We were standing in front of a billboard, in an out-of-the-way area.

"Paint whatever comes to mind." Dash said, skating back to watch.

I stopped to think for a moment, imagining what I wanted it to look like, first. Then, I started to spray.

After I finished, I realized the number 99 surrounded by pink stars would've been the most simplistic thing in the world that I could've thought of, and it definitely showed.

"It's... cute," she said awkwardly, as she skated up closer to examine it.

"But... simple."

The comment came from someone other than Dash. A third voice was somewhere nearby, and I couldn't tell from where. It was definitely male, but a little high-pitched.

Dash looked to me, but not before scanning the area. "Who the fuck are you?"

"Whoa whoa, it's only me, yo. Calm down."

Dash's features tensed. I could tell she obviously had a strong dislike for whoever this was.

"Come out." She said, in a flat tone.

From our left, on a higher ground, came a boy in a navy blue hoodie with a white retro game-alien on the front, cargo shorts, an orange messenger bag, and... 3-D glasses. It was obviously the same green-haired kid I'd heard about before.

"Who's the new girl, yo?" He stopped a few feet away, bending forward, as if to get a better look.

"None of your damn business," I said.

He smirked. "Rude. So we on for that race, yo?"

Dash crossed her arms. "Not exactly. As you can see, there's only one of you, and two of us. I know you think highly of yourself, but going against both of us alone is just a bit insane, kid."

"Wrong!" he yelled, as if he were on a gameshow. "There's three of us, yo. Do you think you can handle us?"

Almost as if on queue, a girl in black jumped from the same building the boy did, and a guy in yellow followed behind her. They rolled up beside the green-haired kid, stopping on both his left and right.

"It's not like we knew we'd only stumble across two of you here, so don't think this was a set-up."

Even as she spoke to us, the girl, with red-lensed goggles pushed over her hairline, stood expressionless. From her intense, no-BS stare, down to her outfit, I could place her at about seventeen.

She wore a zippered black hoodie over a red tank top, and her blue and red star belt barely held up her tiny black shorts. Her skates were gray, worn, and accented with a dingy yellow, and from that, I could tell she was one of the 'old school' rudies.

The boy on his right... I wasn't so sure about. His skates looked brand-new. But, I knew for a fact that he was seventeen - boys just have a certain look about them that shows they're seventeen. Maybe it's maturity, maybe it's puberty... who knows?

The sleeves of his black jacket were rolled up to his elbows, and he was wearing pants and fingerless gloves of the same color as well. A vintage record was smack in the middle of his yellow shirt, and a silver studded belt stuck out over his black pants. I couldn't see much of his face, though - his eyes were covered by huge glasses, and his ears were covered by spiked headphones.

He crossed his arms. "Yeah. If it seems unfair, you can go get the rest of your crew. But... you can take your chances. If you want."

Then he let a laugh loose. "I don't recommend it though."

The three of them started to laugh together, and I could tell Dash was equally as humiliated and angry as I was.

Dash snarled. "Make it a one-on-one, then."

The three stopped laughing.

"Not so funny now, is it?" she smiled.

"You act like you got a secret weapon or somethin', yo. I'm sure lil' miss chopsticks can't do much more than you can. After all, she's new, right?" The green-haired kid smirked.

Dash started to fire back, but I stopped her. "We'll see," I said, staring the boy in the middle down. I could see why our leader and Dash hated him so much.

"So who's it gonna be?" Dash asked.

The three seemed to have no idea, but after a few seconds of staring at each other, the two looked to the boy on the right.

"Why's it gotta be me," he exclaimed, frowning.

"You're the fastest, yo!"

Even with his glasses on, I could tell he was giving them a threatening look.

"Whatever," he waved the two off. "This'll be over soon anyway."

Dash smiled. "He's not lying. You're way faster than him."

That gave me something to have confidence in, and when it looked as though we'd given them a little scare, I felt even better.

We skated up to the edge, and all five us us jumped onto the street. The boy and I rolled up a little further ahead, side by side.

"Any rules?" I heard Dash ask.

"As if." I heard the girl reply.

"Well, we've got one. It's our turf, our rules."

"So what is it then?" the boy beside me asked, sounding a little impatient.

"No boost dashes. Pure skill."

I grinned to myself. Dash knew I'd win if he didn't use it.

"Alright," the boy beside me said.

I heard the three behind us yelling, trying to figure out what route we should go on, and they seemed to be arguing.

"Just go all the way around 99th street, dammnit!" Someone yelled.

"You don't have to get so mad about it, yo..."

"Shut up!" I heard somebody else yell, as well as someone being painfully nudged.

"Ok, guys!" Finally, Dash's voice took over.

"Ready..."

I lowered myself to one knee, and watched as he crouched to a readied position beside me.

"Set..."

I could practically feel myself moving now...

"Go!"

He and I took off. We were side by side for a little while, but as soon as we reached the center of 99th street, I knew I'd be sure to pass him up.

We hit the end of the alley- but came to a screeching halt right after. There was a line of armed guards standing in front of the dragon's tail, and they all started to rush towards us on sight.

"What the..." I heard him whisper before he turned around.

"What?" I asked, as we both hurried to skate in the opposite direction.

"I thought we got rid of them!"

We turned the corner, and had the other three in our sights.

"Dash," I yelled. "Cops!"

She held her hand out as we got closer, and after I took it, we raced down the street together. The whole hand-thing was a little strange, but after I heard it was to make sure no one got left behind, I had no reason to doubt it anymore.

"Wait a minute, yo! Where are we supposed to go?"

Dash and I looked back, and the three of them were right behind us.

"I don't know, but you're not comin' with us so piss off!" Dash yelled back, returning her focus to our front.

Yoyo whispered something to me, and I gave in.

"Come on, Dash. They need our help."

She jerked her head to the side, looking at me as though I stole something from her. "Are you-"

"Just this once. We can't just leave them to get caught. What if it were us?"

After contemplating it for a short while, she sighed in disgust. "Follow us."

Dash immediately stopped, and pushed the door to the building on our right open. We ran up the stairs in our skates, and reached the rooftop. She lead us over two rooftops, and as the are seemed to get familiar, I realized we were going back to Dash's apartment.

She skated over to the single door on the roof, and opened it. She signaled for us to go down the stairs and inside.

I let the three to pass, and waited for Dash to get inside. She and I followed the three down the stairs, and soon enough, we were inside Dash's kitchen.

Dash locked the door behind us, and we all stopped to breathe.

"I know you didn't have to do this, so... thanks." The girl was obviously ashamed to be grateful, but I was glad she managed to thank Dash.

"Yeah. I know I didn't have to. And how long you think you're gonna have to stay here?"

"An hour. Just to be safe, yo."

She put her hands on her hips, and looked to me.

"You're putting up with them. I'm going to bed, so we'll talk in the morning."

We needed to have a talk? I could only guess that it wasn't gonna be a good one...

After Dash left, we all took seats on the sofas in the living room, staring at each other while the boy's blaring headphones were the only sound in the room.

"So... what are you guys' names? I'm Flow," I said, breaking the silence.

"Yoyo, yo," the green-haired kid smiled. "And that's Boogie."

"Yoyo, what the hell..." Boogie whispered.

"What? I mean, it is her pad... we can't be rude."

It actually wasn't my house. But they didn't need to know that.

Yoyo snapped his fingers in front of the other boy, who took his headphones down from his ears.

"Yo! Introduction!"

He looked to me. "Beat."

And, right after, he pulled his headphones back over his ears.

A huge grin spread over Yoyo's face. "See? I got him trained real good."

Boogie and I started to giggle, and Beat looked up.

"Your mic is still on."

"No! Bad! Don't you sass me," he yelled, pointing a stern finger.

Beat only shook his head.

After that, it'd gotten pretty silent. Yoyo spent his time looking through all the rave posters on the floor, Boogie occasionally sparked up conversation with Yoyo while she examined her manicure, and Beat stayed silent, with his back against the wall, and his music loud.

The hour passed casually, and they left.

I took off my skates, and unbuckled my collar. As I pulled the chopsticks from my hair, and sat down on the couch, I wondered: where did those three have to go if the GG's had fallen apart?