Time Warp

By Tallulah

(A/N: Hello, all! Right. Okay. I do not own the GGs. Unfortunately. The basic storyline for this fic may seem a little clichéd, but please don't write it off completely. I'm only a poor struggling author! Um…I have taken some liberties with various GGs' ages. I'm sorry if you don't like it. Also, just a quick note to say this is NOT a JGRF fic. It has nothing to do with JGRF. I have never played JGRF. This is a JSR/JGR fic, and that's the way it's going to stay.

Now I've finished my babbling, so please r+r!)

Chapter One – Disappearance

Benten-cho, Tokyo-to, Japan. 24th September, 2000.

"Beat, are you sure this is a good idea?"

Gum squinted at Beat's face in the darkness as the other GGs clustered around the Benten street corner.

"I'm telling you, I know what I'm doing."

"What are you doing?" Cube asked. "I'm baffled. First thing I know, I'm being press-ganged on this little expedition with absolutely zilch explanation."

"It's perfectly simple," Gum said. "Beat gets a message from some rudie chick who says she knows where the Noise Tanks' hidden base is, and would we be interested?"

"So what are we doing out here?" Cube asked.

"Meeting her. If we could tag up the Noise Tanks, we could reclaim Benten-cho, and that'd be sweet."

"You're telling me." Cube glowered. "You'd think with us saving the whole damn city from a Rokkaku demon, they'd cut us some slack, right?"

"Oh, yeah, and when have you ever cut anyone any slack?" Gum said, grinning.

"Okay, okay. So I –"

"Ssh!" Beat hissed. "Someone's coming."

Gum stared as a figure stepped out of the shadows into the neon glare of the lights above them. It was a girl, wearing a long black hooded jacket, and knee-length black skates.

"Hey," she said. "You're the GGs, right?"

"Right," Beat said. "So, you got a tip-off for us?"

"I got something for you all right." She spoke a little louder.

Gum heard the click of skates on concrete behind her. "Huh?"

"Hey, GGs," another female voice called.

Gum turned, and her heart gave a nervous jump.

They were surrounded by Love Shockers and Noise Tanks.

"Guys…" she said.

"Oh, nuts…this is a set-up, isn't it?" Tab said.

The girl smirked, and pulled off her jacket, to reveal pink spiked hair and Love Shocker uniform. "Yup. I guess when I said I'd side with you against the Noise Tanks, I must have got it the wrong way round. Oops."

Each of the enemy rudies held up a paint can. Gum swallowed. She could feel her heartbeat speeding up, the blood pounding under her skin. This would be a tough battle. There were four Love Shockers and four Noise Tanks, but the GGs were cornered.

"Oh, well." Beat sounded unconcerned, but Gum could see his free hand curled into a fist. "Guess we'll have to tag your asses out here instead of at your HQs. Shame."

"You're the only ones who're gonna be getting tagged tonight." The Love Shocker shook her paint can. "Let's give the GGs a new look!"

Gum groaned. Her joints ached. Her head ached. Hell, she ached. And she was cold too. The paint was starting to dry on her skin.

"Well, I don't think that went as well as could have been expected," said a bedraggled figure draped over a railing.

"Beat, we look like a plate of strawberries and cream." Gum stood up, unsteadily, and felt the paint start to drip off the hem of her skirt.

"Nice observation, Gumster," Tab muttered. "Have to say, they didn't all have to keep aiming for my hat. I think I'm going blind."

"Did they tag us ten times?" Garam said. "Cos if they did, I'm gonna go on a murderous rampage…with a chainsaw…"

"Nope, we're still rudies," Cube called. "But when I find out who tagged 'Pop Princess' on my back, I'm gonna rip their lungs out and then dance to Miller Ball Breakers on their bleeding corpse. Everyone okay with that?"

"Suits me," Mew snarled. "I hate – and I mean this – I hate people who put paint in my hair. If I catch those dweebs, I'm gonna take my makeup kit and stick it where the sun don't shine."

"How big's your makeup kit?" Cube asked.

"Big enough."

Cube gave her a ragged thumbs-up.

"You sure you didn't know it was a Love Shocker?" Slate said. He'd been covered in so much paint that he looked like a melting strawberry ice cream.

"Nope." Beat hauled himself to his feet and skated towards the rest of the gang, leaving a trail of pink paint behind him. "I'm really, really sorry, guys –"

"Yeah, well, that's nice, but I was fond of this outfit," Piranha snapped. "Geez, Beat, you could have sussed it out."

"Well, I didn't," Beat said. "What else can I say?"

"You could try growing a brain," Garam growled. "This is so damn humiliating, and it'll be blasting out on the airwaves by tomorrow, and we'll be laughing-stocks."

"It'll blow over," Beat said. "People forget."

"Come on, guys," Combo said. He had paint all the way up to his chest, but no higher as none of the rudies had been able to reach. "Let's just get home, have a wash, and chill. Things'll look better in the morning."

"Certainly less pink." Cube scowled.

"Aah, come on, you look gorgeous in pink," Yo-Yo said, rubbing paint off his glasses.

"Say that again and I'll maim you."

"Is that a threat, Pop Princess?"

"You seriously want to die, don't you?" Cube snarled.

"Cube. Cube-chan, calm." Garam quickly stroked his girlfriend's shoulders. "Come on. Let's get home, like Combo said."

The GGs skated slowly along the street. Gum tried to ignore the puzzled stares the paint-covered rudies were getting from the general public.

"This is sooo humiliating…" Mew muttered.

Gum had to agree. Her clothes were clammy against her skin, and she knew without looking that she, like everyone else, was leaving a paint trail.

Suddenly her wristwatch radio crackled into life. "This is Onishima! Those punks have been defacing public property! And each other! Send in the parachute squad, and fill those pests with lead!"

"Oh, the perfect end to the perfect night," Cube snarled.

"Come on, guys, let's just get moving," Beat said. "Over the bridge, quick."

Gum glanced up, and swallowed as the parachutes fell towards them. She started to dash. One bullet in the leg and she'd be done for.

The paratroopers landed, and she heard the rattle of machine guns.

"Run!" Tab yelled from up ahead.

They dashed onto the bridge, over the railway, and into the walkway area. Behind them Gum could hear the clatter of paratrooper footsteps. Bullets began to ping onto the ground around their feet.

"I do not need this…" Mew said. "I so do not need this…"

"Try and throw them off," Beat called. "Don't lead them back to the garage!"

The GGs separated, some heading on down the street, some dashing up the banisters of the walkways. Gum, Beat and Tab took the latter option. Gum's legs were starting to ache.

"We should be…safe now," Tab gasped as they got to the highest walkway. "No way they'll come up here…"

Another bullet ricocheted off the ground at his feet.

"Huh?"

Gum saw the splashes of pink paint dotted along the ground. "We left a trail, you idiot! Quick, let's move it!"

They ground down the flight of steps on the other side of the walkway, and ran through the tunnel into Benten-cho's residential district. The lanterns above them glowed on their paint-covered skin and clothes as they ground up a ventilation shaft, and onto the nearest roof.

"They can't get us up here, can they?" Tab said.

There was a clatter as a tile was shot off the roof.

"Will you keep your mouth shut already?" Gum said as they started dashing again. Beat jumped onto a phone wire and the other two followed him. Gum glanced down at the street as it sped below them and saw several paratroopers running to try and catch up.

"I don't think we're going to be able to do this for long," she said. "Any ideas, Beat?"

"Just follow me!"

He jumped off the wire, onto the roof across the street. Gum and Tab copied him, and landed on the tiled surface. Gum heard a few more tiles shatter on the street below.

They'd reached the gates to the railway now. Beat hurried through them, and as the others followed, pulled them shut.

"Now don't move," he whispered.

The three rudies flattened themselves against the wall, and waited.

Footsteps getting nearer. A pause. "I don't think they're here…reckon they went through the gate?"

Gum swallowed as her throat went dry. She tensed to run…

"Nah, it's shut…look, there's paint going across this way. Maybe they went down that alley."

"I guess. Let's check it out."

The voices, and the footsteps, faded away.

Gum breathed a delicious sigh of relief.

"Let's go," Beat hissed.

The rudies started to hurry down the tracks back towards Shibuya-cho.

When they finally got back to the garage, it was late. The paint was starting to dry on Gum's skin, and it itched.

"If it was any colour but pink…" she muttered to Tab.

"Yeah, I know. But keep it down, I think Beat's feeling bad enough without us getting at him."

Beat pushed open the garage door, and they crept inside.

Gum was relieved to see that the other seven GGs were all there. At least they didn't have to add a jailbreak to tonight's events.

"Hey, guys," she called.

"Hey, Gum, hey, Tab." Cube gave Beat a pointed glance and then turned her back on him.

"Oh, come on," Tab said. "Cut him some slack."

"I'm really sorry," Beat said. He took off his goggles, and started to rub the paint off the lenses.

"Sorry's nice, but it wouldn't have got us out of jail," Slate said.

"Well, what do you want me to say?"

"Look, just be more careful next time, okay?" Mew said. Her clothes were covered in dirt and dust as well as paint. "Piranha and I had to hide in the darkest, dirtiest corner of the siding for, like, hours."

"It was a mistake," Beat snapped. "I thought she was on the level, how was I supposed to know she wasn't? Look, we're all still rudies, no one's caught, no one's injured –"

"No thanks to you!" Cube interrupted.

"Just get off my case!"

"Why the hell should I? So what if everyone's okay? We could have been derudiefied, we could have been arrested, we could have been shot. You're the leader and you're supposed to stop that happening!"

"Well, it didn't happen!"

"No thanks to you!"

"Well, if that's how you feel, maybe someone else should have a go at being leader for a bit!" Beat yelled. "You try and solve all our problems if you think you're so great!"

"I'm not saying –"

"I don't care what you're saying. I'm out of here."

"But you're still all covered in paint," Gum said.

"Hey, it's my own fault. Right, Cube-chan?"

Beat stormed out of the garage, slamming the door behind him.

There was a nervous silence. Cube shuffled her feet.

"You gonna go after him?" Gum said.

"I was right," Cube said. "Look, it's better this way. He can cool off and then we can make up when he gets back in."

"Who's in the shower at the moment?" Gum asked.

"Piranha."

"Bags I next."

She went over to sit next to Tab, who had slumped down against the wall.

"Maybe I should go after him," he said. "It's not safe out there."

"With you all painted up as well? No way. I'll go when I've showered. And don't worry about Beat. He's a good skater, he'll be fine."

"I sure hope you're right."

Gum skated along, relishing the air on her clean skin. She still smelt of paint, but at least she didn't look like she'd been in an artists' battle.

She glanced at the pavement again, looking for more splatters of pink. Lucky for her Beat had gone out without cleaning himself up. It made him that much easier to find.

The trail led through the bus terminal, past the square and up into Center Street. Gum followed it, moving slowly, ignoring the occasional vehicle rushing past her. Jet Set Radio whispered in her ears, giving her confidence. It was a warm night, and she let herself enjoy the act of skating without worrying, just for a few moments.

Only for a few. Soon her thoughts had returned to Beat. Poor guy. He hadn't meant to set them up like that. But he was so damn naïve…always had been. Just didn't have the knack of thinking that people were all bastards underneath.

The muscles of her legs began to throb as the hill grew steeper. She stopped to rest, leaning against a closed video rental shop. The darkness inside it depressed her, and she quickly tagged the window before moving on.

Nearly at the top now. The paint trail wasn't so strong, fading out completely in places. Must be drying, she thought. So I better find him soon.

She got to the top of the hill, stood, looked around. Nothing.

"Beat, stop being a pest," she muttered under her breath. Her head was starting to ache with annoyance.

No more paint. Either he'd dried out completely, or he'd turned round and gone home again.

"Beat?" she called. "Beat, you out here?"

Her voice rang back at her, echoing through the empty streets. Was anyone out here tonight?

"Fine," she said, so that he'd hear if he were lurking somewhere. "If that's the way you want it, I'm heading home."

Her head was pounding now, like someone was kicking it. She closed her eyes, which only slightly weakened the pain.

"That's all I need," she said. Reaching up, she unclipped her helmet and took it off. Cool air stroked her scalp, soothing the agony.

She began to skate back down the hill, faster and faster. The darkened shops and houses ran away from her as she dashed, more and more quickly until they blurred into one continuous line of grey.

And then she slipped.

The world spun, went crazy, she cried out, saw the edge of a railing rushing towards her.

THUNK

And the grey faded to black.

There was a roaring in her ears, a roaring that grew louder and louder and louder and then – zip – faded and was gone.

She was warm. So was the ground.

Pain jumped and kickboxed on her forehead.

She opened her eyes, and sunlight punched them. Quickly she slammed them shut again, and sat up a little. She could hear music playing, faintly, in her ears…Will you stop playing with that radio of yours…of course, Jet Set Radio. Professor K.

She opened her eyes again, shading them with one hand. The light still hurt her, but not so much.

"Man…I must have been out all night…" She glanced at her watch. 21:30, it read.

"Great, it's stopped." But no – she could see the seconds ticking over, frantically transforming into minutes, minutes to hours…

"Okay, so it's slow. Fat lot of good you are at the moment," she said to it, and got to her feet.

Her helmet lay some distance away from her. She jammed it back onto her head, and then, braving the light, checked out her surroundings.

Center Street lay stretched out below her like a picture, the sun casting golden light over the shop fronts and houses, chasing the shadows away. Gum breathed in the morning air, and grinned.

Suddenly she remembered Beat. He must have gone home. She hoped he'd gone home. If he hadn't gone home…well, she'd worry about that later.

She touched her forehead, and winced as her fingers stabbed the puffy bruise on it.

"I'll find me an ice pack," she promised herself, and began to skate down the hill.

The paint trail had disappeared. I wonder if paint evaporates? Gum thought. Or maybe a street cleaner dealt with it.

There was the video shop…

She stopped. Surely she'd tagged that last night?

Puzzled, she walked closer. Instead of her tag, the window now featured a bunch of 'Premises To Let' posters.

Wow, that was quick, Gum thought. I guess shops go out of business fast.

She touched the window, which was warm from the heat of the sun. But where was her tag?

They washed it off, she answered herself. Obviously.

At last she got to the bottom of the hill, walked past the cinema. Pokémon Movie: The Tenth, the billboard next to it read.

"What happened to Pokémon movies four to eight?" Gum wondered. "Still, it's not like I'm interested in them. Let's see…Pokémon, The Blair Witch Project Five…Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire? Where'd all these come from? I have got to start reading more movie magazines."

She turned to go, and then a tag caught her eye, a tag painted on the glass front of the cinema door.

A Love Shocker tag.

"Great! First they paint us, then they paint our turf…" Gum whipped out her spray paint and covered the tag over. "Geez."

'Let Mom Sleep' rattled to a halt, and Professor K yelled, "Gangs come and go, but Jet Set Radio is forever! It's been a quiet couple of days, folks…"

Gum groaned and waited for the GGs' humiliation to echo into her ears.

"The Noise Tanks did a little decorating job in Benten, and the Love Shockers were chillin' out in Shibuya! Seems like we need some more rudies on the streets, guys…come on, enlist your friends and blackmail your enemies! Keep the vibes flowing!"

"What?" Gum stopped in the middle of the pavement as the word was torn from her lips. "That's it? Well, thanks, K, but if you're so desperate for news…"

She stopped as she realised she was walking along shouting at nobody. Okay. Calm down. Get back to the garage.

She walked past the square into the bus terminal, and her jaw dropped.

There wasn't a GG tag in sight.

Love Shocker tags spattered the buses and cars, smirked at her from the billboards. Gum blinked – she'd tagged that billboard yesterday, one of her best Minty Cool Flavours, how dare those bitches cover it up?

Angrily she leapt and jumped until she was standing in front of the billboard herself. Now to show those brats who the masters of Shibuya were…

Wait.

The Love Shocker tag was unfamiliar. A large broken heart with lightning radiating out around it. A different shape from the one she'd put on there yesterday. She should be able to see the remains of her tag, peering out from behind the Love Shocker one.

But she couldn't. Behind the pink lightning bolts there was nothing but advert.

Gum shivered. Okay, so they replaced the billboard.

But this tag was old, faded. It looked as though it had been there several days, if not weeks.

But it hadn't been there yesterday. She glanced around, checking she was looking at the right billboard.

No. Hang on. It was wrong. The advert she'd tagged was for deodorant. This one was for a car of some sort. She checked the other billboards. They'd changed as well.

But this was definitely the right one. The furthest one to the left. The one you ground up the lorry ramp to get on to. She knew it was.

"I tagged this," Gum said, laying a hand on the dry, painted surface. "I tagged it fair and square. I know I did. So what the hell is going on?"

She could feel herself shivering. Tagging was her way of making the world take notice, of expressing who she really was. If – if something had happened, if she couldn't do it any more…

"Stop it," she said, speaking out loud to check she still could. "There's bound to be a reasonable explanation for this. Boy, will the others laugh when they find out what you thought."

She tried not to think of that stupid ghost story Mew had told a few nights ago, about the girl who died and never realised…

Hands shaking, she tagged the billboard. She was trembling so much she almost dropped the paint can, and she didn't even know why. There was just a trickle of ice running down her spine, a violin chord of unease ringing in her ears…something is wrong, something is wrong, something is wrong…

"Now I'm getting back," she said, still speaking aloud. "I am going to go and find the others. I will tell them this, and they will laugh. Then we will go out tagging. We will find Beat. We will find everyone. I am not abandoned here. And I am not scared."

She leapt off the billboard, and dashed down the road towards the garage.

It looked the same, anyway.

Right?

Gum squinted at it. The sunlight was brighter now, dazzling her eyes as it shone through the trees.

The trees.

They were leafy, bursting with life, glowing green, however you liked to put it. Which was lovely. Except that she was prepared to swear on her life that the last time she'd seen them, they'd been starting to fade. Branches had become bare. Autumn leaves had tangled round the wheels of her skates.

Panic rose in her throat.

She focused on the garage again, trying not to think.

There were a few more tags than there had been yesterday, but she'd be stupid to let that worry her.

Maybe she shouldn't go in. Maybe she should just stay outside and pretend all was normal.

Yeah, right.

Gum skated towards the door and wrenched it open. She was so desperate to see what she hoped – GGs hanging out in morning sunlight – that at first her mind refused to take in what was actually there.

Then, slowly, it sank in.

The garage was empty.

"Okay," Gum said. "So they all went out. So it's later than I thought. I don't need to panic. I really don't."

"Gum? Gum, is that you?"

A guy was calling from the other room. She didn't recognise the voice – at least, she was pretty sure she didn't – but she did recognise its tone. Relief, mingled with fear.

"Yes," she said, the same feelings ringing in her own voice now. She still existed. She hadn't been ghostified or whatever. "Yes, I'm here. Where's everyone else?"

She heard footsteps, and the guy walked into the room.

"Who the hell are you and what are you doing in our garage?" she yelled.

He was a little taller than her, with tangled auburn hair and shadowed, tired eyes. Stubble speckled his chin like bruises. He was wearing black trousers and skates, and a wrinkled army green T-shirt.

And she'd never seen him before in her life.

"Who are you?" she yelled again.

But he was staring at her, looking just as puzzled. "Why've you gone back to wearing that old stuff? And – and you cut your hair…"

Then he blushed.

"What are you talking about? I've always worn this stuff. And I've always had my hair this length." Gum glared at him. "And who are you? Where are the others?"

The guy sighed. "What others?"

"The other GGs, you moron!"

He came over to her, concern forcing its way through the tiredness in his face. "Gum, listen. There are no other GGs. You know that."

Gum's heart jumped on its rhythm like someone missing a stair.

"Very funny," a voice that didn't sound like hers said. "Like I believe you."

"It's the truth! Oh, geez…" He ran a hand down his face, then took a deep breath. "Listen to me. The GGs are gone. We're the only two left. You can't go back, no matter how you dress or wear your hair. We're stuck with this life."

"We're the only two?" She tried not to think about the main meaning of his speech, only about this slip. "You're not a GG."

"Oh, man…" He turned away, reached for a black hoodie lying on the sofa. The sofa was still the same, Gum told herself. Keep calm. Not everything has changed.

She didn't feel calm. She felt like screaming, breaking something, or worse, bursting into tears.

The guy dragged the hoodie on over his head, and pulled a pair of sunglasses out of the pocket. Slipping them on, he said, "I am a GG. Come on. Look, let's go out for some fresh air or something…"

Gum stared at him. At the yellow 33 on his chest. At the red and white sunglasses with the square frames perched on his nose. At the arrows on the front of his skates.

"How old are you…" she stammered.

"What?"

"How damn old are you?"

"I'm eighteen, doofus. Same age I've been all this year."

"No," Gum gasped. "You're thirteen…you're thirteen, I know you are…"

"I was when you dressed like that. I'm not now."

"You can't be eighteen. I'm not eighteen yet."

"You're twenty-two, Gum-chan," he said.

"Oh, my lord, I'm going crazy…" Gum pressed her fists over her eyes, praying she'd open them and everything would be all right. It had to be. It had to be.

"Gum, calm down, it's okay…"

She took her hands away, and stared at the empty garage, at the guy standing facing her. Stinging tears started to fill her eyes.

"What the hell's happened to me?"

"I thought you'd got caught by the cops. What did they do to you?"

"I didn't get caught. I went out to look for Beat, last night…"

"Beat hasn't been findable for the last five years." He was holding her, stroking her back. She was too terrified to complain about it.

"No. He left last night…stormed out in a temper after we picked on him for getting us ambushed by the Noise Tanks and Love Shockers…"

"That was five years ago."

"It can't be. You're lying." She broke away from him. "I don't know you. You're not a GG. It's September 2000, and – and –"

"You do know me. I'm Yo-Yo. I'm eighteen years old, and it's August, 2005."