Another story requested by GoldGuardian2418. Enjoy!
Rachel sighed as she kicked up the leaves walking down the sidewalk. Ever since she moved to this new town, she hasn't had a single friend in a thousand miles.
Some voices came to her ear, one of them sounded very afraid. She ran down the street and around the corner, she saw three bullies pushing a scared smaller boy up a spiked fence. Rachel saw those same bullies at her school. They were the self-proclaimed F squad, made up of Frank, Fred, and Fletcher.
Rachel wasn't going to just stand there. She ran up and thrashed right into the trio of bullies, all of them piled on one another. The little boy ran away crying and screaming while he had the chance.
"You've got some nerve picking on a little boy, you big jerks!" Rachel scolded.
When the bullies stood up, Rachel gulped. They were a lot taller up close. They towered over Rachel, who, at this point, felt scared and helpless.
"Well then," Frank, the pack's leader said, pounding his fist. "I guess we'll have to make due with you..." His cronies snickered as they pounded their fists and cracked their knuckles.
Getting the message, Rachel took off like a shot.
"Get her!" screamed the leader and the boys ran after Rachel.
Rachel ran as fast as her legs could take it. Before she knew it, she was already on the other side of town and into the forest. But she was too scared for her life as she kept running.
Feeling like she's been running forever, Rachel had to stop and catch what's left of her breath. At the corner of her eye, she saw a cave. Quickly, she ran inside the cave and kept running further and further.
"Where is she?" Frank said. The gang looked around, but their victim was nowhere to be found.
"Hey, look over there!" Fred said, he pointed to the cave, with the moonlight and dark shadows over the cave, it gave it the appearance of a rather monstrous looking face.
"I don't think I've ever seen that cave before." Frank said.
"Don't think it was here before." said his partner.
"You think it's h-haunted?" Fletcher said a little shaky.
The leader rolled his eyes. "Come on, there's no such thing as haunted anything."
"Uh, maybe we should forget it." said Fred. "Besides, how do we know she's in there?"
Frank grabbed the boys by their shirt collars. "Of course she's in there. Where else would she hide? And we're all going in there to get her, ya got that?!" he yelled furiously at them.
Inside the cave, Rachel had to watch her step, she never knew what kind of things could be in these caves. She was surrounded by stalagmites and darkness. She aimlessly wandered through, hoping those bullies gave up looking for her.
Rachel was so wrapped up in her thoughts, she failed to notice a small crater in her path. When she stepped on it, the floor collapsed and Rachel fell down what appeared to be a slide made of sparkling crystal. Rachel screamed as she slid all the way down the narrow slide. She felt sick as she kept sliding down and taking sharp turns.
Finally, Rachel fell to the ground. Her head was spinning in circles, she shook her head to snap out of it. When she opened her eyes, they became filled with amaze and wonder.
Rachel was in a cavern filled with gorgeous magenta crystals. It was such a glorious, breathtaking sight. Rachel practically forgot her worries as she got closer to the gems.
Just then, Rachel heard some movement and looked behind, but no one was there. Now Rachel's nerves were starting to get the best of her. In the back of her mind, she can't help but feel that she was being watched...
All of a sudden, something very hard hit Rachel on the head. She fell to the ground as her vision started to fade.
Rachel began to stir, her head was still hurting. She moved one of her arms to check her head, except her arm wouldn't move. In fact, she couldn't move any of her arms or legs. Rachel's eyes snapped open and she gasped in horror.
She woke up with her wrists and ankles tied to a stone slab. She looked around and saw she was still in the cave. After a few minutes of struggling, yelling and screaming, she gave up, tears beginning to form in her eyes. She bit her lip in fear of what will happen to her next.
Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard footsteps coming her way. She turned to her side to see what had entered the room. Oh, if only she didn't.
"A MONSTER!" Rachel screamed. Her captor was a tall, humanoid creature made of purple rock with it's hands, face and shards protruding from it's shoulders and head made of magenta crystals. He was even taller than the bullies! His one green eye looked down at Rachel, scared stiff on the slab.
"Who are you?" the rock creature demanded.
"R-R-Rachel J-Jocklin..." the girl squeaked.
"If you expect mercy, you better come clean." he warned. "Who sent you?"
"I-I wasn't sent by anyone!" Rachel replied honestly. "Just let me out of here!"
The monster grew agitated. "How many of you are there?! How did you find this place?! ANSWER ME!" his voice getting louder, screaming now, but all this got was a frightened whimper out of Rachel. A whimper that became a scream of pain as the creature fired a multicolored energy beam at her. The pain was excruciating as it coursed throughout her body. Then the pain suddenly ceased and Rachel went limp in her restraints, panting in pain.
"Answer my questions, human." the creature demanded as Rachel raised her head slightly, seeing the creature through her tear blurred vision. She tried to speak, but her throat was dry and her nerves were on fire. Her captor waited until she found her voice and did not repeat his demands, nor did he fire another low powered beam at her.
"...I...I'm telling you the...truth..." she was finally able to gasp out. "Please, don't hurt me again."
"YOU LIE!" the creature roared.
"I'm not! I swear!" Rachel talked quickly, in fear of being zapped again. "Who are you? What are you?!"
The creature stomped his foot forward. "I'll be asking the questions here, human!" He walked over to a stone table to get something. "If I just eliminate you, I won't get any answers. But I have discovered a form of torture that you humans are especially vulnerable to..." he darkly mused.
Rachel turned white as a sheet. The shot from the energy beam had sensitized her, which meant that she would be more susceptible to pain. She got an awful image in her head of a circular saw blade, or worse, a giant ray gun! She watched as the monster chose his weapon of torture. She closed her eyes. If the creature was going to start cutting into her skin, she didn't want to look.
Then, Rachel started giggling when she felt something soft being brushed along her bare belly, which was showing after the monster lifted up her shirt. She opened her eyes and saw the creature tickling her belly with a long, white feather with a large plume. Out of all possible tortures, this was possibly the worst!
"Nohohohoho! Dohohohon't! Anything but that!" Rachel pleaded as she squirmed around in her bonds.
The monster smiled in the most evil way. "If you want me to stop, then tell me the truth!" he stated as he kept gliding the feather across her tummy.
Rachel's laughter grew harder and harder as he kept up the tickling, all over her stomach, her ribs, and her bellybutton. Rachel had to tell him something before she died laughing, so she told him the truth. "O-O-Okay! I came here to hide from these bullies who were chasing me!" Rachel said through fits of laughter. "I-I'm sorry! I won't tell anyone about you!"
But he just kept up the infernal tickling while Rachel begged, pleaded, and reasoned for him to stop until the human coughed and tears rolled from her eyes. He finally stopped, he observed the girl as she was catching her breath. There's no way she would have been lying under all that torture, so she must have been telling the truth.
Rachel blinked through her tears and looked up at him. "Thank you." she sighed.
The creature blinked. "For...what?" he asked, surprised.
"For stopping." she answered between breaths. "I'm very ticklish."
Her captor chuckled. "Yes, you certainly are." He reached down and wiped the rest of her tears off her face. He then stroked her head, which was actually helping Rachel relax. He untied Rachel and the girl sat up on the stone slab.
"So, what's your name?" Rachel asked him.
"Chromastone." he answered. "I am a Crystalsapien from the planet M'or' Otesi. I came to this planet after my home world became dangerously irradiated by a constant powerful barrage of ultraviolet light. But when I came, I was abducted and imprisoned, waiting to be experimented on by these awful humans..."
"Experimented on?!" Rachel said, no wonder this alien hated humans.
Chromastone went on. "I managed to escape and made this cave my base. I thought that you were one of the lab's agents come to take me back." He lowered his head. "I'm sorry I've done this to you." he said sympathetically. "I was so angered by the humans, I was acting just like them!" Now he started to cry.
He stiffened his sobbing when Rachel wrapped his arms around him. She looked up at him, smiling. "It's okay. Please don't cry."
Chromastone embraced her, returning the hug. "Can you ever forgive me?" he sniffled. "I've acted very badly."
Rachel patted him on the back. "It's alright. I forgive you."
"Hey kid! You in here?!" a familiar voice shouted from above their heads.
"Yeah, good thinking. Like, she's really gonna answer if she's hiding from us!" another familiar voice said.
"It's them!" Rachel exclaimed. "They followed me here!"
"You mean the bullies who tried to hurt you?" Chromastone asked, Rachel nodded.
"I have an idea..." the alien told her.
The boys were still wandering around the cave, looking pretty exhausted. "Frank, can we please go home? I can't walk another step." Fred moaned.
Frank opened his mouth to speak, until they all saw Rachel standing before them with her arms crossed. She smiled. "Hey, boys. Miss me?"
The gang approached Rachel, ready to throw the first punch. But the boys suddenly screamed and huddled together when a tall silhouette approached from behind the girl.
"I'd like you to meet my new friend." Rachel said.
Chromastone began to glow ominously as he raised his arms and stretched his fingers out. He let out a nerve-shattering roar, terrifying the three boys as they screamed all the way out of the cave.
The two laughed as they exited the cave. "That was the best!" Rachel giggled.
"I know!" Chromastone agreed. "I've haven't that much fun in a long time! Well, I guess I should go..."
"Go? Go where?" Rachel asked.
"To my cave." Chromastone replied. "I have nowhere else to go."
But Rachel grabbed his hand. "Well, you're welcome to live with me!"
Chromastone looked at her in disbelief. "What?"
Rachel smiled and nodded. "Of course! You can stay with me! And we can be friends! How's that sound?"
The alien didn't have to be told twice. He swept Rachel in his arms with a big, warm hug. "Absolutely!"
With his new friend in arms, Chromastone jumped and was flying through the sky!
Rachel was amazed that he can fly. The two looked over the bright lights of the city as they headed back to Rachel's home. And Rachel couldn't be more happier, she finally made a friend.
And as for the F squad, let's just say they turned over a new leaf whenever Rachel was around...