Happy new years, peoples! Not only am I celebrating, but the GG's celebrate in here too. Wait… that's not new years… Ah well.

Just as an added touch of fun, I added Ice cream cake. Kay?

Chapter 6: Ice cream cake!!!

"We're back!" Rhyth yelled to the group. Several rudies (including Beat) turned in her direction. "Look at all the stuff we got!" This aroused the attention of the girls, who sped over quickly. "I got this cute top for Gum…" Rhyth handed her friend a pink tank top. "Here's some tunes for both Cube and Boogie…" She tossed a couple of CDs to each of them. "Oh, Gum… I found that mix that you wanted." Rhyth tossed another CD over to Gum.

"Wow… Thanks, Rhyth!" Gum said as she turned the case over to read the back. "But… what about you?" Rhyth gave them a blank look.

"What about me?" She asked quizzically.

"Well… we kind of heard about your birthday on the radio. Why didn't you tell us?"

"Er… Rhyth felt her cheeks turn a light shade of pink. "Well… I didn't really want everyone to worry about celebrating…"

"What do you mean?!" Jazz asked, bewildered. "We celebrate everybody's birthday here! Even the five birthdays that Yoyo has!"

"Yeah. What did you think those kick-ass parties were for?" Rhyth shrugged.

"I wasn't entirely sure…" She replied quietly. The other girls watched as she started to blush.

"Well, now you do, girl!" Boogie said, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Happy birthday, Rhyth!"

Before she realized what had happened, Rhyth had been dragged up to the top platform and was soon surrounded by friends.

"Yo! It's DJ Professor K here!" Nobody bothered to stop talking. They knew what he was going to say "It's a fine night for partying and partying is what we're gonna do!!" Rhyth smiled as the songs continued to play and everyone around her talked and danced. She felt so at home… so happy to be surrounded by friends…

"Rhyth!"

The blue-haired girl spun around to see Yoyo and Gum smiling evilly at her.

"Slow song!" Yoyo teased. Sure enough, a nice slow song had started to play.

"ALRIGHT!!!" Gum jumped onto the couch. "Since it's Rhyth's b-day, she should have the honours of dancing first!" Cheers of agreement rang through the hideout as Rhyth was pushed into the middle, which had been cleared. Her cheeks were a light pink as she desperately searched for an exit. Sure, she had slow danced with people, but someone else was always the center of attention. This was definitely new to her.

"Okay! Now who will Rhyth's partner be?" Gum asked slyly.

"BEAT!!" Yoyo cried. Soon, other people started yelling his name too.

"Beat it is!" Gum cheered. "Now where is that little Romeo?" Rhyth winced as she said that name. That would have gotten Beat's attention easily… and he wouldn't be in a great mood after that.

After several seconds, and much argument, an angry Beat was forced into the center. His eyes softened as he turned to face Rhyth.

"I…" Rhyth started, blushing slightly. "…guess there's no way out of this."

"Yeah…" They smiled sheepishly at each other for a second. "I guess so…"

Beat slowly skated up to Rhyth. She wrapped her arms around his neck while he laced his fingers together behind the small of her back. They gently rocked to the tune as everyone whistled at them. Rhyth watched in amusement as Beat's cheeks turned a deeper shade of pink.

"Alright, let's get some other partners in there!" Gum cheered. Rhyth and Beat let out a simultaneous sigh of relief as four other pairs of people came to the dance floor. Corn and Cube, Gum and Yoyo, Jazz and Soda, Boogie and Combo (Combo actually put his boom box down for the occasion.).

"Hey, Rhyth!" Both Rhyth and Beat turned to Yoyo and Gum, who were dancing near them.

"Having a good party?" Gum asked. Rhyth smiled and nodded.

"It's great!" She replied with a grin. Beat scowled.

"You're joking, right?" His only reply was a punch in the gut. "Ow! Hey! Bullet wound there!!"

"Sorry." Rhyth replied, a hint of venom in her voice. Beat immediately shut up.

"Too bad we don't have a cake." Yoyo sighed.

"Guess again!" Everyone froze in their tracks, turning to the voice. Jazz and Soda, who had stopped dancing, stood in front of the table, where several large boxes rested. Jazz opened the lid of the closest box, showing the contents. Everyone's eyes went wide in surprise and happiness.

"Is that…?" Yoyo gasped. Gum nodded slowly, not believing her eyes.

"It is…!" Beat murmured.

"ICE CREAM CAKE!!!" Yoyo cheered. He and several other boys (figures) sped over to the table, but were blocked by the other three girls.

"Nope." Gum tisked. "Not yet."

"The first slice goes to Rhyth." Cube growled. Yoyo sighed.

"Figures…" He growled. Jazz chuckled.

"Don't worry. There's plenty here for everybody." She said, opening a few of the other boxes.

"Aw, man!" Yoyo turned to Rhyth. "You have the best birthday party ever, yo!" Rhyth couldn't help but smile. She turned to Beat, who was still standing with her.

"You'd better go cut the cake." Beat said. He then chuckled. "Yoyo's going to have a fit if you don't. Rhyth giggled and nodded. She skated over to the cake and took a knife that was laying on the counter. She slowly cut into the cake, teasing Yoyo with every second she could. Everyone laughed at this. Once she cut the first slice totally, she stuck it into the other side.

"Stop it, Rhyth!" Yoyo cried. "You're killing me here!" Rhyth giggled and sped up the process. After placing her slice on a paper plate, she stabbed the cake with her knife.

"Dig in!" She cried. Everybody sped over, hastily trying to get a slice of the precious delicacy.

"Yo! That's my piece!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Ow! Don't pull my hair!"

"Well, don't pull mine!!"

"You don't have any!"

"Shut up!"

The fighting continued for a while. Rhyth inched back slowly, eyes wide in shock.

"Um…" Rhyth climbed up the steps and sat down beside Beat. "That had to be the scariest battle for food I have ever seen." Beat chuckled and nodded in agreement. Rhyth turned to the boy, a look of curiosity in her eyes.

"No cake?" Rhyth asked. Beat shook his head.

"Nah. If I try, I'll end up killing myself." He replied.

"Oh…" Her eyes then lit up. "Do you want some of mine?" She asked. "I… accidentally picked up two forks. Beat rolled his eyes.

"Sure you did…" He muttered. Rhyth scowled.

"I did! These are the really cheap plastic ones that stack together! See?!" She split the one fork apart from another layer, creating two. The red-head let out a sigh of defeat.

"Fine…" He growled. "But that doesn't mean I owe you anything!" He winced when he saw Rhyth's eyes flash with an evil flicker that only he had seen before.

"Oh?" She taunted. "I wouldn't be too sure about that… it is my birthday after all." Beat gulped.

"I'll think of something. Don't worry." With that, he ended the conversation by eating a piece of her cake. "Hey! This is pretty good!" Rhyth giggled, taking a bite of their cake. Her eyes widened and shone with happiness.

"This… is the best cake… EVER!!!"

"Hear, hear!!" Beat teased.

The party lasted for several more hours. Gum had bought Rhyth these little pagers so that she could send messages between the other four girls and they could write no matter where they were! There was a horrific game of spin the spray-can in which case, the spray can was flattened due to the fact that Corn and Yoyo were supposed to kiss. After the dance ended, everybody decided to pack it in for the night… that is, everyone except for Rhyth and Beat.

"Great party, huh?" Beat said, giving Rhyth a nudge. The young girl nodded.

"Yeah… really good…" She replied sleepily. Beat chuckled at her expense. He pulled off his headphones and placed them on the cushion beside him.

"Hey…"

"Hmm?"

"Does it seem… quiet to you?"

Rhyth, who was puzzled by his comment, pulled off her own headphones and strained her ears. To her surprise, the speakers were off. That really wasn't normal. Usually the volume was just turned down. Tonight was completely silent. Not even the sound of Potts was audible.

"You're right…" she replied, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. "It's never been this quiet…"

The click of a gun was all that was needed to know they were not alone. The two stood up, looking around wildly. To their horror, they were soon surrounded by strange, masked men with high-tech weapons. Beat and Rhyth pulled out their spray cans, getting ready to fire.

"Now what?" Rhyth asked walking backwards into him.

"Don't worry…" He replied. "I promise we'll get out of this." Rhyth nodded, completely aware of his uncertainty. To their surprise, one of the men held his hand up, motioning for the others to lower their weapons. He stepped towards the two rudies, a smirk on his face. He pulled off his tinted goggles, revealing the piercing, stone cold eyes that they had seen only a night ago.

"I'm back."

TBC…

There! Done! Review! Eat cake! And Ramen!Happy new year!