Here's another chapter. I don't really have much to say. Thank you everyone for reading and reviewing! ^w^

Be happy, here's A Losing Battle.

A Losing Battle

……Elsewhere……

"I think you're mistaken yet again. I'm not into little boys sexually, I get more pleasure from seeing people bleed. Screams turn me on more then moans ever will." The man pulled a small black suitcase from under one of the couches' cushions. He opened it up and pulled out a large needle. The color inside was a neon green, that couldn't be good. "Don't move, this wont hurt a bit…"

'Momoshiro, where are you?' Ryoma cried out in his mind. He tried to pull free from Ben, but the other guy had a death grip on him.

"Don't struggle, it'll only hurt more." The man grabbed Ryoma's arm and was about to jab him with the needle when he said in a more pleasant voice then before, "How rude of me, I forgot to introduce myself!"

He was just playing around with Ryoma. Ryoma hated listening to this guy. The man placed the tip of the needle on Ryoma's skin. "My name is Gradin"

Gradin shoved the needle into Ryoma's arm and the first thing to come out of his mouth was a bloodcurdling scream. It hurt! The needle had been so long looking, and now the entire thing was inside of him. Both men were laughing. They had one hell of a sick humor. Finally Gradin stopped shooting out spit, and stopped to wipe his mouth with his sleeve. Ryoma's body began to feel numb and the edges of his vision was becoming blurry. Gradin smiled. "That, my friend, was a new animal tranquilizer straight from America! I gave you enough to put you to sleep, and when you wake up…"

Gradin didn't finish the thought, he left it for Ryoma's imagination, which within the last day had gone from simple tennis to thoughts filled with new and chilling ideas.

…. Not Elsewhere….

Now that Fuji was inside, he thought it would be a waste if he didn't explore it. He picked himself up, brushing off the pain, and started towards the double doors. With the stench of blood so heavy in the air he was amazed that the whole place wasn't painted in blood. He pulled on the metal handle and found it wasn't locked, there went his wishful thinking. The first thing that he noticed was the instant drop in temperature. It was bitter cold. He let out his breath and it appears before him in a puff of white. Goosebumps covered his now shaking body. The lights were also on in the room, but unlike the others, these were mounted on the wall. The lights showed that the walls were covered in a sheet of frost.

"What a strange place," Fuji mused. He debated whether or not he should even go in, but then he thought if Ryoma and Eiji were in there he would never forgive himself if he left. He started walking down the long corridor, his footprints leaving light impressions on the floor. He walked into an open space and got a good idea of the kind of place he was in. Either hell, or a slaughterhouse. Hooks were suspended in the air by chains. Newly added slabs of meat were dripping meaty juices onto the floor. Fuji was in a freezer. A freezer full of dead animals. He ate meat, he had no qualms about killing animals for food, however he did have a problem with being inside the place they do the killing.

Loosing all nerve he had gained, he turned and ran back to where the double doors were. He grabbed the handle and pulled but all that accomplished was his elbow popping. The door was locked now! Fuji looked out of one of the glass window on the side of the door. How could this have happened? A grubby face all of a sudden appeared parallel to his. He jerked his head back, letting a yelp of surprise escape his lips. The man on the other side was smiling, his smile missing all but a few teeth.

Fuji banged on the door. "Hey, let me out of here!"

The man wrestled with something in his pocket, then brought his hand back, revealing a gun. Fuji quickly knelt down, hugging the door so the man couldn't see him through the glass any longer.

Kaidoh outside had just been joined by two very distressed people who looked a lot like his Captains. Oishi was holding onto a cap that looked a lot like Ryoma's, and Tezuka was out of breath but already giving out orders. "Kaidoh I need help getting up to that window."

"…" Tezuka was a lot bigger then Fuji, there was just no way.

"Look I don't need you to hold my weight, I just need you as a stepping stone." Tezuka pressed farther.

Just then the clear cut sound of a gun shot pierced the air. Fuji!

"Kaidoh!" Tezuka yelled, but the teen was already on his hands and knees under the window. Tezuka looked at Oishi who gave a nod of encouragement, then sprinted towards Kaidoh. His left foot hit Kaidoh's back, the other pushed off the wall and propelled Tezuka through the window. He saw the ground coming quicker then he anticipated. He prepared himself and hit the ground. He managed to stay on the balls of his feet. He could smell blood and the image of Fuji's body drenched in blood popped into his head. Was he too late?

Fuji's hands covered his ears as a shot rang through the silence. He waited for the glass to shatter above him, but it didn't. Maybe the man was trying to help him and had shot the doorknob. Fuji lifted his head, his brown hair cascading to the sides. He reached up and tried the doorknob, still didn't budge. Was the guy waiting for him to come into the line of view? Fuji carefully stood up, staying in the middle of the two windows, and from the corner of his eye looked out. The man wasn't close to the window like he had been before, but that didn't mean he wasn't out there still.

He couldn't just hide in fear waiting for the guy to leave, it was too cold for that, so Fuji stepped in front of the window. He gasped. Laying in a pool of blood in front of the door was the man. He had a self-inflicted bullet wound in the side of his head, some of his brains were splattered on the wall beside him.

"But he was the only one here who could open the door," Fuji was trembling from the cold, the pain in his body, and his growing awareness that he might not get out of this frozen trap alive. He slid back down to the floor in defeat. The only other person who knew where he was there was Kaidoh, and he was stuck outside. Fuji wrapped his arms around his shaking legs, the prospects of him getting out of this alive were looking slime to none.

-A few seconds before-

-Momoshiro and Inui-

Momoshiro was still wheeling his bike at his side when they reached the tennis courts. The place was disserted. There were no cars. Momo sat down, he was tired and it was beginning to take toll on him. Inui inspected the surrounding area. He came back a few minutes later and said, "This was not all a waste. There were glass shards in one of the parking spaces."

"So there had been a van, but now what?" Momo asked, looking down at his shoes. "I'm really worried about Eiji and Ryoma. Eiji's so carefree and Ryoma, well he acts tough but really he's just like everyone else, he has fears and he even gets scared sometimes."

Inui looked at Momo, surprised by the way he was talking. He was about to say something, like the percentage of how likely it is that Ryoma and Eiji are just fine, when the screech of tires on asphalt stopped him. In the fading nightlight, because morning was only a few hours away by now, a blue van was seen. It was driving at a rapid speed and passed them. Momo didn't know what to think, but Inui grabbed the younger's bike and hopped on. He started pedaling. It had been years ago that he last rode a bike, but that didn't stop him from going at top speed.

"Inui!" Momo jumped up. Inui was chasing the van! Momo started running after them, but he wouldn't be able to catch up.

The man driving the van suddenly stopped and went into full reverse. The two in the back flung open the doors and lowered a ramp. It had been so sudden that Inui hadn't seen it coming. He rode up the ramp and into the back of the van where he was jumped and flung to the floor. The driver checked their review mirror, Momo was still chasing after them. He sped off forward now, leaving the teen in his dust.

The lady sitting beside the driver let out a soft laugh, "It's like taking candy from a baby. Now that we have their genius they wont be able to figure out a way around our 'offer'."

Momo's lungs felt about really to burst. It had all happened too fast. Inui had been swiped off the road and now he was gone. Gone like Eiji and Ryoma. Momo balled his hands into fists. "You bastards!"

His yelling echoed off the emptiness that surrounded him. He planned on not being alone for long. These people had taken his friends, his bike, and more importantly Ryoma. They were about to learn payback was a bitch, because Momo wouldn't rest until he found them. Little did he know he wouldn't have to look for long, they would come to him and the others soon enough.

-Eiji-

Eiji had been blindfolded, tied up again, and stuff into the back of another vehicle. The guy, Rick, had said they were going on a little ride. Eiji was worried about Ryoma. Poor Ochibi! Other people got in, one of them the women Eiji had heard from before. The car started up and they sped out of their parking. He couldn't see but he could smell a flower fragrance which he could almost taste because whoever had used it used too much. He could hear people in the very back talking, but no words could be made out.

Then all of a sudden they went speeding back, and something entered the back of the van. He wasn't sure what was going on. The lady began to laugh then said, "It's like taking candy from a baby. Now that we have their genius they wont be able to figure out a way around our 'offer'."

Fuji was with them now? What was going on? Eiji tried to get his blindfold off but couldn't even get a finger to his face. Whatever was going to happen he was going in blind.

….Elsewhere….

Ryoma woke up on a table in a different room then the one he had been in before. His body felt stiff and it wasn't responding to him very well which was frustrating. His limbs were strapped down by leather bands on the table which were cutting into him a little. The room was empty, Gradin wasn't there, neither was Ben. On a table stand beside the table was a large tray, and in that tray was a whole arsenal. He though miserably that things couldn't be any worse, but oh they could be.

To be continued…

Another short chapter and I kept jumping around from person to person, sorry! I needed you to see what was happening to everyone. Next chapter is going to be called Pins and Needles and will be mostly about what's happening to Ryoma… It will be more graphic then my other chapters. I'm going to make it so if you don't want to read about Ryoma being tormented, you can just skip reading that whole chapter, and you wont have missed any part of the plot. The next chapter might be shorter then all the others because it's just on one scene, but I plan to make it detailed.

Anyways, thanks for ready! Tell me what you think. Liked it? Hated it? Your opinion matters to me! ^^ See you in the next chapter, or not if you choose to skip it!