the pipes as the ground slowly grew farther from them and the ceiling came closer. When they finally were next to each other they held hands and pushed and pulled each other off pipes and walls. When they broke apart form each other Gum noticed that while she couldn't see Beats eyes she new he was like he was when she first met him, free and open. Doing what he felt was his right to do. Beat smiled at her and started to go ahead of her. He switched in mid grind to a reverse grind and jumped from the pipe to wall to pipe then reverse flip to the last pipe and skidded to a halt on the pipe Z-ro and Jules were balancing on. Beat flashed a V-sign at Gum.

Gum laughed and grinded up to a corner of a wall and grinded on wall then leapt to another then to the pipe that the highest skilled bladers and rudies sat on. She slowed down but almost lost her balance when she stopped Beat grabbed her shoulder to steady her and both looked at Jules who was laughing hysterically.

Tabs' body was in pain when he woke up. He bit the inside of his cheek so he wouldn't yell, then opened his eyes. Suddenly, he realized he was laying on a hospital bed with his face breathing through a pillow. He tried to get up but a gentle hand pressed his back and forced him to the bed. He was only able to turn his head away from the pillow. "You?"

Silphie huffed and said weakly, "I just came to see if you were o.k. It didn't look alright when you collapsed last night. Some metal scrap slashed your back, you got over a hundred stitches."

Tab flinched aware of the tingling sensation of skin being pulled to his cut. Then the sudden air against his bare back. He reddened and looked away from Silphie. "They didn't even leave me a towel to cover my ass? Geez maybe I should start paying Doc." He weakly tried to push himself up and on his third try was able to get to a sitting position on the bed.

"You had one but it fell to the floor. I didn't have the heart to wake you up if I laid the towel back on your bare-" she breathed as she looked at the length of his body. "ass." Silphie smiled at him.

Tab grimaced at her look then said, "I guess the rest of the GG's are at the garage?" Tab began to become more aware of his surroundings. He looked at the I.V. bag and disconnected his arm from it.

"Yeah, the last one left over an hour ago. The Doc said when you woke up you can go, You just needed some fluids from the blood loss. He'll cover up everything in paper work later." Tab nodded, leaving the bed with small steps to the blinds to change clothes. He silently swore as he placed on his coveralls.

"You aren't supposed to be wearing a shirt for a few days." Tab peeked over the blinds to look at her. She smiled sweetly. "Docs' orders." Tab shook his head but pulled a fuzzy belt from a hospital robe and tied it around his waist. When Tab came back around he was bare chest with the top half of his coveralls laying back over the pant half. He raised the top line of his cap to look at Silphie.

She smiled again. Tab felt an awkward moment where he couldn't really say anything under her gaze. "Thanks for coming to see me. Nice to know that you cared."

"Yeah, well we should do it again sometime." She winked at him then got up from the chair she had been sitting in. Tab didn't realize how close she had been sitting next to him. How long was she here? He suddenly thought to himself.

He gave an unconvincing cough and made his way to the door, rudie blades in his hands. Tab hurried out the door when he felt her stare at his back and only did a slight head turn to confirm she was staring at him.

When he left she laughed. The Doc came into the room and asked her. "Why is he not wearing a shirt? This is a hospital."

Silphie smiled at him just as sweetly as she smiled at Tab. "He thinks that you didn't want him to wear a shirt."

"But I didn't say anything like that."

"He doesn't know that." Silphie decided Tab was cute.

"Ahh." He smiled and started to clean up the room. And erased the information on the clip board at the foot of the bed.

"I don't believe it." Beat said in amazement.

Gum laughed, "You sound like some of the bladers when they saw Z-ro up here." Gum looked down below them. Thirteen bladers were only shy ten or so feet of getting up to them only to loose balance or run out of pipe or speed, or some other technique to get them to the very top.

Jules was laughing the whole time. "Well I have to say thanks to you guys. I thought we would be doing this for a few more months but it looks like you made these guys break a barrier they all had." Jules looked over to Troy.

"Heh, to be honest I do have to put my foot in my mouth since you guys did make it to the top after I pressured you into doing it. I was just peeved someone beat me ( no pun intended Beat) ." Green eyes scanned the three rudies that made it possible for all the bladers to move ahead in their training.

"Hey um Jules how much weight can this pipe hold?" Gum was eyeing the pipe after one blader actually made it to the pipe and lost balance as he slowed to them. "Ouch that must be painful to get this far only to fall." There were laughs as the guy landed on steep sloping pipe and started going back up again.

"I don't think it can hold much more weight, we have five guys on here already." Z-ro stood up from his crouch and waved to the guys before leaning back and did a free fall head first to the ground only to jackknife his body into a deep toe out grind to the ground.

"So does showing off just come naturally to your family?" Beat asked repressing laughter.

"As far as I can tell yeah, it does." Jules grinned and held his tray and bowl from his long forgotten lunch in his right hand. He let them dropped then jumped grinding fast to catch up to them all while avoiding bladers going in the opposite direction. By the time he got to the bottom he caught his tray, plate and bowl. Z-ro laughed as he went up to his brother and said, "you dropped this bro." Z-ro handed him his cup. All of the bladers in the house laughed.

Beat and Gum gaining new confidence in their own skills decided to go to the bottom in their own stylish way. Beat simply grinded to a wall then jumped towards the ground doing several long tricks on the way, only slowing down when he hit a opposing all. Gum only let her heart rest when she saw him land safely on the floor then smiled. Unlike the others she actually sat on the pipe. With on simple back motion she leaned back and hung from the pipe upside down before letting go legs spread in helicopter spin. Someone shouted "Fan service!" as she fell to the ground. She ignored titters promising long deaths to those who laughed later. Then she caught a pipe low to the ground and did some simple gymnastics that she had to do in school when she was a child.

Beat went up to her and hugged her. Both were energized by the rush of coming down to the ground so fast. She was so happy to be in his embrace she forgot the flogging she planned to give out.