Crystal Rain
Chapter 22 - Rescue
Crystal followed behind Masaki as they ran past Hiroto and the man he was still fighting. Taking a few more turns with Masaki easily throwing down a few stray goons, the two eventually reached another larger area where a sketchy mobile trailer was situated. Looking up at the sky line they appeared to be behind where the Mighty Warriors so called home base was, the glow from the lights on the front of the building were almost alone enough to light their way and the noise coming form the main area was still just as loud.
The trailer looked unguarded, "Stay there" Masaki slightly lifted his hand in dictation to get Crystal to stay. He approached the door to the trailer and forced it open with ease and slowly stepped inside just beyond the threshold. Taking a 180 look around from left to right, he suddenly jumped when he saw Crystal standing right next to him. "Eish! I thought I told to wait over there," she scoffed and ignoring him stepping further into the trailer to take a look herself. The trailers interior was very worn, some explicit photos and band posters she didn't recognize hung on the walls.
Dirt and litter was scattered every where but despite the mess there was nothing to indicating that this was where the girls had been held. Disappointed she passive aggressively pushed past Masaki who stood blocking her exit, "There's no one here and no sign that any of the girls were here, including whoever you're looking for." "Relax, will find them" She only looked at Masaki, of course she knew she would find them, she wasn't about to give up till she did. With another sigh she set off, this time Masaki was the one following her.
They were making their way down the last small ally they hadn't checked, Crystal a few paces in front of Masaki eager to get to the end thinking it was the last place they had to look surely they'd be there. "Wait," frustrated Crystal turned around to face Masaki who had his head cocked to one side, like he had heard some strange sound. "What?" it came out a little more stern then she had realized, but she was anxious to find the girls. Masaki placed a finger to his lips, "listen." Crystal tilted her head to see if she could hear what Masaki supposedly herd, a tapping of metal rung in her ears.
Turning to face the container where the sound seemed to be coming from, Masaki inspected the graffitied rusted container before placing his hand on the double latches, pulled them out and with a jerk tugged on the heavy door stepping back to open it. Crystal ran over to join him, a smile crossed her face as she let out a sigh of relief from the sight within.
There were her friends some siting in tears on the floor other slumped over leaning against the walls of the container, but all for the most part appeared unharmed. There were a handful of other girls Crystal didn't recognize, one of which was sporting a bloodied hand which she held up to block the light that suddenly shown in her face. No doubt she had been using it to constantly bang against the sharp corroded walls. A few of the other girls also looked to have smilier markings.
Masaki knelt down in front of the group who were still trying to adjust their eyes to the sudden change in light, "It's ok you're safe now." He extended his hand to the nearest girl for her to take. Though she couldn't see her face as Masaki blocked her view, Crystal recognized it was Sakura from her light bubble gum pink hair. As soon as Sakura noticed Crystal standing just behind Masaki she made a B-line towards her and engulfed her in a tight hug, the other white rascals girls right behind her. "Crystal!" "Thank god you all are okay," Crystal was embraced into a large group hug and from where he was still kneeling, Masaki stood up a look of disappointment that he too did not receive a hug covered his face.
"Oh, Asami," After hugging the girl Crystal held her at arms length to inspect the bruises that ran all up and down her stomach and back, the poor girl was in nothing but white hot pants and an equally short and tight crop top. "Here," with nothing but empathy in her tone, Crystal removed her jacket and draped it over the girls shoulders and wrapped it around her pulling it closed around the girls small fragile frame.
They group were making their way back to where they'd left Hiroto when a roaring cheer could be heard echoing into the sky. Many of the girls slightly retreated back in fear that perhaps they were on the losing side, but something in those cheers told Crystal that was not the case. For one thing the cry of "That's what you get when you mess with SWORD!" "Let's Go Sword!" and other various celebratory shouts boasting SWORD's strength could be heard through the dense cheers of the gangs. She turned back to the girls with a reassuring smile, "It's ok, its over. let's go."
The group rounded the corner to see the Hiroto and the man were still engaged in their fight, "Are you still at it?"Masaki half teased half actually surprised at his brother. In his defense Hiroto did seem like he was done with the man as the larger fight was finished, but the man didn't seem interested in stopping until there was a clear winner. The man moved to strike once more but a gentle voice stopped him, "Ice?" The man, Ice, turned around to face the girl who had just called his name, who Crystal recognized as the girl she had fought with earlier. "Sarah," with an almost silent exchange between the two, Ice admitted defeat and turned back around to Hiroto.
"No use in fighting anymore if ain't gonna get paid right?" one of the boys on Ice's side spoke up but Ice made no indication that he heard the man. He kept his glare focused on Hiroto, not wanting to leave their fight unfinished ,"See you around Bro" and with that turned and led his gang out. Crystal wondered where they'd run off too, they obviously couldn't stay here anymore. She had kept an eye on the girl Sarah as soon as she had stepped into view, still curious as to the girls motives.
With the Mighty Warriors gone, Masaki came to stand by his brother who turned back to face Crystal and the rest of the kidnapped girls. "Did you find her?" "These were all the girls that were being held?" Hiroto took another closer look at them then turned back to face his brother, "She's not there." "I'm telling you these were all the girls. What does she look like?" Masaki protested his brothers stubbornness.
From behind her Asami sheepishly spoke up, "um...there was another girl," the silence they gave her told her she should continue, "She was with us, but when everything started these two guys took her off somewhere else." "Where did they take her?" Masaki questioned looking around for possible location, "What did she look like?" Hiroto asked overlapping Masaki's question. "I don't know," disappointment that she couldn't answer their question evident, Asami shrunk back into Crystals side. "It's okay, think about it for a moment," Crystal encouraged her, the least she could do was help them find this Lala girl after they had helped her find her friends.
"She had long brown hair, soft features," Asami shook her head trying to remember the glimpse of the girl she'd seen before they had pulled her away, "She was wearing a tattered old green jacket, if that helps. I don't know where they took her. The last time any of us saw her it was so hectic, the fight started there were all these loud noises, we were being shoved and forced into this huge metal container," her speech broken up a little as she re-lived the terrifying experience. Crystal wrapped her arm around her shoulder and Asami placed her head on it in comfort.
"Let's go. I know where that was, it's a good place to start," Masaki tapped his brother on the shoulder to get his attention. The brothers took off but not before Masaki once again gave Crystal another charming smile, "Thanks, I'll see you around," deciding not to make some sarcastic remark she only wished them the best,"Good luck." Masaki gave her a wink and then walked to catch up to his brother. Crystal shook her head in amusement at his continued antics and quickly returned to her goal to get the girls back to the White Rascals.
Preview: With everyone back together, the White Rascals got ready to leave. Not looking forward to the punishment that waited for her back at Club Heaven, Crystal fiddled with the straps on her helmet. Shun had already gotten the bike going waiting for Crystal to climb on, but before she could place her helmet over her head a voice rang out from the crowd, "Rain?"
A/N: Fun fact if you watch the scene where Masaki walks up to Hiroto after the fight is over you'll notice one of the White Rascal girls does have pink hair. As Sakura is better known as the pink blossoming cherry tree I thought it'd be fun to incorporate this into the story