A.N: Thank you to all the readers. This is my longest fanfic to date and there's plenty more to go, I hope everyone is liking this so far. Please leave a comment if you want me to keep updating, feedback always makes my day!

Chapter 8: In the Satellites

PART ONE

The sunset stained the evening sky like blood smudged on a giant canvas as two figures darted along the flattened rooftops of the skyscrapers, stopping here and there to look, listen and inspect. Low hanging clouds moved among them in thick, fog-like clusters, making it impossible to see the bright lights and fast-moving crowds in the district below, which was preparing to open for its usual night-life scene among the wealthy and influential citizens of Tokyo. As the evening dragged on, the clouds began to disperse and the sky darken, turning the pleasure-ground of the Skyscraper District into a dangerous game of chance and luck.

Felix and Cassie had spent the afternoon patrolling the western rooftops and now, as the first bursts of vertical light began to shine upwards from Pharaoh Park, lighting the way, they skated along the Eastern side, first along the curved edges of the satellites, and then grinding along thin pieces of scaffolding. Felix led the way, moving quickly along a burgundy pipe, jumping as it dropped away into space, and landing a little heavily on the next, coming to a halt as he reached the safety of a billboard studded rooftop. Cassie was a little way behind, struggling to keep up.

"I think we should follow the structure up until we reach that light up there." Felix called back, pointing to an impossibly high piece of scaffold a little way off. "If we can get to the top we'll be able to see the whole district. Cass? Are you hearing this?" He turned around to see Cassie grinding along the pole, a little out of breath. She slowed as she reached the end and landed next to her partner.

"I hear you." She panted, bending down to stretch out her back and legs. "I don't think I can do this Felix. We've been out here all day and it's getting real dark." She straightened up to look at where Felix had pointed. A dark structure loomed in the distance, daunting and colossal. "What makes you think we will find Rush up there?"

Felix sighed heavily. "We've searched every place else and that tower seems like the perfect place for someone to hide out in. Who would come searching for someone all the way up here?"

Cassie rolled her eyes. "Exactly. Who would?" She turned to face Felix, her limbs and feet aching and her knees scraped from a nasty fall. "I think we should go back to the Garage. Yoyo will know what to do. I don't feel safe up here at night, it's too dangerous."

She could see Felix's face change at the mention of Yoyo, his mouth twisted into a grimace and his hands clenched into fists. "Yoyo?" He spat. "Why should we go back to him? He ran out on us this morning when he needed him…went to find some ex-rudie to help out instead of trusting his own gang."

"Felix." Cassie muttered softly. "He's our leader. We have to trust him…besides, I don't think I can skate all the way up there tonight…I've been awake all night…I just need some sleep."

"Don't you want to find Rush?" Felix snapped, the anger in his voice making the smaller girl jump. "Don't you want to get her back and punish whoever the fuck did this to her? Huh?" Rush nodded slowly, a little scared all of a sudden at the outburst. "Well come the fuck on then." Felix turned to grind along the next pole and, after a moment's hesitation, Cassie followed.

PART TWO

Yoyo, Beat and Trixie skated along the deserted highway, the sun had set but the sky was alight with the bright glow of spotlights in the distance. Yoyo led the way as they turned a corner and took in the gaudy sight of Pharaoh Park at peak hour; a sea of men, women and children walking along the narrow sandstone street towards the central plaza which housed the gigantic sphinx head and museum. Yoyo turned away from the scene and grinded upwards along a tall obelisk, jumping as he reached the top and landing with a loud thud in a satellite. A moment later Beat and Trixie followed, landing heavily behind Yoyo and looking upwards towards the nauseating sight of the Skyscraper District.

Without hesitation, Yoyo skated upwards into the next dish and the next, gaining speed and momentum with each satellite, enjoying the cool sensation of air against his cheeks as he reached the first skyscraper. He heard skates behind him and proceeded to grind along a strip of scaffolding, leading onto a larger rooftop.

"These teammates of yours sound like a real joy to be around." Beat said as he reached the destination, pausing to look at the giant illuminated billboards which curved along the side of a neighbouring skyscraper.

"I bet your no picnic either." Trixie skated alongside Yoyo who smiled a little to himself at her reply.

"Will you two cut it out." He muttered half-heartedly, listening intently to the distinctive sound of skates upon metal in the distance. Beat and Trixie heard it a moment later and fell silent, looking around the rooftops of the skyscrapers, scanning what little they could see for approaching figures. The sound echoed in a strange fashion here, in the clouds, and Yoyo was struggling to place the location, his eyes darting here and there, looking for a clue.

"You think that's those robot things?" Trixie asked, a little shudder running through her, making her shake visibly.

"Could be." Yoyo replied. "We should be careful up here. You think you can handle it Beat?" He asked.

Beat grinned. "I'm doing good so far…"

"Okay." Yoyo said, satisfied by the answer. "I think we should head further inwards. There's an old Rokkaku headquarters overlooking the centre of the park, it's been abandoned for years…it wasn't even finished when he fell…we should start there." Beat nodded in approval and Trixie followed silently, grinding quickly along the billboards to the next skyscraper, trying to stay calm as she looked down into the terrifying darkness surrounding each building.

When the three rudies reached the dark labyrinth of scaffold which surrounded the central tower they stopped to take a breath, each looking up and feeling a pang of terror as they scanned the structure for figures. Yoyo exhaled loudly and, without a word, jumped onto an orange pole, grinding onwards and upwards along the random sections of metal and wood, fearing what he would find when he reached the top.

A vast platform of mesh wire circled the upper portion of the structure and the sound of his skates against the material made Yoyo grimace as he made his way to the tower. Beat and Trixie were only a moment behind him, and the three of them paused when they saw the dark silhouettes of two figures crouched by the base. Yoyo screeched to a halt, holding his breath.

A long moment passed before he spoke. "Felix? Cassie?" The two figures spun around, their faces illuminated by the glow of a distant light. Yoyo exhaled. They stood up straight and moved further into the light. Yoyo could now see their faces clearly; Cassie, pale with dark rings around her eyes, looking incredibly scared, and Felix, his face screwed up into a frown, looking incredibly pissed.

"What do you want?" Felix was the first to speak, looking from Yoyo's face to Trixie, and finally, to Beat. His eyes lingered on the red-head for a long, agonising moment. "Who is this?"

Yoyo turned to look at Beat. His sunglasses disguised a lot of emotion, but he could tell from his posture that he was staring at Felix just as intensely.

"This is Beat. He used to be a GG and he's come to help us find Rush."

Felix's face twitched at the mention of his fellow GG but he paused a moment before replying, as though he were going over the words in his head. "Beat? Isn't he a little old to be playing rudie?"

To Yoyo's shock Beat stepped forward aggressively. "Hey." He snapped. "Watch your tongue, kid. I'm only trying to help." Trixie held out an arm gently, pushing the older GG back.

Felix sniggered and Cassie, who had so far said nothing, looked desperately from Yoyo to Felix, unable to decide whose side she was on. She slumped her body in exhaustion and turned to face her partner. "Please Felix." She muttered quietly. "Rush clearly isn't here. Can't we go home?"

Yoyo's eyes flickered to the tower. Abandoned. It was clear the structure had never been in use and, feeling silly that both he and Felix had made the same assumption, he turned to look at Beat and Trixie who were both glaring at Felix tensely. "Guys." He muttered. "I don't think she's out here. We'll regroup in the morning, head out to the abandoned railway line."

"In the morning?" Felix gawped, his eyes burning with rage. "We can't wait until the morning. Rush is out here somewhere…and we need to find her now…before anything can happen to her."

Yoyo sighed once more and started, "Felix…I…" He stopped suddenly, spinning around on the spot to look back towards the tower of scaffolding on which he had just came. The others paused, they could hear it too now, the sound of skates against the railings, grinding up the structure towards them.

All five of them froze on instinct; Yoyo and Trixie pulled a can of paint out of their pockets automatically, sensing danger. The sound grew louder and Yoyo felt a bead of sweat on his forehead as his mind raced through all of the possibilities of who could be coming. A moment later he found out. A girl and a boy, a little older than himself, spilled onto the mesh platform in front of them; the girl's hair was matted in long, thick dreadlocks and the male, a little shorter than the girl, wore baggy jogging pants and a black tank top, each of them carried a spray can of their own as they skated forwards and saw the crowd of youths gathering at the base of the tower. Yoyo and Beat both relaxed in recognition as they scanned the faces of the newcomers.

"Boogie? Garam?" Yoyo asked, not believing his eyes. The boy and girl tensed at the sound of their names and looked from face to face.

After a moment the girl spoke. "Yoyo? Is that really you?" She skated forwards and Yoyo became increasingly aware that his gang were still in fight-or-flight mode, not knowing if these two rudies were friend or foe.

"It is. It's okay you guys…" He turned to face Felix, Cassie and Trixie. "I know them." He saw Cassie and Trixie relax a little, lowing their shoulders and changing their posture, but Felix's eyes were still glaring and suspicious.

"Is that Beat?" Garam asked, skating towards the gang.

"That it is." Beat grinned, shaking Garam's extended hand. "What a strange day this has been." He muses as Boogie pulls him into a tight hug. "I didn't know you two were still rudies."

Boogie grins. "We aren't…technically. We dabble from time to time but god…isn't this a strange occurrence? Corn was just saying this morning that he had seen Yoyo and well…we didn't believe him…I mean what were the chances?"

Yoyo freezes. "You've seen Corn?"

Garam answers slowly. "Yeah, we went to his house this morning…found him in a pool of absinthe. I don't know what you and Gum said to him but whatever it was…"

"Excuse me." Felix cuts in, his voice raging with anger. He moves forwards until he is standing side by side with Yoyo, inches away from Boogie and Garam. "I'm sorry to interrupt whatever-the-fuck this is…but shouldn't we be finding Rush? We don't even know who the hell you two are!"

Yoyo looks apologetically at his old team members. "I'm sorry…"

"Wait a second." Garam interrupts, exchanging a quick glance with Boogie. "Did you just say you're trying to find someone?"

Yoyo sighs. "Yeah, Rush. Our youngest member. She was kidnapped yesterday by some kind of robot things. We're up here to try and get her back."

"We saw them this afternoon-" Boogie says frantically. "Down Chuo Street. They had a girl with them, knocked out cold, a freelancer named Tame…we followed them out here but they were a little ahead of us. We saw them skating up the satellites but we lost them some way back. Yoyo…" Boogie stared at him intensely. "We…Garam and I…we think they might be the Noise Tanks."

Yoyo freezes. "Jesus." He mutters to himself. Cassie and Trixie exchange a brief glance between them, finally able to follow the conversation. "Tame was Rush's best friend." Yoyo continues. "The three of us used to meet up down Hikage sometimes…play some Flag…and Noise Tanks you say? I thought we busted them all up?" Beat nods in agreement and Boogie sighs.

"That's what we thought too, but if they weren't Noise Tanks then they certainly looked a lot like them. I don't know…I'm scared Yoyo…no rudie's been kidnapped on the streets since, well…you."

A silence falls between the two sides as they take in all that they've heard. The Rokkaku Yoyo thinks, a shiver passing over his spine, making the little hairs on his neck stand on end, It can't be…

"Well…" Garam says, finally, breaking the awkward silence, "It doesn't look like either of those girls are up here…what do we do now?" He turns to Boogie for an answer but she doesn't have one, instead looking towards Yoyo who shifts uncomfortably from foot to foot.

"I don't suppose-" Yoyo starts, feeling suddenly embarrassed, "Would either of you like to come back with us to the Garage to get some sleep? We can form some kind of real plan tomorrow and look for Rush and Tame together."

Boogie and Garam look at one another with excitement. "The Garage?" They both say in unison.

"Yoyo, we'd love to." Boogie gleams happily, throwing her arms out and embracing the GG once more. He feels his face glowing with warmth and turns to face his gang.

"Plan sound good to everyone?" He asks, scanning each of their faces for an answer. He doesn't notice Felix, stood a little behind the others, his face burning scarlet with frustration.

"Go back?" He spits. "I'm not going back until I've found Rush!"

Cassie looks at her partner, frowning. "Felix…please…"

"Please what?" He snaps, standing back from the group and looking at each of them in turn. "Why are we even taking orders from this joke?" He stares at Yoyo. "Letting freelancers into our Garage…"

Yoyo looks pleadingly at Felix as he tries to keep his voice steady. "Please, let's not argue about this…I already told you…I know these people."

"Felix, calm down." Trixie sighs, her voice low and calm.

"Don't tell me what to do…any of you! I'll decide what has to be done." He turns away from the group, looking down at the matting of scaffolding at the end of the mesh ledge. "Cassie?" He calls back. "Are you coming?"

Cassie, her face flushing red, looks first at Yoyo, then at her lover's back…feeling as though she is being torn in two.

"Cass." Yoyo sighs gently, trying to make this decision easier on her. "It's up to you."

Her eyes are wide and full of tears as she answers. "I want to go back to the Garage." In a whisper. "I'm sorry Felix."

The younger GG, his posture tensing noticeably but not turning around, lets out one final sigh before jumping on the scaffold and grinding down the tower without a word. Cassie lets out a painful sob as she watches him go, unable to follow him but equally unable to turn and face her gang. Yoyo let's her cry openly, feeling her pain but not wanting to reach out and touch her…the thought of her snapping out at him is too much for him to bare. After a few minutes of silence, when the sounds of Felix grinding down the metal have long since faded, Yoyo turns to his new gang and nods once, before setting off himself.

Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment if you have enjoyed this chapter.