Xiana: This chapter is short, but I really like it. It would have been here faster but the computers at school decided to eat the chapter. Which made me sad and angry and mistrustful of technology. So here it is for reals this time. The chapter title/song is "Crash and Dash," sung by Echizen Ryoma. It's also the name of a one shot by KML that you should all go read :D
Chapter 2 Poll Results: The most suspicious by far was Rikkai, as I had suspected. Tied for second place was Other, which I also suspected, and Shitenhouji team, which I totally didn't. It's because of Oshitari Kenya, isn't it? Well, you can't know who it is yet, because that will hopefully come up in way later chapters, but for now I will just say that you might be on the right track with it.
Chapter 3: Crash and Dash
Chaos reigned as sirens shrieked and glowing red lights flashed on and off. Most people were out of bed and on their feet in an instant, but didn't know what to do until Atobe, still in his dressing gown, stumbled over to the loudspeaker panel in his room. He had to shout to be heard over the wailing of the alarms.
"Attention, everyone! This is probably not a drill! At this time I would like to ask everyone to please gather at the stadium. We are putting emergency plan 'Tortuga Roja' into action. Please follow the yellow lights down the stairs and towards your destination. Further instructions will be given at that time." He repeated these directions in English, for the benefit of the Americans present, then in Japanese again, then in Greek because it was his favorite language and it helped him calm down.
Most of the first-floor people were suddenly glad that they hadn't been deemed important enough to get their own room, because they were easily able to get out of the hotel and make their way towards the stadium as quickly as possible. Oshitari Kenya was suddenly thankful for that annoying, no-good, sex god cousin of his, Yuushi, for since he had a room all to himself, there was absolutely no one to get in his way, and in fact he was the first to reach the stadium. Of course, it helped that he was absolutely for sure the fastest middle school tennis player of all time, even faster than Kamio, who after all was only from Fudomine.
Once he arrived, he was told to take his place in the "team space." Since the relay races the day before, the field had been radically redesigned, so that it was divided into several squares painted with the team colors and subdivided with smaller squares for every member of that team. On top of each of these squares was a thick belt with numerous pockets and a blue backpack. The huge Jumbotron that only yesterday had been showing a touching moment between Atobe and Tezuka (literally, if Fuji had been right) was now displaying the same set of instructions over and over again. Step one was to securely strap on the backpack, the second step was to pull on the belt, and the third listed step was to press a button on the floor. When pushed, the button caused a small red light to go off on a smaller screen next to the Jumbotron, and summoned a flight attendant, who quickly explained that the backpack actually contained a parachute and told him how to use it. By the time she was finished, people had begun to pour into the stadium, and the rest of Shitenhouji team quickly took their places by his side. Once they followed the same instructions, the flight attendant and one of her co-workers donned packs of their own and marched the group to a stairwell, where there was a hatch that opened to rushing wind and the bleakness of 3 am. The first attendant led the way, leaping out into the abyss without so much as a second glance; her partner was left to prod the nervous boys and assorted hangers-on to follow her before setting the air lock to re-close mere moments after he jumped out as well.
-
Not everyone had such an easy escape as Oshitari Kenya. For Eiji, who had just finished his final lap and was looking forward to going back to his comfortable bed, it was a nightmare as random person after random person shoved their way past, not noticing him in the confusion. Eventually, they actually knocked him to the ground, as they were pouring forth with such force and pressure that the exhausted Eiji couldn't resist them all. Before he was trampled, though, an arm shot out and grabbed him, pulling him from the path just as a fresh wave of frightened tennis players ran past.
"Oishi!" Eiji said in some relief. "What are you doing here?"
"After I finished my laps, I stayed out here to wait for you, because I was a little worried. But I guess I fell asleep…"
"That doesn't matter! You're definitely in the right place at the right time, 'cuz you sure saved me!" Eiji hugged Oishi quickly before they too joined the throng of people rushing to the stadium.
-
It took all three demons working together to wake poor Marui from the very deep sleep he was enjoying after his awfully stressful day. Yanagi whispered traumatic memories/data in his ear, thinking that would get him to wake up, while Sanada resorted to violence and started slapping him around. But then Yukimura stepped in, and told the mostly-unconscious boy that he'd take him out for ice cream later, and then cake after that, and then buy him some gum, and then he bent really, really close and whispered something that was either threatening or extremely delicious (or both) because it certainly got him out of bed.
However, his meager stamina reserves had been completely depleted to the point where he was immune even to Yukimura, and he kept falling asleep as they tore down the stairs, until Sanada figured it would be easier just to carry him. Thus, Marui woke up again just as the team was preparing to parachute out. That managed to keep him awake just long enough to leap out into the darkness and to pull the cord on his chute. Then he just gave up and floated down in blissful slumber to the dark jungle below.
-
"Why are there alarms? Why are there flashing lights? Why did we have to come to the stadium? Why do we have to put these things on? Why are there so many little pockets on this belt? Why-"
"Quiet!" Saeki snapped. "We're missing someone, aren't we? You need seven for a tennis team."
"We've got seven people!" Kentarou volunteered, pointing to a boy dressed in black and white.
Saeki paused, did a double take, and then paused again. Eventually, he started sheepishly, "I'm sorry, but-"
"Satoshi," Satoshi said, cutting him off.
"Riiiiiight." Saeki wondered if there was any sort of helpful mnemonic device that would help him remember Satoshi, but he couldn't come up with anything because nothing rhymed with Satoshi.
"I know who you are, Satoshi-kun," Ryou said cheerfully in the midst of the tumultuous situation. "I played doubles with you once! Well, I would have played with you if our opponents hadn't had to forfeit… but I still know who you are!"
"Thank you!" Satoshi said to his new best friend. "Parachute buddies?"
"Of course!" Obviously, this left Kentarou without a parachute buddy, so he was a little sad until he decided to join up with Bane and David instead.
"Shoot me now," Bane groaned.
"No, silly, you have to wait until we jump out of the plane before we can 'chute' ourselves!" David explained, and then laughed.
"You idiot… if it weren't for the emergency situations and the stupid alarms giving me a headache, I would-"
"Those alarms are pretty alarming," David said seriously, then laughed again.
"Shut up!"
"Oww!" David rubbed his head. "That was so uncalled for! You should know by now that I only make puns like this when I'm really nervous, and it doesn't get any more nerve-wracking than this…"
"Oh… I see. Sorry, I'm a little nervous too…"
"You've got some nerve…"
"Amane…"
"…You're going to hit me again, aren't you?"
"Oh yeah."
-
"Son of a bitch!"
"Shishido-san…"
"Sorry, Choutarou… but we're locked in this room and alarms are going off and that bastard Oshitari… sorry… decided to save his own ass… sorry… without sparing a thought for us!" Shishido continued beating at the door to no avail. "Dammit, somebody help us!"
"Hey, um, isn't there a window back there? With a fire escape?"
"Since when?"
In response, Choutarou pulled back what Shishido had assumed was a famous work of art to reveal a glass pane with a small door set into it. He pulled open the door and began to crawl through, but got stuck. He retreated sadly. "Sorry, Shishido-san, I can't get through, but you go ahead, and I'll-"
"Dammit! No, I'm not leaving you!"
"N-no, it's okay… really. I'll figure something out…"
"Okay… Out of the way!" Choutarou sighed inwardly, for though he wanted Shishido to be saved, even at the expense of his own life, he was kinda sorta hoping that maybe Shishido would be noble and choose to remain with him. "Choutarou, move!"
He quickly backed out of the way as Shishido swung the curtain rod at the window, shattering the glass and creating an opening large enough for the two of them to get through. "Oh. I get it." Shishido hopped up on the windowsill, kicked a few jagged shards out of the way, and grabbed Choutarou's hand, pulling him through.
They took off down the stairs, clattering down flight after flight from the seemingly infinite heights of the room, dragging each other along. The stairs finally ended at a balcony on what they assumed was the second floor, as it was pretty close to the ground. Shishido lifted the rod again and attempted to smash through the window, but this glass was thicker, and he simply bounced off of it.
"What the hell? Why's this room harder to get into than ours!" Shishido peered in through the window, and was greeted with the sight of pinkness, flowers, hearts, and female lingerie. "Ah, I get it. It's either the girls' rooms and they're trying to keep us out, or it's the Saint Rudolph room and they're trying to keep them in."
"We can't get in that way… Think we should just jump off over here? It looks close enough to the ground."
Before Shishido could protest, Choutarou had clambered over the railing and dropped to the ground. He landed with a loud thud. Shishido rushed to the railing. "Choutarou, you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Come on, jump down and I'll catch you."
"I don't need you to catch me!" Shishido snapped back, vaulting over and landing even more gracefully than Choutarou had. He grabbed Choutarou's hand again, and they began sprinting for the stadium with the last few stragglers.
They would have made it there in record time if it hadn't been for the girl. She was sitting on the ground halfway off the path, huddled and crying. Shishido ran past, not even noticing her until he felt resistance from Choutarou and stopped. "What-"
"Shishido-san, there's someone here!" Choutarou bent down to the girl's level, letting go of Shishido's hand. "Excuse me, but are you all right? We really need to be getting-"
In a flash, the girl grabbed the arm Choutarou had offered to her. "Help me! Please… I got separated from my sister… and my ankle really hurts…"
Choutarou shot a helpless look at Shishido before turning back to her. "Can you walk okay?"
"I-I don't think so…" the girl sniffled.
Shishido tapped his foot impatiently. "Dammit, Choutarou, we don't have time for this! We have to get out of here right now."
"We can't just leave her here." Choutarou looked at Shishido in shock, while the girl stared crying even harder and clutched tighter to Choutarou's arm.
Shishido clenched his hand into a fist. "I didn't say that. Quit standing around, pick her up, and take her with us. Let's go!"
"Ah! Right!" Choutarou quickly scooped up the girl, who was much smaller than he had originally though, and tossed her unceremoniously over his shoulder. She moaned once, but otherwise remained completely still as they started running again.
Once they finally arrived in the stadium, they searched for familiar faces. "Hey, tell us if you see your sister or anybody you know," Choutarou said, shifting her to a more comfortable, bridal-style hold as Shishido caught sight of Atobe and rushed over, gesturing wildly. She nodded at him and began craning her neck in different directions, searching. Choutarou began looking too, though he didn't know exactly whom he was searching for. Eventually, a thought occurred to him.
"Oh, by the way… My name is Ootori Choutarou and I'm a player for Hyotei Gakuen. The other person who was with us before is my senpai and doubles partner, Shishido Ryou-san."
"You can just call me Kurumi," the girl said, wrapping her arms around Choutarou's neck and gazing adoringly at him. This made him feel quite uncomfortable, but of course he was too polite to let go of her, so he settled for hoping that Shishido would come back and help him out.
Fortunately, Shishido did quickly return, half-dragging Atobe with him. "Come on, quick! Everyone grab one of these parachutes!" He tossed them each a backpack-like item. To Choutarou and Kurumi, he explained, "Something's wrong with the engines and we only have a few minutes left before this airplane crashes into the middle of the Amazon Rainforest. Now this guy here-" he pointed to Atobe, who had finally pulled away from Shishido and was standing to the side, haughtily aloof, "-was figuring to go down with the plane in some kind of noble sacrifice thing. It's not going to happen, okay?"
"I merely thought that it would reassure the others to have an authority figure remaining watchful over the proceedings," Atobe said, "so if you'd quit misinforming Ootori-kun and Kurumi-chan here-"
"You know her?" Choutarou asked, and when Atobe responded that he did, in fact, know all of his guests, if not personally, he gave Kurumi over to him, since he was growing more and more uncomfortable with her presence.
"Wait, wait just a second!" They turned to look at Shishido. "Atobe, you've been watching everyone, right?"
"Yes, of course."
"Is there any way that Jirou could sleep through all this?"
"Not even Jirou could… Goddammit." Atobe deposited Kurumi back in Choutarou's hands and tore off towards the tower. Shishido made to follow him, but Atobe yelled back, "You take them and get out of here. I'm coming, I swear."
"All right… you heard him. Come on!" The three ducked into the passage under the stadium and leapt out into the rapidly approaching forest. After a second or two in free fall, before they reached the top of the trees, they released their parachutes. The parachutes got snagged on the trees and though they could have dropped down to the ground fairly easily, Shishido chose to remain in the canopy and watch the plane's descent while Choutarou dropped Kurumi off at the bottom before climbing back up to sit next to Shishido.
A few last parachutes were deployed before the juggernaut smashed into the trees approximately 60 kilometers away. A deafening crash reverberated through the area, sending birds flying in a panic. As the beautiful tropical birds winged their way past the two, Choutarou reached shyly for Shishido's hand. "Do… do you think… they made it?"
"There's no way." Choutarou looked over sharply and realized, to his surprise, that Shishido was crying softly. "I don't see any way they could have made it out in time. They-" Choutarou interrupted him by leaning over and wrapping him in a tight embrace.
"Hey. It's going to be okay, all right?"
"No, Choutarou. It's not going to be okay. Atobe… he's probably dead. Jirou too. And who knows who else?"
"But we're alive, and for now, that's what matters." When Shishido didn't immediately respond, Choutarou held him tighter. "Come on. The sun's coming up. Let's try and get some rest."
Omake:
While flying through the air with David and Kentarou, Bane decided that he might have overreacted a little. So he decided to apologize to David for hitting him in the head. After all, it wasn't entirely David's fault that he was in such a bad mood... and he had to admit, the "chute" pun had been pretty good.
"Listen, David," he started, yelling to be heard over the noise of the plane and the rushing air around them, "I'm sorry for hitting you before."
"Don't worry, it's fine," David yelled back. "I should already know that you hate my puns, and at a stressful time like this, I should expect to get clobbered over the head every time I say something like that."
"Well, yeah, it's stressful, but that doesn't really give me the right to-"
"Really, Bane. It's fine." David smiled at him. "Don't stress the subject."
"...As soon as we land, I'm going to kick you."
"Awww..."
Xiana: Thanks for reading! Sorry it took so long for me to update... I blame life :D Anyway... OMG THE PLANE CRASHED IS EVERYBODY OKAY!?!?!?
Well, I expect it's fine since Silver Pair is all right. (shameless)
Today's Poll Question is: In general, how much do you like OCs? No, not Kurumi... ^^;
Do you see that weird button down there!? Look how weird that thing is! It wasn't always there, was it!? Well, in cases like this, the best way to figure out what it's doing there is to poke it. Go ahead, everybody! :3
Updated 12/11/08
