A/N:  Second part of the finale coming at ya!

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Chapter 18 – The Final Battle Part 2

Riku glared at Kairi with his burning possessed eyes. "You won't harm me?" He moved his smirking face closer to hers.

Kairi cringed in disgust. "You didn't let me finish. I said that I won't…hesitate to destroy the evil that lurks inside you! DIE!!" Using all of the energy that she possessed, she thrust her golden Keyblade through Riku's heart.

Riku's eyes bulged at the pain that shot through his entire body. He coughed up blood. It dripped down his mouth. "Why?" The look he gave her just then was haunting.

"You gave me no choice." She punched his bloody face in and then kicked his stomach with full force.

Sora, Goofy and Donald rushed over to Kairi who was holding the bloody, unconscious Riku.

"Jeez…one more hit and he'd be dead. Anyway, how do we get outta here?" Sora looked around, "Ah that door." He pointed to a slighty transparent ghostly door that appeared in the area.

The four of them flew over to the door, carrying the badly injured Riku. Sora tapped his Keyblade on the door and it opened. They went in and fell into the Ritual room where everyone had been anxiously waiting.

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Riku was placed on the metal table in the middle of the room. He was lying on his back, body all bloody from the attacks.

Merlin began the exorcism. "May the evil spirit that possesses this innocent child be removed from his body, be gone! This is not your world!" While Merlin continued his part, everyone else was getting ready for the termination of Ansem's soul.

Aeris tied the lock of Tarzan's hair on to the Queen of Heart's Wand. The Heart Wand suddenly started to shine in Tidus' hand. Then Wakka and Cid took their bags of Deadly Nightshade and went over to pour the drug into the Gold Cup that Cloud was holding. The Gold Cup started glowing brightly. Yuffie walked over to Leon and poured the bottle of Pixie Dust into the Magic Lamp. The Magic Lamp also began to sparkle, like the other objects, in Leon's hands. Then Cloud took the Gold Cup, Leon took the Magic Lamp, and Tidus took the Heart Wand and they formed a triangle around Selphie, who carried the Trident Fossil. Finally, Aeris, Yuffie, Wakka, and Cid formed a wide square around Tidus, Cloud, and Leon.

Merlin was now done with the exorcism and Ansem's soul violently flew out of Riku's body, causing Riku to jump up a foot in the air and fall down hard on the table.

The eight Final Fantasy characters began chanting the spell of Eradication in unity, "May this unsettled spirit go back to where it belongs down below…Feel the power, so strong, let it burn, let it flow…"

Ansem's spirit shrieked in horror, "You will NOT stop me!" He then flew inside of Merlin.

Merlin's eyes began glowing red. The wizard tried to fight Ansem back—undergoing an internal struggle within him. "Everyone continue the Eradication. I will die, but I've lived my life, I have no regrets." Merlin's voice suddenly warped into and evil tone, "I will DESTROY EVERYTHING!!"

Aeris' eyes opened wide. "Guys, I have an idea. We can save Merlin, but we have to keep doing the spell. Keep going, now!"

They resumed the incantation. "May this unsettled spirit go back to where it belongs down below…Feel the power, so strong, let it burn, let it flow…" Tidus walked to Leon and stuck the Heart Wand into the Magic Lamp. Cloud went to Selphie and she stuck the Fossil into the Gold Cup. The items glowed stronger—emitting such an incredible powerful force of energy. Leon and Cloud had to stuggle to keep holding the objects. They kept chanting.

Ansem and Merlin were fighting each other, mentally, for control.

"It's not working, guys!" Kairi's face fell in shock.

Sora nodded. "You're right, Kairi. Maybe we have to weaken Merlin before Ansem takes full control of his body."

Donald disagreed. "Then he'll go inside one of us and it'll be a never-ending cycle!" The white duck quacked.

"What if the spell works right when his soul is out of Merlin's body? Then he'll vanish." Goofy commented.

"Well we'll just have to hope it works! Let's give it a shot, people!" Sora ran over to Merlin and thrust his Keyblade into the possessed old man.

Kairi, Goofy and Donald started beating the poor guy also. The others kept chanting. Right then, Ansem's spirit flew out of Merlin, who was severely injured by all the extreme blows he'd just taken. Then Leon made his move by dumping the Magic Lamp into Cloud's Gold Cup.

Ansem felt attracted by the power in Cloud's hand, so he was about to go inside of Cloud. The Gold Cup started glowing on and off. It flew out of Cloud's grip and over Ansem's head. Then the room glowed white, blinding everybody so that it was impossible to see what was going on.

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Everyone started waking up one by one. They had all been knocked out by the explosion of Deadly Nightshade…Ansem was no where in sight.

Aeris quickly got up and cast a cure spell on Merlin and Riku.

Riku's body was healed and had been returned to normal. Riku looked like Riku. He slowly sat up and looked at his surroundings with a confused expression. "Where am I? What's going on?"

Yuffie got up and sat down on the metal table next to Riku. "It's a long story, kid. I'll tell ya later, 'kay?" Yuffie smiled and winked at him. Riku blushed. It's the first time he'd ever met a ninja girl…

Merlin got up and sighed. "I thought I was a goner…thanks Aeris."

Aeris smiled at Merlin. "No problem. Do you think that we would have just let you die? It's thanks to you that the Universe is still here."

Merlin shook his head. "No, my dear, it's thanks to all of you. This was the fault of mine to begin with…My deepest apologies, everyone."

Sora turned to face Kairi. "That was really brave of you back there…when you were face-to-face with Riku. You're amazing."

Kairi blushed pink. "Uhh…it was no big deal…"

"But it was," Sora insisted.

"Okay, if you say so. And Sora? You're amazing, too," Kairi replied, which caused Sora to grin sheepishly.

Tidus sighed in relief. "Thank god it's over…I guess we've gotta go return some of these objects? Like the Heart Wand and the Magic Lamp."

Wakka grinned at Tidus and leaned in to whisper in his ear, "Hey man, let's go return the Magic Lamp so we can go check out the hotties in Agrabah."

Tidus grinned stupidly. "I'm with ya there, buddy."

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TBC – Wow. Was that cool, or what? Well I had a great time writing this fic (I hope you all had a great time reading it) but there's a few more loose ends I have to tie up in the next chapter, which will be the last. Selphie's going to get some pictures developed, and the Queen of Hearts had some unexpected news…so stick around! Reviews would be appreciated as always. =)