Hey guys and gals! Here's the next chapter, hope y'all enjoy.

Chapter Three: Surprise Attack

That night, I decided to take a look at the compendium as Rise was watching TV with Nanako downstairs. I went into my top drawer, and surely it was there, waiting for me to find it. I took it out of the drawer and placed it onto my desk. Going through it, I could see that there was a list of all of the personas that I had gathered all those years ago. The compendium also listed all of the social links that I had made with the people of Inaba – but something wasn't right. There were more social links that I was yet to discover. Lovers II, Empress II, Star II, Magician II – strange. To add to this strange encounter, I also found a note in one of the pages. I took it out and noticed that it was addressed directly to me, from Elizabeth which said:

Yu Narukami,

First of all, I wish to apologise for imposing on you on the train – I was merely attempting to establish if you was the one whom I was searching for. Over the years, I have learnt a great deal about this world you call 'Earth' – and your investigation team. You see, I have a request for you which is going to be unlike anything you have ever faced in your 'TV World'. I am in search of someone that was very close to me and sacrificed his soul to save his friends and mankind. However, there is a lot to explain – so I ask that you seek me out at the floodplain on the noon of your return from the beach.

~Elizabeth

This could only be a bad thing that I was about to get us all into, but I couldn't ignore her. I myself have been know to go to extreme lengths to save my friends in the past – in any case, it was worth checking out when we got back. I wanted to know how she knew so much about me, but I've learnt not to question people that come from the Velvet Room. I looked through at some other notes that Margaret seemed to have made on my progress whilst I was a resident there and of tracking down her sister, Elizabeth. I have to admit, that I was very interested in both of them and this person Elizabeth left the Velvet Room in search of. Then Dojima's voice rung through my ears, telling me to come down for dinner. I quickly put the compendium back in the drawer and washed up before heading downstairs to join the others.

'The beach? Can we come too?' Nanako asked.

'Of course, everyone would be happy to see you again.' I told her. 'Aren't you working though, Dojima?'

'I'll see what I can do, I should be able to get the weekend off though.' He told us.

So it had been decided, Nanako and Dojima would be joining us all at the beach. We decided to go to Port Island, a place which I hadn't been to since a school trip when I was attending Yasogami High, as Rise knew the place like the back of her hand. I decided to leave the compendium be for now and proceeded with packing what I would need for the weekend. Whilst rummaging through my room, I found Izanagi's summoning card which looked just like a normal collector's card right now. I knew the power of persona couldn't be used outside of the TV world, but after Elizabeth's note, I felt safer knowing he was with me. Soon enough, Friday came and we were on our way to the beach.

The day at the beach went by smoothly and it almost felt like we was back in High School again. I didn't hear a word from Izanagi, as expected and soon enough the night fell upon us. It was approaching midnight when Kanji, Yosuke, Yukiko, Rise and I were walking along the seafront, enjoying the peace and quiet. I looked at my phone for the time, and it struck midnight. Suddenly, the phone switched off, the air went cold, the sky and moon turning a sickly green colour. I looked over and the ocean turned a crimson red, people transmogrifying into coffins. Everyone else seemed to have noticed, so it wasn't just my imagination. What was happening here?

'W-what is this?' Kanji asked, looking around.

'This can't be real, what's happening here?' Yosuke exclaimed.

Confused, we attempted to call the others – but none of our phones would work, the street lights turned off and no electronic equipment was being used. Then suddenly, black masses started forming that looked like lumps of tar holding up some sort of mask.

'Are those... Shadows?' Yukiko questioned.

'What the hell is this? We defeated the shadows years ago!' Rise said, shocked.

The shadows gave chase to us, eventually surrounding us. Without our power of persona, we were no match for them. They then stopped, almost as if they were analysing us or something. Then I saw something that I only ever saw when facing the sagiri brothers who had taken over Namatame and Adachi's bodies. They merged into one being, unlike any other shadow I had seen before. It was about to attack us, when an array of lightning rained down amongst it.

'Whoa! This is a big one guys!' A man's voice echoed from behind.

'Stop joking around and get into formation! This is the one!' A demanding female voice rung out.

Two men jumped in front of us all, one wearing a blue cap, the other with grey hair that shone in the moonlight. They both wielded what seemed to be a pistol and raised it towards their heads. It was shocking to see, but when they shouted Persona, they pulled the trigger and it appeared, ready to fight. Fire and lightning knocked the shadow back and it lashed out with a counter attack, knocking them both against the wall.

'Yukari! We could use with some help here!' The one in the blue cap demanded.

'Got it!' A woman's voice rung from above.

I looked up the hill and saw a light coming from a group of motorbikes on the road where two women were stood, overlooking the battlefield. One wore all pink and the other had long, dark red hair who seemed to be commanding the team.

'Where are group B? There's no way we're dealing with this one alone!' The man with grey hair exclaimed.

'They are dealing with another group of shadows further into the city.' The redhead woman informed them.

At that moment, I felt a burning heat from my jacket pocket where I kept Izanagi's card. I took it out, and to everyone's amazement, it was glowing as if it was awakened inside of the TV. It floated before me and caught the attention of the shadow, which seemed to be focused on me now.

I uttered the words. 'Hear me, Izanagi! Persona!'

He emerged, ready to join the fight and everyone was in shock at his appearance. He was just as I remembered him, standing facing his enemy. I hate to admit it, but I quite enjoyed the feeling of summoning my persona to fight shadows again, after all this time. ZIO. AGI. MEDIA. GARU. The shadow was knocked back. It seemed big enough to take us all down in an instant, but it was hesitating for some reason. Suddenly, it stuck Izanagi with all its strength and then made some sort of laughing noise before disintegrating into the ocean. We all regrouped at the top of the hill.

'Okay, someone tell me what the hell just happened there! What's with all of these creepy coffins?' Yosuke questioned everyone.

'What you are experiencing right now, is a curse that dwells upon Port Island known as 'The Dark Hour'. Those coffins are regular people, non persona users.' The redhead woman explained to us.

'Oh yeah?' Kanji stepped forward. 'And who the hell are you guys?'

'We're shadow hunters, sounds fun right?' The grey haired man said.

'Akihiko, please.' The redhead insisted. 'My name is Mitsuru, these here are Yukari, Junpei and of course – Akihiko. We hunt shadows that appear in our world during the midnight hour.'

Could these be the shadow hunters that Elizabeth mentioned before? It was a great possibility, but it was best not to jump to any conclusions. They explained to us that the shadow we just face is looking for something, or someone and was awakened tonight for an unknown reason. Mitsuru also told us that we should return to Inaba immediately and stay there, as the shadow is unable to leave the island. Either way, it was of the utmost importance that I spoke with Elizabeth immediately upon my arrival back there. After catching up, Akihiko, Junpei and Yukari got on their motorbikes and Mitsuru asked to speak with me in private.

'So, you command Izanagi. Seeing someone with that much power again is kind of, nostalgic for me to witness.' She informed me with a warm smile.

'Nostalgic?' I asked.

'We once had a great leader, who showed similar powers to yourself, awakening Orpheus as his first persona.' She answered.

'Once? Did something happen to him?' I continued to question her.

'He sacrificed his soul to keep Nyx from destroying mankind years ago, nobody knows how to save find him, or if he's even alive.' She explained, looking sad. 'I'll admit, the two of us were closer than I expected.'

'I'm sorry, it must be difficult. I almost lost my little sister, Nanako – so I can relate.' I consoled her.

'In any case, we must be off. It's my job to track this shadow down and keep it from destroying this city. I hope I'm wrong here, but I have a feeling we'll be meeting again... Erm, I never did get your names.' She concluded.

'I'm Yu, over there's Yosuke, Yukiko, Kanji and Rise.' I told her.

'Right, see you around then – Yu.' She waved goodbye.

We watched the four drive off with their bikes and decided to head back to our accommodation, where we met up with the others. After calming them down, we explained the situation to them and got them to understand exactly what was going on with Port Island. I also decided to tell them about who Elizabeth and Margaret were, explaining the compendium and note that they gifted to me.

'Allow me to confirm the facts. There is a shadow, searching for something or someone in the real world. There are these shadow hunters and you managed to use your persona outside of the TV world.' Naoto summarised.

'Yes, I have a feeling that this won't be the last time we see it either.' I told them all.

'Damn, I'm getting too old for this shit.' Kanji complained.

'You're barely into your twenties, I thought you was suppose to be tough, man.' Yosuke goaded him.

We passed the rest of the weekend with no trouble and headed back to Inaba to prepare for the future. When I got back, I unpacked and stepped outside for some fresh air when I saw her, almost as if she was spying on me. Elizabeth...

I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter! Feel free to leave a review and I'll be sure to get the next chapter up as soon as possible. Also, FYI – The P3 guys in this chapter are the only SEES people that'll feature in this story.