A/N: This chapter is massive. Coming in at around 8,700 words, this is by far the longest chapter to date. So, within, we've got the beginnings of the social links and all three Guardian Battles. I looked back at the Minako vs Hydra fight and noticed that it was only about a paragraph long. So, that's not happening again. The fight scenes (and the small bits that connect them) are about 5,000 of the 8,700 words so if you like action, this here's your fix.
Reviews:
Lady Glitchy: Welcome back! You had midterms after winter break? Ouch.. I might have been sick for my midterms last semester, but at least I had a month off for break without having to worry about tests afterwards. Anyways, you might have noticed that I went ahead with combining (old) chapters 1-3 so if you just read chapter 9, then chapters 7, 8, and 10 are all new.
rebfan90: Glad to hear that you're enjoying it.
sociallinksora: Now I already responded to the last review you left, but I just want to thank you again for taking the time to read, and review, that old RWBY fic I've got lying around on my account. I appreciate the criticism and, if it's not too much to ask for, would you mind doing something similar to the other P3 fic I've got (Persona 3: Apocalypse). I'm planning on starting chapter 2 for it sometime soon and I could use any kind of critique I can get for it.
4/22 Iwatodai Dorm (Early Morning)
After last night's Tartarus exploration, Minako had a feeling that something like this would happen. She'd been through it herself when she was first adapting to fighting during that time. So she'd gotten up early this morning to make herself, and anyone who managed to get up early enough, breakfast and to see if her prediction came true.
A few minutes after a barely coherent Yutono sat down at the table – slowly waking up after his third cup of coffee – a very disheveled and zombie-like Hamono shambled down the stairs and took a seat at the table. Minako kept herself from laughing as she snuck a photo of her twin before getting his attention.
"I can hear the fangirls squealing now" She dished out some more food onto a plate before sliding it in front of her brother, "Should I start selling tickets to see you like this?"
"Mina, don't you dare…" Hamono glared at his sister; or attempted to. He gave up after a few seconds of staring at the slight smirk on her face and the not-so-slight amount of amusement in her eyes.
Yutono, now fully awake, smiled at the banter between the twins.
"How are you not feeling like crap right now, Mina?"
Minako sat back down and resumed eating her breakfast, raising a brow at her brother's ridiculous question.
"Oh, right, you went and turned yourself into a manga protagonist when I wasn't looking"
She responded by swiping Hamono's entire plate from in front of him and holding it tauntingly out above her head, still eating her own breakfast with one hand.
"Mina…" Hamono, despite still looking like he just rolled out of bed, managed to get a slightly dangerous look in his eyes.
Gekkoukan High (After School)
After a fun morning breakfast that ended with Hamono eating the dorm's carpet – and Minako eating the rest of her breakfast from her seat on her twin's back – the junior members of SEES struggled through the school day, with the twins being the only ones to manage not to fall asleep at some point.
So here were Minako, Hamono, and Jackie walking out the front doors of the school to catch a movie; Yutono had to run off to help out with the archery class. The sun was out, the wind was nice, and the three were in high spirits. Even Minako had a small smile on her face!
Only for one sound to wipe it right off…
"Aieeeeeee!"
… fangirl screams.
"Akiri-sama! Please wait!" "Can I have your autograph?" "MARRY ME!"
"Check out Akiri-sempai's fan club" Jackie pulled Hamono's attention over to the small crowd of students – a good mix of both girls and less-vocal guys – that were rushing their very disgruntled sempai, "How do you think she does it? Hell, you don't see things like this on tv!"
Hamono had to choke back his laughter. His life was definitely turning out to be more entertaining than any tv show could ever possibly be. Exploring the Greek hell at midnight, finding out his sister was a manga character, the Velvet Room. One couldn't possible write this up!
...
"I never had a reason to get to know her before… but I guess I do now. Hehehhe" Minako visibly shuffled away from the salivating Jackie.
…
…
Could you?
"Hey you three!" Hamono was spurred out of his musing by the sight of Akiri running up to him, "Are you all doing anything today?"
"Well we-" "Nope! We're free! Whatcha got planned?" Hamono frowned at Jackie cutting him off
"Good; meet me… at the police station in Paulownia Mall" Akiri moved closer and whispered the last of her statement. Her 'fans' were beginning to get braver despite Minako's scowling at them.
"Wait! We're not gonna hangout with your friends?"
"Friends?" Akiri looked back at the three with a confused look on her face, "Oh, you mean these morons? I don't know who they are. They just run around, screaming and stalking me. I can feel the headache coming on already. Just met me there soon, alright?"
Minako silently approved of Akiri's assessment of her 'fans'. She was glad that she wasn't the only one to find a problem with a group of students stalking her. Akiri snuck one look at the group behind her, noticed them foaming at the mouth, and promptly sprinted through the school gates.
"Aww… Why can't she be more friendly?" "But when she's like that, she looks like fem!Sephiroth from my fanfiction. GO CLOUDXSEPHIROTH!" "COME BACK MY WAIFU!"
Thanatos, remind me to pray for Akiri-sempai's poor, poor soul
Noted, Mistress
Paulownia Mall
"Ah, these are the three I was telling you about"
The trio had finally made it to the police station conveniently located on the first floor of Paulownia Mall, only to enter and find Akiri casually speaking to a rather intimidating officer.
"You guys, I'd like to introduce Officer Kurosawa. He's in charge of keeping our squad equipped. So here…" Akiri proceeded to give the three juniors 5,000 yen each, "This is from Ikutsuki. Kurosawa here has connections, but these things still cost money"
"Of course" the officer spoke up for the first time, his low voice commanding the attention of all present, "nothing in life is free"
"I know that" Akiri looked slightly off to Minako's view after saying that, "Anyways, I need to head back to the dorm. See you all there" Akiri visibly looked out the corners of the police office's windows, before throwing the door open and running out of the mall.
Someone is on a short leash
Hmmm… Do you think your friend there calls that 'Kirijo-sempai' Master?
Thanatos, I do not need my internal monologues to take a right down that street.
"I'm just an ordinary police officer; but it doesn't take a genius to tell something strange has been happening lately" Minako was thankful for Kurosawa capturing her attention again, "I'm only doing what I think is right"
"And you think arming a bunch of teenagers with live weapons is a good idea…" Hamono couldn't help himself from pointing out the 400-pound elephant in the room.
"Don't think me helping you gives you immunity from the law" Kurosawa stared down the teenager he was told was the squad's new field leader, "The Kirijo Group might have influence around here, but if you get caught beating down civvies, you'll be arrested"
"Right…"
…
"Soo… Illegally arming teenagers… When's that supposed to happen?" Jackie managed to break the awkward silence.
"We've got some things for cheap in the confiscation room; I've also got a catalog you can order some more expensive items from. I've been told not to sell you three guns, however. I heard that having more than one kind of pistol could end badly for your squad"
A collective wince went throughout the juniors before they moved further into the police station.
As Hamono and Jackie dug around in the 'confiscated goods' section of the station, Minako picked up the catalog and started browsing.
"Looking for something?" Minako raised her gaze to the questioning officer, "We should still have some weapons in the lock up if you can't find one"
"Not looking for a weapon" She briefly responded before continuing to flip through the catalog.
"Armor then?"
"Kind of…" Minako reached the end of the catalog before closing it with a sigh, "You wouldn't happen to do special orders, would you?"
"Depends, what's wrong with the armors we've got here?"
"Well…" Minako trailed off while thinking of a way to explain her issue, "Putting something under my clothes wouldn't have saved them from being singed beyond repair by that hydra last week or so…"
Kurosawa roughly grabbed the bluenette, "There was a hydra in the city!?"
"Was a hydra; key point"
Hamono poked his head out from the room he'd be scrounging, "Mina, how many times is it going to take for you to realize that people aren't going to take you casually mentioning that you killed a hydra well?"
"What? It's not like I killed it with a shovel; I used a sword"
…
"How would using a shovel as a weapon work?"
Minako shrugged, "Maybe if it was a zombie hydra?"
…
"Nevermind that" Kurosawa attempted to bring the conversation back to what actually happened, "Still, a hydra attacked? I guess that explains some of the scorch marks I heard reports of over at Iwatodai. How terrifying…"
"It wasn't that bad… If it was a zombie hydra-dragon-bear, then that'd be terrifying"
…
After the three left, with Minako being the only one to spend her entire 5,000 yen on the down payment of her order, Jackie took off; clearly heading to the arcade to blow the money she'd received.
The twins left Paulownia mall, heading over to the movie theater at Port Island Station. After the film, which for some reason made the two of them feel smarter, they made their way over to the monorail station.
"Why did we watch that film again?" Minako swiped her student pass and passed through the turnstile. She didn't mind watching the movie that they saw, but she didn't really think that watching an educational documentary was necessary.
"That film was a must-watch!" Hamono followed his twin through the turnstiles with a much larger amount of gusto, waving around a pamphlet of some sorts, "It was in this article called, 'See and do EVERYTHING! Making the most out of your year in Tatsumi Port Island!'"
4/23 Hagakure (After School)
It had been another uneventful day for the twins. Right up until the moment that Jackie and another classmate, one Kenji Tomochika, dragged them out of Gekkoukan and to a small ramen shop. They waited in line for a few minutes but managed to all get seats at the counter.
"Yo, we'll have four specials!" Jackie wasted no time ordering food for the four of them.
Hamono pouted slightly, "That's not too expensive, is it? Why do I have to pay for your food anyways?"
Jackie stuck her tongue at the brunette, "You and Yuticchi were mocking me the first day you got here! So just pay for my meal and I'll call it even"
The two continued their banter as Kenji spoke to Minako, "So, Minako-san, I heard that you and Yutono-kun are pretty close. Good for you! It's about time that guy finally got himself a girlfriend"
Thankfully for Kenji's sake, their orders of ramen arriving cut off the retort Minako was about to give. Her annoyance disappeared after a loud grumbling caught their attention.
"What? I didn't eat lunch" Hamono looked surprisingly flustered at the amount of attention he was getting, ending it when he started to shovel the ramen into his mouth, "It's really good!"
Minako could help herself from agreeing with her twin after getting a bite of the noodles.
Kenji slurped down a long chain of noodles before speaking, "Isn't this place just the best? They've just got that extra something that other shops don't have. It's probably some kind of secret spice"
Minako stared at him before very visibly shoving a bunch of her ramen into her mouth. Jackie laughed at the exchange, "She's got a point there Kenji, you gotta just shuttup and eat your food"
"Sorry about that" Kenji scratched the back of his head, "I just get all geeked up when I eat here"
"That's for damn sure" Jackie managed to get another laugh in before he turned to Hamono in a more subdued tone, "Hey, Hamicchi, you feeling back up to snuff after that hospital visit? You were out for a week"
Hamono nodded before swallowing the mouthful of ramen he had, "Yeah, I'm feeling fine now; thanks for asking. Is that why you forced me into buying you food?"
"Meh, that's only part of the reason. I just wanted to check up on how my fellow transfer students were adjusting"
Hamono smiled at Jackie. Time froze and that familiar sound of glass shattering filled his mind.
Thou art I… and I am Thou…
Thou shalt be blessed when thou reaches out for the power of Personae of the Magician Arcana.
Hamono relaxed as he felt the warm sensation flow into his chest…
"We've gotta meet up again! Then I'll tell you about my 'secret plan'"
Only to tense up as he went into big-brother mode, "We'll all meet up again, okay?"
Minako rolled her eyes at her twin's sudden reaction; Kenji appeared to have a heart attack.
"Down, Hamicchi. Kenji here isn't interested in girls like your sister anyways"
Iwatodai Dorm (Evening)
"We're back~"
Hamono lead the charge on the way back from Hagakure, cheerfully throwing open the dorm's front doors as he walked in. He quickly signed himself in before throwing himself onto one of the lounge's easy chairs. Minako snorted after watching her twin's antics, calmly signing in before taking a seat at the dining table next to Yutono.
"Aristato-kun" Hamono's attention went from the phone in his hand to his sempai, "Have you been monitoring your condition? Exploring Tartarus can be exhausting, so make sure to not overexert yourself"
"You can join the worry train with Jackie-chan, Mitsuo-sempai. I'm feeling fine right now, but I was thinking of going to Tartarus tomorrow night. Let's all try to have an early night tonight"
Hamono then grabbed his bag and joined his twin and Yutono in doing their homework at the dining table.
4/24 Gekkoukan High School (Before School)
"So are you planning on joining any of the sports teams?" Hamono looked at his twin, the question coming from a pair of passing-by students that mentioned the sports teams were accepting applicants.
Minako nodded before responding, "They've got a track and field team, so I was thinking of going for long-distance"
"Hmm… track team, eh?" Hamono mulled it over briefly, "They have a sprinting block?"
"Probably"
Gekkoukan High School (After School)
After another uneventful day of classes, Hamono immediately grabbed his twin and walked them to the outdoor track, where a group of students were already mulling about.
"Are you two interesting in joining track and field?" A dark-skinned girl in a track suit approached the twins.
"That's right!" Hamono enthusiastically responded while Minako settled for a nod.
"Good to hear, I'm Yuko Nishiwaki. And you two must be the transfer students in 2-F right?"
"Whatever you've heard, it's not true" Hamono responded jokingly.
"Even the good?"
"Especially the good"
The two shared a laugh while a man in a green track suit approached them, "Hey, Yuko, are these fresh recruits?"
"That they are"
"Well, welcome to the track team! We've mostly split the team between our long-distance runners and our sprinters. You're free to switch between the two during the practices, but try to be somewhat consistent"
The twins split off into their desired groups so while Minako walked with Yuko and the coach over to where most of the guys were gather, Hamono walked by himself over to where most of the girls were.
"Alright, listen up boys!" Most of the guys gathered quieted down, "We've got a new member joining us today, Minako Aristato of 2-F"
Minako sighed slightly after noticing the not-so-subtle whispers amongst the guys on the team, "It's nice to meet you all"
"Hey Kazushi!" The coach called over for a somewhat tall, but lanky dark-haired guy who ran up enthusiastically.
"Yessir!" Minako raised an eyebrow at the absolute lack of sarcasm in his voice.
He's serious.
"This man here is the future captain of our team. He's done well in a few competitions since he joined. You two are in the same class, right? So Kazushi, do me a favor and look out for her, okay?"
"Got it"
And now he's your mentor.
Joy.
"Hey, you're the girl that beat the Takeba challenge on the first day of school, right? Good for you! It's about time that guy loosened up a bit. You're pretty well-known among the second years. I'm Kazushi Miyamoto, and to put it bluntly, you're mine after school. Don't think I'll go easy on you 'cause you're a girl"
This is getting a bit ridiculous.
Just be thankful that rumors don't come true here.
"I'll try to keep up" Minako managed to keep her face stoic the entire time.
…
…
While his twin was dealing with the team's jocks, Hamono approached a teacher that appeared to be in charge of the sprinters. Upon noticing him approaching, the teacher motioned him over.
"Attention everyone, you all have a new teammate"
"I'm Hamono Aristato from class 2-F; it's nice to meet you all" Hamono said with a slight bow and smile.
"It's nice to meet you, too!" Hamono grinned at the enthusiastic response from the group.
"Let's see here" the teacher appeared to be fumbling with something, "Who's the leader for the juniors again?"
"That would be me" A girl with dark hair pulled into a pony tail not unlike the one that Minako would sport from time to time walked over.
"Oh, that's good. I need to leave to handle some paper work. I'm not sure what I'd be doing here anyways" Hamono managed to not wince when the teacher giggled slightly before walking off.
"… Alright" He could tell the junior wasn't happy about it either.
After the teacher walked off the field, Hamono could hear the group in front of him mocking her to which he really couldn't blame them"
I've heard the lame make more pleasant noises than that woman.
Agreed.
"She doesn't exactly pull her weight, does she?" Hamono motioned towards the long-gone teacher.
"Not really…" The girl scowled slightly before speaking again, "Anyways, I'm Rio Iwasaki. You're Hamono-san, right? I've heard a bit about you. I'm in charge of the junior sprinters, so let me know if you need anything"
"Alright, I'll do my best!" Hamono smiled at Rio.
"For today, we'll be going over the basics. Just try your best"
"Got it"
Time froze again and the same sound of glass shattering filled Hamono's mind.
Thou art I… and I am thou.
Thou shall be blessed when thou strives for Personae of the Chariot Arcana.
The warm feeling that collected into Hamono's chest remained even after ten excruciating sets of sprints.
Tartarus (Dark Hour)
After the members of SEES arrived at the lobby of Tartarus, Hamono told everyone to double check their equipment again while he made a quick run to the Velvet Room.
"Welcome back, my dear young man" Igor, in all his sinister grinning glory greeted Hamono upon entering, "It is time for me to discuss with you my true role in this room-"
"Master!"
Igor was cut off and Hamono looked behind him to see what it was that just ran into the back of his head. It was Pixie, floating in front of him. Hamono's eyes widened when he noticed how small Pixie was.
"You're the size of my hand…"
"Now, now Pixie" Orpheus rose from his seat and began to walk over to the two, "Master here is discussing business; we shouldn't interfere. Please re-take your seat"
Hamono couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the fact that Pixie did have a small seat, floating in the air, for her to sit on.
Pixie simply pouted at Orpheus before flying up and sitting on Hamono's hair, "I don't wanna sit on that hard chair. This is much better" She giggled slightly before squirming around to get a better seat in Hamono's hair.
"Pixie-" "It's fine, Orpheus" Hamono cut off his more stingy Persona, "She can sit there if she wants, just keep it down, alright?"
Pixie hummed in agreement and Igor's chuckling brought Hamono's attention back to him.
"Like I was saying before, my true role in the Velvet Room is the Fusing of new Persona from old Personae. Remember how you received Pixie? You can receive other Persona through those cards; however some Persona will only be obtainable through Fusion. There are benefits to picking the other cards that may appear before, so please keep that in mind"
"Right" Hamono nodded in response, "I'll see you again when I have more Personae"
After leaving the Velvet Room, Hamono motion for everyone to group up before ascending into Tartarus.
Tartarus Floor 5
Things had been going rather well for the juniors in their exploration of Tartarus. Upon arriving at the 5th floor, they'd stumbled across a teleporter that allowed them to freely travel to the lobby and back. After a quick breather, Hamono had lead the assault team further down the single, empty hallway that was on said floor. Again, things hadbeen going well.
"Well, shit" Jackie summed things up rather well, Hamono mused. They'd been walking down the hallway when a wall rose up from the floor behind them, cutting off their retreat route. The walls gave a loud groan and the hallway shook as the walls began to shift and adjust, turning the narrow path into a rather large, open room with a few walls remaining in the middle and a few inverted columns hanging from the ceiling.
"What's going on up there? I detected a disturbance with the floor you are on. Are you all alright?"
"We're fine, but cut off. The whole floor changed layouts on us" Hamono grimly reported back.
"Keep your wits about you. I'm detecting three strong Shadows in your proximity!"
As Mitsuo reported, three bird-like shadows arose from the few walls that remained in the middle of the large room. They circled in place briefly, before one of them spotted the juniors.
"SCATTER!" Hamono screamed out his order as the three Venus Eagles dive-bombed towards the team. They managed to scrabble out of the way and Minako got off a quick slash to one as it flew by.
"Tch, that didn't do anything…" The Shadow should have been missing a wing when it didn't appear to be affected at all.
The four members of SEES split up throughout the room, hoping to decrease the effective-ness of another fly-bye.
"Come on! Hermes!" Jackie drew her Evoker, hoping to blast one of the Shadows out of the air. Before she could pull the trigger, one of the other Eagles turned and knocked her off her feet with a Garu.
"Jackie-chan!" Hamono gripped his scimitar and he rushed over to cover for the fallen girl, "You alright?" He drew his Evoker and along with Orpheus, swatted an attacking Eagle out of the air. It rolled a short distance to the side but quickly righted itself and jumped back into the air.
"Be more careful" Jackie was pulled to her feet before she dusted herself off and adjusted her grip on her two-handed katana.
On the other side of the room, Minako was keeping the other two Eagles from too close while Yutono attempted to shoot them out of the air. Growling as another one of her cuts simply slid off the mask of the Shadow, she balled her fist and delivered a vicious back-hand; following it up with a heel kick while it was stunned.
The two fighting groups fell back and regrouped.
"Yutono, do you think you can land a shot on those Shadows? I just had Mitsuo-sempai do a scan on them and that seems to be their weakness"
"I can try, but they're moving too fast for me to get a clean shot off"
"Right. Mina, you're out front. I know you can't do anything to them, but you're the fastest out of all of us, so you're the distraction. Jackie-chan, stay back. You haven't fully recovered from that Garu attack, but we might need you if things go south. Yutono, aim for the target that I'll 'mark'"
A roar from the approaching Eagles cut off any more planning.
"What do you mean by 'mark'!?"
"You'll see!" Hamono barely managed to get moving before his twin rushed out in front, drawing her sword again as the three Eagles closed in on her.
Yutono ran over to the side, panting from the stress of the situation. He drew his bow, but couldn't keep it steady from how badly his hand was shaking. He grimaced while berating himself.
Not again. They're counting on you. You HAVE to do this.
Despite his attempts, Yutono couldn't get a steady bead on any of the Eagles swarming Minako.
Summon me, child. I shall aid you
Yutono nearly jumped out of his skin after hearing the voice of his Persona in his head. Shoving down swelling feelings from hearing his mother's voice again, Yutono drew his Evoker.
"This'd better work!" He nearly screamed out as he shoved the pistol against his temple and pulled the trigger for the first time since the rooftop with Minako.
Io once again formed above Yutono, but instead of casting a spell, the Persona fell into place behind him. Drawing his bow once again, the shaking in his hands was completely gone and he easily drew a bead on the Eagles.
"Nice! This will be the first target!" Hamono drew his own Evoker again and put it to the side of his head with a grin, "You're up Pixie! Rakunda!"
Pixie emerged from Hamono's consciousness, bringing a ball of blue light together onto one of the Shadows as they continued their attempted assault on Minako.
"What? How do you have another Persona?"
"Not now Sempai! Yutono, fire!"
Focusing back on the weakened Eagle, Yutono could feel some of his power flowing through his bow arm, a small whirlwind forming at the end of the drawn arrow.
There. Now fire, my child
Aiming for the weakened Eagle as it swung around to make another pass at Minako, Yutono let loose the arrow. It shot out of the bow and, as it passed through the whirlwind, spun and accelerated. The Shadow never saw the arrow coming as it punched straight through its weakened mask, creating a hole the size of a fist straight through its head; the arrow continuing its flight before exploding on contact with the wall on the far side of the room. The Shadow's body didn't last long enough to hit the ground, completely evaporating midair.
The two remaining Venus Eagles, reacting to new and much more real threat than the dark-haired swordswoman they'd been unsuccessfully trading blows with, rose back into the air and after letting out another battle cry, they descended at the archer.
Yutono didn't even react to Hamono rushed command to fall back, his entire world narrowed down to the small area in front of his drawn arrow. He let loose another arrow, becoming a brown-shaded blur as it rushed through the still-present whirlwind. This time, the targeted Eagle saw the attack coming and instead of losing its head, the arrow imbedded itself into its wing, causing it to tumble out of the air and into the company of Jackie with Evoker drawn.
Seeing that Yutono didn't have enough time to drawn another arrow, Hamono screamed out to his twin as he drew his Evoker, "COLLAPSE ON YUTONO!" Orpheus materialized in front of the Eagle and the two clashed, lyre against claw. He grit his teeth as he saw his Persona being slowly overpowered, failing to notice Minako had long-since rushed over towards them as she ran up the side of one of the room's walls. Placing the grip of her sword in her mouth and biting down on it, Minako threw herself off the wall before bouncing off a few of the stalactite-like columns, she pushed off one directly above the last flying Eagle. Tackling the Shadow right out of the air, the two slammed into the ground with Minako managing to keep her position on top. Retrieving the sword from her mouth, Minako couldn't help a sickly smile from spreading onto her face as her sword finally pierced straight through the Eagle's mask before it dissolved under her.
"Dun Dun Duh DUH! I just leveled up!" Jackie shouted out enthusiastically before raising her still ichor-stained sword into the air. Hamono smiled at the sight as the tension from the fight drained out of the team.
"Nice job, everyone. I'm not sensing anymore Shadows on that flo-"
Mitsuo was cut off as the floor began to shake again, Hamono gritting his teeth as it happened, "Don't speak so soon, sempai" This time, however, the center of the room opened up and a stairway arose up to the next floor. Alongside of Hamono, two silver briefcases fell from the ceiling. He picked up the items within along with two masks from the Eagles that weren't destroyed and placed them within the satchel he'd been given.
"Now that you are all safe, Aristato-kun, do you mind explaining why you have a second Persona?"
Hamono scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "I just kinda do?"
"I hope you know that the idea of a person wielding multiple Personae is completely unheard of"
Minako tapped the side of her head, "Is it really? And why are you acting like you've never seen this before? Hamo might not have done it willingly, but he didn't kill that Shadow back on the rooftop with Orpheus"
"Did he really?" Yutono had slid his bow back over his shoulder, "My memory is a little hazy, but all I remember is Hamono's Persona glowing really brightly, not changing"
"I don't blame you for not noticing, the only reason I guessed why was because it had a different way of attacking"
Eurydice is correct; I cannot claim credit for that kill
Hamono was thankfully saved from responding by Mitsuo, "Unfortunately, the rooftop cameras were briefly blinded by the power behind Aristato-kun's summoning so we were unable to salvage any footage of the actual battle. I don't see any problems with your actions, but there are certain implications behind having a second Persona. If you feel like you are having any problems please tell me immediately"
"I understand, sempai" Hamono let out a breath at being spared having to explain the Velvet Room to the others, "Now, let's get moving"
Tartarus Floor 10
"This again?" Hamono pointed out after noticing another teleporter resembling the one located in Tartarus' main lobby.
"If this is anything like that previous floor, you can expect to run into another group of dangerous Shadows. Please, be on your guard"
"Right, sempai. Everyone, watch your backs" Hamono instructed the rest of the team before walking over and activating the teleporter. The group of four continued down the hallway and was only half-surprised when a wall blocked off the way back again.
"Alright, get ready" Hamono unsheathed his scimitar again, slowly making his way down the hallway before it began to shake.
This time, the room opened up with a scattering of walls spread out like a maze with the majority of the walls missing. Occasionally, one of the tiles of the floor was raised up, creating small platforms.
"Incoming!"
Reacting to the flicker of movement in the corner of her vision, Minako struck out with her elbow and caught a pink-ish Shadow mid-strike. The Shadow slid back before slinking off and joining up with two more identical Shadows.
"Mitsuo-sempai, scan them. Jackie-chan and Yutono, blast them with me!" The three drew their Evokers and pulled them almost at the same time.
"Hermes, Agi!" "Io, Garu!" "Apsaras, Bufu!"
Their Personae arose from their consciousness before launching aforementioned elemental attack at the group of Shadows. The room shook slightly from the force of three attacks landing and smoke billowed out from the impact site. Minako strained her eyes to see through the obstruction, only to widen her eyes at what she saw.
Not wasting time speaking, Minako roughly grabbed Yutono and Jackie by their collars and threw them to the ground behind her. Running up to her twin, she shoved Hamono down before jumping in front of the entire group.
To take a massive ball of energy containing fire, ice, and electricity for the team. Hamono covered his head and grit his teeth as he rode out the waves of force that were slamming him into the ground. As the force finally ended, he looked up to see his twin surrounded by rapidly fading black aura, a small amount of ice on her shoulder and the occasional trickle of lightning flowing around her body being the only signs that she took the attack.
"They're Dancing Hands. They're strong against all the elements and physical attacks but they are weak to strike attacks! Also, they don't appear to be that powerful individually, but it seems that they can combine their attacks into much more powerful forms!"
Minako silently pulled her twin off the ground before reaching over and pulling Yutono up as well. Hamono aided Jackie who looked a little ruffled at the rough handling. Turning back to Hands, Hamono gave his orders over his shoulder while sheathing his scimitar, "Jackie-chan and Yutono, stay back and support me and Mina. Mina, we're taking the three of them on ourselves"
"Give me a minute" Minako responded before unbuttoning and throwing off her outer blazer, rolling the sleeves of her dress shirt up. She unclipped her Evoker belt and, along with her sword, let it fall to the floor.
Thanatos, focus everything we've got into my muscles and bones.
Drag-out brawl?
You got it.
"Orpheus, Bash!" Hamono's Persona dealt the first significant blow of the fight, his lyre smashing down onto the lead Hand; said Hand having difficulty immediately getting up after the hit. The two remaining Hands snapped their fingers and two balls of fire and ice formed overhead before being smashed together. A much smaller, but still as potent, ball of thermal lightning formed before the Shadows launched it at Orpheus. It exploded a short distance away from Hamono, his twin sliding a short distance of to the side as the same black aura enveloped her forearms in an attempt to heal the damage done by the attack.
"Hermes!" Jackie summoned her Persona and it surrounded Minako in a blue aura, slightly raising her defense.
Minako silently thanked her teammate as she rushed forward to meet the Shadows head on. The lead Hand flung itself at her, an attempt at a glorified slap that she simply ducked under and ignored, a small smile spreading onto her face as she heard Orpheus smash it into the floor. She jumped the remaining distance to the Hands and punched one away before rolling with her momentum under the other's counter attack. Grabbing the Shadow as it passed over her, she threw the Hand into a nearby wall before crushing it into the floor with an overhead axe kick as it bounced back at her.
Hamono let out a grunt of pain as Orpheus shattered from a head-on Zio. He felt his pain ebb as Yutono fixed him up, but the Hand was still standing.
I don't have the strength to be summoned right now. I apologize.
Hamono grit his teeth again at this news. I don't have another Persona with a strike attack. And I don't have the fighting prowess that Mina has.
I may have the answer. I've been studying Eurydice's style for some time now and I think I know how it works. Simply put, instead of channeling your strength through us to attack, channel our strength through yourself.
What?
It's a risk and I can't guaranty that there won't be any recoil from doing this with how weak I am, but it's our only shot at this.
Hamono carefully watched the Hand as it appeared to be getting restless. What do I need to do?
I believe that attempting to use one of our attacks without using summoning us may give desired results.
Hamono ran forward, ducking under a Bufu spell, before punching the Hand with an overhand right. It recoiled slightly as he brought his left hand around for a hook. Hamono felt Orpheus stir within his consciousness as the hit connected.
This time, the Hand was knocked back into a nearby wall where it splattered and disintegrated. Hamono looked down at his hand only to nearly shout in shock. His entire left hand, and most of his forearm, was seemingly replaced by Orpheus' own. It held shortly before shattering and dissolving into the blue shards of glass that accompanied Persona summoning.
"Nice trick you have there, Hamo" Minako stated with a raised eyebrow. She'd finished off her two opponents in time to witness her twin's attack.
"I'm just glad it worked" Hamono replied while shaking his head.
Tartarus Floor 14
"Watch out!"
Minako just barely managed to grab Yutono from the pillar they were hiding behind before the massive Shadow they were fighting demolished it. This 'Guardian', as Mitsuo had decided to call the strong Shadows they faced on these floors, had started out simply enough. The floor had opened up into a large room with evenly spaced pillars, which the Guardian at first had been content enough to maneuver around. However, after Hamono landed a particularly strong Zio attack with a new persona of his, Omoikane, the Shadow had wrapped itself in a red aura and began to charge straight through anything in its way. Jackie had been the first casualty of the raging Assault Drive, its attack smashing straight through Hermes before swatting her like a fly. Hamono worked with a Revival Bead and Pixie to aid Jackie, but it seemed that she'd taken a much larger beating than first anticipated. So while Hamono hid in the shadows until Jackie managed to fully recover from her head injury, Minako and Yutono were left with the extremely dangerous task of distracting such an aggressive Shadow for an extended duration of time.
Minako dove behind another pillar as the Assault Drive annihilated the one she was just hiding behind, "Shit…" Things were beyond bad: she herself couldn't actually damage this Shadow on her own and if Yutono stopped for long enough to launch a Garu he'd simply eat a Mazio for his trouble.
"Minako!" Yutono grabbed her attention and motioned her over to the pillar he was hiding behind, "What are we going to do against this Shadow?"
Minako was carefully watching their opponent to know when the next charge would be but she could hear the fear in his voice. She managed to keep the fear out of her own, somehow, "Not a clue… Sempai, what's the status on Jackie-san?"
"Iori-san is almost fully recovered"
"Right,…" Minako ran a hand through her hair while mulling over what to do next, "Yutono, head back over to Hamo and Jackie-san. If you can speed up her recovery, do it. We need Hamo to kill this thing"
"And exactly what are you going to be doing?"
"… What I do best…" Minako darted out of cover and drew the Assault Drive's attention from the direction Yutono needed to go.
Surviving
Dismissing her sword, Minako pulled herself up the pillar she stopped next to and came face to face with the massive Shadow.
"Well! Come on now!" Minako roar at it, and it responded by slowly being its spinning charge. Taking a deep breath, Minako jumped from the pillar onto one of the spinning spears the Shadow had for arms. Gripping the spear as tightly as she could with one hand as she called back her sword, Minako was struck with sudden inspiration. Drawing her arm back, she threw the sword as straight as she could into the spinning gears that were connected to the Drive's many legs.
Unfortunately for her, the sword wedge itself snuggly in between two gears bringing the Shadow to a sudden stop. Ripped from the Shadow by the near-absolute stop in acceleration, Minako flew through the air. Righting herself in time to flip off a passing pillar, Minako landed in a crouch on another pillar.
The Shadow enveloped itself in another layer of red aura and she could feel the connection to her sword shatter as the Assault Drive grinded it to dust. A flick of the wrist was all it took to bring it back into her hand.
The next charge was interrupted by a lance of lightning piercing straight through the Drive. Hamono stood there, Evoker still smoking, with Omoikane floating above him with a grin on his face, "Need a hand?"
Minako joined her twin behind a pillar as the two watched the recovering Shadow, "I need an idea of how to actually kill this Shadow; got one of those?"
"Well…" Hamono looked up and to the left, a sign Minako had come to realize was him talking to his Personae, "According to Omoikane, this guy's got a weak spot on the dead center of his chest. Problem is, our attacks are being diverted around it…"
"… You need a lightning rod, don't you?" Minako sighed while shaking her head, "The shit I do sometimes…"
The twins dove out of the way as the Shadow smashed straight through their cover. Hamono moved to the side as Minako chased the Assault Drive down. As it spun to face them again, Minako jumped onto the Shadow's chest piece and stabbed her sword into it as hard as she could. Minako gritted her teeth as she struggled to keep the sword in place, the Shadow's armor seemingly rejecting it intensely.
She had to keep herself from screaming when her twin's attack channeled itself through her, down her sword, and into the Assault Drive. The Drive seemed to lose control and Minako limply fell off the Shadow. Her vision had patches of white and her ears rang, but she managed to regain her footing. The Drive was staggering around, its gears worn down from the intensity of its own attacks, crashing into a few of the remaining pillars but not going through them like it had.
Gripping her blade tighter, Minako could feel the currents still running through her body and down her sword. Planting her feet, she threw her sword straight at the disabled Drive. It hit dead center and while the sword only harmlessly bounced off of its armor, the charge within the blade finished it off.
Tartarus Floor 14?
After fully healing Minako, Hamono collected the spoils of their victory and the team made their way over to the staircase; this one appearing behind a wall that slide out of their way. As they climbed the stairs, they began to shift and crack.
"What's going on up there?"
"The stairs are shifting! It looks like they're leading us to a different floor" Hamono stated as the stairs opened up to a dark hallway.
"I'm not sensing any Shadow from that area, but be careful! Try to get to the next floor as fast as you can"
"Right, sempai" Hamono lead the team into the darkness.
…
…
Something is off, Mistress.
It's less of a matter of is or isn't, and more of a matter of what at this point.
…
"Hey! Check this out!" Jackie pointed to a small room that branched off from the main hallway. Right in the middle of it was a golden chest. After the second room had yet another golden chest, Hamono ordered the team to split up and quickly loot any chests they could find.
Minako entered another room and yanked open a chest, pocketing the black gem within it.
Megido huh?... This really is just too strange for something to not be going on.
Wait… I'm feeling something here…
"What is this reading?... Everyone, please regroup and evacuate that floor immediately!"
"You heard the man! Regroup" Hamono confirmed the order. As Minako went to leave the room, she heard the sound of chains softly rattling in the background.
What. Was. That.
If I'm right, we don't want to be anywhere near it.
Listening to her mentor's advice, Minako took off in a sprint, quickly meeting up with the rest of the team.
"I sense… Death… Get out of there!"
The twins and Yutono, silently agreeing to retreat immediately, turned to run.
Jackie had other plans, "Why should we? It can't be worse than that la-"
"Fool"
Hamono turned around to grab Jackie, only to get swept off his feet by the hurricane-grade wind that slammed into them. Minako and Yutono could only grip the wall to their side as they watched the two get thrown down the remainder of the hallway before slamming into the wall, sliding to the floor in a heap.
When the winds finally receded, Minako looked up to see exactly what they were dealing with. IT stood tall enough to nearly touch the ceiling, a good ten feet above them, wearing a large black trench coat with two large, long-barreled revolvers in its hands. It peered at them with one large, unblinking eye.
This is bad, very bad.
Shit… We need to get everyone out of here…
"What is going on? Anyone? Please respond!"
Mitsuo's voice coming through her earpiece snapped Minako out of her daze. She felt an uncertain weight on her shoulder and, looking back, came face to face with a terror-stricken Yutono. Minako grimly realized that once again, she was the only one that could fight. Grabbing his hand seemed to break Yutono out his own daze, "Yutono, I need you to grab Hamo and Jackie-san, and then run"
"No…" Yutono grabbed her hand with both of his own.
"Yutono, please"
"… No, I c-can't"
"Please, Yutono. You need to grab those two and get out of here. I can hold that thing back for a bit, but I can't do that and get you all out of here at the same time" At that, Minako rose to her feet and slowly walked to meet 'Death'
"Minako, no!" Yutono had to choke back a sob, "Damn it…" He ran over to his unconscious friends and tried to rouse them.
"Hmmm? And what is this?" 'Death' appeared to be genuinely amused by Minako's actions, "What fool walks towards me? You should be running"
"I don't plan on running, at the moment" Minako motioned over her shoulder, "I want you to let those three go; they don't pose a shadow of a threat to you right now. Instead," Minako reached into her hair and removed the tie holding it in place, "I'll be fighting you"
"HAHAHAHhahaha!" 'Death' was visibly shaking from its laughter, "Is that what you think?" It leveled one of its revolvers at Minako's head, "Tell me why I shouldn't just kill where you stand now?"
"Because you are bored" Yutono froze after hearing her say that. It wasn't what she said as much as how she said it. Minako continued with a shrug, "You run around this tower with nothing better to do, don't you? You could have easily killed us all, but you didn't; and why is that? Because you're bored and don't want to kill off your playmates immediately. But you don't want to go after them; you won't get any satisfaction from killing them. So fight me, I'll give you a challenge"
"Is that so?" 'Death' appeared to be legitimately considering the offer, "But who are you exactly? I can see that you're different from them, but that's not really enough to pique my interest"
"I see…" Minako closed her eyes and smiled ruefully, "I can understand why you wouldn't accept my challenge… But what about mine?"
Yutono looked on in shock as he heard Minako's voice completely change. It wasn't just her voice that was different, he noted; her posture was different and the shadow that she cast seemed to twist and flicker on its own.
"Am I 'piquing' your interest now?" Minako(?) motioned tauntingly, "Or need I do more?"
"No… you have my interest, and…" 'Death' motioned towards the wall behind Yutono. It slide open and revealed one of the one-way teleporters that led back down to the lobby, "… your comrades may leave; provided you stay and fight me"
"Naturally…" Minako(?) turned back to face Yutono. She mouthed 'Go. I will find the stairs' before turning back to her opponent. Yutono lifted the two unconscious team members before walking over to the teleporter. With one last look, he kicked it and disappeared. The wall slide back into place and the two duelists remained.
"You may decide when we begin"
"What a gentleman" Minako smirked at her opponent, "We'll fight when this," She dangled her hairband in front of herself, "hits the ground"
Holding out the hairband, Minako drew a full breath into her lungs. She held it as she dropped the hairband.
There was silence; then the hairband hit the ground.
Minako rushed forwards as fast as she could while zig-zaging, hoping to throw off 'Death's' aim. It currently had one revolver trained on her, the other hanging limply towards the ground. Minako smirked, it was underestimating them, and she would enjoy toying with him before they escaped. The first shot rang out and Minako jumped to the other side of the hallway as the spot where she was previously running exploded from the impact of the massive round. She repeated her action for the second and third round, easily halving the distance between the two. Then, it raised its second revolver and Minako drew her sword. She pushed on, even after feeling her sword fracture from deflecting such a large bullet that would have hit her mid-dodge. She blocked another round and they knew that the sword would break under the impact of the third. Instead of jumping to the side to dodge the next volley, Minako took to the walls, easily dodging the bullets and launching herself at 'Death'. It shifted to the side as she passed; causing her to rebound off of the wall she landed on. It was obviously not anticipating them to make such a maneuver and was only able to watch as they grabbed onto its head and plunged the blade into its single eye. Minako forcefully broke the blade off a few inches from the hilt, leaving about half the blade still in its eye. They landed with a roll, admiring her handy work, "You are conceited, Death" They spoke tauntingly.
It froze momentarily before responding, "As are you… 'FOOLISH DEATH'! MEGIDOLAON". It raised one revolver straight up and fired repeatedly.
The next few minutes became a blur of wild dodging and explosions as balls of bluish light rained down. Minako continually coughed up dust, even long after the explosions stopped. By some small miracle, the walls hiding the stairs were blown away and she wasted no time staggering up them.
Tartarus Floor 15
Minako fell to one knee as she took in her surroundings. Directly across from her was a large pile of chairs that seemed to be blocking the way up the stairs behind them. Another one of those silver briefcases was placed on the ground to her right while a one-way teleporter sat to her left. She pushed herself back onto her feet before slowly making her way over to the briefcase.
Thanatos, that is the last time you challenge an enemy.
I apologize for that. But when you tell me 'Taunt him into fighting us alone', I don't have very many options.
… I think I might owe Yutono an apology and an explanation for that one; he's been put in enough terror-inducing situations all too often lately.
"Hmmm… You are intriguing after all"
Minako couldn't help but groan, "Oh, come on!"
"I am not going to fight you, at least for tonight. I will, however, be challenging you, little Death, in the future"
"Right, right, you wouldn't happen to have a name, would you? Calling us both 'Death' would get a little confusing" Minako attempted to ignore how absurd it was to be talking to seemingly the thin air.
"I am known as the Reaper. You may call me that"
"Right, Reaper. Don't mind me; I'm just going to leave now"
Without waiting on a response, Minako grabbed the silver briefcase and practically fell through the portal. Her bed was feeling rather inviting at the moment.
A/N: So now we've got the Reaper making his appearance! And FF doesn't seem to always carry over the underlines in his text...
So for social links, the 'main story' will be following P3's FeMC's route. I'll be mixing in a fair bit of the MC's events as well for Minako, however Minako will not be benefiting from these in anyway shape or form. If you want to know what events will be happening, I will be posting links to the guides I'm using in the story's description on my profile.
Anyways, things are finally moving along. I hope you all enjoyed the fight scenes as next chapter will be pure social links / 'slice of life'y kind of stuff. The chapter after that one will be the long promised Priestess Fight. Please leave a review as they let me know what you want to see in this fic.