Once again, I thank you guys for your patience, yey! We're nearing the end, so hold on to your seats, er...I meancomputers! Just so you know, Spirit of Fire is in Anna's body.

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Chapter 10: Do Not Hold Back

"Now that we're all here Hao, the real battle will begin!" Yoh and Anna said in unison.

They all began to advance towards Hao while destroying the obstacles along the way. Hao smiled, impressed that they were still fighting and that they were able to make their way at least half way through.

"They seem to be doing pretty well, don't you agree?" Hao asked Spirit of Fire. "…but I only want one person to cross 'no man's land'…" Spirit of Fire understood what he meant by that, so he continued summoning spirits and merged them with random skeletons.

The gang kept fighting their way through until the only opponents left was the two skikigami's and a dozen random skeletons with spirits in them. Faust's skeleton and Jun's kyonshiis distracted the minor opponents that tried to attack Yoh and the others.

"Looks like these guys mean business this time" Chocolove was referring to the last of the remaining skeletons and skikigamis.

"Looks like you're going solo Yoh" Ren said. "These guys aren't going to go easy on us!"

"But Ren…" Yoh wanted to protest about him going solo, but Ren ignored it. Horohoro and the rest gave him a thumbs up. They will beat their opponents and Yoh will defeat Hao, that was the plan.

Yoh ran towards Hao; the skikigamis and the skeletons tried to attack Yoh, but his friends intercepted their attacks and held the back and away from Yoh.

Yoh was now only a few meters away from Hao. "It's just you and me Hao!"

"Oh really Yoh?" Hao smiled evilly at him; Anna's body stepped forward and glared at Yoh.

"You wouldn't…" Anna said angrily.

"Oh yes I would!" Hao said. Spirit of Fire charged forward and tried to hit Yoh, but the attack was blocked. Spirit of Fire kept attacking and Yoh just kept blocking.

"Yoh, what's the matter?" Anna said angrily. "Don't just block, counter attack!"

Yoh blocked each attack that Spirit of Fire threw to him; he had to admit that the beads also made a good weapon. "I might hurt your body Anna!"

"Didn't I mention to you earlier that I don't care about what happens to my body?" Anna tried to help Yoh block the attacks that Spirit of Fire was throwing at them. "What are you doing? Attack now!"

Yoh tried to attack, but Spirit of Fire would always counter attack. He was always hesitating when in the middle of the attack. Each blow he gave was weak because it was full of uncertainty and he was confused. Anna was getting frustrated because she was doing most of the parrying by herself while Yoh's mind is having a tug of war match. If she had her body, she would have already slapped him trice.

"YOH! SNAP OUT OF IT!" Anna yelled from within him. Yoh went back to reality and saw that Anna's body was attacking him mercilessly and it hurt Yoh both physically and emotionally. He blocked every attack more accurately this time, but he still didn't even think of attacking her back. "If what you're trying to do is save me, then let me just say that you're not doing a very good job at it!"

Yoh became confused; he couldn't tell which was the right or the wrong thing to do. All he wanted to do was to save Anna, nothing more and nothing less; but it was soon becoming very complicated because the one he's saving is the one he's fighting. "You can't grab the beads if all you do it stand and block the attacks. So what if I get hurt? I don't care and neither should you!"

Before Yoh could even think, he suddenly felt his heart hurt, and he felt how much pain it brought to Anna. "You're not even trying to save me Yoh! You're holding back! Is this what you want me to become; to be a puppet of Hao which he will use to destroy the world?" Anna tried holding back her tears, but it was getting harder by every second. "I trust you Yoh, I know you'll put everything back to the way it was, I know that you'll save me, and I know that you'll defeat Hao. You always said that 'everything will be all right' and I believed you whenever you said that."

"Now I want you to think of those five words and repeat them over and over again until you finally realize that there is nothing to worry about. You can do it Yoh, I know you can." Anna's words gave Yoh confidence; she was right as usual, everything was going to be alright. Despite the tight situation they were in, Yoh managed to show Anna a warm and determined smile. That was the smile that she wanted to see, the carefree smile of her one and only Yoh.

Yoh jumped back and away from Spirit of Fire and took defensive stance. "Ryu! Trade!" He called out to Ryu and he tossed him his Harusame with Amidamaru out of it.

"Yes Master Yoh!" Ryu threw him his wooden sword and he grabbed the Harusame at the same time. "Tokageroh! Oversoul in to Harusame!"

Yoh grabbed the wooden sword and got ready. "Amidamaru! Oversoul in to the wooden sword!" The weapon that he was using right now was less harmful than the Harusame, and he believed that it would help boost his confidence. "We're ready to fight now!"

Annacounter attacked with Yoh. He couldn't help but hold back a few times, but he reminded himself that everything will be all right.

Sprit of Fire jumped up and tried to do a ground attack on Yoh, but just as it was about to hit him, he suddenly disappeared from sight. Spirit of Fire looked around as he was falling towards the ground, he found out that Yoh managed to sneak up behind her, but it was to late for Spirit of Fire to stop.

Yoh tackled Anna's possessed body to the ground and pinned her with her back facing him. He took her right arm and held it behind her back, in just a short time, Yoh was able to remove Anna's blue beaded bracelet from her wrist.

He jumped back when Spirit of Fire made Anna's body stand up. "Okay, I got the bracelet, now all we need is the necklace…" He saw Anna's body grip the beaded necklace in her hands as tightly as they could.

Spirit of Fire used the necklace as a whip and tried to hit Yoh with it. Yoh blocked the attack, but the necklace wrapped itself around the wooded sword, starting a tug of war match. Both were very evenly matched and neither one moved an inch from their spot.

"Master Yoh!" Amidamaru called out, realizing that the sword may break soon due to the tremendous amount of force.

Yoh nodded and let Amidamaru leave the wooden sword. The weapon returned to normal, causing it to break; Spirit of Fire almost fell, but quickly regained its balance despite the heavy rain and quagmire they were all on.

"You broke my sword again Master Yoh!" Ryu cried while battling his opponents.

"Sorry Ryu, I promise I'll buy you a new one!" Yoh said with out taking his eyes off of his opponent. "It looks like we'll have to improvise! Amidamaru, oversoul in to the sheath!" He took out his sheath for Harusame and place Amidamaru in it.

Hao was in the sideline summoning more skeletons and merging them with random spirits that were summoned earlier. "This battle is starting to get interesting yet again."

Both Spirit of Fire and Yoh took defensive stance and waited for the other to move. In just a split second, they both disappeared and reappeared on another area of the field with their weapons clashing against each other. When ever Yoh would do a ground attack in the air, then Spirit of Fire would do an aerial attack from the ground and vice versa.

Meanwhile in the other side of the field, the others were still battling Zenki, Kouki, and the skeletons which kept on coming. The two Shikigamis seem to be more powerful the last time they battled with them. The heavy rain helped Ren and Horohoro boost the power of their element based techniques which were lightning and ice.

A loud clang was heard in the area where Yoh and Anna's body were fighting. Neither one of the two seemed to show signs of loosing Furyoku. Yoh quickly dashed behind Spirit of Fire, hoping to hit the back of the neck and knock out Anna's body, but Spirit of Fire sensed it would happen.

Just when Yoh was about to make an impact, Spirit of Fire grabbed his wrist and tossed him aside roughly on the already flooding ground. When Yoh hit the ground, he rolled aside to avoid a diving attack.

Yoh jumped back up and dashed in front of Anna's possessed body. Just when Spirit of Fire was about to attack, Yoh grabbed both of its wrists and held it tightly. The two of them refused to let go of what they were holding at the moments, in Spirit of Fire's condition, the beaded necklace that Yoh and Anna were desperately trying to get.

Neither one of them moved or budge even an inch, from a normal point of view, you probably won't be able to tell whether they were having a tug of war or just pushing each other till one looses its strength.

It has been like this for quite some time now and both of them were slowly starting to loose energy and grip. The rain made their condition even worse for one wrong move would make one or either of them fall on the ground.

"Hey Anna, I think I have an idea!" Yoh said while struggling to keep balance between him and his opponent.

"Hurry up and do it then!" Anna was also struggling to help Yoh keep balance.

"…but Anna, this might…" Yoh was suddenly interrupted.

"No buts! Do it!" Anna yelled.

"Okay then…" Yoh had no choice but to put his idea into action. In between his struggling, he managed to get near the face of Anna's body. Anna was starting to worry because she thought he was going to try and kiss him, she won't live this day if it was done in front of everyone.

Yoh's idea didn't even come close to that of kissing; instead he withdrew his head backwards without moving from his current position. When his head moved back as far as it can reach, he swiftly moved his head forward and with all his might, did a headbutt.

The others including Hao couldn't help but stop at what they were doing and glance at the two, whose foreheads have already clashed. Their mouths and eyes were wide open staring at Anna's body and Yoh. "That has gotta hurt…"

In one quick motion, Yoh grabbed the beaded necklace from Spirit of Fire when it loosened its grip a bit then jumped back. "Ouch, that hurts!"

"Think next time before you do it idiot!" Anna rubbed her forehead as Yoh rubbed his own forehead.

"You told me to do it and no buts!" Yoh complained, still rubbing the lump on his forehead.

"You were hesitating to do it, you were not thinking of the outcome, and those two ideas are very different!" Anna said. "Forget about it, just put on my necklace now!"

Yoh nodded in agreement. Just as he put it on, Spirit of Fire was already on the offensive. "Should I give fifty percent or eighty percent?" Yoh asked Anna while Spirit of Fire charged towards them.

"Sixty five percent, now move!" Anna replied as they dodged an attack.

"Okay!" Yoh rushed in front of Spirit of Fire and reappeared behind him. Spirit of Fire turned around, but it was already too late. "Celestial Slash!" Spirit of Fire fell down and tried to stand up, but he found out that Anna's body is starting to lose energy. "What do I do now?" Yoh asked.

"Just leave it to me" Anna said. Yoh's body moved along with Anna her movements. Yoh raised the beads and chanted a spell; all the spirits on the field started disappearing, starting with Zenki and Kouki. The rest of the gang finished the last remaining skeletons on the field.

Hao's smile was rubbed of his face as he looked at the spirits he made Spirit of Fire summon awhile ago were disappearing. "Useless henchmen…Spirit of Fire, get out of her body and return to me!" Faust I left Hao and as soon as he did, got sent back to where he came from, along with the skeletons that were summoned. Spirit of Fire crawled out of her body and returned to Hao's side, Anna's body fell limp and lifeless on the ground. Now the only remaining opponent was Hao and all the elemental spirits. "Spirit of Wind, spirit ball mode, Hyo Gattai!"

"You three never fail to impress me…" Hao said talking to Yoh, Anna, and Amidamaru in particular. "…but I am more powerful than before, so I won't be defeated!"

Spirit of Fire blew fire out of its mouth, the hard rain immediately blew out the fire, but it created a thick fog due to the steam. Everyone stood their ground and looked around cautiously because Hao had disappeared from sight. He suddenly reappeared behind Chocolove who managed to dodge the attack.

"The fog's too thick!" Horohoro said as he looked around, he was the next victim of Hao's attack. Horohoro was able to block, but the impact of the attack caused him to lose his balance for a while.

"I have an idea!" Lyserg said. "Let's use our giant oversoul so that we can fight above the steam!"

Everybody nodded in agreement and used their giant oversoul to tower over the fog. "Now to get rid of the fog!" Horohoro ordered Kororo to blow away the fog from the bottom. When the fog cleared, the ground was covered with tiny ice droplets, but it still continued to rain. Hao was nowhere in sight and the atmosphere of suspense rose.

Hao suddenly jumped from the shadows and punched the ground, causing an earthquake thanks to the Spirit of Earth which was in one of his gloves. The ground shook violently, so everyone had to float up, all except Yoh and the rest of the gang who were on the ground.

"Yoh, you have to use the Nidanbaiki!" Anna instructed him. "You're running low on Furyoku and you need a lot just to use the Nidanbaiki, so I'll leave and return to my body so as not to use up too much of your Furyoku and you do the rest."

"Are you gonna be alright?" Yoh asked as Anna left Yoh's body. She nodded and floated towards her body and entered it. For the first few seconds, the body remained limp and lifeless, but after awhile, Anna was able to open her eyes.

"I'm glad you're going to be alright Anna; now its time to defeat Hao." Yoh pulled out his short red sword and Amidamaru left the sheath. Ryu ordered Tokageroh out of Harusame and tossed it to Yoh.

"Amidamaru! Oversoul in to Harusame!" Yoh put Amidamaru in the Harusame then combined it with his red sword to form the Nidanbaiki, which took form of a long sword.

"Bring it on…" Hao said as Yoh, Ren, Horohoro, Lyserg, Ryu, Faust, Chocolve, and Silva attacked him, but Hao blocked and dodged all the attacks with ease, for all the elemental spirits are with him, he seemed invincible.

"Anna!" Jun, Tamao, Pirika, and Manta ran to her, she was still lying in the rain. "Anna, thank goodness you're back, are you alright?"

"I think so…" Anna tried to stand up, but she couldn't even lift her head. Spirit of Fire drained all her Furyoku and the fight with Yoh left her body weak. Tamao and Pirika helped her up and helped her walk to a safer spot in the area.

In the battle between Hao and the gang, Hao seemed to have an advantage; in fact, he seemed more powerful than their last battle in the desert. Lyserg, Chocolove, and Yoh tried to do a triple combo attack, but they wasted their Furyoku when Hao blocked it with ease. Binding Hao and the Spirit of Fire did very little to help them in their fight.

"You guys are starting to bore me again…" Hao raised his sword, with Spirit of Water in it and slashed towards the ground. "Waterfall Storm!" The wind and rain poured harder than before, now everyone really had a hard time fighting; and with that heavy rain, it won't be surprising if somebody will get sick the next day, if there will be a tomorrow for these guys. It felt like a thousand needles were pricking them, Hao unfortunately was protected thanks to the Spirit of Metal.

Hao raised his glove which contained the Spirit of Wood and called forth thick and thorny vines. The vines wrapped themselves on the base of the giant oversouls to stop their movement. Yoh avoided this by rocketing upwards using his sword. Just when Yoh was close to Hao, a giant boulder rose from the ground and shielded Hao. Yoh was able to avoid it by rocketing to his left, but the boulder followed him. He slashed the boulder in two and started landing on the ground, but the two boulders still followed him.

When Yoh landed on the ground, he immediately rolled aside so that the boulders will crash on the ground, breaking them into small pebbles.

"Impressive Yoh" Hao said to Yoh who was on the ground catching his breath. "I was really expecting a one on one with you, but you bought along these so called friends of yours."

"You mess with Yoh, then you mess with me!" Ren said as Bason tried to escape the vine's thorny bind.

"If you mess with any of us, then you get the whole package!" Chocolove said as Mic gnawed the vines that were wrapped around his feet. It was the old saying, mess with one, mess with all. It was a very common, yet very true for this group of friends.

"I know" Hao smiled at them. "But what I really want now is to fight now is Yoh." He evaded an attack attempted by Silva and flung him to the ground. "I have no time for you guys because you are useless to me."

Hao released all his spirits that were in oversoul. The five elemental spirits towered behind Hao and the spirit of Fire. "I'll let them play with you for awhile while I play with Yoh."

"Do you think we will let you push us around that easily?" Horohoro and everyone else broke free from the thorny vines.

"We'll find out soon…" Hao replied with little interest. "In the mean time Yoh, let's finish what we started awhile ago."

"Sounds fine with me!" Yoh attacked without warning and tried to hit from behind, but Hao sensed this and was ready for a counter attack. Just when Hao was about to hit him, a giant chain grabbed Spirit of Fire's two hands. It was from Lyserg's oversoul, Hao quickly pulled on the chains and tossed Lyserg and Morphine in the air, leaving Spirit of Wood to deal with the rest.

Yoh was able to hit Spirit of Fire's back, but it only did a little damage. Yoh landed on the ground and shot up to attack Hao. Just when Hao was about to hit Yoh back down on the ground, Spirit of Fire was suddenly being engulfed in ice. He broke free and moved aside to avoid Yoh's attack. He moved aside and dodged an attack that came from Ren and Bason.

"When I said a fight between the two of us Yoh, I didn't say you were allowed handicaps" Hao was referring to the rest of the gang, who, despite the opponents they were fighting right now, had the time and chance to assist Yoh in fighting Hao. "Looks like we're going to have to fight somewhere else."

Hao avoided another attack which came from Faust this time. Spirit of Fire and Hao flew past his opponents and landed in the spot where Tamao and Pirika were.

"Hao!" they both shouted. Pai Long tried to defend them, but he was pushed aside as if he was a doll. Tamao used her oversoul to stop Hao, but like Pai Long, she was pushed aside. Hao easily defeated all those who were beside Anna.

"Hello again Anna" He said as he smiled down at the itako. Anna wanted to slap him in the face, run away, or do something, but she didn't have any strength remaining. Hao grabbed Anna and jumped back on Spirit of Fire's hand.

"LET HER GO HAO!" Yoh was now charging madly at Hao's direction.

"Control your temper will ya?" Hao dodged the attack and sent Yoh crashing to a tree. "If you want to save her, follow me, and go alone." With that, Spirit of Fire flew away with Hao and Anna.

Yoh woke up and saw Anna failing to release herself from Hao's grip as her body was held tightly in his left arm. "ANNA!" Hao and Spirit of Fire flew further and further away.

"Yoh!" Silva called out. "I'm lending you Silver Wing so that you can catch up with Hao!" Silva's eagle spirit flew towards Yoh and lifted him from the ground. "You go after Hao, we'll catch up when we're done with the elemental spirits."

"Thanks Silva! Good luck guys!" Yoh flew away and chased after Hao.

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Were almost at the end! I'm so happy! My first finished fic in SK! I was watching SK, and it just finished last Friday, how I wish I could watch it again! Anyway, just wait a little longer and I'll it'll be finish before you guys know it! Read and review!