The police surrounded the scene as they pulled up. Flashing red and blue lights, flickered as Luna's eyes barely remained open. She struggled as she leaned against the wall, holding her side, with her legs folded underneath her. "Luna...." She heard her name being called as she tried to keep her head up before blacking out. "Luna...Luna...."Her vision was blurry for a bit as she tried to regain her composure. "Luna...Hold on!" Luna heard her name again. "Luna…Hold on…Luna! Luna!" The voice echoed in her head as she continued her struggle.
Her Brown eyes looked up to see Rakaia and Cana running toward her. "Luna...Luna!" She heard him calling her name as he caught her before her body fell to the side, her eyes closing shut; blacking out.
(A few hours later, the Hospital)
Luna's eyes blinked open as she slowly sat up. Her Dark Auburn eyes blinked for a moment as her vision started to clear up. She placed her right hand on the side of her head. "Ugh," She groaned as she continued to try and shake the cobwebs out from her previous brawl with Visha. "My head, I didn't think she could hit so hard." She griped.
"Yea, you look like things didn't go too well." A voice spoke to her, causing Luna to quickly turn her head towards her right to see Rakaia sitting in a chair next to her bed, with Cana knocked out with her head on Rakaia's shoulder as she sat beside him. It was then that Luna realized, she was sitting up in a bed with a white sheet covering half her body. She quickly looked down to see if her clothes were still on, slightly panicking a bit. "Relax, you're fine," Rakaia told her. "Doctors said that you took one too many blows to the head, but nothing major." He further explained as Luna stopped her panicking and looked down at the bed for a second, her eyes sadden as the memory from her bout ran through her mind.
She lifted her head up and her eyes scanned the room. She saw nothing, but a plain hospital room with a large window, a plain beige-colored wall with a few pieces of standard equipment stationed in various places. "So, did she get away?" Luna asked him.
"Weeellll, "Rakaia lightly scratched the back of his head. "Let's just say that the cops didn't have her in handcuffs when Cana and I found you." He told her as Luna lightly gritted her teeth at the response.
"Great, so I let her get away," Luna replied, instantly mad at herself for being on the losing end of her fight.
"Hey don't blame yourself," Rakaia told her as he slightly moved Cana's head from off of him and gently sat her against the wall, which in turn caused her to stir a bit as she slightly opened her eyes.
"Huh? What's going on?" She asked as her eyes finally opened up, turning to her left to see Luna sitting up. "Luna!" Cana jumped up, catching her in a tight hug as Luna was caught off guard by the smaller girl's antics.
"Hey...Glad to see you too Cana..."Luna breathed as Cana continued to hold on to her. "We thought something seriously bad had happened to you!" Cana quickly pulled away for a second, looking over Luna's injuries which were covered with a few bandages.
"I'm fine Cana really, you don't have to...." Luna's words were cut off as Cana pulled her into another hug, nearly choking Luna as her arms juggled around in the air, fighting for the smaller girl to release her.
Rakaia just sighed as he stood there and watched the injured fighter struggle In the hug-binding grasp that she was snared in. "Alright, Cana..." Rakaia lightly bopped her on the head. "That's enough, let her go before you cause any more injuries." He breathed as Cana quickly released Luna as she turned her attention towards Rakaia.
"Kaia, you were just as worried as...." Rakaia bopped her on the head again as Cana quickly covered the target that Rakaia continued to aim for. "Hey! What was that for?" Cana growled at him as Rakaia crossed his arms.
"I wasn't worried about her, I told you she was tough enough and she would be alright." Rakaia countered her.
"Oh really, well then tell me why you were the one that decided to carry..." Rakaia bopped her on the head again. "Hey!" She raised a fist at him.
"Shut up will you!" Rakaia yelled at her, nearly blushing red at the comment she almost made.
"Who are you telling to shut up?" Cana shouted back at him as she quickly dived into him and the two playfully wrestled in Luna's room. Luna sat there, looking at the two as a small giggle escaped her lips, causing the two the stop their childish antics with Cana on top of Rakaia's head, trying to pull his mouth apart. "Huh?" The two could only stare as Luna continued to giggle at the two acting their roles out like this was something natural to them.
Rakaia and Cana looked at each other, completely clueless about what was so funny, that it would cause the former XMA fighter to let a small laugh escape her lips, but nonetheless, it stopped the two in the act.
"Thanks, guys," Luna stated.
"Huh?" Rakaia was the first to react. "Why are you thanking us?" Rakaia asked her.
"Yea, we didn't do anything," Cana told her. "I thought you would be mad at us for not coming to help you sooner," Cana added as Luna shook her negatively. She smiled at both of them.
"Thank you for worrying about me." She stated with a smile as both Rakaia and Cana looked at each other for a second and then returned their attention back to Luna, with a small smile of their own.
"Hey, don't mention it," Rakaia spoke, slightly turning his head as Cana nodded in agreement.
Luna turned her eyes back to the sheets in front of her, her hands resting on top of them, clasped together. "I still can't believe I let her get the best of me." Luna sulked a bit. "I had her, I knew I could take her, I just...I don't..."
"From what I heard from Saitou, Visha's a big deal." Rakaia interrupted her, catching her attention. "By the way, he sounded and from what I have seen, she's pretty tough, she even caught me off guard once." He told her as Luna looked up at him and saw that his face was smiling as if nothing had ever happened. "And look at me, I'm still standing." He told her as Luna couldn't help but give him a slight smile in return.
Luna finally took her eyes off of Rakaia and let them wander down to Cana, noticing that Rakaia had a few scratches and bruises himself; Cana may have had a scratch or two. "I guess you two had a hard time too huh?"
"Yea, we had to hold our own until the cops showed up and that's when Saitou and his gang friends ran off," Rakaia explained. "Once we heard the sirens we came running to find you, and that's when we found you in bad shape in the alleyway." Rakaia's eyes focused on her, his light brown eyes scanning the few bandages that she was wrapped in. "You ok?" He asked her.
Luna nodded her head. "Yea, just a few bruises," She answered him. "I'll be alright; I can take more than what she gave me." She told him as she went back to pondering about her fight. "It's just weird though..." Luna's eyes narrowed a bit as she went back to looking at the white sheet that covered her feet to her waist.
"What's weird? Cana chimed in.
"How she caught me off guard," Luna told her. "When we were fighting, I knew I could take her, I had her beat, but something...Happened...Something felt… off." Luna tried to explain.
"Off? What do you mean?" Rakaia crossed his arms in front of her.
"I don't know, I can't put my finger on it, but it felt like the longer we fought the stronger she got." Luna pointed out. "I knocked her down a few times and when she got up, something...Changed...I don't know, but something didn't seem right." She ended as Rakaia gave her a hard look as Luna continued to wonder about the situation itself.
"Maybe it's just all in your...."
Rakaia's word was cut short as the door to the room opened, catching both Rakaia's and Luna's attention. Their brown eyes narrowed as an old man in a brown suit with a black tie, tied around the collar of the white shirt he wore, and black shoes walked in with a brown hat sitting on top of his head, following behind him were Ikari and Tsu."
"Hey, you can't just barge in here," Cana growled as she immediately became defensive.
"Yea, who are you, and what do you want." Rakaia immediately sent a glare toward the three.
"Actually, we do have that authority," Tsu spoke, quickly revealing his badge to the three teens. "I'm Officer Tsu Kiyomura and this here is my partner." He allowed Ikari to step forward.
"I'm Officer Ikari Imada." Ikari displayed her badge as well as she quickly scanned the three teens before her eyes landed on Rakaia. "And haven't I seen you before."
Rakaia's eyes twitched a bit, but he remained still; his arms still crossed as he eyed Ikari. "Can't say that we have." He answered her, not remembering what she was talking about.
"I have seen you before," Ikari stated as she got a good look at Rakaia. "You're that kid that got involved in our last mission," Ikari remembered. "You were held captive and my partner and I had to save you." She told him.
"Huh?" Cana and Luna turned to Rakaia wide-eyed, their heads quickly whirling around to Rakaia as he eyed Ikari for a moment.
"Oh...Yea, now I remember you." Rakaia spoke solemnly as he turned his head away from Ikari's piercing green eyes.
"Seriously, Kaia!" Cana shouted at him from the sheer surprise that they heard. "What the hell were you doing, that got you involved with the cops?" She questioned him, and even Luna kept her eyes on him, waiting to hear the answer he would come up with.
Rakaia sighed a bit before returning his eyes to Ikari. "It was a couple of days ago, she and another cop had rushed passed me and Noah, chasing some gang members that got away from them, I... Kind of got pushed to the side and I..."
"Got angry and thought that punching someone in the face would make everything better!" Cana finished his sentence for him.
Rakaia couldn't help but remain quiet as Cana hit the nail right on the head. "Geez, Kaia; seriously!" Cana glared up at him. "Do you know how much trouble you could have gotten in?" She questioned him.
"The same could be said for you two as well." Tsu interrupted her.
"Huh?" Cana looked up at the male officer.
"You three interfered with a serious investigation and jeopardized the whole mission with your interference," Tsu told them.
"Seriously?" Rakaia shot back. "If it wasn't for us, it would have turned out a lot worse for you!" Rakaia shouted back.
"That's not the point!" Tsu argued. "You three could have been seriously injured and..."
"Then why did you run off?" Rakaia caught him off guard with the question.
"Huh?" Tsu's only response made its way through his lips as he stood there stunned.
"If you were worried about our safety then why did you run off?" Rakaia asked him again.
Tsu gritted his teeth at Rakaia's comment. "I was chasing a suspect, no one asked you, kids, to interfere with our line of work and...
"If it wasn't for us." Luna stepped in as well. "Your friend and you..." Her eyes were directed towards Ikari. "Wouldn't have made it out alive." She stated, causing Ikari to look her way as well as Tsu. The old man just stood by and watched as he too wanted to hear what Luna had to say. "The person you were fighting wasn't some low-rank thug, that was going to run at the first chance she got." Luna kept her eyes locked on Ikari. "She was something more than that, someone, more experienced." She finished as Tsu looked over at Ikari, who just turned her head, unable to meet Tsu's gaze.
Ikari bit her lower lip as she managed to slightly gaze back at Tsu. Her mind was transfixed at the comment that Luna made, but more so on the memory of Tsu and Eve leaving as quickly as they did when they found that Visha was at the docks.
"Ahem," The old man spoke up, gaining the attention of everyone in the room.
He took a step forward. "Please excuse my officers, their manners are something that needs to be improved upon." He glanced back at them for a moment before returning his eyes to Rakaia & friends. "Allow me to introduce myself." He continued to speak. "I'm chief Namaki, head of the Kofu Police Department." He introduced himself. "On behalf of my officers, I wanted to thank you all for the fine work you did, when you stepped in to help out," Namaki told them as he extended his hand towards Rakaia, who looked down at it for a few seconds before accepting it.
"Trust me, when I say you three did a fine job." He added.
"Thanks...I guess." Rakaia remained unsure of his answer.
"However, congratulating you isn't the reason why we're here." He added. "We've come to the conclusion that there were a few of those thugs that you knew, and I assume quite well," Namaki stated as Rakaia, Luna, and Cana stared at each other for a moment. "I would like it if you could continue your cooperation with us and give us any information you have." He finished as he kept his eyes glued on the three.
The three look at each other, their faces mixed with hesitation and uncertainty. "I hope you understand that failure to hand over information during a police investigation is considered a crime," Namaki stated as Rakaia could be seen gritting his teeth a bit. "Obstructing justice is against the law," Namaki added as Rakaia balled his fist up a bit, gritting his teeth even harder.
Luna looked over at Rakaia, who she knew was slowly fuming over the decision that he had to make. Her eyes slowly moved over to Cana, who appeared more scared and confused about what her decision should be as well.
The tension had become thick. "What do I do?" Rakaia thought to himself as he looked back up at the three police officers that stood in front of him. "If I tell them, they're going to arrest Saitou and cause the match to be canceled." He gritted his teeth again. "What the hell..." Mentally speaking. "The fight is just two days away, this can't be happening, If I tell them, I lose, If I don't tell them, I lose." He growled under his breath from the sheer frustration of trying to make a decision.
"I'm sorry...." Luna suddenly spoke; causing Rakaia's eyes to shoot up in shock, his body trembling as he slowly turned his head towards Luna.
"Luna....No..." He spoke in his head, his heartbeat racing with every second that passed. "Don't do it, Luna...Please...Don't."
Cana turned her head towards Luna as well, her expression reading something similar to Rakaia's.
"I..." She gulped..."I...I..."
Namaki's eyebrow rose a bit, even Ikari and Tsu waited for Luna's answer. "I..." Her eyes were uncertain, not sure if she should go through with it. "They...." She took a deep breath. "They use to be..."
"Schoolmates of yours?" Namaki finished her statement, Luna's eyes shot open for a second as Namaki gave the students a hard glare. "We've already pulled up their school records, from previous encounters, but they no longer stay with their parents and we have no leads on where they could be." He added. "I was hoping you had a bit more information about them." He ended as Luna's eyes lowered a bit; struggling with worry, but Rakaia stepped in this time around.
"No, we don't; we're not exactly friends," Rakaia stated confidently.
"I see," Namaki replied. He thought about Rakaia's response for a moment, his right hand on his chin as a low "Hmm" could be heard. "Tsu told me that when you came in, you addressed him by name, is that true?" He asked him.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Cana barked.
"If you claim not to be friends with a few suspects that we're trying to track down then how would you know their names?" Ikari stepped in as well. "It sounds to me that you're trying to hide something." She pressed.
"Ikari," Namaki called her name.
"Hide something?" Cana stepped forward. "Why would we hide something? If anything you should be happy we showed up to help out in the first place." Cana growled as she glared at Ikari. "And now you come in here and excuse us for holding out, while we're trying to make sure our friend is ok.
"By the looks of it, your friend is fine," Tsu spoke up as well.
"Hey," Rakaia's eyes darted over to him. "Back off." He stated as he glared at him. "We're not hiding anything, all we know is that they used to go to school with us, we've had a few runs in, but that's it. We don't know where they live." Rakaia added as Tsu and Rakaia glared at each other. "So back off alright, we don't know any more than you do." He gritted his teeth.
"So, you say, but you knew enough to step in the middle of our excursion back there, why didn't you just let the police handle things?" Tsu sparked up another question.
"Why did you leave innocent kids and your partner behind to go chase somebody that you weren't going to catch?" Rakaia shot back.
"Why you little...."Tsu quickly reached out to grab Rakaia by the collar of his shirt.
"I promise you it'll be the worse day of your life if you're trying to piss me off." He growled as Rakaia shot him a hard look back.
"You should already be pissed off since you left your partner behind to get her ass whooped." Rakaia retaliated.
"That's it; I've just about had enough of you!" Tsu quickly turned Rakaia around and grabbed him by the hands and pressed him up against the wall. "You're going down for failure to cooperate with law enforcement!"
"Hey!" Cana shouted. "You can't do that!"
"Let him go!" Luna leaped out of bed, but Ikari quickly got in her way.
"If you make another move, I'll be forced to bring you down as well." She warned her.
Luna peered down at her. "You wouldn't be able to bring me down if you tried," Luna told her as their eyes met. "Your open-palm strikes won't work on me either." Luna turned the tables as Ikari gritted her teeth at the former XMA fighter.
"Hey let me go!" Rakaia growled as Tsu was trying to handcuff him. "I didn't do anything!" He struggled a bit.
"You want to talk tough and mouthed off to law enforcement, then be ready for the consequences.' Tsu shot back.
"That's enough!" Namaki shouted, catching the attention of the whole room. "We did not come in here to bully witnesses, this is not how we operate!" He reminded his associates. "Ikari, stand down; Tsu, release him." Namaki's voice seemed to be a bit deeper as he voiced his orders to Tsu.
"But sir I," Tsu began.
"I gave you an order!" Namaki yelled at him as Tsu reluctantly did what was asked of him.
Tsu moved away from him as Rakaia turned around massaging his wrist, with Cana and Luna running towards him. "Listen, kids," Namaki spoke once more. "Forgive my officers; today's turnout was nothing short of frustrating for them. We've been after these guys for a while now and it seems even a few of our own has been taken down. So, if you have any information, any at all; it would be a big help." Namaki stated as the three looked at each other once again.
"You don't have to answer me right away, I'll give you some time to think about it. "The old man continued on as he pulled out a card and handed it to Rakaia, who was hesitant to accept it. "Give me a call, if you find out anything." He tipped his hat off towards the trio and turned towards the door, motioning for Ikari and Tsu to follow him, who without a word did as they were instructed, leaving Rakaia, Luna, and Cana looking at the card with Chief Namaki's information and office number on it.
(In the hallway, a few moments after)
The three walked through the hospital halls, nurses ran by them as they either had a hand full of paperwork in their possession or were rushing a patient to another room. The hallway seemed alert as the three officers stopped in front of a door at the end of the hall. "You two have got to get a hold of yourselves." Namaki spoke calmly, "I know today's investigation was a bust, but you can't let your emotions get the best of you and take it out on the wrong person." He ended as Ikari could only nod in agreement.
"But sir..." Tsu spoke up, clearly frustrated by the previous events, also causing Ikari to turn her head towards him as she watched him face-to-face with their chief. "They were withholding information." Tsu pointed out. "You can't be serious about letting them go." He added as Namaki sighed as he looked up at Tsu.
"Tsu..." Namaki began.
"Why didn't you let me apprehend him?" Tsu continued on.
Another sigh came from Namaki as Ikari couldn't do anything but watch the spectacle unfold. "A lot has happened today Tsu," Namaki began. "You are letting your emotions cloud your judgment," He lowered his hat with his right hand. "Right now, is not the time to be bullying teenagers into giving us the information they may not have, but to make sure one of our own is ok," The old man told him.
Tsu gritted his teeth at the old man's concept. "Right now, Eve needs us." The chief added. "You told me that her opponent was Visha, correct?" Namaki asked him as Tsu couldn't do anything but nod his head. "And you left her alone to fight against that demon?" Namaki spoke slowly as Tsu clenched his fist together.
"I thought...I thought...I thought she could handle it." Tsu struggled with his words.
"You knew full well what Eve was getting herself into and yet, you ran off to chase someone with no identity, not only weakening your team but leaving innocent kids in danger, all for the sake of catching one man." Namaki gazes directly into the eyes of his top-ranked officer. "You made a bad call Tsu don't take out your frustration on a group of teenagers, that's not how the police do things, at least...Not under my watch." Namaki turned his back towards Tsu and Ikari but spoke again before he left.
"Ikari,"Namaki called her name.
"Yes, yes sir," Ikari answered him.
"Take this as a learning experience," Namaki told her. "Bad calls can cause a lot of trouble...The trouble you aren't prepared for." He told her as he walked off leaving the two standing there as she turned to face Tsu, who was looking at the ground in sheer frustration.
Behind the door that they were standing in front of was another room that housed Eve. She had her eyes closed and she was breathing normally, but was wrapped up in a few bandages and had one wrapped around her forehead, covering up a bit of her hair. The bruises and dirt marks could clearly be seen on her battered body as she was covered in a hospital gown with a white sheet covering half her body as she lay on the bed.
While Tsu continued to grit his teeth as he thought over the words that his boss had told him, Ikari cracked open the door to get a good look at Eve, a solemn expression on her face as she found that she had no choice, but to slowly close the door, letting the purple haired officer get her well-deserved rest.
"Abandoned Park"
Visha could be seen walking up to an old shack in the deep center of the park, a landscape that nature seemed to be claiming back for its own. Moss and plant life were growing on the unused playgrounds and other small shacks that remained there after the civilian life decided to abandon them.
Visha's boot-covered feet were casually pressed against the ground as she made her way through the green life that flourished around her. She appeared to be humming to herself as she walked up to a large door that stood barely on its hinges of the largest shack, stationed in the middle of the smaller shacks that surrounded it.
She gave a sweet sigh of relief before she opened the door. "I'm home!" She shouted as she walked in without a care in the world.
The shack itself was a mess; old furniture was placed in odd positions in the shack. The wood on the floor was old and needed to be replaced and the roof had a large hole in it, which allowed the moonlight to shine through the hole and onto a medium-sized sofa that sat underneath it.
However, even though the light from the moon shined down onto the sofa, it was still stationed in such a way that the shadow from the remaining parts of the shack would cover most of it.
Sitting in the middle of the sofa was a tall, muscular man, who wore a pair of ripped jeans, loose black boots, and a ripped white t-shirt. His face was covered by the little darkness that kept the sofa hidden, but Visha walked up to him with no concern. "Here you go, fresh off the press, at least that's what he said." She told him as she tossed the bag towards him, the figure catching it with ease.
"You know I actually had to go through a lot of trouble this time around to get that for you, you're supplier needs to learn how to pick a better spot for stuff like this." She told him as the male figure surveyed the contents before slowly bringing them down to his side.
"The blue dogs?" He questioned her, his voice deep, and a bit raspy as well.
"Not just those mutts, but a couple of school kids as well." Visha placed her hands behind the back of her head, completely comfortable in the man's presence as she kept her eyes on him, a small smirk appearing on her lips as she saw a large python making itself comfortable on the couch as well, wrapping around the male as he casual sat there unfazed by the snake's antics. "But it wasn't anything that I couldn't handle." She ended. "So when are we going to put our plan into action?" She asked him as she walked over to the couch and sat beside him, crossing her legs like an intrigued high school girl.
The man dangled the bag in front of his face; his golden eyes could be seen through the shadows as he eyed the contents. "Soon, Visha; Real….Soon." A large smirk appeared on his face as he continued to eye the contents that Visha retrieved for him. "There's just one more thing we need to do," He paused. "Before we get rid of the blue dogs….Permanently." A dark laugh escaped his lips as a cursed smirk appeared on Visha's face as well.
"I can't wait." She licked her lips in anticipation as she bathes herself in the voice of the dark laughter that echoed throughout the shack.