A/N: Thank you for your reviews. I appreciate that you took your time to tell me what you think of my story. They make me want to work harder. Also thank you for pointing out the weaknesses of my story. I will try to correct them. Thank you very much.

By the way, special treat. Two chapters for you!

Enjoy!

From last time…

"Southpaw? Hmm…" Ibu trailed. He examined Ryoma, no expression on his face. Ryoma smiled again.

"From now, the real game starts," Ryoma said.

Tachibana watched the rally between Ryoma and Ibu. It has been more than twenty minutes, but the game was far from finishing soon. Tachibana was worried.

'Something's wrong,' he thought, focusing on Ibu. 'Shinji, what is happening?'

Ibu was breathing hard and he was sweating heavily.

'Masaka! Don't tell me that Shinji is being pushed hard?'

But Tachibana must admitted the truth of what he was seing.

.

'He is strong. It is much harder than I expect,' Ibu thought.

"40-love."

Ryoma smirked.

'I must find another way!' Ibu reflected a moment.

"4-2. Echizen leads."

'There is one thing left I can do, but…' Ibu watched Ryoma on the receiver position.

Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Serve.

.

Hit. Hit. Hit.

Tachibana focused on Ibu's face.

'What? Shinji! You're not using it…? It's…'

Hit. Hit. Hit.

'There is one thing left I can do, even if it's not yet completed. It's the only way for me now,' Ibu thought and returned Ryoma's ball.

Hit. Hit. Hit.

'Strange. His play style is completely different from before,' Ryoma noticed.

Hit. Hit. Hit.

Ibu observed Ryoma again before launching. His ball came to her left side. Ryoma ran to the left court and prepared to return. She swung her arm and…!

'What?'

"15-love."

'What happened? For one second, my arm freezes…' Ryoma examined her arm. It was back to normal.

Hit. Hit. Hit.

Ibu watched Ryoma, more specifically her left arm. Ryoma ran to the direction of the ball, her racket out. But it happened again.

'Ah! What! My arm freezes again!'

"30-love."

Ryoma watched her arm, made two tree swings to test her arm again. It was back to normal.

Ibu smirked and launched.

.

"Huh? What's wrong with Echizen?" Kirihara asked.

"That's two points straight for Fudomine," Momoshiro said.

"For a slip of second, it looks like Ochibi-chan's arms freezes," Kikumaru said. Marui, Niou and Gakuto nodded.

.

"4-3."

.

"What a strange attack…" Fuji said.

"What do you mean, Fuji-senpai?" Shishido asked.

"Ibu Shinji has not stop alternating topspin and slice shots for while," Fuji elaborated.

'Topspin and slices?' Inui wondered.

They observed more closely Ibu's attack.

Top. Slice. Top.

"Ah! It's true!" Kirihara said.

.

"What is Ibu is doing, Tachibana?" Kamio asked.

"It's a new technique Shinji just recently developed called Spot," Tachibana said. "Ibu can make the opponent's arm freezes for a second. However, the chance of success of this technique is still very low. Shinji still cannot know when the numb happenes. But he is been pushed by the first year to use it. He must be really in a desperate situation to use this technique now."

Fudomine looked at Ibu.

Top. Slice. Top. Mark.

"4-all."

'I can feel it now, Echizen-kun. I can feel it when your arm is numb!' Ibu smiled. Tachibana saw his smile.

"It seems that he completed the Spot now," Tachibana said, smiling.

'You did well, Shinji!'

.

'Again? What happened?' Ryoma was frustrated because she don't understand what was wrong with her arm.

.

"Echizen-kun… It looks hard on him," Kawamura said in a worried tone. Ooishi nodded.

.

'Calm down. This is not the time to loose concentration,' Ryoma told herself. She looked over at Ibu, who was also looking at her. 'I must find out what he did to me!'

Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Service.

'Echizen-kun, I'm sorry. But this game is mine!'

Top. Slice. Top.

Top. Slice. Top.

'Hum? From the fourth game, he has been alternating topspin and slice shots non-stop,' Ryoma analysed.

Top. Slice. Top.

'Ah! I remember now! By alternating topspin and slices, you can put pressure on the opponent's arm. And the arm will be numb for…! Ah!'

Ryoma felt her upper arm froze. If her arm cannot move, then she will move something else to return the ball.

'Arrrgh! I'm not giving up!' Ryoma grinded her teeth and pivoted on her foot.

'It's useless, Echizen! When your arm is numb, you also lost your grip power!' Ibu smiled.

Ryoma's racket slipped from her hand. It flew to the net pole, got knocked and snapped in two.

To the horror of Seiyou and Fudomine, they saw the half snapped racket rebounded at Ryoma and hit her on her face.

"Ahhhh!" Ryoma yelled. She covered her left eye, from where people could see blood flooding out.

"Echizen!"

"Echizen!"

"Ochibi!"

"Echizen-kun!"

Her team mates worried for her.

"Time-out!" Yukimura called.

"Echizen, come here!" Sanada ordered.

Kirihara and Marui, who rushed to her with Niou, Ootori and Kikumaru, helped her to get to the bench.

"Sit down, Echizen," Ooishi said as Kawamura gave him the first-aid kit. With Oshitari's helped, Ooishi cleaned her wound and tried to stop the bleeding.

.

Fudomine bench.

"Hide (1)…" Ishida said. Sakurai, Uchimura and Mori nodded.

"If Echizen cannot play and forfeit, then Ibu will win this game," Kamio said.

"But Shinji won't be happy if he win like that," Tachibana said as he watched Ibu. Ibu was leaned against a wall, arms crossed, a not happy expression on his face.

Kamio nodded, agreeing with Tachibana.

.

Meanwhile, Momoshiro and Shishido picked up her snapped racket.

"Fiuu! This is bad!" Momoshiro said as he picked up one broken piece, the frame.

"Hmm. There is no point repairing this racket," Shishido said as he examined the second broken piece, the handle.

"Ooishi, Oshitari, how is it?" Sakaki-coach asked.

Ooishi shook his head.

"The bleeding won't stop," Oshitari said.

Momoshiro and Shishido returned back, the broken racket in their hands.

"Echizen, we will put your racket away," Momoshiro said.

"Momo-senpai, also take the spare racket out for me, please," Ryoma said.

"What?" Ooishi and Gakuto yelled. They all looked at her.

"Echizen, it's better not to force yourself," Oshitari said.

"It's too much a big handicap," Inui said.

"But…!"

"Echizen-kun, you still want to play like this?" the referee asked.

"Hai."

"I cannot let you continue unless the bleeding stop. I understand that it's frustrating after coming so far. But it's better if you give up."

Ryoma chewed her lips, not satisfied. She stood up, rubbed her wound with her shirt. The bleeding stopped.

"It stopped now. So I can continue to play, right?" Ryoma said. She took the referee out guard.

"Ah! But…!"

"Echizen, come here!" Ryuzaki-sensei said.

Ryoma walked to her.

"You're being stubborn," Ryuzaki-sensei said.

"Is it bad?" Ryoma retorted.

"Does it hurt?"

"No."

'Liar!' her team mates thought. Ryuzaki-sensei smirked.

"Ooishi, bring me the first-aid kit!"

"Ah? Hai, sensei." Ooishi rushed to her with the kit.

"It will hurt a moment, Echizen," Ryuzaki said as she pressed against Ryoma's wound.

"Ite (2)!" Ryoma yelped.

"I told you so."

Ryoma grunted.

After a couple of minutes, Ryuzaki-sensei finished. Ryoma tapped the pad on her left eye.

"Ah! The bleeding stopped!"

"Ah? But earlier, it was flooding like crazy!" Ooishi said.

"This will temporary stop the bleeding, for a maximum of fifteen minutes," Ryuzaki-sensei said.

Ryoma nodded, understanding, and returned to the referee.

"It stopped now. So can I play, right?"

The referee got caught off guard again.

"I know I told you that you can play if the bleeding stop, but…" He scared of her.

'What a scary guy!' the referee and her team mates thought.

Momoshiro came running to her.

"Echizen, here's your spare racket," he said, the racket in his hand.

"Thank you, Momo-senpai," Ryoma said. She was going to take the racket when Ooishi stepped in front of Momoshiro.

"Ooishi-senpai…"

Clearly, he refused to let her continue to play.

All the people around looked at Ooishi and Ryoma.

Someone took the racket from Momoshiro's hand and came in front of Ryoma.

"Ten minutes. If you cannot make it in ten minutes, then you will forfeit the game. Understand?" Tezuka said as he handed her her racket.

"Tezuka!" Ooishi protested, but Ryoma took the racket from Tezuka's hand.

"That will be more than enough," she said. Ooishi sighed.

'He is too stubborn,' Ooishi thought.

"Ah!" Ryoma exclaimed as someone put something on her head. She touched her head to feel her cap. She opened her eyes to see Kaido in front of her.

"Kaido-senpai?"

"Go wild," he told her. Ryoma smiled.

"Hai!"

"Ooishi, do you really think that Ochibi-chan will accept to end his game like that?" Kikumaru said.

"I know, but…"

"Just wait and see," Oshitari said. They turned to see her stepped back in the court.

(1) hide: from "hidoi", which means "It's horrible";

(2) ite: from "itai", means "It hurts!";