Chapter 10
"Sorry we did such a bad job of protecting Rise." Ruby said. "We're not really used to having someone with us who can't fight. It's something we should really work on."
"Don't worry about it; she's tougher than she looks." Yu said. "I'm sorry for Teddie and Yosuke. It seemed like you guys were really having a moment and they ruined it." They both laughed.
"Coming with us Yu?" Yosuke asked as he and the rest of the Investigation Team walked past.
"Where?" Yu asked.
"We're all getting something to eat." Yosuke replied.
"How are you going to pay for it?" Yu asked. "I don't think they take Yen."
"Helia's family owns a restaurant." Yosuke answered. "Since we saved her, we all eat free! Sweet deal right?"
"Sure, I'll join you." Yu said.
"Actually, could you talk to us for a minute?" Weiss asked. "We just have a few questions."
"No problem." Yu said. He turned back to Yosuke. "You guys go, I'll catch up."
"Suit yourself bro." Yosuke said, walking away. "I hope Teddie and Kanji leave some food for you." Yu thought about saying something but decided not to.
"We were just wondering about the power you and Ruby have." Weiss said. She had been joined by Blake and Yang. "What's all this stuff about bonds and multiple Personas?"
"It's a bit hard to explain." Yu admitted. "The bonds have to do with the friendships we form, and that ties into our additional Personas. For example, as I got to know Yosuke better, and we became closer friends, I was able to wield stronger Personas of the Magician Arcana. It's a little different for Ruby and I now though. For some reason we only get one Persona per bond and the bond starts fully formed when one of you gains a Persona. When Weiss got her Persona, Ruby awakened the fully formed Fortune bond, and we got access to the Persona Norn. Now that Blake has her Persona, Ruby has the fully formed Priestess bond and we can wield the Persona Kikuri-Hime. At least that's what Theodore said."
"Maybe it's because we're already really good friends." Ruby mused. "If our friendships are fully developed, I wouldn't need to develop the bond to complete it."
"In any case, only wielders of the Fool arcana can have multiple Personas." Yu explained. "It worked differently for me back home too. I could use dozens of Personas, and had fully formed bonds for every arcana. Now I can only use the Personas Ruby has access to and my base Persona."
"So you formed bonds with all of them?" Blake asked. Yu nodded. "I thought so. You all seem like really good friends…and then some." Yu did not know what she meant by that but something about the way she said it concerned him.
"Naoto and Kanji spend a lot of time together, aren't you worried?" Yang asked.
"Kanji likes her, why would I be worried?" Yu was confused. "He'd never do anything to hurt her and he'd protect her with his life. I thought we'd already talked about it."
"Aren't you worried he'll steal your girlfriend?" Yang asked straight out.
"My girlfriend?" Yu said with a hint of concern.
"Yeah, you're dating all the girls aren't you?" Blake said. "It's pretty obvious if you ask me." Yu's normally stoic demeanor was momentarily broken by a flash of panic. Then it was gone. He could not think of anything to say.
"You must be packing." Yang said suggestively with a wink. Yu's stoicism crumbled again as he blushed and gave an uncomfortable laugh. He had been in some difficult situations, but could always find a way out. This time he had nothing. "Calm down kid." Yang said, slapping him on the back. "We're just messing with you."
"Yeah, funny." Yu laughed uneasily. There was a brief awkward silence. "I'm going to go eat now." He left.
"I think you broke him." Ruby said. "He's always so smooth, but you totally threw him." Yang and Blake just smiled.
Two portals, two victims, and two locks on the door were all that remained. Then maybe they would have their answers. Maybe they would find the culprit and find out why. Still, they knew it would not be an easy road.
"Doesn't that place look a bit like that bar you blew up?" Ruby asked Yang. They had just entered one of the remaining portals, and stood on a twisted version of a Vale street, a large nightclub looming in front of them.
"It's similar to Junior's club." Yang admitted. "Last time I was there, they didn't have a bouncer though. Two-story tall bouncers are hard to come by after all." Yang laughed. In front of the door to the club stood a shadow in the form of a two-story tall body-builder with what appeared to be metal skin. "There's no question this is my world. I can't wait to kick my shadow's ass and get my Persona." The confident smile on her face indicated that she was telling the truth. The other members of Team RWBY could not blame her for being confident. They could not imagine what her shadow could possibly say that would hurt her. She was always so self-assured and positive, just generally comfortable in her own skin.
With a shout Yang charged headlong at the shadow. She reared back and punched it with all her might. There was a flash of light and she recoiled in pain. "This again!" She yelled, holding her arm. The shadow kicked her, and she went flying across the street and into a wall. She jumped back to her feet. "Not much I can do here. It's up to you guys." She may have been aggressive to the point of recklessness, but she was not stupid. Any further attacks would only result in self-injury.
"Diana!" Blake shouted, summoning her Persona. With a wave of its hand, her Persona engulfed the shadow in light. When the light faded, nothing had changed. With another wave, a circle of darkness appeared below the shadow. The circle imploded but had no effect. "Light and darkness don't hurt it." She cautioned the others. The shadow went on the attack, charging at Blake's Persona. Her Persona blocked as the shadow delivered a powerful running punch. Blake doubled over in pain. Her Persona had not taken the full force of the attack, but it was still devastatingly powerful.
"We need to back it up to protect Blake." Ruby said. She summoned Summer Rose while Yu summoned Norn, and together they blasted the shadow with wind. It had almost no effect, not even staggering the mighty shadow. Yosuke joined them, but even the combined power of the three of them was not enough to do more the serve as a mild inconvenience to the shadow. I did give Blake the opportunity to fall back and get out of immediate danger.
Ice, fire and electric attacks from the Investigation Team followed, all doing little to the shadow. "It's resistant to everything." Rise warned. "You're hurting it little-by-little though. Just keep attacking!"
Chie tried to encase the shadow in ice, but it shattered its way through the onslaught faster than she could work. The shadow made its way up to her Persona, pushing through the combined attacks of the entire group. The shadow grabbed Chie's Persona by the head and slammed it into the ground. The Persona faded and disappeared as Chie fell unconscious. The rest continued their assault, but the shadow continued to rampage around. Naoto distracted the shadow with her Persona, using its speed to dodge the shadow's thunderous strikes, while the group formulated a plan.
"Your attacks are working slowly, like I said." Rise said. "They just don't seem to be powerful enough to break through its resistance."
"What if we combined attacks?" Weiss asked.
"We've never done that before." Kanji admitted. "How would we even do that?"
"It I hit it with fire from Myrtenaster, and Yukiko uses her Persona to do the same, we could create a serious inferno." Weiss said. "Then, if Ruby, Yu and Yosuke fan the flames with wind attacks, we could create a firestorm." The shadow managed to grab hold of Naoto's Persona and crushed it in its hands. Naoto screamed in pain and collapsed as her Persona faded and disappeared. Once again, the shadow turned its attention to the others. "Will it work?" Weiss asked with urgency.
"It could." Rise said. "Like Kanji said, we've never tried anything like this before."
"Let's do it." Yu said confidently. Weiss unleashed a constant stream of fire from Myrtenaster while Yukiko did the same with her Persona. The shadow growled angrily, but kept advancing toward them. Ruby, Yu and Yosuke hit the flames with a powerful and concentrated blast of wind. The fire and wind swirled, forming a tornado of flames around the shadow. The shadow struggled and lashed out blindly as it burned. The firestorm died down as the shadow continued thrashing against the flames until it dissolved and disappeared. With the shadow defeated, the door to the club slid open on its own.
"Is everyone alright?" Ruby asked. The group's healers had been hard at work, but everyone was back up and more-or-less healthy.
"Good, we're ready to go." Yang said confidently. "We shouldn't be rude; I think they just invited us in."
"This is definitely Junior's club." Yang said. The dance floor was occupied by two shadows. They were mannequin-like but had long, sharp blades for arms and legs. Their clumsy movement would have been comical if not for the deadly nature of their limbs. They noticed the intruders and began to stagger toward them menacingly. "Same warm welcome too." Yang laughed.
"I don't think fighting the up close is a good idea." Rise warned. "I'm not getting a clean scan, but I think they're resistant to physical attacks."
"Yeah, and those blades look pretty nasty." Yosuke added. He summoned his Persona and blasted the shadows with wind. They did not even flinch. Instead, one leapt into the air and spun toward his Persona at high speed like a shuriken. His Persona managed to partially block the attack, but Yosuke doubled over in pain nonetheless. "They're nasty alright." The shadow that had attacked Yosuke landed near Yukiko. She summoned her Persona and attempted to incinerate the shadow. It did no damage, but left the shadow's blades glowing red hot. It leapt into another attack on Yosuke's Persona. Again it was partially blocked, but this one hurt a lot more. "Why me?" He asked weakly but indignantly. He dropped to a knee in pain. "It burns."
"I'll fix that!" Teddie shouted. He summoned his Persona and hit the offending shadow with ice. It cooled its blades but did no harm. He tried to encase it just to hold it in place, but it spun rapidly, throwing large chunks of ice in all directions. One large chunk his Yukiko's Persona and she went down hard. The second shadow launched a flying attack at Teddie's Persona and landed a direct hit. Teddie stumbled, but his Persona just managed to endure the hit. Teddie withdrew his Persona and staggered to a safer position behind the others before the shadows could finish him off.
Blake summoned her Persona and it engulfed both shadows in light. The attack failed to injure them, so she tried darkness. There was a bright flash as the attack was reflected back at her. Her Persona instantly disappeared and Blake dropped to the ground unconscious. They were running out of options, and the shadows launched several flying attacks in rapid succession. Ruby managed to hook one with Crescent Rose as it flew past and redirected it into the other. The shadows collided mid-air and flew out of control, but sticking in a wall like darts on a dartboard. The shadows seemed stunned by the sudden counter, even if they were undamaged.
"Now's your chance!" Rise shouted. "Hit them with everything you've got!" Team RWBY rushed in and began thrashing the shadows with their weapons. The shadows struggled to free themselves from the predicament as the Investigation Team's Personas joined in the beat-down. Almost at the same time, both shadows managed to wriggle free from the wall. Spinning in place at terrifying speed, they forced the attackers to back off, lest they be cut to ribbons. "That didn't do much." Rise said dejectedly.
"Izanagi!" Yu shouted, switching Personas. His Persona unleashed a bolt of lightning at the shadows. The electricity arced between them and both dropped to the ground. "Kanji, let's finish them!" Yu and Kanji unleashed another powerful blast of electricity. The shadows glowed brightly before exploding. The remaining bits dissolved and disappeared.
Blake struggled to her feet. Even after being healed she felt a bit unsteady. "You've got to be careful with light and darkness attacks." Naoto advised. "If they're reflected, they can take you down instantly. My Persona's immune, but yours is not. You should let me attack first to make sure it's safe."
"You don't have to tell me twice." Blake said, rubbing her temples. For some reason, even after being healed, her head hurt rather badly. "Is it normal for my head to hurt like this after using my Persona?"
"Not really." Yukiko said. "It may be a sign of exhaustion, or it may be because you were knocked unconscious. Are you going to be alright?"
"I'll be fine." Blake said. "I've been through worse."
"You should take it easy." Chie advised. "Getting used to your Persona can be tough."
"I said I'll be fine." Blake repeated in annoyance. She did not want to look weak or feel like a liability.
"Chie's right Blake." Ruby said. "You won't do us any good if you wear yourself out. You need to pace yourself." Blake did not want to admit it, but they were probably right. Still, she felt she could not afford to take it easy. They challenges they faced were extreme and required an extreme response. She could rest when they were done. She could take it. At least she hoped she could.
"Well, what now?" Kanji asked. "I don't see any shadows. You sense anything Rise?"
"Welcome to the club!" A highly distorted electronic voice boomed, seemingly coming from all around them. "It seems you've made quite the entrance. I hope you're enjoying your visit Yang. You are tonight's VIP guest after all."
"Who are you?" Yang asked angrily. "Show yourself!"
"I think you know who I am." The voice laughed. "You know me pretty well. Come on up and we'll have a chat." The group looked to the upper level of the club. Near where the DJ would normally be there was an indistinct figure, shrouded by darkness. "I'm just burning with anticipation." The figure laughed as it walked away from the railing and out of sight.