Persona: World And Judgement – Chapter Nine

Sanada Showdown

Good day, good chaps, lads and sports! I have to say this chapter came out later than I expected it to. Sorry about that guys, I've been preparing myself and the family for a special occasion here in the UK. Yes, if you live in the UK, you are probably aware that it is our gracious Queen's Diamond Jubilee coming up! It'll be a good weekend, but for now...LET'S GT-R-DONE! Oh! And also, thank you to SuperNova23 for helping me with this chapter, for which I am very grateful for!


08/04 - Midnight - The TV World - The Orphanage


The Shadow's eye widened as the dark pupils in his eyes started to shrink in its golden eyes. His grin grew wider and the corners of his lips started to curl, with a chuckle that loomed in the silent air. He then tilted his head back to unleash an outburst of laughter as an eruption of dark shrouds lifted suddenly from the ground, wrapping itself around the Shadow's figure.

"Not going to take it?" it shouted to Akihiko with a grin growing wider still, "Why doubt it when the truth is standing right in front of you?" Akihiko's shock froze him in place without any will to even say another word to his dark 'other', let alone to step away from the dark strings that reached out of him from the Shadow's shrouds.

The Shadow took the advantage from his shock and materialised his body from where he was standing to being very close to the front of Akihiko in a fraction of a mere second. As Akihiko gasped with gritted teeth, his Shadow thrusted its hand to his throat and grasped it with a mighty strength that only Akihiko would know, choking him and helplessly using his shaken hands to squirm his way out.

The darkness that formed around the Shadow took a hold of Akihiko's body and forced itself down into his skin, causing a choking cry of pain to escape from his weakened windpipe.

As soon as this was happening, everyone sprinted towards the Shadow with their weapons ready in hand. But before they even got halfway to Akihiko, a wave of thick darkness forced itself out from the Shadow, knocking back each of them to the ground at a great distance.

The darkness stretched out further from where the group landed and tainted the walls with a pitch-black that, even though familiar, was darker than darkness itself. As it evaporated away from the walls and floors and into the air, the landscape of the room they stood in expanded almost ten-fold, revealing the studio-styled scaffolding and lighting railings that appeared around the TV world.

As they all recovered from their fall, they picked themselves back up to their feet and looked back to where the two Akihiko's were standing. But when they did, what they witnessed was something bigger. Stood in front of them, was a large figure that strangely took on some of the features of Akihiko. It's hair was silver, but the face was pitch-black like the darkness with the usual golden eyes. It wore a tight, white hood over its head with a slimming white suit-jacket and black leather gloves that seem suitable for fighting with bare hands. It wore a white cape with a silky pink lining on the inside, and there was a laurel wreath wrapped around his neck and head.

The members of S.E.E.S couldn't help but compare this figure to Akihiko's Persona, Caesar, and find that they both looked almost the same but with minor changes. But everyone knew that it was Akihiko's Shadow, and that Akihiko succumbed to it.

"Caesar...?" Mitsuru spoke her thoughts, feeling horrified at the Shadow, but at the same time couldn't help but think back to her own experience being engulfed by her own Shadow.

Akihiko's Shadow looked down upon the small few who took their battle stances at different spots around the battlefield. "I am a Shadow...the true self..." it spoke, with merged voices, the familiar words as if it was a creed, "My second chance lies here...I will not be stripped of it! The past is my sanctuary!"

BGM: Crush - Pendulum / Master Of Shadow - Persona 3 OST

Yu was the first to react to Akihiko's spoken thoughts and quickly drew his Evoker, pointing the barrel towards the side of his head. His mind instantly became empty and without intention, pulled the trigger. And just like with Fuuka and Rise, the sound of breaking glass called forth Izanagi from his psyche and stood behind him in waiting for Yu's command.

As he slipped the Evoker back into his holster, he began his sprint towards the Shadow with Izanagi following with feet gliding above the ground. Then, as he ran past Akihiko, Yu made his command to Izanagi. "Ziodyne!" he shouted, watching as Izanagi held its hand out to call forth the bolt of lightening to reign down onto the Shadow. But unexpectedly, upon impact, the electric-attack was blocked by one of the Shadow's hands, almost without effort.

Yu was yet to make his way to safety from the Shadow, but Akihiko made the next move by stomping the ground, that which such force caused a shockwave that knocked Yu off the ground, leaving quite a distance between him and the ground. As he plummeted, the Shadow swung his fist back and quickly propelled it forwards into an uppercut on Yu.

But before Akihiko could land the attack, Izanagi glided in front of Yu and caught him in mid-air to prevent him from maximum harm from the attack, which landed on Izanagi. Upon impact, both Yu and Izanagi were forced through the air and into a nearby wall, with Yu hitting it back first.

As he was left to endure the pain, Rise ran to him to help him back up. "Yu, are you okay? That looked really painful just now..." Rise asked in worry, having witnessed to such a powerful attack. "I'll be okay..." Yu reassured, struggling to get back up to his feet, "... Akihiko's tough though." Even though it ached, he had the strength to lift his head and look towards the others. "I'll have to take a while here guys! If I'm right, he's a fighter!" he advised, sitting back down with the aid of Rise.

Rise then turned back to Fuuka. "Fuuka, can you handle giving support on your own? I need to take care of Senpai." she asked, which Fuuka nodded to without hesitation. "Sure!" she answered, immediately summoning Juno onto the battlefield, fully concentrating on scanning the Shadow.

Almost instantly, she found something. "Electric attacks are useless against this Shadow! But it seems that Ice-related attacks are his weakness!" she confirmed. Yu watched Fuuka with Juno, and could sense some kind of struggle with her scanning because of the many people in the group that she had to look after. He then turned to Rise. "Rise, I'll be alright here. Fuuka needs help more than I do right now." he suggested. Rise was reluctant at first, but as she saw the pressure being put on Fuuka, she agreed. "Okay. But be careful, okay?" she told him, giving him a peck on the cheek for good luck before returning to Fuuka's side, bringing Kanzeon into the battlefield.

The advise that Fuuka gave was good news for Chie, Mitsuru, and Teddie who all had good practises in ice-related attacks.

At this point, Akihiko was still facing Yu who was still recovering from his fall with the help of Rise. The Shadow fixated its intentions on the leader and began to sprint towards the two. Yu tried all of his efforts to get back up, but the force of the previous attack was too much to even get up to his knees.

"He's going for Yu!" Rise shouted, feeling that she shouldn't have left Yu to recover in the first place, "He's still in pretty bad shape... someone help him!"

As Akihiko prepared himself to attack, Mitsuru quickly summoned Artemisia in response to Rise's plea with a quick squeeze of the trigger, and upon appearing into view, the Persona's metal whip drew immediately from Artemisia's disposal. And with one swing of the whip, it caught the Shadow's hand which not only stopped it in its tracks, but also lead to yanking Akihiko away from Yu.

In the process of this, Akihiko tripped over his footing as a result and started rushing towards Mitsuru uncontrollably without balance. Fortunately, Junpei used his unusual quick-thinking to act upon the situation. He rushed towards the Shadow, but more specifically its feet, and instead of drawing out his Evoker, he gripped his over-sized two-handed sword tightly and fixated on his target. And when he reached the Shadow's legs, he gave a heavy swing on the sword on the ankles to trip it up completely. "Haha! Home run!" he shouted as watched the Shadow fall onto its front.

"Good thinking, Junpei-kun!" Fuuka praised his wit. And Junpei, like the comic he was, rested his long-sword on one shoulder and tipped his hat to her in a humorous gesture.

Upon hitting the ground, the Shadow tried to recover itself as it attempted to pick itself up with both arms. But as it lifted its head up, it immediately saw Chie as she ran up to it with a look on concentration on her face. She then jumped up into the air and landed an attack with a kick to the forehead. When she landed, she gave one more upward kick to Akihiko's chin, which surprisingly forced the head up, making the Shadow dizzy as a result.

As it knelt with hands supporting its damaged head, Chie jumped back to Mitsuru's side, and immediately, they both saw an opportunity. Nodding to each other, they brought their Personas forward, and both Artemisia and Suzuka Gongen raised a hand to call forth multiple pillars of ice to scatter around the Shadow.

After a short while of building up the number of ice pillars, a command from their hosts caused each of the pillars to smash around Akihiko one by one, dealing critical hits with each pillar smashing scars into into its dark flesh.

"Good teamwork, girls!" Rise cheered Chie and Mitsuru on. But Fuuka spotted something else. "Be careful! He's lost his dizziness!"

Like Fuuka said, despite the powerful attacks that it was most weak against, the duo's efforts only quelled the Shadow's dizziness, and as a result allowed it to pick itself back up with its regained strength.

At this point, the Shadow's anger started to show. "I'm fighting for my past now! And that is where my happiness will lie! If it means to kill you, it'll have to be necessary!" it bellowed with the voice of discord speaking over Akihiko's.

The Shadow then raised its hand, causing a sound of crashing thunder to be heard from above them, but specifically, and worryingly, Chie and Mitsuru. "Spread out!" Mitsuru ordered Chie, immediately running away from each other.

But the situation then became worse, as the crashing thunder was following Chie, and only Chie despite the speed she was running at to get away from it. Suddenly, a bolt came crashing down, but fortunately missing Chie by a small distance. The same thing happened again as she ran the other way. But as the second bolt was shot down, a shock was sent through Chie's leg, paralysing it, and collapsing her to the floor with no alternative way to pick herself up.

"Chie's paralysed!" Fuuka informed everyone, "It looks pretty nasty too...she'll have to rest for a moment to heal..." But then there was worse to come, as Rise then found out. "Wha...? It's gonna use Ziodyne again! The amount of power in this one is far greater than the last ones!"

The noise of thunder was heard again, just like Rise said, and this time, it was guaranteed to hit someone. As it loomed over Chie, Yosuke was the first to react. "Chie!" he shouted with concern. As the noise grew louder and louder, Yosuke sprinted towards Chie, trying to help her up to her feet afterwards, which was a difficult task.

The thunder warned them for one last chance to get out of the way, but Chie's paralysis in her leg persisted for so long that it was getting hazardous. But as Yosuke looked up, he knew that the lightening was inevitably going to come down soon. And as one last crash was heard from above, Yosuke quick-wittedly pushed Chie away from him as the bolt finally struck.

Yosuke then suffered the pain of large amounts of volts running through his body, screaming in agony as his body parts twitched with every current of electricity attacking his nerves. Eventually, the lightening lost its power and all Yosuke could do was collapse to the ground on his front, groaning, and slightly twitching still.

"Yosuke!" Chie called for him in worry. And just in time, the paralysis in her leg wore off, allowing her to pick herself up and run to her saviour. She rolled him over onto his back and lifted his head to support it. "That must've hurt... are you okay?"

"He doesn't seem to be ailed with anything. Yosuke!" Rise informed, calling for Yosuke just in case.

"So that's what happens if you stick a fork in a plughole..." Yosuke joked, failing to make himself feel any better than he did then. "...but don't worry, I'll get him back." Struggling, he reached for his holster and took out his Evoker, pointing the barrel upwards against his skin below the chin. And with a click of the trigger, Susano-o appeared from the erupted blue flames behind Chie and its fried host.

Susano-o rushed towards Akihiko with the knowledge of Yosuke's command through his psyche, and the closer it got to the Shadow, the faster its saw-blade spun in preparation for its attack.

As Susano-o jumped up to the Shadow's eye-level, its saw-blade lifted from its body and, as if telepathically, the Persona spun the weapon to gain power before throwing it with such force that it tore through the side of Akihiko's dark flesh, leaving a wound in its body. Upon feeling the tear, the Shadow clutched the wound in agony, standing on one knee.

Yosuke dismissed Susano-o back into his mind and then turned to Yukiko. "Yukiko, burn him!" he shouted to her, as if it was an order. Yukiko responded to this and quickly sprinted towards the Shadow with Evoker in hand. As she pulled the trigger when the barrel was bit between her teeth, she summoned Amaterasu, which was then commanded through Yukiko's psyche to cast multiple Agidyne spells on Akihiko one by one, eventually giving the Shadow several burns across its body.

Afterwards, Teddie was the next to sprint towards Akihiko. "Feelin' hot?" Teddie shouted to the Shadow in mockery, "Then let me cool you down! Bear-sona!" He then drew his Evoker out from a back pocket in his costume and stuffed it through its zipper, pulling the trigger to summon Kamui.

As he came near to the Shadow, Teddie leaped forward onto the front of his body and used the bounce in his bloated costume to gain a greater height into the air. When he was the peak of his height, Kamui called forth a Mabufudyne spell on Akihiko, bringing back the pillars of ice to do critical damage, especially on the wound. As Teddie, landed safely, Yukari and Koromaru ran past him bow & arrow and Kunai knife at the ready.

"Akihiko's been knocked down! Make this one count guys!" informed Rise, shouting in a tone of encouragement.

Yukari took out her Evoker from her holster as she neared the Shadow, pointing the end of the barrel towards her forehead and clicking the trigger to bring Isis into view. Upon command, Isis dived towards Akihiko and unleashed its Garudyne spell, attacking it with a large whirlwind of one of nature's many weapons.

But unexpectedly, the Shadow managed to pick itself up before the attack could be landed and took a step away from where it was standing to dodge the attack. Shocked at her miss, she continued to run to a safe spot on the battlefield, little did she know that the Shadow was sprinting behind her in preparation for another kick action.

"Yukari-chan! Look out!" Fuuka yelled in warning.

Yukari worryingly looked behind her as she ran, watching Akihiko's thunderous kick create a shockwave that curled with a white gleam as it travelled through the air towards her. But at that moment, Koromaru activated his dog-collared Evoker to bring out Cerberus from his canine psyche. Cerberus then ran on four legs in front of Yukari, in the shockwave's way.

Even though he was only a dog, Koromaru knew what he was doing, taking advantage of its High Counter to not only prevent the attack from landing on either Cerberus or Yukari but repelled it away from the two and back towards Akihiko. The Shadow managed to dodge his own attack, but did stumble slightly when the air from the shockwave forced against him.

"Aww! Who's a smart doggy, Koro-chan?" Rise praised the canine with puckered lips and a sweet baby voice.

As the Shadow looked back to Yukari, it instantly saw her bow & arrow and shortly after, an arrow being launched into shoulder, which it couldn't pull out because of how deep it was in its skin.

Naoto was the next to make her move. She drew out her Evoker and pulled the trigger when the barrel was pointed towards the side of her head, bringing her Persona, Yamato-Takeru onto the battlefield with its sword gripped tightly in its hand. Yamato-Takeru glided towards Akihiko with a blinding speed before dashing around the Shadow with swings and slashes of its sword between each dash in a Vorpal Blade attack.

After a set amount of damage was done, Naoto began to sprint straight towards the Shadow, calling back her Persona as she did this for her next move. When Yamato-Takeru flew with Naoto, the Persona took a hold of the host's hand and glided over Akihiko.

"Naoto-kun, be careful!" Fuuka shouted in warning, worried as she saw the large distance between Naoto and the ground.

But what made Fuuka, along with others, gasp was when Yamato-Takeru let her go to take out her pistol from her other holster in free-fall. Balancing herself in mid-air, Naoto used the upmost of her precision and time in flight to shoot multiple bullets into the Shadow, dealing several critical hits when some bullets hit vital organs. The loud noises with every bullet were deafening to hear, but when she landed safely on the ground, she allowed for others to make their move.

Ken and Kanji saw their window of opportunity and began their sprint with each other towards the Shadow with long spear and blunt object in hand. "Ken, you know what you're doing? I'll be right behind you!" Kanji asked him with added confidence, comparing the size of his spear to Ken himself. "Of course I do!" Ken answered, willing to save his Senpai from his own Shadow.

Approaching Akihiko, they both drew their Evokers and summoned their Personas, Kala-Nemi and Rokuten Maoh in their blue inferno, commanding them with their psyche to perform their Vile Assault which, uncannily, they both know so well. The two Personas leaped forward towards the Shadow using their thin arms and sword of arcane design to slash downward which oddly, didn't do as much damage as they thought that they would do.

As a result, the Shadow managed to overcome the critical hits that it took and recovered itself to make its next move on the two. Akihiko clutched one of his fist and called forth a flash of lightening to fill his palm and knuckles with electric energy to pummel with.

"Ken, Kanji! Get out of there!" Rise and Fuuka cried out in sync.

"Dammit!" Kanji shouted as he looked behind him, theorising the amount of volts within the Shadow's fists. Thinking about what happened with Yosuke made it all the more worrying. "Sorry Ken!" he then shouted for Ken, grabbing the end of his spear without cutting himself and threw it further away from him with Ken still latched onto it, to prevent him from taking the punishment from the incoming attack.

Kanji stopped in his tracks and held his replicated shield-like weapon at eye-level to shield himself from the electrocuted punch that was delivered with such as force that it knocked him into the nearby wall, like it did with Yu. But despite this, no harm was done to him, even if the attack did frustrate him.

As he yelled in rage when he lowered his weapon, he stood up with haste, and with the burning adrenaline bursting through his muscles, he threw his shield replica towards Akihiko's head. But as others watched him do this, their eyes followed his weapon, which utterly missed the Shadow by a large distance.

"Urm..." Fuuka hummed after a long awkward silence upon witnessing Kanji's mistake. "Er, Kanji...? You... kinda missed?" Rise informed the obvious, which only made Kanji feel more bad about himself. He darted his head towards Rise in fury. "Shit! You think?" he shouted, thinking that mockery would give him back some dignity.

Kanji could only give a sheepish look at the wasted effort, and as the Shadow fixated its eyes on him, he felt that he was left with no other options. "C'mon guys! Who's go is it?" he shouted in question, hoping for anyone to jump into the battle.

Junpei responded to this and decided to jump in for a second time, but this time, with Aigis. As they were running, Junpei took out his own Evoker and quickly summoned Trismegistus into battle. Gliding with golden wings, it swooped down to Junpei's level, allowing him to jump onto its back. From there, Junpei circled the Shadow with his Persona, throwing Agidyne spells from every angle.

But from the Shadow's last experience with Yukiko with this kind of attack, it managed to dodge most of the shots made by Trismegistus. And when the large wave of fire spells ended at Junpei's command, Akihiko retaliated with a rapid Ziodyne spell, which successfully landed on Junpei. It not only scorched his favourite hat, but also his whole body, dismissing his Persona without intention and collapsing to the floor in the same way Yosuke did.

Although they saw this kind of attack happen earlier on, everyone could only give cringed looks at the crispy Junpei, giving 'ooh's and 'ahh's as he hit the ground.

The last person to make their move was Aigis, who sprinted towards the Shadow with incredible speed, stretching out her fingers to activate the mini-guns within her fingertips, firing rapid rounds in great succession across the whole of Akihiko's body. After running past him, she gathered her power in her robotic legs and executed a giant backward flip over the Shadow, using her built-in Evoker to call forth Pallas-Athena from her humanoid psyche.

Upon command, her Persona brought about a large portal below her, causing a large, mighty and powerful fist to come crashing down onto the Shadow, forcing Akihiko to the ground and even forming cracks and dents in the wooden floor. But then, as Pallas-Athena was dismissed, Aigis performed something else, while still in flight, which the Investigation Team, and even some of the members of S.E.E.S did not expect.

Using her internal Evoker for a second time, Aigis brought, not Pallas-Athena, but another Persona, a one which was too familiar to S.E.E.S and especially Yukari; Orpheus.

But upon summoning it, something else revealed to be unexpected. "Aaagh!" Aigis cried out as she brought Orpheus into view, holding her head in agony with an extremely cringed look. Because of this, Orpheus also began to go berserk, rushing towards the Shadow out of Aigis' control and dealing a variety of different attack, ranging from melee to ranged and from physical to spell casting. But as a result, the attacks were landed on other members of the group as well as Akihiko.

"Aigis? What's going on?" Fuuka asked in a shout, unable to describe the sense that she picked up from Aigis. Rise was just as confused. "The reading in her psyche has gone weird! Aigis, call the Persona back! You'll exhaust yourself!" Rise shouted in urgency.

When Orpheus' strange phenomenon ended, it was quickly dismissed back into Aigis' psyche, leaving her mentally exhausted as she fell back to the floor, standing on one knee to recover her strength.

"Aigis!" Yu shouted as he rushed to her with a full recovery. He quickly helped her up to her feet as well as some others who were close by. "Are you okay?" Yukari asked, helping her to regain her balance. "I'm... I'm fine now..." Aigis answered with deep breaths, "... but... what just happened...?"

"You used the Wild Card..." Yu answered her somewhat rhetorical question, with a tone that praised her in awe and wonder, "...that's amazing."

As Aigis gave a weak smile to Yu in gratitude, she collapsed to the floor in complete exhaustion. "Yukari, keep her safe. I'll take it from here." Yu ordered as the leader he was, getting a nod of agreement from Yukari.

Yu took his second shot in the battlefield, dearly hoping that the same incident wouldn't happen again. He drew out his Evoker for a second time, and stood in a spot, fixating his eyes on the Shadow and the many possible routes that he could take. And as soon as he spotted a sensible path, he took out his katana with the other hand and started to sprint straight towards Akihiko.

The Shadow reacted to this and started to throw boxing punches to the ground to cause more shockwaves, which Yu managed to dodge with some level of difficulty. But when the time came, Yu pointed the Evoker to his head and called forth his ultimate, Izanagi-No-Okami and used its arcane sword to parry and block other rapid melee attacks made by the Shadow.

Yu continued to do this until he was standing up close to the Shadow where he leaped towards the head and used the katana to slash Akihiko between the eyes, which forced the head and the rest of the body away from Yu.

Dizziness returned to Akihiko's head and, as a result stumbled onto its back which lead to Yu's next move. As Izanagi-No-Okami was returned to the psyche, Yu pulled the trigger on himself again to bring out Black Frost, whose mischievous attitude already gave way to ideas of causing havoc.

Black Frost jumped onto the Shadow's front as it laid down and began to deal multiple punches to the head with the extra damage of scratches done by the claws that it dons. As it continued to punch, jab and thrust, Black Frost started to deal each attack with faster paces, laughing harder and harder the more rapid the punches got.

This continued for a long while before Yu dismissed Black Frost and brought out yet another Persona with a third consecutive squeeze of the trigger. Out from the indigo flame appeared the ultimate being of the Star Arcana, Helel standing in front of Yu with six angelic wings and horns to show his supremacy.

Yu knew what was going to come next, and it was dangerous. "Guys, get somewhere safe!" he shouted to everyone, including Fuuka and Rise, who all instantly reacted to his order.

Helel took a few steps forward with its head down before gathering up its power to unleash a deadly attack that could only be remembered as Megidolaon. A dark purple aura surrounded Helel as it tensed its muscles that would belong to a deity. A sound of growing strength screeched with warning, and it wasn't long before the Shadow reacted to this. "W... What are you? What is... this... power?" it yelled to Yu, expressing its fear and helplessness as it used every bit of effort to get back up from its fragile state.

Yu saw this happening and started to walk backwards from not only the Shadow, but also from the hazard zone of Helel's power which he was currently standing in. Yu continued to do this until he reached the nearby wall, standing at a large distance away from the Persona and Akihiko.

Whilst he stood back, Helel looked up at the Shadow in readiness as the full gathering of such power was complete. Akihiko lifted a hasty hand and slowly attempted to grab Helel before the inevitable would happen.

But it was too late for Akihiko as Helel finally thrusting its arms out to unleash what seemed by the group around to witness this to be an attack that not even the greatest of beings could stand against.

The force of the attack was then let loose from Helel's body, immediately filling the battlefield with a blinding light that even tightly shut eyelids could not withstand, and the shocks in the ground combined with the pushing of the gales shook everyone around the room without any control of their own body limbs.

And large explosion was then heard from the distance, punishing everyone's eardrums along with the heat the followed after, feeling the burning from the spiralling inferno that filled the whole area. Everyone yelled out to keep their will strong, but the noise of the Helel's power screamed over their voices by many incredible decibels.

However, the only yell they heard from in the noise was Akihiko's.

The brightness lingered for some time before returning back to Helel, who stood in the centre of the battlefield with the radiant glow left to decay. When the last of the light faded from its body, Yu dismissed Helel back to the psyche, sliding his back down into a sitting position, exhausted and struggling to find the energy to even stand up.

As everyone came out of their safe spots, they quickly came to Yu and helped him get back on his feet after being exposed to such a dangerous attack. It only just slightly exacerbated his scar slightly in his plaster.

"Man, everything happens to you, huh?" Yosuke joked, almost in friendly mockery towards his best friend. Yu could only chuckle. "Look who's talking..." he said as a comeback, spotting smoke rising from his head, "...your hair's on fire by the way."

Yosuke looked up to find wisps of smoke trailing away from his hair, and as he felt a burning sensation on his scalp, he quickly put out the small fire with a few hard pats on the head.

A short while after, they all heard a groaning from behind the group, and as they all turned their head, they saw the two Akihiko's lying on the ground in weak states, hardly able to lift their heads up.

They all quickly went over to the real Akihiko and helped him up to his feet, holding onto his shoulder to stop his stumbling. "...Thanks..." Akihiko thanked before looking back down to his 'other' self, watching the darkness evaporate away from its body. It may have been his enemy, but Akihiko couldn't help but to feel some form of sympathy for the Shadow; for himself.

After regaining some strength in his legs, he walked towards the broken Shadow, somewhat fearing the development of his acceptance towards his doppelgänger. But nonetheless, he approached it as easing as he could, and knelt down to it, watching its eyelids slowly open to reveal the tears forming in the corner of its eyes.

"... Do you...understand now...?" the Shadow asked quietly with a weak croak in his tone. Akihiko couldn't lie; all that he said before was all a lie to himself, and it was too shameful for him to even say anything against what the Shadow was stating. The facts were too true. But despite it, Akihiko nodded, sighing from his foolish behaviour.

"Yes..." he spoke with a deep breath, "... I'll admit it. I looked more into my past than into my future... and because of that, I've put myself off so many things..." To even face himself was painful, but to accept it was even harder. But then the reason for his true side sprung to mind. He continued. "But I guess...it wasn't all out of depression...but also an incentive to push me towards a better future. That's why I got into boxing and into a policing career; to fight for what I had and for I still have...and you showed me that."

The hatred he once felt towards his darker side slowly turned into gratitude. He placed a friendly hand on its shoulder with a remedial feeling of relief after getting the suppressed truth off his chest. "... Thank you." he thanked with a huge amount of gratitude.

The Shadow gave a meaningful smile before lifting a weak arm to place its own hand on his shoulder. "Don't lose sight of yourself, champ..." breathed the doppelgänger as its final words, also to give Akihiko the encouragement to move forward.

And as the Shadow's golden eyes faded into its eyelids as they closed, its dark embodiment started to erode away into dust and powders of light. Bit by bit, the Shadow's dust filtered back into Akihiko's body until not a trace of suppression was seen again.

Then, in front of him materialised two other figures, who appeared with bright outlines around their bodies. Only one of them was remembered by everyone as the silhouette who appeared on the Midnight Channel who was remembered by the Investigation Team as a spirit, but to Akihiko, they were both remembered as Shinjiro Aragaki and Miki Sanada.

"Think you can handle yourself now, Aki?" the spirited Shinjiro asked his best friend. Akihiko felt somewhat sad upon seeing his long-time friend stand in front of him for one last time, but at the same time felt the need for much-needed progress. And without tears, he gave Shinjiro a smile.

"I've finally opened my eyes, Shinji. And now, I think I can." he answered him with no hesitation. As Shinjiro showed a grin for a final time, he then looked towards the group, and then Ken. "Ken, take care of him for me, will you?" he asked of him, getting a quick nod of the head from Ken.

And as the last of his request to Ken was told, Shinjiro slowly faded away into the light, evaporating into illuminant dust. Ken could only watch this with his bottom lip slightly trembling.

Akihiko then turned towards his little sister, Miki. For everyone, it was the first time anyone had seen his young sibling, but what heartbreaking was that they all saw her as a spirit. She had the same coloured hair as Akihiko, but longer and it was tied up into a ponytail. Their eyes were the same grey colour, and if you compared each other's faces, their faces wouldn't show much difference.

"Miki..." Akihiko uttered her name, "...it must be weird seeing your brother all grown up now..." Everyone could hear the cracks and wobbles in his voice which made it all the more saddening.

"Aki..." she muttered, resonating her sweet voice in the echoes, "...it's not weird...but you look so much like daddy..." At this point Akihiko tried his best to hold back the tears, as well as some others who were watching this tender moment. But the mentioning of his dad made Akihiko remember his face.

"...You remember dad? Wow...what about mom...?" Akihiko asked, trying to reminisce the times with his spirited sibling. His sister then smiled. "...Of course...we all watch you from above every day..." she said, which instantly triggered tears from Akihiko's eyes.

Akihiko gasped with gritted teeth to hold back the tears, but was too choked to say anything else. "...R-Really...?" he forced from his throat, trying to swallow the lump caught in his gullet, "...Well...tell them...that I'm always thinking about you all..."

"I will..." Miki quietly said, also fighting to stop the tears from forming, "...goodbye, brother..."

"...Good...bye." Akihiko hesitantly said with a tremble, watching his little sister evaporate in a godly glow, back to the heavens for which she mentioned as his family's whereabouts.

Akihiko stood back up and kept his back turned from everyone else, wiping the falling tears away from his cheeks and eyes. His mind was then sent into deep thought, and suddenly his reason for looking back to the past popped into his head.

"I look to the past...to strive for a better future..." he reminded himself in a mutter. And as those words sank into his mind, the tears began to stop and the block in his throat started to clear. "There's no use crying over the dear things that I've lost..." he then thought to himself, "...but I should fight for what is still there and remember only the good memories of those who have passed away..."

Coming out of his thoughts, his mind was set. He then turned round to everyone and tried his effort to smile, which in turn helped everyone else to do the same. But as he took a step forward towards the group, his weakened legs gave way, and collapsed him to his knees.

Before he could hit the ground, everyone quickly rushed towards him and caught him by the arms, lifting him back up to his feet. "Akihiko, is everything alright?" Mitsuru asked in worry as she caught him. Akihiko lifted his head up to her with a smile. "Never felt better. I know what to set myself on now," he answered truthfully, "just feeling exhausted, that's all." Even though it didn't seem the appropriate time to smile, everyone just couldn't help but smile with him at his ability to cope with such a given situation.

He then turned to the rest of the newcomers, but more specifically, Yu. "Looks like we've got some introducing to do." he said with a will to meet and greet, beginning to stand up straighter after a regain in his legs.

"It seems so." Yu began, "I'm Yu Narukami, the leader..." And from there, he went through the whole list of friends that were involved in the Investigation Team, titling each of them with their role within the group.

As Yu ended their introductions, Akihiko offered his hand to him. "Mitsuru's told me about you guys. It's good to meet you all at last." he told him with a smile, "I'm Akihiko Sanada, former head of the boxing team and Ayanagi Police Trainee." And with that, Yu took his offered hand and shook it with confidence that they would all get along.

When the handshake ended, Koromaru scampered the the front of everyone and started jumping up Akihiko's legs, yapping with excitement and happiness. "Ah, hello boy! Have you been good while I was gone?" Akihiko said in a slightly higher voice to man's best friend, patting and stroking him with praise.

"Well, looks like we have a full house now!" Junpei pointed out in his whimsical manner. Akihiko could only give a chuckle with the rest of others. "I hate to say this, but I can't say that I didn't miss you Junpei," he admitted playfully, then turning back to Yu, "but aside from that, I see that we have another Wild Card user on the team. I haven't seen power like that in a long time." Yu gave a nod of gratitude to his new cohort.

"I'm actually feeling more exhausted than I used to when summoning Kala-Nemi." Ken said, stretching his arms to relieve his aches, which others did as well. Mitsuru seemed to agree with a slow stretch of her neck. "I'm also feeling quite fatigued. Perhaps it's from the prolonged disuse of our Evokers...and it might sound strange from me, but it's been over two years since I felt the thrill of summoning Artemisia." she said, giving an awkward chuckle knowing that she said something that she normally wouldn't.

"But Aigis..." Yukari began to point out as she turned to Aigis with a cautious, yet worried expression, "...are you feeling okay now? I mean, you instantly became exhausted when you summoned Orpheus..." Aigis gave Yukari a nod, without bothering too much about her incident. "I'm okay now...don't worry..." she answered, trying to keep a smile on.

"We should discuss it once we get back to the hall. This isn't the best place while some of us are still fatigued." Naoto suggested, already intriguing Akihiko with the detective air about her. "It's been quite a while since I was in a dorm with a bunch of friends. And speaking of summoning," Akihiko spoke, turning to Mitsuru, "do you still have my Evoker?"

"Of course. It's where you left it." she answered. But then her own questions sprung to mind. "Wait. Are you suggesting that your coming back with us? But what about your police training course?"

Akihiko already had an answer prepared. "I'll just call in sick for a week or two," he said with a chuckle, "besides, I'm curious as to what this place is and why my TV was acting funny...I'm sure the new gang here will have the answers."

"Then let's get back." Yu ordered, leading everyone through the orphanage dungeon into the long pathways that stretched across the TV world. As the fog came into view, Akihiko was rendered blind to his surroundings, relying on the guidance of others to lead him through.

With the full group together, and a former member united with his new and old friends, the group has grown stronger, not only in physical strength but also in brains that Akihiko has added thanks to a few weeks of being a trainee police officer.

After long miles of walking, everyone safely made it back to the dorm. And even though the heavy rain still didn't let up, the night was young and they were all in for a good night sleep.

How long was that? Didn't expect to write this chapter to be 16 pages long! Anyway, keep reading and review and I will hope to get cracking on the next chapter soon! CYA!


Next Time... [Midnight Channel broadcasts...]

BGM: Backside of the TV - Persona 4 OST

Yu: Aigis?

Aigis: Yu?

Igor: It has been quite some time since we last saw you two. But morning makes haste, so we should not keep you here for too long.

Elizabeth: I sense a trouble within your psyche. Is everything alright?

Aigis: ... It only happened just recently...with Orpheus...