Author's Note: I'm going to allow anonymous reviewing from now on. Please do not use the chance to type explicitives or promote deconstructive criticism. Neither of those things produce anything of use.

-...-

"Okay, so what do we know?" Chie slammed her hand down on the table.

Yui drummed her fingers on the Junes table. "Well, um, the Shadows seem to ignore us until we've become distracted or weak, they're weak to fire, and Mogura's probably in that cave at the top of the hill."

There was a short pause.

"Wow. We don't know shit, do we?" Yosuke moaned.

Yui forced a grin. "Yep. Investigation Team, let's move out!"

"That's another thing. Can't we call ourselves the 'TV Hunters or something?"

Chie grabbed him by the ear. "Come on, Investigation Team member."

"Natch."

-…-

Episode 6: Blindman's Bluff

Courage- Brave

Knowledge- Broad

Expression- Eloquent

Understanding- Kindly

Diligence- Persistent

-Persona 4-

-…-

When they came through the TV again, the island's former glory seemed to have returned. The sun was shining, the road looked freshly paved, and the fields were filled with fluffy white sheep. Yi looked around and blinked. Sheep?

"What the? What're all these sheep doing in our way?" Yosuke stepped forward. "Ah, well. Some practice like this should be good." He put out his hand, but Yi stopped him.

"Wait… Did you hear what Mogura said on the Midnight Channel? "

Chie tapped her chin. "You mean, 'stay away from the sheep'? Yeah, I remember."

"So, why don't we just ask our Personae nicely if we can fly over?"

The other two nodded.

"Jiraya!"

"Tomoe!" The two Personae picked up their masters without hesitation. However, the sheep seemed to be disturbed by this.

Baaaa... Baaaa…

"Uh… guys… wait… I don't think this is such a good idea." Yi waved her hand to signal them to come down. But it was too late. The sheep had gathered around the trio, and they looked mad. Their fur began to color pink, then red. The skin on their faces disappeared, revealing bleached skulls with no eyes in their eye sockets.

"You know what? Let's get at 'em!" Yi swung her golf club side to side and pulled out her glowing blue card. "Izanagi-jo!"

The longcoat-wearing Persona pulled out her bladed staff and swung a perimeter for the other two fighters. Jiraya jumped into action, but was soon cut off by several runic circles that appeared in front of the now red-fleeced sheep. A few of them dissolved without distress, but one exploded, sending Jiraya reeling and flickering weakly. Yosuke himself fell to the ground in a flash.

"Yosuke!" Yi cried.

"Don't worry about them! I'll handle it! Just heal Yosuke!"

Yi nodded and popped a bottle of medicine open, shoving the pills down the slacker's throat.

"Ugh… Thanks." Yosuke stood up. "M… Media…"

Jiraya bathed itself and Yosuke in a shower of healing light, causing the auburn-haired Magician to pump his fist. "Hell yeah! Let's go!"

As Jiraya flew back to the battle, Chie appeared to be handling Tomoe very well for a first time Persona User. The physical-strength Persona ripped sheep after sheep into shreds with huge sweeping strikes. Jiraya was hovering above, throwing equally effective windstorms and bladed discs into the fray. However, Izanagi-jo dominated the fight, leaving in her wake a veritable cloud of shadows. Twirling her blade above her head, she summoned a lightning bolt that vaporized a small herd.

"Bear-y well done, Sensei, Yosuke-kun, and Chie-chan! You cleared the whole area!" Teddie hopped from one foot to another.

A swift kick to the plushy figure indicated Chie's displeasure towards the presumptive honorable.

"DON'T call me 'Chie-chan'."

"Whatever you say, Chie-c…san."

Yosuke sighed. "Damn, I'm tired. Could we go back for some drinks? I, uh, feel like my spiritual energy is down?" He grimaced guiltily. Neither of the girls believed him for a second, and for good reason.

Yui glared at him, pulled something out of the backpack she carried, and pitched it to him. "Here, drink up."

"Is this… TaP?" He caught the silver can and raised an eyebrow. Yi nodded.

"Something like that. Drink it and let's go."

He gulped it down and crushed the can under his heel, putting the remains in his pocket.

"Thanks, Partner. I actually do feel a lot better now." He nodded, and they continued.

-…-

The deadly sheep's green fields ended abruptly at the start of the deep, dark cave Yui had seen earlier.

There were a set of porch chairs and a table to the right. Yui put her hands on the smooth white surface and recognized the material instanly. Her skin crawled as she drew her hand away from the furniture made from bone.

A distant-sounding version of Mogura's voice started echoing from the back of the cave.

Mogura's thoughts began to talk again. "Do I need a woman to keep me in check, as people are always saying about men? I want to be strong and smart at the same time. What's wrong with that? Why are my emotions always running rampant? Ugh!"

Chie sighed. "I still can't stand it when he talks like that, even when I know it's his Shadow. I just... mmph."

The voice faded deeper into the cave. Chie breathed in deeply and then marched into the darkness, with Yui and Yosuke trailing behind her.

Soon, a light appeared inside the cave, and they found a huge cavern with a gigantic bonfire in the center of it. The two Moguras were arguing right next to it.

"Shut up, you fool! You can't just say that women are responsible for all the world's problems!"

"I never said such a thing. I merely said that emotions are the cause of all disorder, and women are the highest producers of emotion."

"That's bull! Men get pissed as much as women, if not more! Didn't you see how I flipped shit over Chie kicking me?" Mogura looked like he was gonna blow a fuse right there. But his counterpart just took another sip of his drink and laughed.

"Of course I did. But you only got mad after Chie did. She and other women haven't learned yet that emotions are to be suppressed. We learned that very quickly, DIDN'T WE?"

Mogura's face flushed red. "Emotions are good! How would we be able to confront a seriously deep problem? We'd just ignore it. Or how would we make friendships? There'd be no reason!"

"Both of these are correct."

"So what are you saying?"

Shadow Mogura wagged his finger. "Ah, ah, ah. Pronoun trouble. It's 'What am I saying?', not 'what are YOU saying?' "

"You're not making any sense!" Mogura gritted his teeth. "We're talking about your reasoning, not mine!"

"But they are the same thing! After all, I am you."

Mogura dropped his walking-stick out of surprise and fell on the ground grabbing for it, muttering, "That's impossible… He's not lying, but… There's no way!"

"My opinions are your opinions. There's no use denying it!"

Mogura picked up his stick and stood up.

"Denying what? I-I don't understand! Is this some sort of joke?"

"You say emotions are good, but you're as cold as ice. Colder than the 'frigid bitch', as Amagi Le Crybaby is called. Seriously! As soon as we rejected her, she ran off to Chie, crying like a three-year-old!"

"Shut up! She has nothing to do with this! Also, you just can't say things like that!"

"Oh, but I can. She bothers us, remember?"

Mogura gulped and hung his head in shame. "That- No! Shut UP!"

"That's right! She's a 'bother'! So's anybody else! Just because you're an exchange student, you think you can insult or reject whoever the fuck you want! You won't let anybody be friends with you! You think friendship is for losers, and that emotions are for the foolish."

"No, I don't! Stop!"

"Of course, I agree with you. Emotions are only to be unleashed on those that you hate! Like Chie. Damn woman shoved me down a flight of stairs! We ought to shove HER down a flight of stairs and see how SHE feels!"

"I don't- NO!"

"Just reject everybody! That way, you don't have to deal with anybody but girls like her! Then you can get rid of them and have your life free of the idiots that would get in your way! That's what you really think, isn't it? You strand yourself on an island of isolation anyway! You look pretty for the picture, then scare everybody off when they get too close."

"That's not what I'm trying to do…"

"It's all because you're a worthless blind guy that looks good on top, but has no real meaning or worth under all the 'handsomeness' people say you have. Girls think you're so cool, but in reality, you're just a tied-up ball of emotions that got tossed to Japan so that your own family could get rid of you!"

This was obviously a very sharp topic. "No, dammit! I love Japan… The culture, the food, the…"

"You don't even know what you should be doing with your life. You have no real friends, you reject everybody who tries to be kind to you, and there's nothing but balled-up rage under that thick skull of yours. Admit it!"

"Look, I don't know who you are or what you're talking about, but I do know who you're NOT, and that's ME!"

Shadow Mogura started flickering red. A guttural growl escaped his throat, and his chest started rising and falling steadily. He looked up at his self with a glare that could melt steel, gripping his glass so hard it shattered, and dripped pina colada on the floor of the cave.

"So, you reject me, too. I thought you'd learn after putting a wall between you and everyone you know! But NOOOOooooo! You even reject me- You reject YOURSELF! You're worse than that girl we loved. You're TEN THOUSAND TIMES WORSE! BUT THAT DOESN'T MATTER, BECAUSE I'M NOT YOU ANYMORE!'

The exchange student tossed his glasses and the remains of his refreshment to the ground, reared back like a werewolf, and gave an unearthly howl. Mogura started shaking all over as he felt the dark wind pull misty shadow toward his doppelganger. Darkness not dispersed by the fire caused Shadow Mogura to distort and swell until he formed a monstrous blind giant carrying a club. It pointed at its original, a bloody dead eye glaring at him in hate.

"I AM A SHADOW, THE TRUE SELF! I'M GOING TO USE ALL OF MY EMOTION TO WIPE YOU AND EVERYONE ELSE WHO REJECTS ME OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH!"

The Shadow gave a huge roar and swung at Chie. Yosuke dove and tackled her out of the way. The rock split with a sickening crunch where the club came down.

"Get off of me!" Chie pushed off Yosuke and summoned her card. "TOMOE!" The Persona flew toward her foe, twisting her bladed staff until slicing the Cyclops straight in the eye. The monster howled and swung blindly, nearly slapping Yi aside.

Yi rolled out of the way and crawled to her feet. "Izanagi!"

Yosuke grumbled at his unappreciated heroics, but quickly smiled, jumping and slashing with his kunai. "Throw down! Persona!" Jiriaya appeared and flew to support his comrades.

Tomoe appeared to be fighting much harder than either of the two other Personae; she flew around, slicing the one-eyed giant all over the chest, face, and arms.

"You think you can just go around doing whatever the hell you want? I'll take you down myself!"

Another flurry of strikes, and the shadow stared smoking in anger.

"YOU'RE JUST A LITTLE PEST!" The shadow managed a lucky grab and caught Tomoe by the legs. Struggling to get free, the yellow-armo red warrior continued to pound out its anger on Mogura's Shadow.

"I'M GOING TO SNAP YOU IN HALF! THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR MESSING WITH POLYPHEMUS!"

He grabbed Tomoe's upper half with his other hand and began trying to break her spine. Chie fell to the ground, her back spasming in pain. "Eyaaaah!" She twisted to her side and trembled on the ground.

"Stop it!" Mogura stood up for the first time since the Shadow had changed. Polyphemus looked towards the sound and hesitated for a split second. That's all it took for Jiriaya to blow a tornado in his face. The cyclops cursed and dropped Tomoe. Izanagi-jo caught her and laid her on the ground before returning to the fight.

Shadow Mogura looked sweaty and worn. "All right then! Let's even the odds, shall we?"

He kicked the fire out, and suddenly the whole room went dark.

Yosuke grumbled. "Dammit! First he puts Chie out of action and now he cut the lights!"

Yui focused and called back Izanagi.

-Burning Up!-

"Pyro Jack! Get out here!" The fire persona burned into existence, then gave an evil grin as it held out its lantern toward Polyphemus.

"Yosuke! It's visible now! Get at it!"

"All right, Partner!"

With the giant roaring and cursing at Pyro Jack's constant flow of fire, Yosuke was able to pause and heal Chie. A wave of relieving energy ran through the martial artist's spine and she slowly made her way to her feet. "Thanks," she mumbled to Yosuke. "I'm sorry I got so angry at you."

Suddenly, Mogura's face distorted, and a wave of memories flooded into his head.

"Did they hurt you, Big Bro?"

"I've never had a blind friend before."

"That worthless kid can't even get good grades!"

"We should hang out more often… "

"Stop it, Dad! It's not his fault he's blind!"

"What kind of Hanson are you, that you won't join the military?"

And then, the devastator. The words he had heard a thousand times within his own mind.

"I think you're really nice, but I can't be your girlfriend…"

They burned with a sharper pain than ever, pounding his mind over and over again.

"I can't be…"

The sadness was overwhelming, sweeping over his bent body in a tidal wave. They had gone out for ice cream so many times, had so many special moments together. Soon after she had refused him, she disappeared entirely. It was said that she had to leave for her parent's job.

"You're really nice…"

That's enough.

Mogura looked up as the scathing memory faded from his mind. He could feel the warm heat of a fire in front of him, and the voice that had spoken to him was that of an old man.

"Who are you?"

A man of heavy sorrows, like yourself. Both of us have lost something dear to us.

"So why am I here?"

Because I have been called to teach you a lesson.

Mogura straightened his jaw. "I will listen."

Good. In my experience, emotions have been both my enemy and my friend. I find that the best thing to do with emotions is to hold on to the one you are experiencing, feel it completely, and then let it go when appropriate.

"I… Think… I understand you."

Excellent. Now awaken, and see my power rise to its full extent.

"What?"

I art thou. Thou art I.

And Mogura stood up to hear the sounds of battle and the roar of a frustrated giant.

"I see. I had just been trying to shield myself from my emotions… I knew that emotions brought me pain as well as happiness, so I tried to get rid of them in order to save myself some pain. "

"Mogura?" Yui looked astounded. Even more astounded was Polyphemus.

"I put up shields, like you said, when I really should have been letting myself full experience my emotions, understand them, and let them go. You were- WE were- right."

"SHUT UP! YOU'RE JUST SAYING THAT TO MAKE ME GO AWAY, AREN'T YOU?" Mogura's Shadow flickered and clutched its head.

"Listen to me! If you really are me, then you can tell by hearing me that I'm telling the truth!"

"THAT… THAT CAN'T BE RIGHT! YOU WERE REJECTING ME SO HARSHLY BEFORE! YOU COULDN'T HAVE CHANGED YOUR MIND SO QUICKLY!"

"You know as well as I do that humans are very fickle when it comes to their life's outlook. I may have been stuck in a rut, but when people really do grasp the truth their view on things can change enormously very fast!"

Mogura stood up to the fullness of his considerable height.

"I tried to push away friendship and love in order to protect myself from all of the embarrassment, sadness, and anger that comes from learning about people. I lost all of the joy that comes from forming relationships because I was too afraid of being hurt."

"UGGH… YOU… YOU REALLY DO MEAN IT…" Polyphemus fell to one knee and started flickering rapidly.

Teddie hopped up and down excitedly. "It's just like the other two! Defeat it while it's down!"

"Full force Assault!" Yosuke spun his kunai in expectation.

"Granted!"

"Good Answer! Get him!"

With a flurry of sweeping attacks, the Shadow slowly fell apart until the human-sized figure collapsed and lay on the ground shaking. Mogura stood up and limped over to the static-like wheezing.

"It wasn't other people that were rejecting me… I was rejecting myself. I thought if I formed bonds, then I would fail and hurt myself and others, like when I was rejected. I never wanted to feel that pain again, so I hid my real feelings away. I was scared people thought I was worthless because I was blind. I rejected you… I rejected me."

He felt his way to the ground and placed a hand on his shadow's chest. "You are me… And I am you…"

The shadow nodded, dissolving into blue light. A slightly hunchback figure in tattered purple robes and rusty armor floated into the air. He wore a dark red bandanna over his mouth and his eyes had been torn up until the sockets were covered in congealed blood. Green fire took the place of open eyes as it looked down at its master.

For showing strength of heart and facing your fear of rejection with wisdom beyond age, I have been made manifest from the sea of your soul…

I am Oedipus Rex, the façade you use to overcome life's hardships.

I art thou… and thou art I.

As the Persona descended, Mogura reached out to it. When it had entered him, he lay down in exhaustion. Teddie skipped up to Yi and hugged her tightly. "That was un-bear-leivable! Sensei, you're the greatest!"

Yui sighed in relief. "Thanks, Teddie." She turned to Mogura. "Are you gonna be okay?"

Mogura stood up again. "I think so." He held out his hand, and the card appeared, turning over his palm. The girl looked at him strangely, but shook it off. "C'mon, let's get back home." However, when they reached the edge of the cave, the entrance was surrounded by the sheep Shadows that had kept them delayed before.

"Persona!" Izanagi-jo, Jiraiya, and Tomoe burst out and began slaughtering Shadows left and right. Between busts of wind, thunder, and ice, it looked like a regular hurricane.

Oedipus burst out from Mogura's hand and murmured, You will need a guide to get anywhere while fighting. I had my daughter. Do you know her name?

Mogura racked his soul for answers. One phrase set out from all the others. "ANTIGONE!"

A little female figure, cloaked fully in black so that no part of her face or skin showed appeared beside her father and then flew above the Shadows, dropping tongues of green flames that hovered over their heads.

The flames in Oedipus's eyes burned brightly. "Persona!" Mogura cried, and Oedipus darted into the fight. A wicked blade flashed from his side as Antigone dissolved into the shadow of her father. Every sheep that had a flame above its head was hacked in half by the unrelenting king. The sheep were scared out of their wits by this new enemy's fury, and scattered into the waiting weapons of the other three Personae.

It goes without saying what happened next.

Soon after this clean sweep ended, however, Mogura's head lolled. He collapsed, instantly falling asleep on the soft green pastures.

"Dammit." Yosuke sat down on one of the cracked chairs. "I guess I'll be carrying him out…"

"Yep!" Yui flicked his nose teasingly.

"Hey! Ow!"

"I'm actually surprised he was able to summon his Persona so quickly." Chie knelt down next to Mogura. "It's like he already knew how to…"

-…-

Monday, April 18, 2011

Dojima Residence

Night

"That cleaned up well, didn't it?" Yosuke was having a midnight chat with Yi over the fiasco from the day before.

Yi nodded. "Nothing showed up on the Midnight Channel, Mogura has returned, and apparently, Chie is now back on speaking terms with Yukiko."

"Thank God. Geez, it seems like everyone got all worked up over nothing…"

"Shut up! Friendships between girls are fragile."

"Pft… They've been friends forever. They'd get over it, right? "

"It's serious business. You don't want to know how many childhood friendships can get torn apart over a guy. Plus, Chie almost killed him. If he had never recovered, Chie would have been in a whole heap of…"

"Shit?"

"Thanks, Yosuke…" Yi ground sarcastically. "Trouble." She walked up to her window." Anyways, it's foggy tonight, and both times the night before someone was killed was foggy. We got in just in time."

"No kidding? Wow." Yosuke whistled. "Well, see you tomorrow."

"You too, Yosuke."

She blushed as she ended the call.

"You too."

END CHAPTER

NEXT SCENT: WE'RE A TEAM

"My name's Kou Ichijo…"

"…you said there was supposed to be another manager…"

"You love Kou-san?"

"I'll jump!"