It took longer then expected but that's what finals do to you. I had hoped to put this up alot sooner. Anyway the story is progressing to its darker side enjoy.
Disclaimer:I do not own Prince of Tennis, all rights belong to Takeshi Konomi.
"Let's go! We're wasting time!" Juro yelled then had to stop and cough for a moment.
You're right let's go." Nana said being the first to go down the ladder, followed by Usagi and Kikyo.
The rest hesitated for a second and followed too.
Inside they could see it was a dingy lit hallway with numbered doors all the way down. They could see and hear a few people but their voices were dwindling fast.
"Great, everyone else has a head start." Usagi complained and folded her arms across her chest with a huff.
They started walking down the hallway and looked at all the doors not really thinking anything of them, assuming that everyone else has gone through them. They didn't want to waste time searching if they can help it.
Each door had a three digit number below a small window just large enough for someone to look out and see the door in front of them. The doors were made of metal with chipped paint and dents. The hallway floor was slightly damp and the lights on the ceiling flickered every so often. The place was unsettling to say the least and when they turned down the hallway to another hallway that was just as disgusting wasn't helping.
"Th-this place….is disgusting. I- I can't breathe" Kikyo said while clutching onto Maro.
"Keep calm, the sooner we find these antidotes the sooner we can get out of here." Nana said softly to her.
She gave a small nod and let go of Maro who breathed a sigh of relief, it wasn't a phobia but he never really liked people clinging onto him.
"Hey I want to take a look inside." Juro said suddenly when he opened one of the doors.
"Wait!" Nana said before he took a step in.
"Huh? What now?" He asked annoyed.
"Make sure it's safe first." She said annoyed.
"Okay, Okay." He said before taking a few glances around the room. There was nothing but walls and a table with a small box on it. He noticed the box and pointed it out to the others; Usagi walked in immediately and marched over to the box without a moment's hesitation.
She stopped for a second then slowly opened the box to find a pistol.
"A gun?" Sakuno confused.
Maro took the gun and examined it for a moment then threw it back into the box mumbling something under his breath.
"What's wrong?" Nana questioned.
"The teachers are messing with us…it has a single bullet." He gave a sigh.
Juro walked up and took the gun, he opened it up and took out the bullet and tossed it to Sakuno who barely caught it out of shock. He gave a quick cough then turned back with a smirk.
"Then let's mess back, let's go find some more bullets." He said and walked out of the room.
"What the hell! You crazy?" Usagi snapped. "What's getting a gun gonna do?"
"No, I agree with him." Nana mumbled.
"Of course you do." Usagi muttered.
"Look this is serious; these people are trying to kill us and are sick enough bastards to want us to kill ourselves. So if they want to give us weapons then lets not waste them!" Juro told them with fire burning in his eyes.
"But it seems so wrong" Kikyo stated.
"It's for protection we wont use it unless our lives are being threatened." Nana said trying to get her to relax.
"I don't think we have a choice." Sakuno said apologetically.
The group continued and wandered into a few rooms where they found more bullets, other rooms had ropes, knives, and one even had a self guitine but none of them dare step inside that room. As they progressed the hallways became less damp and the rooms and doors less old. There seemed no end to the amount of hallways, but the disease was progressing and Usagi even threw up.
Not a good sign and what was worse the moment they were about to turn a corner they heard banging and yelling down the next hallway. Nana and Maro decided to investigate and found a couple of students trying to open up a door frantically.
"What's wrong?" Maro asked.
The kids didn't bother to look at them but continued to try to pull the door open.
"Their stuck!" One said.
"The door won't open and the furnas started up!" Another said.
"Their going to die at this rate." The other said.
The two looked and saw the rest of kids inside yelling and frantically pushing the door as the heat started to rise. They took a step back when the other kids looked at them.
"Aren't you going to help?" One asked?
"Sorry, theirs nothing we can do." Nana said taking off with Maro back to their group and going down the opposite hallway.
"We have to be careful form now on everyone the rooms are getting deadlier." Nana advised as they walked down and peered into the rooms, some wishing they didn't.
The rooms were becoming more deranged, every once in a while someone would look into a room and see that an unlucky person had picked the wrong door. Everyone was silent and in their own thoughts, Kyo seemed to be the only person who wasn't affected by the scenes of death. He was calm taking this as if it were a Sunday walk in the park, but he was calculating every room, every number and every trap. There had to be a reason or some clue.
Things were looking dismal but everyone was rather calm under the circumstances. Everyone was shocked, Sakuno and Kikyo being the most affected but they didn't cry it may be they are trying to hide it so as not to burden the others but they were rather calm. Nana took note on how strong Sakuno has become, it was rather impressive from what she could tell Sakuno was a rather frail girl with a naïve mind. Kikyo too but she was different.
Everyone here is different, because these phobias of theirs have been with them from a young age and has stripped them mentally and physically. Sakuno on the other hand had just acquired her phobia if it can even be called that.
They didn't dare set foot into any rooms, and continued to walk down the hallways and happened upon a clean white hallway, with metal doors painted white and crisp number plates above each door.
"Ah, what a relief." Kikyo said with a slight smile the only problem was that there was still the strong odor death wafting through the air.
"Let's not put our guard down." Kyo said.
Sakuno's head snapped when she heard that, and she was reminded of Tezuka immediately. She took a deep breathe and cleared her thoughts as she tried to keep focus.
"Should we look in these rooms?" Usagi asked as she peered inside.
"B-Be careful." Sakuno said out of habit and concern.
"The great Usagi is fine." She said with a small smirk and opened the door slowly to see a white room with a table in the middle and a box on top.
"Maybe this is our break." She said with a bit of sarcasm in her words but also hope.
Nana walked in with her and Juro leaned against the door as the others waited outside. Usagi slowly opened the box and saw that nothing was inside she huffed and slammed it shut.
Suddenly form underneath her she felt the floor collapse in and falling suddenly the last thing she saw was Nana staring wide eyed at her as she fell. The trap door closed immediately and Juro rushed in to help.
"Idiot, watch the door!" She snapped at him. "Usagi-san you okay, hey!"
"We got the door." Maro said as he and Kyo made sure it was kept open.
"U-Usagi-sama." Sakuno gasped as her breathing became haggard.
"Get me out! I can't see but I'm up to my knees in some horrible liquid!" Came the muffled voice of Usagi who was pounding at the trap door.
Nana kneeled down and inspected the trap door and tried to find a way to open it but she couldn't find a handle or crack.
"Get me out! Help!" She screamed.
"We're trying." Nana said.
"Try harder." Usagi countered.
"Jeez, even when you're trapped you're still a bitch." Jirou said and landed a firm punch to the trap door bending the metal.
Nana who was surprised by his action only stared at him.
"Hey that almost hit me!" Usagi snapped.
"Then duck!" He yelled and punched it again.
The dent was growing and the trap door was splitting apart.
"I can see light! Keep going!" She yelled.
Jirou did and landed another punch that created a hole large enough for her to stick her hand out of. Sakuno was very impressed and decided to go help them pull the trap door away and help Usagi out of the pit. She was soaked up to her thighs in what seemed like sewer juice but other then that she was fine. Juro on the other hand was not; his knuckles were bleeding and starting to grow purple and blue.
They ran out of the room and into the hallway when Sakuno noticed his bleeding knuckles.
"umm… would you like…"Sakuno started before she was interrupted by the sound of clapping.
"Very good, you did very well"
The group turned to see one of the teachers wearing a lab coat and smiling fondly.
"You asshole!" Juro snapped and reached for the gun but stopped when Kyo put and arm up in front of him.
"Look." he said simply.
"What the! Sakuno!" He snapped and held out his hand for the bullets.
"Stop it, you idiot he's got something." Nana said.
He stopped and looked over at the deranged teacher holding a hypodermic syringe.
"Listen to your friends, you idiot." He laughed a bit and twirled the syringe for a moment.
"What is that?" Nana questioned.
"Why it's an antidote." He said with a smirked and threw it over to them. Everyone was a bit shocked and it was going to crash on the floor but luckily Sakuno was able to catch it. She guessed tennis had its perks after all.
"That's the only one I have, and you need the whole thing so no sharing." He said before turning and leaving.
Usagi quickly yanked it out of Sakuno's hands, but Juro grabbed her arm.
"What do you think you're doing?" He asked darkly.
"Isn't obvious?" She sneered at him.
"You're just gonna take it! I shouldn't have rescued you, you bitch!" He yelled.
"I've suffered more then you have!" she countered.
As they bickered Nana walked over and took it out of Usagi's hand and stuck it in Kikyo's shoulder.
"There." Nana exclaimed with no emotion.
No one said anything for a moment.
"Th-thank you." Kikyo said too confused and overjoyed to say anything more.
Sakuno suddenly felt big hands reach in her pockets, she blushed a deep red. Juro took out a few bullets and loaded them into the gun.
"What are you planning?" Maro asked.
Juro said nothing but took off running towards where the teacher went.
"Idiot wait!" Maro yelled and ran after him.
"Juro-san, Maro-san!" Sakuno yelled to them.
The rest of the group looked at each other then heard a gun shot which made them rush over to where they saw the two run. Just around the corner they saw Maro on the floor covering his ears and Juro pointing the gun at the teacher who was holding his shoulder as blood flowed between his fingers.
"Now what?" The teacher asked mockingly.
"Now, you're gonna tell us where the other antidotes are." Juro sneered.
The teacher cackled a bit then leaned against the wall.
"I don't know." He said simply.
"Like hell you don't!" Juro snapped.
"He doesn't" Nana said putting her hand on his arm.
"How would you know?" He said pushing her away and aiming for the teacher's head.
"Look at him, he's just a lackey." Nana said trying to calm him down.
Maro stood up. "She's right, in stories the head boss won't show himself or put himself in danger till the end." He said.
"Doesn't mean I still can't end the bastard's life." He said with hate brimming from his eyes.
"There's no point!" Nana said trying to calm him down.
"Please don't do this." Sakuno said worriedly.
"Why are you guys trying to stop me?" He asked not taking his eyes away from the teacher sliding down to the ground.
"You're no killer." Nana said softly.
"Come on Juro, leave it be." Maro commented.
Kyo walked over and gently took the gun out of Juro's hand. Juro was breathing heavily and trying to calm down he started clenching his already bruised and bloody fists.
"Thank G-" Kikyo started but a shot rang off, then a thud was heard.
Everyone looked behind them to the horrifying scene of Kikyo on the floor with a bullet in her head. Blood was starting to pool on the floor and inch its way closer. They all then looked over at the teacher trying to run down the hallway. Juro in a fit of rage grabbed the gun and started shooting and got the teacher in the leg and back. The teacher fumbled to the ground but crawled to a door, but only to be stomped on by Juro who was holding a gun to his head.
"A-Angry?" The teacher coughed out.
Sakuno fell to the floor along with Maro who was trying to comfort her.
"You! You are going to tell us where these antidotes are and how to get out of here." He said darkly.
"I'm going to die at any rate it doesn't matter what you do." The teacher coughed.
"You fuck!" Juro screeched.
"W-wait! The room two doors down, it has an antidote in a false bottom" He said slurring a bit.
"With what trap waiting for us?" Nana asked as she rushed over.
"N-no trap." He said lying down on his stomach.
"He's lying." Usagi said.
"I'll kill you! Tell us where they are!" Juro yelled but the teacher didn't move.
"He's dead now he's lost too much blood." Nana said.
"Dammit!" Juro yelled and kicked the body. He then fell to his knees crying as he coughed.
"According to my data, there is evidence of separate underground facilities used by the family to keep their children. The house was turned into the school 5 years ago when the parents disappeared." Inui explained in Tezuka's living room
"How come no one has ever heard of this?" Tezuka asked.
"Renji and I had to go through hell and back just trying to hack through and get into the places history. Someone doesn't want anyone knowing." Inui said adjusting his glasses.
"…"
"Well… we were able to get this." Inui took out a map and showed it to Tezuka. "It's quite interesting."
It was the map of the underground facilities. Tezuka picked it up and gave it a quick scan then folded it in his pocket as he stood up.
"Tezuka?"
Tezuka said nothing and walked out the door leaving Inui rather bewildered.
I was very happy to kill someone off...I could only think.."finally" is that bad? Anyway, there's more to come and we'll have some old friends show up again in the near future. Please review and thank you to all that have... it means alot.