A/N: Finally! I have returned from the dead! Just kidding, I've been really busy with school. Blame my biology class, had to do a major project for it. Anyways I bring to you the chapter that finally begins to have some action! I hope you enjoy it.
To Whole Yet Hollow: I have yet to decide on the pairing, but I will think about your request, although I am leaning towards Mitsuru x Minato. Either way I plan on writing a story eventually for the pairing I did not choose.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything of the Shin Megami Tensei franchise, Atlus does. Any similarities to other works are coincidental or accidental. I apologize in advance.
--
The Tournament
The cobalt hair man made his way out of the door with grace and speed. As soon as he cleared the threshold, he took quick strides to the side of the small wooden house. There he kneeled down on one leg placing the palm of his right hand down on the ground. Minato began chanting...
"Break the bonds between reality and mind."
His arm began to glow with white runes winding up around the entire length of his arm. He now called out:
"Master of the blades, oh mighty warrior, stalwart Siegfried, rise from thy slumber and heed my call. Allow thy loyal servant to become one and augment my abilities as thine own."
Azure runic seals flared out from his hand. At first it was a small circle on the ground beneath his hand. It then grew out from that point and surrounded the man in a large circle with runes decorating the border. He now stood up as a blue light flared up from the edge of the circle, illuminating him with a tinge of cerulean. The light soon dissipated as the runic circle disappeared living a faint glow on the arm of Minato. The runes on his arm were still there but were faintly visible, though it still signified that he had bonded with his persona.
Good. Now I can easily make the trip without stops. From what Ken said, registration for the tournament is ending around noon tomorrow. Sigh so much ground to cover, but I must win that money!
Minato soon took off in a sprint with a single hand in the package from his new friends. Groping around, he soon found a suitable piece of soft bread and quickly shoved it in his mouth. Savoring the softness of the loaf he readjusted the cloth bag to hang from the hilt of the sword that was now strapped across his back. It was angled towards his right shoulder for easy access.
That boy and his dog... I have a feeling we will meet again soon.
Trip! Skid! Bam! Conk! The cobalt haired man was shaken out of the reverie he had slipped into. He immediately raised his hand to rub the bump on his head gently.
Ow, ow, ow! That's what I get for not paying attention.
While deep in thought he had tripped over a rock which sent him into an amusing chain of events. After tripping he had regained his balance only to have stepped into a slippery patch of ground. This catapulted him headfirst into the trunk of a nearby tree. The gods up above had decided to tease him some more by having a few cones from the tree fall atop the poor man's head.
The incident had made Minato decide to pay attention as he stood up to renew his sprint. In his head he reiterated instructions on how to avoid the thickets of trees.
Tree! Dodge left. Bush! Jump over. Tree! Dodge right. Dammit! Another tree!
He swerved quickly and grabbed a low hanging branch flipping onto the top of it to avoid another disastrous crash. Smiling to himself for his quick reaction he childishly stuck out a tongue at the tree as if taunting it for being a poor obstacle. However as he was busy mocking the innocent tree, he failed to notice the noises being emitted.
Crack!
Minato's weight had been too much for the feeble branch and it gave away in a few seconds. Fortunately he had landed on a soft bush below. Unfortunately he had disturbed a family of black and white animals that were passing by at the moment. Even worse, these animals turned out to be skunks. With their fur on end, Minato immediately paled. Angered and irritated they sprayed him with the deadly scent leaving him nearly gasping for air. The nearby flora seemed to be dying as well from the combined odor of five skunks. Beautiful green leaves soon withered to a sickly pale green.
Ugg! I think I'll suffocate before I can make it to the city...
The cobalt hair man wrinkled his nose in disgust at his own smell. Sighing deeply he decided that all he could do now was continue towards the capital.
He was never disturbed again by another animal during the entire trip. Their keen senses had told them to shy away before dying from the odor that covered the man.
--
The glare of the brilliant sun pounded down on the capital of Iwatodai. People bustled to and fro as they hurried along to their respective places. Merchants called out to passersby to stop and view various trinkets. In the harbor, captains barked out orders to sailors and fishermen lazily rowed their boats to find schools of fish. Carts rattled by as their owners rang bells to advertise wares. Children ran around a beautiful fountain chasing one another in a game. On benches by the fountain a pair of lovers cradled one another gently. Others sat to feed flocks of birds while some simply sat for a brief reprieve.
Through the streets, one could see students running to the renowned Gekkoukan Academy that lay in the center of the capital. It was easy to identify them. Males wore a uniform that consisted of a black coat with buttons at the side and their legs were covered with matching trousers. A white dress shirt lay underneath the coat with a navy ribbon adorning the collar. Females wore similar raiment for the top half, but they had a black pleated skirt that stretched down to slightly above their knees instead of trousers. The legs of the girls were covered with knee high socks. Both genders wore formal dress shoes.
Gekkoukan was a prestigious school that harbored some of the greatest intellectuals as the teachers. There was even a special program that taught students to control their Persona, it was the only place in the entire country that had these special lessons. Even the famed general of the royal army would come time to time for demonstrations. It was a famed academy that was open to all and sponsored by the royal Kirijo family. The institution was completely free and boasted a multitude of dorms for students to stay in. Takeharu Kirijo believed that all should have the chance to learn and expand their horizons. Thus he opened a school where even the poorest children could come and rise from their position in life. The uniforms were meant to break the barriers that divided the rich and the poor. The capital did have private academies meant only for the rich, but they all paled in comparison to Gekkoukan. Even Mitsuru-hime had graduated from this very school, and she had condoned to all aspects of the rules exemplifying even further that the royals backed it completely.
Certainly the people lived in a peaceful and prosperous city. People bustled along, paying little attention to others walking along the streets. However near the gates to the town a single person attracted the attention of many. Odd glances were thrown at a cobalt haired man and mutterings could be heard about him. He was a curious sight indeed in the city.
From head to toe the strange man was covered in leaves and mud. Small twigs stuck to his hair and a suffocating odor trailed the man. Most people decided to stay as far as possible from the man. Though he looked a little lost in his new surroundings, the townspeople wanted nothing to do with someone who stood out so much. Everyone thought this way except for a single tall dark haired man. Who was the dumber half of the Comedic Idiots.
"Yo!" The dark haired man called out to the wandering stranger. Swiveling his head, the stranger turned around to meet the voice.
"Damn dude! You reek!" the Comedic Idiot called out.
"Ah. Yeah, I ran into some skunks earlier..." the stranger trailed off as he remembered the painful memory.
The dark haired man burst out laughing at the facial expression the stranger was making.
"Haha, hah, hah, ah that was pretty rude of me. I'm Iori Junpei by the way. Just call me Junpei." He stuck a hand out at the cobalt haired man.
"No worries, I would have done the same in your place." Actually no I wouldn't have. The stranger took the hand and gave it a firm shake as he said, "Nice to meet you Junpei-san, I'm known as Minato."
"No need for san, too stiff. Hey, you're new around here right? What brings you to the capital?"
So curious...he seems...slightly annoying, but I could use his help. Odd that he would offer it though when no one else did.
"Actually yes, could you point me in the direction of the Crimson Flame guild? I have business to do there."
"I'll do one better and take you there, I'm actually a member myself."
Great, I'll probably have to deal with this guy even more now...
Minato feigned a smile, "Thanks Junpei, I really appreciate it!"
--
"Fuuka! Where are you?" Called out the scarlet haired princess.
For the past few weeks Mitsuru had been cooped up in her room sorting out massive amounts of paper. She needed a break, and she knew her trusty advisor was bound to come up with something.
"Right here Mitsuru." The green haired woman smiled kindly. She knew what the princess wanted and had already prepared in advance.
Whisking out a pair of glasses from nowhere, she settled the spectacles on her face and adopted a mock serious expression.
"Today's work is a survey mission. It requires you to be disguised, and to watch the tournament that is being hosted later this afternoon by the Crimson Flame." Fuuka giggled lightly at the demeanor she had taken on.
Mitsuru did as well and decided to follow suit, "I take this mission in secrecy Advisor Fuuka!" She saluted which tore a fit of laughter from Fuuka. "In a few minutes I will be ready to depart, is there need of backup?"
Her 'backup' was the usual knights from the Royal Guard.
"No need, if you brought any knight Akihiko would want to go as well and join in on the tournament. And as you know the rules explicitly state that no commanding officers of the army would be allowed to enter, much less the general himself."
"Ah I suppose that is true. Akihiko would win the prize money far too easily. It's a shame; he would have enjoyed it. Well a day wandering the city by myself seems rather interesting."
"Indeed, I wish I could go with you. Unfortunately this poor advisor has to stay in this gigantic palace all by her lonesome self to cover for a certain somebody."
Mitsuru smirked, "By yourself? I thought you would be rather happy to see me go so you could enjoy some time alone with Ryoji. Whatever you do, stay away from my bath!"
Fuuka's face was dyed crimson as her lady said this. She could only stutter out, "Mi-Mi-Mitsuru what are you saying?!"
The princess chuckled at the cuteness of her friend. She could her Fuuka mumbling things like I wouldn't do anything like that in your bath...
Mitsuru patted the advisor's head as she began the preparations for her departure.
--
"Here we are!" Cried out an excited Junpei. "Better hurry and sign up before its too late."
Minato nodded in reply. After some time spent walking, the pair had arrived at the front of the building that hosted the office and dorms of the Crimson Flame. Minato had told Junpei of his plans to join the tournament and along the way Junpei pointed out the scenes of the capital. What captured his eye the most was the Gekkoukan Academy. He had always enjoyed academic pursuit prior to his wandering, and the academy had brought back old memories.
A lone boy sat in what appeared to be a library. He was around the age of seven and had striking cobalt hair. On all sides he was surrounded by books. At the moment he was immersed in a novel of a wandering scholar/ warrior who told fanatical tales of his past deeds to nobles and commoners alike for the chance to peruse interesting books that they had. The boy smiled, it sounded like a fine adventure in search of more knowledge. He also enjoyed the skirmishes the scholar got into, and instead of fighting like the scholar/ warrior could of; the man calmed his foes with tales that had them bursting in laughter and their anger would be gone. Often times the old foes would offer the man free lodging and food for making them laugh. After all, a wandering man never has too much money on hand. To absorbed in his book the boy failed to notice the book stacks were dangerously close to falling. Not a moment later a small tremor from the boy caused the books to fall on top of him, eliciting a yelp from the boy. It took an entire day for his parents to discover his location and by then he had passed out from the burden on his body. The boy spent the rest of the week cowering away from any form of books and snuggled into the comfort of his kaa-sama every night while he was fed delicious dark chocolate cookies. His tou-sama was left envious as his own son kept the attention of his wife from him for an entire week. Thus the boy was rewarded playful scuffle everynight due to his tou-sama's jealously.
Minato chuckled at this thought. Well he had to admit, Junpei did provide at least one use to him.
The two had now entered the building and was greeted by a woman dressed in all white with red hair standing behind a counter.
"Junpei-san, welcome back!" called out the woman.
"Yo, Chidori! I have someone who wants to join the tournament!"
"Hello," Chidori bowed. "Please sign up on this list here." She beckoned towards a sheet of paper to the left of the counter.
Minato strolled up to the paper and signed his name neatly on the sheet below.
"The rules will be announced during the tournament and as you may know the prize is a hundred thousand gold pieces. We will begin later this afternoon and all entrants are to head to the plaza at two for the announcement of your opponents for round one. The battles will begin an hour later." After she finished relaying the information she smiled and continued, "It is good that you came not a moment later, registration was closing soon. Good luck to you, and good day."
"Well now that that's done with, you need to take a bath dude." Junpei shoved him playfully forward. "This place has an open bath for the members who stay here. Take one and freshen up for the battles. Can't have you embarrassing me cause you look so shabby. After all I took you all the way here. Put your clothes in a basket and I'll get them clean."
"Wow, thanks Junpei." Minato was definitely surprised by his sudden kindness. His outlook on the man changed a bit.
"Hah! No problem, just treat me to a nice meal when you win!"
"Why don't you join yourself Junpei?"
"Ah well, some of the guild members are banned from entering cause the boss know we would wipe the floor with some of the people joining. Not just us though, bunch of the military guys have to stay out of this too."
"I see, well how do you know I'll win?"
"Just a feeling. Now get going I've endured your odor for this long!" Junpei grinned as he pushed the man towards the door to the bath.
"Thanks." This time Minato meant it. Junpei wasn't so bad after all.
"No problem man, just make sure you go to the right side of the baths. Sheesh last time I accidentally went to the women's side and boy was I sure in for a beating."
Minato sighed. He's just a pervert in the end.
--
Man this feels good.
It had been some time since Minato entered the bath. The skunk odor was long gone now and he was just relaxing now.
Rubbing his eyes to keep from drifting off to sleep, Minato decided that it was best to leave before he stayed in the bath to long and collapsed from the heat. Rising from the waters he headed towards the door.
Before he could even open it, the door was yanked open and he was face to face with a towel clad brunette.
They stared for a few seconds before the woman glanced down towards his lower half...
"PERVERT!!" She screamed as she gave him a hard slap across the face and immediately slammed the door back shut.
Minato only stared in shock as he rubbed the hand shaped imprint that was now on his face. It stung, badly.
He was sure he had gone into the right bath; there was no mistake about it. Risking another confrontation with the woman, he slowly grasped the handle of the door as he began to pull it open.
--
Well that was my longest chapter so far. And yes I know I lied a bit about the action part. Honestly I was planning on writing to the end of the tournament but I'm tired and I really do not feel like writing anymore.
Hopefully my recent updates will keep you satisfied for now.
Don't forget to check out my new story Myths.
It deals with the myths talked about in the character profiles chapters.
Now review!! I know you people are reading this story and I want to see more reviews or I refuse to write more!
Please, please, please review with a cherry on top!
