Starting to pick up the pace here! We are getting to the fun stuff :)

Ch.18

Sora grumbled as he pushed forward with his keyblade, which was currently locked tightly against Ansem's. They had fought as best as they could, and unfortunately it had only ended up being Sora who fought. Since he had once again ran ahead of the group, Ansem had created a barrier around them so that the fight could only be between them. Juliana, Donald, and Goofy could only watch behind the barrier, all with worried eyes during the entire fight.

"Come on…" Sora sighed. "I know the others may think it's foolish of me to try this, but… Kuri, right? I know you can probably hear me somewhere in here. Don't let him control you like this!"

Ansem unexpectedly disengaged their lock, letting Sora stumble forward slightly before kneeing the shorter boy in the gut.

"You shouldn't be jumping to conclusions, queeney."

Sora groaned before toppling to the ground. Though he kept his eyes locked with his opponent. "Huh? What…? You're actually in control?"

"The answer is more complicated than the question."

"Come on…" Sora groaned as he pushed to his feet. He took into an offensive potion again, taking a deep and slow breath. "Even if I can't get through to you I still have to stop you."

"You don't have to; you've chosen to try to stop me." Ansem-Kuri shifted into a stance similar to Riku's. The differences being: his outstretched arm was curved slightly in front of him, as if to guard; his keyblade was held lower, level with his chest; and he was crouched down slightly.

"So you've chosen to let Ansem posses you?" Sora asked.

"Such a forgetful brat. You were told about this beforehand."

"Huh? Sora asked as he tried thinking about what he had talked about before. Then a thought came to his mind. "You mean something about the chess stuff? That's what you mean? Wait! Then what did you do to Riku?!"

"He's of no concern now."

Sora narrowed his eyes. His hands tightened on his keyblade before he moved forward again, lunging directly at him. He was tired of not getting any answers, or at least not clear enough ones. If he couldn't get the answers he wanted, he just would have to end this as quickly as he could. Now getting closer to Ansem-Kuri he prepared to slash downwards at him.

Using his forward arm to take the strike, Ansem-kuri deflected Sora's keyblade off to the side before bringing Keyblade of hearts down on Sora's wrists.

Sora grimaced before staggering back, dropping his keyblade in the process. He only gave himself a few seconds to grit his teeth while he felt the pain surge. Seconds after he summoned the keyblade back to his hands and cast a cure spell to remove any pain that still burned in his wrists. Though he cast the spell, he knew it would only do so much. Healing spells could stop bleeding for cuts and gashes, but more severe injuries couldn't be healed as easily. Most likely his wrists may have been hurt a bit more than he wanted to let on, but he wasn't trying to focus on that.

It still hurt, but he wasn't going to let that stop him. He went forward again, picking up his speed and moved behind his opponent. Readily back before striking down as fast as he could.

It wasn't fast enough as Ansem-Kuri, spun around and blocked Sora's strike, locking their keyblades together briefly. Continuing through with the momentum from his spin, he attempted to kick Sora's legs out from under him.

Sora this time was starting to pick up on Ansem-Kuri's movements and pushed back in time. He now stood a few feet back, still staring with narrowed eyes. He sighed deeply while wondering how much longer this would go on. He glanced briefly to the side and saw that the barrier was still up, preventing Juliana, Donald, and Goofy from coming to help.

"I guess I need to keep doing this on my own… I can stop him. I can do this."

Sora jumped up before diving downwards at Ansem-Kuri. Not even caring to use the keyblade this time, he went straight for a full on tackle.

As this was a move Kuri frequently employed, Ansem-Kuri was ready when Sora impacted him. It wasn't difficult for the semi-possessed teen to maneuver in such a way, redirecting Sora's momentum. Ansem-Kuri easily threw Sora around and into the barrier across from the doorway to the Dark Depths.

"Did you really expect a tackle to work against me?" Ansem-Kuri asked.

"Well I had to try something! This is not like before!" Sora shouted.

"And yet you didn't try the easy route: doing what you were told."

"And what exactly is that suppose to even be? I'm supposed to stop you aren't?"

"Fool. You're supposed to return the princess's heart."

"I'll do that after I stop you! Once you're out of the way I know Kairi can be safe!"

"This is getting nowhere," Ansem-Kuri commented before stabbing the Keyblade of Heart into the ground. "If you want me out of the way, then so be it." Summoning a dark corridor, Ansem-Kuri departed without another word.

"Huh?" Sora asked as he straightened up. He blinked a few times before looking around. The barrier slowly was fading away and the others finally could make their way over to him.

"Sora!" Donald squawked. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine…" Sora said, still trying to find where the seeker could have gone to. "Where… did he go…?"

Juliana shook her head. "I don't know. I would guess somewhere else in the castle, but did he say anything else? We couldn't hear too well through the barrier."

"No, not really. It just feels a bit confusing. At least…" Sora's eyes fell to the Keyblade of Heart. "At least we can continue with what we are supposed to be doing."

Kairi watched as Sora began to fade away before her very eyes. She cried out for him, getting to her feet and running towards him. Just as it seemed she would grab him, he faded completely into bits of light.

"Sora…. No…" Kairi whispered as she watched the light float up and disappear.

Juliana placed a hand on her shoulder, giving her a thoughtful look. "Everything's going to be okay, trust me."

"But… he's. He can't be… I can't let him go! It can't happen like this!" Kairi shouted, tears forming in her eyes.

"I know…" Juliana said as she pulled Kairi into a hug. "But he's going to be okay. It's Sora we're talking about. Just trust me."

A dark corridor had appeared before them, and out stepped Ansem, looking almost like he had the last time Sora saw him. The main difference being that his once fully silver-gray hair was now streaked with black.

"You have awakened at last, Princess. The Keyhole is now complete. You're purposed has been served. But now it's over."

Juliana took a step forward, keeping a stern gaze on Ansem. With another step she now stood in front of Kairi. While she stood there defensively Donald and Goofy stepped in front of her and readied their weapons.

"Don't make another move!" Donald shouted.

Goofy leaned towards his friend. "Do you think we can stop him all by ourselves?"

Donald shook his head and kept his voice quiet. "I don't know."

A fireball came from up, behind the group and impacted just in front of Ansem, creating a large plume of smoke obstructing everyone's view for a brief moment. When it cleared, Tsuki in her human form was standing between Ansem and the group, brandishing a staff in a defensive stance.

Everyone stared wide eyed at the newcomer. Donald and Goofy looked the most confused, but that was for the fact that only two of them truly knew who she was.

"Tsuki!" Juliana shouted.

"Juliana! There are Heartless on the way now that the door is open. Take Donald, Goofy, and Kairi and get to safety!" Tsuki called back at them while casting a partial barrier between them and Ansem.

"Right!" Juliana said as she looked to Kairi. "Come on, we gotta run."

Kairi didn't even get a chance to ask any questions before Juliana started pulling on her wrist, warranting her to follow without much of a choice. Donald and Goofy quickly followed in suit, both still feeling very confused over the sudden new person who was about to fight off the intimidating man.

As they ran away, Juliana briefly looked back. It looked like Ansem had said something, but Tsuki was already casting magic directly at him. Juliana slowed her pace for only a second as she began to wonder what had happened on Tsuki's side. It was only Tsuki by herself… and no sign of Riku anywhere nearby. Juliana quickly shook her head. As much as she wanted to think over what had happened, she knew they had to get away first. They would get to safely and then she could think over what had happened… and what was going to happen next.