Chapter Text
Another false lead, another chance at finding their missing friend gone. Beat had been scouring through all of Tokyo-to in search of Yoyo. The other GG’s occasionally helped him, but with the Rokkaku police escalating their violence, and rival rudie gangs encroaching on their turf, the crew was spread thin. Beat had volunteered to check on this current lead, as usual. Though Corn opposed going in alone; believing it to be more dangerous out in Immortal territory. Regardless of his warnings, he went alone, and sure, he may have been a little reckless. In his pursuit, he had fallen into a trap. And when he came to, he found himself in a stadium—the Rokkaku Expo Stadium. His communicator watch was missing from his person. The only way to communicate with the other GG’s taken from him, and listening to Jet Set Radio became impossible. He was completely alone—except for a stranger, a girl not affiliated with any rudie group.
He made his rounds with Jazz, the unfortunate soul forced to participate in this game with him. It was a little confusing how she got roped into this, or why her captors thought her to be a part of the GG’s, but the two were tearing it up, anyhow. She was quick, keeping up with his pace, and each ball pass flew between them seamlessly. Their opponents didn’t stand a chance. He was getting in the zone, almost forgetting he had been in a cage a couple of hours ago, until a familiar voice brought him back to reality.
“Beat! Hey Beat, what the hell are you doing?”
He looked over beyond the fence dividing the players from the viewers, and within the crowd he spotted a familiar blue helmet; Gum was here. Another round passed, marking another victory for the GG’s. During their brief moment of respite, the blonde rudie made her way closer. She did not come alone, as two others, Garam and Soda, rushed over.
Wearing his signature smile, Beat skated forward at a leisurely pace. “What are you guys doin’ here?”
The first to respond was Garam, moving forward with an accusing finger. “Rescuing your ass, what else would we be doing? We heard all about the death ball match through Jet Set Radio, figured you were here after you stopped responding.”
Beat shot him another smile and waved his hands to drive off his concerns. No reason to have them worry more than they needed to, after all. “Ah yeah, those Noise Tank nerds must’ve taken my communicator, but hey everythin’s fine. Look, I even made a friend.”
All eyes fell on Jazz, who jumped back at the sudden attention. “Uh… s-sup?”
Loud sirens rang across the stadium, causing the crowd to panic. The rudies in the stadium looked around confused, many trying to see beyond the fence for an answer. In the blink of an eye, police cars and officers ran past the crowds, arresting anyone they could get their hands on. The police quickly cleared a path and set up barriers for those unfortunate enough to have been left behind. A loud, infamous voice boomed from behind, followed by the appearance of a huge Terror Drone. Commander Hayashi made his appearance known with his crazy laugh; boasting about arresting the rudies as he made his way into the stadium. Without hesitation, the other GG’s followed in.
Jazz tried turning back, attempting her escape, but the police had advanced enough to cage them in. There was no way out now. Gum took the front, shielding the rest as she began speaking into her communicator.
“Uh, Corn…? We may have got into a little trouble here.”
“The police there?”
“Yeah, and they got another massive drone….” Her voice was shaky—this was her first time seeing the drone up close.
“Get out of there!”
“There’s no way out! We’re gonna have to fight.”
“Shit… I’ll send—”
Beat stepped forward, shouting into the communicator, wanting the rest to hear. “What’s wrong, Corn? Don’t want in on the fun? Why not come yourself?”
He could hear an exasperated sigh on the other end. “No one would be in this mess if you hadn’t gone alone to—”
The conversation ended short as Hayashi began his onslaught. The GG’s dodged the attacks; the awkward movements from the giant drone made it easy for the rudies to skate circles around it. Garam and Soda entwined two of its legs, leaving Beat and Gum to take care of its underside. Before they could finish, the drone hit them with an unknown attack—a heavy sound wave erupted from it, disorienting anyone near. Taking its chance for a counterattack, the giant drone launched itself at the closest GG it could reach—Garam. Before the hit landed, someone pulled him away quickly and effortlessly. Jazz had rescued him.
“H-holy shit, I can’t believe I did that. I’m so glad I did, but holy shit. Did anyone see that!?”
Beat gave her a thumbs up; happy to see someone who was an anxious mess just moments before be able to overcome it. “Eyy nice one!”
One by one, each GG distracted, attacked, and sprayed paint all over the Terror Drone, messing with its joints and its controls. Hayashi had failed to stop them yet again; the drone could not get back up.
The GG’s rushed to escape and escorted Jazz far from the scene, but not before she promised to meet up sometime soon. Usually, in the streets, such a promise was a threat, but Beat could tell she was interested in their group.
“Aww yeah, new recruit, I’m tellin’ ya”
Garam’s face lit up in a flash. “Oh, that would be so sweet, just like she is.”
Even Soda, who had been quiet most of the night, spoke up. “Another member to our gang would shake things up.”
As the group skated back to Shibuya—back to their turf—hey spotted Combo alongside Ryth, who enthusiastically greeted them. “Oh gosh, I’m so glad you’re all safe! We were on standby until we heard you kicked Hayashi to the curb.
Beat clicked his tongue. “Standby? Man, Corn’s losing it, huh?”
Gum hummed in response. “Yeah...it would’ve been nice to have gotten backup….”
His shades luckily concealed his surprise. He hadn’t meant it like that; in reality, he believed they didn’t need any backup. Not taking the chance to ruin one of the few moments someone else was going to talk smack about their leader, he remained silent. Especially if that someone was Gum—Corn’s co-leader, his right hand, his confidant. He always did like getting under Corn’s skin, talking back to him, and trying to one-up him in front of the others. Sometimes he meant it, sometimes he didn’t, but the fact remained: his resolve was unwavering until he was in charge of the GG’s. The day he could tell Corn what to do would be a glorious one. That is where he belonged after all—in charge of the GG’s.
Pots ran up to the group to meet them once they returned to the hideout. The little dog wagged his tail without pause and jumped up to ask for pets from the group. Ryth gave in first, calling him cute over and over, while Combo tried to avoid him completely. The rest went up the stairs to meet with the GG leader. Gum took over explaining the series of events that went down with Hayashi, which Corn nodded along to, taking in each detail.
“So the Noise Tanks were working with the Rokkaku police, huh?”
“Yeah, and still no Yoyo. We’ll have to find another lead.” Beat crossed his arms, thinking intently on how and where they could get some intel. Something, anything that could reunite them with their disappeared friend.
“Uh, Beat…? There is the possibility that Yoyo doesn’t want to be found, you know?”
He wasn’t sure if he heard that right. He paused, trying to discern if this was real, if Corn actually believed what just came out of his own mouth. It wasn’t the first time Corn theorized Yoyo had high-tailed it out of there and gone back home. But he didn’t know Yoyo as well as Beat did. Yoyo was his friend, his best bro; he did stupid shit sometimes that got him into trouble he couldn’t handle, but he was no coward. An annoyed sigh escaped him. “Listen Corn, no offense, but you’re not that close to your crew; what would you know? Yoyo ain’t like that. Sure, he got spooked by the police at times, but he’d never run away like that. He’s probably out there alone! Waitin' for us! We gotta find him no matter what.”
“Why are you worried about him right now? Worry about yourself first. Look at what happened tonight. You got caught cause you saw him, didn’t you? It was all a trap. He deceived us; he tricked all of us.”
His ears were ringing; he started seeing red. What the hell was he spouting on about? He gritted his teeth, and if it weren’t for his gloves, his nails would be digging into his curled hands. Never had he gotten this angry in front of the GG’s, in front of Corn, but he felt like this needed to come out. His fist flew towards its target without hesitation—right on the side of Corn’s jaw.
Even as he watched the blonde rudie fall to the ground, he stepped forward, perhaps meaning to continue with another punch, perhaps not. He didn’t know. He lost it all then. He only knew that two sets of arms were holding him back as he screamed at the dumbass on the ground. “You fucking asshole! You weren’t even there! You really think he would? It wasn’t him! That wasn’t Yoyo!”
He expected Corn to strike back the moment he got back up, but Gum was there. With a glance she could always calm him down, and it worked brilliantly here. “Let’s talk in the morning,” he muttered before leaving; Gum followed behind him.
Garam and Soda let go of Beat once the other two were gone. He didn’t even realize it, but they made an effort to calm him down; their words fell on deaf ears. Soda was the first to leave; too much drama. Garam stayed with him until he was sure Beat wouldn’t murder Corn in cold blood. Garam was someone Beat considered a friend. He was also close to Yoyo, often joining Beat in his search, but he hadn’t that night; he stayed in the hideout until he received his orders for the stadium. Beat wasn’t sure what to think. Maybe he was tired of failing to find Yoyo? It was certainly taxing. He could also have other things going on, personal ones, but how could he pick that right now over their friend? Beat had his own things to worry about too, but here he was day and night doing stuff for the GG’s while trying to find Yoyo. Despite everything, he couldn’t be mad at Garam. He didn’t deserve his ire.
Garam removed his goggles and lightly nudged Beat’s arm. “You want me to talk to him? You know I love calling people out on their bullshit.”
He wanted to say yes. He really wanted someone else to let him have it, but Beat shook his head instead. “Nah, don’t bother, like he’d ever listen anyway. I think my fist did most of the talkin’ there.”
Garam laughed, “Damn yeah, that one seemed like it hurt. Don’t think I’ve ever seen you that angry before, though.”
“Heh, never seen him be so fucking dumb before. How could he give up on him like that? Sure, he doesn’t know him that well, but one conversation with him and you know what Yoyo’s all about, you know?”
“You know, for his sake I hope he didn’t mean it. Knowing him, though, I don’t think he actually did.”
Beat cocked his head in confusion. “What do you know that I don’t?”
“How do I put it? He’s a chill guy most of the time, but he gets stuck in his head a lot.”
“What do you mean chill? That guy ain’t chill.”
“Haha, that’s because you keep on trying to show him up. You don’t get to see his chill side. But nah...man’s cool most of the time. Just think about it, dude doesn’t ask questions and lets just about anyone join his gang? Heard he even let Combo keep most of his turf from the Terminal after he joined up. Part of it is GG’s, part is his. You know… he wasn’t the only one who thought Yoyo played ya. We heard it on pirate radio, even DJ-K thinks it was him.”
“But it wasn’t! It looked kinda like him at first, but I could tell in the end that wasn’t Yoyo.”
Garam placed a hand on his shoulder. “And I believe you, man. But there is one thing Corn is right about: you gotta worry about yourself too. Imagine if we heard about the death ball match too late. We could’ve been down two GGs.”
“I was fine before you guys showed up. Would’ve been fine without the help.”
“Wow… ’thank you Garam for thinking about me and helping me escape’.”
“Okay, okay. My bad… thanks, man.”
Garam slapped his knees and stood up with a yawn. “Alright, well… time to hit the hay; we won’t be able to find our buddy if we’re too tired to think.”
“Yeah….”
“And Beat? I’m here for ya, man. Don’t always have to keep everything in that brain of yours. Remember, don’t get stuck in your own head.”
“Pfft, you wanna talk about our feelings?”
“Whatever you feel like sharing. Just saying, I’m here when ya need me.” Garam left without another word.
He looked over to the spot Yoyo used to hang out—right next to Pots’ kennel. Yoyo had been the one to play with him most; he had even tried teaching him some new tricks, like the time he tried showing him how to skate. They didn’t even know they made inlines so small. Yoyo spent so much time and energy on a dog that wasn’t even his, he was Corn’s. He clicked his tongue; just thinking about him made him upset until he remembered the punch. Had he gone too far? Not far enough? Corn wanted to talk the next morning but...nah if they talked that soon he’d just end up losing his cool again. It’d be best to avoid it for as long as possible.