Several more days passed with no incident and no large shadow appearances, which was the subject of many silent thank yous throughout the group. Leonard had already planned to send a team to begin fixing up the town, starting with the dorm. S.E.E.S was offered the chance to tag along with them to help, which they accepted seeing as they didn't have much else to do in the mansion. Leonard had plans to set up a generator so they would have power and extra locks and barricades to prevent another incident from happening, which led to a long stretch of work ahead of them.
The dorm was cleared of shadows when they arrived, and Fuuka made sure to double and triple check for anything at all. The shadows had all cleared the area, and there was no sign of any of the slime shadows, so they began work on fixing the damage.
Not even thirty minutes in, shadows arrived. They weren't a problem, what with the extra firepower provided by the Kirijo workers, but it was concerning how fast they came. Everyone silently got to work a bit faster after the battle was over.
Fuuka kept Juno out on the first floor, keeping her mind's eye open for any particular movements under the watch of several people at a time. The others helped install the new doors and locks to their dorm while Leonard worked on the generator.
They had everything up in three hours, not cleaned of the blood stains and dirt, but safe. Everyone agreed to take a short rest before moving down the street to the police station and anywhere else that might need it.
Walking down the street was an experience, especially since they hadn't been particularly paying attention to their surroundings while being chased around by shadows the first few days. The streets were trashed, what with rogue shadows scavenging for food or knocking over trash cans while they were outside of Tartarus. The shadows seemed desperate to eat, because the group came across some small shadow carcasses that looked to have been hunted down and killed by their own kind.
It was unsettling to see shadows cannibalizing their own kind, and slight chills went down the backs of the group. If the shadows were hungry enough to be acting like this, then they might be in a more dangerous situation than originally estimated.
A large roar made everyone freeze in their spots. It was far away, yet the echo it gave off made it seem like it surrounded the group. Fuuka was immediately ready, trying to get herself to move faster for support.
She knelt down for only a few seconds before she shook her head and Juno disappeared.
"It's far from us, but it has a very powerful presence. Not like the large shadows we fought before, but a lot stronger than the normal ones we've seen. We should stay clear of the monorail tracks, that's where it is," she said.
The group unfroze from their positions and collectively sighed with relief.
"Let's keep going forward. Yamagishi, try to keep track of that one, we don't want to get near it," Mitsuru told her, and led the group to get moving again at a quicker pace.
When they finally arrived at the police station, Junpei and Akihiko sharing an uncomfortable glance due to the bad memories, it looked the exact same as when they had left it. The glass windows were cracked and inside, papers were strewn about. Yukari cupped her hands to her face to look through the remaining glass that still stuck to the building, scratches on the wallpaper catching her eye as well as a smashed chair.
The Kirijo group had brought along with them the supplies they guessed they would need, whether that was extra glass panels or a simple box of tools. They knew exactly what they needed to do when it came to the repairs, which left S.E.E.S with not much to do but follow simple directions and watch for shadows. After fixing up the front room where Officer Kurosawa usually stayed for their questionably legal business, Junpei made a show of placing the money they had left before back on the desk as the others moved to the back, fixing up the damage in the hallway.
They were halfway through fixing one of the back rooms when a shadow cry hit the air.
It started with a low rumble that was strong enough to make the ground vibrate, and grew enough for everyone to stop what they were doing and look to Fuuka.
Their support was sat in a ball, straining her face in concentration as she tried to read her surroundings. The roar stopped short, its echo still resounding through the sky as sharp and quick grunts replaced it, the echoes not as prominent through the new noise. It sounded like it was fighting something.
The thought of something being strong enough to hurt whatever was making the loud sound filled Minato's mind with concern, but he didn't have time to dwell on it as a deafening smash came from down the street they were on and Fuuka getting up and rushing to the door with a quick and urgent, "Hurry!".
As efficiently as the Kirijo group fixed up the buildings, they packed up their things and followed S.E.E.S outside at an impressive speed. At a cross section near the end of the street, a large shadow was sprawled across the pavement, looking feral and favoring its right side as if it had been hurt badly. It snarled at what was in front of it, though whatever it could've been was obscured by the buildings that lined the road.
"Let's move, we haven't been noticed yet," Akihiko said, holding the door open for everyone as they crept out.
Mitsuru turned to Fuuka. "How did it get so close without you noticing?"
"I was tracking it the whole time, and it was far away from us just a minute ago. Then next thing I know it flew across the city. I think it was thrown by whatever is attacking it," She answered.
Meanwhile, the injured shadow let out another cry as it charged down the road towards its attacker, but was flung back again, this time followed by the larger mass that kept up the attack.
The larger one had a human look to it, but that was as far as it could be compared. Its two white eyes were set vertically on its face, contrasting against the black swirls on its body, and its fingers were sharp like claws.
The slightly smaller shadow had the same black pattern against its body. It didn't exactly suit the look of one animal in particular. The shadow was down on four legs with a round face and a large set of teeth. That seemed to be the one constant thing in these shadows, the large teeth that 90% of them had.
The human shadow picked up its victim and dug its claws into its neck while the other shadow bit down into the attacker's arm. The smaller one then used its hind legs to kick off of the building it was backed up against to throw itself and the other shadow to the ground as it tried to bite the shadow's neck.
The parade of good guys started sprinting down the road back the way they came, hoping to get to the docks or at least back to the dorm.
Minato looked behind at the scene and stopped himself, causing everyone around him to follow suit.
"C'mon Minato! What are you doing!" Yukari yelled, dashing up to him to grab hold of his arm.
Before she could try to pull him away, he spoke up, saying back to her, "What about them?" He pointed to the numerous coffins standing on the sidewalk. "If we leave these shadows here, they're going to crush all those people. We have to do something."
Everyone looked back in forth from Minato to Mitsuru, expecting the older girl to speak her mind in defiance, but she shook her head as if she were arguing with herself and then nodded at Minato.
"He's right," She said.
Minato ordered everyone to line up, getting the Kirijo group to stand at the back with their crossbows. He stood in front of everyone with his evoker pressed to the side of his head, waiting for the right moment.
The 'right moment' he decided was the moment when the animal-shadow's back was to them, wherein he sent Orpheus loose to line up a hit while it was distracted.
"Start with the smaller one, it's already injured!" He called out, running a few steps forward with his sword and evoker out as Orpheus slammed his lyre into the shadow's back.
Fuuka already had Juno out, scanning both enemies for their health and weaknesses as the Kirijo Group let loose a storm of arrows perfectly lined up into the four-legged shadow's head.
Akihiko and Aigis rushed ahead next, summoning Caesar and Athena to pummel the target into the air. The shadow turned around in time to hit Orpheus out of the way, dodging Caesar's attack in the process. It wasn't lucky enough to get out of the way of Athena's spear, and the shadow found itself up in the air with a large gash in its belly dripping with shadow fluid.
Isis went next, choosing to simply ram its horns into the shadow instead of using its wind abilities. The attack was rewarded with a sickening sound of flesh being torn and the desperate cry of the shadow as it slid off the horns and tumbled to the ground.
That was all it took, and Fuuka confirmed it was dead before it even hit the pavement. She called out to the others that the second shadow was weak to piercing attacks, which gave Aigis the motivation to try to land another hit.
Athena made its move to try to turn and skewer it through its back, but the shadow was too fast and moved out of the way in time. The shadow snatched up a car at its side and tossed it at its attackers in response.
The unexpected move almost made a hit, and most of the group tried to get out of the way or duck. Akihiko summoned Caesar in time to catch the car and place it back on the ground.
The shadow looked unsure of itself, but got down on its claws, arching its back as two more arms erupted from its body with disturbing pops and crunches. It let out a weak hiss and shot out one of its new arms, securing its claw around Yukari.
Yukari screamed in protest, dropping her bow in surprise as the shadow lifted her up to its height and used another one of its arms to pick the car up again.
"Yukari!" Mitsuru yelled as she summoned her Persona. Artemisia aimed her whip and cracked it, wrapping it firmly around the wrist of the arm that held Yukari.
With one of its free hands, the shadow popped open one of the car doors and jerked its wrist to loosen the grip of the whip. Artemisia held firm, so the shadow jerked its arm to the right, knocking the Persona off balance and slamming it into the building on the side.
Yukari struggled to get free as the other people on the road tried different attacks to get the shadow to let her go, but the shadow held firm. It dropped Yukari into the open car door.
Yukari hit her chin on the opening as she fell in, grunting with pain. Her back slammed against the glass that was already cracked from the too-tight grip of the shadow. Pieces of glass rained down on her from the broken car windshield and she struggled to cover her face. Her foot was caught in the steering wheel and the panicked voices of her friends were muffled and frantic.
Outside of the car, a wall of crossbow bolts pelted the shadow, but it paid no mind to the stinging pain. Junpei called out Trismegistus to try to slice away at one of shadow's limbs, but the Persona was quickly caught and crushed in the palm of its claw.
Minato and Ken made a quick plan to try to knock the shadow over and try to grab the car from its grasp, but the shadow was too fast, and crushed the Personas the same way it had gotten rid of Trismegistus.
The shadow looked as if it was going to throw the car, and S.E.E.S readied themselves to summon their Personas to catch it, but the shadow paused and fixed its eyes at the group with the car still raised over its head. A glimmering object had caught its eye.
In another swift motion, the arm on the opposite side of the one holding the car swiped Juno up from the ground, with a terrified Fuuka inside. S.E.E.S had no time to react to save their support with their focus on Yukari. The shadow peered into the glass at the small human and began to shake Juno as if it were a snow globe.
The force slammed Fuuka into the glass over and over. Her head was bleeding profusely after only a few hits and she was losing her consciousness as each blow shoved her against the glass. The water-like substance in Juno's glass ball was being stained red by the blood of its user, and it was astounding that Juno hadn't disappeared after all the blows.
Koromaru attempted to take action next, sending Cerberus to try Mudoon to save their friends. The attack burst to life as dark symbols surrounded the shadow, but it failed to kill the target, who continued to beat Juno on the concrete road.
Only a few more hits against the road caused Juno to finally dissipate. Fuuka hit the ground hard and rolled away from the force, the others rushing over to help her. The shadow scooped her up in its claw and placed her with Yukari in the mangled car before they could reach her.
Inside the car, Yukari had been slow to get out of her shock, but when she had, she rushed to get her foot unstuck so she could get out before something worse happened. When the shadow had grabbed Juno, it only drove Yukari to move faster to try to help her friend. She grew more and more panicked as she watched her helpless friend being beaten against the road, but her body was angled and stuck in a way that she couldn't reach her evoker.
When Juno finally cracked and Fuuka stumbled out, and was quickly thrown in with Yukari, that's when Yukari knew she had run out of time.
Fuuka's limp body held her down so even the smallest movements she could make before were stopped. Yukari tried to rouse her friend for a response, but Fuuka didn't even seem to be breathing. The blood on her friend's forehead was wet and it rolled down her face and stained Yukari's clothes. With another small kick for the umpteenth time, Yukari finally got her foot free.
Outside, the shadow held the car in two hands, looking inside. The metal began creaking and bending, the glass still in the side doors and back window of the car began to crack. Too much pressure was being used on the car, it would be crushed like a soda can if nothing happened soon.
Nothing S.E.E.S tried was working at all. Aigis had spent almost all of her bullets on the shadow to try to kill it. She had aimed for all the crucial spots, the eyes, the forehead, the legs, she even risked shooting at the hands with the risk of accidently harming her friends. Nothing brought the shadow down.
No Persona based attacks had worked, and Akihiko and Ken didn't want to risk using electricity in fear of hurting Yukari and Fuuka. If their Personas got to close to the shadow, they were inevitably caught and crushed, which spent a lot of energy from the team.
After Fuuka had been thrown in, they grew desperate and tried rushing in themselves to attack. Ken narrowly dodged around the shadow's feet as he sliced at its ankles and Minato and Junpei did the same on the other foot. Akihiko stayed back to monitor the shadow and conserve energy just in case the shadow decided to throw the car. They would need their Personas to catch it.
Mitsuru, Aigis and Koromaru were only a few steps away from Akihiko, discussing how they could try to wrench the car free from the shadow's grasp.
"I could try to distract it by leaping on its head while you and Koromaru could try to get them free," Aigis suggested.
"I wouldn't want to risk putting you in that sort of danger, especially since you're running out of ammo. We don't seem to have many other options though," Mitsuru replied.
A shout arose from the group attacking the shadow, drawing their attention to the others. The shadow had swatted down at them to get them to stop, but by doing so, it had lowered the car close to the ground. Their distraction had worked, as the shadow stopped crushing the vehicle. A loud crash came from the side as Yukari rammed into the passenger side of the car and rolled onto the asphalt with Fuuka in her arms. She limped away as fast as she could with her friend as the others tried to run from the shadow's grasp.
Ken ducked and was small enough to avoid the shadow's hand, but Junpei and Minato bumped into each other from the sudden attack and fell over. The shadow grabbed them both by the legs and the two struggled to try to grab onto something. They hung upside down and Junpei's caps fluttered off his head to the ground as the shadow lifted them to eye level to get a good look at them.
"Shit," Akihiko said as he ran up to the others, who had in turn ran over to Yukari and Fuuka to help them get away. Ken made it past the shadow, collecting Yukari's bow and handing it back to her as well before he got over safely to the others. They all looked in horror up at the scene as they expected the shadow to crush the pair just like it had done with everything else.
What the shadow did instead surprised them all, but also spread a small amount of hope throughout the group. Instead of killing them instantly, the shadow seemed to be bored, or perhaps tired. It turned around with the teens still in hand and began to walk off down the road, back the way it came.
Mitsuru motioned to the Kirijo Group and immediately started ushering commands. "Take Takeba and Yamagishi to safety. Try to get them back to the mansion, if you can't make it that far, the dorm will have to do. We'll catch up with you later, but they need medical attention immediately. Come back for us later, we need to help those two," she pointed at the shadow walking down the road. They nodded and wrapped their arms around the two girls, one of them picking up Fuuka, who was still completely unconscious. Leonard took something from his belt and handed it to Mitsuru. It was a radio.
"We'll be able to track you, but here's so we can actually talk. We'll get these two to safety, please be careful. Good luck," He said. The workers made haste down the street, crossbows out and ready to fight anything that might stop them. S.E.E.S went the opposite way, sprinting down the street after the shadow, still tired, but pushing themselves forward to save their companions.
Junpei's cap was left forgotten on the road.
In the shadow's hand, Minato and Junpei flailed around and tried to push themselves free. Their arms weren't pinned at their sides, but their bodies were caught up to their waist, so they couldn't grab their evokers. Their swords had been sheathed before they had been plucked from the ground, but Minato could feel his coming loose. The boys' backs were pressed against each other so they couldn't see each other, but Minato could hear the muttered curses that Junpei was spouting as he freaked out.
"Shit. Shit. Shit. Minato, what are we going to do? I can't reach my evoker, dude!"
"Calm down Junpei."
"How can you expect me to be calm? Where's this thing even going anyways?"
Minato turned his head in response to that, looking ahead at the shadow's chosen path. Nothing seemed to jump out at him at first glance. Even if it was a shadow, it did seem to have some sort of direction in mind, but Minato couldn't figure out where the large thing would go.
As he skimmed each building, it really should have stuck out to him the first time. It was his turn to curse.
"Shit," Minato said, his eyes widening.
"What? What is it?" Junpei asked, turning his head to look in the same direction.
"I think it's going to Tartarus."
In any other situation, Akihiko would have been impressed with the speed everyone was moving at. They had managed to keep the distance between them and the shadow consistent as they chased after the others. It really wasn't the time to be thinking of their capabilities like that, but after everything that had happened, Akihiko figured he could have been thinking of worse things.
They were fortunate enough that the shadow ahead of them hadn't decided to move any faster, or make too much noise to attract the other shadows. Though the second part of that thought was probably answered by the fact that most shadows would be too afraid to get near the giant thing.
"It appears to be heading to Tartarus," Aigis speaking up jolted Akihiko out of his thoughts and he focused his vision past the shadow to the path in front of him.
Tartarus was in front of them all, just as she had said. The mystic mass of shapes that jutted out from the tower looked the same as it always, yet a new sense of urgency overtook Akihiko when he realized what Aigis said was correct. They had been lucky so far as to not run into many shadows since their time returning, but there were sure to be hundreds of them in there now. They had to hurry and stop the shadow before it went in.
Minato focused his energy on trying to pry the shadow's fingers apart with Junpei's help, attempting to make enough room for them to slip out. It really wasn't the best plan they had, considering that even if they did loosen its grasp they would just hit the ground from a height that was too far from the ground to be safe.
When Minato did succeed in pushing one of its fingers out, the shadow simply shifted its claws to adapt to the change, cupping his hands with the pair trapped inside.
The blood flow in their legs wasn't being cut off anymore and they could move around now, but they could barely see, with what little light being cut off.
Minato heard Junpei unsheathe his sword.
"Wait," he said. He couldn't see whether or not Junpei actually looked over at him for an explanation, but he went on anyways. "If we just start slicing at this thing's hands, it could just crush us. Heck, we don't even know what it's thinking, it might just act on reflex. We should wait for a better opportunity, or at least for the others to show up."
Junpei didn't respond at first, instead the click of his sword being put back answered for him until he muttered a quiet, "Alright."
The air was stale and his eyes weren't adjusting to the dark fast enough, which was making Minato extremely uncomfortable. Junpei seemed to have settled against the shadow's hand across from him so he did the same, wondering how they were going to get away from the shadow.
There only seemed to be one option for them to prepare themselves for anything that might happen next, so Minato took his evoker from his belt and held it in his hand, telling Junpei to do the same.
The swaying movement akin to a sailboat on rough seas knocked around the Persona-users until they crashed to a halt, nearly tripped over by the sudden stop.
When the movement resumed, it was beginning to make Junpei motion sick. The shadow was moving, but no longer forward or backward.
"Minato, what's it doing?" Junpei whispered. Minato didn't respond and Junpei couldn't see the utterly confused expression his friend wore.
When the shadow finally reached the base of Tartarus, Mitsuru and Akihiko were already forming a plan to block the door that lead to the inside so they could corner the shadow.
Mitsuru readied Artemisia to freeze the entryway shut when the shadow made an unexpected move. Instead of walking towards the entrance, it walked over to an outcropping on the tower and pulled itself up.
"No way," Ken stuttered in disbelief as the shadow started to climb the outside of Tartarus as if it were a rock wall.
"Should we go inside Tartarus and follow it up?" Akihiko asked aloud to no-one in particular.
Mitsuru answered with her eyes still trained on the shadow. Her words wavered as if she were unsure of what she was saying was correct. "No. Tartarus could be filled with shadows, we'd likely be walking into a death trap. I don't think we have any other choice but to follow it up, just keep your distance."
With that, everyone summoned their Personas and hopped on, following the shadow. Akihiko had a grip on Koromaru, who still wasn't able to ride his Persona safely.
Their Personas hovered up on the same holds the shadow was using, who was ahead of them by roughly fifteen feet. Certain areas on the tower looked unstable, so Mitsuru instructed them before they started the climb to follow her lead. In front of their group, Mitsuru could see the shadow's hands cupped together, most likely holding Arisato and Iori.
"Everyone, freeze!" Ken yelled from near the back of the group. Mitsuru turned her head to look back down at the group, separating Ken from the others to try and figure out what was wrong.
Ken was staring to the left of the tower, but she had just climbed on top of a stoop that had a large wall jutting out, so she couldn't see what was there. Behind her, Akihiko supplied her with an answer.
"It's more of those flying shadows!" He called up. "They don't see us yet, but they will in a minute if we don't do something!"
The gears in Mitsuru's head started turning quickly for a solution. They really didn't have time to fight right now, especially on top of their Personas scaling the side of a building.
Mitsuru scanned her surroundings with a glance and her eyes fell on a row ornate stone window frames, deep enough to stand in to hide.
She dispelled Artemisia and gestured to the others, saying, "Follow me."
Akihiko climbed up quickly and released Koromaru on the platform, waiting to help pull the others up if they needed it.
Ken was next, who got up on the ledge fine and rushed over with Mitsuru's command into the dark space, well hidden from view. He called Koromaru in with him, and the dog followed, sitting at his feet.
Aigis followed and Mitsuru shoved Akihiko into one of the frames, uttering a quiet apology as she quickly hid as well.
She made it just in time as a swarm of shadows flew clumsily past the tower, weaving through the air like bats. They looked to have just gotten out of a fight, as some of their wings were bent and their fur was matted and bare in some spots. The shadows left their view quickly, but they stayed hidden for a few moments longer to be sure.
Stepping back out onto the platform, Aigis made slow and careful movements to stay quiet, looking around her for any signs of danger. She gave the all clear and looked up to get a visual on the giant shadow.
"They're gone," She said once the others had stepped out.
Mitsuru hurried over next to the android to look up the tower wall as well, her eyes widening. The shadow had vanished completely, but there was no way they could have reached the top in such a short amount of time.
"There must be some sort of opening somewhere, come on!" She urged, summoning Artemisia once more. She started the climb faster, and the others followed her with the same pace.
"Keep your eyes open for some sort of hole or something!" Mitsuru said to the others as she flew up another floor.
With each floor she passed, Aigis paused to carefully scan all of her surroundings to the best of her ability. She kept a silent count of how many floors they passed in her head. There were several spots where small shadows could fit in, but nothing like the large one. She looked down past Ken to double check her scan when she stopped.
"Ken, do you see that?" She pointed past him to the right at a large hole covered by a slanted panel. It was well hidden, but still remarkably present, and there was no denying it. That space had to be where they were. Aigis grabbed the attention of Mitsuru and Akihiko and lead everyone to the spot, slipping in.
Her feet touched the ground with a loud clack that echoed throughout the whole space. It was pitch black, and without a light, it was impossible to move around.
Aigis heard the others fall in behind her, Akihiko being the first to pierce the silence with words.
"I can't see shit."
A light smack followed afterwards, which Aigis concluded to most likely be Mitsuru hitting him.
"Anyone have a light?" Ken asked.
Koromaru barked and the familiar sound of a Persona being summoned sliced the thick silence next. Cerberus' three jaws lit up with fire, providing three torches that lit up the room.
A doorway was visible at the end of the empty room and no shadows in sight.
Koromaru and Cerberus walked in front of the group, Koromaru sniffing the ground for any trace of their friends. They passed through the doorway down a long hallway with a high ceiling. As they reached the end, a large set of doors stood in their way with the loud voice of Junpei muffled on the other side.
The large door was lighter than it looked, and the five members peeked in over each other's shoulders at the room.
It was bright with green moonlight lighting up the whole room. The wall to the right was littered with tiny spaces that allowed the light too pour through. The room was large and filled with things that clearly didn't belong in Tartarus. There were cars and clothes in two separate piles in one corner and a pile of furniture in the corner opposite. Large machinery like dump trucks and cranes and even a boat was on the floor. It was truly a sight to behold, definitely on the weirder side of the list of things they'd seen during the Dark Hour. The icing on the cake was what their friends were caught up doing.
The large shadow had reverted back to its two-arm form and sat on the floor in the middle of everything, looking at its feet. The forms of Minato and Junpei were there, but they weren't attacking the shadow.
They slipped into the room unnoticed and hid behind the boat, while the shadow turned away to rifle through the pile of clothes.
"Pssst. Hey. Hey!" Akihiko whisper-shouted. Minato and Junpei turned in surprise towards the boat.
"What's going on?" He continued.
"Something's weird with this shadow. It's not attacking us, but it won't let us leave!" Junpei whispered back. The point was furthered as the shadow tried to hand something to Junpei.
Fed up, Junpei shouted at it, "I told you, I'm a dude! I'm not putting on a bra!" Minato stifled his laughter as Junpei threw the bra at the ground. The shadow didn't seem phased by his squawking and handed him a feathered pirate hat next.
Junpei sighed, taking it and putting it on his head. The shadow perked up and went back to the pile to look for something else.
"How are Yukari and Fuuka?" Minato asked, still trying not to laugh at the crumbled bra on the ground.
"We think they'll be fine, the Kirijo Group took them to get medical help," Akihiko said back. "Now how are we going to get you two out of this mess?"
"I haven't figured it out yet, but I think attacking it is probably a bad idea. My best plan is to hide when its back is turned and sneak out, or to just play along and see how it goes. I don't think were in any danger here," The shadow turned and offered Minato a bowler hat, which he put on after he was done talking. The shadow couldn't seem to comprehend that Minato was talking to someone else in the room and pulled a table and two chairs up to them.
Minato sat down, motioned Junpei to follow along with him, which he did, begrudgingly. Satisfied, the shadow did one final turn, accompanied this time with a horrible smell.
A small shadow corpse was placed on the table in, still pulsing with shreds of life. The awful smell and the ghastly sight of the gory shadow made Junpei want to puke. The large shadow feasted on the corpse of a larger shadow and stared expectantly at the two boys several bites in.
"…I think it wants us to eat it, Junpei," Minato said.
"Oh, hell no," Junpei said, his hands covering his nose and mouth from the smell.
Minato tore off a piece of the shadow and looked as if he were about to eat it (Much to everyone's disgust) before he dropped it in his lap and pretended to swallow. The shadow looked to Junpei next.
Junpei followed Minato, getting his hands covered in shadow ichor as he tore a piece off, but threw it across the room in surprise when the supposedly dead shadow on the table jerked suddenly and startled him.
Everyone stayed still as they looked to see how the shadow would react. It paused before it almost seemed to laughing sound, and threw its own food across the room as if it were a game.
The room lost its tension in an instant and the shadow moved the table away, picking up a car next and rolling it back and forth on the ground as if it were a toy. Minato and Junpei shared a look with each other and began to slowly get up from their seats until the shadow jerked its head up as if it sensed something.
It turned its head in the air a few times like it was straining to hear something before it nearly tossed the car away and scooped the boys up roughly, running to the hole-filled wall.
The others ran after it, Mitsuru and Aigis taking the front, determined to not let the shadow get away this time.
The shadow finally saw the group, but not as a threat. It stopped itself before it tried to climb away to wherever and tried to pick up the others.
They leapt out of the way from its hands and the shadow grew more desperate. The extra set of arms sprung out of its back and succeeded in grabbing ahold of everyone but Aigis.
A loud noise erupted from outside, interrupting the concerned sounds coming from the large shadow. Ken slipped out of the shadow's hand easily, as it had rushed in scooping everyone up and its grip was not firm. He vaulted himself onto one of the ledges and peered out one of the holes in the wall.
The shadow gave up trying to gather S.E.E.S and climbed up to the ceiling, latching itself onto some bars that jutted out. It folded its arms and hung like a hammock, curled up in fear and shaking like a leaf.
Aigis rushed up the wall after it as Ken scanned the city through the window, trying to find the source of the noise. The room they were in was extremely high up the tower, and looking down, Ken realized he would have a hard time finding what he assumed would be a shadow making all that noise.
His eyes skimmed each section of the city, looking for any movement. He lingered on a strip mall when he saw a large group of snake shadows collected there, weaving in and around the shops. They appeared to be endlessly streaming from one of the shops in particular, one that Ken was sure was the deli that he had passed by with Koromaru on a walk once. He made a mental note to stay away from that area and to tell the others.
Moving on, he tried to block out the sound coming from within the room, which consisted of the team struggling to get out of the shadows grasp, who was much more interested in hiding than anything else. He heard the sound of feet hitting the floor and briefly tore his eyes from the window to see that Aigis had wrestled Minato and Mitsuru out of the shadow's cocoon of safety. Aigis made her way up to get the others.
The noise shook the tower again, but Ken couldn't make out what it was. He knew it sounded familiar, like he should know what it was, but no mattered how hard he strained his mind, he only drew blanks.
The two newly escaped teens climbed up next to Ken and joined him in the search of the city, and it wasn't until the third time the sound broke out and the rest of the team got away that Minato spotted it.
"There," he said, pushing his hand through the wall to point in the direction of Moonlight Bridge.
Nothing was on the bridge itself, but hovering above the water to the right of it was a large shape almost hidden in the darkness.
Everyone was sitting up on the wall now, looking down at the shape. The water around it was thrashing and moving in a whirlpool like fashion, sending growing waves to hit the land.
The sound hit the air again, this time accompanied with the visual of a contracting movement the shadow made. It grew and shrunk as the sound spread through the night, causing their strange friend on the ceiling to start shuddering harder.
Once more, a large wave hit the land, soaking the street and almost reaching one of the buildings. A disdained look overtook Minato's face when the realization hit him.
"We're going to have to fight that thing without Fuuka. If we don't get rid of it now, it won't take long before the whole city it leveled by the waves that thing is making," Minato stood up and climbed down the ledge, walking towards the only door. He turned back to the others and asked, "Are you guys ready for a battle without support?"
.
Getting down Tartarus was a lot easier than climbing it. All the shadows seemed to have gone into hiding like the large one they had left in the room had, because the streets they ran through were empty.
Making their way to the bridge was an easy task, they were a little tired but the pressing sound from the shadow and the growing crashing sounds of water pushed them forward.
Standing on the bridge looking out over at the shadow satisfied their minds in some way.
It would be one of the difficult shadows, as it followed the same line of human anatomy shadows they previously fought. This shadow in particular was a humungous set of lungs, surrounded by a black ribcage that seemed to act as a shield. The noises, Ken found out, was heavy breathing, something he knew well as someone who fought almost every day. As the lungs took in air and expunged it again, a huge wave of force slammed into the water, causing it to roll up to the city in such big waves.
Everyone grabbed their evokers and readied themselves to fight. Minato couldn't think of much of a plan, and there wasn't any way they could guess what the shadow would do without Fuuka.
"You guys ready?" He asked, glancing at his side to the others.
They all looked at each other and then back to Minato, trying their hardest to put on a brave face. This battle was sure to be a lot more difficult, but they had to try.