Chapter 4
12:47, April 7th
Ms. Toriumi stood in front of her class, stern eyes sweeping over the students one at a time.
"Behind me is the Evoker Room." Her voice was very crisp and flat. "From here on out, you will no longer use the skills of the TV world to summon a Persona. Please turn in your Evoke Cards and glasses in please." A quiet rustle, and students complied with her request. "From here on out, those of you new teams are considered officially in employment of the Gekkoukan Military Academy and the Japanese Government. You will be held legally responsible for any of your actions both on and off campus, and any orphaned students are now emancipated." Akihiko and Shinjiro glanced at one another briefly, an action mirrored by some of the other students.
"Evokers are dangerous, deadly implements. They are very highly regulated, and misuse of an Evoker will result in forcible removal of your Persona and a full memory wipe." Silence. No student dared breathe. "Now, each student will enter one by one and will receive your Evoker through a personalized manner. Do not touch another person's Evoker, as it is the closest thing to a physical soul you will ever see. It may kill you." Ms. Toriumi stepped down. "Team Kazeyuki, step up please." The girls walked up, and the swallowed nervously. "One at a time please, starting with Ms. Kirijo." It was dead silent until she returned, wielding a red-steel Evoker and looking quite pleased with herself. Each student entered, took about a minute, two tops, and left with a brand new Evoker that was as unique as they were. Junpei entered last, hurray for him. He swallowed quietly, eyeing the Evokers that piled up to the ceiling. Each was hewn out of a dull gray stone and lifeless.
"Junpei Iori." Igor greeted him with a tilt of the head, to which Junpei politely returned.
"Nice to see ya again, Igor." Junpei answered, eyes on Margret as she fluttered from shelf to shelf.
"The shopkeeper you interacted with earlier has had his memory forcibly wiped of your encounter with him." Junpei's eyes shot up to meet his eyes, before they narrowed. "I wish I could tell you why, but the true Master of the Velvet room has his own reasons for why you should not know the truth of your weapon. It carries a very heavy burden." Junpei frowned slightly. His eyes snapped to Margret as she peeled off her current gloves and throwing them away. "Your Affiliation, if you will." Junpei hesitated, but answered.
"True Black Knight, Gladiator and Bonded." Junpei said, faintly defiant. Margret hummed in quiet answer, snapping on a pair of pitch-black gloves and picking up an Evoker.
"The history of Evokers is a long one, and shall be covered by your teacher tomorrow along with Circles, so I won't bore you with more than the bare minimum of details. But know that Evokers are never touched by anyone but their user. Even the creator never lays a modicum of bare skin to it, for even the slightest touch could forcibly implant a suggestive thought or personality into the brain of the user. Let none but those you trust with your very soul and Persona touch your Evoker. Step on the pitch black circle in the center of the room please." Junpei stepped up to the plate, swallowing nervously as the weapon was leveled at his forehead. Even knowing it wasn't a true gun, it still made him nervous.
"Do you believe yourself ready?" Margret asked patiently. Junpei swallowed his fear.
"Yes. I'm ready to go." Junpei answered, smoothing out his uniform slacks. A sudden crack of a gunshot, and the Evoker shattered the barrier between his mind and that of his partner's in a crackle of broken glass before he could even blink.
April 7th, 10:30 PM
Junpei was almost bouncing off the walls. If Shinjiro hadn't known the reason why, he'd have decked the annoying teenager a long time ago. As it was, he took a harsh breath in, struggling to hold his mind from the tempting prospect of slicing something to ribbons. Akihiko felt it across the bond, and rightly assumed the problem.
"Junpei, stop bouncing." The sound of his voice elicted squeals from the small number of women still swayed by Akihiko's darker charms, but only resulted in a pout from Junpei. "Please," Akihiko added, jerking his head in Shinjiro's direction. An understanding light blinked to life behind brown eyes, and he nodded, flopping into a seat.
"Sorry dudes," Junpei apologized. "But seriously, we'll be hitting the Tower this evening! I'm seriously psyched." Before either boy could answer, Makoto did, arriving with another meal.
"First we have to make our way through the Lost City," Makoto reminded him patiently. "I'm good with Orpheus, but not that good. We'll have to map out the city first." They all shrugged at him.
"I still think we'll be one of the first new teams in the building!" Junpei said cheerfully.
"One of?" Shinjiro said, amused. Junpei nodded.
"Yeah, at least third, because Kenji has some super weird sensing thingamajig he can do to avoid Shadows, and that green-haired chica over there has a persona completely built for tracking. So yeah, third." Makoto looked impressed at that particular logic. Before he could comment, Ms. Toriumi swept in, holding a stack of books. Kazushi, being nearest and an absolute gentleman, took half of the precariously swaying stack of books and helped her set them down on a nearby desk.
"Thank you Mr. Miyamoto," She smiled at him, and Kaz blushed and nodded in answer. "Today you'll each receive a Data Log. Don't worry, you don't have to write anything," She said as some students groaned. "All you have to do each night after the Dark Hour is write your name down. It will then record your individual and team progress. This keeps students from advancing too far without fighting." Some teams looked even more sheepish at that. Makoto waved them all down, grabbing four books for his team and offering them each one. They took it without complaint, and said nothing, observing the mob with faint amusement and sympathy.
"Thanks," They all muttered as one.
"So there's been minor changes to the curriculum this year, thanks to the fact that Circle-Forging has become legal for any set of students with passable knowledge to achieve due to last year's unfortunate Circle destruction campaign." Everyone winced as one. That had been an absolute fiasco, with underage kids forging illegal Circles and getting themselves killed due to missing key components and deliberate misinformation. Some of the few Circles that had survived the experience had gone insane, leaving just three of the over two-hundred Circles forged during that time around the world to remain functional.
"But first, Evokers. the Evoker momentarily instills a feeling of mortal fear into the user in order to provoke basic survival instincts and trigger the user's natural ability to use a Persona. The gun-like frame adds to the effect. Additionally, it creates a link to a psychological sphere called the "collective unconscious", with the aid of a certain crystal that is embedded on the inside, in order to allow the user to summon a Persona without putting too much strain onto their own, personal mind." Ms. Toriumi said crisply. "But the Evoker is also a more personal item than one should really believe. It has emotions and expression just like we ourselves do." She smiled thinly. "To use another Evoker that has already been claimed is dangerous, as it puts a mental echo of that person in their brain, a suggestive implant. For some people, that isn't a problem." Her eyes flicked over Chidori and Junpei. "For others, it can be fatal." They winced as one.
"Second, Circles. Now can anyone tell me what a Circle is? How about you Yamagishi?" Fuuka swallowed nervously.
"A Circle is a magically binding contract between three to five individuals capable of using Personae, Demons, or Angels that multiplies each individual's strength by that of his or her peers." Fuuka answered timidly. Ms. Toriumi smiled sweetly at her.
"Very good Ms. Yamagishi, you're absolutely correct. That's a fairly basic explanation of it, however, and doesn't count the finer points, such as Class, age, number of reincarnations, and so on. The most powerful Circles on average tend to be groups of seven, since it is the largest stable number a Circle can hold, though there have been extraordinarily powerful three and five man teams. Circles must absolutely be odd numbers, otherwise the 'Circle', has no focal point. Now, the bare minimum enhancement of being in a Circle is a minimum of three times the total cumulative strength to a maximum of 100 times for the strongest recorded."
Gasps and amazed sounds echoed around the room. "That is why they're so highly regulated. Type and skill can magnify your ability even more, though the most common give less power to the combined energy of the team. Circles are also done to stabilize those with a less than sane mentality. There are nearly twenty-five different factors that go into deciding the strength of a Circle, and does not account for time of year or date it's preformed. Take serious care of the date you choose, should you choose to join a Circle." The warning bell rung, and the gates to the Lost City began to rise. A flicker of movement, and the Defensive Anti-Shadow Resistance of Kirijo (Otherwise known as the DARK Hour Defense team) moved into place at either side of the gate.
"New students!" Someone walked up to them, smiling. "Your teams will be distributed to one of the twelve gates, as there were only twelve teams divined this year. Any requests on which gate you'd like to be put at?" Makoto glanced back at them and they shrugged.
"Your call leader boy," Junpei answered for them all. Makoto stepped up and whispered his request, which was given a blank look in response.
"Well . . . If you're sure," The man said dubiously, but lifted a hand to flag down his team. "Put these kids at the Twelve-hour entrance."
Ken frowned slightly, watching the moon as it glowed a sickly green. His fingers tapped against the glass, so sure that he could grab it if he tried. With a frustrated sigh, he shook his head. By his side, Alice slept, her blond hair splayed across the cold pillows. A faint frown overtook his lips again as he watched her, before he shook his head again, biting his lip worriedly.
They wouldn't be separated. Not without a damn good reason.
Thanks those of you who reviewed! This is for you guys. On the late update, I've been a little busy trying to figure out how to put Ken in the story without writing myself into the ground, so updates might be hectic.
P.S. Please, please review. I have absolutely no idea what you people think, and it's a little tough to read minds when all I've got is a computer screen and a brain-dead mentality of Squee, I got a favorite/follow! Please?
