Disclaimer:
Atlus is the creator of the Shin Megami Tensei series of games, which this story uses as source material. As per the subject matter, all characters, events, places, and concepts used in this story are a work of fiction.

Fall and Rebirth
By: RB3

Fool Arcana 4: Nanako in TV Land

Sunday May 6, 2012

It was a quiet day at the Survivor base camp in the Shadow world. The soldiers and staff milled about on the street and in the buildings. The sky, still ever bizarre, burned with a blood-red hue. At regular intervals black, ring-like waves which radiated outward. They had an almost hypnotic quality to it if one stood and stared at it for too long. Above some guard posts, overlooking the street, a pair of guards lazed about, drinking some coffee. It was very quiet and a slow day seemed to be in order.

"Sure is quiet," remarked a soldier.

"Yeah Kenji, it's hard to keep your concentration in this place. The sky is too red. It's really hard on the eyes," remarked the second soldier.

The soldier named Kenji looked away from the main base over to some vacant streets. A large puddle of black ooze started to seep out of a supermarket's doors and onto the street to the west of the camp. Portions of this molasses-like substance floated up and formed into several bizarre black creatures. Some resembled walking, animate tables with masks on their sides. Others looked like large rotund police officers, masked and armed with handguns. Still others were black-skinned clones of professional wrestler Hulk Hogan. These bizarre creatures advanced on the camp like a horde.

"We've got hostiles!" remarked Kenji, who grabbed a radio to report the attack.

These creatures, Shadows, approached a chain link fence and tore a hole through it. The soldiers stationed at the lookout posts opened fire on the Shadows. Their guns became aflame and bullet casings spewed out the side endlessly. Kenji targeted a Hulk Hogan clone and opened fired. The bullets struck Hogan, but seemed to bounce off with no effect. Hogan turned to look at him, as though annoyed by some prank. Kenji adjusted a switch on the side of his gun and resumed his fire. A bolt of lightning arced out of the muzzle, blasting the Hogan clone to cinders.

However, the Shadows proved too numerous for the lookouts to stop with their meagre firepower. An alarm sounded in the heart of base, stirring Midori and Keisuke to action. They released demons and rushed ahead, coming face to face with a table Shadow. It was a dinner table with animate kitchen utensils and weapons floating above it. On the side of the white table cloth was a navy blue mask which functioned as the creature's face. The creature rushed forward and hurled his weapons at Midori, who expertly dodged and retreated to make distance between her and the Shadow.

The creature breathed fire, but Midori held out her hand, pulling the flame towards it and absorbing it. Her demon, a black snowman clad in a purple jester's cap rushed forward. "I'll get him, Midorhee-ho!" the demon promised.

The snowman, Black Frost, spewed a massive jet of freezing, snowy wind upon the table monster. The winds froze the creature in a block of ice, neutralizing it completely. "Good work, Black Frost!" cheered Midori. "Hector, you're up!"

A huge, muscular demon with a dozen arms and multiple long faces approached the frozen table monster. This green-skinned demon wore a golden chain with a padlock around his neck. The creature, affectionately called "Hector," was one of the Hecatonchires, the Hundred-Handed, because of his numerous hands. With his massive, superhuman strength, Hector hoisted the frozen table overhead and hurled it into the crowd. It bowled over countless Shadows, destroying them and the frozen table, in one fell swoop.

Keisuke sicced a jackal-headed deity upon another group of Shadows. The deity, Anubis, held out a set of scales at the group, which promptly tilted to the right side. Pillars of white light unleashed divine retribution upon the Shadows, totally annihilating them all. "They're starting to thin out," remarked Keisuke, observing the advance of the Shadows start to slow. "We've got'em."

Black Frost froze the last few Shadows in ice, leaving them helpless and inert. "What are they? I've never seen a demon like these. They look very tast-hee ho!" remarked Black Frost.

"Hector smash masked monsters good, right Midori?" asked Hector.

"You did good!" replied Midori.

Keisuke looked over one of the frozen Shadows. "Let's bring one of these things in. Our scientists might want to study these things."

Monday May 7, 2012

The next day, the Survivors went to school as normal. The students from the local neighbourhoods traversed the streets of Inaba, taking in the sights and fresh country air. Within minutes, all of class 3-2 were seated in class, ready for Ms. Kashigawa to started her lesson for the day. As she droned on, Saemon started to feel a light burning sensation in his chest. At first, he attributed it heartburn caused by something he had eaten for breakfast that didn't go down right. He ignored it and continued to listen the lesson.

As the minutes went by, it was clear that the sensation wouldn't go away. It even started to hurt. It became more of a tearing sensation, like something was trying to rip open his very being and escape from his chest. He soon clutching at his chest, trying to soothe away the pain. However, other students started to notice how severely his pain was, especially Ms. Kashigawa, who had a clear view of him from the front of the room. "Saemon, are you alright? You don't look well. You should see the nurse."

"Ms. Kashigawa, I don't think he can make it on his own. Let me take him," offered Atsuro.

"Okay, make sure he gets there as soon as possible," said Ms. Kashigawa.

Atsuro slung Saemon over his shoulders and guided him down stairs to the first floor. "Saemon, what's the matter?"

"It's the Bels. They've become active again," he replied.

"The Bels?" asked Atsuro.

"Yes, they're trying break free of my body," informed Saemon. "I'm trying to hold them in, but I don't know how long I can last."

Atsuro brought him to the nurse's office and told her about Saemon's chest pains. The nurse asked him a barrage of questions, but not even she could figure out what was wrong with him. "I'll take Saemon to a doctor. Let Ms. Kashigawa know that I'm gone," said Atsuro.

Atsuro immediately took Saemon to the electronics store, where they used the TV to return to base. He brought Saemon to Mari, the unit's nurse and medic, who made a thorough examination of him. Atsuro told her what Saemon had told him earlier. "This isn't good. If the Bels break free, they'll cause a whole lot of trouble."

"GAAAAAH!" screamed Saemon as a nimbus of white light appeared on his chest.

A shiny, silvery, and muscular arm suddenly reached out from the nimbus and grabbed Mari by the throat. Atsuro grabbed the arm, trying to wrestle it off, but the arm's owner immediately slammed Mari into him, knocking him to the side. He immediately hurled Mari across the room and emerged from Saemon's chest. The man was a humanoid demon who was wrapped in chains. This long haired demon was Beldr, an incarnation of the handsome Norse deity Baldur. He was also one of the former competitors for the King of Bel and the very first one Saemon had vanquished.

Beldr quickly rushed to the window and smashed through, scattering broken glass everywhere. A second demon emerged from Saemon, this one looking quite reptilian with reddish skin and a humanoid face. The demon, Belial, landed on the ground and rushed for the same window and fled. Soldiers and demons came over to investigate, moments after the two Bel demons had fled the area. They found Atsuro and Mari recovering from the incident in the damaged room.

"What happened here?" asked one of the soldiers.

"Belial and Beldr broke free from Saemon," replied Atsuro, dusting himself off. "Tell Fushimi to send scouts. We have to find out where they went immediately."


Sunday May 13, 2012

The sun started to set over the city of Inaba, turning the sky an orangy-red colour. Even as night approached, people still came in and out of the massive department store of Junes, nestled in the heart of downtown Inaba. The grocery department was as busy as ever, with the bar code sensors ringing as cashiers scanned food item after item. Into this store came a cute Japanese girl with her father. The girl had brown hair tied into a pair of pigtails by ribbons. The ribbons were pink, a colour she favoured in her matching clothing.

Her dad followed behind her and was a somewhat scraggy man. He had noticeable stubble on his chin and face and had unkempt hair. Despite that, he wore a fairly clean grey shirt and a red tie. The man was Ryotaro Dojima, a detective of the Inaba Police Department, the local police force. He had brought his daughter, Nanako, over to her favourite store to do the grocery shopping for the week. As they browsed through the store, Nanako picked out the items her family needed to restock back home.

As they entered the meat department, Yosuke was there, restocking the shelves with packaged cuts of beef and pork. Yosuke noticed them coming and started a conversation. "Oh, hi Nanako! Doing the shopping again?"

"Uhuh, I brought Daddy with me again," replied Nanako. "We ran out of beef at home."

"Good time, we're having a sale on sirloin steaks today," informed Yosuke. "Better grab'em while you can, they're going fast."

"Really? Good! I'll pick some up," assured Nanako.

"So, how have you two been getting along?"

"Quite well, to be honest," replied Dojima. "I've been taking more days off, especially on Sundays, to spend time with my daughter."

"That's good. Spend as much time as you can," said Yosuke. "Work sucks you know."

Dojima chuckled. "Yeah, I'm not surprised to hear you say that."

Yosuke smiled. "Yeah, I gotta get back to work. Don't stay out too late. The news said it might rain tonight."

After their shopping trip, the Dojima family returned home and stocked up their shelves with their purchases from Junes. Night had fallen and the two turned in early for the evening. As midnight approached, both father and daughter were sound asleep in their beds. The rain pattered against the roof of their house, yet almost had a soothing rhythm to it. A mysterious figure in a red cloak approached the Dojima home, skulking in the shadows to avoid being detected. He hovered up to the second floor, right by Dojima's window and looked in. Having not seen what he wanted, he went to the next window.

Inside, the figure saw Nanako, fast asleep on her bed. "Ah, she'll make an excellent friend for the little mistress."


Monday May 14, 2012

Dojima groggily came down the stairs to his living room, but saw no one working in the kitchen as he normally would. Nanako was usually up by this time, preparing breakfast for the two of them for the day. Not only was Nanako not there, the stove was cold and the utensils were still in the drawer. Neither showed any signs of having been used recently. He went up to Nanako's room and knocked on the door. "Hey open up sleepy head! You need to make breakfast."

Dojima received no response. He decided to open the door and found only an empty bed and an open window in Nanako's room. Nanako's bed covers were open, but the bed itself was cold to Dojima's touch, which meant that she had been gone for quite a while. Dojima decided to call various people to find out if Nanako had went to them as part of something like an emergency. The first person he called was Yosuke on his cell phone. "No, Nanako hasn't come here. Is Nanako not home right now?" he replied groggily.

"Yeah, she wasn't in her bed when I checked earlier," replied Dojima. "I don't know where she is. She never said anything about leaving early today."

"I'll call my friends," assured Yosuke. "I'll get back to you later. In the meantime, see if anyone else has seen her."

"Okay thanks. Let me know if you find anything," said Dojima, before hanging up. He proceeded to call everyone he and Nanako knew, but nobody knew where she was. Even Yosuke's friends did not know where she was either, after he called back to inform Dojima.

At lunch at Yasogami High's roof, Nanako's disappearance became the major topic of conversation. "So nobody knows where Nanako is?" asked Yukiko.

"Nope," replied Yosuke. "Nobody knew when I asked Dojima as well."

"Dojima ordered the police department to start searching for Nanako. With so few clues, I doubt they will make any progress," admitted Naoto.

"Do you think that some 'thing' came over from the other side and took her?" asked Chie.

"We can't rule out that possibility," admitted Naoto. "Teddie has been checking the TV world, but still hasn't found anything yet."

"I hope he finds something soon. These monsters aren't as predictable as the Shadows. There's no telling what they might do to her," commented Kanji.

School came and went, but Teddie still couldn't find anything that could crack the case and neither could the Inaba Police Department. The sun started to set and day turned to night. Soon, midnight came along with a downpour of rain. The water droplets pattered against the streets and roofs of the homes in the city. Safe at home, Yosuke yawned and prepared to go to sleep for the evening. The television set started to buzz and an image formed, even though it was off.

"The Midnight Channel," Yosuke said mentally.

The image was of a table with a white cloth covering it. Laid out on this table were plates, utensils, a few teapots and cups, as well as several sweet pastries. Several figures were seated at the table, enjoying a tea party. The figure at the head of the table was a blonde Caucasian girl about Nanako's age. She was dressed like the title character of the book "Alice in Wonderland." Alice poured some tea into a cup and daintily drank it. The camera panned over, showing the other figures more clearly as they did the same.

One of the figures, a man with a sunken face, poured a cup of tea for the last person, Nanako. The man had grey lifeless skin and a mouth which had been sewn shut. The stitches were plainly visible as "x" marks across his lips. He looked like he was a corpse which had been unearthed and given life by foul black magic. "Here's your tea," said the man.

Nanako seemed quite withdrawn, not willing to speak to anyone. In fact, she quite terrified, to the point of speechlessness. From the look on her face, she was practically begging someone, anyone, to get her out of there as soon as possible. She did not respond to the zombie-like man when he spoke to her. "Hey! Say 'thank you' to Uncle Nebiros!" scolded the blonde girl.

"Thank... you..." peeped Nanako, too terrified to speak coherently.

The camera panned over, revealing that the two guests nearest to her were a pair of charred corpses! Through foul black magic, these corpses moved on their own, animated by either Nebiros or the demon seated across from him, the red, reptilian Belial. One of the corpses appeared to be a woman in her mid-twenties before being burned. The other, from her smaller size, likely used to be a girl no older than Nanako herself.

The adult woman zombie, slowly picked at a plate of cake. "Ugggh..." she groaned. She slowly got a piece onto her fork and attempted to move it into her mouth, but hit her nose instead. Despite that, she continued to try to force the fork into her nose, too uncoordinated to know why she couldn't eat her cake. Belial quickly corrected her, guiding her fork into her mouth.

"Drink your tea. You don't want it to get cold," scolded Alice. Nanako reluctantly complied.

Yosuke couldn't believe what he was watching. He eventually broke out of his spell to call Chie. "Chie, it's Yosuke. Did you watch the Midnight Channel? Nanako's on it!"

"Yeah," replied Chie. "I can't imagine what she must be thinking. She must be scared out of her mind."

"Once Teddie finds out where she is, I'm rushing over there and I'm going to tear that place apart! I'll skip class if I have to," stated Yosuke. "After seeing that, I can't leave her there with those monsters."

"Okay, count me in," said Chie. "I'll tell Yukiko and Kanji. You tell Naoto and Teddie what we have planned."


Tuesday May 15, 2012

Morning classes came and went for the Investigators. Lunch time came and Yosuke received a call from Teddie on his cell phone. The bear had announced that he knew where Nanako was being held. After gulping down their lunches, the Investigation Team quickly rushed to Junes' electronics department. Inside the TV world, Teddie quickly led the group through the world, right to a black iron gate which barred the road leading to a great white mansion.

"This is the place, Nanako's in there," informed Teddie.

Kanji quickly summoned Rokuten Maoh and blasted the gate down with a Primal Force. The iron bars went flying into the front lawn of the house, attracting monsters to investigate. A pair of creatures resembling star fish rushed to the scene. Being likely that they were security guards, they pointed at the broken gate, then the team, before attacking. Naoto shot each of them and the team rushed to the front door. Kanji once again blew the door down and the team burst into the central hallway and rushed to the dining room.

There, they saw Nanako seated at the table again, having a tea party with Alice, the zombie-like man, the human-faced devil, and the charred animate corpses. "How rude!" proclaimed Alice, as the zombie man and devil rose up to block the team's path.

Nanako looked and saw the team. She was quite relieved. "Yosuke, Chie, everybody!"

"Nanako, we're here to rescue you!" said Yukiko. "Hang on!"

"No! I won't let you take my friend away!" screamed Alice defiantly as she left her seat. "Belial, Nebiros, stand aside. I will get rid of them myself!"

A dark aura surrounded the little girl, as she tapped into the incredible magical powers hidden within her being. A massive swirling vortex of darkness opened in the ground. "Stay back!" cried Naoto, who moved before the vortex to block it. Wisps of darkness lashed out at her and the Persona, but their natural immunity to death magic rendered them unharmed from the soul-devouring darkness.

"That's a Mudo spell," said Teddie. "If that thing swallows us, we're done for!"

Alice's guardians flanked her, staying near her to guard their little mistress as she unleashed her unholy wrath. The vortex started to enlarge by centimetres, threatening to engulf the whole room and the Investigation Team. Although Naoto and Takeru were able to block the vortex and protect the others, at the rate it was expanding, the whole room would be engulfed, along with the Investigation Team. A small blob slipped past, but Takeru grabbed it and crushed it with his bare hand.

"Naoto!" cried Nanako. She was fearful for her friends. "If only I could do something!" she thought to herself.

"Thou art I and I am thou," whispered a soft female voice much like her own. Nanako looked around, but could not find who was talking to her. Apparently, only she had heard the voice. "We are the same. Your heart's deepest desire to help your friends has awakened me." She looked around and saw a tarot card descend before her. "I am Cherub, the Sustainer of the Throne. Call my name and destroy this card to unleash my power."

"Come out, Cherub!" cried Nanako as she ripped the tarot card in half.

A Persona which bore the likeness of a female angel appeared. The blonde angel had golden, feathery wings and was dressed in dark violet robes with a matching cylindrical mitre. She was seated on a golden throne which had armrests with carvings of an ox and a lion. Above the backrest was a carving of an eagle. "Look!" cried Teddie.

"It's a Persona and... Nanako's summoning it?" asked Kanji, hiding behind Naoto.

Cherub waved her hands and a set of paper talismans surrounded Alice. They glowed with a golden light, surrounding Alice with a bright white light. The light started to disrupt her being, attempting to consume her body and thereby drive her out of this plane of existence. Being vulnerable to this light-based magic, it took everything Alice had to keep from being banished. She could no longer maintain the black vortex. "Help me!" she called out.

"Get her!" said the zombie-like man as he turned to attack Nanako.

"Oh no you don't!" cried Kanji, who immediately fired a Primal Force.

The pink beam tore into the zombie-like man's back, ripping him into blobs of darkness which dispersed into thin air. At the same time, Alice could hold out no longer. "Nanako, I thought we were friends!" was all she could muster before the light consumed and banished her from this plane.

As the light subsided, all that remained was Belial, the human-faced devil. He looked for Nanako, who had slipped by under the cover of the light and regrouped with her friends. Though Nanako's escape angered him, the deaths of Alice and Nebiros had absolutely enraged Belial. "You killed Alice and Nebiros! You'll pay!" he vowed, glaring at the Investigation team.

Belial conjured a trident and advanced on the team. He approached Yukiko, who was the closest to him at the time. She immediately cast an Agi spell at the devil, but Belial let the fire hit him without flinching. Belial immediately thrust the trident forward, forcing Yukiko to sidestep. Belial tried again, but Yukiko leapt over his attack, her jump empowered by her Persona. She landed near Yosuke, who was getting ready to launch his attack.

"Fire won't work on him. Use ice instead. He is weak to it," informed Nanako.

"Got it," replied Teddie.

"We've got you covered," assured Kanji.

"Get ready, Teddie," said Yosuke.

Kanji channelled a Zio, or lightning, spell at Belial. The devil held his trident forward, using it to parry and dissipate the attack. Yosuke conjured a massive green tornado upon Belial, trapping him within the centre, unable to dodge. Teddie immediately conjured his Persona, Kamui, which manifested as a toy-like, mechanical bear head. Kamui had red paws with golden claws where his ears should be and wore a red cape. His tail was a rocket booster while his face was a like a red and blue bull's eye symbol.

Channelling Kamui's power, Teddie immediately sent the strongest ice spell in his repertoire, Bufudyne, right at Belial. The icy blast froze the devil in a block of ice. "We've got him!" announced Teddie.

Chie launched herself into a flying kick which shattered the devil into pieces on impact. The devil separated into blobs of darkness and dispersed into the air. "Yeah!" she cheered.

Nanako slumped over, fatigued from having to use her Persona so soon after its manifestation. "Nanako!" cried Yukiko, as she rushed up and braced the little girl.

"I'm fine, just tired," replied Nanako.

"It was a rough day for her. Let's take her home," said Naoto.

"Hey wait! What should we do about these zombies?" asked Chie.

The zombies were still seated at the table, trying to eat their cake. Apparently, they had continued to do so even while the confrontion between Alice's family and the Investigators took place. The team gathered to look them over. "Kill... me..." mumbled the zombie woman.

"They were kidnapped before I was. When Belial killed them, he reanimated them as zombies. The only way to free their souls is to destroy their bodies," said Nanako.

"So kill them, in other words..." muttered Naoto. She channelled Yamato-Takeru, casting a Hama spell upon the zombies. As the paper talismans surrounded their bodies, they formed a pillar of light which disintegrated them.

"Thank... you..." said the girl and the woman zombies, before vanishing completely. With their reanimated bodies destroyed, their souls were finally free to move on to the afterlife.

The Team returned Nanako to her father, who was elated to finally have his daughter back safe and sound. "Thank you!" said Dojima appreciatively as he kneeled down and hugged Nanako.

"We're glad to help," said Kanji.

"Yeah, Nanako's a friend too. We wouldn't abandon her like that," assured Yukiko.

"Thank you so much. This is twice you kids have helped me. If there's anything I can do to repay you, please let me know," said Dojima.

END OF CHAPTER