D.O held up his hands. It was the only thing he could do. He felt the heat come nearer and nearer. His heart beat inside his chest, faster and faster. Then the heat became so intense, it wrapped around him like a very thick blanket.

‘D.O! You did it!’ King barked into his mind. This confused him. Why wasn’t he melting or screaming in pain?

He opened his eyes and saw that a metal wall had formed between them and the flaming onslaught of Chanyeol’s attack. He had commanded the metal floor to shield them.

“I… I did it!”

‘No time to celebrate! Suho! Counter attack, now!’ King barked into their minds.

Suho’s hands were already covered with water, gathering and concentrating.

“D.O, turn that wall into a funnel on my signal!” Suho commanded. Sweat was forming on his brow as Chanyeol’s flames continued to attack them from the other side of the metal wall.

“Alright!”

Suho produced more water until both his arms were covered in water.

“Now!”

D.O shifted the metal and created a tube like opening in the middle. The flames entered the tube but Suho fired a pump of water that doused the attack. The water attack caught both Chanyeol and Baekhyun by surprise. It hit both of them, pushing them back and making them fall over.

King hurried out of the metal wall and dashed toward the fallen boys. He jumped as he neared them, opened his jaws in mid-air and fired two shots of energy. Chanyeol and Baekhyun back-flipped in unison, as if someone else was controlling them.

‘They should not have been able to do that in their position!’ King landed and immediately evaded to the left as Baekhyun fired a laser-like attack at him.

D.O and Suho rushed out to King’s aid. Chanyeol tried to stop them but D.O met all his attacks with metal defenses. Suho shot water bullets at the fire master whenever he had the chance. None of them hit their target. Then they met up with King.

‘Something’s wrong. I think I know what’s wrong with them.’

“What is it?” D.O asked, hands in the ready in case their friends decided to attack them.

‘They’re being controlled. They’re not poisoned or anything. That’s still them. Taeyeon must be controlling them somehow!’

“Control, huh? There must be some sort of device.” Suho added. “We’ll try and pin them down and search.”

D.O nodded in agreement. Then Chanyeol and Baekhyun attacked. A flaming ball from Chanyeol and a laser shot from Baekhyun. D.O stomped the floor and a shield formed in front of them. The flame was stopped but the laser managed to pierce through the defense, grazing Suho’s left arm.

“Suho!”

“Ah!” Suho was on one knee, clutching his arm.

D.O knelt beside him and checked his arm. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. This is nothing. It’s just a scratch. We’d better do something about Baekhyun’s attacks.”

‘I agree. We can’t stay on the defensive all the time. We’ll attack. D.O, cover me. Suho, join us as soon as you can.’

“Okay.” Suho nods and gives D.O a reassuring look. “I’ll be fine. You better do your best to stop them before more serious damages happen.”

“Okay. Sit tight.” D.O stood and glanced at King. They were behind the metal wall D.O had created, King at the left edge and D.O at the right.

‘On three… two… one!’

D.O rushed out, running to the right. Chanyeol caught sight and immediately started shooting flames at him. King ran to the left, catching Baekhyun’s attention. King fired two shots at him but Baekhyun repelled them with laser shots.

D.O evaded three fire balls and then changed course, running towards Chanyeol. The fire master shot an extra large ball of flames at him. At the last second, D.O commanded the floor to elevate him. He avoided the fire and was in mid-air. The metal floor beneath Chanyeol quivered, making him lose balance. D.O landed in front of him. Before Chanyeol could fire a shot at him, a bar of metal had come flying towards Chanyeol’s wrist. The bar dragged Chanyeol towards the wall and pinned his arm there. Then another bar found Chanyeol’s other arm and pinned that to the wall too. Soon, he was pinned to the wall by five metal bars; one on each of his arms and legs and one on his neck. He was rendered immobile.

“One down!” D.O shouted. Baekhyun, busy firing lasers at King, noticed and aimed a shot at the metal bars but before he could release any light energy, a torrent of water hit him from behind, pushing him towards the wall beside Chanyeol. Baekhyun stood up but another torrent attacked him. He couldn’t move.

“D.O, pin him down as well!” And D.O did as he was told.

Baekhyun and Chanyeol were pinned.

Kai had managed to hit Tao five times now and Tao has not lain a single blow to him.

“. This is getting nowhere.” Tao said to himself. He managed a quick glance at Lay, who was on the floor a few ways off to his right. He had to get Kai’s attention and finish this quick before he targets Lay.

Kai cocked his head to the right, eyeing Tao. A smirk appeared on his face.

“You find this funny, do you? Well, I’ve found a fool proof plan to stop your attacks.” Tao said.

Kai stared at him.

Then Tao started slashing at the air around him, his speed was blinding. If Kai wanted to teleport and give him another blow, he was going to get cut up bad.

But Kai did nothing. He just stood there and waited. Tao kept his eye on him. Then he disappeared.

Kai was gone. But he had not sliced anything. He wasn’t attacking him. Tao immediately looked at Lay and saw Kai standing beside him, a foot stepping on Lay’s back.

“No!” He couldn’t risk Lay getting hurt. He’d have to stop slashing so that Kai would attack him instead. So he stopped. The moment he did, Kai was gone again. He appeared beside Tao. Tao smirked.

“Gotcha. Time.”

Kai was about to land a punch on Tao again but then countless after-images of Tao appeared around him, slashing at blinding speed. Kai’s eyes shot wide open as swords slashed him. Then he fell, face down.

“Sorry, Kai. This was the only way.” Tao said grimly, then he went to Lay.

“Rebirth.” Tao whispered and touched the sword to Lay. Lay immediately awoke.

“W-what happened?” he groaned, rubbing his head. “Where’s Kai?” Tao pointed at the boy on the ground. “You did it! But he looks seriously injured!”

“That’s okay. It was the only way to stop him. But you better go heal him.” Tao said. Lay immediately got to his feet and ran to Kai, knelt beside him, put his hand on him and released his healing energy. The cuts immediately started to patch up.

“Hey, what’s this…?” Tao knelt down and imagined something on the back of Kai’s neck. “It looks like… a chip.” He pinched it between his fingers and plucked it out. The wounds that this created were immediately healed by Lay’s energy.

“What’s that do…?” Lay asked. Then he felt Kai stir.

“Ugh…” they heard Kai moan. Then he rolled over to his back and opened his eyes.

“Kai…?” Kai looked at Lay with a confused expression. “Are you okay…?”

“What happened to me?” Kai groaned, rubbing his head. “I feel like I’ve been asleep for such a long time.”

“You’re back!” Lay exclaimed. “Tao, that chip!! It must have been controlling him somehow!”

“I know. That means the other boys might also have this. If we can remove those chips, then we’ll be able to save them.”

“Save who…? What are you guys talking about?” Kai asked, looking from Lay to Tao. His head had cleared and he was now registering the sounds around him. He looked to his left and saw in the distance that Luhan, Kris, Xiumin and Chen were up against Sehun. He looked to his right and saw that Chanyeol and Baekhyun were fighting against D.O, Suho and King. “What’s happening?”

“We’ll explain later. For now, let’s go save the others.” Tao said. Lay nodded. Kai stood up and joined them.

[A/N]

Sorry. Very late update. Again. Ugh. I hate myself. .___.

Anyways, here's a little explanation to the 'Tao beating Kai' bit.

If you can all still remember Tao's sword, it is imbued with the powers of all twelve. The TIME aspect of it allows Tao to have after-images appear when he first activated this power. So, when he was slashing away at his surroundings to prevent Kai from teleporting towards him... he was actually setting up a trap. So, when Kai saw that Tao had stopped slashing and teleported towards him to deal another blow, Tao activated the TIME aspect of his sword and made the after-images of him slashing a while back appear. The after-images sliced and diced Kai until he fell. Tao did this on purpose, too, since he knew that Lay would be there, ready to heal their friend up.

I hope that clears this up. >< Please wait for the next chapter... no matter how long it takes me to write it. .___.

LOVE YOU GUYS! <3