Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story except for Leon and the Arcana Fool.

Persona 3: Hybrid's Journey

Prologue

The moon hung over Tatsumi Port Island as one person weaved his way through the crowd. This person was a boy with silver hair and ocean blue eyes who could not have been any older than thirteen. He wore a dark purple T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans with a backpack hoisted over his shoulder. Looking over his belongings, he nodded to himself and continued forward as if on a mission. Glancing at a nearby television screen, he noted the time. 11:58 p.m.

'Won't be long now.' He thought with a smirk. Looking down, he quickly went over everything he had on him one last time and waited. The next two minutes seemed to drag on for hours until finally, the clock struck midnight. Then, everything changed. Every electronic in sight suddenly stopped as their users transformed into black coffins. The puddles on the ground turned red as if made of blood and the world itself gained an eerie green color. The greatest change however was the appearance of a gigantic tower in the distance. The boy grinned as he bolted for the tower. He was finally able to return to the place he called home!

Boy's P.O.V.

'Finally, the tower formed and I can get some well-deserved sleep.' I thought excitedly. I had to reach Tartarus before time resumed; otherwise, I would have to wait another full day before I could try again. Given that Kurosawa guy would no doubt be looking for me, I was not about to let that happen. I sprinted across the Moonlight Bridge, ruthlessly suppressing the memories that the sight brought up.

Finally, I reached the base of the tower. Glancing inside, I saw a very familiar sight. A giant staircase leading to a vault-like door stood directly in front of me. To my right was some kind of machine emitting a slight green glow. I ignored it with practiced ease; the machine didn't even work, so I had no reason to pay attention to it. Instead, I turned my attention to the final object in the room: a clock. Normal electronic devices don't work during this time, but that clock was special. It was completely incapable of telling normal time; in fact, it could not even exist outside of this strange time. I tried several times to drag it out of the tower into the normal world. Every time however, it would vanish right before my eyes. When I would check the tower during the next cycle as I call it, I would see it sitting right where it normally would as if I hadn't even touched it.

Snapping out of my reverie, I walked up to the clock to check the time and found that I still had fifty "minutes" to go before the cycle ended. I could only frown at that. I could easily guess what would happen next. A shadow would somehow sneak out the main entrance and try to wreak havoc on the city. I would leave the tower to punish it, spend the whole damn cycle looking for that stupid thing, and defeat it only to wind up standing in a crowd of people with an honest-to-goodness sword in my hands. From there, I would have to escape into an alley and lay low until the next cycle began and attempt to enter the tower again. Honestly, it was amusing the first few times, but now it was just annoying as hell.

As if to "congratulate" me on my prediction, a shadow's power flared up in town. Sighing in irritation, I closed my eyes and focused on the power…only to freeze in shock. This shadow was far more powerful than the garden variety that I was expecting. More than that, I knew this one! This thing had been terrorizing Iwatodai for the past ten years. There was only one thing that I could not figure out about it: the overall feel of the shadow. I couldn't quite tell what it was from the tower lobby, but I was certain about one thing. This "shadow" was a walking contradiction in that it was and was not a shadow. Snapping my eyes open, I grabbed the backpack that I had discarded and ran out the door. And tonight, it would finally fall.

I recognized the area where the shadow was rampaging as Paulownia Mall. It was a popular place where people tend to hang out. Right now however, the only ones here were me and this fake shadow. Busting through the glass door, I was greeted with a massive roar and a good long look at the faker.

The beast, for that is the only word I could use to describe it was easily one of the largest shadows that I had ever seen. It reached from one wall to just past the fountain in the middle. Most shadows take the form of something from the real world such as a large snake or even a tank. This thing looked more like a two-headed lizard with a lion's paws.

It was these two heads however that drew my attention. Every shadow wears some kind of mask with a certain number engraved on it. These numbers range from one to twelve and represent twelve of the twenty-one arcana. In order, these arcana are known as the Magician, the Priestess, the Empress, the Emperor, the Hierophant, the Lovers, the Chariot, the Justice, the Hermit, the Fortune, the Strength, and the Hanged Man. The monster in front of me however was different as its masks had none of the corresponding numbers on it. Instead, I saw the number 0 embedded on the beast's foreheads. Zero. That stood for…the fool! I am not sure what this means for me or anyone else. What I do know is that I came to punish a shadow for running rampant in Iwatodai and I intend to do exactly that.

Sliding my backpack off my back, I reached in and grasped the shortsword hidden within, attempting to recall everything I knew about the fool arcana in the process. Every tarot card had two meanings depending on whether it was drawn upright or upside-down. In particular, the upright fool represents a beginning, innocence, and spontaneity whereas the reversed fool reveals recklessness and foolishness. I don't know how much I will be able to use against this fake shadow, but I should have enough between that and my…unique abilities to come out on top.

Drawing my weapon, I took my normal stance and began to draw on my spirit power. Almost immediately, a wellspring of power surged within me, greatly enhancing my physical and sensory abilities to the point where I could feel the shadow pouncing at- HOLY SHIT!

I immediately dove to the side, narrowly evading the beast's first attack. As I got to my feet however, the tail swung up and batted me into a nearby store.

"Ow. Let's not do that again." I muttered, clambering to my feet again. Fortunately, my spirit power also bolstered my durability. Otherwise, I would surely have a few broken bones, if not worse. Looking around, I quickly found my sword sticking out of a bag of flour. Striding out of the store, I saw the faker prowling around near the fountain again. Clearly, it didn't believe that I was done.

Good 'cause I most definitely was not.

"Alright scales-for-brains, you got your hit in. Now it's my turn." I taunted with a smirk. Crouching slightly, I channeled my spirit power into my eyes. I had discovered this trick relatively early after gaining my abilities. It actually allows me to see things what most others cannot. I can't see a person's body heat nor can I peer through walls, but what I can do is determine what a shadow's designation, arcana, strengths, and weaknesses are. In addition, my ability to predict my opponent's attacks is enhanced far beyond my normal capability. It comes in handy during first encounters like this. There are only three drawbacks to this trick. First, it drains my spirit power more than any spell. This prevents me from using it constantly, though I am fine so long as I use it in short spurts. Second, my analyzing ability requires me to make eye contact with my opponent. Otherwise, it becomes useless. The final drawback however, is perhaps the most dangerous of the three. I have to regulate the amount of spirit power flowing through my eyes while using this ability. If I don't, I may very well find myself without any sight at all. For this reason, I prefer to use it during a first encounter to gain a rough estimate as to what tactics will or will not work in regards to spells. After that, I try to commit said tactics to memory.

My eyes gave off a dull ache as they were filled with spirit power. My eyes met the beast's and a list of its general abilities appeared in my mind.

Name: Arcana Fool

Arcana: Fool

Weaknesses: None

Resists: None

Nullifies: Light, Darkness

I was not surprised by this information, but I was not about to risk wasting my strength on a failed attack. I had done that plenty of times already and had no desire to repeat it.

"Alrighty then. I suppose I'll just have to wing it and hope for the best." I growled. This was not what I had intended when I came here. Knowing my luck, I'll wind up winning the fight, but failing to return to the tower tonight. I shook my head; now was NOT the time to be thinking that way. I still have to win the fight in the first place. The Arcana Fool was a strong opponent; that much was certain. That said, I was pretty strong in my own right. I would have to be in order to have matched it all this time. This time however would be different. I intend to make this the final battle between the two of us.

Pushing off with my lead foot, I charged the Fool with a Kill Rush attack. Ordinarily, this technique uses fists or heavy weaponry to strike the opponent anywhere from one to three times in succession. I however was armed with a sword which would turn these strikes in slash attacks. The first slash separated the right forepaw from the right leg. The Fool roared in pain and began to thrash about in pain, forcing me to back off or risk being crushed. As I landed, the Fool's skin began to change from its pitch black hue to a shiny silver sheen.

At this, I smirked. My Kill Rush attack was meant to harm it, and admittedly, I was hoping to get a second slash in. Either way, it didn't matter for two reasons. The first reason was that the Fool's lost paw had turned into a pile of goo and was slithering its way back to the main body. This happened in every battle between me and the Fool. Essentially, the Fool would regain any lost limbs within a short amount of time, regardless of how many times said limb was removed from its person. A skilled fighter would destroy the limbs as they were removed, but I had tried that in previous battles. The Fool would eventually wise up and attempt to flee if I started on this strategy.

No, in order to keep it here, I would have to let it regain its lost limbs. This brought me to the second reason for the initial Kill Rush. The Fool's color change served as more than a cosmetic change. Every successful attack launched against the Fool would cause it to adapt and shift its resistances. My Kill Rush was a physical slash attack, thus the Fool's adaptation ability caused it to gain a resistance to physical attacks. Its powers of adaptation were strong, but highly limited when faced with an opponent who could outthink it.

In other words, against someone like me, that strength became a weakness in and of itself. Its newfound ability to nullify physical attacks caused it to become encased in a metal shell that would move with its actual body. This in turn would cause it to suffer a massive decrease in agility as well as open up a new avenue of attack. I grinned viciously as lightning danced around my left arm.

"Zio!" I cried as the lightning bolt shot across the court into the encased monster. Another pained roar told me that the bolt had hit home as well as changed its strengths once more. The lightning form, as I called it enhanced its already impressive agility, but gave it a glaring weakness to wind skills. By the time the Fool had crossed the room, I was already moving, a wind spell on my lips.

"Garu!" This time, the wind picked up around the Fool before violently slamming into it. Wind form this time. Its slash attacks would become more effective though fire attacks would cause significant damage. Sure enough, the shadow roared again, showing lime green scales and slamming its paw on the ground. The paw slam caused a shockwave to reverberate throughout Paulownia Mall's court, but I wasn't worried about that. The center fountain would surely break it apart. I had to keep moving until the razor winds from the Fool's slash had missed me.

My enemy roared again, this time in frustration. Three times. Three times, I had managed to land devastating blows compared to its initial tail slap. It would surely continue to attack me as much as it could. From this point on however, its attacks would be sloppy, risky, reckless.

Just as the reversed fool arcana would represent.

Unlike the Arcana Fool however, I was calm. I was collected. I had a plan to defeat it once and for all.

And it had started with my first Kill Rush attack.

During my repeated battles with the Fool, I had experimented with alternate means of delivering my spells. For example, instead of launching a fireball at it with the agi spell, I had engulfed my sword in it and plunged it into the shadow's hide. The results of these experiments were better than I had hoped. Now, I stood ready to defeat my enemy for the last time. The Fool's adaptation to physical attacks had rendered it weak to electricity and fire skills. The latter was necessary for my victory, but I had needed it to be weaker than it was in order to win.

The battle continued with the Fool and I launching attacks at each other. For each attack that I landed, my enemy became more and more unstable. Likewise, every failed attack from the false shadow seemed to frustrate it that much more, eventually resulting in its decision to forego any kind of defensive tactic and launch an all-out assault on me. I smirked once more. This is what I had been waiting for. This "war" that we had fought was close to being finished with the Fool's newfound recklessness. I rolled to my left as the now metal-clad shadow launched itself toward me. No doubt it hoped to crush me underneath its heavy body. Unfortunately for it, I was one step ahead of it as I had already tossed an agi spell into the air.

One of my experiments with the agi or fire spell involved me leaving it on the ground as a type of mine for my opponent to walk across. To say that the results had varied would be a massive understatement. At first, the spell would either fizzle out without me supplying spirit power to keep it in existence or detonate prematurely upon coming in contact with the ground. This had continued to the point where I considered simply giving up on it. It wasn't until I fought the Fool in 2005 that an idea hit me.

I had been in a tight spot, having used too many spells throughout that battle. By that time, I had managed to alter the spirit drain technique from a burst-type spell into a steady-drain type. That is, instead of draining a portion of the enemy's spirit power all at once, I could slowly drain the power over the course of the battle. Naturally, the Fool was forced to withdraw, but I had come away with an idea to continually supply the agi mine with power until it exploded.

To use the altered spirit drain, I would have to first create a 'link' between myself and my opponent. From there, I would extend a slight portion of my own spirit power to connect with my opponents and will it to flow back to me. To my excitement, it had worked, though there had been bugs to work out. One of the major flaws had turned out to be the sheer amount of concentration required to maintain the link and siphon off the enemy's power. Originally, I had been unable to move without breaking it. Now, I could run around and even fire off additional spells without having to worry about it.

The link that I established between myself and my opponent had been the key to maintaining the mine. Unlike an enemy however, I had to channel my power into the mine in order to prevent it from disappearing. Once I had managed that, I still had one more problem to deal with. The mine would inevitably explode upon making contact with the ground. The solution to this dilemma had been much simpler than the first. All I had to do was toss it into the air. Admittedly, this made it more of a grenade than a mine, but that was only meant to work as a temporary fix until I could figure out a way to leave the fireball on the ground without having it explode at the slightest provocation.

My thoughts returning to the fight, I watched as the makeshift grenade fall onto the Fool's right head, causing it to roar in frustration and change its affinity to fire. Immediately, the shadow's body became a glistening orange while a small flame lit on the end of its tail.

My eyes narrowed as I moved to begin the final phase of my plan. The time had finally come. This entire exchange had gone similarly to those of the past. The only true difference here was that I planned to end this one with an altered bufu spell. This alteration was far more subtle than the agi mine idea. The original spell would allow the caster to either create and launch icicles of various size and quantity at the opponent or encase it in a giant block of ice. My variation would cause the shadow to completely freeze from the inside out. Unfortunately, to begin the process, I would have to touch the shadow. Furthermore, the process would progress at different speeds depending on the shadow's strengths and weakness. A shadow with a weakness to ice would freeze faster than one that had a resistance to it. As it happens, the Arcana Fool developed a weakness to ice after taking damage from an agi spell.

Grasping my sword, I stood up to my full height (which was not all that great).

"Alright scalebutt, I am about tired of going through the same routine with you time after time. Tonight, only one of us is leaving this place." I stated, my tone revealing how serious I was. The Fool hissed in response; apparently, it felt the same way. I positioned myself in a way that would allow me to charge at the fake shadow while it slowly began to prowl around me. This was it…the last attacks would be launched at the first sudden movement from either of us. Unbeknownst to the Fool, I was coating my sword in the bufu spell; once I was done, I could easily transfer it to the shadow.

I suddenly pointed my sword at my enemy, causing the Fool to roar and leap at me. Idiot. It was helpless in the air as I dove beneath it, slamming the blade into its exposed stomach as I went. We both landed where the other had previously stood. The Fool crouched in front of some antique shop while I stood next to a crane game. We stared at each other for what seemed like hours until finally, something happened. The ice had begun to spread to the shadow's legs, effectively removing any kind of movement from the fight. From there, the ice rooted it to the ground while continuing to cover the remainder of its body. The Fool tried to thrash around in an attempt to break out of its growing icy prison, but to no avail; the ice would not be broken. In no time, the entire shadow was nothing more than a giant ice sculpture. This was not the end though; I had to make sure that this shadow would not return.

Whenever I defeat a shadow, it disperses in small particles that separate and float away. Some of them enter my body, giving me a portion of the shadow's power to enhance my own while the rest disappear to reform the shadow elsewhere. I had never defeated the Fool as soundly as I had tonight, so I didn't know whether it would also reform or not. I could however render it a moot point by using my most powerful ability. I hated to use it as the shadows that were exposed to and defeated by it would never again reform unless I willed it.

I strode toward the Fool, grim resolution filling my heart. All I had to do was simply touch it. I don't know how I came to acquire that power, only that I accidentally used it on a normal shadow. Doing so had completely changed me all the way down to the very core of my being. Absorbing even one cowardly maya shadow had transformed me from a complete human into a human-shadow hybrid. Snapping out of my reverie, I placed a hand on the Fool's frozen leg. Almost immediately, the wind picked up around me as the false shadow's power, being, and even its very form began to flow into me. As quickly as it began, the sudden windstorm ended, every trace of the Fool's existence having been erased.

I took a moment to survey our battlefield. The mall's center fountain was destroyed beyond repair, the Fool having destroyed it with a tail swipe. Craters littered the floor and walls where both me and the Fool had attacked the other and missed. The staircase leading to the karaoke club had been knocked down by a series of missed agi spells with the rubble partially blocking access to a nearby alley. Patches of ice and frost littered the ground and walls while evidence of missed agi spells was scattered all over the mall. Finally, several stores had had their merchandise destroyed during the battle. Perhaps the only "shop" that had survived the battle intact was the police box, and even then that was only due to the presence of the cold iron bars over the windows and doors. I could only hope that the store owners wouldn't be set back too much. The pharmacy clerk was actually a pretty funny guy once you get to know him.

Shaking my head, I continued to take in my surroundings until I stumbled across my backpack.

"Ooph!"

Quite literally, I might add. Picking myself up off the ground, I turned to see that my prized backpack had somehow made it through the fight without being damaged. For a moment, I wondered how that was possible as even my own clothes had suffered near irreparable damage. Even stranger was where I had tripped over it. At the beginning of the fight, I had left it by the main entrance when the Fool initially leapt at me, yet here it was sitting by what was left of the fountain completely unscathed.

RRIIIIPP!

Okay, almost unscathed.

I hope you enjoyed the prologue of The Other Side. Please read and review.