Tezuka and the others had been running for around ten minutes now and still there was no sign of the Golden Pair. They stopped for a second to double-check their surroundings and allow everyone to catch their breaths. Everyone wanted to make sure they didn't miss any sign of Eiji and Oishi.
"Echizen, do you see something?" Fuji questioned. He noticed that the first year prodigy had directed his gaze ahead and seemed to be focusing on something intently. Echizen had the best eyesight in Seigaku next to Eiji, so if he thought he saw something, it would be worth checking out, Fuji reasoned.
Echizen nodded and pointed to where he had been looking. "Up ahead," he stated. Everyone followed the trail of his finger.
It was faint, and their eyes were not as good as Echizen's, but in the distance there appeared to be two figures on the ground.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Momo exclaimed and took off. He was closely followed by the rest of the regulars. They were all anxious to find Eiji and Oishi and make sure they were alright.
With their renewed adrenaline, it didn't take the regulars much time to cover the distance. The Golden Pair were clearly in their view now.
"Oishi-senpai! Eiji-senpai!" Momo called out as they cleared the last few feet. Everyone was glad to have finally found the two, but there was a problem: Eiji and Oishi were on the other side of the river. The regulars would have to cross the river in order to get to them.
Oishi's head rose at the sound of Momo's voice. He turned toward the source as if not believing his ears. "Minna…" he said as his eyes landed on the others. Relief visibly washed over him.
"Just stay put, we'll come to you!" Momo continued. He started to head to the river until a firm grip halted him.
"Baka, we can't just jump in," Kaidoh reprimanded and then released his grasp on Momo's arm.
Momo was wide eyed for a second but quickly recomposed himself. "Ah, gomen, I wasn't thinking," he apologized. He had just wanted to reach his two senpai quickly and had let his actions get ahead of his thoughts. "Thanks, Mamushi," he murmured so that it was only audible to Kaidoh. Kaidoh answered with a quiet "Fsshhh."
"We do need to find a way to cross, though," Inui spoke, coming up to give the river a closer inspection.
"Senpai-tachi," Echizen called, making sure they all gave him their attention. "It's shallow here," he said motioning to the area in front of him. He had walked further ahead of the others and found a place that seemed safe enough to cross.
Everyone went to stand with Echizen and sure enough, the river was shallow there. Unlike the other areas, the bottom could actually be seen in this part.
"This appears to be the most reasonable place to cross," Inui explained. "The chances of us finding another place anytime soon are slim to none," he finished.
"Then we will cross here," said Tezuka calmly. He turned to address the group. "Everyone, watch your step and be careful." He received nods of confirmation from the others.
Although the river was more shallow here, it still had depth to it. Tezuka went first. The water rose to just above his waist. He was followed by Inui. Inui, being the tallest, had the water rise below his waist. Momo, Kaidoh, and Taka came next, the water rising to relatively the same place on them as on Tezuka. Fuji and Echizen brought up the rear. They were the two shortest out of the regulars, so naturally the water was higher on them. On Fuji, the water was above his stomach. On Echizen, the water was up to the middle of his chest. Regardless, they all moved cautiously to maintain their footing. They stayed close to one another as well, should the current do anything unexpected.
It seemed to drag on, but finally, everyone was safely across to the other side. Oishi had been watching them all silently, Eiji still sleeping softly in his lap, oblivious to the arrival of the other regulars.
Once Tezuka and the others were on the shore, they wasted no time in making their way to the Golden Pair. That is when they noticed the unconscious Eiji. They had all been too focused on actually getting to them earlier to realize it. Upon seeing the blood, Fuji's blue eyes snapped open and everyone wore expressions that were a mixture of shock, fear, and disbelief. Even Tezuka's eyes had widened a fraction.
"Eiji-senpai…" Momo said, his heart beginning to beat more rapidly with the approaching anxiety.
"He's only sleeping," Oishi cut in. Some of the tension left the regulars at his words, but the concern and worry was still evident in them. "But he's hurt and we need to get him to a doctor," Oishi added, again looking with worry down at the acrobat.
"How bad is he?" Tezuka asked, kneeling down beside Eiji, in front of Oishi. The others had gathered around them and were kneeling as well, careful not to disturb them.
Oishi shook his head slowly from side to side. "I'm not sure," he responded. "His left leg doesn't seem too bad, just some cuts and scrapes. But he has a pretty deep cut in his left side and I don't know how much blood he lost," Oishi explained, his voice becoming heavier with concern and his eyes narrowing in further worry. "I bandaged him as best I could," Oishi added, his eyes still downcast.
"And you, Oishi?" Fuji questioned.
"Huh?" Oishi responded, blinking at him in confusion.
"Where are you hurt?" the tensai clarified. They had all seen Oishi slammed into the rock.
"Oh," Oishi answered, understanding now. "I have pain in my head and back, and my neck is a little stiff… But worry about me later," he said. If he were the only one hurt, Oishi would have made no protest at all. But he wasn't, and he wanted to make sure Eiji was okay before anything else.
"We'll worry about both of you," Fuji countered. His voice had the tone that warned you not to argue with him.
"A-Ah," Oishi stuttered, not knowing how else to reply to the tensai.
"You two will need an ambulance," Inui stated, standing up and bringing out his cell phone. He had made sure not to get it wet when they crossed the river. Everyone was very grateful to have the data player with them as he made the call and described their location. No one else would have been sure how to give descriptions and directions that would be accurate enough. After a few minutes of speaking, Inui hung up his phone. "They will be here shortly," he told them.
Oishi sighed in relief. He had never been more glad to have his teammates with him. Help was finally on the way, so he felt that he could afford to relax a little. His own weariness crept up on him at last, but he did his best not to let it show through.
Everyone waited patiently, occasionally looking for some sign of an ambulance. They expected to hear sirens or something of that sort. What they didn't expect was to hear and then see a helicopter above them. It stayed high enough so that it didn't hit any trees, but low enough so that a rope ladder could be tossed from it and reach the ground. A paramedic began climbing down the ladder once it stopped. He had dark black hair and brown eyes that were full of kindness. He was around three inches taller than Tezuka. He approached the regulars and asked, "Who is hurt?"
"These two," replied Tezuka, gesturing to Eiji and Oishi, his voice holding authority and not giving Oishi the chance to protest and want all the attention to go to Eiji, knowing that he might try.
The paramedic nodded and motioned to the helicopter. A stretcher began to lower from it, accompanied by a female paramedic. She was shorter than the other paramedic, with blond hair in a ponytail that was so light it almost appeared white and sky blue eyes.
"We'll take you up one at a time," the male paramedic explained.
Much to Oishi's relief, the paramedics began to tend to Eiji first. They slid him gently off of Oishi's lap so that he was laying flat on the ground. They began checking his pulse, breathing, injuries, and everywhere else to make sure that they didn't cause him any further injury when putting him on the stretcher. "You did a good job stopping the bleeding," the female paramedic praised, turning and giving the group a warm smile.
"How is he, though?" Oishi asked, hoping the answer wasn't a bad one. His hopes began to diminish, however, when he saw the paramedic's smile turn to a frown.
"His blood pressure is low, his heartbeat is slower than normal, and his breathing is slightly shallow," she explained seriously. "Basically, his vital signs are below what they should be due to the blood loss and possible shock of the experience. I also fear that there may be some internal bleeding caused by the gash in his left side."
Everyone had begun to pale a bit from here explanation. "Will he be okay?" Oishi asked hurriedly, feeling panic rise in him again.
"His life is not in danger at this time," the male paramedic took over, doing his best to calm everyone. "But the sooner we get him to the hospital, the better."
The paramedics then carefully moved Eiji onto the stretcher, strapping him in. Once they were certain everything was securely in place, they gave the signal to start bringing the stretcher into the helicopter, the male paramedic accompanying it. A few minutes later, another stretcher was lowered out and it was Oishi's turn to be looked at.
The female paramedic was genuinely concerned about the pain Oishi was feeling, but there was little she could do, albeit see to it that he didn't move more than was necessary, without getting x-rays of the injured areas. So, she secured him in the stretcher and prepared to bring him up.
"Well, we can't just leave you boys out here by yourselves," she said, speaking to the other regulars. She glanced at the helicopter and then back at them. "It'll be a bit of a tight squeeze, but we can manage. Please follow me," she stated, heading for the ladder. They all followed her without a second thought, glad for the transportation and that they would be able to stay with the Golden Pair.
Finally everyone was inside of the helicopter. All the regulars had to sit very close to one another, touching shoulders, sides, legs, and feet, but no one was complaining. They were watching the Golden Pair.
Eiji now had an oxygen mask on and was still sleeping. He had not stirred at all through all of the commotion. Oishi had at last given in to his own exhaustion and was asleep as well. With everything in place, the helicopter took off in the direction of the hospital.
This whole ordeal would hopefully soon be over.
A/N: Sorry everyone! I didn't mean to take this long to update. I got quite busy unexpectedly. Thank you for all of your reviews and for waiting patiently for this chapter. I'll do my best to update the next chapter sooner. I hope you all liked this chapter! Until next time ^-^