05 September 2009
Paulowina Mall, Club Escapade
The Dark Hour
The confusion of someone unexpected in the Dark Hour turned a battle that was slowly going their way into a battle that was quickly spinning out of their control. The addition of a fifth had destroyed their hasty plans and put another weak link in the chain of their team, and the Hermit had taken the seemingly perverse pleasure in punishing her for getting in the way.
Then she summoned her Persona.
It was huge. A colossal black creature that seemed to grow with every iota of power put into it. Standing on two legs in gained more and more definition as it entered into the Dark Hour. About its feet, purple velvet slippers with yellow tops formed, black skin seemed to absorb all the light that was unfortunate enough to touch it. The rounded body and arms reminded them of the body of a snowman painted charcoal. Wicked nails protruded from the tips of its fingers. Another band of purple cloth, this time around its neck was cut into many triangles. As the head coalesced, the red mouth was highlighted by a pair of white fangs, spread out into a grin that promised evil. Wide red eyes burned like embers, fury and vengeance their plain desire. A purple cap went over where the ears should be, a golden icon of itself on the forehead.
"The messenger of Lover and Justice is Ho-Here! Black Frost! Time for some Magical Punishment! HEE-HO!"
The Persona was tall. Over twelve feet in height, it seemed to draw in power from all around it. It looked down at the Hermit, who shirked back at its burning gaze.
It then punched the Shadow. It would have been comical, but there was nothing funny about the massive windup of the Black Frost's arm that smashed straight into the Hermit's head, piledrivering it into the ground. Not to pass up the opportunity, the four human jumped into the fray, a ball of violence that tore into the Hermit before the humans were thrown back out of it.
The Frost took a step back, it's massive bulk seeming to shrink after the might of the first blow. It knelt beside the fallen Midori, carefully cradling her in his hands. Yukari sent a wave of healing energy into her to keep her steady, and she was rewarded when Midori opened her eyes and a beautiful smile, one that only came from the greatest of joys, spread across her face. "Frosty? Is.. that you?"
"Dolly-Ho! You're He-hurt pretty badly!" The Black Frost was quiet in his response, knowing well how loud he could be. "Don't worry-ho! You'll he-be fine!"
Midori weakly raised one hand to point at the Hermit. "Bad! Go get'im!" Then she closed her eyes again.
Main Concourse
Fuuka yelled in pain, clutching her temples and collapsing into Mitsuru's arms. "What's wrong, Yamagishi?"
Struggling to make sense of the powerful new force that had emerged to fight the Hermit, only one word escaped her lips. "Demon!"
Reacting, she pointed to the Club. "Aigis! Check it out and report back!" The robot nodded, and dashed for the entrance. Opening the door, she took one good hard look inside, then close it again. "There is an unknown Persona assisting in the battle. It does not appear to be one of Minato's. There is an unknown civilian injured, and Yukari was attempting to protect her. There is a high probability that the two are related."
"What."
"Shall I repeat?"
A loud smash interrupted Mitsuru's reply. Then silence. "Investigate and offer assistance if it is required."
Aigis nodded, and ran back for the door when it was opened from the inside. Shinjiro was carrying the unconscious girl on his back as Minato held open the door for them all. "We won," he announced, "but it seems like we found another Persona-user in the process."
Mitsuru nodded, helping Fuuka to her feet. "The Persona's emergence and power caught Yamagishi off guard. She called it demonic."
The four who had fought the Hermit looked to each other. "I'd say." Yukari said, shaking her head. "Damn thing was vicious like nothing I've ever seen."
Akihiko changed the subject. "Did Junpei arrive yet?"
Ken replied in the negative. "No, he didn't."
"Are you well enough to look for him, Fuuka?" Minato asked calmly. "We can find him, and with the Shadow destroyed, Akihiko and Mitsuru-senpai can talk to him about his attendance."
"So what am I? A pack mule to carry Miss... what was it called? Black Frost. Yea. Miss Black Frost here back to the Dorm? She's out cold from the beating she took." Shinjiro grumbled, gaining a sympathetic look from Koromaru.
"I don't think that will be necessary." Fuuka spoke up from inside Lucia. "It seems like Junpei is back at the Dormitory with the Chairman, but something seems off about it. They seem alright, but I think we should hurry back, just in case."
"Yes. Let's do that." Mitsuru walked over to Shinjiro and his burden to look her in the face. "Oh, I know her." She sounded surprised. "This is Komaki Midori, Class 1-B. She's one of our Tokyo Transfers. Here less than a week and her powers awaken." Shaking her head at the improbability of it, she gestured for Shinjiro to take the lead. "The Chairman will want to know about this, and she can recover in one of the spare rooms."
06 September 2009
Minatodai Dormitory, Third Floor
Morning
Midori awoke to pain. It wasn't a hard pain, but the dull ache all over that she knew well as being what happened after getting a sound beating.
She curled up a bit tighter under the blankets, wondering how she got back to her dorm room last night. She didn't have anything to drink that she could remember, although the possibility that the Rise concert was so awesome that her brain couldn't take it, and wiped the memories away. In its place was a nice dream of being held in Frosty's hands as he rocked her to sleep and fought her foes. That was nice.
Rolling over, she shucked off the sheets, noting distastefully that she hadn't bothered to change out of her clothes, though at least she had the good sense to leave her shoes...
Where was she?
Adrenaline spiked in her body and she jumped out of the bed into a bare and barren bedroom. A look out a curtained window told her she was up on one of the hills of the mainland, on the third floor of a building. Another panicked look around and she found her glasses on the table and her police club beside it.
Seeing this, she put on her glasses, allowing the world to come into better focus. The club went into the band that held up her skirt at her back and she carefully made sure that her jacket wasn't showing the bulge of the weapon. If she still had that, then she didn't feel like she was in trouble, nor that there was going to be trouble she couldn't handle. Maybe one of the other girls took her back to her dorm instead?
Well, anyways, it seemed like a good idea to find and greet her hosts, and to thank them properly for the use of the room overnight.
2nd Floor, Minato's Room
He grumbled as he groped for the phone. Usually people had enough decency to wait until he was up and dressed before they called him to ask him out or something like that. But who ever this was would just have to do whatever they wanted without him. In the grips of a post-Full-Moon slump, he figured he should just sleep the day way rather that walk around like one of the Lost.
And let Mitsuru and Akihiko and Ikutsuki deal with Chidori and Strega today. He can be 'leader' after supper.
Except the phone was still ringing, and he could have sworn he had turned it off already. Well, maybe he didn't. He was still tired. Giving in to the inevitable, he found the phone and flicked it open next to his ear. "Hello?"
"Greetings. This is Elizabeth, from the Velvet Room."
"Morning Elizabeth. You usually wait a couple days to tell me there's been a change in Tartarus' configuration."
"That is not what I am calling about. The Master wishes to speak to you."
That woke him right up and he began to wonder just what it was that Igor wanted from him. This had to be serious. "Yes. Do I come there or..?"
The sounds of a phone being passed over came to Minato. "This is Igor. The girl whom you encountered last night, during the Dark Hour?" He had to be talking about that Komaki girl and Minato nodded his head even though Igor couldn't see the motion. "I must speak with her immediately, and directly. Please bring her to the Velvet room today or tomorrow at the latest. This is of vital importance. Do you understand?"
Minato nodded again. "Yes sir." The phone promptly disconnected before he had a chance to ask what this was about so that he could figure out how to do this. Now all he had to do was to figure out how to convince a girl he met less than 12 hours ago to follow him into Tartarus or into the back hall of Paulowina Mall. Should be no trouble. Just turn on the charm.
Fourth Floor, Control Room
The two people in the room barely had any sleep over the last night. Chairman Ikutsuki put down the paper folder containing everything they knew about the girl they still thought was sleeping on floor below them. "I see nothing unusual in her file. Well, aside from the obvious that is." He pulled out a separate sheet that held a quick sketch of her Persona, the black giant and a quick description of its observed capacities.
Mitsuru stifled a yawn poorly. "I have to agree. It seems that the presence of the Shadow outside Tartarus was enough to awaken her power. The sheer strength involved may have come from how badly she was injured defending Takeba. We need further observation to determine just how stable her Persona really is."
"Indeed!" The Chairman seemed quite joyful. "Such an amazing thing, that! A sustained Persona summoning lasting for minutes! And in combat too! Even our Fuuka would be hard pressed to match that duration." He practically salivated at the thought of adding someone with such power to SEES, and to further his own plans.
Mitsuru privately agreed with his vocal expressions. "But still, testing is required. The circumstances were less than idea last night, and Shinjiro apparently had some concerns as well. I would like to address them before committing to any course of action.
"As is well within your rights! You two and Akihiko are the oldest Persona users we have, so if you feel something is out of the ordinary, I will bow to your judgement. But do be careful, I'd hate for her to break."
Mitsuru nodded. "Of course, Mr. Chairman. How shall we arrange for her to move into the Dorm?"
"Oh, that's simple! A little slip up with the paperwork, and she'll come sliding right into our merry little home here!"
"A paperwork error?" Catching the intention, and knowing he would need time to make it happen, Mitsuru stood. "If you'll excuse me, I must head to the hospital and check in on Akihiko and Chidori of Strega."
"Yes, do so. Our guest should still be sleeping, so leave her to us."
1st Floor, Dining Room
Junpei felt like shit. And the looks that Shinjiro and Koromaru were giving him didn't help any either. Wallowing in his own stupidity for falling for her tricks like that, oh, how could he have been so blind?
Alright, he knew exactly why he did those things, but it still hurt him in retrospect.
He heard someone coming down from the floor above, and Koromaru cocked his head to the side before racing over to the bottom of the steps where he stood perfectly still and quiet.
"OK. That's weird." Junpei commented at Koro's strange behaviour, hoping to distract his senior from the recriminating glances. "He usually barks for people like Ken or Aigis or Minato. But I've never seen him quiet like that."
"mpth" Shinjiro didn't care to respond with anything intelligible. He did hear the footsteps as well, but noted that they were hesitant. Like someone wasn't sure of where they were going. Don't tell me she's woken up already? he thought to himself before swallowing the last of his eggs. Playing up his hunch was easy, and if he was wrong, well, he wouldn't lose face over it. "Come on down. Breakfast is cold, but I can warm something up."
Midori reached the bottom of the stairs, kneeling down to let the dog sniff her hands. Once the canine was satisfied with her presence, it turned and walked through an entryway to her left, the same place where the gruff voice had come from.
Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, knowing full well how well first impressions could influence people, she boldly walked around the corner and put on the most cheerful expression she could muster despite her hair and clothes being a mess. "Good Morning!" She bowed deeply. "My name is Komaki Midori, and I am a student at Gekkoukan High School! I am pleased to meet you! Pardon the intrusion!" She held her position, staring at the carpeted floor until she heard a grunt from what she figured was a middle-aged man. Probably a dorm manager, or the father of one of the people who lived here. Well, he did invite her down for breakfast.
Raising her head slowly, her first thought was that he had vanished into the kitchen (behind the door in the corner to her left if she didn't miss her mark). Two older boys sat a a long table that could seat a dozen. One had a baseball cap and wore the sports outfit from her new school. He gave a whistle as she stood up to her full height (he was still taller) while the other was a young man hunched over in a trench coat. The latter scowled at her. "Um... Hello?"
"I'm Shinji. The idiot's Junpei. We live here. Grab a seat." The gruff man pointed at an empty chair and Midori took it. He stood, then vanished in the back room before coming back with some fried egg on rice and a pair of chopsticks. "Eat up." The command was something she couldn't fight so she gave her thanks, then dug in. She wasn't aware of how hungry she was until she had finished off the bowl and caught herself asking for seconds.
"I'm Junpei! Nice ta'meetcha!" The cap wearing boy she instantly pegged as one of her less desirable fan types. The ones who thought they were far more charming than they could ever be. She had dealt with far too many of those already, and seeing one here soured her mood just slightly. Now she just wanted to finish her food, thank her benefactors and get out.
It wasn't like she was in costume or something like that. So why bother?
So she replied with silence and a glance that spoke "unless I have something to say to you, shut up". This earned a mirthful chuckle from Shinji who read the expression perfectly while delivering the second bowl. "Want some more? Got plenty as people are still sleeping in."
Kirijo Memorial Hospital
VIP Wing
Akihiko grumbled as he paced back and forth. Chidori had been sedated for now, and his presence here was completely unnecessary now that it was no longer the Dark Hour and she had been deprived of her Evoker.
But he had to be thankful for the quiet and isolation from Mitsuru as he had been given a very unenviable task by Minato. While it was certainly the leader's job to delegate, he almost wished that Minato had taken this upon himself. Shaking his head free of the webs of tiredness, Akihiko turned his thoughts back towards the events of last night.
He and the others had reported that the Black Frost had gone on a rampage, but while that was technically accurate, there was more to that event than they felt comfortable in saying before they could report it to Mitsuru and the Chairman.
In the end, they had decided to let Akihiko handle it. And he found himself in a circle of thoughts. Perhaps he should write things down? No, that wouldn't help. But he did need to get the vital points in order first.
First. First was that [i]Black Frost[/i] spoke. No Persona had ever said anything, ever. They were aspects of ones own personality and psyche. Why would they speak? It had introduced itself, then it had spoken again to the Komaki girl before rejoining the battle. He didn't hear what it said then, but according to Yukari, it was words of encouragement.
That led into the second point. He'd seen rampant Personas before. They fought with all their might, unaware of the consequences of their actions. But this Black Frost, as it helped them destroy the Hermit before returning from whence it came, utilized a violence and brutality that exceeded anything he had seen or experienced before.
What he finally rationalized out was that Black Frost acted with intentional and intelligent rage. This was no mindless berserker monster that fought because the controlling mind was disabled. No, this was the anger of a creature that had been personally and grievously wronged and whose only recourse was through battle. He could see it still in his mind, the look in the eyes, the body language, all spoke of something more...
Black Frost was no ordinary Persona. Not by a long shot. But what was it? What forces were at work here? And what did all this mean about their newest guest? What sort of person could create such a thing in their mind?
He needed to talk to Aigis as soon as he could. The robot would have already begun analyzing the Black Frost and he hoped that would provide some insight to help guide him.
Minatodai Dormitory
1st Floor Dining Room
Shinji carefully removed the empty third bowl from in front of the young girl. Her heavy regular breathing told him that she was fast asleep, having finished her food properly. It looked like her stamina wasn't as great as he first thought, which was a disappointment on some level. After setting Junpei to washing dishes in penitence, he debated carrying her back up to her room again.
"Nah. No way in hell." There was no way he was going to drag her back up to the third floor again. She could sleep at the table here for now.
Though now that he looked at her more carefully, not only had she fallen asleep sitting up, hands in her lap, she had done so without leaning against the chair at all. Impressed with her self-control, he also saw that she had re-armed herself before coming down. While he knew that certain people in the Dorm would object to her carrying around a weapon, he personally didn't have a problem with it. As long as she didn't use it on anybody.
He wandered over to the living area and turned the channel on the television away from the weather channel Koromaru was watching and over to Tanaka's show, hoping the sly businessman had something useful for the kitchen today.
Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Mitsuru suppressed the anxiety that had crossed her worried mind when she found Komaki out of her room. A quick run back upstairs to alert the Chairman and they had reviewed the security cameras to show her being detained in the dining area by Iori and Shinjiro.
Well, Shinji didn't need it. She trusted him, despite everything. And Iori obviously followed his command, and would therefore have worked off just a little of her wrath.
Turning into the dining room, she saw Komaki snoring gently in her chair, her purple-rimmed glasses almost ready to fall off. Not wanting to see them damaged on her first day in the Dorm, she carefully removed them, noticing the scratch marks on the rims. Obviously she hadn't been taking care of them properly. Iori was in the back doing chores while Shinji was carefully watching the television with an intense expression on his face.
"Hey, Mitsuru." He greeted her without changing his expression. "You didn't need to do that. She's got a solid pair on her. They wouldn't have fallen off. Even if they did, well, they've seen worse days."
"I will have to speak with her about that. As a student of Gekkoukan, there are standards to maintain." She walked over to him, noting that the show he was watching was a sales show of some kind. She recognized the businessman from some of the Kirijo Group files she had been sent by her father, but nothing struck her as out of the ordinary. "Than you for keeping her here. I trust you did nothing excessive?"
Shinji snorted. "Excessive? Hah! Nah. She came down, I offered her food, she ate, then went right back to sleep. Girl woke up long enough to put something in her stomach."
"Excellent. I would hate to have to try and smooth things over if you had to use force to detain her."
"Force? Seriously?" Shinjiro shook his head sadly. "I know you and Ikutsuki were talking about recruiting her, but in the end, that's her choice to make. Not mine or yours."
"That is true. But she also jumped into the battle to aid Takeba, so I doubt her decision is in doubt. And with her here, that means one less hassle to deal with."
"Bah."
"Anyways, I'm off to see Akihiko. We will be back before supper."
"Bye."
Mitsuru left to collect her jacket before leaving Shinjiro to his potential shopping. Junpei finished his dishes, then came back out into the kitchen. "Still sleeping, huh? You want to take her upstairs again?"
"Nah. Let her sleep. She falls and smacks her nose, no fault of mine."
"Huh." Junpei came over to watch Tanaka's show as well. "So, I heard you two talking. She going to be joining us? Another cute girl to liven up the place?"
"We are unsure yet." Mitsuru replied from the front door.
Shinji rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Translation: She's still deciding what colour to paint the new girl's room. Yea, after that little show she and her Persona put on last night, once she stabilizes, I think we'll have ourselves a new recruit."
"Ah, good. In that case, Mitsuru-senpai, I would like to be the one to talk to her about joining SEES." Minato surprised people by appearing at the stairwell. "This evening if possible. I haven't actually given the recruitment spiel to anyone, and want to give it a shot. And I think the sooner, the better."
Mitsuru thought this over while putting on her boots for going outside. Recalling who had recruited whom over the past few months, she realized that Minato for all the leadership she had put onto him, had never actually talked to anyone about joining SEES. This would be a good move for him, and she approved of his initiative in asking. "I see no reason why not. Shinjiro will return her to her room, and you can talk to her after supper."
No one saw the pained expression on Shinji's face.
