Finally, Saturday has arrived and Crystal approached Karai early the morning. “Hey, are you awake yet? And how are you feeling?” Karai turned over and gave Crystal a thumbs up. She got out of bed, took her medication and a small back pack with water and snacks and were ready to go.
By the time they arrived at the cargo docs it was already 9am. The journey lasted 3 hours on foot. Kaeais jaw dropped with astonishment at how beautiful this desolate place is.
A bunch of old rusty cargo boxes with peeled pain, a broken fence with the sea shore crashing against it, a mountain with clouds resting on the tip. “This is my little haven where I come to escape the dojo. Since I don’t have anyone to go home to.” Karai started frowning. “No don’t worry about it, its not like Im affected by it. I live at the dojo unless I feel I’d like to travel somewhere else. But because the dojo provides food, medical services, spa’s, etc etc I don’t need anything from the outside world really. I just come here.” Crustal said lightly punching Karai’s shoulder. “I can just sit here and stare at the waves crashing on the shore, watch the Sun set and relax all day. I do often train when I come here, but it doesn’t really last long because this is my escape. This is where I can let loose and just be me.”
Karai and Crystal spend the day there going through all the cargo boxes, watching the ocean, playing with all the critters and just letting loose.
“We should probably head on back now, if we leave now we will arrive at 4pm.” Karai nodded and headed on back according to the path they came. On their way back, something caught Crystals eye. She thought it would just be a sea eagle but theyre not red. When Crystal turned her head she tried to look closely at the mountains side and notices something like stairs. Snapping back to reality she caught up with Karai and continued their journey back to the academy.
“Boy am I glad we do a lot of training because this travelling back and forth takes a lot of stamina.” Crystal said plomping down on the bed. Karai smiled wide nodding in agreement.
Months have passed with training and Karai has gotten much fitter, stronger, faster and wiser. Nothing filled her with as much joy as this academy. She had not one ounce of regret and was very pleased with herself. Growing closer to Crystal, Yumi and Train. Plenty of students have been out on missions regarding drug busts, child trafficking, human trafficking, weapon in- & exporting etc.
Regards to training and friendship Crystal seemed to get jealous but didn’t let it bother her due to the fact that at least she was first in Karai’s life and has grown with her so she’s also recognized.
One weekend at the start of June on a chilly Saturday morning, Crystal decided that since Karai would be at her
moms’ place she will go down to the cargo docs to explore the stair cases this time. Crystal hasn’t informed Karai as of yet due to that little bit of jealousy that arose so in case she needed an escape from her best friend and casual hangouts, she can just go there by herself.
So around about 3am Crystal left the Academy grounds and arrived at the cargo docs around about 7:30am. The trip lasted a bit longer due to the chilly weather but she made it none the less. She decided to shit down and have a warm cup of tea and breakfast before continuing her journey.
“Let’s do this.” She said fueled by determination and walked to the spot where she saw the stairs. “Where do they start if they’re so high up? There’s an exit hole by the stairs so where’s the entrance?” Crystal kept walking around the mountain but to no avail could she find anything. “Perhaps the entrance is inside the mountain?” She though and to her surprise there was a grove beneath the mountain and she entered it. Very dark but she managed to find the stairs and started climbing all the way up. She exited to the outside of the mountain from where she could see the stairs and carefully maneuvered her way higher up past the clouds. “Wow, this is breathtaking. I can see the Sun on its way, all the colours of the atmosphere. It looks so puffy and soft.” Crystal finally entered the mountain again. It was dark but she could see a few things from the light that peered into the entrance from high above the clouds. “This looks like a laboratory?” She said while looking around cautiously. “Who could have possibly gotten all the equipment up here and even more so get all of it to work?” She continued to sneak around and finally decided to leave when a shadow appeared on the wall. “Hello little one.” A husk voice said. Crystal turned around faster than ever and froze stiff. “I see you’ve managed to find your way up into my lair.” With two claps the lights go on. Crystal is staring right at a tall, muscular figure with a man bun in robes. He has a very pleasant smile on his face with a seemingly impressed expression. Looking similar to Ryuu but she could tell it wasn’t him. “Who the- That can’t be Ryuu, he can’t even speak?” She thought to herself.
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“Don’t be so alarmed. Relax young one. Have a cup of tea.” He said as he took two tea cups from a shelf and added tea leaves to a tea pot on a gas stove.
“Who are you? And what are yo-“
“I don’t think you’re in any position to ask questions. After all, you are in my lair so I think I should be the one asking questions.” The stranger said very firmly.
Crystal’s heart was in her throat and knew he had a point. Her voice cracked before answering. “Y, yes of course. What would you like to know?” She asked softly clearly intimidated.
“What is your name, little one?”
“I’m known as Crystal.” She answered firmly “Where are you from, Crystal.” He asked pleasantly.
“Err, well. Other side the mountains.” She hesitated again, she knew the dojo was supposed to remain secret.
He seemed quite interested but kept a good poker face. “Okay, let’s keep that personal. I can respect that. Now tell me, how’d you find this place if it’s so far from the mountains?”
“I, travel to the docs every other month to ‘get away’ from home. I’m curious and adventurous so I thought I saw something up against the mountain when I noticed the stairs and decided to come explore once I had some free time again. So here I am.”
“Interesting.” He handed her the cup of tea. “You know what they say about curiosity and the cat right?” he
grinned.
“She giggled. Yeah the irony my friends nick name is Cat. Oh dear. I’ve said too much.” She placed her hand in front of her mouth.
“No, it’s okay. Friends are good. As long as she’s a good friend you can talk about her all you want.” He said casually sitting on a floor mat.
“Well..” Crystal sounded hesitant.
The strange man started getting what he wanted, he was hoping she would talk a bit more, besides it’s such a lonely life high up in the mountains.
“Before I start, may I ask you a few questions?” She retorted. He felt he needed to gain a bit of her trust and decided to go with it.
“Three.” He replied smuck.
“Err. Well okay. What should I call you, I’d like a name.” She said sipping at her tea, sitting on her knees before him.
“Fukushu.” He replied bluntly.
“Right, Fukushu, where did you come from?” She tried to count her questions.
“Pass.” Another blunt reply
“But-“ She was astonished.
“One more question.” He said in a husk voice.
Her jaw dropped but because she was in his lair she accepted it. She thought about the next question and commenced, “What is this place and its power source?”
“Well, it’s my lair, for research and it’s powered by solar panels.” He got up from the floor to pour another cup of tea and offered another to Crystal. “Since it’s still early, would you like another cup and continue your conversation?”
Crystal got comfortable and nodded. “Well you see, she’s charming, witty, smart and all of what the academy seems to want. I aspire to be like her but yet I feel intimidated which is highly unnecessary of myself. But she’ll probably be chosen in no time to be on our masters team. The boys seem infatuated with her and she’s just accepting more and more people into the friends group.”
“Fukushu decided not to bring up the fact that she mentioned the academy in her rant but continued to ask about her friend. “So, this Cat, is she a good friend though? Does she reject you or still by your side?”
“She’s a very good friend, I’m just jealous of her. So it’s my fault.”
“Don’t fret dear. It’s normal to feel intimidated. One must just control those emotions because if they get out of hand they might cause harm. And from what I hear, we don’t want that.”
“You’re right. I will have to meditate on these feelings and temptations.” She said sighing, sipping at her tea. “Temptations?” He replied as if expecting an answer.
“I sometimes wish she never arrived. I cant say I was the best, but she has definitely got the attention on her and now where I used to feel even I feel inferior to her.” Crystal said clutching her cup.
“That is not a good sign. Perhaps you’d like a tour of the lair before you head off back, home? We don’t want your parents worried, now do we?” He said getting up. Looking at the time. It was already 12:30pm.
“Oh I don’t have parents. I’m a loner so don’t stress. But yes I’d like to leave by 1pm the latest.” She said smiling. Fukushu offered her some chicken soup whilst showing her around.
“This is the entrance as you’ve noticed, to the back here we have the kitchen and some reservoirs. Up here we have the balcony and back there is machinery.” He gestured to all the items.
“What type of machinery and what type of research?” Crystal asked intruigingly.
“Sorry your questions have run out, remember.” He replied.
Crystal felt pretty defeated which made Fukushu interested. “Well, if you’re really interested and come back every month for the next until December, I might just tell you.” He grinned.
Crystal seemed pretty interested and followed through.