Tight.

That's one word I could use to describe the Rapid 99's choice of clothing, and another one if I had a say-so, would be just plain skimpy.

A black long-sleeve shirt - as clingy to my figure as a size too small could be – with bottoms that could barely count as panties, hot pink fishnets, and a collar with a broken chain.

I looked at myself in the mirror, unsure of whether to be disgusted or thrilled. In under an hour I had been turned into someone completely different. From the pink collar down to the neon green spankies, I felt like I was being completely reborn into the world as an extremely provocative, under-aged, trouble maker.

"Hot. If we weren't at war with almost every other gang, I'm pretty sure you'd be pulling rudies left and right."

The only 99'er's name that I knew so far, Dash, always made me feel welcomed. Not that the others didn't, she just went a little easier on me than they did. She was supposed to size me up tonight, to see what I could and couldn't do. Tagging sounded like fun, I just wasn't sure if I could do it.

"The only problem is, your hair is jet black." she said, crossing her arms, and studying my appearance.

"And too bad I'm not dying my hair," I added, with a smile.

"Well I think Str- I mean... I think she has a solution to that."

Dash was always on the brink of slipping up. I never understood the big deal about knowing our leader's real name, anyway.

Well. So to speak.

Our leader came back into the room, holding a small black cloth and two bands. "Put this on. I wanna see how it looks," she said as she tossed me the cloth.

I held it up. It was a mask, and the edges were lined with pink metallic material. There was even a pink metallic print of a pair of lips on the front, and for some reason, I couldn't wait to try it on. I pulled it over my face and tied it, and Dash's grin grew wide.

"I fuckin' love it."

"Yeah, you'll fit right in. After your lesson, we're gonna go on a little adventure. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? Wait, don't answer that. It should sound like fun. You in?"

I was a little surprised at the offer. "What kind of fun?" I thought I was a little too new to be out on the scene at night, let alone hanging out with the big girls.

"You know the GG's?" she asked, a smirk sliding across her features.

"Heard of them. Aren't they a has-been?"

"Yeah," Dash answered. "But two of them showed up on the rooftops three nights ago, and they're just asking to get their asses handed to them."

I didn't quite follow, but I could see our leader was going to explain further.

"See, there was this Yoyo kid, the one who thinks he's bad-ass. And that other broad...I can't think of her name. But she was wearing all black." She looked to Dash, hoping she would know.

"I think her name was Boogie. I don't know for sure because her hair's black now," Dash said, shrugging.

"Well I don't know who she was, but I know that little green-haired bastard anywhere. Anyway, they offered us a game for control of 99th street. Can you guess what idiotic challenge it was?"

I had absolutely no idea. I never knew they had different challenges, other than spraying their art over their rivals'... "No?"

"A race. A damn race."

"And if you didn't know, that's just plain stupid." Dash said. "We're the Rapid 99. I mean, what dumbass challenges the Rapid 99 to a race?"

She and our leader began to laugh, shaking their heads at the GG's.

But, I was a bit skeptical. "How do you know it's not a trap?"

Dash and our leader immediately stopped laughing at the GG's 'idiocy' for a moment, seeming to consider that it actually might have been a trap.

"They don't have the balls. Plus, Yoyo has never been fast." She placed the two bands in my hands. "Oh, and put your hair up in two buns. Think it'll be cute on you."

"I don't know, what if they're trying to make a comeback or something? That's what it sounds like to me," I said, pulling half of my hair upwards and into a bun.

"They're not, Flow." Dash said, giving me a stern look.

I guess I was never supposed to question our leader's decisions. I took the hint, and decided to leave it at that – if they had confidence, then I would too. I had to admit that something still didn't seem right about this though, and if something went down, I'd try to be ready.

"So, Dash," I began, smiling. "Let's get to it, shall we?"

"Just a second. A few finishing touches first." She walked over to me, and pulled four pink metallic chopsticks from behind her back.

She stuck two in each bun, and our leader came over with a tube of lipstick and eyeliner. As they made up my face, I could feel myself getting nervous, and a bit anxious. Was I really going to be a part of the street-gang that I once hated so much... and be excited about it?

"Damn," our leader said, taking a step back alongside Dash. "Hello hello, my foxy little vixen."

Dash smirked. "As soon as we hit the streets, if you don't already got one, find an attitude. You can't look that dangerous and sexy if you talk like a five year old."

I smiled, and nodded. "You're right."

Dash ran over to the window, and I followed. Our leader handed me my own pair of spiked black skates, and after we put them on, we hopped over the window seal.

It was still very warm out, but the the breeze that followed us as we skated through the streets kept me cool.

"This feels so good, right? Knowing you're in total control, flying free, and nobody's gonna get in your way..."

She was right; I felt confident and powerful now. Every time we turned a corner, people immediately clung to the walls. It helped that 99th street was the most lively place at night, with all the lights, laughter, and partying that went down almost non-stop. The city finally got around to fixing the deal with blackout.

Dash sped ahead of me, and started to skate backwards. "Race me all the way around the area to back here."

Without another word, and giving me only a glimpse of her grin, she took off.

I realized this was my first test, since it'd have to be totally different navigating the area on skates. And the fact that this was a race. My first race, ever.

Faster. That's all that went through my mind until I had Dash back in my sights, and after that, was...

Rush.

Soon enough, we came out of the alleyways and to the center of 99th street, where apparently, a huge dragon was the main attraction of the area at night. Dash jumped onto the Dragon's tail – a railing that went all the way to the top.

"Oh shit," I cursed to myself. I knew how to grind rails, but going upwards?

I just didn't think about it as I jumped towards the pink computerized fire bolt– I just felt air, and soon after, the sharp collision between my skates and the railing. Dash wasn't far ahead of me, but she clearly thought she had the advantage. That was true, but only until we reached the top...

Rush, Rush, Rush ...

We were both on flat ground now, but we'd only be here for less than a few seconds, and I had to take the lead now, or take my chances when we'd hit the ground – whenever that'd be.

I pushed harder to go faster, and suddenly I was actually passing her by. It was that easy!

"You're actually tryin' now, huh?" she yelled with a wide smile, not far behind.

I jumped onto the neon railings, and we grinded until we hit a billboard. Suddenly, I felt myself turning my body a full 360 as I headed toward the ground.

As soon as my wheels hit the concrete, I kept pushing. I heard Dash squealing in approval of my little trick just now from behind, but I ignored it, unable to help the huge smile on my face.

Rush, Rush, Rush ...

I was in the lead, and Dash was far behind. The area started to get familiar, and I decided to turn into an alleyway to end the race quicker. It was the one I was going to use to get home no more than two days ago, and then it hit me-

My home...

What happened to my apartment? Who were the Love Shockers? And their ex I was supposedly fooling around with? In such a short time I was able to completely forget all that was left of my real life, but now, just by passing through this particular alley, I was reminded of everything. Were people even looking for me? I mean, I wasn't exactly living by the clothes on my back, or whatever food I could find- I was safe, and well fed. Classes weren't until Monday, and no one would really suspect anything except my best friend, but lately, she never came to visit on weekends anymore.

I'd been staying in Rapid 99's little sanctuary, a huge top floor apartment decked out in all sorts of pinks and greens and rave posters, with tons of records scattered across the living room floor along with a set of turntables and three huge speakers. Apparently, Dash's parents were filthy rich, let her live on her own, and sent her a huge allowance every week. No one had a real reason to be worried about me, and even if they did, when they saw me in these skates and this outfit, they'd know I was doing fine.

Now, if someone wanted me to go back home, well... that would definitely be a problem.

I hadn't realized I took myself back to our starting point. I stopped and turned around, only to see Dash skating up to me, laughing.

"Nice. You're a lot tougher than you look. We didn't even use boost dashes."

"Boost dashes? What are those?" I asked.

She pointed down to my skates, and I lifted my left foot. On the side of my skates were two little exhaust pipes, and I noticed the outline of an open-able slot for the first time.

I lowered myself to a crouch, and flipped open the slot. Inside, was a black battery, outlined with a blue glow.

"These skates are special. They're powered by netrium batteries for boost dashes and other cool stuff, as you can see. All of the other gangs have em' too: the Immortals, the Noise tanks, the Doom Riders... everybody."

I looked up to Dash. "I have never heard of the Immortals a day in my life."

Both of her eyebrows raised subconsciously. "The mummy dudes with gold-plated skates? They're kinda slow 'cause they get tired easily. I guess that's how mummies would be if they were real, or something. They get too into the whole image thing..."

I rose back to my feet. "So what do we do now?"

"We see if you can tag." She tossed me a pink spraycan, and kept the green one for herself. "To the rooftops," she pointed.