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Chapter 6
Ryoma didn't give up; with tears in his eyes he jumped.
"He will do a smash!" Oishi said while Kikumaru was crying in his gakuran's sleeve. But before Ryoma could hit the ball, he was hovering in the air...
"So you dodn't want to lose your beloved little friend?" the shadow asked, suddenly vanished and appeared just a second later in front of the regulars.
"If you want to save your friend's life..." Kaidou and Kawamura embraced each other, because of the shadows 'special effect' they were scared to hell.
"... all of you have to fight against me!" The strange black thing explained.
"All together or in single matches?" Tezuka asked with a shaky voice. "Tezuka..." Fuji only said and put his hand on his scared friend... "All of you against me! The price... is your beloved friend, right there"
It pointed to Ryoma who was still on the court and almost transformed into a shadow.
"Ah! And if you lose... he will stay here forever." The thing said grinning. "Sooo!" - In a second they all were on the court, with rackets in their hands.
"It would be unfair 8 vs 1 so..." The shadow said, and suddenly multiplied itself, until 8 of it were ready. "Game... START!" The shadow army said chorally, serving at the same time.
"Whaaaaa!" Eiji had some problems with returning the ball. "If one of you make a mistake, all have to go through some little punishments, I premeditated especially for the troublemakers who made fun of me..." When the Seigakus heard the word 'punishment' they jerked immediately. "You'll see soon" the shadow laughed while his copies served.
"The balls are really fast nyaa~!" The catboy yammered. "Yudan sezu ni ikou!" Tezuka only said. He felt deeply ashamed to let his own guard down, when he was stammering in front of the shadow earlier. That's why he tried to motivate and encouraged his Team members.
"Usu" His friends answered unison. None of them wanted to make a mistake. They were trying hard to win. Together they have to do something... But at the end - it was impossible...
When the first mistake came: "First!" The shadows screamed and a cold stream of water leave them completely wet. "And that is just the
beggining!"
"It's horrible, 'cause the court is pretty small and we are 8 persons on one side... we don't have enough space to return all their balls..." Fuji mentioned. "Right... the probability to win is: 12,36%. In doubles, it's much easier to synchronize than with 8 people. Moreover the golden pair members Eiji and Oishi are the only ones who could do that... but the numbers of balls are too incredible high!" Inui exposed the data.
"0-15 -Shadow-Team" A strange voice shouted out of nowhere. The next serve... all made it, to return the ball, except Kaidou and Momoshiro who got in each other's way.
"BAKA! It was MY BALL! Why didn't you hit the ball on your side instead of interrupting my shot?!
HUH?!" Kaidou yelled.
"You were in my way, don't you?!" Momo shouted back.
"Stop you two! It's not the time to fight against each other!" Oishi tried to smooth down the differences.
"Ah~ such a pity! But I have to punish you for losing a point" the shadow said in a sarcastic tone. In a single blow a chilled breeze blew over the court. The boys began trembling with cold. When Momo wanted to return to his position he wasn't able to use his legs anymore as they were frozen to the ground, but Momo wasn't the only one with problems. - Oishi and Eiji couldn't hold their rackets any more because of the cold.
Now it was even more difficult for them, to make not more mistakes.
"Tse Tse, you people will never learn" Momo, Eiji and Oishi failed to return the following balls. This time all of them were almost electrocuted with thunder look alike that fell from the sky.
"Ahhh!" they screamed at the same and then falling on their knees... "You will never win..." - 10 minutes later, the score was 4-1 for the shadow-team. The catboy was on the ground; his body won't move anymore... "Eiji..." Oishi thought worried for his friend.
They only get the first match-point because the stamina pros used all the power they had. Kaidou was also breathing hard. He couldn't feel body anymore when he whispered to Momo who was standing in front of him "Sorry... it's a shame to give up now, but I reached my limit already..." Then with a loud 'thud' Kaidou fell to the ground.
"MAMUSHI?! COME ON! DON'T GIVE UP!" Momo tried to gulp back his tears but it wouldn't help he started to crying. The 8 shadows served again and aimed at the two senseless persons. After being hit by 4 hard balls, Kaidou's and Eiji's body moved just a bit. "You didn't returned the balls again... 30-15 shadow-team. So I have to punish you again... but this time not only your bodies!" The black figure began to laugh in an ugly way.
"It's unfair to hit them! They can't react any longer! Youuu! Bastard!"Momo roared. Without noticing it in the first place, the two bodies of the injured friends were carried by shadows to the other side of the court...
"Now we play 10 against 6... What do you think about it?" The shadow man asked without expecting an answer.
"…Or even better! 11 vs. 6!" It said, bringing also Ryoma to its side of the court.
"You still think you will win?" The remaining regulars played, taking their positions to keep playing. Now it was in another level - 11 balls to return by 6 persons - But they had to win... The ice on the floor disappeared suddenly, when the 11 shadows plus friends made their serve the Regulars' feet were ridded of the ice, they all fall down on their knees because it was impossible to balance at this rate. "40-15 shadow-team"
"Oh shit! That shitty shadow fooled us again... my legs hurt... it's not possible to stand up, isn't it?" Momo yammered...
"I'm surprised that you guys can bear the punishments so long, the students 20 years ago weren't able to take it so long like you... So now, how could I punish you next?"
The shadow was thinking about a good one. Then all of sudden a heat wave passed over them, the contrary to the cold breeze, and this one had more power, so they saw practically the smoke that came from them. Not only the 6 regulars' team felt this punishment, also their friends on the opposite court did. As fast as it came, it went away.
Leaving them on the floor, unable to move anymore
"It is my victory!"... But then the balls, which were returned by the 6 regular members began to burn and flow through the shadows.
"Ohhhh you gotta point. So you didn't learn your lesson!" The figure shouted a bit angry. "If you want to play 'Burning Tennis', we can play 'Burning Tennis'!" He continued and the controlled friends picked up the burning balls... "NO DON'T TOUCH THEM! EIJI! KAIDOU! RYOMA!" Oishi roared.
Even with the balls on flames. The three of them picked them up and served at the same time like the shadows. But then all the shadows disappeared at once leaving only the controlled players behind.
"Now you will play only with your friends" barely they were able to return the balls. Now it was a 3 vs 6. "... But be careful" and then the shadow started laughing madly. "5-1 team-shadow" the scary voice said out from nowhere.
"Minna..." Tezuka said with a soft tone "I think when we play against each other, we will hurt them awfully... I think there is no way to win..." The buchou explained his thoughts. "Tezuka maybe is right... I have no data about thit kind of situation... but even If we win the probability that we will survive is very low to 5% I would guess." After Inui said the facts Kawamura shouted out loud
"We can't give up!" It was a bit understandably, because he had a racket. "The way to get out of here is our win!" all the others looked at him with hope "Lets try, Tezuka." Fuji said smiling a bit.
So they continued playing 'Burning Tennis' for a while. But then they noticed, not only the hands of their friends began to burn... their arms, their upper body and finally the head and the rest of the body while the others were talking "noooooo! kikumaru-senpai! echizen! mamushiii!" Momo was still crying, but it was strange even they were in flames, the three of them continued playing. "Momoshiro... don't forget we have to win..." Tezuka said with a calm voice.
"Minna! Yudan sezu ni ikou!"
"Uisu!"
They continued playing, for them it felt like hours and more hours. Now the score was 5-5. Even then they started to burn by the flames of the balls. All of them had flames on arms and legs. "40-0 for shadow-team" A voice said from nowhere. "Like I told you. I'm going to win!"
This was the last ball... it clinched about their future, were they ever been able to play tennis again? Together as a team? - The 11 Balls hit the ground and this time the game was over.
"6-1 game and match – shadow-team." The seigakus didn't feel any pain any longer. It was a mystery - How were they able to play tennis so long in their state? - All of sudden the whole court blazed and turned into a black hole where they all sucked in...
"Hey you sleepyheads! Wake up! It is already 20:25! I want to lock the boys changing room now! So get going!" Ryuzaki said angry... Wait! - It was Ryuuzaki-sensei, the one that just spoken? All of them stood up, they were on the floor of the changing room. Was all of this just a dream?
"Minna" Tezuka was the first to say something. They were already out because their sensei had thrown them outside. "I just had a very weird dream! Nya~! We were in a black world..." The eyes of the others opened widened... Soo it wasn't a dream? - But they lost the match?!
"And we played with a shadow to save Ochibi...Ah! Ochibi isn't here!"
Ryoma woke up, leaning at the tennis court fence with Momo and Kaidou. "W-w-what happened...?" he yawned. Kaidou snuggled at his rivals arm and his legs were still shaking. "Maaamushii" Momoshiro yelled... "What are you doing with my arm? I'm not your cuddly cushion!"
"Fshuuuu. It is not like I wanted to be like this!" Kaidou answered and got up at the same time. Momo followed him and then remembered "...Ah! I just had a very weird dream!" Kaidou listened. "It was a black world" At the eyes of the bandana boy opened wide, "I had... the same dream" he just said. "Whaat! Really?! Mamushi!?" Momo asked surprised. "W-what if it wasn't a dream...?" and then the third year arrived running...
While the others were running to Momo, Kaidou and Ryoma... the little rookie found something.
"Hey Kaidou, where is your bandana?" Kawamura asked. The viper was putting his hands on his head... It wasn't there anymore...
Then he suddenly remembered. "Blood!" Ryoma shouted while falling back on his bottom. He pointed with his finger at the outside washbasins.
The blood Ryoma saw was on Kaidou's bandana, his cap and the court and net. All of them looked at it in horror. The dream they all casually had... was no a dream at all.
The worse of all. The blood was also on Ryoma's hands...
"Does this mean...?" Ryoma said while looking his hands.
So! This is the last chapter! As always there are pictures in our profile. Really sorry for the delay! Leave us a review and wait for the epilogue of this story!