The Midnight Channel, Also Teddie! - Chapter 8

{April 14, 2011} {Cloudy}

[Junes department store, After School]

The trio of teenagers arrived at Junes and began making their way to the electronic section of this huge department store. As they walked alongside the others, Yu and his Persona began thinking of "the old days."

"Hmm, this place almost makes me feel nostalgic…remembering all the good and even bad times here…" Yu reminisced fondly in his mind to the persona Izanagi.

"Quite an experience it was, but apparently not enough of it…" Izanagi sighed, the realization of having to really go through all this hardship again was starting to take its toll on the two.

"Stay optimistic Izanagi, we will find the truth this time, we just need to be patient until that crucial moment where we screwed up happens…" Yu stayed determined for his Persona, though he felt the same...it's his persona duh. Izanagi stayed quiet for a time as they walked until…

"Should be careful when thou see Teddie-san again…" Izanagi sounded cautious as he told his user; Yu who was perplexed by this seemingly random warning.

"Wh-What for...Izanagi?" Yu asked the Persona in his head, frighten at the chance of screwing up possibly all of time or something serious.

"I'm just having a feeling that thou might call him Teddie out of habit…" Izanagi admitted to his user bluntly. Before Yu could respond about him being ridiculous, the three friends stopped right in front of a large flat screen in the TV display gallery of the electronics section.

"Wow, this is huge! And holy crap it's expensive! Yosuke, who buys this?!" Chie exclaimed looking at the very high price tag of the flat screen with an astonished expression on her face.

"Not a lot honestly, not many people shop here for TVs, so we don't have any clerks around …" Yosuke told Chie not realizing how convenient that info is/was for them in this future or past…whatever.

"Not worth buying I guess, but at least looking is free…r-right?" Chie was looking at all the other really expensive TVs around the particular large flat screen.

After a bit of looking around with their eyes, Yosuke and Chie nodded to each other and proceeded to the front of the same large flat screen they were looking at before and began tapping and feeling the TV screen as another attempt to tease Yu for the seemingly ridiculous claim he made, despite what happened in the classroom, they were really trying to call his bluff.

"Can't get in, figures…" Yosuke turned to Yu with an almost mocking expression, Yu was really nonplussed by it.

"Haha, this proves it! It really was just all a dream..." Chie says with a confident bright smile, Yu was then dishearten by his future girl not believing him despite the fact that he already knew she wouldn't, he hid his eyes. The astral projection of Izanagi appeared behind Yu, confused by his sudden change of mood.

"What happened to "stay optimistic!?" Izanagi was trying to shake his user from his current state of mind. Yu was actually waiting for the right moment to shove the teasing right back into his friends faces…

"Hush…" Yu said quietly with a devious grin on his face, his eyes colder than a snake about to strike, Izanagi began worrying more for his user's state of mind.

"Besides these flat screens are so thin, that you'd just end up on the side…argh, what am I saying!?" Yosuke realized he said something silly and became embarrassed, Yu chuckled to himself because of it.

"O-Okay so Chie, what kind of TV are you guys looking for?" Yosuke asked Chie, averting his face from Yu's amused expression to him.

"They said something cheap, any suggestions?" Chie responded with another question. They began looking around for cheap TVs.

Yosuke and Chie walked to the other side of the TV display gallery, leaving Yu alone by himself with the large flat screen. The Junes boy prepared his store clerk shtick.

"Well miss, we have this lovely screen, it's our newest model just released this spring…" Yosuke was really into this bit.

"Th-That's not cheap at all! Look at all these zeros!" Chie was astonished by the model's price, holding its tag in hand.

"I guess I've should have asked you what you mean about "cheap" right off the bat…" Yosuke was exasperated; he had put on a show for nothing.

"You have connections right? Come on hook me up..." Chie was trying to exploit her friend's status as the manager's son.

"You know I can't do that Chie…" Yosuke didn't want to get in trouble with his dad.

"Well then…how about this one, it's an old display but-" Yosuke was telling Chie right as he spots Yu leaning toward the TV with his arm going through the screen easily, even causing it to have vibrations like it was only water. Needless to say, he was really shocked by this.

"Huh, is something wrong, Yosuke?" Chie noticed that Yosuke's face had grown pale from staring into the direction where Yu was, she turned around to see what's up.

"I-Is his…arm in the TV?" Yosuke pointed to Yu, his hand was shaking from seeing the strange happening.

"Whoa…" Chie was pretty shocked as her jaw immediately dropped from seeing what Yosuke was seeing.

"Uuh… is that some kinda… new model? L-Like with a new function?" Chie was shaking at the fact that Yu was right about this and they mocked him for it.

"Hell no!" Yosuke exclaimed in response as the two ran quickly to their friend to see closer at the bizarre sight taking place.

"Y-You gotta be kidding, did really stick your hand into the TV?" Chie asked him still astonished by the sight, she looked closely at his arm, it was really inside the TV.

"Yeah!" Yu told her causally with a smile.

"Th-This has to be some kind of magic trick! Wh-What's your secret, man?" Yosuke was trying find a rational reason for all that's happening right now.

"A magician never reveals his secrets…" Yu playfully tells Yosuke with a wink while his arm still inside the TV. Note: Yu is very fond of magic tricks.

"Stick thy head in to make them freak out more…" Izanagi told Yu, laughing at his user's friends and eager to see them freak out a bit more now because it was really amusing to watch. Yu removed his arm from inside the screen and stuck his head in to get a rise from them.

"H-Hey, Don't do that! What if someone sees?!" Yosuke was being loud, that wasn't helping at all as people in the store around them heard and slowly began their approach to the commotion…

"Oh my god…" Chie began freaking out, holding her mouth with her hands as she watched Yu's quite "handsome" face and head disappear into the TV screen.

"There's a big empty space inside here…" Yu tells the two what he sees inside, with his head still in the TV.

"Wh-What do you mean inside!?" Yosuke asked what he meant by that.

"What do you mean empty space!?" Chie was very confused as well.

"H-Holy crap… I-I think this is all too much for my bladder…" Yosuke began holding himself because he got too worked up from all the excitement. Chie then turned to him quickly because of his little dance.

"What The-? Are you going to pee your pants!?" Chie began worrying frantically that Yosuke might accidentally relieve himself at the moment.

"I've been holding it all day! I-I Haven't had the chance to go…" Yosuke began bouncing in place, lifting each foot off the ground in quick succession in attempt to hold it all in…

"Aaargh, I can't…hold it…anymore!" Yosuke quickly ran along the side of the TV gallery to find a close bathroom…only to come back after four seconds.

"Shit, shit…customers! Th-They're coming!" A weakening Yosuke still holding himself to Chie.

"What!? We got Yu-kun half stuck in the TV here! Wh-What are we going to do!" Chie responded shaking in fear. The two friends began running frantically in circles behind Yu in a panic of not knowing what to do...

"Thou ready for this?" Izanagi asked Yu in his mind.

"Yeah, I just hope the first fall won't hurt my neck like before…" Yu telling the persona with his head still in the TV, he called out to his panicking friends.

"Come on you two… there's no use staying here…" Yu calmly as he manages to take both his friends hands quickly as they ran around despite not being able to see them, he dived in to the TV completely taking the two before customers arrived to their position.

"W-Wait, Yu-kun!" Chie reacted to Yu suddenly taking her hand as she disappeared into the screen along with him.

"What the!? W-Wai-WHOA!" Yosuke's hand was also taken by his friend, falling along with the others.

As the three disappeared into the TV, they were falling into a deep black and white rectangular pattern worm hole thing that swirled around them, it reminded them of a TV screen, until they were going to hit the ground any second now.


[One cartoony falling sound later…]

Yu fell right on his back hard to the ground and bounced backward from the impact.

"Oof…A-Ah, I landed on my back this time…that's smarts..." A pained Yu stayed on the ground for a bit to recover until the others landed with him.

"O-Ow!" Yosuke came down right on his own ass and bounced to the side…that looked really painful, it sounded like he broke something.

"Aaah!" Chie somehow managed to land right on her butt as well, rolling backwards from the landing.

The three sat themselves up, they landed pretty close to each other.

"Ow, I-I think landed on my wallet…" Yosuke checked his lower back and got up from the ground.

"Man, where the heck are we?" Chie still sitting, she looked out to her surroundings to see nothing but a yellow smog oblivion in the distance, they were on some sort of black and white landing zone target with white filled-in outlines of human bodies in various positions on the ground. Yu after getting off the ground, he walked over to help Chie up as well.

"What is this place? Somewhere inside Junes?" Chie wondered, staring out to nowhere beside Yu and Yosuke.

"Hell no, it isn't…I mean we fell through a TV…a-actually what the heck is going on here?" Yosuke looked around the strange place, he then turned to Yu with him facing Yosuke as well.

"Beats me…" Yu was trying to play along, thankfully they bought it, Izanagi cheerfully gave him props with a thumps up in his mind.

"Haa…so we're all still alive…r-right?" Chie was a little frighten of the unknown.

"You guys okay?" Yu wondered for his friends since he landed differently this round.

"I think my butts cracked now..." A pained Yosuke responding his friend.

"Of course it is…" Chie was just surprised that they lived through a seemingly high fall…

"Whoa!" Yosuke looked up slightly, seemingly at the nothing. Chie began panicking in reaction to him doing that.

"Wh-What now, did You wet your pants!?" Chie backed away from Yosuke a bit in disgust.

"No stupid! Look around!" Yosuke telling Chie, gesturing all over around them.

They all began looking out as the smog somehow dissipated quickly for them to see more of the area, it looked like they were in some strange alien world. They were in a square hall that looked a lot like a TV studio set with a bunch of flood lights hanged up and placed down with steel walkways going out into different directions from the sides of this "set."

"Is this…. a TV studio? All this fog or smoke… there isn't any place like this in Inaba, is there?" Chie wondered in curiosity to them.

"No, but man is this place is huge!" Yosuke looked in awe around them, it seemed big.

"What're we gonna do?!" Chie looked toward Yu asking him.

"Let's get home…" Yu told her calmly, so she won't panic, that didn't last for long though.

"R-Right…" Chie turned around frantically and began looking for a way out.

"H-Huh, wait a minute…which way did we come from? I don't see a way in… or out!" Chie sounded like she was going to cry at the realization. Yosuke looked to her in shock as Yu stayed oddly calm about the whole thing.

"That can't be right… H-How could that be?!" Yosuke began panicking at the possibility.

"I-I don't know! Don't ask me! I can't take this anymore! I want to go home!" Chie began to panic, almost sobbing into her hands, face slightly down.

"Okay...so how?!" Yosuke began to break down in frustration as well, until Yu stepped in.

"Thou should put them at ease with thy words…" Izanagi told his user from the mind.

"Right…" Yu in response to him.

"Let's all calm down now…" Yu told them in nice tone, trying to ease their minds so they could think.

"Y-You're right... Okay…Okay..." Yosuke began to chill himself from getting worked up. Yu walked over to Chie still hiding her face in fear of being stuck here.

"Chie, come on look at me, it's going to be fine…I'll make sure we all get home safely..." Yu was confident (which he should be as he knows more than them…), he planted his hands gently on Chie's shoulders to ease her. Chie looked up at him from her hands to see his eyes with a trusting gaze.

"Okay, I-I believe you…" Chie began slowly regaining her composure and sighed with Yu letting her go, Izanagi went quiet for them to talk this out.

"Alright, so let's look for a way out…" Yosuke tells the group.

"Is there really a way?" Chie was not very sure about that.

"We got in, so there must be a way out…" Yosuke tries to assure the girl.

"That's true but…" Chie was still worried about being trapped.

"Let's cross our fingers, and look around." Yosuke tells Chie, but then he turns to Yu, seeing him walk off into a particular direction by himself.

"I'll check here!" Yu was trying to lead them into "that place" like before in the past cycle.

"W-Wait for me!" Yosuke was planning on looking as a group, he ran to Yu.

"Don't leave me behind!" Chie quickly followed them.

The three (and Izanagi) came to a foggy path that looked like the outer side of an apartment hall that had a long balcony view, its hallway doors were on the side of it, probably leading to "other rooms." The group seemed like they were several stories high in this place, in the distance outward from the building's balcony, there were silhouettes of what looked like a small town and a large lamppost sticking out high, the lamppost was pretty close to their positon. "The sky" of this place looked like black and red waves flowing across just like the strange door ways off from them at the end of the hall in this place. But, this door had a strange like-vortex entrance pouring inside from a center of it. They had come from a steel walkway leading up to this place from the studio backlot, it was really a bizarre structure this place had indeed.

"This place is so different from where we were…are you sure we're not wandering away?" Chie was following right behind them, bracing herself in case something scary came out.

"We have to keep to our instincts, but man this fog in here, I can't really see anything…" Yosuke looks ahead to see Yu's faint figure in front him walking.

"Come you guys…" Yu told them as he headed to the black and red vortex door, the two followed him into the middle of a mysterious apartment room, it was Mayumi Yamano's place to Yu's knowledge.

"The fogs lighter here…" Yosuke observed the room, he took out his phone, there was no service.

"What a surprise…" Yosuke stated in a dull manner. Chie came up to them running.

"Hey guys, can you slow down a little? It's hard enough to see with all this-" Chie cut herself off and started looking around with the others following her action, the room had its walls filled with cut up posters without the face of a woman that appeared to be wearing a kimono, it was the same picture plastered all over the room.

"It's a dead end!" Chie was trying to ignore the creepy atmosphere.

"it's just gets creepier and creepier the more we go…" Yosuke then suddenly jumped and ran to a wall of the apartment.

"Yosuke what are doing?!" Chie looked on at him in surprise.

"I can't hold it any longer, my bladder is going to explode!" Yosuke unzipped his pants to the wall and tried to go.

"You can't do that here! Yu-kun, you got to stop him!" Chie turned to Yu urgently, with him giving a perplexed look back as this didn't happen before to him.

"Why would I do that?" Yu asked her what she meant by that, she was dumbfounded.

"I-I can't go if everyone looks… it's you guys fault if my bladder explodes…" Yosuke warns them, zipping up his pants, he returns to them in the middle of the room.

"Like I care…" Chie really didn't. She began looking around to see the cut up pictures.

"Somebody must really hate this person…" Chie thought out loud, looking at all those posters. Yosuke walked up to a spooky chair with a noose made up of a scarf right near the corner of the room.

"Dude…this arrangement is never good…" Yosuke observed the dark sight.

"Spooky…" Izanagi stated in Yu's mind, even if he had seen this before…

"C'mon let's go and look for a different way out somewhere else…" Chie was getting scared, she moved closer to the door. The two followed her out, but not before Yosuke stopped to see a poster near the door frame.

"Hey I think I've seen this poster before somewhere…" Yosuke looking at the poster with the woman, trying to recall where he's seen it.

"WHO CARES! Let's go, I'm sick of this place…and I-I don't feel good…" Chie began feeling weak, maybe it was from the heavy atmosphere of the fog in here... (it was…you knew that already but yeah.)

"Now that you mention it me too…" Yosuke began to feel sick. Yu was also feeling light on his feet, nonetheless he tried to lighten Chie's mood, he faced her by the door.

"Want me to carry you…" Yu was genuinely worried for her despite knowing they will be alright.

"Th-That's fine…I think I can make it…" Chie hid her eyes from him facing down, blushing in embarrassment.

"Geez you two, come on let's get going to back to where we landed." Yosuke was already heading back, they began following him alongside each other, Yosuke was slightly amused by the two behind him.

"Thou sure are getting closer with Chie-san…" Izanagi told in Yu's mind.

"Are you noticing us…?" Yu smiled amused by his persona's observation of them.

"N-No, I-I'm just saying is all." Izanagi sheepishly

"Say…" Yu sounded like he was going to ask him about Chie's persona…he removed the thought quickly from his mind.

"…"

"Nothing…never mind." Yu brushes it off making Izanagi curious about what he was going to say...

"Ah, we finally made it back…" Chie sounded relieved a little, they had come back to the entrance hall with the strange landing zone target. Chie looked out to see a roundish figure approaching them with its stubby legs from the foggy area around them.

"Wh-What's That?" Chie braced herself, the other two looked on as well to see the figure come into full view for them, it looked like short fat man-child in red and blue character costume, the head was zipped to its body just like it. The creature resembled a bear dressed up like a clown. Yu was all fuzzy inside seeing the bear again despite it being only a couple days, it seemed like a long time.

"What is this thing, is it monkey?" Chie wondered looking at the weird figure.

"What in the world?" Yosuke wondered about it as well. The mysterious bear spoke to them. (it's fucking Teddie, gosh.)

"Th-That's what I want to know! Who are you guys?" The bear spoke in a stern yet timid voice.

"It talked! Uuh… what are you, huh?! Y-You Wanna fight?!" Chie responded readying in a fighting pose but she was shaking in fear of the bear.

"Please, D-Don't yell at me like that…" The bear cowered in fear of Chie who was also cowering from him slightly.

"It looks like someone in a costume…" Yosuke wondered who was inside of it. Yu's turn to speak.

"What is this place? Ted-" Yu stopped immediately and mentally kicked himself as Izanagi was right about his warning to him. The others wondered what else he was going to say curiously, the bear wondered about him too, it sensed friendly vibes from him.

"This place is what it is…it doesn't have a name... but it's where I live." The bear politely told him.

"You live here?" Yosuke questioned the mysterious bear aka Teddie.

"If I was you guys, I'd hurry back to the other side..." The timid bear warned the group of teens.

"Someone's been throwing people in…it's really annoying to me, I just want to live in peace..." The bear said tiredly.

"Throwing people in? What're are you talking about?" Yosuke began questioning the bear.

"I don't know who's doing it! I just want them to consider other's feeling before doing something like that!" The bear responded quickly to Yosuke.

"What is your problem?! What gives you the right to yell at us like That?!" Chie shouted at the bear for being kinda aggressive.

"What ARE you?! Where are we?! What's going on here!?" Chie added gesturing to this place.

The bear quickly ran around the group and went behind Yu in fear of Yosuke and Chie being mean to him. Yu got a hint of nostalgia from Teddie's action from long ago.

"I already told You guys…please leave before the fog lifts..." Teddie said quietly from Yu's leg. Yu decided to take it into his hands before his friends get worked up.

"Can you get us out …uh, Mr. Bear?" Yu was calmly telling Teddie under him. Izanagi observed his user's action.

"I can!" Teddie responded cheerfully to the nice guy.

"Wait…what?" Yosuke was dumbfounded by the bear's claim. The bear tapped his foot on the ground twice, a stack of three old style 70s TVs appeared before them.

"What the Hell?!" Yosuke was shocked by the bear's strange ability, it seemed like magic.

"Where did these TVs come from!?" Chie was amazed at the sudden emergence of TVs as well.

The group moved in front of the stack of TVs, with the bear moving back behind them.

"Okay now, go, go, get outta here! I'm a busy bear!" The Bear began pushing them in as a whole with surprisingly great strength.

"H-Hey, what are you doing? What's going on!? Whoa!" Chie disappeared and fell into the TV on top of the stack.

"S-Stop pushing! H-Hey!" Yosuke disappeared and fell into the TV in the middle.

"Thanks Teddie!" Yu tells the bear casually before jumping in himself into the lowest TV.

"W-Wait, h-how do you know my name?!" Teddie was in panic asking the young man but he disappeared.

"Thou don't really care anymore, huh?" Izanagi was exasperated by the utter carelessness of his user.

"S-Sorry, it slipped!" Yu told him honestly as he fell into the void. The group of teens were falling into the same black and white rectangular worm hole.


Author's Note: Geez, this chapter takes away from the kick ass action after it...anyways sorry for the two hours' late upload. I'm counting on Amouren and others to point out any errors or things that can be improved on in the writing. next chapter will take 3-4 days...But it will be longer than this because we need to get going from the three fucking hours of no gameplay.

Side notes:

-To the Yosuke/Yukiko shipping person, I finally approve of this idea but it will honestly take time...I just don't want Yosuke feeling like he's the rebound for Yukiko when she gets rejected (which she will...sorry it's mean, but it's the truth.) By the way, I won't tell you when it happens just as a surprise, it will be wonderful.