A/N: Thank you all so much for your supportive reviews and for sticking with this story! CupcakeRecall, EclipseKuran, krito1389, NarupokeeAurorafan, Chiisaiuki, Puncakegoddess, Killua17, Made2352, Talltree-san, Tennu, TenraiTsukiyomi, KaminikaSaffire, DeathEmerald77, JackieMikaFrost, Hitty-chan, Akira Phantomthief, gsinbyk, Kuruizaki-hime, luchiaseirin, Billyberry97, icefox94, EminaRukiax, MissStories, WolfPacFaan, Rika Tone, x-YaoiWolf-x, ILikeIt, CharTEA, Kurusu, lenxann, Axelus-Magnificus, TrebbleShot, MisanthropicGoddess, OverdosedFujoshi, Guest, Anonymous, HikarixYamixYaoi, Dakukurimuzon, KinHiromi, sunflora263, Sarekkandarikulover, Nythtak, Riddikuluss, lunar and solar girl, shiarein, PurplePantherXVI, Guest #2, smileysparklea, CatVns, Meika, Bellatrix Trickster, UraHime Hikaru, fanlover18, clara, Celestial-Dragon777, and CloudCarnivore! (Wow that was a lot! XD)

A/N 2: Woo, Apocalypse no Toride updated quite a bit since the last time I wrote this! I'm sorry for the huge delay I had such a hard time writing this. I never realized how difficult it was to return to a fanfiction after so long of a break... Hopefully it still has the same feel :( Oh, and thank you all for your opinions on the changes in the previous chapters ending! :D

Warning: Violence.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroko no Basuke or Apocalypse no Toride

Chapter 17

On the way to Yosen

Everyone was uneasy as the boat sped through the ocean waters. When they left this morning they never thought that something like this was going to happen... Meeting strange seal-like creatures was one thing, but to be chased by a giant whale mutant that ate said seals only moments ago, was definitely not what they expected.

"Maybe you shouldn't have stabbed it, Midorimacchi..." Kise commented, hearing another enraged sound coming from behind them.

Midorima ignored him, knowing that what he'd done was necessary if they ever wanted to get away from it. But he couldn't deny that those actions had definitely made the monsters indifference towards them vanish, since it now seemed intent to kill them all.

"It's catching up, Yoshi-kun!" The black-haired man looked and saw the whale was no more than a few feet behind them. There had to be a way to escape it...

Imayoshi tore his gaze from the monster and saw a rock formation in front of them. He was about to change directions to avoid it when an idea came to mind. Keeping straight, he stayed on course.

"Uh... Imayoshi... You know that there's a giant rock right in front of us, right?" Wakamatsu questioned, looking at his friend with a weird look. There was no way he couldn't see it that giant rock sticking out from the water.

"Hmm, yes."

Everyone sent each other looks at the uncaring response. They were practically on the verge of colliding with it and still the black-haired man did nothing to avoid it. Was he planning on killing them all?!

"Hang on." Imayoshi warned, when the boat was only meters from the obstacle. The others had little time to react as the black-haired man turned the wheel sharply to the right. The boat skidded for a moment and tipped on its side dangerously, before turning away from the outcrop.

Caught off-guard by the sudden change in movement, the whale couldn't react in time and it was sent crashing into the wall of rocks. It didn't harm it as much as he hoped, but by the time it regained its senses and resumed chasing, they had a significant lead on it. Seeing this, they relax slightly and compose themselves.

"I can't believe that worked..." Aomine said with a grin, obviously approving of the reckless maneuver the man did.

"Mou! You could've given us a little more warning, Yoshi-kun!" Momoi yelled at the smiling man.

"Th-That must've hurt it a lot." Sakurai mumbled. He couldn't even begin to imagine how it felt to run into something hard like that at the speed it was going...

"Serves it right for trying to hurt Kurokocchi!" Kise didn't feel sorry for that thing at all since it had the nerve to try to attack the bluenette. The others shared his sentiment.

Realizing that it wasn't over yet, everybody turned their attention back to the whale, but when they did they saw nothing but still water behind them.

"Did we lose it?" Murasakibara asked.

"Looks like it..." Something felt off about how easily it gave up, since it went out of its way to attack them in the first place... but if that were the case, they couldn't really complain about the change of events.

"What's the matter, Momoi-san?" Kuroko asked, turning his attention from the others to the pink-haired man, who was looking out the window with a focused expression on his face.

"Oh, I just thought I saw something..."

They went to look, hoping that this time there weren't anymore seals blocking their path, but when they did they saw nothing there.

"Huh, I don't see anything." Kagami said.

"It must just be my imagination..." Momoi said, before laughing. Thinking that his thalassophobia was making him be paranoid.

"Maybe you should get your eyes checked, Momoi." Wakamatsu jested lightly.

Imayoshi however didn't take the man's words lightly. If there was anything he knew about Momoi, it was that he was extremely observant.

It didn't take long for his suspicions to be confirmed when moments later something sprung up from the water, blocking their path.

"You've gotta be kidding me..." Kagami grumbled, glaring at the persistent creature ahead of them.

"How the hell did it get here before us?!"

Imayoshi instantly reacted by turned the wheel, but the boat couldn't keep up with it and the whale gripped the back of the boat before they could get out of reach and held on tightly, keeping them in place.

He quickly changed gears, trying to create more traction in order to make the whale release its hold on them. The rudders skidded over the water, dosing the back of the boat with water and making the whale's grip loosen.

However it proved in vain when a loud creaking sound was heard by all, followed by silence as the engine cut off. Everyone was sent sprawling as the boat jerked backwards when the boats resistance to the whales hold ceased. As if that weren't bad enough, it persisted and continued trying to get to them by ramming into the boat.

Everyone braced themselves as the boat rocked back and forth with each of the monsters hits. And for a moment they thought that it'd definitely be able to break the boat apart, but then the commotion stopped and all went silent.

"Is everyone okay?" Himuro asked, as everyone recovered from the rough impact. Kuroko nodded, rubbing the back of his head lightly to relieve the pain from when it made contact with the rough jostling.

They went to the windows to find out what made it stop. At first they didn't see any sign of the creature, until it turned from their blind spot and continued swimming around the boat in a loop.

"What's it doing..?" Momoi asked, not liking the way it was looking at them. It was as if it were analyzing them with each passing.

"It's circling us." Akashi said, feeling perturbed at how similar the mutants were to actual animals. But perhaps it was a good thing since it was buying them time to figure out what to do.

"W-Well, this is good right? If it won't attack us, we can leave!" Kise said, looking to Imayoshi for confirmation. But the man was too busy fiddling with the devices beside the wheel to answer, and from the frown on his face, they knew that whatever the problem was, it wasn't good.

"What happened, Shoichi?" Akashi asked.

The black-haired man looked at the red-head and could tell that he wanted an honest answer. Sighing, he gave his answer. "The temperature gauge is too high."

"What's that mean, Imayoshi-san?" Kuroko asked. Whatever it was, it didn't sound good...

"It means that something's preventing the water from flowing inside the cooling loop." Still seeing blank looks, he put it into simpler terms. "In short, the engine overheated..."

"Can you fix it?" Kise asked, not liking the idea of sitting here and waiting for that thing to eat them.

"It's a simple matter of removing whatever's blocking it or securing the hose if it's loose." He looked out the window and let out a bitter smile, seeing the whale make another lap. "But I doubt that thing will give us the time for that."

"So, we're stuck in the middle of the ocean with that monster..." If the situation was this hopeless, it seemed as if they had no other choice. Akashi shared a look with the rest of his friends before nodding in silent agreement.

"What are you all doing?" Wakamatsu asked, when the group went over to the boxes of ammunition and proceeded to load their empty guns.

"What's it look like..?" Aomine grumbled, not wanting to state the obvious.

"You can't be serious... You're going to try to attack that thing again?!" Momoi asked, incredulously. He knew that the teens were reckless, but this was plain suicidal!

"What else can we do?" The pink-haired man tried to think of something, but nothing came to mind. Seeing this, Midorima continued. "That thing's obviously playing with us, it won't give up unless we take care of it."

"And just how do you think you'll do that? In case you've all forgotten, the bullets don't even work." Wakamatsu asked, raising a brow in expectation.

"The fact that Shintaro's actions earlier hurt it, means that even if its skin isn't able to be pierced, at least we can do something about it."

Kuroko listened to the argument. It was a difficult decision to make and he was stuck between agreeing with Akashi since it was obvious they couldn't get out of here without doing something, but on the other hand he didn't like the idea of his friends risking their lives... There had to be some better way to get them out of this mess...

Looking around the bluenette spotted the many boxes of ammunition, walking over to it he looked inside.

There were at least three boxes full of ammunition, and one or two pistols. Knowing that those wouldn't work, he was about to look elsewhere, but then he saw something underneath the cloth that was lining the box. Pulling it up, he saw two familiar-looking circular shaped objects.

'Kagami-kun's bombs.' He thought to himself, remembering the explosives the red-head had when they first met at the army base. If he remembered right, they had done a lot of damage to those mutant dogs. So maybe...

"What about these?" He suggested, holding up one of them. The arguing ceased at the bluenette's voice.

Kagami's eyes widened at the object in the Kuroko's hands and urgently ran over and grabbed it from him before hiding it behind his back.

"What are you doing, Kagamicchi?" Kise asked, peering over the red-head's shoulder to get a glimpse of whatever he was trying to be so weird about.

"Uh... Nothing." Himuro studied his brother for a moment, suspicious by the hasty reply. The red-head tried to feign ignorance, but he gave up when his brother gave him a look.

"Taiga... Didn't I tell you to leave the bombs in the van..?"

"You brought bombs onto a boat?" Midorima asked. Who brought explosives onto a very sinkable ship?!

"Of course, I never go anywhere without them." Kagami said, sounding very convinced that it was normal to carry explosives around on a regular basis. "Besides, these all have safety latches on them, so there's almost no chance of them blowing up on their own."

"I thought they all got dumped out when the Bokor picked up the van." Akashi stated, looking at the two Americans with a questioning gaze.

"Most of them did, but after that day in the cafeteria Taiga spent a good amount of time gathering materials for the ones we lost. I didn't know he put them together, though..." Himuro said, rolling his eyes at his brothers obsession.

Imayoshi studied the explosive with a thoughtful look on his face. It was definitely homemade, nothing like the bombs the U.N. had at the base, but seeing the materials inside and around it, he had no doubt that this thing could do some damage.

"You made this yourself?" Wakamatsu asked, looking thoroughly impressed.

"Yep." The red-head said, with a grin.

Himuro took the other bomb out of the box, and after seeing it he wasn't as pleased by them as Wakamatsu was. "What'd I tell you about putting too much explosives in one container..." He asked, exasperated.

"Uh... Not to..?"

"What's wrong with it?" Momoi asked. A bigger explosion seemed to be better, right?

"Only the fact that they have enough power to blow us all up if we use it." Himuro answered, before turning back to his brother. "If you haven't noticed, that thing will be too close to even think about using it."

"Oh, right..." Kagami said, with a displeased look on his face. He really wanted to try it out...

Himuro snatched the bomb from his brother and pocketed it, knowing that if he left it with him, he'd definitely use it despite the risk.

"So we can't use it..." Akashi mumbled, dissatisfied.

"We can try, but there's no telling what damage it could do to the boat... and we definitely can't be outside when it explodes."

"If I remember correctly, hunters used to hunt whales with harpoons that had grenades on them... I suppose whether it's a bomb, or a grenade wouldn't make much difference." Midorima muttered thoughtfully. The reformatory bunch were used to the teens random knowledge about things, since he'd known about something as obscure as Bokor's, so they dismissed it. But the others gave the green-haired teen a weird look.

"You've got a lot of information in there, don't you Green-kun?" No one failed to notice how Midorima's eye twitched at the name.

Though the thought of being stranded in the ocean without a boat didn't seem like the greatest thing. But the news was somewhat good. Even if it wasn't the most conventional, at least they had a back up plan.

"Hmm... you're actually useful for once, Kagami." Aomine said.

"W-What'd you say, you bastard?!" He shouted, wondering why he saved the ungrateful teen at the army base. Kuroko sighed and tried to calm the two down.

Sensing that everyone was calmer and the mood was back normal, Momoi smiled. The odds were still against them, but now with a way to possibly end that thing, they figured that maybe they could all work together and get through this. "Now, what do you say we kill that thing?"

Everyone made their way down the halls, before huddling beside the door leading to the deck.

Silently nodding to each other, Akashi opened it and looked out to get a good grasp on the situation. When he did, he saw the whale waiting there straight ahead. They'd hoped to sneak attack it, but it wasn't as if they hadn't taken this into consideration.

"You all understand what to do?" Akashi asked once more. After their disagreement, they had put the whales lack of activity to use and planned something rather than blindly charging in.

"We distract that thing while Kurokocchi, and the others fix the engine." Kise said. After much debate, they opted to have Kuroko go with Imayoshi, Momoi and Himuro to fix the engine, not wanting to endanger the bluenette since the mutant would go out of its way to get him.

"Then we blow it up and we're scott-free." Kagami finished, grinning at the thought of using the explosive.

"I don't know why we even bothered making a plan. We're still going out and fighting that thing like we wanted to do before." Aomine said, feeling like the plan wasn't needed.

"We already went over this, Aomine." Midorima said, with a sigh. "Rather than us all rushing out and shooting it, we'll have better chances. With fewer people on deck, it'll expect less of us and give us more opportunities to find an opening."

Akashi was satisfied with their answers, knowing that there wouldn't be any careless mistakes. He focused his attention back outside, waiting for the right moment before addressing the group. It was now or never.

"Ready?" They had to admit that they were slightly more hesitant to take it on, seeing how big it was now that they were on lower elevation, but they weren't going to back down.

"Ready as we'll ever be." They readied their guns and when Akashi pushed the door open all the way, they rushed outside.

Everyone promptly spread out on the deck, figuring the monster would have a harder time dealing with them all this way. And without delay, they raised their rifles and took aim.

The whale let out a roar, obviously frustrated by the annoying pieces of metal shooting towards it. In an attempt to stop it, it plunged its arm down towards the group, who reacted quickly and dodged before resuming.

While they were dealing with the monster, Imayoshi waited for an opening. When the whale shielded it's eyes to block out a particularly well aimed bullet that Sakurai shot, he spoke.

"Come, this way." Imayoshi said, motioning to the left. The three followed him closely.

Noticing movement from the corner of its vision, the whale removed its malformed hands from its face and focused on the four running across the opposite side of the deck.

It was about to swipe at the four, but Midorima shot at its wounded eye to divert its attention back to them.

"Go! We've got this here!" Wakamatsu said, jumping out of the way as the whale's attack came towards him, and shooting.

"Should we really leave them?" Kuroko asked quietly, not wanting to leave his friends in this position.

"They seem to be handling it well. I'm sure they'll be fine Tetsu-chan." Himuro encouraged, though he seemed slightly worried for his brother as well.

Shaking the worry from his mind, Kuroko nodded and they continued running towards the stairs that led to the top of the boat, Imayoshi stopped at the bottom of them and bent down to open the hatch in the floor.

"Down there..?" Momoi asked nervously, looking at the darkness below.

"The faster we handle this, the sooner we can get out." Imayoshi supported.

They descended the stairs, and found themselves in a dark, long hall with pipes lining the walls.

As they walked, Momoi glanced around nervously wishing he'd stayed on deck instead of coming down here. It wasn't that he was afraid of the dark... but being in such a cramp space in a boat was really unnerving him. Just as he was about to get a hold of himself, he felt something on his shoulder and let out a loud shout.

"Wh-What happened?!" Himuro yelled just as loud, startled by the sudden outburst.

"O-Oh, it was just water..." Momoi said, letting out a relieved sigh when he inspected his shoulder and only saw moisture on it. Himuro sent the man a bland look.

"If you want, you can hold my hand, Momoi-san." Kuroko said, remembering that the man told him of his fear of boats earlier.

"R-Really?" Receiving a nod in answer, Momoi took the boy's hand, feeling much better.

The farther they went, the hotter it got and if that wasn't bad enough there was a noticeable odor. They endured it for a while until it became unbearable.

"What's that smell?" Himuro asked, both him and Momoi holding their noses to block out the foul stench. Even Imayoshi couldn't ignore the scent.

Kuroko was confused at first but when the scent finally reached him he quickly did the same. It was a nauseating rancid smell, almost charcoal-like, but much worse. He knew that whatever it was, it wasn't anything good.

They got their answer a few seconds later when they heard the unmistakable sound of moaning coming around the corner. Which meant... Cautiously they took a look inside the room.

There were many machines inside, metallic piping leading to them and other wires connected to tanks. It was most certainly the engine room, but there was only one problem... Inside were about five zombies. One seemed to be stuck in place, but a few of them were roaming around freely.

"How'd they get in there?" Momoi whispered.

"They must've been running from one of them and hid in here for safety..." Himuro guessed, now knowing why the keys had still been in the ignition.

Before they could dwell on it longer, the sound of gunfire reached their ears once again, reminding them of their goal. They had to hurry.

Having not expected to fight anything down here, they luckily found some spare pipes nearby and went inside the room. It was an inconvenience, but they were nothing like the seals they'd encountered before, so they quickly finished off the ones roaming around before turning to the stationary one.

The zombie reached toward them with one hand, but wasn't able to get them because its other was sizzling in the gears, the appendage burning from the heat of the machine. Which seemed to be the origin for the unpleasant smell.

"I'm guessing this is why the boat overheated so quickly..." He could only guess that the zombies were attracted to the noise the engine was making when Imayoshi floored the gas to escape from the mutant. Momoi stabbed the zombie in the head and it slumped to the floor.

With the obstacles gone, Imayoshi inspected the tank. The remains of the zombies arms were clogging the tank. And when he went over to the main system he saw another issue. 'Seems like the hose did get loose as well...'

"You two clean out those gears. Momoi and I will fix the cooling system." Imayoshi said. Kuroko and Himuro nodded, going over to machine to remove the gunk. After making sure the bluenette and black-haired teen were doing it right, he immediately set to work on tightening the parts.

They all worked in silence, until Imyaoshi noticed that Momoi was being uncharacteristically quiet. Looking over he saw a contemplative look on the pink-haired mans face.

"What are you thinking about, Momoi?"

"Hmm, nothing." Sensing that the man was still looking at him, he gave in. "It's just... strange, isn't it?"

"What is?"

"Just the other day we were ready to kill them all, and now we're here." He still felt guilty about everything they'd done...

"Isn't that because of your crush on him?"

"I-It's not that!" Momoi stuttered, sending the blue-haired boy a glance to make sure he hadn't heard the conversation. When he saw the two were still emptying the tank, he returned to whispering. "T-Tetsu-kun just helped me, so I'm returning the favor."

Imayoshi let out a short chuckle before standing, finished with the repairs. It was obvious how his pink-haired friend felt about the teen, and his flustered-ness was reminiscent of how Momoi had been before they really committed to Harasawa's plans. And even if it ended in nothing but disappointment, he was thinking that perhaps their journey to find the Child of God hadn't been for nothing...

"Don't worry. We'll definitely get to Masako and help him." He said confidently, messing up the mans hair to get his mind off of the conversation.

"Mou, don't do that Yoshi-kun!" Momoi complained as he tamed it just in time as Kuroko and Himuro completed their own task and went over to them.

"We finished." Kuroko said, wiping his hands on his clothes to remove the mess from them.

"Alright, let's get ba-." He was interrupted when the boat suddenly jolted. It seemed the whale was getting more violent.

Worried, they immediately ran out of the room and up the stairs to the deck to see what happened.

Aomine leaped out of the way as the whales appendage came crashing down on the deck. The mutant, seeing that his attack didn't work on the navy-haired teen, focused on one of the others.

Wiping his brow, he narrowed his eyes at the monster. It was faster than its massive size suggested and even though the others were holding on alright, it was obvious that all of this was slowly taking its toll on them.

"Should we just use it now, Akashi?" He asked, turning to the red-head.

"Not until they're back." He didn't want to risk the chance of igniting the bomb until everyone was inside. If Kuroko and the others were to accidentally come up at the wrong time and get caught in the blast he'd never forgive himself.

Understanding what the red-head was thinking he kept at it.

Everything was going as well as it could, until the whale surprised them with another tactic. Ignoring the others and their shots, it focused all of its attacks on one of them.

Midorima had little time to react as the monster barged him with multiple hits, but he was somehow able to avoid them. However, as he jumped to avoid one of its blows, the mutant used its other arm to swipe at the green-haired teen. Unable to move in mid-air Midorima could do nothing as the giant palm made contact with his torso and he was roughly sent into the railing.

"Midorimacchi!" Kise yelled. He was about to go over and help him, when a noise from his left stopped him.

"Midorima-kun!" Kuroko's voice shouted from across the deck as he ran over to his injured friend. Looking over they saw the other three behind him.

"Took you all long enough." Wakamatsu grunted, glancing at the new arrivals before focusing his attention back to the monster in case it tried anything.

"Sorry, there was a little problem on the way." Akashi rose a brow at the statement, but knew they didn't have the time to discuss that now.

Aomine threw the extra gun he had on him to Imayoshi. Sakurai and Kagami handing the other two theirs.

There was an obvious air of relief when they saw Kuroko and the others were safe and had accomplished their mission. But sensing their slightly relaxed state, the monster took the opportunity. The others realized their mistake and resumed shooting when the whale, intent on finishing the wounded human off, made his move.

Murasakibara, seeing the danger, ran over to the two and used his hands to hold off the incursion. Steeling himself, he pushed with all his might and threw the offending limb away from them.

Sakurai stared dumb-founded as the purple-haired teen effectively blocked the huge beings attack. He'd seen Wakamatsu do a lot of impressive things, but never anything like this... Was he really human?!

"Get him inside, Tetsuya." The red-head said, wanting the two of them to be safe before they did the next part of the plan. Kuroko nodded and carefully helped the other stand.

"S-Sorry." Midorima said, trying to ignore the pain in his abdomen to apologize for his carelessness.

"It's fine, Midorima-kun. Are you going to be okay?" The bluenette asked, concerned. They arrived in time to see the teen get hit and remain hunched over on the floor as he held onto his mid-section with a pained look on his face.

"Yes..." He had no doubt that a few ribs broke on contact, but other than that and having the wind knocked out of him, he was fine. As they walked by, the green-haired teen stopped in front of Akashi.

"Here..." Midorima reached into his pocket and handed the red-head the explosive, knowing he wasn't in any condition to throw it as they planned.

Akashi accepted the object and when the two were safely inside,

"We're going to run out again, Aka-chin." Murasakibara said, shooting the last of his ammo.

"Just a little longer." Akashi said, wanting to be cautious and wait for the right timing. When the monster's head was close enough, he knew it was the right time.

"Now!" At his shout, everyone quickly pivoted and in one fluid motion ran towards the entrance. Akashi was right behind them as soon as he unlatched the bomb and chucked it towards the monster.

They closed the door seconds before the explosion happened, and they could feel the heat from the bomb even though they were behind the protection of the walls.

The silence that ensued afterwards was almost deafening after the loud sound of the blast.

"What the hell, Kagami." Aomine said, looking at the singed flooring of the deck and the thick dark gray fog blocking their sight from the circular window on the closed door. When Himuro said the bomb would've killed them all, he hadn't been joking.

Kagami just looked at the damage with a pleased look on his face.

They were tempted to leave right then and head towards Yosen, but something kept them in place... What? They didn't know. After all, the bomb had hit it precisely in the face and it hadn't went underwater to escape the blast. Still, they kept their eyes glued outside.

When the smoke disappeared, they felt their stomach's drop. Not only was it completely fine, besides smudges on its skin from the powder of the bomb, but the expression on its face showed a somewhat smugness, as if it knew that their plan had failed.

"No way..." Sakurai said, the hope he had slowly leaving him. This being was really immune to all of their attempts...

"Now what..?" Kise asked, a defeated tone in his voice.

For once Akashi didn't have the answer... He'd never experienced anything like this and to say he was out of his element was an understatement... With these circumstances, the best he could do was insure that they last as long as they could and hope they could come upon something... "We retreat, for now..."

They nodded numbly and made their way upstairs.

Imayoshi quietly followed the teens as they walked towards the captains room once again. Everyone's posture seemed down-trodden, and he couldn't really blame them. This had been their last shot to defeat that thing, and he could tell that they were on the verge of giving up. And with that attitude, he knew that it'd be impossible to think of another plan like the red-head wanted.

As they entered the room, he paused outside of it and came to his decision. He'd wanted to avoid using it, but now that it'd come to this...

Momoi, who was in the doorway at the time, noticed the footsteps behind him cease, and turned around to see that Imayoshi had stopped walking.

"Yoshi-ku-?" Before he could question why he was just standing there, he felt a hand push him forward towards the door and heard it close behind him.

Right after it shut, Imayoshi used the barrel of his gun to secure the handle in place. Everyone looked at the black-haired man through the door's window in shock.

"What are you doing Imayoshi?!" Wakamatsu asked, when he tried to open the door to no avail.

Putting his hand in his pocket, he removed the object he took in-case of this very moment and held it up. Everyone looked at the object in the mans hand and froze.

Himuro checked his back pocket, where he had kept the extra bomb and realized that it was gone. "When did he..."

"What do plan to do with that?!" Momoi asked.

"I'm going to use it, of course."

"Stop messing around! The bomb doesn't even work on it! You'll just end up wasting it."

"Like Green-kun said, hunters used grenades to kill whales, but he missed an important part of that. Piercing the mammals skin so the explosive could blow it up."

"Yes, they did use harpoons to do that." Midorima confirmed. "But if you haven't noticed there's no way there'd be a harpoon on this ship."

"There's no need for a harpoon when there's a perfectly good opening already."

Akashi searched the mans eyes, trying to figure out what he meant... Not even a second later his eyes widened in realization. "Its mouth..."

"You really think it'd let you just do that? Even if you do manage to let it close enough, you'll never have enough time to get inside." Aomine glared at the man. Imayoshi just remained silent, but Akashi answered.

"He doesn't plan to."

Aomine looked at the red-head, confused. The blast had almost got to them through the door. If he wasn't going to move then...

'Don't tell me he's going to...' If that was the case, how could the man remain so calm in the position he was in. There was no fear, just a deep resolve in his eyes. It was obvious that he had been ready for this, and he instantly knew that there was no way to change his mind.

Aware that the red-head and navy-hired teen understood, Imayoshi looked at Kuroko and smiled. "Take care of him." The bluenette didn't know what that meant, but before he could ask Imayoshi walked away from the door and out of their sight.

"Wait, Yoshi-kun!" The pink-haired man yelled, trying to open the door again, but it remained shut.

"What'd he mean, Aomine?" Wakamatsu asked, seeing how the tanned teen had reacted.

"He's going sacrifice himself to save us..."

'What... Sacrifice..?' He knew that the man promised that they'd make it to Yosen, but he didn't want this! He had to stop him! Momoi lifted his rifle and used the butt of it to strike the glass multiple times, but it remained intact.

"It must be made of... laminated glass..." Midorima whispered.

Wakamastu cursed and tried to help. "Stand back." Momoi paused for only a moment before nodding. Bracing himself, the blonde-haired man used his shoulder to bang against the door.

Kuroko looked out of the window in time to see the man exit the safety of the inside of the boat, and walk onto the deck.

"Ima...yoshi...-san..." Sakurai watched with wide, unbelieving eyes as the black-haired man calmly walked up to the monster, making no move to evade it when the mutant got mere feet from him.

Wakamatsu, hearing the underlying distress in the brown-haired teen's voice, used all of his strength to smash into the door. There was a snapping sound outside as the barrel of the gun broke and the door slammed open.

As soon as it was open Momoi wasted no time and ran out of the room, the others running behind him.

At the speed they were running it took them seconds to reach the deck floor and when they arrived, Momoi wrenched the door open. He was relieved to see the whale hadn't eaten his friend yet, but it was short-lived when a distinct clanking sound reached his ears as Imayoshi release the safety latch. And they knew that they came too late...

The bomb went off. The force of the explosion knocking the door shut before enveloping the whale, Imayoshi and their vision with the orange and yellow flames.

A/N 3: Sooo, how was it? =X I wanted to have the same feel as it did in the manga with them being hopeless against the threat and having to make a sacrifice to survive. Hopefully it was okay XD Also, I'm sorry once again for the many months delay, and thank you all for sticking with me! It really means a lot. :)

A/N 4: I've also been wondering how you all want the romance to play into this story. Like would you like the romance scenes to be limited to limes and kisses, or have lemons as well? And if it is lemons then should Kuroko only have it with one person? The others would still have the limes and stuff but only one person would be lemon material for Kuroko. XD Anyway... I have a poll up on my page if you want to vote :D