I do not own Persona 3:FES or Persona 4
Well, it's been a while. I've been busy with exams, summative, prom and all that other bull you'd rather not hear about.
I hope you enjoy, and I hope any unanswered questions you have revolving the story get resolved either in this chapter or in future chapters!
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From what Minato could tell, it was just him, Souji, Kanji, Teddie and Rise prepared to fight. The rest were either too shocked to try and fight, or, in the case of Minato's group, looked like they couldn't summon their personas.
Junpei's shadow had a cheesy grin on his face, kind of like what the real Junpei would have, and started to advance on the four people who appeared to stand in his path. Rise and the rest had taken refuge towards the sides, with Rise feeding the four of them information. Minato looked over at them to see the scared looks on everyone's faces. Haven't they faced something like this before, Minato thought about the other group. He didn't really get a chance to ponder this as he was thrown backwards roughly from a whip-like attack from Junpei's shadow.
"Minato-senpai, are you ok?!" came the energetic, but worried voice of Rise.
Minato rubbed the back of his head as he slowly got up. Luckily the other three distracted the shadow and it seemed they were keeping it at bay. They surrounded the shadow in a triangle and were trying to pepper it with any attacks they could. Something was off though, Minato noticed. No matter how many times they attacked, the shadow didn't seem to take too much damage.
"Why aren't my attacks WORKING!" Kanji screamed angrily. Minato rushed in and now they formed a square around the shadow, hitting it with every attack possible.
"Kamui! Bufudyne!"
"Loki! Garudyne!"
"Lilith! Ziodyne!"
"Rokuten-Mao! Vile Assualt!"
The three elemental attacks were shaken off by Junpei's shadow, but kanji's attack seemed to have knocked it a bit off balance. The four of them were too focused to really notice this, but Mitsuru caught it.
"Minato, you have to all attack at once and in the same place. Physical attacks only!"
In the same place, Minato thought, confused. It dawned on him though, as he looked at the shadow and what it was sitting on. It was typical king's throne, with four fairly big legs for support. A smile curved on Minato's face as he yelled to the others to get beside him.
"On the count of three, hit him with your best physical attack!"
"One..."
"Two..."
"Three!"
"Koumokuten! Cruel Attack!"
"Futsunushi! Primal Force!"
Rokuten-Mao! Vile Assualt!"
"Kamui!..."
Teddie's persona didn't have a physical attack, so he threw himself at the shadow. Mitsuru's planned worked, as the shadow was toppled over by the force of the attacks, and landed on Teddie. Everyone gasped in surprise as the shadow disappeared in black smoke and quickly rushed to Teddie's aid, only to find him sitting in a dazed state. It was a different jester's hat from the shadow's hat, and now only the shadow of Junpei's mirror self stood there.
"Hey, does this make Teddie a king?!" He got a yank on his ear as a response from Rise. The shadow Junpei now stood there, waiting silently for Junpei to respond. But Junpei didn't say anything; he just looked at his feet, ashamed at what had happened. A pair of hands set on Junpei's shoulders, one on each side, and junpei looked up in both directions to see Minato and Teddie smiling at him. Junpei stood straight up and turned to his right to look at Minato.
"I'm sorry, man. But this thing...it's not me."
"Don't say that," Teddie replied, "or it will go berserk again."
"Yeah," Minato added. "This thing is you Junpei." Junpei looked around at everyone to see them nodding their heads; they seemed to have figured out that this was Junpei's other self. Even the older group was nodding their heads.
"I don't understand though, I thought I resolved my problem." It was true, Minato agreed; Junpei had seemed to figure out his problem concerning Minato, so why had this shadow of Junpei said otherwise?
Junpei continued, looking at his shadow this time. "I guess...even if I had accepted being second fiddle, I still always wanted to be the hero. I guess your return brought up this feeling again," Junpei said, smiling at Minato. He turned back to his shadow. "I think I get it now. You're me, and I'm you. Those feelings you said – me being unable to compare to Minato – are true. They aren't gone, but now I can think of them as more of a friendly battle, rather than a personal feud."
The other Junpei nodded, and disappeared in a light. Above where his shadow used to be, was Trismegistus. Junpei, along with everyone else, stood in awe as the power flowed within Junpei. Souji and his group were in awe, even though they had seen this happen many times.
As the light faded away, and everyone congratulated Junpei, Souji was curious.
"Hey, I know this may sound weird, because we've all witnessed this before, but I thought you guys said you got your personas from "potential"."
The older group all looked at each other, confused by Souji's truthful words. It was true; they all had kind of just gotten their personas from "potential", as Ikutsuki called it. So why had Junpei's only risen now, and why was there a shadow that resembled him?
"It's true," Yukari started. "It makes this situation get weirder and weirder. I couldn't summon my persona."
"What!?" everyone from the old group, besides Mitsuru and Akihiko, yelled in surprise.
"Well, now that I think about it," Fuuka said after calming down, "I couldn't summon my persona either." This was met with agreement from Ken and Aigis, along with a bark from Koromaru.
"This is strange," Minato said. "If what you guys are saying is true and from what the others have been telling us, then to get your personas back...do we have to face these shadows that mirror us?"
"It's not that simple," Yosuke replied. "We found these other shadows only because one of our friends was kidnapped and thrown into that other world we told you about."
"That other world represents that person's feelings you said, right?" Yukari asked.
"Yeah, that's when the shadow comes out; when we confront it in front of the person kidnapped."
"I don't get it," said ken.
"It's simple," Rise started, "Whoever got kidnapped would be fine with hearing stuff they kept deep down when no one was around to hear it. But when everyone came, you couldn't help but deny what your shadow said, because it was too revealing."
"...and that's when the shadows would become itself and attack," Mitsuru finished. "I get it now."
The others nodded in agreement. Minato, however, still appeared confused.
"Why, then, did it attack us during the Dark Hour and in a club?'
The others looked at Minato with wide eyes. He made a good point, but everyone was too tired to dwell on it.
"We can talk about it tomorrow," Mitsuru said. "For now, let's go back to my estate."
On the way back, everyone appeared closer to one another because of what had happened. Minato and Yukari were walking hand in hand, as were Souji and Yukiko, each couple muttering words of comfort to each other. Chie was getting a piggyback from Yosuke, who didn't complain too much, and the rest were spread out through the group. Junpei walked in the back with Rise and Fuuka both all over him, concerned for his health and safety.
"You are all right, Junpei-kun? Fuuka asked.
"Yeah, thanks Fuuka."
"Don't worry, Risette will cook you up a nice omelette when we get back."
Junpei gave Rise a big grin, only to take it back when he saw kanji out of the corner of his eye waving his arms wildly and mouthing "no" repeatedly at him.
"Um, that's ok, Rise, it's too late. But thanks for the consideration."
A while later, Junpei found him walking along side Teddie, who still had the jester's hat on his head.
"Why do you still have that thing on your head?" Junpei asked with a laugh.
"I like it. It makes Teddie a king!"
"Sorry dude, but that's a crown you're thinking of."
"Oh, well then you can have it. It came from your shadow anyways."
"I wonder why it didn't disappear though. Maybe it's to remind me of my true self; a jokester," Junpei said with a smile. He turned towards Teddie. "Hey, about earlier, I'm sorry."
Teddie had a big grin on his face. "Don't worry; Teddie is just happy to find someone else who likes to score with girls!"
Junpei laughed. "Well, I can see the two of us getting to be good friends."
Teddie nodded in return. "That's the spirit!"
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April 3rd, 2012, Sunday Morning
The group, or the "Catalyst Cavaliers" as Teddie called them, were gathered around the lounge again, discussing their newest situation.
"Catalyst Cavaliers? Where in the hell did you come up with this, Teddie? Yosuke asked.
"I got it from one of your manga copies."
"Oh, I see...H-Hey, don't give me looks, it was a good comic!" Yosuke added, as everyone around him gave him funny looks.
"Anyways," Naoto cut in, "we need to talk about our most recent interaction."
"Yes," Mitsuru replied. "From the beginning, our situation was a mystery. Now that some of us can't summon personas, and the addition of shadows resembling us, our mystery digs itself deeper."
"So why did it come in a club during the Dark hour?" asked Yukari, who was resting her head against Minato's.
Naoto explained her theory. "I believe that this Dark Hour you have experienced is like the other world we experienced. Shadows are more aggressive, and our thoughts develop these shadows. The club is significant, because it may reflect Junpei-senpai's thoughts." She looked at Junpei as she said this.
"W-Well, yeah I guess, but where did the shadow come from anyways? It just kind of appeared."
"That's a good question. We all experienced our own thoughts about something or other. Yosuke-senpai had a liquor store, Yukiko-senpai had a castle, Kanji- kun had a bathhouse, Rise-chan had a....strip club," Naoto said with a blush. "And I had a secret laboratory."
Now the younger group had turned deep red from embarrassment as they each remembered their own encounters with their other selves.
"And that's where each of you experienced your other selves?" Ken asked.
"Yes."
"A bathhouse, huh. That doesn't sound too manly," Junpei said sarcastically.
"Oh yeah?" Kanji replied angrily, getting up in the process. "I guess getting turned down by women all the time isn't very manly either!"
Now both guys were up, fists at their chests, ready to fight.
"Calm down, guys. Now isn't the time to be fighting each other," Akihiko calmly said from his spot.
The two looked at each other and mumbled apologies, and sat back down in their respective spots.
"So Junpei-kun is attached to the club in some way then," Yukari said after a while, hoping to rile Junpei. "That makes sense I guess."
"What do you mean, that makes sense?"
"Please, you're always looking to impress the ladies."
"Whatever."
Junpei and Yukari's argument was cut short as Mitsuru left the room and came in with some papers.
"We will worry about our situation another time. Right now, I need to inform you about starting school tomorrow."
The younger group just looked at Mitsuru with wide, disappointed eyes.
"You can't be serious. We start tomorrow!?" Chie protested.
I told you that you would be continuing your education."
"Yeah, but...ugh..."
Mitsuru handed Teddie some papers. "It's your new identity."
Teddie's wide eyes started to fill with water as he read his new name. "Kichirou Hanamura."
"Hanamura...hey wait that's MY name!" Yosuke loudly protested.
"I know, and that's why I used your last name. I was told that Teddie lived with you, so now, you two can be brothers."
"Me and Yosuke are brothers? Woohoo! That means we can do everything together. Bunk beds, family dinners, horsing around, causing trouble, full wootness!" Teddie was now jumping around the whole lounge, much to everyone's amusement.
"Ok, calm down Teddie," Yosuke said. "That means you have to go to school." Yosuke gave Teddie a big grin, which left Teddie confused.
"What's so bad about this school thing?"
"Oh, you'll find out soon enough."
"Oh, I've been wondering," Naoto spoke, "If you wanted us to start school, why didn't we start when we first arrived. And how come you guys didn't go to school for the past two or three days?'
At this point Fuuka and Aigis put their heads down in embarrassment. Naoto and the others sat in confusion until Yukari filled them in.
"You mean there's SNAKES running around on your campus?!" Rise wildly said.
"I-It was an honest mistake. They escaped the lab we are currently studying in..." Fuuka said meekly.
"As for the high school," Mitsuru continued, "One of the teachers, Mr. Edogawa, had his "potions" smash, and the school was filled with a horrendous odour."
"Hey, was he the guy who lectured us about magic?" Yosuke asked Souji.
The other grouped laughed. "Yeah, that's him all right," Minato replied. "By the way, Mitsuru, how can you summon your persona but the rest of them can't?"
"Well, if you must know...I already faced my shadow," Mitsuru said with a blush. Akihiko seemed to be turning red to, noticeable by everyone.
"I was with her when it happened," he said to everyone as they looked at the two.
"So how did you fight it, if you had no persona, Akihiko-senpai?" Fuuka asked.
"We didn't have to; she – I mean Mitsuru – accepted hers from the get go." Now the two were blushing like mad, which was a rare sight for the older group.
"So..." Junpei started, "What went do-"
"I'm not going to say what had happened Iori," Mitsuru cut in with a bit of anger in her voice.
Mitsuru got up in front of the group. "Now that that is settled, why don't you all enjoy the rest of your free time before your back to school. You too Minato," she added to Minato, who se smile slide right off his face. She handed him some papers, just like Teddie, which had a new identity.
"Raiku Arisato...now it doesn't rhyme," Minato said with a playful frown on his face.
Mitsuru and the others laughed. "Well, we can't have everyone freaking over about someone returning from the dead, now can we?"
Minato agreed, but felt his new first name felt a little odd. He shook it off, howver, and joined the others in spending time together before it was back to school tomorrow.
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There, it's been a while, but there is another chapter : )
I'll explain Minato and Souji's dealio with persona's in the upcoming chapters so don't fret!
As always, reviews and advice are greatly appreciated!
Oh, and if something you felt didn't get explained well enough, or it confused you, please tell me.