She let out a strangled cry as she tried a desperate swerve to the left, but the steel caught her right shoulder with a crack. She had never been hit so hard in her life; it stunned her for a moment, tingles spreading from her shoulder down her arm and spine before bursting into full-blown pain.
Nami sucked in her breath, trying to move her arm to keep her balance but finding the move excruciatingly painful. The blue-head whooped in triumph as he screeched to a halt before her, and Nami gritted her teeth, fighting her tears of pain down.
"I warned you,"
The weirdo sang to her face,
"I told you to stop running. Now go back to the others where you belong."
Her eyes glanced at her right shoulder, and saw the swelling red darkening into a violent purple. She didn't know whether to be thankful for her shoulder was still intact, or horrified at the bruise that was starting to throb in uncomfortable dollops of pain. Wincing and taking a step backward, Nami retorted,
"Why don't you?"
The eyes of the rider considerably darkened, and he stepped off his motorcycle slowly. Nami looked defiantly back at his glare, but hid the growing worry in her from the menacing feeling she got from the guy. Then she realised there were motorcyclers driving towards her and the creep behind him.
'They're planning to surround me,'
She realised. Her fingers tightened around her shoulder as we tried to think of a quick way to divert their attention so she could run for some help... when her eyes settled on the metal bar.
Nami glanced back up at the guy, and his eyes held a warning she did not heed. She turned, letting go of her shoulder, and reaching down she scooped up the metal bar with her left hand. Holding it in a grip, she turned back to face the yell of the blue-head, when a jolt ran through her.
A jolt of familiarity.
'That's strange,'
She thought as her fingers curled around the bar in a position she knew but did not remember,
'Why do I feel like I've held this before...?'
Her wrist flicked right, and the other end of the bar slapped easily into her right hand. Then, in a swift and fluid movement, Nami sifted the bar back before swinging it over in full momentum to crash into the blue-head's skull. Nami blinked. It had been so easy...
His sudden howl of pain brought Nami back to the situation, and tossing the bar with a clatter to the floor, she spun around again and ran. Engines roared behind her, but Nami was confident she could reach the backstage doors in time. Her plan was to run through the backstage and exit the back-entrance at the other end. It was closer to the doors, and hopefully she could exit just as it was clear of any of the hooligans guarding the--
Her heart skipped a beat as her eyes widened in horror, her heels sliding and skidding as she willed her feet to stop. How could she have forgotten?
The right side of the auditorium wasn't connected to the backstage. It was a thick wall that greeted Nami's shocked eyes. There were surprised looking riders guarding the right-back entrance, staring at the sudden student. Nami turned back, her mind fumbling to find another plan, when she was met face to face with the blue-haired dude.
Breathing irregularly with blood vessels bulging in his eyes, he drew his arm back before driving it into a heavy punch into Nami's stomach. She was caught in mid-breath, her eyes widening in shock before slamming into the unyielding wall. Her back stung, starting to warm with pain as she tried to get her winded breath back. Nami's eyes were screwed shut in pain, but she managed to pull one eye open to look up at the blue-head.
"Bitch."
He hissed. He held up the metal bar in a hand. Nami shut her eyes again, cringing. Was someone calling her name? Well, she couldn't do much to respond, at any rate.
"Crap."
She let her shuddering breath out with the word before the metal bar was swung towards her temple.
One minute, riders were pouring in from all sides. The next, Sanji was suddenly clammed up and squished into the middle of screaming and shoving people. He had spent the last five minutes trying to get a proper breath of air.
"Move!!"
Sanji yelled desperately, shoving yet another haplessly screaming student aside before finally reaching the outer area of the bunched up circle. His eyes widened at the mess he was now able to see.
Students were flinching as motorcyclists veered dangerously close to them as they zoomed around, and it looked as though the motorcyclists were having fun by tossing plates at the mass of students. As the students screamed and tried to avoid being hit, they ended pushing other students and making them fall. Sanji could see people helping their friends up, and some of them were bloodied up from broken plates and trampling from other students. Sanji grit his teeth.
'Who the hell are these freaks?!'
Sanji thought angrily, when he noticed that some of the riders were dragging teachers out of the circle and throwing them onto the pretty messed up dishes of food on the side tables. He watched as a rider grabbed his Literature teacher, and hoisted her up. She screamed and kicked, flailing her pudgy arms and opening her red mouth wide to no avail - and rider somehow managed to stuff her rear-end into the huge crystal fruit-punch bowl. Then the rider picked up the ladle, and with a relish, whapped the woman over the head several times before discarding it, cackling while hopping onto his motorcycle and zooming away.
Sanji didn't know whether to feel amused or sorry for his teacher as she struggled to free her bottom from the bowl, her hair and dress drenched in fruit-punch. A few pieces of melon were dangling from her hair as she screeched in frustration. Sanji had to suppress a smile. He glanced around, but he couldn't see the dean anywhere. Damn, he thought disappointedly. Then he noticed a familiar blue-head hurry past him.
"Vivi-chan?"
Sanji called out questioningly, and the girl turned, her eyes filled with concern.
"Oh! Sandy White!"
She exclaimed. A nerve twitched in his temple at the name, but he smiled graciously at the girl as he sauntered over to her.
"What's wrong? You look worried."
He said lightly. She dropped her worried look to a disbelieving look. Worried was not the word in her head, obviously. Well, there *were* maniacs in the hall and everything. Glancing to his left, he quickly brought an arm over Vivi's head. She blinked in confusion before shrieking in surprise as a plate crashed into his arm, cracking into pieces and shattering on the floor. Unfazed, he removed his arm, still smiling at her. Vivi swallowed.
"Uh, it's just... well, Nami managed to run out through the curtains a while ago, but then a leader of one the gangs - well, he looked like a leader - he drove after her, and I'm starting to get really worried--"
"WHAT?!!"
Sanji shouted, swinging his arms about with his eyes wide in horror,
"SHE'S WHERE?!!"
"Uh,"
Said Vivi, looking shocked at seeing Sanji change from cool and calm to horrified and panicky,
"Through that gap there..."
A quick glance at where she pointed and Sanji was off. He was forced to, however, skid to a stop in front of a rider.
"Going somewhere?"
The rider sneered. Without a second thought, Sanji jammed his elbow into the rider's chest. With a yelp and choke of pain, the rider fell to the ground with a crash with his vehicle. Not pausing to catch his breath, Sanji jumped over the obstruction and sprinted towards the gap. More riders, however, were coming into the way - seven of them, all together, off their bikes and now rushing to block him.
His mind was so full to bursting with worry of what had become of Nami he really didn't have much space left for the twerps. With a frustrated growl, his brain switched into reflex mode. Seven bikers running towards him to a point just in front of him; three to the left, four to the right. Without much thought, Sanji flipped himself onto his hands and brought his legs up before jerking them into a split. His arms working a momentum, he swung his legs round in a clean, sweeping movement, and his legs kicked out where he calculated jaws to be. Within seconds, Sanji was back to his feet and dashing for the gap while seven men crumpled to the floor, wheezing in pain.
Although Sanji didn't know it, there were cheers behind him from the mass of students. However, this spurred on more riders to attempt blocking Sanji's way. This time, he didn't even bother counting. A kick to the abdomen there sent a rider flying into a tureen of tomato soup. Round-housing brought three riders sprawling. A quick flip to his hands and he knocked a rider out with a heavy heel-kick to the skull. The rider next to him was shoved into another by a swift one to his jaw. A fresh wave of bikers were kicked back with another one of his clean sweeps. Then, easily landing back to his feet, Sanji ran over to the table before the gap, vaulted over it and then tore through the thick red curtains. He definitely didn't notice the shell-shocked silence following his performance behind him.
"NAMI-SAAAN!!!"
He cried, his eyes searching the semi-darkness wildly when he heard noises to his left. He ran as hard as he could, and saw four or five bikers surrounding a familiarly orange-haired girl...
"Nami-san!!"
He cried in relief, when a hand flew out and a thick metal pipe was swung directly at her. Her head was thrashed to one side violently before hitting the wall. Then her body slumped, her head drooping to one side as she fell unconcious.
"Heh,"
The culprit said in satisfaction, tapping the metal bar onto his palm,
"That'll teach her - and everyone else - a lesson."
Sanji's jaw was open in shock at the vulgar act towards such a defenseless young woman. His widened eyes then narrowed. He took a step forward, and the hooligans noticed him.
"What, another escaper?"
The rider with the bar snorted, tossing his blue pony-tail back before bending down and gripping Nami by her hair. He dragged her up, tilting her head back so her neck stretched back.
"This is what happens to anyone who attempts escape. So get back in there if you know what's good for you."
Rage surged through him, almost blinding his vision with its fierceness. Sanji had never been so angry in his entire life. His hands curled into tight, trembling fists.
"Let her go."
Sanji said through his teeth. The bikers glared at him, and the one holding Nami threw her back against the wall. As her body struck the wall, Sanji flinched, his eyes narrowing further. They walked towards him, the one with the bar still wielding it, the others cracking their knuckles and necks as they approached.
"Listen, we're the ones who order you pimps around. Got it, pretty-boy?"
The blue-head shook a gloved finger at Sanji, and he snapped. With a swift kick to the left and a heel-jab he got rid of two riders as they cried out in pain and skid across the floor. He ducked a punch swerve from the right, and kicked the guy's shin twice before kicking him into the rider next to him. Finally, Sanji spun to face his main prey, his eyes ablaze with anger when he realised he wasn't there. He felt a small movement behind him a bit too late, and the metal pipe was swung heavily onto his fore-arm. He yelled out in pain, turning to face the grinning blue-head.
"That's exactly what happened to the girl,"
Said the rider, his eyes glittering maliciously. Sanji felt the throbbing waves of pain, and his teeth gnashed together so loudly the rider blinked in surprise. He swung his foot up, and slammed his heel into the biker's jaw. He felt teeth crack with satisfaction before swinging back and slamming his foot onto the biker's stomach. The blue-head sucked in his breath before crashing onto the wall. The concrete wall behind him cracked and splintered at the impact, and was damaged further as Sanji grabbed the folds of the biker's clothes and shoved him into the wall again.
"That,"
Sanji growled, his eyes flickering dangerously and making the biker gulp,
"Is not how you treat a lady."
Then he burst into a round of repeated kicks into the biker's gut. Then, he sharply kicked the biker's chin up before finishing off by slamming his heel onto his skull and driving him onto the floor with a painful crack.
Sanji lifted his hands up to loosen his collar and his tie. Then, throwing the unconcious rider one last murderous look, he muttered,
"Bastard."
Brain switched back from reflex mode to normal mode. Wow, Sanji thought in surprise, I didn't know I had that sorta thing in me...
Then he took his attention to the young lady lying on the floor in a crumpled heap. Hurrying over to her, he knelt down and held her up. She looked so frail and vunerable with her eyes closed, her lips parted slightly as her shoulders slumped. Sanji hesitated before brushing her hair back and tucking a lock behind her ear. Then he saw the swelling bruise to her left temple. He looked at it, horrified, when he saw an equally blue-black lump on her right shoulder.
"What the hell did that @#$%er do to you,"
Sanji whispered, his fingertips brushing against the swelling. This induced a wince from Nami, even while she was asleep, and she shivered. Sanji gently held her, wondering what he should do now, when he heard the roar of engines behind him. Sighing, he set the girl down so she was resting against the wall again, and then shrugged off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. Then he heard, behind him, someone laughing.
"Sorry, hero,"
The person snickered,
"But you've gone far enough. You just beat up one of our leaders back there."
Sanji turned his head, and stared. In front of what looked about ten riders were two men, all of them unmounted from their bikes and wielding some sort of weapon. Was this dude wearing a fur-cap or something? He looked really weird. His eyes darted to the rider next to him, and this guy had half his hair shaved off. Come to think of it, the @#$%ing biker had paint on his face and a big red nose, too. What was up with these freaks?
"Pay-back time."
Said the weird half-shaved guy. Sanji stood up resolutely, and smiled at them.
"With pleasure,"
He replied.
"It's starting to get really bad."
Zoro commented, sweat-dropping as he saw Mr. Saunders scream and run like a girl as a bunch of riders pelted ice at him. Tashigi groaned below him.
"I think we should get help - now."
She stated, and Zoro nodded. Just then, a blond student ran out of the crowd of students. Tashigi gasped.
"Oh my goodness! He's going to get hurt like that!"
She cried, and almost as if to prove her point, a motorcyclist zoomed infront of him. Zoro squinted, straining his eyes a little, and then let out a small sound of surprise.
"What?"
Tashigi asked, growing panicky as the motorcyclist seemed to be threatening the blonde.
"That's my roommate, Sanji."
Zoro said, looking at him curiously as the model shoved his way past the motorcyclist. Tashigi looked at him incredulously.
"Your room-mate?! That's--"
She didn't get to finish her sentence.
Both of them stared at the sudden display of action before them as Sanji kicked away eighteen riders effortlessly before disappearing through a gap in the curtains. There was a silence in the hall as nearly half the riders tried to pick themselves up from the assault, the students stirring and whispering amongst themselves. Then the sound of a plate breaking broke the air, and chaos resumed again as new riders zoomed about, breaking plates and screaming orders while torturing teachers. The riders on the floor were recovering, and some jumped onto their bikes and disappeared through the curtains.
"That was amazing..."
Tashigi finally breathed. Zoro nodded wordlessly. His eyes looked at the broom handle in his hand, and he suddenly felt very stupid with it. Tashigi smiled brightly at him, however, so he kept his dubious expression to himself.
"Most of their number is down. Let's go get help!"
Tashigi exclaimed, holding up her mop handle excitedly. Zoro sighed.
"Okay, okay,"
He said, fighting to keep the sense of disaster creeping into his voice, and he held up his broom handle awkwardly. It was good enough for Tashigi; she winked before running towards the backstage door and throwing the door open. The flow of motorcyclists had stopped now, but the back entrance by no means empty. Ten or so riders stared at the sudden appearance of a girl student.
Gripping her handle tightly, she took a deep breath and swung her mop handle back. Then she whacked it over a biker's head. The girl cried out in pain before keeling to the ground, causing the other riders dismounted and looked at Tashigi with alarmed and guarded looks. Tashigi breathed a little.
'Hey, I can do it,'
She thought to herself, and the magical flow of confidence she always felt whenever she held her shinai filled her now. Grinning, she took her mop handle and ran across a rider, thwacking the guy across the abdomen. It was a blow that usually didn't work against opponents, but then again, the guy didn't look like he knew much kendo. He collapsed as a rider ran towards her before swinging a heavy metal pipe at her. She blocked the attack with the mop handle, scraping it upwards and off before jabbing him at the eyes with the handle end.
Just as two riders tried to attack her at once, Zoro finally decided it was time for him to step in. He slipped in easily and held his broom handle up to block both blows of metal pipes. Both riders looked shocked that there was a second one as Zoro kicked them away, the metal bars clanging onto the floor. Zoro had no idea what to do with his handle. He glanced at Tashigi, and saw how she was slashing down at a girl's neck before straight-jabbing at her stomach. Then he glanced back at the two riders, now over being shocked but now infuriated.
Taking a deep breath, Zoro found a quick grip on his handle before quickly imitating her; he brought the broom handle in an upward-slash directly at the wind-pipe of the guy's throat, and was relieved to meet contact and see it work. Then he quickly jabbed the other rider's stomach before thwacking him over the head, and let out an inner whoop at success when the second rider fell unconcious. Taking his attention back to the first rider, he jammed the handle into the guy's abdomen again, though finding it considerably harder than the previous sucker, then brought the handle up before swinging it down onto the rider's head with all his might.
The broom handle met contact, cracked, splintered then snapped into halves.
Zoro blinked, looking at his 'weapon' now reduced to a stick of wood before having it struck out of his hands by a very pissed off biker.
'Uh oh,'
Zoro thought, looking at the anger in the biker's eyes,
'I'm in trouble.'
[A/N: Wasn't that a long chapter? ^^;; So much for the dinner dance ending this chapter... it'll end the next one, I guess. XP Oh, one thing - I can't update frequently anymore... gomen nasai. T_T I was planning to finish this before the end of summer (coughs) but then I guess it wasn't possible..... oh well. ^^;; Thanks for the reviews so far~ it's a real treat to know when someone's still reading. ^^* BTW, I KNOW this chapter was just awful. I kinda rushed it, I guess... gomen... T_T;]
Nami sucked in her breath, trying to move her arm to keep her balance but finding the move excruciatingly painful. The blue-head whooped in triumph as he screeched to a halt before her, and Nami gritted her teeth, fighting her tears of pain down.
"I warned you,"
The weirdo sang to her face,
"I told you to stop running. Now go back to the others where you belong."
Her eyes glanced at her right shoulder, and saw the swelling red darkening into a violent purple. She didn't know whether to be thankful for her shoulder was still intact, or horrified at the bruise that was starting to throb in uncomfortable dollops of pain. Wincing and taking a step backward, Nami retorted,
"Why don't you?"
The eyes of the rider considerably darkened, and he stepped off his motorcycle slowly. Nami looked defiantly back at his glare, but hid the growing worry in her from the menacing feeling she got from the guy. Then she realised there were motorcyclers driving towards her and the creep behind him.
'They're planning to surround me,'
She realised. Her fingers tightened around her shoulder as we tried to think of a quick way to divert their attention so she could run for some help... when her eyes settled on the metal bar.
Nami glanced back up at the guy, and his eyes held a warning she did not heed. She turned, letting go of her shoulder, and reaching down she scooped up the metal bar with her left hand. Holding it in a grip, she turned back to face the yell of the blue-head, when a jolt ran through her.
A jolt of familiarity.
'That's strange,'
She thought as her fingers curled around the bar in a position she knew but did not remember,
'Why do I feel like I've held this before...?'
Her wrist flicked right, and the other end of the bar slapped easily into her right hand. Then, in a swift and fluid movement, Nami sifted the bar back before swinging it over in full momentum to crash into the blue-head's skull. Nami blinked. It had been so easy...
His sudden howl of pain brought Nami back to the situation, and tossing the bar with a clatter to the floor, she spun around again and ran. Engines roared behind her, but Nami was confident she could reach the backstage doors in time. Her plan was to run through the backstage and exit the back-entrance at the other end. It was closer to the doors, and hopefully she could exit just as it was clear of any of the hooligans guarding the--
Her heart skipped a beat as her eyes widened in horror, her heels sliding and skidding as she willed her feet to stop. How could she have forgotten?
The right side of the auditorium wasn't connected to the backstage. It was a thick wall that greeted Nami's shocked eyes. There were surprised looking riders guarding the right-back entrance, staring at the sudden student. Nami turned back, her mind fumbling to find another plan, when she was met face to face with the blue-haired dude.
Breathing irregularly with blood vessels bulging in his eyes, he drew his arm back before driving it into a heavy punch into Nami's stomach. She was caught in mid-breath, her eyes widening in shock before slamming into the unyielding wall. Her back stung, starting to warm with pain as she tried to get her winded breath back. Nami's eyes were screwed shut in pain, but she managed to pull one eye open to look up at the blue-head.
"Bitch."
He hissed. He held up the metal bar in a hand. Nami shut her eyes again, cringing. Was someone calling her name? Well, she couldn't do much to respond, at any rate.
"Crap."
She let her shuddering breath out with the word before the metal bar was swung towards her temple.
One minute, riders were pouring in from all sides. The next, Sanji was suddenly clammed up and squished into the middle of screaming and shoving people. He had spent the last five minutes trying to get a proper breath of air.
"Move!!"
Sanji yelled desperately, shoving yet another haplessly screaming student aside before finally reaching the outer area of the bunched up circle. His eyes widened at the mess he was now able to see.
Students were flinching as motorcyclists veered dangerously close to them as they zoomed around, and it looked as though the motorcyclists were having fun by tossing plates at the mass of students. As the students screamed and tried to avoid being hit, they ended pushing other students and making them fall. Sanji could see people helping their friends up, and some of them were bloodied up from broken plates and trampling from other students. Sanji grit his teeth.
'Who the hell are these freaks?!'
Sanji thought angrily, when he noticed that some of the riders were dragging teachers out of the circle and throwing them onto the pretty messed up dishes of food on the side tables. He watched as a rider grabbed his Literature teacher, and hoisted her up. She screamed and kicked, flailing her pudgy arms and opening her red mouth wide to no avail - and rider somehow managed to stuff her rear-end into the huge crystal fruit-punch bowl. Then the rider picked up the ladle, and with a relish, whapped the woman over the head several times before discarding it, cackling while hopping onto his motorcycle and zooming away.
Sanji didn't know whether to feel amused or sorry for his teacher as she struggled to free her bottom from the bowl, her hair and dress drenched in fruit-punch. A few pieces of melon were dangling from her hair as she screeched in frustration. Sanji had to suppress a smile. He glanced around, but he couldn't see the dean anywhere. Damn, he thought disappointedly. Then he noticed a familiar blue-head hurry past him.
"Vivi-chan?"
Sanji called out questioningly, and the girl turned, her eyes filled with concern.
"Oh! Sandy White!"
She exclaimed. A nerve twitched in his temple at the name, but he smiled graciously at the girl as he sauntered over to her.
"What's wrong? You look worried."
He said lightly. She dropped her worried look to a disbelieving look. Worried was not the word in her head, obviously. Well, there *were* maniacs in the hall and everything. Glancing to his left, he quickly brought an arm over Vivi's head. She blinked in confusion before shrieking in surprise as a plate crashed into his arm, cracking into pieces and shattering on the floor. Unfazed, he removed his arm, still smiling at her. Vivi swallowed.
"Uh, it's just... well, Nami managed to run out through the curtains a while ago, but then a leader of one the gangs - well, he looked like a leader - he drove after her, and I'm starting to get really worried--"
"WHAT?!!"
Sanji shouted, swinging his arms about with his eyes wide in horror,
"SHE'S WHERE?!!"
"Uh,"
Said Vivi, looking shocked at seeing Sanji change from cool and calm to horrified and panicky,
"Through that gap there..."
A quick glance at where she pointed and Sanji was off. He was forced to, however, skid to a stop in front of a rider.
"Going somewhere?"
The rider sneered. Without a second thought, Sanji jammed his elbow into the rider's chest. With a yelp and choke of pain, the rider fell to the ground with a crash with his vehicle. Not pausing to catch his breath, Sanji jumped over the obstruction and sprinted towards the gap. More riders, however, were coming into the way - seven of them, all together, off their bikes and now rushing to block him.
His mind was so full to bursting with worry of what had become of Nami he really didn't have much space left for the twerps. With a frustrated growl, his brain switched into reflex mode. Seven bikers running towards him to a point just in front of him; three to the left, four to the right. Without much thought, Sanji flipped himself onto his hands and brought his legs up before jerking them into a split. His arms working a momentum, he swung his legs round in a clean, sweeping movement, and his legs kicked out where he calculated jaws to be. Within seconds, Sanji was back to his feet and dashing for the gap while seven men crumpled to the floor, wheezing in pain.
Although Sanji didn't know it, there were cheers behind him from the mass of students. However, this spurred on more riders to attempt blocking Sanji's way. This time, he didn't even bother counting. A kick to the abdomen there sent a rider flying into a tureen of tomato soup. Round-housing brought three riders sprawling. A quick flip to his hands and he knocked a rider out with a heavy heel-kick to the skull. The rider next to him was shoved into another by a swift one to his jaw. A fresh wave of bikers were kicked back with another one of his clean sweeps. Then, easily landing back to his feet, Sanji ran over to the table before the gap, vaulted over it and then tore through the thick red curtains. He definitely didn't notice the shell-shocked silence following his performance behind him.
"NAMI-SAAAN!!!"
He cried, his eyes searching the semi-darkness wildly when he heard noises to his left. He ran as hard as he could, and saw four or five bikers surrounding a familiarly orange-haired girl...
"Nami-san!!"
He cried in relief, when a hand flew out and a thick metal pipe was swung directly at her. Her head was thrashed to one side violently before hitting the wall. Then her body slumped, her head drooping to one side as she fell unconcious.
"Heh,"
The culprit said in satisfaction, tapping the metal bar onto his palm,
"That'll teach her - and everyone else - a lesson."
Sanji's jaw was open in shock at the vulgar act towards such a defenseless young woman. His widened eyes then narrowed. He took a step forward, and the hooligans noticed him.
"What, another escaper?"
The rider with the bar snorted, tossing his blue pony-tail back before bending down and gripping Nami by her hair. He dragged her up, tilting her head back so her neck stretched back.
"This is what happens to anyone who attempts escape. So get back in there if you know what's good for you."
Rage surged through him, almost blinding his vision with its fierceness. Sanji had never been so angry in his entire life. His hands curled into tight, trembling fists.
"Let her go."
Sanji said through his teeth. The bikers glared at him, and the one holding Nami threw her back against the wall. As her body struck the wall, Sanji flinched, his eyes narrowing further. They walked towards him, the one with the bar still wielding it, the others cracking their knuckles and necks as they approached.
"Listen, we're the ones who order you pimps around. Got it, pretty-boy?"
The blue-head shook a gloved finger at Sanji, and he snapped. With a swift kick to the left and a heel-jab he got rid of two riders as they cried out in pain and skid across the floor. He ducked a punch swerve from the right, and kicked the guy's shin twice before kicking him into the rider next to him. Finally, Sanji spun to face his main prey, his eyes ablaze with anger when he realised he wasn't there. He felt a small movement behind him a bit too late, and the metal pipe was swung heavily onto his fore-arm. He yelled out in pain, turning to face the grinning blue-head.
"That's exactly what happened to the girl,"
Said the rider, his eyes glittering maliciously. Sanji felt the throbbing waves of pain, and his teeth gnashed together so loudly the rider blinked in surprise. He swung his foot up, and slammed his heel into the biker's jaw. He felt teeth crack with satisfaction before swinging back and slamming his foot onto the biker's stomach. The blue-head sucked in his breath before crashing onto the wall. The concrete wall behind him cracked and splintered at the impact, and was damaged further as Sanji grabbed the folds of the biker's clothes and shoved him into the wall again.
"That,"
Sanji growled, his eyes flickering dangerously and making the biker gulp,
"Is not how you treat a lady."
Then he burst into a round of repeated kicks into the biker's gut. Then, he sharply kicked the biker's chin up before finishing off by slamming his heel onto his skull and driving him onto the floor with a painful crack.
Sanji lifted his hands up to loosen his collar and his tie. Then, throwing the unconcious rider one last murderous look, he muttered,
"Bastard."
Brain switched back from reflex mode to normal mode. Wow, Sanji thought in surprise, I didn't know I had that sorta thing in me...
Then he took his attention to the young lady lying on the floor in a crumpled heap. Hurrying over to her, he knelt down and held her up. She looked so frail and vunerable with her eyes closed, her lips parted slightly as her shoulders slumped. Sanji hesitated before brushing her hair back and tucking a lock behind her ear. Then he saw the swelling bruise to her left temple. He looked at it, horrified, when he saw an equally blue-black lump on her right shoulder.
"What the hell did that @#$%er do to you,"
Sanji whispered, his fingertips brushing against the swelling. This induced a wince from Nami, even while she was asleep, and she shivered. Sanji gently held her, wondering what he should do now, when he heard the roar of engines behind him. Sighing, he set the girl down so she was resting against the wall again, and then shrugged off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. Then he heard, behind him, someone laughing.
"Sorry, hero,"
The person snickered,
"But you've gone far enough. You just beat up one of our leaders back there."
Sanji turned his head, and stared. In front of what looked about ten riders were two men, all of them unmounted from their bikes and wielding some sort of weapon. Was this dude wearing a fur-cap or something? He looked really weird. His eyes darted to the rider next to him, and this guy had half his hair shaved off. Come to think of it, the @#$%ing biker had paint on his face and a big red nose, too. What was up with these freaks?
"Pay-back time."
Said the weird half-shaved guy. Sanji stood up resolutely, and smiled at them.
"With pleasure,"
He replied.
"It's starting to get really bad."
Zoro commented, sweat-dropping as he saw Mr. Saunders scream and run like a girl as a bunch of riders pelted ice at him. Tashigi groaned below him.
"I think we should get help - now."
She stated, and Zoro nodded. Just then, a blond student ran out of the crowd of students. Tashigi gasped.
"Oh my goodness! He's going to get hurt like that!"
She cried, and almost as if to prove her point, a motorcyclist zoomed infront of him. Zoro squinted, straining his eyes a little, and then let out a small sound of surprise.
"What?"
Tashigi asked, growing panicky as the motorcyclist seemed to be threatening the blonde.
"That's my roommate, Sanji."
Zoro said, looking at him curiously as the model shoved his way past the motorcyclist. Tashigi looked at him incredulously.
"Your room-mate?! That's--"
She didn't get to finish her sentence.
Both of them stared at the sudden display of action before them as Sanji kicked away eighteen riders effortlessly before disappearing through a gap in the curtains. There was a silence in the hall as nearly half the riders tried to pick themselves up from the assault, the students stirring and whispering amongst themselves. Then the sound of a plate breaking broke the air, and chaos resumed again as new riders zoomed about, breaking plates and screaming orders while torturing teachers. The riders on the floor were recovering, and some jumped onto their bikes and disappeared through the curtains.
"That was amazing..."
Tashigi finally breathed. Zoro nodded wordlessly. His eyes looked at the broom handle in his hand, and he suddenly felt very stupid with it. Tashigi smiled brightly at him, however, so he kept his dubious expression to himself.
"Most of their number is down. Let's go get help!"
Tashigi exclaimed, holding up her mop handle excitedly. Zoro sighed.
"Okay, okay,"
He said, fighting to keep the sense of disaster creeping into his voice, and he held up his broom handle awkwardly. It was good enough for Tashigi; she winked before running towards the backstage door and throwing the door open. The flow of motorcyclists had stopped now, but the back entrance by no means empty. Ten or so riders stared at the sudden appearance of a girl student.
Gripping her handle tightly, she took a deep breath and swung her mop handle back. Then she whacked it over a biker's head. The girl cried out in pain before keeling to the ground, causing the other riders dismounted and looked at Tashigi with alarmed and guarded looks. Tashigi breathed a little.
'Hey, I can do it,'
She thought to herself, and the magical flow of confidence she always felt whenever she held her shinai filled her now. Grinning, she took her mop handle and ran across a rider, thwacking the guy across the abdomen. It was a blow that usually didn't work against opponents, but then again, the guy didn't look like he knew much kendo. He collapsed as a rider ran towards her before swinging a heavy metal pipe at her. She blocked the attack with the mop handle, scraping it upwards and off before jabbing him at the eyes with the handle end.
Just as two riders tried to attack her at once, Zoro finally decided it was time for him to step in. He slipped in easily and held his broom handle up to block both blows of metal pipes. Both riders looked shocked that there was a second one as Zoro kicked them away, the metal bars clanging onto the floor. Zoro had no idea what to do with his handle. He glanced at Tashigi, and saw how she was slashing down at a girl's neck before straight-jabbing at her stomach. Then he glanced back at the two riders, now over being shocked but now infuriated.
Taking a deep breath, Zoro found a quick grip on his handle before quickly imitating her; he brought the broom handle in an upward-slash directly at the wind-pipe of the guy's throat, and was relieved to meet contact and see it work. Then he quickly jabbed the other rider's stomach before thwacking him over the head, and let out an inner whoop at success when the second rider fell unconcious. Taking his attention back to the first rider, he jammed the handle into the guy's abdomen again, though finding it considerably harder than the previous sucker, then brought the handle up before swinging it down onto the rider's head with all his might.
The broom handle met contact, cracked, splintered then snapped into halves.
Zoro blinked, looking at his 'weapon' now reduced to a stick of wood before having it struck out of his hands by a very pissed off biker.
'Uh oh,'
Zoro thought, looking at the anger in the biker's eyes,
'I'm in trouble.'
[A/N: Wasn't that a long chapter? ^^;; So much for the dinner dance ending this chapter... it'll end the next one, I guess. XP Oh, one thing - I can't update frequently anymore... gomen nasai. T_T I was planning to finish this before the end of summer (coughs) but then I guess it wasn't possible..... oh well. ^^;; Thanks for the reviews so far~ it's a real treat to know when someone's still reading. ^^* BTW, I KNOW this chapter was just awful. I kinda rushed it, I guess... gomen... T_T;]