Hey guys. I'm back. My mom grounded me, so this chapter is a little late. Ridiculous. Anyway, this is where things start to get interesting. Epic battle with a shocking twist. Ooh. Oh, for those of you who read 'Solar Flare' I'd like you to vote in my poll on a title for the sequel. If you don't like those titles, let me know and come up with one. I'd love a few more suggestions. Summary will be posted as a note on 'Solar Flare'. Okay, so here's this new chapter. Hope you like it.

All was quiet inside the School. The only sound to be heard was Skye's and my footsteps as we walked along, slowly. Did I find all of this creepy? Yes. Was my mind screaming that this was a trap? You bet. Did I want to turn and run and let someone else save the world? Hell yes.

I drew in a shaky breath. The moment of truth was about to arrive. Was I really a good fighter? Was I really a good leader? Could I really win this fight? Could I really save the world from this harebrained scheme that might actually work? We were about to find out.

"You got this, Mel." Skye whispered to me, his hand brushing my side. "We got this. It'll be all right."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." I whipped around, seeing Tanner and Flint. They seemed to have materialized out of the shadows. "She can't even seem to be able to find me, much less fight me."

I suddenly realized how dead tired I was. I did not feel like talking. I just wanted to get this fight over with. I wanted it to all be behind me. I wanted it to be a distant memory.

"Let's just end this, Tanner." I told him. "I want this whole thing over and done with."

Tanner pretended to look thoughtful. "Well, Melody, I thought... that we'd have a little chat first."

"No!" I yelled at him. "I am done talking. You don't have anything left to say to me. I know what you want and I refuse." I took in a deep breath. "You want to talk because you're scared. Well, I'm not scared. Just tired of dealing with all of this bullcrap."

Tanner chuckled like I'd just uttered a very funny joke. "Why do you want to quicken your demise?" he asked me. Beside him, Flint morphed. This wasn't going to be good.

"At least I fight my own battles." I said, glaring at Flint in his Eraser form.

Tanner simply shrugged at me. "Why should I get my hands dirty when Flint can kill you for me?" He snapped his fingers and Flint lunged at me. He had his hand wrapped around my throat and shoved me up against the wall. I was trapped. I was going to die.

"Wait!" Skye yelled at the top of his lungs. This caused Flint to slacken his hold on me enough to where I could breath.

"Yes, Skye?" Tanner asked. "You want something?"

"Leave Mel alone." Skye ordered. "Fight me instead." What? Was he serious? What in the heck was he up to? Had he completely lost his freaking marbles?

This made Tanner laugh again. "Why? Why do you want me to fight you instead?" Apparently I wasn't the only one who thought that Skye had jumped off the deep end.

"Because," he began. "I just realized it's not supposed to be her. It's supposed to be me." What in the heck was going on in that head of his?

"What?" I yelled at him. "Are you insane? This is not the time to be all noble and romantic and save me!"

"In case you haven't noticed, you're pinned against a wall, Mel!" he yelled back. "It has to be me. Angel told me so."

Holy fudge monkeys on fire! (Thank you, Nudge.) Angel told him so? "How?" I asked in disbelief. "How could she?" It couldn't be possible.

"She came into my dream last night." he explained. "Apparently, since I'm so deeply connected to you, she can come into my dreams too."

"Well, this is all very touching," Tanner said, interrupting our conversation. "but are we doing this or what, Skye?"

Skye nodded his head once. "Just you and me. No Eraser form. No weapons. Nothing." He took a step forward.

Tanner smirked. "This should be all too easy." He turned to Flint. "I want Melody to have a good seat for the show."

Flint let go of my neck, forced me forward a few steps, and pinned my arms behind my back. There was no way I was moving.

"Prepared to lose?" Tanner asked Skye.

Skye scowled. "No. I'm prepared to win."

Tanner chuckled again. "We'll see about that." Then, he lunged at Skye and the fight began.

Skye was able to keep Tanner at bay by creating small force fields whenever Tanner aimed a punch at him. Unfortunately, Skye hadn't managed to hit him anywhere.

"Typical Skye." Tanner jeered. "All you do is run. You can't even help your girlfriend stay alive." Oh, great. My fate rested on the outcome of this whole thing.

"Block him out, Skye!" I yelled at him. "Don't let him get to you! He's trying to psyche you out so you'll lose!"

"That's it!" Skye yelled, barreling straight into Tanner like a freaking football player. He knocked Tanner to the ground and started punching him in the face.

"I've. Had. Just. About. All. I. Can. Stand. Of. You." he said, punching Tanner harder and harder with every word. "You're the freaking weak coward!"

Suddenly, I heard a strange noise. People running. A whole lot of people who were running straight for us way faster than humanly possible.

"Found them!" I heard Cory shout. "They're over here!"

Flint let go of me and ran out of there as fast as he could. Skye was still beating the crap out of Tanner. I couldn't tell if he was unconscious yet or not. If he wasn't out of it, he sure wasn't putting up a fight.

"Skye, stop!" I shouted as people began crowding around us. "Skye, he's had enough." I slowly walked over to him, every step sending a dull wave of pain through my body. I placed a hand on his shoulder.

He stopped and turned to look at me, still pinning Tanner down. "Mel?" he asked, searching my face. "He... I..."

"I know." I whispered, crouching down next to him. "We'll take care of him, okay?" I looked down at Tanner's screwed up face. He was definitely out cold.

"That's right." Jeb stepped through the crowd and stood next to us. "We certainly will take care of him."

I didn't even need to ask why he was there. Mike or someone else had probably called him up. They always did.

"Is it really over?" Willow asked, her wide grey eyes staring at the scene. I noticed that her hand was clutching Cory's.

"Wait a second. Where's Flint?" Cory asked. Our eyes met for a second and he smiled softly, knowing why I was staring. I told him he'd find someone.

"He ran." I explained. "He heard your voices coming this way and he ran for it." I looked down at Tanner, scowling. "Hear that? He left you to save his own neck."

"So, what are we going to do with him?" Skye asked, looking about ready to kill Tanner. Not that I blamed him one bit.

"Send him to a special detention facility." Jeb said calmly. "Nothing too rash. We aren't heartless."

"What?" Skye asked incredulously. "After everything he's done... He was going to destroy the world. You're letting him off too easy."

I shook my head rapidly. "No, Skye. We're doing the worst thing possible." I explained. "If we were to kill him or something, we'd be just as bad as he is."

He looked at me and sighed heavily. "Fine." Then he looked away. "We gotta find Jewel. She's still locked up somewhere."

"I know where she is." Willow offered. "I can take you to her if you want. Or I could tell you where she is and you can go alone."

"Take us to her." I knew we needed to get Skye as far away from Tanner as was humanly possible. If we didn't, things could get messy.

I took his hand and helped him stand up. Several experiments walked over to Tanner and, after spitting on him, picked him up and dragged him off to who-knew-where.

"Come on." I told him. "Let's go get Jewel." I pulled him along as we followed Willow who was dragging Cory along behind her.

It wasn't long before we reached a flight of stairs going downward. I got that feeling of being led into a trap. However, I ignored it. If anything did happen, I had Skye. I'd be just fine.

We headed down the stairs into the deep dark room. Jewel was sitting at the bottom of the stairs. She heard us coming and turned her head. The poor girl's face was contorted with pain. However, a smile managed to shine through.

"Thank goodness." she cried, cringing. "I knew you'd come for me." Then, she caught sight of Willow. "What's she doing here?" she asked, glaring hard at her.

"She's on our side." I informed her. I turned to Skye. "We have to scoop her up and carry her to my dad."

"Can't you just fix her leg?" he asked me.

I shook my head. "Her leg needs to be broken again. Otherwise, it won't heal right. Unless you want her leg messed up, I can't fix her right now."

I grabbed one and of Jewel and Skye grabbed the other. We hoisted her up off the ground and began heading up the stairs. (Cory and Willow already walked back up to the top.)

Suddenly, I heard a moan from the corner of the room. I looked to see the Director chained up to the wall, looking like crap.

"We'll get Jeb to deal with her later." Skye said, noting my semi concerned face. "He'll know what to do."

I nodded. "Right." We continued our climb up the stairs.

The only thing I could think was that it was over. We'd finally won. I could be normal again. All of the experiments could be normal teenagers and children. They'd never have to worry about anything again.

It's a new day. I thought to myself. We're all finally free.

Another chapter is finished. One more and an epilogue. I am so proud of this story. It's come a long way.