Guiding Light
A Persona 3 AU Fanfiction
By Chris D Henry
Summary: In the year 1999 the sealing of Death within Arisato Minato was the last option left in order to stop the coming of Nyx. However this action had unexpected side effects that wouldn't be realised until two years later, when the soul of Death separates into a separate mortal body. In the Year 2009 Minato once again returns to Iwatodai where the events of that night 10 years ago once again start to affect his life. The real question however is; who is the white haired child who calls himself Pharos and why does he keep warning Minato about the difference between fate and destiny.
Author's Notes: Right. Sorry this would have been out about on Friday but I heard the Steve Mclaren interview they were playing on BBC Five Live and it's taken me this long to stop laughing. Back on subject this one is a long one, come on, it's the second full moon and to be honest it's about three thousand words over what I had estimated.
On another note I want to address something. A comment was made in the reviews about how people would like more original material and less of the social links. Now I can see where you're coming from, this is based on a story that I expect all of you to know fairly well and although I try hard to keep it interesting during the social links there was always going to be the problems of you knowing where they are going.
Now this will probably get better as we progress and the story moves away from the original plot, but to be honest there is going to be times where what I'm writing will be close to what happens in the original plot after all I can't change everything. I'm also not going to cut out social links because they haven't changed, first off Vocarin would have my arse on the continuality front and secondly I'm trying to be through.
Also a quick hello to everyone who has this on alert or has put it on their favourites. Don't be shy and leave me a review so I can see your opinions on the piece so far. Also a big thanks to all those who review (including Vocarin who reviews on the sly).
Disclaimer: The plot, characters and location of Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 is copyright of Atlus Co. This piece of fan-fiction has been written for entertainment purposes and no infringement is intended. The alteration to the original Persona 3 contract was suggested by Darkforce222 (and as it was so much more elegant than mine I decided to stick with it).
Chapter 10
Friday, 8th of May 2009. 07:46
"Morning." Minato turned to see Ryoji leaning against the pillar, which held the school gates, holding an open newspaper in his hands.
"Morning," the blue-haired teen replied as he moved next to the teen.
"It's awful what's been going on with the monorail," the heir stated as he flapped the front page, drawing the teen's attention to the headline. "I wonder what could be causing it."
"Ryoji..." Minato simply shook his head. Ryoji was many things, subtle wasn't one of them. "You couldn't be less subtle if you hired a plane with a banner saying 'look at this!'."
"Hey!" Ryoji tried to look insulted, it was a shame that his eyes gave him away. "I can be subtle."
Right.
"Taking about subtlety, I see you've recovered," Minato stated, smirking as the grin drained from the heir's face. "Of all the places you could have chosen, you chose Shirakawa Boulevard."
"Hey, I said it was near. Near!" He emphasised. "It's a nice small little restaurant apparently. It's supposed to have a cosy atmosphere and the food is supposed to be excellent."
Sadly Minato only took on one word from his defence.
"Apparently?" Minato queried.
"Well I haven't actually had a chance to visit," he admitted, looking away. "Come on Nii-san, I've been in Iwatodai for only a few weeks under the watchful eyes of the board's spies."
Minato made a quick check around to make sure that no one had picked up the careless use of the brotherly term, realising, luckily, that no one was paying attention.
"Hold on," he stated as the thought came to his head. "Do you even know what's on Shirakawa Boulevard?"
The puzzled look on Ryoji's face answered it for him. "On it?"
His mask broke as he burst out laughing. "Ryoji, you're an idiot."
With that he started to move towards the school.
"Wha...? Minato!" Ryoji started to run after his withdrawing elder brother. "Minato-kun! What's so funny!?" Minato!"
--
Friday, 8th of May 2009. 12:37
"Hey, Minato." The blue-haired teen looked up to see Kenji standing in front of his desk looking a bit worried.
"Kenji," he replied calmly, relaxing back into his chair. This was going to be good.
"I wanted to say I'm sorry about that happened at Hagakure." Finally, an actual apology! "It was out of order, dude."
"Alright." May as well get this over with, the moron had suffered enough. "But let this be a warning: You try anything like that again and it'll be worse next time."
"O-Okay," the blonde-haired teen stuttered before he changed topics to the reason he had come over. "Anyway, dude, you doing anything after school today?"
"Not that I know of," he replied as he packed his books away, planning to try and get some lunch.
"Alright then, meet me by that strange tree in the first floor hallway," Kenji told him. "I need you to be there."
"Oh?" Minato smiled as he saw the moron getting even more nervous.
"Well... I'll explain later," Kenji promised as he started to head back to his desk. "See ya."
Minato sighed; maybe he shouldn't have let the little sod off so easily. Ah well it was time to get some lunch.
--
Friday, 8th of May 2009. 17:38
Minato smiled as he looked at the Persimmon Tree, contemplating how much of his life seemed to be congealing around Iwatodai. His new friends, S.E.E.S., the shadows, Tartarus, the strange white-haired boy, the Velvet Room, Ryoji's return to his life. Most of the major events of his life seem to circulate around this city...
Hold on. That included...
He closed his eyes as he held the memory at bay. Contemplating the past wasn't the thing to be doing right now. Best to look to the future.
A future that included an ordeal that had a good chance of killing him if he wasn't careful.
He'd known since he'd joined S.E.E.S. that death would be a constant companion; after all they spent their nights running though a Hell infested tower fighting things that would leave them soulless husks if they weren't careful. Skill could only get you so far, and as long as there was a possibility that you could fail, no matter how small it was, eventually the numbers would go against you.
There was something he knew he would have to do.
"Hey, thanks for coming, man." The teen turned from his thoughts to see the blonde-haired junior he was waiting for approach. "Can you wait here for a sec?"
Err... Okay. You just turn up and then you ask me to wait here so you can do 'whatever's out there' knows what.
"I guess," he replied, looking at the junior and becoming slightly worried that the teen had a reprisal planned. "What are you up to?"
"Hey, don't freak out, man!" Kenji stated as he looked around. If the little sod had some sort of revenge planned then he would be learning the meaning of pain. "I'm gonna go ask Kanou-sensei out right now!"
What?
"What?"
"You heard me dude," Kenji replied. "I'm gonna call on all of my manly spirit and ask Kanou-sensei out."
Really, Minato should have been asking what the Hell 'manly spirit' was, but one thought stayed in his head.
Oh, this could only end badly.
"Good luck." But like watching a looming train crash that there was no chance of stopping, all you could do was watch.
"Thanks, man!" A smile lit the poor sod's face as he started to psyche himself up. "I'm gonna go get myself a girlfriend!" Once ready he pointed forward and shouted: "Alright, dude, here I go!" And charged, some would say stupidly, towards his goal.
For a second he was alone before he felt a presence behind him.
He turned to see that the idiot was leaning against the Persimmon Tree, a big grin on his face. "What was that about?"
"Sadly, something that isn't going to end well." The teen shook his head as his eyes looked towards the door his hapless friend had charged though.
"O-ho!" the heir exclaimed as he finally caught on. "I see a train crash in the future!"
"You have no idea," Minato assured him grimly.
"Let me guess," the heir hedged as he put on a look of feigned concentration. "He fancies older woman and has his eyes on a teacher?"
The only reply the heir got was a raised eyebrow.
"Come on Nii-san." The silver-haired teen tried to look offended. "I have been trained to read into these things."
"You actually trained?" The blue-haired smirked as he took the opening.
"Nii-san!" Ryoji actually looked insulted.
"I'm sorry Ryoji, but you asked for it." The look on his face wasn't apologetic at all.
"Be careful Nii-san," the heir's look suddenly turned feral, the smirk setting off warning lights. "I have ways of making you regret it."
"Take your best shot." Minato's smirk faded as his mind went back to the topic he'd been thinking of before Kenji had turned up. "Ryoji, I need a favour."
"You make fun of me and then ask for the favour." Ryoji shook his head. "Go on."
"On Sunday... I need to visit somewhere on Sunday," he explained. "I want you to go with me."
"Ah," Ryoji muttered after a moment, guessing what this was about. "I'm free then. Meet me at Port Island station, at midday. We can have lunch."
"Alright," Minato nodded as he saw Kenji making his way back. "Make yourself scarce."
There was no reply; Minato glanced towards where the teen had been to see that he'd already vanished.
"Hey, man, listen to this!" Kenji shouted as he got closer. "She said yes! Can you believe it!? She said YES!"
To be honest, he couldn't.
"Just as I was about to ask HER out, she asked ME if I wanted a private lesson!" Kenji was bouncing on his feet, obviously still excited.
Hold on...
"She asked you?" The teen had a sneaking feeling about this.
"Heh don't sound too shocked Minato. I'm a stud muffin." Oh 'whatever's out there,' he'd better take this outside; there wasn't room for the moron's expanded ego. "A private lesson, dude!"
Minato leaned on the wall as Kenji became lost in his own thoughts.
It took the blonde-haired teen a while to remember that he wasn't alone. "Dude, I owe you! I owe you big time!"
Aw well, there was a large chance that the teen had misunderstood why Kanou-sensei had asked Kenji if he wanted special lessons. But as was said before, you couldn't take your eyes off the train crash.
Thou art I... And I am thou.
Thou shalt have our blessing when thou chooseth to create a Persona of the Magician Arcana...
"She invited me over to her house, dude! Oh man, I'm not ready for this!" Minato looked up at the blonde-haired teen, expecting that he needed to answer the moron. He had to hold a sigh as he noticed that the junior was muttering to himself. "I probably shouldn't try to go too far with her today, right? But, then again, she IS an adult, so..."
This could only end badly.
"Oh, hey, Minato, you're still here?" Kenji asked as he noticed the teen again. "Sorry, man, I gotta get going. Later, dude." With that Kenji was gone.
Minato watched the teen retreat, shaking his head, before he started for the exit as well. He needed a coffee.
--
Friday, 8th of May 2009. 19:38
He was positive, Chagall had to be putting something illegal in to their coffee. It was far too addictive. Caffeine should have been a complete no-no. After all tomorrow would be the ordeal and therefore a good night's sleep would be vital.
He had no idea what possessed him to drink four mugs of Pheromone Coffee.
Deciding that the best option was to get some studying done for the mid-term exams, and hope that the caffeine worked its way out of his system naturally, he headed for the dorm.
However, when he opened the door to the outside, he heard a distantly familiar voice coming from the seating area.
'Y. M. C. A. It's got to stay at the Y. M. C. Is that C? A.'
Oh Hell's teeth!
A chill ran though the teen's soul as dread filled him, he recognised the voice.
Moving into the dorm as fast as possible, hoping against hope that his fear wasn't justified he turned to look at the group assembled around the couches, looking at the TV.
Noticing the teen had entered Junpei turned a feral grin to the teen, something a person only wore when they knew they had enough material to tease you for a lifetime. "Hey Minato, dude. Welcome back."
Minato didn't reply; his eyes glued to the TV and the disc player that had been plugged into it.
"Hey, Minato-kun." The voice of the obvious instigator drew the teen away from the incriminating footage he'd hoped to never see again. Ryoji sat between Junpei and Yukari, the look of innocence on his face looking anything but. "I came over to see Yukari-san and apologise for any offence I may have caused her."
Minato remained silent, cursing himself for telling the idiot to take his best shot. He merely observed the others as Akihiko looked quite happy, obviously enjoying the rare chance to see the blue-haired teen's mask break. Even Mitsuru was there, although she tried to imply that she wasn't that bothered as she had her eyes firmly on a book. Sadly, the slight blush on her cheeks killed that illusion.
"Well she wanted to know what you were like when we were younger and I had this in my schoolbag so I-I..." Ryoji stopped as a silver-eye locked onto him with a glare that lanced through his soul.
A slightly blushing Yukari unwittingly made the situation worse. "You looked very cute Minato-kun."
Minato didn't respond as he turned back to the footage of a nine year old version of himself massacring Y.M.C.A. He was sure that he'd destroyed all evidence to the debacle. He turned to the Mochizuki heir; the smug, but slightly worried, look on the idiot's face answered that little mystery. All there was to do was salvage the situation.
He pressed stop on the player, followed by the ejection button. Picking up the disk he ignored Ryoji's cry of protest as he moved over to the microwave, tossed the disk in and put it on full power for thirty seconds, watching the little light show as the microwaves did their task and ruined it. Having finished he picked up an oven glove, fished out the disk and binned it before heading for the stairs.
On the way up he could hear Ryoji state to the others. "Oh Hell. He's going to be sulking for the next few days now."
Alright, the idiot was a dead man.
He resisted the temptation to pull something out of the armoury. Explaining it to the others and avoiding a Kirijo execution wouldn't be worth the risk. However another opportunity presented itself as he noticed that Junpei had left his door open to let his room breath. The teen crushed the feeling of guilt as he trespassed into the room and walked around the disaster area before he found what he was looking for.
A Nerf baseball bat.
He picked the item up, wondering just how much damage could be inflicted by a bat made of foam, although he was sure that there was something solid in the middle helping it keep its shape.
Now properly armed, he returned to the dorm's living area, smirking as he noticed the colour drain from Ryoji's face as he noticed the weapon in the teen's hand. He brought the bat down into the palm of his off-hand, creating a nice sounding thwack that caused the idiot to pull on his collar as he got even more nervous. It was then that Minato said his first word since entering the dorm tonight.
"Run."
He'd never seen Ryoji run so fast in his life.
--
Saturday, 9th of May 2009. 08:47
As it turned out, chasing an idiot around mainland Iwatodai, armed with a Nerf baseball bat whilst looking to issue some rough justice was a good way to counter the caffeine in his system. He'd had a good sleep last night after he'd given up.
He had to admit the idiot could run.
"Hey, Minato. How's it going?" He turned to see Akihiko had fallen into step beside him.
"Morning Akihiko-sempai," the teen replied as he slowed down and stopped by the gates.
"How's the training in Tartarus?" the silver-haired boxer asked, after having looked around to make sure no one was listening in.
"Alright," Minato admitted, also scanning to make sure no one picked anything up. "We're getting the hang of it."
"That's good. It never hurts to train while you have the chance." The senior smiled as he motioned for the teen to keep walking. "My wounds will heal in no time, and then I'll be able to join you on the front line. But, until then you're going to have to handle yourselves."
"How is your ribcage anyway?" the blue-haired teen inquired.
"It's getting there," the boxer replied. "I can't train as much as I want to, but if things carry on as it is I should be back in action in a couple of weeks."
"Well it'll be good to hand over the ropes," Minato stated as they reached they reached the stairs to the second floor.
"So..." The senior let a grin appear on his face as he prepared a broadside. "Did you catch Mochizuki last night?"
... Sometimes the best way to avoid an incident you didn't want to talk about was to ignore it.
"See you later Akihiko-sempai." With that the blue-haired teen retreated before the silver-haired had a chance to dig further.
--
Saturday, 9th of May 2009. 12:22
"So, do you have that Nerf bat in your school bag and if so should I start running now." Minato looked up to see the idiot had risked a repeat of last night and was now standing in front of him.
"I realised trying to beat some sense into you was futile long ago." Minato waved off the question as he started to put his earphones on.
"You wouldn't think that after last night," the heir answered as a grin appeared on his face.
"Just because it's futile doesn't mean that you should stop," the blue-haired teen responded.
"Aw, Minato-kun, you're no fun," Ryoji pouted as he sat on Junpei's desk.
"Well I'm going to get some lunch," Minato replied as he moved to leave the homeroom. "I'm studying for the mid-terms so I probably won't see you tonight."
"Studying? Oh come on Minato-kun, you know it's a waste of time," Ryoji complained with a sigh. "Well enjoy your studying; I'll see you on Sunday then."
"See you Sunday." Minato bid the heir farewell as he put on his phones and headed for the cafeteria.
"Nii-san..." Ryoji muttered a mysterious smile on his face. "You may not see me tonight, but I'll see you."
--
Saturday, 9th of May 2009. DH:04
To say she was frustrated was an understatement.
Kirijo Mitsuru was once again up during the Dark Hour fiddling with dials on her scanning equipment. Although Penthesilea could do support actions, she was preliminary a combat persona. As such she needed to augment the persona's inadequacies with technology. She idly wondered if Arisato had a persona in his repertoire that could do support actions with a greater deal of success than Penthesilea. However she dismissed the thought as soon as it came to her.
Arisato Minato was a far greater asset in the frontlines compared to being stuck in the back.
"You're still at it?" The heiress looked up from her 'scanner' to look at the silver haired boxer who had entered the command room.
"Yeah. You never know when the enemy might appear," she replied. After all, vigilance was always prudent.
The silver boxer merely looked puzzled. "I thought you couldn't scan outside of Tartarus?"
"To be honest, I lack the power..." the heiress admitted. "Maybe this is the best Penthesilea can do in terms of data gathering. Although, the power of persona seems to be much broader than I thought." She noted her thoughts turning back to a certain blue-haired teen. "We've even got someone who can switch personas in the middle of battle. There's something special about his ability. It hasn't been that long since his awakening, either."
"I think that morphing trick he pulled off during his first encounter made that obvious," Akihiko replied with a slight chuckle. "I have to admit, I was surprised too. But in the end, it's up to him whether or not he can reach his full potential."
Mitsuru only nodded as she kept her attention to the device in front of her.
"You know, Mitsuru. As a friend I have to tell you..." He paused wondering if the reaction would be worth the execution that would follow. "You're being quite obvious about things when it comes to Arisato Minato."
"I don't know what you're talking about," she replied, trying to blow the situation away with the heiress routine.
"Oh come on. You... what did Junpei call it...? Ah! Intellectual flirting! You did that all the time during their first time in Tartarus..." He started explaining his reasoning.
"I wasn't flirting; I was elaborating on what techniques we use to explore Tartarus," she defended. "At least he had the common decency to be interested in the techniques that keep you all alive."
However, Akihiko completely ignored her attempted counter-attack, he wasn't done yet. "You invited him in to the Student Council."
She let out a small sigh. Sometimes, when Akihiko wasn't preoccupied by fighting, he started trying to get a rise out of her like this, and she found it highly annoying. "Arisato's leadership skills are excellent, and he'll be an excellent asset to the Council."
"You actually watched that video that Mochizuki brought yesterday instead of just leaving like you usually would."
Well to be honest she couldn't really help it. After all, she had to admit that a young Arisato singing Y.M.C.A., while embarrassing for him, was very cu...
Not this again. She didn't have time to form that sort of relationship with someone.
She couldn't afford to have that sort of relationship. Especially with someone like Arisato Minato.
"I've told you before. If you continue down this track I will execute you." Her eyes narrowed at the silver-haired boxer.
"Mitsuru..." Akihiko paused. She could see him fighting to say something, and she had an idea what it would be. He was one of her oldest true friends and sometimes the silver-haired boxer could be sweet, but she did not want him getting involved with nuances of her personal problems.
Fortunately she was saved from that little problem as her scanner picked up a reading. "Huh...?" she muttered as she checked the reading, confirming her initial analysis. "It's a Shadow!"
"What!? You actually found one!?" The silver-haired student looked surprised. He knew as well as she did how ineffective her support powers were outside of the confines of Tartarus.
"Wait, something's not right." She checked the reading over once more. "The reading is too big. We've never encountered anything like—"
Hold on a second, maybe they had encountered something like this before, she just hadn't scanned it at the time.
Akihiko was on the same lines. "You mean, it's one of those!?"
"...It must be." There was no other explanation. It had to be one of the larger ones, similar to the one that attacked the dorm almost a month ago.
The one Arisato destroyed in spectacular fashion.
"Well then, this is gonna be fun," the boxer mused, before he looked up and caught the look on her face. "I'll wake up the others."
Mitsuru knew that Akihiko had anticipated the chance to have some action, but she let the tirade about his condition that she was about to unleash slide. She merely watched as the boxer went over to the console and pressed the panic button, causing the sirens to activate. She knew when it wasn't worth reinforcing a point, especially when it was quite obvious that the person at hand had already conceded.
As she waited for the group to assemble she quickly got a bearing on the signal and marked it down on the map. This led to her wondering what the hell a shadow of this magnitude would want in a rundown piece of town near the monorail.
It took the group five minutes to respond the alarm, fully kitted and ready for action. Not bad for beginners, although she wouldn't let them know that.
"Good evening." She looked at the current leader of S.E.E.S.' field team as he gave both of the seniors a nod to accompany his greeting.
"We're here!" Takeba greeted with a cheery smile as she followed Minato into the room.
"Where is it!? I'll rip it a new one!" Iori exclaimed, bouncing on his heels like a child.
Sometimes she had to wonder about Iori's mental age.
"We've detected a Shadow outside of Tartarus," the club leader started to explain. "We don't know for sure, but we think it's another big one. We have to defeat any of them we find, as quickly as possible." Well that was stating the obvious, the look on Arisato's face made that clear.
However, she couldn't shake the thought that he didn't look that surprised.
"Most people don't know the Dark Hour exists," she continued, explaining why they had been dragged out of their beds. "But, if half the city is destroyed, there will be panic. That must be avoided at all costs."
"In other words, we need to kick some ass, right?" She watched as Arisato sighed and Takeba gave Iori an odd look for his behaviour. "Well, count me in!"
"Junpei..." The brunette finally let out a sigh at the teen's antics.
"Akihiko, you stay here and wait for the Chairman," she commanded the other senior.
"Wha--!? Are you kidding!? I'm going!" Oh come on! They had just been over this... Well this would teach her to think she had the man down pat.
"You still need to recover." Sometimes you had to be cruel to be kind. "You'll just be a hindrance."
She watched as he glared daggers at her before he let out a grunt of discontent as he looked at the team with a look of concern. This made her realise that this wasn't completely down to his obsession about fighting. It seemed like Akihiko had already started to form bonds with the newer members and as such he was frustrated at his inability to help them.
She relaxed her features slightly. "They'll fare better than you, in your current state. Have faith in them, Akihiko... They're ready." She tried assured the boxer while making the team know that they had her confidence. All that was left to do was calm the boxer's aggravation. "You'll get your chance. But for now, wait for the Chairman," she finished by softly repeating her order.
Akihiko was silent for a few moments before he caved in. "Dammit..."
Iori was fast to try and ease the boxer's worries. "Relax! I've got it covered!"
...
Akihiko looked at Iori for a second with a look similar look to the one he'd given the teen during their first trip into Tartarus before giving up and closing his eyes. "I guess I've got no choice..." He opened his eyes and turned his gaze to Arisato. "You're in charge."
Arisato didn't look as shocked this time. However, Mitsuru caught the baseball cap wearing teen giving the blue-haired teen a quick glare before his features fell slightly. "Him again?" he asked.
No one really answered Iori's question, since the answer was quite obvious... That made her wonder, why hadn't Takeba answered it?
No matter. To be honest the mild hostility that Iori had shown towards Arisato was far more of a worry.
"We're counting on you..." she told the blue-haired teen. She was a bit worried that she was piling too much responsibility onto the newcomer; however it seemed that the more you gave him, the greater he exceeded your expectations.
He just gave her a nod in acknowledgement.
"Heh, looks like you're stuck playin' leader again..." Iori pointed out, although she wouldn't have said that. To be honest if the blue-haired teen was 'playing leader' then she wanted to see what happened if he took it seriously. "Sucks to be you."
It was a shame that the ending snipe didn't hold the conviction needed to be taken seriously.
Arisato let it slide he asked the redhead an important question. "So, where are we headed?"
"That's one thing that's puzzling me," she admitted as she moved them over to the spread out map. "From the readings I've received it seems to be coming from this area." She indicated towards the pin that she'd placed earlier.
"Why would it be there?" Takeba wondered as she looked at the place in question.
"What's there?" Arisato asked as he looked over the map.
"That's the old transport district," Iori pointed out. "It's where most of the haulers used to be based, but it's been pretty much run down since the docks moved over to Port Island."
"Taking the haulers with it," Arisato finished the thought off. He paused as he looked over the map, a look of contemplation slipping through his mask before comprehension showed for a split second before the look of indifference came back into play. "Mitsuru-sempai, is there room for error in this reading?"
As she contemplated that thought herself, she was sure she saw Akihiko mouth 'Brave man.' At the teen's comment, she conceded, "I suppose. With a signal this large there could be some slight variance, and there is always a margin for human error."
"Well if I was to guess, I'd put it here." He moved the pin slightly onto the tracks for the monorail.
"Hum, that'd make more sense," Akihiko admitted as he looked over the location. "But if you're wrong you won't be able to get from the tracks to there..." He pointed to the slight hole left by the pin's original position. "...before the Dark hour ends."
"Well there is some collaborating evidence," Arisato pointed out as he picked up the local newspaper from the 8th of May and passed it over to the seniors so they could see the headline on the front page.
'Safety concerns as number of Apathy Syndrome cases on Monorail system increases.'
"Well, we have our target," Akihiko stated before he turned to her. "You should let the three of them go first," he suggested. "If you're providing backup out there, you'll need time to get ready, right?"
She couldn't argue with his logic. "Wait for me in front of the station," she told the three active members of the field team. "I'll be there as soon as I can."
Yukari replied for the whole group. "Got it," she stated before she turned to Arisato. "Alright, let's go!"
With that they were gone and she had to get ready.
--
Saturday, 9th of May 2009. DH:22
Minato opened a can of Mad Bull, taking a sip of the caffeine laced energy drink as the trio sat on the stairs outside Iwatodai Station. They had been here for a few minutes already, leaving the question of how much longer Mitsuru-sempai was going to take to get here.
"Where is she?" Yukari asked the question that they all were thinking.
Junpei took a sip from his water bottle. "She'll be here soon," he assured the brunette.
"There's a full moon tonight..." Yukari pointed out as she stood up to get a better look. "But, it looks even creepier during the Dark Hour..."
Full moons. It was odd, but it seemed that everything happened when the moon was full; Ryoji's entrance into his life, the first attack on the dorm and he was sure that it was a full moon when he lo...
"...Huh? What the!?" Junpei's cry broke him out of his contemplation as a motorcycle pulled up right in front of the baseball-capped teen.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," Mitsuru apologised as she got off her bike and removed her helmet before she started the briefing. "Listen carefully. Tonight, I'll be providing support from here. Everything else is the same." With that covered she moved onto more pressing matters. "The Shadow is currently located inside a monorail, not far from the station. To get there, you'll have to walk on the tracks."
"Are you serious!?" Junpei demanded as he looked towards the station. "Isn't that dangerous...?"
No shit Sherlock.
"Don't worry; no electronic equipment is operable during the Dark Hour, including the monorails," the redhead assured the taller of the two teens.
Why did he have such a bad feeling about this?
Junpei looked at the vehicle that the redhead had arrived on "But, your bike..."
"It's special," she stated as if that fact explained everything. "Now, if circumstances change, I'll notify you immediately."
Well that meant that it was shielded so the electronics would work during the Dark Hour.
"Let's get started," Mitsuru stated as she pressed a few buttons on the scanning device attached to the back of her bike.
"Alright." Minato stated as he stood up.
"L-Let's do this!" Junpei stated trying to psyche himself up.
With that Minato led them though the station, feeling a slight thrill as they vaulted the barriers and moved to the platform.
"There's a monorail about 300 meters down the track towards Port Island," Mitsuru informed the group over the transceiver. "You have to stop the Shadows before they harm the passengers. Hurry!"
"Got that Mitsuru-sempai," Minato replied as he looked over the edge of the platform, moving a touch to the right before he lowered himself onto the tracks.
"Man, this is insane," Junpei stated as he followed the teen onto the track.
"The sooner we're off the track the better," Minato replied as the group headed up the track.
The trip wasn't long thankfully as Junpei was getting on his nerves with his 'we're going to get electrocuted' tangent, as they moved up to the first carriage on their side.
"This is it...right?" Yukari asked as she looked over the carriage in front of them.
"Can you all hear me?" Mitsuru called over the transceiver.
"Yes, I can hear you clearly," Yukari replied before the others had a chance. "We just got here, but I don't see anything out of the ordinary..."
"The readings are definitely coming from that monorail," Mitsuru assured the trio.
"Got it," Minato replied.
"Proceed with caution, and stay together," Mitsuru commanded as she cut the link.
"Heheh, my Persona's just beggin' to be used!" Junpei stated as he eagerly looked towards the carriage.
The group moved over to the ladder, Yukari taking the lead as she started to climb. This however was stalled as a thought came to the brunette's head, turning to Junpei she told him a simple command. "Don't look up."
Minato could only sigh as Junpei's expression changed to a look of someone who's just had their dog shot.
--
Saturday, 9th of May 2009. DH:27
The figure shifted his black scarf as he waited patiently for the Dark Hour to end. He was used to this to be honest; the secret hour never had an effect on him, which wasn't surprising considering his previous fate. Now all he had to do was wait for Nii-san to do his thing and then quietly settle the things so that two were down and there were only ten to go.
Sadly, things didn't go as smoothly as planned.
He stood up from his seat as he felt their presence, moving to the rear of the carriage he finally noticed the source of the problem. It wasn't hard to see the issue as there was a man, who wasn't trapped inside the transmogrified shape of a coffin, surrounded by a small group of shadows looking for a good meal.
"Stop," he called drawing the shadow's attention. "This man's time is not yet up. His soul is not yours for the taking."
The shadows simply turned their attention from their prey towards this new threat, seeing that they wouldn't be getting a meal without having to deal with this fool first they charged.
While Ryoji and Minato were effectively the same in many aspects, there were some major differences. Minato was right handed while Ryoji favoured his left, Minato had cobalt coloured hair and silver eyes while the heir had silver hair and cobalt eyes, Minato was a master of efficiency while Ryoji was showy, Minato was a quiet reserved type while Ryoji was outgoing and flirty, Minato walked in the light while Ryoji slinked in the darkness, Minato would put up with a lot of crap before he gave you what you deserved wile Ryoji would get you just for the laugh.
And finally Minato used a one handed sword as his weapon of choice, a weapon that was tried, tested and wasn't flashy in the slightest.
Ryoji pulled out his weapon of choice, twisting the grip to cause the shaft to extent to full length as the curved blade sprung into position. His weapon couldn't be less flashy and let everyone know just who they were dealing with.
The bringer of death was ready to rock.
--
Saturday, 9th of May 2009. DH:32
"This poor stiff must be a passenger..." Junpei guessed as he put his hand on the coffin by the entrance of the monorail passage. "He's been Transmogged, huh... Creepy. So... guys like him don't remember a thing, right?"
"He's pretty much asleep in there," Minato replied.
"It's probably better that way," Junpei stated as he moved away from the coffin.
Minato closed his eyes, trying to block the image of two coffins in the front seats of a car. "It depends where you are."
"Minato-kun?" Yukari moved over to Minato with a look of concern.
"I'm alright," Minato assured as he gave the brunette a small smile, before looking around the carriage. "Isn't this a bit odd?"
"Huh?" Junpei asked a confused look on his face.
Yukari thought for a minute before she caught on. "Wait a minute. We're not at a station, but the doors are wide—" She was cut off as the door slammed shut, almost as if it had been waiting for the comment.
Oh Hell's teeth.
Junpei rushed to the one of the exits, trying to pry it open before he realised that even with his persona enhanced muscles he couldn't get enough purchase. "Damn, it won't open!" He stated the obvious. "Oww, my fingers! Will ya look at them! They're all jacked up!"
"What's wrong?" Mitsuru's voice came over the transceiver. "What happened!?"
"It looks like we're trapped inside..." Yukari responded as Minato moved to check on Junpei's hands.
"It must be the Shadow... It knows you're there," the heiress concluded. "Be ready for anything! Proceed with extreme caution!"
"Got that," Minato replied as he moved away from Junpei towards the connecting doors between the cars. How come he had the feeling they were about to run a gauntlet?
He drew his longsword as he reached the passageway, noticing that Yukari and Junpei had followed his lead and drawn their weapons as well. He quickly gave the group a few hand signals, asking Junpei to move over to the other side and Yukari to cover the door with her bow. After having to repeat the signals once because of Junpei's confused expression they were now in position.
Minato opened the door; the group waiting for a second to make sure nothing was coming through before Junpei rushed through the portal. Yukari followed, an arrow still notched as she prepared to fire at the first shadow they noticed. Minato brought up the rear, covering their backs as they moved through the portal and closing the door behind them.
Although the whole manoeuvre was fairly sharp, sadly there were only a few coffins in the carriage and that left the blue-haired teen feeling like a right pillock.
"What the heck? I don't see any shadows..." Junpei stated as he scratched his head.
The group moved to the middle of the carriage scanning for any ambushes before relaxing just a touch.
"It's so quiet it's creepy..." Yukari commented.
"They could be trying to put us off," Minato speculated as he concentrated on that feeling of uneasiness he always had around shadows. "There definitely is something here."
"Well no point of just standing around," Junpei stated as he moved towards the next connecting door.
Minato slowly moved to follow him, tightening his grip as the feeling suddenly intensified. As expected a shadow dropped from 'whoever's out there' knows where, leaving the teen to wonder if they could pass through solid objects, before he realised that if they could do that their normal weapons would be useless. Yukari's grasp brought the teen back to the matter at hand.
"There it is!" Junpei exclaimed as a grin appeared on his face.
The shadow looked the trio for a few seconds before it turned its back on the group and ran through the door to the next carriage. Something was wrong with this picture.
Seemed like he wasn't the only one to think so. "Wait! Something's not right..." Mitsuru called over the transceiver causing Junpei to pause and Yukari to let out the breath she'd been holding. "The enemy is acting strangely."
"But, if we don't go after it, we're gonna lose it!" Junpei argued as he looked at the door the shadow had left through.
"Arisato, you're in charge over there," Mitsuru turned her attention to the male teen who was more likely to see reason. "What do you think?"
"Something isn't right," Minato stated. "We should be careful and stick together."
"But, we'll lose it!" Junpei growled back obviously not happy with the decision.
"Junpei, we're on a train. Where is it going to go?" Minato countered the argument.
"Who needs your advice!?" Junpei shouted causing the two other members to look at him in shock. "We can beat that thing no problem! Hell, I'll do it myself!" Before the other two had a chance to stop him he'd gone through the door.
"Stupei!" Yukari yelled obviously incensed with the teen's sheer stupidity. "Get back here!"
"Watch out! Behind you!" The voice of the heiress came over the transceiver as Minato picked up an uneasy feeling coming from behind them.
"We've got bigger problems," Minato replied as tightened his grip on his blade and looked at the two shadows that had dropped down from the roof like the last one.
Yukari spotted the two before she let out a sigh. "This is just what the enemy wanted..."
--
Saturday, 9th of May 2009. DH:32
The scythe sliced through the attacking shadow with ease, leaving a trail of black nothingness that faded into the floor. The wielder changed the weapon's arc, although the tight confines of the carriage didn't really help much in that regard and brought the curved blade attached at the top down on another of the entities of the Dark Hour, before he brought the shaft behind him and made a quick leap backwards.
Two down, three to go.
Cake.
The black trench coat wearing figure let out a small chuckle as his black scarf was picked up by an unknown wind, he waited for the next shadow to strike, slipping both hands down to the opposite end of the shaft so he could apply as much force as possible before he swung a vicious downwards swing. The shadow vaporised as expected. However, the curved blade of the scythe carried on its arc and buried itself shaft deep into the floor of the carriage.
Cursing the fact that the cost of repairing the nicked blade probably wouldn't be cheap, Ryoji delivered a persona enhanced kick to the weapon's shaft, just below the embedded blade, causing enough force to dislodge the blade from its position and with a few twirls to bring it back into the ready stance as the heir lunged at the next foe.
The blade lodge into the shadow but it didn't kill it. "Tough little one, aren't you?" The heir mocked as he ripped his scythe out of his injured foe causing an unearthly sound as it evaporated into nothingness. He heir stood there for a second before he brought the lower end of the shaft to block another attack by the final shadow. "Didn't anyone teach you it's impolite to attack someone from behind?"
The shadow seemed fazed, if only for a second, but that was all the heir needed as he turned the weapon so the curved blade faced behind him before twisting his torso as he delivered a one handed strike that slashed through his foe.
"Heh, I'm picking up your bad manners," the teen chuckled as he moved back to the stricken man who had been the shadow's target. "Are you alright?"
"You...? They...? What...?" The man stammered his eyes wide as he stared at the figure in back. "Are you the reaper?"
The teen laughed out loud. "No, no. I am merely a representative," the former Appriser stated as he placed his hand on the man's forehead. "It is not your time yet. Sleep."
The passenger was replaced by a coffin.
He sensed them before he saw them. A large group of shadows, probably around fifteen to twenty, flew through the entryway on the other side of the carriage. He closed his eyes; he didn't have the time to deal with this. He spun his scythe passing it into his off-hand as he reached down to the holster on his belt and drew the Evoker Hiroshi-san had given him on his first day in Iwatodai, bringing to his head he glared at the nuisance in front of him as he growled out one word.
"Thanatos!"
He pulled the trigger.
--
Saturday, 9th of May 2009. DH:33
Yukari was the first to react, using her persona enhanced feet to hop into the bench, moving higher onto the arm rest and leaping behind the shadows. During this manoeuvre she notched an arrow and was she landed she sent it into the back of the book like shadow.
"Show off," Minato accused with a grin, as he formed a shifting card and placed Ara-Mitama to the fore of his soul, primarily for the strength boost. He evaded the book's clumsy strike, sliding his right foot to the side for purchase as he shifted his weight onto it, bringing down a near vertical counterattack that handled the creature with no problems.
"Heh look who's talking, 'I can change my persona for any occasion and I like to show off'-san," she threw the jibe back.
"Who do you think I am, Stupei?" He laughed as he locked onto the final shadow. "Mitsuru-sempai, I could use a scan here."
"I'm on it," the redhead replied. "Give me a moment."
"It's a shame Mitsuru-sempai isn't here," Yukari noted as she backed off while they waited for the scan to go through. "I hear she's a pretty good fencer."
"I try, but I'm out of practice," the redhead responded, causing the brunette to remember that the link wasn't cut. "Arisato, it's weak to ice attacks. Finish this."
"Thanks Mitsuru-sempai." The teen smirked as he formed Apsaras into a shifting card, swapping her with Ara-Mitama. As he finished the action, he smoothly passed his longsword into his off-hand as he drew his Evoker and with a couple of twirls brought it to his head.
"Apsaras," he called as he pulled the trigger.
The priestess formed above her charge, feeling his request as she raised her arm to the heavens and formed an icy lance that she the directed towards the shadow before she faded back into his soul. The result was as expected. The shadow didn't really have much chance as the lance ripped through it causing it to dissipate into the black vapour that they had gotten used to.
"I wonder what sort of mess Stupei's got himself into," Yukari stated as she got her breath back.
"We have no choice," Mitsuru replied. "You have to go after him, or you'll be picked off, one by one."
"Dammit, Stupei! What are you thinking!?" Yukari growled as dusted off her cardigan. "Remind me to give him a slap when we're out of here," Yukari muttered as followed Minato through the doorway into the next carriage.
"From what I can tell, he's only a few cars ahead," Mitsuru informed the group.
"Then we better get going," Minato replied, checking to see if Yukari was ready before he felt it.
To be honest you couldn't miss it.
It was a huge surge of power, something that couldn't really be missed.
"What was that?" Mitsuru asked, making his point.
Yukari looked wholly confused. "What was what?"
"There was a surge of power," Minato explained to the brunette. "That was massive Mitsuru-sempai."
"Indeed," the redhead replied. "I was able to detect it with my equipment even though I'm concentrating on your location."
Well, whatever it was, it couldn't be ignored. It looked like this big shadow wasn't the be all and end all of tonight. "Can you get a lock?"
"No, it was just a spike." the redhead replied as she checked her equipment. "I couldn't even get a rough location."
The teen held back a sigh; he couldn't get a direction either. Oh well, with no leads it would be a mystery for another time. "We better save Junpei then." He told the two female members as he headed through the access between carriages.
Well that confirmed something that he had gathered from his conversations with Ryoji and the white-haired child. There were more players on the board than S.E.E.S. knew about.
This could get interesting.
--
Saturday, 9th of May 2009. DH:34
Well that was completely one sided.
The heir kept in a chuckle; of course he knew releasing Thanatos was complete overkill, but what could you do when time was against you? All he could hope for was that the brief second that the bringer of death had returned to the mortal plane was short enough so that S.E.E.S.' support wouldn't be able to get a lock, otherwise things could become difficult.
With all the shadows either defeated or sent running, Mochizuki Ryoji pressed a button near the bottom of the scythe's shaft and twisted it, causing it to shrink back to half its normal size. Having accomplished that he set the curved blade back into the carrying position before he slipped the thing into a black leather holder on the inside of his coat.
With that out of the way he looked for an empty bench before settling back into the seat he'd had before this whole mess started. He pulled out a watch similar to the one Minato had, pulled out a stylus and pressed a few buttons.
'Welcome to Pong.'
Nothing else to do but wait.
--
Saturday, 9th of May 2009. DH:34
"Junpei's not in this car, either," Yukari observed before she let out a sigh. "He should know it's too dangerous to go alone... Don't you think he's acting weird? Did you say something to upset him, Minato-kun?"
Eh...?
"Not that I know of," Minato replied as he scanned the carriage for any more shadows. Why did the bloody thing have to choose one of the eight carriage monorail trains?
"Well, we can ask him once we've caught up to him!" Yukari decided as they started to move for the next carriage. "After I've beaten the crap out of him."
He wouldn't want to be Stupei when that happened.
That thought was seconded when they actually found the baseball cap wearing teen in the next car, holding off four shadows.
"There he is." Yukari kept her reputation for stating the obvious, as Junpei dodge a strike from a shadow and took a swing at one of the book like ones. "Shoot! He's surrounded!? We've gotta help him!"
Well can't argue with that.
Minato drew his Evoker and once again materialised Apsaras. Junpei was informed of their presence by two lances of ice slamming into two of the shadow causing the to dissipate.
"Junpei!" Yukari shouted as she used her Evoker to call on Io, getting the persona to handle the black-haired teen's wounds.
"...I've got it under control!" the black-haired teen assured as he took one final swing and the last shadow evaporated. "Take this, you freak of nature!"
The group gave Junpei a few seconds to regain his breath before Yukari had her say. "See! That's what happens when you don't listen!" she berated the lanky junior. "...So, are you alright?"
Junpei scratched his head, unsure how to take the brunette's mood swing. "O-Of course I am... I was doin' just fine..."
Oh, big mistake.
"Excuse me!" the brunette seethed.
"Be careful, you three!" Mitsuru cut across Yukari so a huge argument wouldn't break out. "I don't detect any movement, but stay alert!"
As if it was just waiting for the suggestion the trio felt a jolt as the train started to move.
"Whoa, what the!?" Junpei moved over to the window to check that his eyes agreed with him other senses. "...Why're we moving!?"
"It seems the monorail is under the enemy's control..." Mitsuru stated.
"Whaddya mean, 'it seems'!?" Yukari shouted out obviously getting annoyed at the situation.
The group felt another jolt as it moved up to an even greater speed.
"Uh... This doesn't look good." Junpei said as he looked back towards the rest of the group.
No shit Sherlock.
There were a few moments of silence before Mitsuru brought things back on track. "...If we can't stop that thing, it'll crash into another train!"
Minato closed his eyes; if this train was to hit another then once again the dark hour would claim the lives of people who didn't have a chance at stopping it, just like...
He clenched his hand around the hilt of his longsword. He'd never let that happen again.
"WHAT!?" Yukari exclaimed. "Oh, God! What are we gonna do!?"
"We head for the first carriage," Minato answered.
"Arisato's right," Mitsuru agreed, trying to calm the brunette down. "I sense a strong presence in the front car. That must be the one we're after. You'll have to defeat it to stop the train."
"Or in a worst case scenario, we apply the emergency break," Minato added.
"You don't have much time!" Mitsuru urged the group on. "Run!"
And they ran.
--
Saturday, 9th of May 2009. DH:36
Ryoji noticed the light just as he was positioning his paddle. Due to his diverted attention, he missed and the computer got its first point, much to his chagrin. Sighing he quit the game, placed the watch back in his pocket and moved down the carriage to see what the commotion was about. Seeing that the train behind them was moving he suddenly realised what was happening.
It was the endgame.
Obviously Nii-san was doing well enough to force the Arcana shadow into doing such a foolish move as actually activating the train in order to use it was a method of killing the shadow hunters.
Turning the heir returned to his seat and took his watch back out of his pocket once again starting up Pong. If Nii-san failed then they would be dead anyway, this was something he had to do without his help. Babying him would only hold back his natural progression. As such all he could do is sit down and wait.
After all he believed in Nii-san.
--
Saturday, 9th of May 2009. DH:37
"Move it or lose it!" Junpei shouted out the age old phrase as the group charged through the carriages.
Minato had to admit, fighting against the clock seemed to be an excellent motivational tool. He even considered telling the others that they had installed a bomb in Tartarus and if they didn't clear 5 floors per session, then they would blow the thing up before realising that it was just a stupid idea.
They were going so fast they nearly lost their footing as the carriage jolted again.
"H-Hey!? We're gaining speed!" Yukari stated.
Thank you 'captain stating the bloody obvious'!
A shadow formed in the field squad leader's way, but the teen didn't even bat an eyelid as he slightly modified his path and swung his longsword, the forward motion enough to slash right through his foe, he didn't even break stride as the shadow dissipated.
Finally they had reached the first carriage.
To see a large female shadow was blocking their path to the controls.
"There are the controls...!" Junpei stated before he got a decent look at the shadow. "What the hell!? ...Is this the friggin' boss?"
"Looks that way," Minato replied as he prepared to have Mitsuru scan it.
"We're in the front car; it's gotta be!" Yukari speculated as she notched an arrow.
"You're running out of time," Mitsuru told them over the transceiver. "Hurry!"
Yukari started the festivities by letting lose an arrow. It hit the mark, but didn't really have the effect she'd been hoping for.
"Mitsuru-sempai, we need a scan," Minato requested as he waited, holding back. Best to know what you're up against before you inadvertently made the situation worse.
"Alright, but I've never seen anything like this," Mitsuru told him over the transceiver. "Give me some time."
Junpei drew its attention as he used his Evoker to call Hermes who then dived in on the shadow, slashing with its triangular pieced of metal attached along the length of his arms.
It rewarded this action by creating small shards of ice and throwing them at the whole party.
Minato got off lucky with a graze to the arm, Yukari took one through her leg and Junpei had one graze his hip. Knowing that this was going to be a problem Minato decided that the best action would not be to only heal the wounds, but to stop the attacks hitting in the first place.
He stabbed his longsword into the metal floor of the carriage, thinking about how lucky it was that by the time the operators noticed the damage through the train they would be long gone. With his hands now free he placed Orpheus on a shifting card; bring it to his face and crushing it before her replaced Apsaras at the fore of his soul. Having done that he quickly brought his Evoker to his head and pulled the trigger.
The two personas played their song of healing; curing the damage caused and made the party feel lighter on their feet.
"It's Arcana is the Priestess. Don't use ice attacks," Mitsuru informed the group on her findings. "The results would be worse than futile."
Well that meant Apsaras was out of the picture; the teen used the shifting technique to place Orpheus to the fore of his mind before he let loose with a fire attack.
He smirked as he pulled his blade free of the floor. That was more like it.
This was rewarded as the Priestess called two of its underlings to its aid.
"Oh come on!" Junpei growled as he called Hermes once again, willing his persona to hit its foe with a fire attack.
Minato followed suit, as Yukari called Io to patch up Junpei.
"You're nearly there," Mitsuru announced over the transceiver as Minato watched Junpei dodge a fire attack sent out by one of the smaller shadows.
That comment was just asking for trouble, which, ironically enough, was granted as one of the smaller shadows cast a healing spell on the shadow's leader. Felling stronger the Priestess once again let out a shower of icy shards towards the party.
Minato took one through the leg, grunting a little the field leader quickly did some calculations. "Mitsuru-san how much time do we have before we hit Port Island Station?"
"About two and a half minutes," the redhead supplied. "No more than three."
The teen bit back a curse. The way things were going they wouldn't make it in time. The two other shadows, things he identifies as Muttering Tiaras, were a problem. They needed to be dealt with otherwise they would just keep healing the Priestess. If he shifted back to Apsaras he could hit both of them with her lances of ice, at best this would remove the problem all together, at
worst it would take them out of action for a turn while they recovered. However the party was once again in a bad state and Yukari wouldn't be able to patch them all up before the next onslaught. Orpheus and Apsaras could handle it no problem, save for the fact that these bloody small bastards could possibly heal each other. If that happened before Yukari and Junpei could take one down, something he couldn't be positive about them doing, then they would be back to square one with little time and low spiritual power.
All you have to do is call out to him.
Suddenly time seemed to stop; Minato looked around for a second before he noticed who the voice was coming from.
"It's you," the blue-haired teen replied as he looked at the child in white who kept appearing before him.
"If you shift Orpheus into your mind and call for help he will answer your call." The child saw the confused look on the teen's face and elaborated. "The persona you called for on the last full moon. With his help an Arcana shadow like this just a mere nuisance."
"No."
"No?"
"I won't allow him to become a crutch I have to be able to call on him when it matters." The teen stated calmly. "He has to be a trump card for situations where his powers are the only way through, not something to call on when things get slightly difficult."
"Then you have grown." The child gave him a small smile as he declared, "You have passed."
"Passed?"
"Those who are granted power must prove they can handle it responsibly," the child explained as he turned his back on the teenager. "I will check on you in a few days. I have something to ask you after all."
"I don't even know your name," Minato stated as the child turned walked away.
"Name?" the child inquired, a bit surprised. "Ah yes, something which identifies you." The child contemplated the topic for a second before he carried on. "I usually don't go by a name, but some call me Pharos, use that if you wish."
Thou shalt have our blessing when thou chooseth to create a Persona of the Judgment Arcana...
Judgment?
"I would wish you luck," Pharos said as he started to fade. "But I know in my heart you will be victorious."
Yeah, all he needed to do was pull off both actions and they'd be fine.
Hold on...
Why couldn't he do both?
As time started to flow again the teen a feeling of hope lit the visible silver eye. He had a plan, all he could hope for was that it would work.
Although he didn't know and wouldn't be told until much later, Yukari and Junpei were sure that the blue-haired teen's silver eye glowed pure white.
He wouldn't let it happen again. Not now, not ever.
He shifted Apsaras in for Orpheus, shifting his weapon into his off-hand as he brought his Evoker to the side of his head and pulled the trigger. The persona answered his call, materialising above him and sending a lance of ice into each of the Muttering Tiaras. With that dealt with the teen tossed his Evoker into the air, passing his blade back into his on hand he flicked it into the ground as he called Orpheus into a shifting card and crushed it in front of his face.
With an unnatural ease he caught his Evoker on the way down, bring it to his head he pulled the trigger.
He held in a groan as his leg was healed by the soothing notes, felt his reactions becoming sharper. The game was on.
"Right!" Junpei yelled as he lunched himself at the Priestess. "Payback's a bitch. But not as much as you!"
Minato could only shake his head at the worst war cry he'd ever heard, but he had to give the black-haired teen credit where it was due, the vicious slash was bang on target. Yukari followed by having Io unleash a wind attack at the staggered shadow.
Minato didn't let up the relentless assault; shifting Orpheus to the fore of his soul before he once again called on his other self's strength. The persona materialised and dived straight at the Priestess, pulling his harp from behind his back the persona didn't hesitate, as it slammed the instrument into the shadow's mask. That was enough to cause it to sublimate into nothingness.
But it still left a very good question.
"Did we make it in time?" Junpei was right on the money, running over to the window he had his answer. "...Hey! Why're we still moving!?"
"We're going too fast! We have to put on the brakes or else...!" Yukari stated as she went into a mild panic.
"What are you waiting for!?" Mitsuru yelled over the transceiver. "There's a train up ahead!"
"Dammit! I don't know how to stop this thing!" Junpei stated as he viewed the console from afar, giving up and turning away from the view in front of him.
Never again.
As Yukari screamed, bracing her head in her hands in a futile form of protection, the blue-haired teen moved out of instinct, driven by his emotions on the events that had happened all those years ago. His eyes had a quick scan of the console as he slammed his hand down on the button. The brakes reacted immediately, the wheels screaming in protest as their speed dropped and their momentum lessened. Anxious seconds passed at an excruciatingly slow pace as they were almost thrown forward from the shift in direction. The force pushing the three forward lessened, more and more as the moments slowly passed, the noise outside reduced from a squeal to a quiet murmur. Then, the train stopped.
There was silence for a few seconds.
"D-Did we stop...?" Junpei asked as he looked back towards the front of the train.
"I-I think so..." Yukari stated. Her knees were unable to take her shaking anymore as she collapsed to a kneeling position.
"Is everyone alright!?" Mitsuru asked. The urgency and worry could be picked up even through the distortion left by the device she communicated through.
"Uh, y-yeah, we're okay," Yukari answered as she broke into nervous giggles. "My knees are shaking..." she admitted finally.
"Dude... I'm like drenched in sweat..." Junpei replied as he sat down on one of the benches.
"Arisato? Are you alright?" Mitsuru asked as she noticed the field leader hadn't replied.
Minato closed his eyes, a genuine smile appearing on his face.
He had succeeded.
"I'm fine, Mitsuru-sempai," the teen replied calmly.
The group heard the sigh of relief over the transceiver. "I'm so glad you're safe..." The heiress stated before her tone turned apologetic. "I'm sorry I couldn't do more on my end. I don't detect any more Shadows. You guys did a great job, so come on home."
Well you couldn't argue with that idea.
"Minato-kun?" The blue-haired teen turned to the brunette as she got back onto her feet. "How did you know which one was the brake?"
"It was instinct," the teen replied before a smirk broke out from behind his mask. "I just went for the large red button that had stop written on it in large white lettering."
"Are you shittin' me!?" Junpei shook his head in disbelief before he gave up. "Ah, whatever. Man, I'm freakin' hungry; wanna grab a bite to eat? Hagakure? My treat!"
Thou art I... And I am thou.
Thou shalt have our blessing when thou chooseth to create a Persona of the Fool Arcana...
That was the first thing Junpei had suggested all night that he could fully get behind.
All they had to do was wait for twelve minutes until the Dark Hour ended.
--
Saturday, 9th of May 2009. DH:52
Kirijo Mitsuru was having a dilemma.
After the link had closed with the field team, she had pulled out a laptop, shielded of course, and started to analyse the data they had gathered from the encounter tonight. She needed to confirm what she had felt during the encounter with the big Priestess Arcana based shadow, scanning through the data she found what she was looking for.
For a few moments during the encounter with the Priestess Arisato's power level spiked, going over far beyond the level he normally showed.
Thus, the problem she was currently battling with.
As a member of the Kirijo family, she had a responsibility to restore the family's honour by fixing their previous mistakes. This was one of her main driving factors and she would do much to achieve this. Normally she would pass this information over to the Chairman so he could analyse it for further research. However, he had been oddly negative about Arisato's place within S.E.E.S., saying that they were placing too much trust in a relative newcomer and they shouldn't rely on him too much. She had brushed these claims aside. After all, without Arisato, they wouldn't be in the position they were in now. His leadership skills and ability to change his persona to suit the situation were major assets. With the present data, however, the Chairman would have another point to throw into the argument.
The power reading also brought up another question.
"Who are you Arisato Minato?"
Since he had arrived in Iwatodai, things had been moving around him, and although the Chairman didn't fully trust him, the rest of the group did. Akihiko had warmed up to him, exceptionally well considering they didn't spend much time together. Takeba was positively smitten, a fact that still annoyed her somewhat, and while Iori was jealous of the teen's skills, he respected the blue-haired leader, and his effect on Mitsuru herself, frankly, scared her.
Arisato Minato seemed to be at the heart of things here. She had to wonder; was it fate that brought him to Iwatodai?
"Fate is a word used by those who look at the past in order to make them feel better about their inactions," a voice calmly said to her left.
Wishing she had actually brought a foil, the heiress spun around, her hand grabbing hold of her Evoker in order to defend herself from the... small child who stood in front of her.
"Who...?" She started to question the child, as she took in his appearance. He had white hair, familiar silver eyes and a pale complexion, which wasn't helped by the fact that all his clothes were white as well. What did hit her was that she had seen him somewhere before.
"You fear relationships," the child calmly stated, ignoring the redhead's query altogether. "Not for the normal reasons that people your age have, but because of the chains your current relationships place upon you."
"What...?" Mitsuru muttered before she regained her senses. "Who are you!?"
Once again the child ignored her as he moved back into the shadows. "Don't be scared of forming bonds with people who have gained your trust," he advised. "And be careful about giving your trust to those who haven't earned it." Once he had delivered his message he moved further into the shadows. "We will meet again Kirijo Mitsuru."
"Stop!" the redhead called as she drew her only weapon. It was too late, however, and the child was gone.
She considered the child's comments for a moment before she disregarded them; after all, there was a chance that she was imagining the whole thing.
Maybe her sub-conscience was trying to tell her something.
She looked back at the laptop, taking a few moments to contemplate before she brought up the file that held the combat data from the fight between the field team and the Priestess.
Before she could come to a decision one way or the other her transceiver started to beep.
"Kirijo," she answered as she started the connection.
"Akihiko here," the silver haired boxer came over the device. "How are things going?"
"We've successfully completed the operation. The monorail didn't sustain any noticeable damage," she reported. "I've sent the team back to the dorm."
"Thank you, Mitsuru. When I'd heard they hijacked a monorail, I feared the worst," the Chairman stated. "Well done. Now, I don't have to worry about tomorrow's headlines."
"The team did a great job." She added in the praise they were due. "They're learning quickly."
"I take it that goes for Arisato Minato as well?" the Chairman inquired, obviously looking for some ammunition to use in their next discussion.
'And be careful about giving your trust to those who haven't earned it.'
Seeing an argument on the horizon, Akihiko put the topic back onto the matter at hand. "But, what are the Shadows up to? Taking over a monorail..." He paused as he shook his head in disbelief. "This is getting out of hand."
He had no idea.
"I'll be looking into the matter," the Chairman stated, leaving the heiress to wonder how he would do that. After all he shouldn't have access to any more information than she had...
"Does this mean... it's begun?" she asked although she was sure of the answer.
"Hmmm... Let's not jump to any conclusions," the scientist decided. "For now, we should study their behaviour for patterns or clues. We cannot afford to always wait for them to make the first move."
Well that was true.
"If I had more power, things wouldn't be so difficult for the others," she stated with an edge of self loathing.
"Don't be so hard on yourself. You're doing fine," the Chairman assured the heiress. "More importantly... Do you have anything to drink, Akihiko?"
She cut the link, her mind made up on the best course of action. She selected the file and hit the delete key.
She could only hope that this wasn't just her hormones talking.
--
Saturday, 9th of May 2009. DH:55
Well that was cutting it a bit fine.
The heir chuckled as he hopped down from the carriage he'd been on and moved the full five feet that there was left between his carriage and the one that had nearly slammed into it. He was sure that Nii-san had some sort of divine timing; he always seemed to pull things out of the bag at the last minute. He had felt Pharos link Minato into Messiah's attributes, however he hadn't detected the presence of the persona himself.
Nii-san was growing as he'd expected.
Climbing into the first carriage of the train the members of S.E.E.S. had just vacated, he moved towards the presence he could detect near the controls.
"You put up a good fight." He consoled as it felt his approach. "But the occupants of this planet aren't willing to bow down to fate just yet."
He pulled out a blank card and turned the front towards the presence, watching once again as the card did it's magic and drew the remains of the Arcana shadow into its clutches.
Once the whole process was over, he turned over and found himself looking at the Major Arcana card number two: The Priestess.
Two down, ten to go.
--
Sunday, 10th of May 2009. 11:24
To say that Arisato Minato was exhausted, worn-out, or simply tired would have been understatements.
He would have slept in, but he already had plans for today, and since he'd already put them off for ten years he couldn't really afford to do it anymore. Slipping from bed he had a shower, and once refreshed he opened his wardrobe and pulled out a charcoal grey suit, white shirt and a matching gray tie. Since he'd put this off for so long he may as well try and do it properly.
Once dressed he quickly grabbed his keys and his mp3 player before he left the dorm.
--
Sunday, 10th of May 2009. 12:03
"Morning Nii-san!" Minato had to hold in a grumble as he approached the hyperactive teenager.
It was too early for this.
Although Minato had to admit, the fact that the teen had brought him a take-away cup from Chagall Cafe did earn the idiot some points.
Taking the elixir of life, the teen had a good chug before he spoke. "I know we said that we'd do lunch, but I want to get this over with."
The heir let his mask fall for a moment as a sad smile lit his features. "Alright Nii-san."
The pair made a quick stop at the florist before they took the monorail back to mainland Iwatodai.
--
Sunday, 10th of May 2009. 12:43
Once the two brothers had Iwatodai Station, they took a different path from the usual. Minato feeling glad that he'd checked the directions on the internet before he headed off. Finally, after a few minutes of trying to find the entrance, they found themselves in their target location.
A graveyard.
It took them a while to find what they were looking for. After all, neither of them had actually come here in the past; Ryoji had no reason apart from moral support and Minato hadn't been ready.
But now he found himself standing in front of a grave marker, Ryoji having moved away to give the teen a few minutes to himself. He reached down, wiping the dust off the plaque to check that he was indeed at the right grave.
'Here Lies:'
'Arisato Itsuto'
'Arisato Rieka'
The teen placed the bouquet of flowers down by the grave as he got back to his feet. He had heard that many people talked their dead relatives by their grave, believing that their voice would reach them in whatever followed.
Minato wasn't a believer in superstition, but what the hell.
"Hello Otou-san, Okaa-san."
End of Chapter 10
Version Changes:
1.00 – Completed with self-checking for errors.
1.01 – Usual typo fix and fixing a few errors spotted in reviews.
1.02 – Completed with Editing from Vocarin