Man, it has been such a lone time since I last updated that it took me awhile to actually remember what the story was about. Silly me. Well, I hope that those of you who follow this story aren't disappointed with this chapter.

Disclaimer: Cocoacharm15 doesn't own any of the characters or ideas that Makoto Raiku thought of all by himself.

Chapter 11

And I realized what it was.

During this time Zofis hadn't actually tried to hit us. It was more like he was toying with us; otherwise, he would have launched a stronger attack or attempted to immobilize us somehow. Those minor irritations were only to distract us from the actual aim. Kolulu was the target. She and Lori didn't enjoy fighting, and it was obvious they weren't planning on attacking (or defending, for that matter). I looked to Zatch; he seemed to be debating about whether to protect Kolulu or stay by Tia's side and fight. It wasn't until she yelled at him that she could defend herself that he motioned for me to follow him.

We raced to the back of the room. I knew Zatch had had a small crush on Kolulu before, but I wasn't sure if he'd gotten over it. Tia seemed pretty important to him, but… I pushed such thoughts away as we reached Kolulu. Lori stood in front of her clutching the spell book. They had a few scratches, but other than that, they seemed fine. "Kiyo, we're not going to fight," she said, wide-eyed.

"Alright, but you two have to get out of here!" I yelled, willing her to move.

Kolulu face lit up when she saw Zatch. "Zatch, I'm so glad you're here." Zatch nodded, but his eyes and thoughts were focused elsewhere.

"We have to protect them!" I shouted at him as another bolt sped toward us. "Rashield!" The white defense blocked the shockwaves and sent them back with a jolt—literally. Lori and Kolulu smiled gratefully at us.

"You guys have to go defeat Zofis. Thank you, but we can take a few hits. Go to the source instead of wasting your energy guarding us." Lori ordered. I shook my head and said that she shouldn't expect that to happen.

"Kiyo, let's go." Zatch said. "We are needed more over there—fighting."

"What about them?" I asked, confused. "You yourself said we must protect those who are involved in this." I doubted Zatch would contradict his own statement without a good reason. Still, I was skeptical about why his ideas had changed.

"Kiyo, I do want to protect them, but we won't get anything accomplished by standing here." His gaze drifted constantly to where Megumi and Tia had last been. "I won't let anything happen to her." I caught him saying under his breath.

"He's right. She needs you more than us." Kolulu added softly. With his statement in mind, I wished Lori luck—and persuaded them to escape—then headed into the inferno that the current battle had transformed into.

Attacks were flying left and right. Kory was doing a pretty good job for his first battle, but that wasn't good for our side. Wonrei had suffered a mild injury to his left arm and Brago had scrapes and bruises covering most of his body. Then I thought of the girls. A quick scan of the room showed no signs of Megumi or Tia. Zatch suddenly pulled me out of the way of a rogue blast. It was time for a strategy. I formed a crude plan in my head, but for it to work I had to get close to Zofis.

That was going to be the hard part. With all the reciprocated hits and defenses, I would be glad if we got there alive! I began by skirting around the battle, and my search led me to an upturned table. 'That's as good a place as any to hide for the moment.' As I was about to crawl behind it and make myself a smaller target, Zofis aimed for the space in front of me. I leaped toward the table and was surprised when the next detonation was blocked.

"Ma Seshield!" The command clearly came from behind the table. It phased the opposite mamodo momentarily, but that gave me the chance to launch a lightning attack.

"Zakeruga!" The bolt cut a path through the medley of offenses and struck Zofis in the chest. I waited for a scream of pain or something of the sort. Nothing—well, crap. So much for my brilliant attack.

"Zatch, Kiyo!" It was Tia. She looked a little worn out, too. Her bun had fallen out, her pink hair now danced freely. Megumi wasn't looking all that bad, but the battle was starting to take its toll. The rest of the mamodo were taking a beating and keeping us separated kept us weak. If we could come together, then we might possibly be able to cause some damage.

"Megumi, Tia! We have to round everyone up. If we keep fighting like this we'll gradually weaken and the battle will be Zofis's."

Zatch's brow knit together as if he were thinking hard about something. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but immediately shut it again.

"What is it, Zatch? Do you have a plan?" I asked him, desperately wishing for him to say yes. I looked to the battle. Our teammates were split into pairs of two scattered throughout the room, and we seemed to be the only ones who had been able to group together.

"Well, what if we create a distraction. Then someone can aim toward the roof and have the whole thing come down." He stated, feeling prideful of such a brilliant idea.

"That's a great idea and by that I mean, that's horrible, Zatch!" Tia responded angrily. "How are we going to stop the castle from buying us along with Zofis?"

He frowned. "I hadn't thought of that. I guess we need a new plan."

"Well, it better be fast because the others won't hold out for long," hastened Megumi.

Again I examined the battlefield, taking in every possible detail of the scene. The curtains on the stage were torn and coming down. One of the corners of the stage was catching fire, and it wouldn't be long before the entire thing was consumed. With the curtains in tatters, the water pipes attached to the brick wall were visible. One was even leaking and a puddle had formed behind Zofis and Cory.

Water.

"I've got it!" I cried, quickly planning out the rest of my idea. The three looked at me expectantly.

"Tia, Megumi, you have to get the word to everyone to attack the pipes behind those guys. Stop them from directing their attacks at them. Make the water pipes explode."

"But what'll that do?" Tia asked, looking confused.

"The water will conduct electricity, and that way one of Zatch's moves will do more damage." Megumi explained.

"Exactly, and he'll think we're trying to put out that fire." I pointed at the all consuming flame that had traveled up the curtains by now. "But we have to hurry!"

"Right!" They moved out toward the others, dodging the random attacks flying through the air.

"Ready, Zatch?" I locked eyes with my faithful mamodo. His golden orbs were filled with determination and anger, and he nodded fiercely. "Good. Our job is to get close enough to land an attack and try to take the book."

"I'm with you, Kiyo! All the way!"

I braced myself and held Zatch's spell book tightly, walking out from behind our shelter and into the open. Zatch was right beside me.

I immediately noticed that the attacks weren't flying back anymore. Zofis wasn't deflecting them because they weren't headed toward him anymore. I used this pause in action to run forward, adding a couple Zaker's to the other assaults on the ducts. Zofis and Kory were confused, and didn't notice us charging ahead.

"Is you aim really that terrible?" Kory asked menacingly, keeping an eye on the team closest to him—Wonrei and Li-en.

"Actually, I believe they are trying to extinguish that fire," replied Zofis, cackling as if he'd made a joke. "Foolish mamodo and human alike! Go ahead and put out that fire! What good will it do you? It'll make our job of eliminating you easier."

"You are the fool! Do you honestly think we're going to forget about you?" Brago challenged, leaping up and attacking with a massive ball of gravitational energy.

What were they doing? It wasn't part of the plan for them to get up close and personal with Zofis. They'd be in the middle of the blast once I used an attack. Brago jumped again, crossing the distance between them instantly and evading the returned explosion with Sherry close by. We were a ways behind them still.

Besides Brago and Sherry ignoring orders, everything else seemed to be going according to plan. Most of the pipes had detonated and splashed their contents onto the backs of our opponents. Pools of water slowly became rivers that led off the edge of the stage like a waterfall.

Finally, we made it up to the stage, but Zofis couldn't pay attention to us as they were busy fighting off Brago's continued onslaught of blows. There was one more pipe above our heads, a fairly large one at that. The rest had burst, but there still wasn't enough water. Good thing the fire kept burning.

"Zatch!" I pointed two fingers straight up and he aimed. "Zaker!" It was just enough to blow up the pipe and keep the ceiling from collapsing on us. Water poured down, soaking the six of us. The fire was quenched, but those four were still going at it.

"Ha! So little Zatch managed to put out the fire. Great job because we are through with Brago and Sherry!" Zofis yelled, sending a colossal attack toward them.

"Kiyo, Rashield!" Zatch ordered. I nodded. Everyone who could throw up a shield did so, protecting the two intended targets from the hit.

"Why you!" Kory bellowed. I saw Brago throw a glance at Zatch.

"Kiyo, it's now or never! We have to use Bao Zakerga!" he looked fleetingly around himself, presumably worried for Tia, but then he focused on the task at hand.

"All right! Here it goes! Bao Zakerga!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. Zatch's eyes glowed, and the energy from the whole battle began to accumulate in this final attack.

"This won't end like this!" Kory attempted to read another spell, but Wonrei—quickly taking advantage of his proximity and their halt in attacks—jumped forward as the huge dragon formed and grabbed the drenched book, tossing it in the air.

The immense golden dragon ripped through the air, rapidly gaining ground before engulfing the book as well as Kory and Zofis who had scrambled to reach it.

Thanks for reading and remember to review if you liked it as well as if you didn't like it. Either way I appreciate it!

Cocoacharm15