WAKING IN PINK

Princess Ballerina

Pure of heart, she will save the day!

Toshie groaned, as his eyes opened. He saw the vibrating, Princess Ballerina motif phone, flashing pink as it rang.

With her super good dance

She’ll make friends and dance and play!

He reached for the pink phone, flipped it open and killed the tune with the press of the green button.

“Hello?”

The other side was dead. He looked at the screen and saw, ‘1 new message.’ He read the message, mouthing the words, ‘Join the Gang. Challenge the Steel Crow.’

He looked around the darkness. It seemed he was under some heavy material that blocked out the light. Throwing it off, knocking over something hard above him as he sat up. There were hollers of surprised as his action also tipped a table of drinks over.

A bunch of angry men and a few women in leather surrounded him. Their jackets had the same symbol of a hog, stabbed by two machetes. Toshie kept an eye on their weapons, chains, crowbars, baseball bats, katanas and even guns.

“Who are you, boy?” The biggest of the gang, a white male, said. He had blonde hair, shaved on the sides with spikes at the top. His eyes were hidden behind circular, purple glasses and below, his nose was pierced in the middle with a thick nose ring. “What are you doing in our territory… wearing the wrong colours?”

Toshie looked at his attire and sure enough, he was wearing the wrong colours… in general. He had on pink leather pants, a tight pink jacket with the image of Princess Ballerina on the left breast and a black shirt underneath. “I-I woke up here.” He said.

The gang shouted angrily, most calling for his blood.

“Boy,” the big man said, withdrawing a machete from his back sliding it along the floor, “You better tell me something that makes sense or you’re not going to tell anyone anything ever again.”

“I… I… I want to join the gang!” Toshie blurted.

This caused an eruption of laughter. Machete-Killer raised his machete and everyone immediately went silent.

“You’ve chosen an interesting night to join the gang,” he said.

Toshie could only shrug.

“Fine boy,” The big man said. “This is the Machete Bike Gang! Our membership works on a ladder system, with the whelps at the bottom and the leaders at the top!”

There was a roar from the gang members.

“To join, all you have to do is challenge someone. If you win, you are part of the gang and the person you challenged becomes the whelp. If you lose, we kill you.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Toshie gulped, “Sounds reasonable.”

“Who will you challenge?”

“Challenge?” he looked around the assembled gang members. They all looked mean and dangerous. He looked at the man in front of him and raised his finger, pointing at him. “I challenge you, Steel Crow!”

There were hushed conversations in the group.

Machete-Killer laughed humourlessly, “I’m not the Steel Crow! I am the leader, Machete Killer.”

“I am Steel Crow!” A man walked from the crowd. He had a tattoo under his right eye, his hair a mixture of blue and black styled straight up into a mohawk. In his hand he had a crowbar, connected to a chain that looped around his shoulder. “And I am the second in command of the Machete Bike Gang!”

“S-Second in command?” Toshie said. He did not understand why the text messages told him to challenge the second in command. Wouldn’t challenging the leader make more sense? “Alright,” Toshie clenched his fists and tried to get into a fighting stance but the pants would not let him so he remained straight, “let’s fight.”

“The challenge is not fighting,” Machete-Killer said. “We are a bike gang. The challenge is a bike race.”

“What? But I can’t ride a bike!”

The gang laughed again.

“Well, you better learn quick.” Machete-Killer said. “Judging from your get-up, I’d say you don’t own a bike. Give him the Grey Donkey!”

“Grey Donkey, that doesn’t sound good.”

Toshie was led to the small bike that looked more like a junk heap on wheels an actual motorcycle. Hanging from the handlebar was a half helmet, hastily painted pink. “Great, I don’t know how to ride a bike and I have to use this thing.” He frowned at the wet helmet, swinging from his finger. “I’m dead.”

His phone rang again and he flipped it open to see a list of new messages. The messaged together formed an impromptu driving lesson for bikes. He read them, testing the messages out as he straddled the old motorcycle.

Steel Crow rode up beside Toshie and Grey Donkey.

“Hey, where are the keys?” Toshie asked.

“We lost the keys a long time ago,” Steel Crow smirked while revving his bike.

“What am I suppose to do?” he panicked.

“That’s your problem, trash!” Steel Crow laughed as he rode to the starting line.

Toshie gulped in fear before receiving another message, this one saying, ’Where the key should be connect the 2 bunches of wires together.’

Toshie pulled out three pairs of wires.. He connected the first and was rewarded with a shock that made him flinch. He took a breath and connected more and with the last two connected, Grey Donkey came to life, making a sound like it was passing gas while a plume of smoke which engulfed Toshie. When it cleared, his pink clothes had been dyed black by the soot clinging to them.

“So old Grey Donkey still runs, huh?” Steel Crow said as Toshie shakily rode up beside him. “I won’t say it will help, though. As soon as Barbed Nails starts the race, you’re a gonna.”

Toshie looked at the woman in question whose lips were locked with Machete-Killer while on his Harley Davison motorcycle. The boy was beginning to suspect he and Barbed Nails were glued together at the mouth by how long they were kissing. The woman was able to pull away and step in front of the motorcycles, poised between them.

“This race will be along the yellow line to the bridge then join the line again to get back here” the woman said to them. “First one to cross this line again, will be the second in command of the Machete Bike Gang.”

Toshie could see the yellow line which formed the emergency lane. He focused his attention at trying to follow it.

“First things first though.” She smirked at Toshie.

A woman came up to Toshie. He heard a click, followed by a pinch at his wrist. He looked down to see he had been handcuffed to the Grey Donkey. “What?”

“This is so you don’t get any smart ideas about running.” She said as she dug out handkerchief from her cleavage.

“Racers ready!” she said, raising the kerchief.

Steel Crow revved his bike. When Toshie tried to do the same his bike jerked forward, stopping short of the white line that marked the starting line. Smoke spurted from the bike, causing him to cough violently, eliciting a laugh from the other gang members.

The woman shook her head, with a smile that held back her own laughter. “GO!” she swiped the handkerchief down!

And the bikes were off!