Psycho-CJ: Hi, I'm back, a couple days later then I said I was going to be. Sorry, for the wait, but people keep dragging me everywhere they go so I haven't had the chance to write.

Evan: I think I hear your mom coming.

Psycho-CJ: Hurry, bolt the door! I will not leave this room until I post this chapter.

Gojyo: Does that mean we are stuck with you until you do?

Evan: It's not as bad as going Christmas shopping. (everyone cringes).

Goku: Hungry…(drools on the floor).

Hakkai: (smiles) We should be more worried about Goku eating us.

Warner: Hurry up! I'm too hot to die!

Raven: (looks at everyone, then smacks his forehead.) Please make it so she doesn't have writer's block.

Sanzo: She does not own Saiyuki, but she owns them. (points at the Daycarthro characters).

Psycho-CJ: And thanks everyone for being patient with me.

XxxXxxX

Chapter 21: Secrets Revealed

"Then I better not waste any time with you," Zev quickly chants a spell and light engulfs Evan. "Idiot, he should have stayed out of our way." Zev turns to leave, only to be hit in the back by a light spell. Zev's body slams into the wall, causing the wall to crumble under his weight.

"You should have been the one to stay out of this," a man responds as he dusts his hands off. "Lackey," the man mutters. "Nothing I hate more than a mindless slave." The man turns his attention to Goku, who has failed to get up since being knocked down by Zev.

He places his hands on Goku's back, using his healing powers to wake the ape up. Goku slowly opens his eyes and finds himself looking at a man in his early twenties with vibrant violet eyes and hair as black-as-a-starless-night.

"Who are you?" Goku asks. His golden eyes peer across the room, but he doesn't see the little demon child. "Where's Evan?" The man's eyes darken slightly.

"Get up, we have to find the others." Goku stares at the man, a familiar scent invading his nose.

"Evan?" Goku gasps.

"Yeah, it's me. I'll explain later, I'm not sure how long Raven and the others will be able to hold out." The grown up Evan grabs Goku's hand and drags him to his feet.

"But..."

"Shut up, Zev is still alive and I really don't want to fight him until we find Cassandra and the others." Evan breaks into a run, pulling Goku with him.

XxxXxxX

"Damn," Raven hisses, clutching his bleeding shoulder.

"Giving up already?" Daycarthro asks.

"Not until you give Cassandra back," Raven dives for his sword pulling it out of the wall. He counters the spell on it, reverting it back to a dagger.

"Now what are you up to?" The god's teal eyes watch every move the Hybrid makes. Raven closes his eyes, a protective shield forming around him. He chants in his sacred tongue, energy swirling around him.

"Aw, shit," Warner gasps, Kou's claw managing to dig into his wrist. A smirk crosses the youkai's lips as he tightens his grip, grinding the bones together. The Vaerire drops to his knees, gasping in pain.

"Warner," Gojyo yells, seeing his new friend is in trouble. Hakkai punches the half-breed, sending him to the ground. "Damn, this is insane," Gojyo gasps, as he forces himself to stand up. "He's just as strong as the real Hakkai." The green-eyed youkai has the same smile plastered on his face as he uses a chi attack on him. "Even acts like him too," Gojyo dodges the blast of energy. He glances at Sanzo, who appears to be having trouble with Cassandra.

The sorceress is bombarding the monk with several types of element spells, while Sanzo's gun proves ineffective, since he can't get an open shot. Sanzo manages to knock her down and uses the precious time to use his sutra. The white and green sutra swirls around him, wrapping Cassandra and preventing her from moving.

"You lose," Sanzo fires his exorcism gun and Cassandra explodes into dust.

Raven eyes quickly open and finds Sanzo has killed the fake Cassandra. Even though the woman was a fake, he still feels a certain sadness knowing she has fallen. But the task at hand gives him little time to dwell on it.

"Are you done yet?" Daycarthro asks, trying to break through the strong barrier Raven has formed around himself. The Hybrid seems to ignore him, only focusing on his spell. At last the barrier breaks and Raven takes a step back. The god stares at him, then looks around the room for any sign of an attack. "Well?"

"Well what?" Raven replies, standing his ground.

"What kind of spell did you cast?" Daycarthro demands. Raven tilts his head at the god then glances at the remaining fakes.

"You know I am going to kill you right?" Raven asks, his violet eyes turning back to the god. "What an amateur you are. Most of the spells you cast are low-level ones, you're fighting lacks any real strategy. But what can I expect from someone who stole another's abilities."

"I'll show you what an amateur I am!" Daycarthro slams the staff against the ground, lightning falling down upon the ground like rain. One of the bolts lash at the Hybrid, but Raven snaps his fingers—the lightning pauses. Raven whispers something and the bolts turn back on the god, electrifying him. Daycarthro falls to the floor, his clothes smoking.

"Any real sorcerer would know I used a deflection spell, therefore any spell you used on me will turn back against you." The god fails to move. "But as I said, an amateur like yourself wouldn't know that."

"Hey…Raven…a…little…help…here," Warner gasps, as Kougaiji punches him. Raven runs his fingers through his hair, not believing how helpless the Vaerire is. Luckily Sanzo and Gojyo are holding out pretty well. Just then he sees Sanzo knocked flat on his back by Hakkai. Or was…

XxxXxxX

"Bingo!" Evan announces when they appear in front of a door. Goku sniffs the air, the familiar scent is strong.

Why does that smell seem so familiar? Goku wonders, trying his best to remember.

"There's a protective barrier around the door. Goku, would you like to do the honors?"

"Allright!" Goku charges at the door, hitting it with nyoibou. The doors crumble under Goku's might, leaving the path open for them.

"What the hell?!" Evan snaps when he sees the only thing present in the room is a massive tree. The whole room seems specially made to harbor the plant. The rich soil surrounds the tree, while thick roots are partially above ground. "That's weird, I could have sworn I sensed Cassandra, Hakkai and Daycarthro here." Evan slams his fist against the wall. "Damn, Raven's counting on us and we turn up empty handed. Instead we find some stupid tree that has no place in a fortress." Goku's eyes widen when he sees an oddly shaped fruit growing on the tree.

"I know what that is," Goku runs up to the tree, the smell bringing back memories of another tree he once encounter before.

"Well, spit it out already."

"There was a tree that if you ate the fruit from it, you would grow vines and stuff."

"I don't see what this has to do with this tree." Evan glares at the tree, sensing youki and demon power from it. This thing reeks of magic. Evan shakes his head, being overwhelmed by all the different essences the tree is emitting.

"It eats people and makes copies of them."

"What?!" Evan snaps. "That plant ate Cassandra?!" Evan points at the tree that appears defenseless.

"Um, I think Sanzo said it uses them as fertilizer."

"Fertilizer..." the demon frowns as he looks at the tree. Does that mean the others are still alive?

"Quite ingenious," Zev announces, appearing in the room next to the tree.

"Hey bastard, I was wondering how long it would take you to recover."

"That little hit was nothing."

"So are you going to explain to me what is going on?" Evan growls.

"You're feeble little brain hasn't figured it out yet?" Zev leans against the wall, coolly looking at the two nuisances. "That little accident with Daycarthro's talisman, attracted the attention of our spies. I was sent to pick you off and I happened to run into Daycarthro, but it turns out he found a mandrake tree that was feeding off any people unlucky enough to fall into its trap. By feeding off of Daycarthro, the tree was able to use his DNA to make a copy of the god and by giving it enough time, he became as powerful as the original, actually stronger since he lacks the emotional baggage. A little negotiation and the two of us decided to join forces to finally get rid of you. It turns out the tree wanted revenge for the Sanzo-ikko killing the other remaining specimen of its kind."

"Then you took the real Cassandra, Hakkai and Kougaiji and made copies of them too."

"Well they did have a strong amount of energy and Cassandra and Hakkai were the most reliable and trustworthy in your group. I mean, just by using a little bit of my magic I made it possible for the clones to almost have the same personality so you wouldn't notice the difference."

"Are the real ones still alive?"

"I give Daycarthro another hour before he is completely drained and becomes nothing but a husk."

"We're not going to be plant food too," Goku sticks his tongue out at the demon.

"Don't worry, you won't. I'm just going to kill you. The others will be enough for the mandrake, that is except for your brother." Zev smiles at Evan and the grown demon can feel his anger rising.

"Goku, destroy the tree, I'll take care of this asshole."

"As if I could fall to some freak-of-nature as yourself. You should have died nine years ago, but instead you're some kind of walking-corpse. The way you cling to life is disgusting. Add in your little botched experiment and now you are cursed to turn into your true form every seven days. You should just let yourself expire, it will save you from having to deal with the agony of transforming."

"You really talk too much." Evan dashes to the demon, casting a light spell. Zev vanishes from sight and appears behind him.

"Is that the best you got," Zev whispers in Evan's ear. The grown Evan disappears as well. "You can't hide from me," Zev vanishes, in pursuit of the traitor.

Goku gazes around the room, but it appears the two demons are gone.

"Okay stupid drake-tree. Time to finish you off!" Goku runs towards the tree, bringing nyoibou down. "What?" Goku hits an invisible barrier that slams him back as energy fries him. The golden-eyed youkai shakes his head as he stands up. "Hey! No fair!" Goku yells, shaking his fist at the mandrake. "Shi ne!" Goku yells, making another attempt, but once again he is knocked back by the unseen force. The young boy glares at the tree, but the mandrake remains still, showing no signs of life. "I want you to give Hakkai, Cassandra and the others back."

"..."

"Hey, did you hear me, stupid tree?" Still nothing. "Wahhhh! How am I going to free them if I can't even touch the tree?!"

"Why haven't you destroyed it yet?" Evan asks, popping out of no where.

"There's a barrier around it," Goku replies.

"Damn," Evan jumps out of the way when a mass of light comes at him. He flips back, landing gracefully on his feet.

"Quit running away from me!" Zev yells.

"Me? Run away? You must be imagining things?" Evan says innocently.

"Stop mocking me, traitor!" Zev appears beside the black-haired demon, only to come up empty handed.

"I just think you're slow," Evan replies, but before he can act, Zev slams his fist in Evan's gut. The cursed demon hits the ground, rolling to a stop. A set of daggers fly at Evan, and he barely manages to dodge the blades. Zev unsheathes another set of daggers, flinging them at Evan. One of them hits his palm, pinning him against the wall. Evan quickly yanks it out of his hand and doesn't bother to heal the wound. "And if you are going to fling a knife at me, you might as well make it count."

"You'll pay for that," Zev yells.

"Then come get me," Evan appears in front of the mandrake.

"This time—stay dead!" Zev casts a light spell, a wall of light racing at him. Evan smirks, before vanishing at the last minute. "No!" Zev cries as his spell destroys the barrier.

"Just what I was waiting for." Light pulses through the dagger Evan borrowed from Zev, then he throws it at the tree. Light bursts throughout the tree, causing the bark to crack, but the tree still stands. "Goku, now!" Evan orders. Goku swings with nyoibou, shattering the mandrake tree.

XxxXxxX

Psycho-CJ: I hope I got this info right and it wasn't that lame or that too much out there. I tried to drop some subtle hints, without giving too much away and most of you did pick up on Hakkai and Cassandra not being the real ones. So let me know what you think or how I can improve this. Um, that's all for right now. I'll try to post a chapter as soon as possible.

Evan: That seemed to end abruptly.

Psycho-CJ: Sorry, but it already hit the four-page mark and the next part is going to be kind of long. I figure two more chapters, but it could be more or less considering how the next part turns out.

Goku: And please think of things you want to see in the sequel so Psycho can come up with some ideas.

Psycho-CJ: Thanks to Rook, Evita, Ali, MystiquePixie and Sumitra for reviewing. And since no one guessed right on what was up with Evan, the 75th reviewer will decide when the demon child's birthday is. Sorry about that, I accidentally took out all the hints when I reworked this, so it was my fault no one was able to guess. And one last thing...Oh, Chibi Sanzo! (little Chibi walks into the room, wearing a Santa suit, including the beard.)

Goku: Kawaii! (Chibi Sanzo and Sanzo smack Goku with their fans).

Psycho-CJ: Come on Chibi, you have to say it.

Chibi Sanzo: …

Psycho-CJ: Say it!

Chibi Sanzo: No.

Evan: Then I guess Psycho is going to put me permanently with you. (Chibi Sanzo glares at Evan then finally gives in when he thinks of having the deal with Evan for a long period of time.)

Chibi Sanzo: (muttering) Merry Christmas. (Everyone laughs at him except for Sanzo, causing the Chibi and Sanzo to have a serious twitch)
Sanzo & Chibii Sanzo: SHI NE! (shots fire and screams can be heard from our unfortunate author and characters from Daycarthro and Saiyuki).