I felt like giving up right then and there. I can't believe that I couldn't stop them from being released. Were we still so weak that we couldn't defeat White Cloak? These 500 years… have they all disappeared and have gone to waste?

I looked up in the air with my back up against the wall to see the twelve half spirits floating freely in the air, as if searching for something. The twelve, circular, multicolored orbs looked just like they would if they were still part of their Free Spirits.

I knew I couldn't stop them but I had to try one more time. I gathered most of the energy I had left, and sent a force field around the twelve orbs and tried to seal them.

They broke my lock easily, imploding it from the inside just by touching it. I felt weak and useless as I watched the orbs float out of the room. I was sure that Hibiyomi and Tsukansu were feeling the same way.

Hibiyomi followed them outside of the room and stared at them hard. Tsukansu and I were left alone in the room to look back at the success we have failed to reach. I sighed and stared at Tsukansu to see his reaction to all this. He was usually a fun guy to be with, always joking around. But this time, he had his back turned to me and didn't move. He didn't speak, didn't show anything of how he felt. I wondered if he was disappointed in me. But I knew all the same that he was depressed as much as I was, too.

"Minoa-san, you shouldn't be afraid," I heard a voice call to me. I turned to the entrance door to see Hibiyomi looking straight at me The room's appearance had cleared up. The white mist disappeared, no more thick energy in the air, no more water, just messed up books in all the wrong positions and the shelves broken into tiny bits on the floor, the hole we left from the attack almost bigger than the whole wall it hit. Books were soggy with their pages all torn and the covers soppy.

"I don't know if I can't be afraid," I finally replied, looking back down at the floor.

"No. It's not over yet," he told me, looking back to Fate Hall.

What did he mean? Didn't White Cloak get away? But in a way, he was right. I shouldn't sulk just yet. There's no way that I'll give up that easy! I thought as I walked back to the hallway.

Hibiyomi accompanied me back into the hallway, and we watched as the twelve powers floated around the room. Where had White Cloak gone? Did he run away? Was there some hope that we had actually won? We continued to watch the powers float gracefully in the air. Their direction was totally undetermined, it was like watching petals fly about in the air.

"Hibiyomi, have we won…?" I asked him, my limbs feeling weak and heavy. That fight took a lot of my energy out. I began to wonder if Jeremy had found any clues at the scene of the White Cloak's entrance, and what the rest of the council had in store for us.

"Don't be so sure yet… look closer," Hibiyomi told me, his voice as calm and steady, back to normal.

I did as he said, and looked down the hall. In the distance, I saw a figure mostly covered by shadow. The only part of him I could see was the bottom of his… white cloak.

A stab of pain, agony, and failure hit my body again after again. I felt that all the things I've been through were thrown away in just a moment. And I hated that fact. "We've failed… We've failed… and it's all your fault!" I yelled suddenly at White Cloak. He didn't give a reply. He just stood there. "Did you hear me?! It's all your fault! It's all … your…fault!" I shouted even louder this time, my anger rising, my telekinetic energy arising again, going off the charts.

My hair began to flutter around in the air again, my robes were defying gravity. Purple energy began to circle my angry expression. I really felt I was going to take this guy down.

White Cloak said nothing and walked forward. The shadow that was hiding him slowly crept away as he came into sight. His white cape was caked with blood and I saw inside his cloak was lots of red pouring out. His hood had blood smears all over it, and drops of the red liquid were dripping from all over his body. He walked weakly and unsteady, leaving blood tracks and stains on the plaster floor.

I didn't care how his appearance was. I didn't have any sympathy for him. He deserved it! I wanted him to die. To die!

He held up his gloved hands and showed them to me. I didn't know why he was doing so, but I soon discovered my answer.

I felt energy drain towards him and dust particles and plaster from before draw closer to him. Then I saw a hole form, an empty, circular hole. Purple outlines started to go into it, and a blazing green and purple energy started to rush into it. It was then clearly known what he had just made. A black hole. It was a weak one at that, but it was draining in the twelve half spirits. And I WASN'T about to let that happen.

"Don't think you can win that easy, It's not over yet!!" I shouted with all my strength. "Die!" I sent large debris of plaster I telekinetically broke from the wall past the black hole and tried to aim for White Cloak. He jumped away as the debris crashed into each other and broke into tiny pebbles while White Cloak pulled out a bottle from his pocket. I was amazed he could still jump after the damage we've done to his body. The bottle he held in his hand looked like a potion bottle and had green liquid in it. He threw it in the vortex and suddenly, the black hole changed into a portal. It looked like a dimensional portal of some sort. I soon figured out that this portal was his escape! I could tell by its color that it led to the outer world. Just as we suspected, I thought.

The portal tried to drain in the powers and White Cloak stood next to the scene.

"Not so fast!" I yelled. I sent more plaster at him and it was supported by Hibiyomi's Hell's Fissure, a groundbreaking shadow earthquake in the ground that lead to hell. It was his strongest attack and had always been used as a last resort. The air felt heavy again with energy, and I was determined to kill this man.

The Hell's Fissure cracked through the long hall and its walls and continued to break the solid surroundings while wild plaster debris flew in the same direction. Right before our attacks reached White Cloak, the flying orbs were sucked into the green portal and White Cloak jumped right in, and right after the portal disappeared, it left our attacks with no target. The cracks of the Hell's Fissure stopped in its tracks slowly, and my debris fell back down to the floor, leaving the walls with many holes and chunks of it missing.

The scene that was left was a whole entire side of the hallway having shadow cracks all over it with many holes leading way to darkness. The cracks seemed to lead to nothing deep in it. Just darkness was seen. It was dangerous to even walk on the side of the hallway because it just might crumble beneath your feet.

This time, I knew we were defeated, and Hibiyomi and I gave each other sulky nods. We went back to the room to retrieve Tsukansu from his depression and tiredness and decided to walk back to the Council Room. We had to take the long way due to the destruction we caused to the short path…

"Point of View Switch"

"Why aren't you guys helping Minoa and the others!?" I shouted as I stormed into the Council Room.

"Jeremy-san!" surprised voices cried out. "What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here?! What are YOU doing HERE? Why aren't you people helping Minoa, Tsukansu, and Hibiyomi?! Aren't they your friends? Didn't you grow up as a kid with them? Didn't you promise to help each other no matter what?!?! Don't you care they could be dead right now!?!?" I yelled with my loudest voice I've ever used. I felt the tears well up in my eyes as I yelled at my friends. The people who took care of me for the past five years, the people who showed they cared about me, and the people I shouldn't be yelling at.

"Jeremy-san. You don't understand." Kanadou, the Earth Council told me in a steady voice.

"I do understand! You guys aren't helping Minoa and the rest because you don't care about them!" I continued to yell at them.

"No! You don't!!" Kanadou suddenly burst at me. His own loud voice made me calm down, and it seemed like he immediately regretted using a loud voice against me, but I was still unsure of why they didn't assist their partners.

"Then what?" I said in a sulky voice, my stare hard on the floor. I stood there in silence in front of the whole group who was facing me. They all had sympathetic faces and surprised faces that I didn't care about right now. I just stood there, feeling alone, feeling confused and unwanted again.

"Jeremy-san. We wish we could help them, but the thing is, we can't." Kanadou told me.

"Why not? It's not like it's against the rules! You're the ones that make the rules after all!" I rose my voice again.

"You're right, it's not against the rules. But it would be a bad thing if we did." He told me in a calm voice, unlike my own.

"What?" I said, confused.

"We are all powerful, Jeremy. But the Council is organized in a certain way. We are split up into four groups of three. This is because the three in each group can compliment each other's attacks in a well-behaved manner and produce a great attacking arsenal. If we all fought together with our powers, we would just get in each other's way, cramp up the space we have, cancel each other's attacks, and let the enemy get away. It'd be too confusing and too risky to work together at all times. Plus, if the enemy is dangerous, we shouldn't endanger all of us at the same time." Shintenmaru, the Life Council explained.

"But… don't you guys care about them? Don't you want to at least…" I sulked still.

"Of course we do. That's why it's best that we stay out of their fights. We wished we could help just as much as you would, Jeremy. But the thing is, that we can't. All we can do right now is wait for their return." Kanadou said.

"And what if they don't return!?" I yelled back, lifting my face with an angry expression. My sudden attack at them made them surprised and shocked. They all had faces of realization on their face.

"Then…" Kanadou began.

"Don't. I don't need an explanation. Just tell me another thing. Just what are they fighting for? Who is this White Cloak person, why is he here, and what does he have to do with all of this?"

Shintenmaru sighed. "Jeremy," he began. "Someone long ago, when we were kids just like you are now, wanted us for our powers. There were these things, called 'Free Spirits' that were the presence of the twelve strongest elements in the world. No one harmed them and they didn't harm anyone. They just wandered from city to city, floating around for no purpose. No one knew where they came from, but most people praised them. The others wanted their power. One certain man who was skilled in the arts and had lots of power and wanted even more sealed these twelve powers into twelve individual regular humans. Babies, to be exact. His purpose in sealing them into humans was that he knew that absorbing them directly would be too hard. He had to kill the humans and absorb it from them, since they became the shell of the power. But something got in his way, and let them grow up and control their powers. But along the way, there was a big fight that took place. The twelve powers were partially absorbed, but managed to be sealed into a scroll. Those twelve people, grew up to be good people and promised to help the world, and you see nine of them before your very eyes. That scroll that contained what we call, Half Spirits, was locked up in a room for safekeeping. Five hundred years passed without any sign of White Cloak again. Until this day. And what we think is happening, is that he's after opening the scroll, and repeating the past. He wants to release them, send them to the outside world and get twelve people to absorb them, and plans to kill them. Do you understand now, Jeremy?"

I gulped at the long explanation. "I-I see." I was surprised that so many years passed without them telling me this story. Their own life story. "So what if he does release them? What if Minoa and the rest failed?"

"If so, then…" Kanadou's reply was cut short by a sudden knock on the door. That moment, the nine councils shifted their position and got ready for who might be coming in. What if it was White Cloak?

"It's just us," a muffled Minoa's voice called. Everyone sat down and returned to normal as I ran to open the door for them.

"So… how did it go?" Shintenmaru asked, perching up his glasses, reflecting light.

They looked weak and tired, like they had just been beaten ten times over. Minoa and Hibiyomi were standing straight with fight marks all over them and Hibiyomi had to carry Tsukansu due to his sudden unconsciousness. "It's exactly as we suspected. And…" she began to tell them.

I listened closely to see where we go from here. What would happen? Did they win? Did they lose? What now?

"We lost." Hibiyomi finished her sentence. She was obviously too torn down to say it herself. Minoa stared hard at the floor beneath her as she gave off her depression and sadness to the room.

"It's okay," Hanabikai, the Fire Council said. "It's not your fault. Don't grief We have a plan on what to do."

"You-You do?" she said, her expression changing to a bit of hope. "Oh, by the way,. Jeremy-san, did you find any clues?"

Huh? It took me a while to figure out that she was talking to me. "Oh!" I said after a long pause with realization. "Not much," I told her. "Just holes that represent footprints which White Cloak made. How do you think those got there?"

"His footprints were holes?" She asked, sounding surprised. "White Cloak really has gotten powerful over the years, if his energy rate is so high that it leaves large footprints on the floor."

Shintenmaru cleared his throat, calling our attention back to him. We quickly turned back to him and gave an apologetic look for cutting him off right when he was about to tell us his "brilliant" plan. "Yes. Now that the twelve powers have been sent throughout the outer world, we have to find the twelve people and rescue them before White Cloak lays a hand on them." Shintenmaru replied.

"But how? There are millions of people out there that could have the power right now. How would we narrow it down?" Minoa asked, her expression begging for more information and hope.

"We suspect that they would continue where they left off. We had them taken out of us when we were teenagers, right? They most likely are going to look for teenagers as well. And they'll choose their own personality match up person like last time. This isn't much different from what happened 520 years ago." Shintenmaru explained.

"Looks like the past is repeating itself after all. But who would go look for the teenagers? We can't, we have to keep watch in this dimension." Hanabikai said, sitting in his comfortable bench against the wall, his face half covered with shadow.

"Well, even if we're pretty sure White Cloak won't be returning here pretty soon, due to the difficulty of making a vortex potion that crosses over to this side, we still have matters to attend here. So I was thinking…" Shintenmaru began to reply. He had that look in his eyes. That look of a brilliant plan. He was the master strategist of the council, after all.

Everyone in the room remained still and waited for the reply. Who would they be thinking of sending? Maybe only one of the Council members? Who? I felt all nervous and tingly all over for some reason. Why?

"I was thinking of sending Jeremy-san over here," he gave me a friendly look with his house like- red orange hair and his long, rectangular glasses.

"Me?!" I asked in shock. Why would they send me? I have no potential at all! "But… I can't…" I looked around the room to find everyone staring at me with an insisting smile. Even Hibiyomi gave a little fun look. I continued to pour out my surprise with my wide-mouthedness. "But, how would I find these people? There ARE still many teens out there to look from, and what if White Cloak finds them first?"

"That would have to be something totally up to you. You'll wear this golden pendant." Shintenmaru said as he got up from his place on the Council Table.

He walked over to a corner of the room and drew unsealing circles on it with his fingers. Out came a box from the wall containing a golden locket. "This locket," he said, walking towards me.

He was much taller than me, about two feet taller. It was a bit scary being around him. He bent down to my height, and opened the locket up. It was a big, circular locket with a golden string and golden shield pattern on the front with a red garnet-like crystal embedded in the middle. The inside of it had a blank circle screen divided into twelve individual pieces. "Whenever one of these pieces start glowing, it means one of the powers are being used other than that of the Council. It'll tell you the exact location in the world it is, and depending on the distance, we'll decide if we'll teleport you there or not. We rule this world after all, why can't we teleport people?" he said with a chuckling laugh. He seemed so calm, like this was some kind of toy.

"Now, you're going to be spending a long time without us in the outer world, so don't you go crying like you're going to the first day of pre-k. It's your time to shine and be strong, okay?" Shintenmaru said with a wide smile.

"Okay, but how would I convince them that they have the power you're talking about? Why would they believe a little kid like me?" I asked them, worried about what I might face in the future.

"Hmm… well, that depends. You can show them the locket that's glowing with their presence. They should have learned about the locket in their 5 years of education, don't you think?" There were nods all over the room, I sensed. "If they REALLY don't believe you, then we'll just have to meet them in person and tell them directly. Then from then on, they can convince each other."

"All right, I get it, but one more thing. What about White Cloak? Doesn't he have a plan to capture them too?" I asked them with the most nervousness I've ever felt.

"That, I don't know. I guess you'll just find out along the way. I know it's a bit dangerous, but bear with it. You'll have to make friends with the… oh what should we call them? We were called councils, so…" Shintenmaru said with a wondering expression. "How about Minors? Since they're only a fraction of the full power we would have. Yet, they are still strong. Our power is great, and even one hundredth of our power could still do great damage. You just have to make friends with them and hopefully they'll defend you from any White Cloak encounters. Of course, it's doubtful that White Cloak would fight you personally. Since one thing he doesn't know where you are, and doesn't know where they are."

"You'll have to be extra careful, Jeremy-san. Who knows what kind of plan he has in store to search for the twelve Minors? Just be safe. Do you have anymore questions?" Hanabikai replied.

"No, nothing at all. When do we start this search?" I asked, so I could know how long of a notice I would have.

"Oh, immediately." Shintenmaru replied, handing me the locket in my hands and walking away to put the box back.

"What!?! No way!" I yelled in surprise. I didn't even have time to prepare! This is impossible!

"Yes way." Shintenmaru told me with a smile. "We can't waste any time. What if White Cloak has one of them in hold all ready? We're counting on you, Jeremy. And we know you can do it." His smiles were always promising. They sometimes even boosted my confidence a little.

"O-Okay." I replied nervously. I looked around the room to see serious faces and trusting expressions.

"It's okay," Minoa told me. She walked up to me and bent down to reach my height. "I believe in you. You just have to believe in yourself. You have great undiscovered potential Jeremy. Maybe the Minors will help you find it along the way." She flashed me a trusting smile.

I soon became sick of the smiles and trusting looks. I must've set some kind of record for who's been smiled at the most. "I hope so." I told Minoa as I put on the locket. It was a little heavy, but I knew I'd get used to it. I had to.

"All right, come with me," Shintenmaru told me. He motioned for me to come to the large, Council table. The Council table was a huge, wooden table with the sign of the council on it. It was a large circle with encrypted signs of the twelve powers: Fire, Water, Plant, Lightning, Mind, Shadow, Wind, Earth, Sound, Metal, Freeze, and Life.

"What do we do?" I asked him, looking up to Shintenmaru and standing right by him.

"This is how you'll get to the outer world. Do you know everything you need to know?" he asked me finally.

"I guess. But I know I can do good." I told them. I looked at each of their faces. Minoa's eyes showed confidence in me. I won't let her down, I thought. Even Tsukansu arose from his unconscious state a bit and watched me as I was about to leave.

"Okay, then, good luck Jeremy-san," Shintenmaru told me as he placed his hands on the big circle on the table. It glowed a strong, multicolored light from its tracings and a portal soon appeared above the table. I stood up on Shintenmaru's chair, and took one last look at everyone, and jumped in. As I was being taken away from the home I had always known, I knew I would find a new one, somewhere along the line.