The bear let out a mighty roar as Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ruby stopped in their tracks. They all looked at eachother worryingly, and something in Jaune's head screamed that this creature was more powerful than the other Shadows they had faced in this excursion. Before Jaune could say anything, the bear lumbered forward and drove its claw down at the group. It struck all three of them, sending them back.
Jaune rolled backward, sliding a few feet and nearly falling flat on his rear. He managed to keep himself up though, staring down the Shadow and looking to the left and right. He saw Pyrrha barely manage to right herself, but Ruby went down hard. She fell straight onto her back and skidded across the ground. Jaune could almost feel how much that had to hurt for her.
He was surprised to find that he felt like he was barely damaged, as though he had only taken a small portion of the strike. He looked down at himself and felt, somehow, that he was barely injured.
"Baldr!" Pyrrha was immediately calling on her Persona. Baldr appeared, shield and spear spinning around him, and rushed at the enemy. Baldr gave two rapid-fire thrusts with the spear. As the bear Shadow attempted to strike Baldr, the shield rapidly came up, deflecting the attack before Baldr vanished.
Jaune rushed to Ruby and helped her up in the meantime, looking at the creature as though staring at it would let him see some kind of information about it. He noticed that it was also masked, though its mask was on its protruding belly, an indigo colored one with the roman numeral 11 on it. Unlike the other Shadows they had fought so far, he couldn't tell what was really hurting the beast - it was like the information was just barely out of sight, as though covered by a thin veil.
"D-don't worry, we can do it!" Ruby called as Jaune helped her to her feet. Her Evoker was immediately at her head. "Tyr!" Her Persona appeared above her, sword spinning. A burst of wind appeared beneath the Shadow in an attempt to knock it off balance. Instead, however, the wind travelled around the bear and then blasted right back at Ruby and Jaune. The two found themselves suspended in the air for a split second, then crashed down on the earth.
"Ooph! T-this is bad!" Jaune turned to Ruby who was on the ground beside him. The bear rushed at the prone Jaune and Ruby, but Pyrrha interjected, Evoker under her chin. There was another gunshot and Baldr was there once more. His spear clanged against his shield in a drum-like fashion again, and the sigil of light appeared under the bear. Jaune watched as it grew brighter and brighter as the bear got closer and closer, rushing on all fours. There was a blinding flash...
And the Shadow was still coming. The attack had no effect.
It rushed into Pyrrha, who had a look of shock on her face. It barreled into her, running her over, forcing her to drop her Evoker as it did so. She fell beneath one of its paws, and it raised its other for a fierce strike. It slammed into Pyrrha, who barely brought her shield up in time. She used the brief moments the deflection bought her to stand up, just for the massive paw to come down again. She lifted her shield, but the force of the attack sent her flying.
She lay next to Ruby and Jaune, breathing deeply. She closed her eyes for a moment before turning to them. Jaune could see, for the first time, something other than a controlled calm in Pyrrha's face. She looked... scared.
The bear Shadow slowly approached the three prone students, and Jaune turned to Ruby. She was also lying on her back, Scythe in her hand, and she slowly tried to use it to stand. The world seemed to slow down for Jaune as the realization struck him.
It's now or never.
Jaune got to his feet, taking one step forward, then another. The bear Shadow kept its approach. Ruby and Pyrrha both shouted Jaune's name, but he felt he could barely hear them. The blood was rushing in his ears - the blood was rushing everywhere. He felt alive with electricity in the moment.
At least I'll get to die a hero.
Jaune stood firm as the bear lifted its paw, coming down with a powerful strike. Jaune went for his sword and realized that he had left it on the ground behind him where he fell. He didn't seem to mind though - his body, of its own accord, reached down and picked up Pyrrha's dropped Evoker.
Thou art I...
Jaune stared up defiantly at the creature as its paw continued to descend.
And I am thou.
As the claws descended, ready to end Jaune's life, he felt the cold metal of the evoker against his right temple.
From the sea of thy soul, I come...
He felt his finger tickle the trigger. When the claw was a hair's breadth away, he pulled.
I am Hodr. I, who cannot see, shall grant you sight!
Jaune's head snapped violently to the left as a blue fog spilled out of his body. It manifested as his Persona, Hodr, who floated above his head. A giant cross floated above and behind Jaune, with a man in a suit of armor tied upside down to the cross with a series of vines. His head was at the bottom of the cross, his long blonde hair dangling below him. Where his eyes should've been, the vines wrapped tightly around the face, obscuring any features above his mouth from view. In his hands, the Persona held what was presumably his own helmet - like that of a knight's - with the visor down. It placed the helmet on Jaune's head.
The bear shadow reeled back from the energy released with the summoning. Its claw swung wide, and it slid backwards. It stared at Jaune on all fours, seeing a meal. Jaune saw, instead of just a Shadow... everything.
Jaune's world had opened.
Jaune could see a bar beside the creature, like in a video game. The bar had been slightly depleted, but was mostly full. Text manifested infront of the creature, reading 'Callous Ursa - Strength Arcana' then vanished. As he looked at it, he intuitively felt that the creature resisted wind attacks, was immune to light attacks, and that it was weak to ice-based attacks.
Jaune could also feel his allies behind them, and intuitively knew what their Personas were capable of. He knew that none of them could use ice. Cu Sith and Tyr could use Wind, Pixie could use lightning, and Baldr could use light. He could also tell that Baldr allowed Pyrrha to endure alot of damage, but Tyr made Ruby very fast.
"Way to go, Jaune!" Pyrrha called, and he could feel the two standing beside him, ready to face down the Ursa.
"I wouldn't be so happy yet, guys." Jaune's voice not only echoed in the room, but Pyrrha and Ruby felt it in their minds. "From what I can tell, we're still pretty screwed. I don't think my Persona can attack, and this guy's only weak to ice, which none of us have!"
Ruby and Pyrrha looked at eachother with grimaces on their faces. The bear was getting ready to attack again. Pyrrha and Ruby stepped between the Ursa and Jaune, and Jaune could see all of their statistics laid out infront of him. Even with his newfound sight, all he could tell was that it looked hopeless. His persona stayed manifested above him, when suddenly he felt another presence from behind the bear.
"I knew I couldn't trust you not to run off without me." Weiss's voice carried through the forest. She was wearing the same white dress and boots that Jaune had first seen her in, and had a rapier dangling from her belt. She also had an evoker in her hand as she walked towards the bear, which turned to see the newcomer. "The three of you seemed to terribly excited to come here. I hope it was worth it."
"W-Weiss!" Ruby called out. Weiss flipped her hair casually.
"Don't 'Weiss' me!" she shouted, a sharp edge to her voice. "You should've listened. You shouldn't even be here! But here I come to bail you out, because once again you rushed on ahead." She was now standing within swiping distance of the Ursa. "You're lucky I didn't just leave you to the wolves! ... or bears, I suppose."
The bear stood to its full height on its hind legs and brought both claws down at Weiss. Weiss rolled out of the way, coming to a stand with her Evoker at her head. She pulled the trigger, her head snapped back, and her Persona manifested behind her. "Idunne!"
A woman, leaning casually backward in a high-collared dress was floating behind Weiss. The woman's hair was pulled up in a tight, black-as-coal bun. The woman's snow white skin was showing beneath the very deep neckline that ended at her navel. The dress was white, with light blue trim. The woman's blood red lips were perfectly plump, and her eyes were hidden behind a pair of glasses that were rose-colored and in a vague outlined shape of apples.
Jaune thought she looked like a high-fashion super model.
"Bufu!" Weiss called out. The Persona took off its glasses, revealing that it had no eyes udnerneath. The lips parted in a sadistic smile. Idunne spun lightly, causing her dress to twirl as she did so. Her hand that was not holding the glasses was holding a single, bright red ruby apple that seemed to be made of gems. Idunne blew a kiss into the apple, and a sharp shard of ice shot out from the apple towards the Ursa, colliding with its face as it turned to strike at Weiss again.
-CRASH-
The ice collided with the Ursa's forehead and sent the bear tumbling backward. It fell onto its back, hard, causing the earth beneath Jaune's feet to shake as it did so. Jaune could immediately tell that the creature was completely vulnerable. He spoke; Weiss, Ruby, and Pyrrha all heard it in their heads.
"Now's your chance! Attack!"
The three girls all nodded to eachother, weapons at the ready, and dove at the beast. They stabbed into the monster with everything they had, and Jaune saw the creature's vitality vanish from his sight, followed immediately thereafter by the creature itself. It became a puff of black smoke, leaving Weiss, Ruby, and Pyrrha all standing there with weapons drawn. They looked at eachother and smiled - even Weiss.
Jaune's Persona vanished, and he felt a wave of exhaustion come over him. He fell to his knees, looking at the three, and thought about how great they looked as a team. He chuckled to himself. "Hey... go team P-W-R...Power!" he called with his fist in the air, and the three girls rushed to him.
"J-Jaune, are you ok?"
"He must be exhausted, using his Persona for the first time so suddenly
"Hey, Jaune?... you did well."
The last one was Weiss, which surprised Jaune as he looked up and saw their faces around him. "Y-yeah? You think so?" He said, staring at the trio. They all looked down at him with mixes of joy and worry on their faces. They helped him to his feet. "You guys did most of the work, I just... saw stuff..."
"Hey, we're not just team P-W-R." Ruby said, hands on her hips. "It's team J-Power!" She thrust her fist into the air. Weiss and Pyrrha stared at her for a moment, then burst into chuckles. Weiss nearly doubled over with laughter.
"D-did you just make a team name out of our initials?" she managed to gasp out as she laughed. "That's... that's so ridiculous!" She kept chortling, and the contageous laughter spread to everyone but Ruby.
Ruby lowered her fist and crossed her arms infront of her. "I think it's cool! The J stands for Justice!"
The laughter just got louder, and eventually Ruby joined in as well. In that moment, Jaune could feel how good it was to be part of a team. To finally feel useful to someone. To be doing something cool with his life.
Thou art I...
The voice echoed in the back of his mind again.
And I am thou...
Thou hast established a new bond...
It gives a new verse to thy story...
Thou shalt be blessed with Personas of the Fool Arcana...
"Don't think you're off the hook either," Weiss began a lengthy lecture to the group about 'responsibility' and 'how dare they' and 'what were they possibly thinking'? Jaune smiled to himself as the group headed back to the entrance of Muspell. Despite that scary turn, things were going well. He could tell, now armed with his Persona Hodr, that everything was going to be just fine. He finally felt like he belonged somewhere.