Me: Hello minna! So, here's the fifth Chapter of The final battle (seriously, does anyone have a suggestion for that title because I feel like pulling my hair out every time I read it). Anyhow, Kariya was shot by an arrow and is kind of dying now I guess, and I can't really let that happen now can I... Well, actually I could, because I'm planning a character death in this story, but you'll find out about that later.

Kariya: Who are you going to kill?!

Me: Later, Kariya, later. Now, do the disclaimer please!

Kariya: *eyes me suspiciously* Lotus Sword-sama doesn't own Inazuma Eleven. Enjoy!

"There might be a way..."

Those five words filled Shindou with sudden hope. Maybe there was a chance that Kariya could survive all of this. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well..." The mermaid in front of him trailed off and Shindou felt the sudden urge to shake him vigorously to get the answer, but he refrained from doing so. After all, he might just scare the creature away and right now, Kirino might be the only one that could save Kariya. "I don't know if it will work with him, since I only tried it out on mermen with small wounds, but I think it's worth a try. Have you ever heard about sirens?"

The question caught him a bit off guard and it took Shindou a few seconds to realize that Kirino was talking to him. He shook his head in response and the merman began to explain. "You see, sirens are water spirits with certain powers. They are really hard to spot, since they're completely made of water, so you'll often only see them as a movement. But they often come to the surface to sing. Their songs can hypnotize other creatures, both in the sea and on land, but sometimes there are other purposes. And old siren lives near the ca-... er, my house, and she taught me the words for healing things with my voice. I'm not really talented at it, since I'm a merman and no siren, but it worked out pretty well so far."

"And what does this have to do with Kariya?" Hikaru asked impatiently.

"Right, sorry. You see, I could try to heal that wound with my voice, but it's going to be tricky. As I said, I only tried it with small wounds and there might be other thinks that'll go wrong since he's no merman... And there's one last thing. He has to be in the water, because I'm not powerful enough to reach him on land..."

"But the water is salt!" Tenma exclaimed. Kirino gave him a weird look.

"Of course it is salt, it's seawater."

"What Tenma means," Shindou explained, "is that salt in an open wound is really, really painful for us."

"Oh," Kirino said, clearly not knowing what else to say.

"Let me... Let me try it," a tired but familiar voice spoke up. Everyone turned to Kariya, who was sitting against the rock with his eyes opened. Shindou looked him in the eye and saw pain and worry, but also a small spark of hope. The boy wasn't stupid. He knew he would die if nothing happened. Shindou knew it too, but he hesitated. Kirino seemed quite unsure about the outcome himself and there wouldn't be a second chance if it went wrong. Could he really take such a risk? It was Kariya's life that they were talking about! After a few more seconds of doubt, he made a decision. Yes, it was Kariya's life, so it should be Kariya's decision as well. And if the boy said that he wanted to try it, then who was he, Shindou, to say no?

"Alright then," he nodded and Kariya flashed him a half, painful smile.

"Thank you... Captain."

"First we'll have to remove the arrow," Shindou started, determined now that they had a clear goal. The pale boy went even paler, but he nodded nonetheless. "Hikaru, get something for him to bite on," Shindou ordered while he carefully replaced Kariya's leg so that he could reach the arrow properly. Despite being very careful, it was obvious that he hurt the younger boy a lot.

Hikaru came back with one of the arrows that laid in the cave and placed it between Kariya's teeth. It would've been funny if the situation wasn't so tense. Kariya grabbed Hikaru's hand with his left and Shinsuke's hand with his right hand before he nodded to Shindou that he was ready. Shindou tried to reassure the boy, but he was very nervous himself. Apart from the first-aid course from the start of his time in the army, he had no experience with things like these.

"I have to break it in half and then pull the pointy end through your leg, do you understand?"

"Just do it," Kariya said with the arrow in his mouth. Shindou nodded and broke the arrow in half. He made sure that he broke it as close to Kariya's skin as possible, so that it wouldn't move too much in the process. Kariya tried to muffle his screams, but the wailing, groaning sound was still heard in the entire cave. He squeezed his friend's hands and tears streamed from his eyes. His breathing went rapidly as he slowly calmed down again.

"You're doing great, Kariya," Shindou said. "We're halfway there. I'm now gonna pull it out, are you ready?" Kariya wordlessly nodded in response and prepared himself for the next wave of pain that would flood over him.

While the others were busy with Kariya's wounds, Tenma and Kirino were still at the edge of the lake. Tenma's face was pale and he tensed up every time Kariya screamed. "Hey Tenma?" Kirino asked carefully.

"What is it?"

"Can I see your tail, please? I want to make sure that I know all the differences between us, so that I don't accidentally mess it up."

"My what?" Tenma asked confused, but Kirino didn't notice. He pointed to Tenma's left tail, which was covered by some grey cloth. The boy lifted it up and Kirino took a close look at it. It was one of the strangest things he had ever seen. But then again, doubletailers were kind of strange.

His own tail was covered in big scales with the same colour as his hair and it glimmered slightly in the little light there was in the cave. The fins on the end of his tail were flatter and more transparent, though one couldn't see clearly through them. His tail started around his hips, clearly visible due to the darker colour. However, not only his tail was covered in scales. More delicate, lighter coloured scales covered the rest of his body, including his hands and face.

But the doubletailer's tail was different. It wasn't covered in scales, not even in the more delicate scales. Instead it was covered in... Well, he had to admit that he didn't know that, but it was weird. It was like a second cloth was wrapped around the doubletailer's tail. He hesitantly reached out with his hand and touched it, surprised by the warmth he felt. Now that he looked closer, he could also see small hairs on the muscled tail.

Luckily, Kariya wasn't shot at that strange inflection point halfway the tail, for Kirino had no idea how he should heal that. But now he got a pretty clear image of how a doubletailer's tail was built. It wasn't all that different from his after all, only they had two.

When Kirino returned his gaze towards Kariya and Shindou, he saw that the latter just removed the last part of the arrow. There was a gaping hole in Kariya's lower leg and big drips of dark blood dripped out of it. Kariya was still regaining his breath, panting heavily. The sweat on his forehead mixed with the tears on his cheeks. Suddenly he remembered something, and without explaining himself to the others, he dove underwater.

He swam to the very bottom of the lake, searching for what he had seen when he entered the cave. It seemed so useless back then, but now he was glad that he had seen it. Where is it? It should be around here somewh- There it is!

"That's it Kariya, you did great."

His captain's voice pulled out of the raging tornado of pain that swirled inside him, trying to suffocate him. He opened his eyes and blinked a few times to get rid of the blurs. Captain Shindou smiled at him, but his eyes were worried. They reflected Kariya's own feelings. He had no idea what the merman would do to him and he was - although he hated to admit it - very afraid of more pain.

"Help him up," Captain said, and he felt how Hikaru lifted him up and supported him. Shindou went to his other side to do the same, as Shinsuke was obviously too small to do it. With very, very careful steps, they made their way to the lake to find only Tenma was there.

"Tenma? Where's Kirino?" Shindou asked.

"I don't know, Captain. He suddenly swam away."

"Wha-?" Shindou's exclamation was interrupted by the splashing sound of the merman who broke through the surface once more, followed by the inevitable coughing. "Where did you go?" Shindou asked sternly. Kariya could see how the captain tried his best not to show his relief for the merman's return.

"I just had to get something," Kirino replied, still panting a little bit. He opened his hand and Kariya saw a few algae. The merman explained: "I don't know if it will work with you, but at home, the older mermen and -maids use it when they have trouble with breathing. When you place it under your tongue and keep it there, it will react with various substances in your saliva, resulting in the production of oxygen... But I'm not sure if it will work."

Kariya, along with the others in the cave, stared at the small green heap with widened eyes. They had never imagined that something like that even existed. "Let me try it first," Shindou volunteered. Kirino nodded and handed him one of the smaller alga. Kariya watched as his captain took the plant and placed it under his tongue. He used his hand to close his nose and pursed his lips to close his his mouth as well.

They watched as Shindou's chest slowly rose and were amazed when he opened his mouth, not to inhale but to exhale. After a few more tries, he turned to Kirino. "It's a strange feeling, but it works. Make sure you breath slowly and exhale through your nose when your underwater." The last sentence was directed to Kariya and he nodded in response.

He took the remaining aglae from Kirino and placed them under his tongue. They tasted salty and he felt a bit of sand, but he ignored that. Captain was right, it felt really strange to breathe without breathing. Kariya could think of no other way to describe it as he was slowly lowered into the water.

At first it was comfortable. His wounded leg was hotter than the rest of his body and the fresh seawater cooled it down quickly. But Kariya knew what would come next and he suppressed his screams of pain when the salt water came into his wound. He closed his eyes, tears escaping from them once more. He felt how Captain and Hikaru slowly let go of his shoulders and how two new hands took him over. He realized that it was the merman, who was now carefully dragging him underwater.

Even though he was prepared for it, Kariya slightly panicked when he was completely submerged by the water. He opened his eyes and tried to get away before his common sense took over again. He calmed himself down and breathed from the algae under his tongue.

The merman took him a few feet deep and then let go of him. He slowly sank, but not fast enough to distract the other creature. Kariya saw how he took a few gulps of water as if to calm himself down. Then he swam closer to him, Kariya, and opened his mouth.

Kariya couldn't describe what it sounded like. It was soft but loud at the same time. The melody was clear, but he wasn't able to make out the words. It was high and low, as if more voices sang it at the same time. Kirino swam closer to him and closed his eyes in concentration.

Kariya's leg started to tingle and then it grew numb. He didn't know for how long this went on, but eventually, Kirino opened his eyes and flashed him a tired smile. He grabbed Kariya's hand and pulled him to the surface. The merman coughed while Kariya gladly took large gulps of air. He was pulled out by Tenma and Hikaru and he didn't protest since he was pretty tired.

Kirino placed his hands on the edge and rested his head on them, obviously very tired. "I think it worked," he panted with a smile. Kariya followed the merman's eyes to his leg and his breathing faltered. The open wound was completely filled up with brand new skin and it didn't hurt at all. There wasn't a scar either, the only thing was that the new skin was slightly lighter than the rest.

He remained silent for a few more seconds, carefully touching the place where his wound once was. He could barely believe that he really survived all of that.

Me: soow.. no real cliff hanger, but oh well. At least Kariya can walk again.

Please leave a review people! ^^