Crystal Rain

Chapter 21 -Battle at the Containers

Sneaking up stairs to her small private room, basically set up like an office of sorts, Crystal opened the small closest in the far corner. It wasn't as stocked as the one in her apartment, but had extra clothes in case of emergency and for this purpose had what she needed.

She grabbed one of her larger, somewhat oversized, white leather jackets, zipped it up and put on her plain black combat boots. Wrapping her ponytail up and tucking into a white helmet she placed it over her head, she looked like one of the Rascals, as long as the blacked out visor stayed down and no one looked too close. She wasn't sure this disguise would work but then thought about some of the guys, like Kaito for instance, who had an even more feminine figure than her when you really looked at him, plus his jeans had more tears in it than hers did sometimes.

Shun was her best bet to ride with as she knew that he normally didn't have anyone who rode with him when the Rascals went out in groups for other smaller matters. If she had had her own bike she'd have taken that but since she'd yet to figure out a way to buy one and hide it from Rocky, she as causally as she could situated herself behind Shun on the bike. The man didn't think twice that it wasn't an actual Rascal joining him for the ride as it wasn't uncommon for him to pick up random extra members who didn't have rides when the whole gang was required to go somewhere. Plus it helped that he was preoccupied checking his mirrors and stretching out his calves, as any fitness junkie would do before an expected fight.

The ride wasn't that long and on the road they had passed the two tucks carrying the Oya High students and eventually met up with the others gangs traveling to the port. She wasn't paying attention to them but rather the other sites that passed by, this was the farthest she'd ever been away from the White Rascal territory and while there wasn't much to look at, mainly open road, she still enjoyed the view.

The motorcycles pulled to a stop and before dismounting she took a look at her surroundings to her left were the Oya High students in their distinct blue and the rest of the gangs on her right. As everyone stepped forward she hung back a little until she knew they were all focused on what was a head. She removed her helmet, placed it quietly on the bike seat and stepped forward to join the rest while still remaining in the back where no one could see her. She noticed a movement in the upper right corner of her vision and glancing she saw perched on top of a single container a group of boys mostly decked out in dark shades of green.

By their ragged appearance it was safe to assume these were the legendary Rude Boys she had heard about. Lit by the dim spot lights of the large ally made by stacked containers, her eyes was drawn to a boy with a white bandana around his forehead and dark red hair. Something was very familiar about him, she couldn't quite pin point it and didn't have any time to think further on the matter as a cry from the Cobra, Hoodlum Squad's leader, was heard in response to one from the gangs facing them. In a split second the two groups were rushing each other.

Her mission wasn't to mainly fight these guys but to find out where they had taken her friends, so while she confronted many others from these so called Mighty Warriors, Chanson and Kuryu Groups and a Prison Gang, she was mainly playing defense. Only engaging with someone until she got them to the ground the first time or far enough away from her that it gave her a chance to continue weaving through the masses, not caring if they person stayed down or got back up again once she had taken off.

She was stopped in her tracks when a Oya high student and Rascal were thrown in front of her. Looking to see what caused their stumbled she saw a flurry of fur twisting and twirling with kicks that made strong contact with any of its opponents, sending them to the ground of flying backwards. When the figure came to a quick rest she saw it wasn't another man, as she expected, but a young women probably close to her own age. Crystal wasn't sure if she should be impressed for finally seeing another strong female in action defending herself or to be shocked and upset that any women would actually assist these gangs who wanted to make money in such illegal ways, including the selling and trafficking of women.

The girl fished another roundhouse kick slamming one of the Daruma Ikka guys to the ground when she looked up and spotted Crystal. Crystal narrowed her gaze as time felt like it stood still for a brief moment as the two sized each other up. They both moved at the same time, a clear path between them as they rushed toward one another. Both threw out high thrust kicks, the soles of their right feet meeting with equally force so that neither one was knocked down or moved back. Quickly recovering, the two squared off again. Both matched in flexibility, agility, leg movement, quick thinking and blocking, neither Crystal nor this girl could get a clear shot at the other.

Crystal noticed there was almost something foreign about this girl, she was strong and a little mysterious, her eyes looked to hold some sort of trauma. From being around all the girls who tried to keep their past secret at the club, Crystal was very good at reading people, at least she thought she was. If she wasn't so focused on kicking her ass and had met under different circumstance, they might actual have been able to be friends. Plus she was getting jealous of the girls stylish fur jacket, but that was beside the point.

Even though the two were almost equally matched, this girl defiantly had more experience, her technique was cleaner and her breath and body seemed more relaxed and in control, than the way Crystal attacked each move. Realizing she was going to get tired before this girl, Crystal's mind was reminded of her initial mission. She saw a small narrow path between the stack of containers, most likely leading to a smaller closed off area where she could sneak off to try and find the abducted girls.

Another side kick was aimed at her and she quickly dodged it by ducking and sliding underneath it, her hand grabbing the girls stable leg as she stood back up, tripping her to the floor. Not a fancy move by any means, but it got the job done. Instead of re-positioning herself for another attack as the girl regained her bearings, Crystal turned around and bolted for the small opening. As much as it hurt her pride to leave such a match where many things about her and this girl were alike, she also had the gut feeling that they had't seen the last of each other. This was neither a win or loss to Crystal, as she retreated not out of fear but because she had a more important goal to finish.

The narrow space she emerged from opened into a small some what round clearing between containers with a few different paths about the size of two side walks. She could hear the fighting on the other side of the shipping crates, which only seemed to be getting louder. A new sound met her ears, it wasn't shouting or metal being clanged together but... a motorcycle? a few if she was hearing correct. She thought she saw a headlight flash by the opening where she had just squeezed through but as much as her curiosity wanted her to turn back and investigate, she turned back around and carefully crept down one of the paths that now stood before her.

It felt like she had been wondering around forever, so many little turns and dead ends. She was slow and quiet to make sure no one got the drop on her, but everyone seemed preoccupied with current fight happening. She did hear voices, not just yelling, coming from not to far away in the opposite direction of the skirmish and turned towards her right to follow the sound.

Cautiously peaking around the corner, she saw a man in black leather surrounded by what easily looked to be 20 to 40 guys. It was hard to count as they were all circling the man, some with metal pipes, a pretty unfair fight if you asked her. The man didn't seemed worried, equally turning in a circle to access his surroundings. His face was hidden in shadow but she could still just make out his features in the low trash can fire light, as her turned to face her direction her eyes opened wide. It was him.

The man she'd met at the DMV, Masaki was the name he had told her, she briefly tried to remember their last exchange on the steps before she was refocused as the fight started in front of her. Watching from behind the container, she admired this Masaki's ability, despite the onslaught of men none managed to lay a hand on him. His dodges quick, his attacks fluid and strong, he looked to be one step, maybe even two, ahead of all his opponents. She noticed he favored kicking techniques, very similar to Taekwondo or Muay Tai, and she wondered if he had some professional training as he was more skilled than your average street fighter or anyone else she'd yet to meet. From charming flirter to stern fighter, "what else are you hiding?" she whispered under her breath.

A clash directed her attention further a head where two men, one dressed like Masaki and the other like a wanna be rap artist, were also engaged in an even match. These two had similar styles and seemed to favor different boxing styles more than fancy kicking methods. Despite the three favoring different styles all were exceptionally skilled in what ever technique they were currently applying to their individual fights. Even when the men attacking Masaki were wielding lit pieces of wood from the trash can fires he never changed tempo. Within a few minutes Masaki once again stood surrounded by a circle of thugs only this time they were all on the ground either knocked out or failing to stand back up.

Seeing most everyone incapacitated, Crystal made a move to re-trace her steps, but in doing so was not paying attention and knocked over a stack of crates and empty bottles. "Shit," she mumbled under her breath, "Who's there?" she could hear Masaki's voice of curiosity mixed with both assertiveness and a gentle tone. Seeing there was really no use in running off she slowly stepped out from behind the shipping crates.

"You?" he's stern look replaced by surprise. "What are you doing here? you know it's not safe? are you in trouble, were you also taken?" he walked closer to her asking questions a mile a minute, the joy and surprise of seeing her not even remotely hidden in his tone. She was about to try and answer his questions when she noticed a realization cross his face, "Are you Smoky's sister?" he lazily pointed at her inquisitively. "Who?" she was taken a back by this question more than the others he had just rattled off, "Smoky," Masaki restated this time with more diction. There was that name again, the one that made her smile when she had first heard it back at Club Heaven, even though she had no idea who this Smoky was.

From across the way she heard the other man dressed all in black yell back,"Thats not her!" he sounded like he was about to say more but was distracted by blocking an attack from the rapper wanna be. "Who is that?" "That's my brother Hiroto" he sounded almost proud, "I'll introduce you...when he's not busy." Both turned to take another glance to see how Hiroto's fight was getting on .

Turning back to face her, Masaki, finally gathered concrete thoughts and asked her again, "You still haven't told me, why are you here?" A reassuring smile crossed his lips, perhaps a strategy he was used to employing when he wanted people to trust him and give him information. She had seen his ability and despite only meeting him once a week or so ago, he could be her best bet to finding the other girls quickly. "My friends were taken, I'm here to get'em back" "That's a dangerous mission for one girl to do all by herself" he took one more step forward, they were only an arms length away now. "Believe me, I'm tougher than I look," she cocked her head to the side, almost challenging him, even though she knew he'd have her pinned in second if she actually took him on.

She turned the conversation back around on him, before he could pry any further into her agenda or history, "and you, what are you and your brother doing here? as far as I know you have no reason to be a part of this SWORD conflict," she crossed her arms in front of her. "We're not. We're here just to do a favor and then will be on our way." "Then excuse me, cause I actually have something important to get back too," she was wasting time talking to him and decided if fate was on her side they'd catch up later. She made to walk down another path behind Masaki, but before she could enter he again called out to her, "We just came that way, there's nothing down there. Follow me." She gave a defeated sigh coming to the conclusion that working with Masaki was definitely better than not working with him.

A/N: Writing long sections of action and dialogue are not my forte so I hope you enjoyed this chapter.