A/N: I forgot to do something on the previous chapters so might as well do it now.
Disclaimer: I do not own Shin Megami Tensei: Persona or anything besides the original characters.
PS: You might want to hear 'I'll Face Myself -Battle-' in this chapter, you'll know when.
Chapter 3
Haru opened his eyes and stood up from the ground. His head hurt. He looked around him, and realized he wasn't in the storage anymore.
"Where am I..." He asked to no one in particular. "Wait... Sis!" He remembered he saw his sister, Reiko, falling with him through some sort of weird back and white vortex.
Desperate, he looked around to see where his sister was. He didn't care where he was, he cared where his sister was. Who he found was not his sister, but another familiar face.
"Ryu!" He yelled and ran to him. Ryu was lying on the ground, unconscious. "Hey, come on man, wake up! I need your help!"
"Urgh... Damn, my head hurts... Haru? What the hell happened?" Ryu woke up and asked, confused.
"There is no time for that, Reiko fell with us and I don't know where she is! Help me find her!"
"Reiko's missing!? What are we waiting for, then? Come on!" He stood up and they began the search again. Moments later, Haru found her on the ground and unconscious, just like Ryu.
"Sis!" He ran to her and took her in his arms. "Hey, Sis, wake up. Now's not the time for a nap" He said, his tone calmer now.
"Is she ok?" Ryu asked concerned.
"Yeah, she must've hit her head too..." He checked her head. There was no serious damage.
Then, Reiko woke up and found herself in her brother's arms.
"Brother... You're ok" She said.
"Yeah, and looks like you are too. Can you stand?"
"I-I think so..." With her brother's and Ryu's help she stood up. "Ryu, you are in here too?"
"Apparently... Whatever 'here' is..." He answered.
Now they took the time to look around them and wander about what had just happened.
"What's going on? What is this place? What happened? How did we get here? Are we the only ones here?" These were the questions Reiko was asking.
"Calm down, let's go one by one on these questions" Haru said.
"Ok then, first. What the hell happened?" Asked Ryu.
"We were in the house's storage, looking at the old TV... when something grabbed my hand and pulled us... through the TV" Haru responded.
"That brings us to the next question. Where are we?" Said Reiko.
"It seems we are... Inside the TV"
"There doesn't seems to be any other answer. I mean, look at this place!" Ryu pointed to the place they were in.
This place resembled some sort of TV studio, but much creepier. On the ground were marked silhouettes of people. Like those the police leave when they remove a dead body from a crime scene.
"Okay, next. Are we the only ones here? I mean, Kaori and Yui were there with us, so they also could have..."
"No, they didn't fall" Responded Haru.
"How do you know?" Ryu wanted to know.
"When we were falling I kept my eyes opened and only saw us three. What I'm worried about is... someone, or something, pulled us in here. Why?"
"..."
They all stayed silent. 'Why?' That simple question made them freeze.
"Look, we should search of a way out of here" Reiko suggested.
"I'd like to agree, but..." As Haru looked up, Ryu and Reiko did too. "I can't even see how we got here"
"Maybe there's an exit in some other place⦠there has to be" Ryu said. "Besides, it won't do us any good if we just stay here"
"I guess you're right. Ok then, let's move" Haru told them, and the three started walking.
Meanwhile, on the house's storage, Kaori and Yui were confused, scared and without a clue of what to do.
"Kaori, what are we gonna do!?" Asked the scared Yui.
"I-I don't know! They got sucked by a TV!" Kaori responded, frantically. "Haru-sempai..."
"M-maybe we should tell our parents? I mean, they know this TV better than us..."
"There's no way they're gonna believe us! B-but we have to do something...! Alright, let's go tell them!"
They ran toward the Inn as fast as they could. When they got to the room where the adults were talking, Kaori screamed.
"HARU-SEMPAI, REIKO-SEMPAI AND RYU GOT SUCK BY THE TV!"
"It's true!" Confirmed Yui.
Silence.
"WHAT!?" Everyone asked.
"Kaori, what did you say!?" Rise asked her daughter.
"They got sucked by the TV!" She said again.
"We were looking at the old TV, when suddenly it began flashing. Haru-sempai went to check it but a weird back hand grabbed him and pulled him, along with Reiko-sempai and Ryu-sempai, inside the TV, like if the TV screen was made of water!" Yui told them the story.
"Please, believe us! We have no idea of what to do!"
Hearing these words, all the adults froze for a few seconds. Yu finally broke the silence.
"Alright, we believe you. We have no time to lose" He said, then looked at the rest of his friends. They had gone through these before, but now his own children were involved. "Guys... we're going in."
"Understood." They all answered. No doubt in their voices.
"Of course we're going in!" Chie said, angry. "I'm not gonna let anyone put a single finger on my boy!"
Kaori and Yui could only stare and wonder at how easy it was to convince them.
They all headed to the house's storage and stopped right in front of the TV. Then, Yu spoke.
"Alright, this is what we're gonna do!" He said with leading tone in his voice. "If something really pulled them in, then there's no guarantee that it can't happen again. Kanji, Naoto. I'm gonna need you two to stay here and look after Kaori and Yui, they could also be in danger"
"Sure" Said Kanji. "Understood" Answered Naoto.
The two highschool girls didn't understand what was happening, but stayed silent.
"Kaori, Yui" Yu spoke again. "Don't tell anybody else about this, okay?" While his voice sounded calm, the girls could see he was dead serious.
"We promise, we won't tell..." They both agreed.
"Good. Now, Yosuke, Chie and Yukiko are with me on the front line, Rise will provide back up support, with Ted protecting her, plus, we'll need you to provide an exit"
"Right!" The rest replied.
"Then let's go!" With those last words, Yu faced the TV and slowly, but confidently put his hand in the TV, then his whole body.
The two girls stared in astonished as he did this and saw the rest do the same. Within a few moments, only Kanji, Naoto and they were left in the storage.
At that very moment, Haru, Reiko and Ryu were walking through a place that looked familiar to them.
"Is this... The Shopping District!?" Asked Reiko.
"I don't know... it looks like it, but its different somehow" Replied Ryu.
"Yeah, it's the Shopping District alright, but as it was years ago" Haru told them.
"How would you know?" Ryu asked.
"I saw a picture in Dad's photo album, that's how"
"Oh..."
They kept walking, and as they did, they also kept seeing those weird, human shaped shadows. When they first saw them, they got scared. Later, they realized they weren't aggressive, but nor could they talk to them.
After what seemed like hours of walking to them, they arrived at another place which they recognized as their school, but it was an older version, just like the Shopping District.
"The school...? What is it doing here? Is this 'world' an older version of Inaba, or something" Ryu asked.
"From what we've seen so far I'd say it is but..." Said Haru.
"... but the ways we've walked isn't nearly close to the real Inaba" Reiko continued for him.
"Exactly. Even if this really is an older Inaba, there is no way it has changed this much. I mean, to get to the school we have to walk through the Somegawa Flood plains, not the shopping District"
"Yeah, you're right... Anyway, why don't we go in?" Ryu suggested.
They toured the old school for a while. Looking at the classrooms and comparing it to the new school.
"So this is the school our parent went to..." Said Reiko.
"Hey, I wanna see the old soccer field!" Ryu told them, and left running.
"Ryu, we should be looking for an exit-! Damn it, wait for us!" Reiko yelled as he went further and further away from them.
They ran after him, but took them a bit to catch up, since Reiko wasn't too good at running. Once they did catch up to Ryu, they found him standing still in the middle of the soccer field.
"Ryu...? What's wrong-?" Reiko asked, concerned, but was interrupted by some weird voices.
"Hey, you know Ryu Hanamura?" Said a voice out of nowhere.
"Huh!?" The three teenagers heard that, and were confused.
"Oh, that guy in the basketball team?" Said another voice.
"Yeah, they say he's a genius at sport. He can play anything and better that anyone else!"
"Is he THAT good?"
"Haven't you heard? It was because of him that the basketball team won their first tournament in years, plus he subbed for the soccer team and track team and got the MVP award in both!"
"Seriously? What a beast!"
"Yeah, I don't think there's anyone in Inaba that can beat him"
"I bet he'll be going abroad with some sort of scholarship to go play with some big team"
The voices where starting to fade and Ryu was paralyzed.
"I-I... I'm..." He tried to say something but was interrupted.
"Yeah, that's right! I'm the best, aren't!?"A voice said. It sounded all too familiar.
The three started looking everywhere, searching for the source of the voice that was just like Ryu's. And they found it. Right in front of Ryu was another person that looked and sounded just like him. The only difference was the creepy, yellow eyes.
"What the...!?" Haru was shocked.
"A-another Ryu...!?" And so was Reiko.
"W-wha-?" That was all Ryu could say.
"They said it, didn't they?"The yellow-eyed Ryu continued. "I'm the best. it doesn't matter if it's basketball, soccer, track, even swimming! I. AM. THE. BEST! But what was that about going abroad? Play with some big team? Ha! Why would I?"
"Huh?" Normal Ryu seemed confused.
"Why would I want to leave Inaba? Here I am the best! Number one! No one here can beat me! My greatest dream has already been accomplished!"
"What!? No, that's not true! I still-" Ryu tried to say.
"You still have yet to accomplish it? Haha, that's bullshit and you know it!"The other Ryu interrupted."Is your real dream to be the best? Or is it just to be recognized as the best? As long as everyone thinks that way, I don't care if it's true or not"
"Shut up! What would you know!? Who the hell are you!? Why do you look like me!?"
"Haven't you realized by now? I am you, your Shadow, and you are me. I know every little thing about you"
"Ryu-" Haru tried to speak to him.
"Shut up, Haru! What he's saying is not true! I don't think like that! Not Ever! So there is no way that thing is me!" Ryu screamed. Then he turned to his 'Shadow'. "Did you hear me!? YOU ARE NOT ME!"
"Hahahaha!"The 'Shadow' laughed maniacally. "That's right! That's perfect! I'm not you anymore, see!? I am me now!"
A dark mass of energy began to surround Shadow Ryu. Then, the mass of energy faded away, revealing something completely different.
The three teenagers watched in horror as the figure of a demonic horse and his rider appeared before them. The black horse whinnied and the rider in black and green armor, with a lance as a weapon, spoke.
"I am Shadow, the true self! I'll destroy everyone inferior to me!"
"What the fuck..." Ryu managed to say before passing out.
"RYU!" Reiko called for him, but it was already too late. He was unconscious. "Damn it! Brother, what are we gonna do!?"
"Damn it! This is my fault!" He yelled at himself "But I'm not backing down! It's time to fix this!"
"Brother... Right! I'm with you! But how can we fight that thing!?"
Thou hast the power to fight...
"!?" Haru and Reiko heard something, each inside their own mind.
The time has come... Open thy mind and call forth my power... thy power!
The twins glanced at each other, and the look on their faces said they knew what to do now.
They both stood there, gazing down, as Shadow Ryu charged at them.
"AAAAARG!"It screamed.
Two blue cards were falling from the sky, one in front of each sibling. Then, they both lifted their sight. Haru lifted his right hand, Reiko her left hand and at the same time they screamed:
"PERSONA!"
They crushed their cards, and both shattered like glass. Two figures were summoned from within their minds.
One, a male knight in light, red and white armor. His head and face covered by a white mask. His weapon was a silver sword.
The other, a female knight in white and blue, female styled armor, which resembled more an armor dress. Her head and face were also covered by a white mask, but you could see some of her blond hair. Her weapon was, too, a silver sword.
Both Knights charged forward against the Shadow and with skillful swings of their swords forced the shadow to step back.
"I am thou... and thou art I... From the sea of thy soul I come. I am Arthur, Son of the Dragon" Spoke the male knight.
"I am thou... and thou art I... From the sea of thy soul I come. I am Arthuria, Daughter of the Dragon" Said the female knight.
"Who the hell are you!? 'Son of the Dragon' my ass! Get out of my way!"The Shadow charged again with all his might, this time at the red knight.
"ARTHUR!" Haru screamed as if giving his Persona an order.
Arthur blocked the Shadow's lance but was in no position to counter-attack.
"Sis! do it!" He told his sister.
"Yes!" Reiko agreed. "ARTHURIA! GO!"
The female knight swung her sword, cutting across the horse's body, bringing its rider to the ground.
"DAMN IT! I WON'T BE DEFEATED! I AM THE BEST!"Shadow Ryu stood up from the ground. He lifted his lance to the sky and then he pointed it to the knights. "Magaru"
A gust of wind hit both of them, making some good damage. The knight's hosts took the damage as well.
"Urg!" "Ahhg!" They felt it, and it hurt. But they didn't care about the pain. They were fighting not only for their lives, but for Ryu's life too.
"RYU!" Haru yelled "I'm sorry! I knew how you felt, but I did nothing...! But it's not too late! I can still beat the crap out of this thing!"
"H-Haru..." Ryu heard him. He was starting to wake up.
"Ryu, just hang in there! We can beat it! For you!" Reiko said.
"Now it's our turn, you son of a bitch! Sis!"
"Right Brother, I'm with you!"
Arthur and Arthuria lined up next to each other, as did their host.
"ARTHURIA! BUFU!"
The female knight pointed her sword at the Shadow and ice quickly began forming below it, freezing it.
"ARTHUR! AGI!"
The red knight swung his sword in the air, and launched a fireball at the frozen Shadow.
Shadow Ryu got hit by it, taking great damage from the combined spells.
"Now! The last hit...!" Haru yelled.
"...We do it together! Reiko continued.
The two knights charged once more, swords pointing at the enemy, and stabbed it at the same time in the chest.
Shadow Ryu gave a loud, painful, scream before banishing and transforming back into his human form.
They had won.
