When I left the Garage, I found an alleyway on Chou Street and changed into civilian clothes: a thick grey hoodie, blue pants, green runners. I pocketed my glasses, and shoved my GG outfit into a backpack. Slinging it over my shoulder, I walked towards the nearest stylist. Opening the door on my arrival, a young lady came over towards me with a big smile. "Hello! Is there something you'd like to do today? Or have done?" the lady spoke, a thick Russian accent coming out. She giggled, and I nodded. "Yeah...I want my hair trimmed, and dyed black." She clapped her hands, gestured me to an open chair, and immediately got to work. I let my eyes close.
"You ran from the GG's too?" My eyes snapped open when I realized that was Beat's voice in my head. I blinked twice, looked around through the corner of my eyes, and saw nothing. "Devon, you're creeping me out. Yes, I ran, and where the heck are you?" I thought, frowning. I could hear him sigh audibly, and glanced beside me; noticing his red hair first.
"Yeah, I'm right here." he sighed, turning to me as he watched my hair fall off my head. His eyes slowly opened wide, and he watched silently as they began to dye it black. He smiled, and grabbed my hand as I closed my eyes; relaxing as they massaged the dye into my hair. "You know, Yo; you look good with black hair." "Don't flatter yourself too much...I'm still Corey's..." I mumbled, feeling them finish massaging. I now had to sit there, waiting for the dye to settle. Beat chuckled, and leaned back in his seat.
"The Doctor spilled my secrets." I said after a few minutes. Beat must have sat up, because I heard his chair squeak. "You mean...he blurted out that you are...?" I nodded, and his eyes grew dark with anger. "I see. So now they know who our dads are." I nodded once more, and they began to rinse out my hair. I opened my eyes to my stylist's face, and she smiled as she told me it was free of charge. I thanked her, and she dried my hair before letting us both out.
"I don't know if I can go back to the GG's." I admitted after several minutes of us walking. We got closer to a tattoo parlour, and glanced at one another. With a nod, we walked in. I then turned to Beat as we listened to the buzz of the ink gun, and sighed. "What about starting our own gang? Seems like something we could do." I suggested, and Beat held his chin. "Hmm...not a bad idea...but who could we get? That isn't a GG, anyway." I began to think about it myself, then looked up at him. "We could be the Death Runner's. It's a cool name, and it works...since...you know...you can't die."
Beat tensed and gritted his teeth at the mention of his immortality, and he glanced over at the man as he finished his ink. "Not a bad idea...you can be the leader. After all, this is your idea." Beat smiled, then frowned again. "But we need new names. We can't stay as Yoyo and Beat forever. And what about you and Corn? Are you dumping him? After five years?" The question threw me off guard, and I frowned. The man glanced at us, and Beat walked over, telling him what kind of tattoo he wanted. I continued to ponder over Beat's question, and soon came up with an answer.
"Chances are he's dumped me already. I mean, if the man you loved was suddenly the son of the man you despised above all else, you would find it hard to look at him, right?" I sighed, and looked at the art book out in the open. Beat grunted as the man began his work, but then relaxed. "I wouldn't know, Yo; we grew up together, so I always knew."
I nodded, and saw the tattoo I wanted. With a soft smile, I began to figure out where I wanted it, and an idea came across my head. As the man was finishing with Beat, I suggested a tattoo for the both of us where it looked like the shoulder was ripping open, and Death bursting from it. The man grinned, gave me a thumb's up, and Beat agreed. "New gang tattoo?" I nodded, and Beat smirked. "I like it! Also, I read Corn's mind...and you're right. He did dump you."
I flinched, and looked down. I could feel my heart breaking, and a soft sigh escaped my lips as they slowly parted. Another tattooist walked in, and I sat down with him, mentioning the tattoo Beat was getting, but for myself. "We need new names. I'll be...Rok." I slowly decided, and Beat chuckled. "Guess I'll be Death, then. Makes it work, right?" he joked, and I smiled faintly at him. When we got the tattoos finished, I handed them the money, and we walked out.
"Our next mission: to change our uniforms." I declared, and we began to walk towards 99th Street, my mind already coming up with what I wanted for my outfit. We got to a nightclub, and both paused. "Well..." I started, when Beat(Death) raised an eyebrow. "We'd be better off going to a gay bar, Yo-er...Rok. And I know just the one." He grabbed my arm, and we began heading off towards the north, stopping outside a gay bar. Be-Death...whispered to the bouncer outside, and the bouncer let us both in. He winked at me, then took me to the back room, where a man clapped his hands.
"Devon!" he giggled cheerfully, Death getting red in the face. "Josef, this is Yohan, my brother. We need uniforms; we're starting our own Rudie gang." Josef blinked, then smiled. "But of course! What names do you have?" So I told him, and he winked as he walked into the closet. Minutes later, he came out with a black wife beater with long biker gloves and leather pants (with chains attached) for me, and a black, skull hooded one piece for Death. We got changed, and he adjusted the uniforms while we wore them. He soon gave us the thumb's up, and we looked at one another.
Death looked like Death; his uniform had a hood that covered his face in the shape of a skull, and his sleeves were long and wide at the wrists. It was no longer one piece, but two, and his pants were like mine. Long, black leather pants with chains hanging from every pocket, and his skates were solid black. I looked at a mirror that was in the corner, staring in amazement at myself. The black wife beater was slightly thin, so you could see my muscles underneath. My pants were a bit lighter than Death's, and my sash looked like a bunch of rocks on a chain. I smiled, then smirked. "One thing left to do...can you make a patch of the Rokkaku symbol, but broken?" I asked Josef, who froze at the question. "Signore!" He gasped, but nodded. "A-as you wish!" He quickly ran to a sewing machine, and began to piece together the patch. When it was done, I told him to put it by the Death tattoo, and he obeyed. Death paid him for his work, and we calmly walked out of the back room.
Death and I walked out, heading towards a sporting goods store. We were busy talking now about details for the Death Runners when I spotted Corn ahead of us and froze. Corn was talking with Aric about 20 feet away from us and I swallowed the building lump in my throat. Corn was obviously crying, and clung to the boy, who nervously patted his back. Death stopped talking and looked up towards them, his eyes wide with curiosity. I turned on my heels, heading a different direction when I felt Death grab my hand. He then began dragging me after him and I tried to run away.
"Yo, you Corn?" Death said in an unfamiliar voice. Corn's head snapped up and I kept my face away from them. Corn slowly nodded, and Death let go of my hand, cracking his knuckles. "I challenge you to a game of Ball Hog. If we win, this area becomes Death Runner territory. We lose, and you won't see us again." Death chuckled in his strange voice, causing chills down my spine. "Either way, we need to get past you."
Corn and Aric stepped aside, and I looked away from them both as we walked past, hearing Corn gasp. I could feel something brush my hand and ignored it, walking into the sporting goods store. Death found us both a pair of black skates, and paid for them both. When we walked out, he handed me money and told me to go get us spray cans; he didn't care where. So I went to the Garage and stole a bunch from them. I managed to get away just as the Doctor yelled at me to stop, and I ran back to Death. I had also stolen a pair of shades from Clutch; the shades now black as all heck. Corn and Aric hadn't moved, and I began to lace up my skates.
"So...Death Runners...?" Corn started slowly speaking, his voice obviously broken and heavy with emotion. Now comfortable as Rok, I smirked at Corn. "Yep. I'm Rok, this is Death. And you're dead!" I laughed; voice dark with anger. I skated up to Corn and stared him in the eyes through my glasses; Corn backing away. "You best not forget our names, or you'll forget everything!"
"Rok!" Death hissed, grabbing and pulling me away from Corn. He held me at a distance and glared at me. "You keep this up, and he'll recognize us!" "I don't give a shit!" I yelled, glaring. "I don't give a shit. We both walked out of there, so let him see what he lost!" Corn was shaking now, Aric holding him back. Corn was staring at us both, and he snarled.
"Game's on!" Corn shouted, and Aric sighed. I continued to smirk, and Death glared at me. We all began to skate towards the Rokkaku Expo site (it was torn down when...Dad...was killed), and Corn was speaking into a hidden wristband under his coat sleeve. When we arrived, Jazz was there with a ball, looking at Death and myself.
"Normal rules!" Jazz announced as we all got in our stances and groups; ready to go at the whistle. "Ten minute rounds! Whoever scores the most points wins!" She then went between us and looked at all of us. As she was about to continue, police stormed the area, surrounding us. I tossed every some spray cans, and we all stood back to back.
We all pushed from one another and attacked; bullets and paint flying. Cops were blinded and us Rudies injured. However, no one was severely injured (just scrapes and grazes from the bullets). Soon, we had them all on the ground when the captain arrived with the SWAT team. Aric cursed as he pulled out his cellphone, quickly calling someone. Corn was panting; staring at the captain as he began to applaud us. Death jetted towards them; glaring as he pulled out more cans. We all joined after him; Death and I landing on a group of them with our skates, flipping over them and spraying them as we flew above them. Corn and Jazz followed our lead and did the same as Aric skated towards the captain; who jumped to the top of a car, causing Aric to grind against the ground. One of his wheels popped off and he lost balance; the TARDIS appearing right around him. The captain's eyes flew open and he yelled into a walkie talkie; the police firing as they arrived. Corn kicked one of the SWAT members into five of them, and Death copied.
"There's too many!" I shouted; Death and Corn nodding. Jazz skated towards the group and jumped; gliding over them and skated into the TARDIS; the Doctor holding the door open wide. "Everyone to the TARDIS!" I pushed the boys and they started skating; jetting at the last second and making it in. I followed them, and as I jetted, a bullet pierced the back of my left leg and I screamed; falling to the ground hard and sliding against it. Death and Corn jumped back out of the TARDIS and grabbed me; an arm around me and my arms over them. The captain yelled at them to hold their fire, and we all got into the TARDIS.
The minute the doors closed, I let out this screech of pain that nothing could rival; my leg trying to stretch out, but the bullet lodged inside and preventing me from doing so. Corn ripped his backpack off his back, flinging it open and getting Death to elevate my leg so that he could try and remove the bullet. I could feel my voice getting hoarse; the pain worsening, and at the same time, fading. As I heard Corn state it was removed, my eyes blackening and falling unconscious.
"Yo!" came Death's worried voice, surrounding me and enveloping me. I opened my eyes, realizing I was stuck in a dream; the area a bright white room filled with flowers of all colours. I sat up and groaned; holding my head. Death came around me from behind and hugging me tightly; shaking badly. "Yo, I thought you were dead...when you stopped screaming, Corn panicked. Your heart gave out and stopped; you were bleeding too much. You nearly died; we're in the Garage, and you were lifeless!" Death was sobbing and clinging to me. "I've been trying to reach you for hours!"
I groaned and hugged him back; a wave of dizziness hitting me. Death got off me and touched my forehead; worry still around him. I looked up at him; not knowing what to say and he sighed. "You should wake up, Yo. Everyone's worried about you." I nodded, and laid back down.
"Is he awake?" Aric shouted, as Corn was breathing hard; obviously crying as he nodded. My eyes had just opened, and he turned from me. I groaned, and Aric ran from the door to me. "You're okay!" He started crying and wrapped his arms around me. Corn looked up at me from his desk; working on a computer. I slowly pushed Aric off and sat up; my entire left side aching. I touched my cheek felt a bandage over most of my left face. I looked at Aric, who was trying to talk to Corn.
"Aric, please go. I need to talk to him alone." Corn said harshly; Aric blinking. He nodded, and walked out, which he turned to me. "I know it's you, Yohan; Devon told me. Please, just talk to me. I need to know everything; I need to know the truth." I turned my head away; wincing in pain. Corn sat beside me and sighed. "Are you...really...a Rokakku..?" he asked slowly, the words obviously causing him pain. I bit my lips. "...yes."
He then looked at me, obviously not finished. "How many children did he have?" He was staring at me, now worried. I sighed. "There were...four of us. Alicia, Rose, Trevor, and myself. Devon was adopted." I said slowly; throat hurting as I spoke. Corn nodded, and looked up. "Was he...always an ass?" I frowned for a moment, and shook my head. He looked at me, waiting for a response, but I remained silent. I was busy thinking.
"Yohan, he wasn't always bad? I want to know what happened." I could barely make out what he was saying when something came to my realization. That captain looked familiar. Awfully familiar. "Yohan, are you even listeing-" "THAT WAS TREVOR!" I blurted out, causing Corn to jump. Confused, he asked me to clarify. "The captain! That was my brother, Trevor! But...I thought..." I suddenly frowned. "Thought what?" Corn asked.
"Trevor died; that's what drove him over the edge." I replied; eyes wide. Corn frowned. "Trevor had drowned; he was swimming in water and something had caught his ankle. He went under, and never came back up. When we pulled him out, Gouji went mad, and started killing people. He wanted people to suffer and lose happiness, because he lost his." I frowned.
"So if Trevor is alive...what happened...?" Corn asked slowly, and I sighed. "That's what we need to find out."