newbienovelistRD and I wrote this story together about how Rachel meets Kickin' Hawk. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I only own Rachel.

Grabbing Some Kicks

Rachel was headed for Grant Mansion to hang with her roommates when she heard a familiar engine and turned to see it was one of the school bullies and his partner riding shotgun. They were the college football players who loved to do anything to have a girl on their arm. They had tried countless attempts to get Rachel to join them, but she was never interested. They were a bit buffer than her fiancée Rook, but Rook was smart and muscularly, but also slim and Rachel took those qualities any day over really, over-exaggerated buff muscles.

"Hey, Rach!" said the driver. "Come on, babe. Join us."

Enraged that he called her a pet name that she only allowed Rook to call her, she turned to him slowly, her eyes narrowed in anger.

"I'm not interested," she said. "And don't call me that again."

"Why not, babe? You know you want to hang with us handsome, muscled guys. Check out the biceps," he said as he and his pal flexed their muscles and watched her facial expression. To their surprise, instead of smiling or giggling, she began to look more annoyed and her face darkened angrily.

"Why don't you two check out a horse's kick on your sorry behinds?" she retorted to their surprise.

"Ouch, babe. That stings," said the driver. "Come on."

"No," she said darkly. "Because you might have brawn, but there's one thing you don't have."

"What don't we have?" asked the driver's pal.

"You don't have brains. Your heads are empty, and I don't hang out with brainless jerks."

Well, that got the football players angry and they drove after Rachel after she activated her jump springs and jumped away from them, but they kept up with her. As they were on the other side of town, Rachel knew it would be a bit hard to shake them and so activated her skates to gain some ground, but then realized that they were headed for the more rural area of town that was mostly farmland. Quickly activating her springs again, she jumped high and landed on the ground hard, and kept going until she bounced into an old farm yard that had been abandoned a few years ago. The soft ground made it hard for Rachel to use her springs, so she deactivated them and ran up for the barn on the land. It was an old barn that had surprisingly not fallen already from the abuse it endured from the elements. Opening the door, she ran in to find a hiding place, but the bullies were right behind her, having left the car in the road to chase her.

Rachel paused to catch her breath, not noticing a pair of glowing green eyes watching her as she then looked up at the doors, which flew open to reveal the two football bullies.

"I'm sure we can persuade you to join us," said the driver as his buddy snickered.

"Like I said, go get kicked by a horse," said Rachel, making them angry as they advanced towards her. Rachel knew she was cornered and felt around with her hand carefully for some small tool she could use, but found nothing.

A sudden, hawk-like cry drew their attention upwards and they watched as something leapt down from the loft, landing between Rachel and the bullies. It was a tall creature, about a good two feet taller than the football players, wore what looked like a green chest brace and had green braces on his forearms and lower legs, making it look like his feet and hands were in boots, but there were sharp talons on them and two curved blades that looked like swords on his elbows. It also wore a green eye mask with a plume of white on its head like a Mohawk, almost. But while he looked mostly like a hawk, he had a short beak like a chicken. He unsheathed his claws and let them shine in the sunlight.

"Back off now, punks," the creature growled.

The bullies just laughed. "What a joker!" said the driver. "A chicken suit! How dumb!"

"Yeah, think he's the mascot for a loser team?" asked his friend.

Before the driver could reply, the creature let out another hawk-like cry and punched both of them hard, making them stumble back as he then did a leg sweep and kicked out hard and fast, his legs moving in a blur as the bullies felt each painful kick. When they landed on the floor again, the two boys took off for the car, putting pedal to the metal and getting out of there.

The creature then stood up and turned to look at the girl, but she wasn't there. Then he heard a grunt and looked up to see her disappear into the loft. She must have climbed the ladder during the battle. Quickly, he followed her, knowing that there were some spots that were dangerous in the loft and the girl could get stuck.

Rachel quickly made her way across the loft and climbed over some of the loose, slippery hay. She was almost to the other side of the loft where she spotted another ladder when she suddenly tripped, her foot tangled in some rope she hadn't seen. Her efforts to get her foot free only tangled the rope some more. Then she saw the huge, hawk creature standing in front of her and his talons gleamed as he raised his arms. Rachel screamed and tried to get away as his hands came down and the talons cut the ropes with one swipe. Jumping up after her foot was free, she began running again, only to trip and fall into a narrow tube in the floor. The only problem was, it was too narrow and so she was stuck with her lower body in the tube and her upper body sticking out. She tried in vain to get herself free as the creature came closer. Rachel screamed again as he suddenly grabbed her and lifted her up in his muscular arms, the tube coming out of the floor with her as it was a short, clear tube, but she was still stuck. She tried to squirm, but was too weakened to break free as the creature set her down gently on a clear section of the loft, laying her down on her back as she began to panic again.

"Hey, calm down, kid," he said gruffly. "Do you want me to get you free or not?"

Rachel was trembling too hard to answer as she then quickly curled her upper body into a submissive, half-curled fetal position. If she had been watching him, she would have noticed his eyes widen slightly in realization that she was more scared of him than she was of the bullies. "Hey," he said, deliberately softening his voice to not scare her. "Easy. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm going to help you."

Rachel heard him, but she didn't move, except to tremble harder. Sighing, he grabbed her by her underarms again to pull her closer so he could better examine the tube and figure out a way to get her free. She squeaked when he did so and he stopped for a moment, because her squeak didn't sound like one of pain. It sounded more startled than that and he noted where his hands were and his fingers were poking her under her arms.

Realization dawning on him, he smiled at her and she trembled some more before giggling hard as he poked her underarms again and then tickled them faster.

Rachel couldn't hold back her laughter as she tried to squirm away, but as her legs were still trapped, she couldn't move much as the creature continued tickling her underarms, grinning at her reaction as he moved one hand to her neck, making her scrunch up her neck to try and protect it from the tickle attack before his hands moved to her ribs and sides. Her laughter grew louder right then before he moved his hands to her stomach, making her jump and let out a loud squeal, making him grin.

"Someone's got a very sensitive stomach," he teased her as he lowered his head and shook his head back and forth, the plume on his head tickling her neck and she jerked forward to get away, but he was holding her in place before he then lay her down on her back once again, tickling her stomach with his hands again, being careful not to hurt her as she giggled and squirmed as hard as she could.

"Please," she begged through her laughter. "Not…heeheeheehee!"

"Not what?" he asked teasingly as he then lifted up her shirt a little, tickling her lightly with his claws.

Rachel almost hit the roof when he did that. "No!" she giggled out. "Not that, please! Not my stomach!"

The creature grinned widely. "Oh, yes, your stomach," he said with a chuckle as he then lowered his head so that the plume was resting on her stomach. She let out a few giggles as she tried to catch her breath, but then, he shook his head rapidly, creating an unbearable tickling that Rachel couldn't defend herself against.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" she screamed out.

Outside, Rook had followed Rachel's signal after she hadn't come home at her usual time and found the old barn she was in. When he heard her scream, he grabbed his Proto-Tool and it became a sword. Jumping through the open doors, he leapt up into the loft and held his sword in a ready position, only to then freeze in his tracks as he tried to make sense of the scene before him.

His fiancée Rachel was on her back, laughing as a strange being was tickling her stomach with his claws, but Rook noticed how the talons were sheathed so as not to cause Rachel any harm. Suddenly, Rachel coughed hard, making the alien stop tickling her and Rook running up to her, massaging her shoulders while the creature rubbed her back. The combined motions soothed Rachel and soon her breathing was normal again.

"My love, are you alright?" asked Rook, concerned.

"Yes," she said. "Just a little worn out."

She then looked at the alien who had been tickling her. "Who are you?" she asked, curious as she was now convinced that he wouldn't hurt her.

"Kickin' Hawk," he answered. "After I landed on this planet, I found this empty barn to take shelter in, but I didn't expect any company. When I saw you trying to get away from those bullies, I decided to help you."

He then winked at her. "By the way, great sense of humor. That took guts to say those things to those brainless dimwits."

Rachel gave a tired chuckle. "I prefer my man to be muscular, but lean and have more brains than brawn," she said, looking up at Rook lovingly as he smiled back at her.

Kickin' Hawk chuckled. "Now I know why you were annoyed at them," he said. "You're already taken."

Rachel chuckled again as she kissed Rook and he kissed her while their new friend freed Rachel by cutting the tube and all three headed for the Grant Mansion, soaking in the joys of friendship.

How was that? Please leave a review!

GoldGuardian2418