Psycho-CJ: Allright back for another chapter. This time no long intro's I'm just going to go right into it.

Warner: She does not own Saiyuki, and well, you know who she owns, right?

Psycho-CJ: One warning, this fight scene is a little bloody. Enjoy!

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Chapter 22: Final Battle

Sanzo, Gojyo, Warner and Raven stop when a flash of light races through the room—Hakkai, Kougaiji and the unconscious Daycarthro vanish from sight.

"Did we win?" Warner asks, slowly standing up.

"Looks like it," Gojyo replies.

"Evan and Goku must have found the real ones," Raven states as he clutches his bleeding shoulder. "Evan appears to be fighting that demon from before." The walls fade from sight revealing a vast meadow where three figures can be seen in the distance.

"How did you do that?" Warner asks in awe.

"I didn't do anything. The fake Daycarthro's spell wore off. He must have created this fortress through an illusion."

"That is so cool, why don't you ever do spells like that?"

"Because it takes a lot of energy and also sends out a strong vibe when casting it. So if you want a pack of demons to find us, then I'll cast one for you."

"That's okay."

"If you two don't shut up, I'm going to put a bullet through your empty heads!" Sanzo yells, ticked off that the two are goofing off when they should be finding Goku and Evan. Raven ignores the threat as he picks up the Staff of Saerublon. Suddenly Raven gasps, dropping the staff.

"Raven!" Warner rushes to his side.

"I'll be fine," Raven mutters. "I just lost too much blood. Take the staff," he orders Warner, who quickly obeys. "If we go in that direction we should catch up with them."

"Let's go," Sanzo orders.

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"I swear this is the last time you interfere, traitor," Zev hisses, his plans crumbling before his eyes. That week of preparation had been for nothing. He thought for sure the fakes would be able to overpower Raven and Sanzo's group, but just as before, Evan butted in.

"Didn't you say the same thing last time?" Evan smirks.

"You're going down baka," Goku adds, readying nyoibou.

"But last time you were lucky!" Zev flings two blades of light, one for Goku and the other for Evan. The black haired demon vanishes, then appears before Goku, catching the blade in his hands. Blood drips down his arm and the light rips the flesh on his hand.

"Evan!" Goku yells.

"I'm allright. This will be easy to heal, besides if you tried to block it with your bo, you would have hurt yourself." Evan throws the blade of light to the ground. "Now, if you want to stop him, the two of us are going to have to work together."

"Right!" Goku nods his head. Evan appears on Goku's left side.

"Now here's the plan. I'm going to use a light spell on him to force him to the left. You have to be super fast if you want to get him by surprise."

"Let's go!" Goku falls into his fighting stance.

"Hey Zev! Catch this!" Evan quickly chants a spell, light forming around the black haired demon. The light gathers in front of him, then Evan pushes his hands forward, pushing the light with it. As predicted Zev fades out in the nick of time, appearing left of the light. Goku catches him by surprise, knocking him upside the head with nyoibou. A loud crack echoes through the room, as Zev drops to his knees, clutching his cracked skull. Zev lunges forward, grabbing a hold of Goku's neck, then placing his hand against Goku's heart. A blast of light pulses through the young ape's body, stopping him from breathing.

"No, you don't!" Evan yells, tackling the demon. The two tumble on the ground, Evan ending up on top. He slams his fist down, but Zev catches it. Light throws Evan off the demon and he lands on his back with a loud thump.

"Ev...an..." Goku manages to cough, gaining his breath back. Evan rolls onto his feet, somersaulting out of the way as shards of light rain down on him. A barrier rises around Evan, shielding him from Zev's attack.

"You should really work on some new tricks." Evan smiles, painfully. A large shard embedded in his side.

"I think you are the one getting slow," Zev appears in front of him, grabbing the shard and pushing it deeper into Evan's side, until it breaks completely through. Evan grabs Zev's neck, digging his fingers right beneath the jaw-bone.

"And you're an idiot for thinking I would allow you to get this close to me." Evan raises his other hand, which is holding another one of Zev's daggers. "You shouldn't leave these lying around." Evan shoves the blade into Zev's chest, crimson liquid gliding over his hand. Zev kicks his leg, snapping Evan's in two.

"Son of a..." Evan gasps, pushing Zev away. "Goku!" Evan snaps.

"Got it!" Goku nearly flies at Zev and swings, but Zev vanishes from sight. "Come back!" Goku yells.

"Goku, be on guard. He can appear anywhere." Evan clenches his teeth, trying not to scream in pain. I'm getting careless. I can't believe I let him do that to me, Evan scorns himself as he tries to use his healing powers to mend the bone back together.

"There you are!" Goku cries, punching Zev. The demon stumbles back, his vision blurring slightly as his head wound begins to have an effect on him. He manages to grab nyoibou before it can finish him off. He flings Goku away from him and forces himself to stand up.

"I'll kill all of you." Energy races around Zev as he prepares to use his strongest spell. His violet eyes almost seem to glow as his lips quietly whisper the incantation.

"Stop him before he can finish the spell!" Evan orders the young youkai.

A gun shot slices through the silence and Zev falls to his knees clutching his chest as blood pours from the gunshot wound.

"Sanzo!" Goku chirps, his eyes lighting up.

"B-bastard..." Zev gasps before coughing up blood.

"You're still alive?' Sanzo cocks his gun, about to fire another shot.

"Jareiko!" Zev yells. Sanzo fires but the bullet stops in midair, then falls to the ground. A young man stands in front of Zev, intense black eyes gazing at the people around him. "Jareiko, kill them. Now's your chance. I know you can kill them, especially Evan." Zev grabs Jareiko's hand his voice trembling from the pain he is in.

"Who the hell is that?" Gojyo asks, pointing to the mysterious young man.

"Jareiko," Raven answers, preparing himself incase the guy decides to attack. No one makes a move, some out of fear and the rest not knowing what to expect from the intruder.

"Just another baka to kill," Sanzo is about to fire when Evan tackles Sanzo, and the two fall on the floor. Jareiko's black eyes fall on Raven and the two look at each other, sizing up the other's essence. A flicker of emotion passes over Jareiko's face, but disappears before it can take form. Finally Jareiko looks away then disappears taking Zev with him.

"Damn, that was close," Evan gasps falling to his knees. A click grabs his attention as Sanzo has the barrel of his gun pointed at Evan's head.

"Who the hell are you?" Sanzo demands.

"Who do you think I am monk?" Evan sneers, disappearing from sight and reappears a safe distance from the monk. He plops down, going back to healing his wounds.

"Don't shoot Sanzo. He's Evan!" Goku warns.

"No way!" Gojyo gasps pointing at the full-grown demon. "You can't be the same annoying, hyperactive..."

"Don't forget psychotic who will kill annoying playboy's who happen to piss me off!" Evan grins.

"Why are you bringing me into this?!" Warner snaps. Everyone looks at the blue-eyed blond.

"He was talking about Gojyo." Sanzo points out, rubbing his forehead as an headache comes on. There are two many idiots in one room at the moment. "Why did you stop me from killing Jareiko?"

"Because if you attack him, he would have killed us all. He hasn't been given permission to fight us yet, if you would have tried to kill him he would have retaliated," Evan says matter-of-factly. Sanzo glares at the full grown demon.

"And you haven't explain why you're not a kid anymore."

"None of your damn business monk!" Evan snaps, tending to his wound. Sanzo's eye twitches about to shoot everything in sight.

"Evan fooled around with a spell to try to turn his body into what it was in his previous life," Raven explains. "He messed up and as a consequence, every seven days he turns into his full demon form. It is supposed to be a very painful transformation which is why he doesn't want to talk about it."

"Why would he want to turn back to the way he was before?" Goku asks.

"He was tired of being weak in his child form. In this form, he is stronger than me."

"And Evan is power hungry," Warner shrugs his shoulders. Evan crosses his arms in front of him.

That isn't why I did it, Evan thinks to himself. I did it to save Pandora...but I was already too late.

"So where are the others?" Sanzo asks.

"They're close by," Raven announces, walking up to the spot where the mandrake tree once stood.

"Zev said the mandrake tree was feeding off them."

"Mandrake tree?!" Gojyo says. "I thought we already killed that thing?!"

"It appears there was more than one," Sanzo replies.

"I see," Raven states. He closes his eyes, chanting in his language. The earth grumbles as the dirt begins to heave. Suddenly the ground bursts open, revealing four people.

"Hakkai!" Goku yells, jumping into the hole. The green-eyed youkai slowly opens an eye and smiles weakly at Goku.

"Hello everyone. How are you?" Hakkai asks.

"Is that all you can say?!" Gojyo yells. "You almost became plant food!"

"But you were kind enough to save me," Hakkai smile widens. Goku and Gojyo help Hakkai up.

"Cassandra," Raven whispers, propping the blonde woman up.

"Raven?" she whispers, then opens her hazel eyes. "I knew you would find us." She leans her head against his chest, glad to be in his arms.

"Daycarthro!" Warner yells, shaking Daycarthro's shoulders. "He's not waking up!" The god's skin is gray and his breathing is shallow. "Come on, you can't die!"

"Yeah, he still needs to take us home," Evan adds, landing next to the two. "Daycarthro—WAKE UP!" Evan screams, slapping the god.

"You jerk! What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Warner yells. Suddenly Daycarthro groans, his eyes opening slightly. "Daycarthro..." Warner scurries closer to his side.

"W-Warner...?" Daycarthro gazes at Warner, but then closes his eyes again, still weak from the ordeal he had to endure. "Where have the four of you been? I've been looking everywhere for you." Daycarthro tries to stand up, but finds he is too weak to stay on his feet. Warner wraps an arm around his back and helps the god up. "I'm sorry I didn't find you sooner, but I ran into some trouble." The god yawns, wanting to go back to sleep.

"Before you go back to sleep, can you at least take us back to Sanzo's world?" Evan asks, picking up the staff from where Warner dropped it and hands it to the god.

"Take you to Sanzo's world..." The god trails off, obviously still out of it. "Okay..." He straightens his body up, twirling the staff around, then slams it on the ground. A flash of light surrounds everyone, when it clears everyone is back in the hotel the fake Daycarthro took them from, except now it is night time. "There you go..." Daycarthro's collapses, Warner catching him before he falls.

"Daycarthro!" Warner shouts.

"Shut the hell up!" Evan snaps, as he rubs his ear. "He just fainted, no need to get all worked up about your lover."

"He's not my lover!" Warner yells.

"Oh I forgot, you're with Gojyo now."

"Hey! You're the one who sleeps with Raven!" Gojyo hops into the argument. Raven closes his eyes, trying to keep his anger in check, but failing to ignore the three.

"Ew! You-did-not-just-say-that!" Evan says through clench teeth. "You're the one who felt him up!" Raven tightens his grip on Cassandra, about to snap.

"That was an accident!"

"I'm sure both times were," Evan says sarcastically.

"No all three times were!" Warner stops when he realizes what he just said. All eyes fall on Raven, who has his eyes lowered at the three.

"Urusai!" Sanzo yells, smacking Warner, Gojyo and Evan with one impressive swing. A long silence falls over everyone, until Raven speaks up.

"Anyone want to hear an interesting story involving Warner and too much beer?" Raven asks, a twinkle of malice in his eyes.

"No, you promise not to tell," the Vaerire whines.

"I guess it is going to slip, like how you always say things without thinking and making yourself look like a complete fool."

"Maa maa," Hakkai waves his hands to calm everyone down.

"Please Raven," Cassandra looks up at Raven, brushing his hair from his face.

"Fine, but next time he opens his mouth, he's getting it," Raven glares at Warner before sweeping up Cassandra and heading upstairs to the room he stayed in a few nights ago.

"Don't you idiots disturb me," Sanzo grunts, following Raven's lead.

"But Sanzo!" Goku whines. "I'm hungry!"

"Yeah Sanzo, you shouldn't let your adopted son starve," Evan laughs as he throws an arm around the monk's shoulders. Sanzo smacks Evan then stalks upstairs.

"Don't worry Goku," Evan smiles mischievously as he appears next to the young boy. "I'm sure we can find something to eat." Evan disappears, taking Goku with him.

"Why do I have the feeling Evan is up to something?" Hakkai smiles weakly.

"Probably because he is," Gojyo counters.

"Um, guys, what do we do about him?" Warner asks, motioning with his free hand at the unconscious youkai prince, but then regrets it when a sharp pain runs through his arms. Fractured bones are not meant to be move, Warner thinks to himself.

"Oh, great as if things couldn't get weirder," Gojyo groans.

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Psycho-CJ: I'll end it here for now. The reason this chap took so long is because I was debating whether or not to have that big fight scene between Goku, Evan and Zev, but as you can see I decided to keep it.

Evan: (muttering under his breath) Dragging it out.

Psycho-CJ: I heard that. I'm estimating one chapter left, maybe two since I haven't wrote the ending yet. I just hate it when people end fics abruptly and I thought it would have been unrealistic if Daycarthro suddenly recovered and took Raven and his group back to their world.

Goku: Thanks to Sumitra, Ali, Mystique Pixie, Rook and Evita for always reviewing.

Psycho-CJ: And sorry if some people had problems reviewing the last chapter, but I just replaced the author's note with chapter 21 and it ends up it wouldn't let people review twice for the same chapter number.

Evan: What about thanking psycho-pumpkin?

Psycho-CJ: Oh, that freak! That was just my other sister who discovered my story. I'll probably be getting some weird reviews from her since she has a twisted sense of humor.

Sanzo: Must run in the family.

Psycho-CJ: I hope everyone had a great New Year! Till next time!