Hello, everybody! It's me again, after another period of vacation-induced hiatus. Don't be mad at me for not getting this story done on time like I said! I'm really working hard on it, and even the next one!


"We need to make sure we stay alive," James said, helping Matthew to his feet.

"Move him in between us and them," Matthew said to James.

James waved his hand at Sabo, who had since recovered. Nothing happened, though. James looked at his hand strangely, as if it had betrayed him. Sabo grinned fiendishly as he shot a hand out at James. James was sent flying backwards into Wesley, who tried his best to catch his oldest brother. The two tumbled to the ground as Matthew ran to help them. Sabo left them for the moment and turned to face the Council. His eyes flashed briefly and each of the members of the Council were thrown out of their seats and onto the ground. He extended an arm towards their pentagram-shaped table and it was instantly destroyed by a ball of intense black energy. Debris from the table flew everywhere. Matthew had grabbed his brothers by the arms and they all became transparent as the pieces flew through them.

"We need to incapacitate him," Matthew said. "It's the only way to stop him long enough to get anything done."

"How?" Wesley asked. "Our powers don't work here. There's nothing we can do."

"Ours don't," James said, pointing to the Council, "but theirs do."

"Just because we can't use our powers on him," Matthew thought aloud, "doesn't mean that we can't use our powers against him."

James raised his hand again, preparing to use his powers, but Sabo proved too quick for him and unleashed another energy ball at him. James had to change his course of action and used his powers to reflect the black projectile. However, his powers were weakened against Sabo, and instead of reflecting the attack back towards Sabo, the energy ball bounced off James' power and hit the ceiling above, causing a barrage of boulders to fall. Wesley hurriedly threw his hands out and froze the falling stones just before they hit James. Matthew dove in and pulled James out of the way as Wesley's powers gave in. The boulders crashed to the ground powerfully, but caused no one any harm.

Tenebrion began hurling fireballs at Sabo, but each fireball only forced him back a couple of steps, and they did not seem to cause any considerable damage. Nevertheless, he kept throwing them. Andras followed suit and released bolts of lightning from his hands, striking Sabo in the chest. Ardad regained his composure and joined his companions in fighting Sabo, as did Anamalech. Only Mastiphal remained. He had retreated to a remote corner with the Book of Shadows, opening it to the page with the spell that could vanquish Sabo.

James took notice of this and began helping the other Council members by using his powers to throw boulders at Sabo. He motioned with his free hand towards Mastiphal, giving Matthew and Wesley a signal. Matthew opened the Book of Light to the page with the spell.

"Don't we all need to say it for it to work?" Wesley asked.

"Yeah," Matthew answered. "We have to make Sabo sit still long enough for all eight of us to say the spell. I'm sure he'll be more than willing."

"Enough with the sarcasm," Wesley said. "We need to do something."

"Can't you freeze him?" Matthew asked.

"I've been trying," Wesley said. "Unless you thought I was having mini-seizures in my hands."

"Well we can't just keep going at him like this," Matthew reasoned. "Brute force won't work against him. We need a better planned…plan."

"Well spoken," Wesley said. "We don't have any time to do that. We have to think of something now!"

"What if we all used our powers on him at the same time?" Matthew suggested. "Maybe the combined power of the eight of us would be enough to slow him down."

"It's worth a shot," Wesley said, "but remember, our powers don't work on him."

"Maybe not individually," Matthew said, "but together we might be able to fend him off."

Matthew jumped up from his and Wesley's hiding spot and waved his hands to get anyone's attention, but the rest of the group was occupied with trying to fight Sabo. Unfortunately, everyone was fighting a losing battle, as Sabo seemed to be adjusting to everyone's attacks, allowing him to better protect himself.

"We need to get out into a more open space," Matthew suggested, "to a place where we can move more and he won't be so close."

"There's no way to do that," Wesley said. "We don't even know where we are right now."

"Let's get Jimmy back here," Matthew said. "I have an idea."

"Oh no," Wesley said to himself.

James was busily dodging Sabo's attacks while at the same time launching anything he could with his powers at his adversary. The members of the Council were doing the same thing, but their efforts were progressively growing futile as Sabo grew stronger. As James looked around for something else to throw, he miscalculated and was hit by one of Sabo's energy balls. He was jerked violently into the air and landed next to his brothers, barely breathing.

"Jimmy!" Wesley shouted.

"We have to get out of here," Matthew said, turning to Wesley. "I know you'll probably hate me for this, but you're gonna have to glimmer us all out of here to an open space."

"I WHAT?" Wesley exclaimed. "I can only…oh, no use arguing with you, I guess."

"Good," Matthew said, grabbing James' arm with his left hand and Wesley's in his right. "Take Jimmy's hand and we'll all concentrate on helping you use your power. Hang in there Jimmy."

"Hurry," James whispered.

Matthew quickly looked back at the Council and shouted as loudly as he could, "Follow us!" He turned back to his brothers and squeezed Wesley's arm. Wesley tried his best to clear his mind and think of himself glimmering to an open destination with his brothers. With the added support of his brothers, it wasn't very long before the three of them vanished from the room in a brilliant burst of dancing lights.

Mastiphal had heard Matthew's message and relayed it telepathically to his cohorts, who were still trying to hold Sabo back. They had not even noticed the Complete glimmer out of the chamber. As soon as they received Mastiphal's message, the five of them immediately vanished from the chamber, leaving Sabo partially confused.