Once again, Gene and Ken found themselves in the misty other world, sat opposite each other in the hollowed-out shell of Bob's restaurant. The two young boys shared a knowing – if exasperated – look, however their mutual cynicism was shattered by a piercing scream.
"Oh god, oh god, oh god…!" The high-pitched, obviously terrified voice repeated to herself, but strangely enough for Gene and Ken, there was no one to be seen.
"What… the?" Gene muttered, standing up from his seat at the booth, "I-is someone else here?!"
"Huh?!" The other voice gasped. "Wh-who's there?!"
"Wait, you can hear us?!" Gene cried, and Ken rose to his feet too. "…Courtney? Is that you?!"
"G-Gene!" Courtney's voice echoed towards them. "I-I can hear you! I… I can sorta see you too, but not really? It's kinda like I can… sense where you are?"
"You can sense us?!" Gene's gaze fell flat. "Perfect," he muttered. "Hang tight Courtney, we're gonna find you…"
"Be careful…! There's a lot of dangerous monsters everywhere!" Courtney's voice called to them, and Ken was no longer sure if she was actually speaking, or just talking directly into their minds, or honestly what was even happening any more. Why her of all people? Why any of them? Nothing made sense!
"You can… see those too?" Ken spoke up. Even as he spoke, an enormous purple shadow lurched past the front window of the restaurant. It didn't turn to face them thankfully, however it seemed to take an almost purposefully long time swamping past, as if it knew exactly where they were.
That was when he noticed their weapons conveniently propped up against the counter. Had they always been there? Either way, he wasn't complaining. That meant he didn't have to go and find wherever they'd gotten to last time, and then go and find Courtney after that. Their problem was already halved.
"But how did she even get here?" Gene groaned. "I don't even know how we got here! I thought we had to eat one of dad's burgers, which is a terrible business model, but apparently you don't now? What is going on?!"
"Let's… figure that out later," Ken chewed his lip, and crept up behind a hulking shadow. With a nod to Gene, he seized his moment and plunged his spear into the monster's depths. It gave out a roar and split into three separate shadows. The first of them bore the resemblance of a tall, blue-skinned lady, seeming lost in constant pirouette. Its two companions looked like pumpkins that wore capes and carried glowing lanterns. At least there was one obvious inspiration here.
Ken nodded to Gene and took his 'turn' first. A quick delve into his pockets retrieved the little box of chunky blast-offs, which strangely still had exactly six tiny chocolates inside of it. Weird. He could've sworn that he and Gene had eaten a few of them during their last visit here. Didn't their actions here affect those in the real world? Wasn't that the whole point of this world's existence?
Ugh, he groaned internally. Another thing they had to figure out.
"Changeling!" Ken cried, and his little goblin monster thing appeared in a whoosh of air. It in turn fired a miniature cyclone at the blue lady, who was knocked back and fell to one knee from the assault. Ken clenched a fist in victory, and tried again, where Changeling threw another blast of air at one of the jack-o-lanterns. This one too buckled from the impact, however unlike the blue lady, it did not seem at all fazed by the attack, rather just… a little hurt.
Ken frowned. There was some obvious system going on here. Like other video games he'd played, it seemed to be the case that everything had a weakness, and it was just a matter of finding it. He noted how Gene seemed especially vulnerable to fire attacks. Was that because his persona thing could use ice attacks? Fire and ice being polar opposites seemed feasible? Some dude wrote a bunch of books about it after all. So what was the opposite of wind? Earth? Water?
While Ken was puzzling, Gene took initiative and summoned his weird seaweed thing. It released a scratchy noise from its fiddle, and then struck one of the jack-o-lanterns with a flurry of ice. The candle in its hand was extinguished, and the creature fell to the floor, however the monster itself didn't dissolve into nothingness like others had done before. One more attack maybe?
Ken was about to mention this to Gene, however his seaweed monster had already acted, striking down the other jack-o-lantern with an ice attack. That left all three monsters downed, and two young men staring at each other awkwardly.
"W-well… now what?" Gene shrugged. "Do we attack them again, or…?"
Ken pondered. Their enemies were on the ground, helpless. He could even see the little stars circling their heads. If he wanted to attack them, what exactly could they do to stop him? Opportunity had come knocking, and he knew he had to take the chance.
"Y-yeah," Ken nodded. "Both of us, a-at once. C'mon!"
"Huh?!" Gene yelped, however followed Ken's example and charged into the midst of the 'field' with him. And just like one of those old cartoons, an enormous smoke cloud billowed up around them as they both went nuts with their weapons. There was an awful cacophony of slashing metal and heavy thuds, peppered with occasional pained roars and grunts. The smoke dissipated, and two young men found themselves baring weapons at each other, but no monsters. They'd been defeated!
"…huh." Gene withdrew his harp. "A qualified success! Good work, Ken! How'd you know to do that?!"
"I uh, didn't, gotta be honest," Ken shrugged. However, his attention was taken up by another bizarre sight.
"That was like something out of Looney Tunes or something, huh?!" Gene was oblivious for all of a moment, before noticing it himself. Both boys simply stared at what, for all intents and purposes, looked like a roulette wheel made of playing cards.
"Interesting…" Gene tucked his harp under his arm again. "So we… pick a card? Or stop the thing? What does it do?"
"Dunno…" said Ken. He stretched out a shaky arm and prodded at the spinning wheel of cards. It lit up in reaction to his touch, and the spinning slowed down, eventually coming to a halt. The card closest to him flipped over, and landed in his hand, where he noted the picture of a bearded man holding a… goblet?
A searing warmth burned inside his jeans pocket, and he hastily scooped out the source of it all – the chunky blast-offs?
Things were only getting more confusing by the second. Ken flipped open the lid of the chocolate box to find not four, but nine candies inside it now. His memories were stirred, back to when that Igor guy said something about cards affecting his fate? Was this an example of that? Collecting cards with weird pictures on them and somehow benefitting?
The card in his hand burst into flame, forcing a yelp. Well so much for that. Truth or not, he supposed it was just another thing to add to his teetering list of things he had to figure out. It wasn't like the pair of them were about to happen across some wise old sage who conveniently knew the ins and outs of this world.
But then he was reminded; there was someone who, against all logic, did seem to know about this world.
"…Courtney?" he spoke to the endless nothing in front of them both, "A-are you there? Can you hear us?"
"…I can hear you Ken!" Courtney's voice reverberated back to them. "Are you two okay?!"
"Was just about to ask you the same thing. We're trying to find you. Think you can help?"
"I uhh, I dunno…"
"What?! How do you know where we are, but not know where you are?!" Gene raged.
"Well I don't really know where you are…!" Courtney echoed back. "It's like there's some kinda map thing in my mind, and it shows me where you are, a-and where I am, but only as like little dots?"
"…like a sonar?" Ken frowned.
"What's a sonar?"
"Like those things you get in submarines?"
"Uh, maybe?"
Ken pinched at his nose. "Just… try and guide us towards where you are, got it?"
"…okay, I'll try!" Courtney's voice quivered. At her instruction, the two boys navigated their way down barren streets and misty alleyways, carefully dodging away from the more dangerous looking shadows. Occasionally fighting one seemed inevitable, but between her mish-mash directions and the boys' fighting abilities, a semblance of teamwork was forged.
"W-watch out for one on the left!" Courtney gasped, and Ken shuffled to a halt just in time for a shadow monster to swipe out in front of him. His pummelling heartrate eased, and the creature locked eyes on him, just in time for Gene to bash it with his harp. The shadow grunted and split into two humanoid creatures resembling green-haired young women in red dresses. The first of them giggled, then extended an arm and whacked Ken across the face with it. The second followed in its cohort's footsteps, and Ken was lucky to dodge the second assault. His cheek stinging, he summoned his Changeling, who nodded to him and created a spiralling whirlwind. However the windy attack seemed to do very little when launched at the creature, who seemed unfazed, even unbothered by it. With a giggle and an impish smile, the first one fluttered a length of her long hair and struck Ken down with a bolt of lightning. His weight crumpled beneath him, and the creature's eyes glowed as another sickening lightning bolt seared Ken's body. Every joint he possessed suddenly felt like someone was attempting to dig a claw hammer between them, and no force on earth could persuade his body off of the rough asphalt.
"Ken!" Gene gulped and ordered his seaweed buddy to help out. The familiar bluish glow illuminated Ken, and the throbbing in his joints was softened to mere thudding, however the penance was only momentary as another crackle of lightning thundered down on Ken, with Gene taking one as well, just for fun. Ken could barely move any more, and yet there was still no mercy from the creatures, with continuous lightning attacks keeping him grounded.
"Ohh, no no…!" Gene cried. "S-seaweed buddy, heal Ken up again pl-"
"N-no!"
"Huh?" Gene's mouth fell open. Ken was practically roadkill right now, yet he didn't want healing?
"A…ttack them…!" Ken choked out.
"But I-"
"Healing w-won't work!" Ken grit his teeth. His limbs felt like they were trying to separate themselves from the rest of his body now. "You ha-have to attack! It's the only way!"
"Uh, uhh…!" Gene's hands clasped around his head. Both creatures were staring Ken down, their lightning attacks at the ready. Could he really take that risk? What if his attacks didn't damage them either?
Gene swallowed. And nodded.
With a blast of icy cold, the first of the two creatures was sideswiped by the flurry, and knocked to the ground. Its cohort screeched in indignation at the assault but was powerless to stop another icy attack. Both creatures were grounded and vulnerable from Gene's attacks.
"Nyuh…!" Gene whimpered. Harp in hand, he crept towards the two creatures. Hand prone, he was fully prepared to strum these monsters to death, however his seaweed creature appeared again. It stared down both creatures opposite it, before launching forwards and swiping with its long, skinny arm. The first let out a yelp of pain before disappearing in a veil of blank smoke. The second one's eyes dilated before it received the same treatment as its partner. The seaweed creature folded its arms and let out an audible 'hmph!' before evaporating into nothingness itself.
"What… the?" Gene muttered, before his senses snapped back into place and he dashed to help Ken back up.
"You okay buddy?! That was rough!" He cried, dragging a stumbling friend back to his feet. Each movement was jittery and slow, almost like he was lagging, but Ken was at least standing up again, with every lungful of air he could suck down improving his condition.
He knew what the opposite of wind was now, at least. Wasn't exactly the way he wanted to find out, but there you go. Ken collapsed against a wall, gasping and choking, just as a bright golden glow illuminated the area. He just about found the strength to raise a twitchy hand and point to it, and Gene eventually noticed.
"Ohh, another one of those! What do we do, Ken?"
The cards were not spinning like a roulette wheel this time. Instead, they were rapidly swapping places with each other. Once the swapping had gotten so fast that the cards themselves were blurred, all of them suddenly stopped, and the entire display pulsed.
"So I… pick one?" He asked. Ken offered a shaky thumbs up in response.
"Hmm…" Gene pondered. There were eight cards in total, arranged in a four by four pattern. Each one would pulse gently in turn, and Gene sunk his index finger beneath his lower lip in thought. After some time, he eventually picked the one from the bottom right, which span around, revealing an image of the woman in the red dress they'd just vanquished?
"Huh?!" Gene gasped, as the card shot through the air, and landed smoothly in Ken's limp hand. "What does that mean?!"
Ken focused his vision just enough to make out the image on the card. 'Silky…' a voice echoed in his head, before there was a noise like shattering glass, and this card too burst into flame.
"S…Silky?" He stammered. Shuffling forwards, his exhausted frame could support his weight at last. But he was ready to jump back again in shock when the same creature materialised in front of him.
"N-no! Again?!" Gene exclaimed, just as the creature locked eyes with Ken. It extended an arm, and he braced himself, readying for another slap, however the touch was soft. With a reassuring gaze, the creature stroked his cheek as if it were a doting mother, and a blue glow illuminated Ken. Something inside him swelled, and his strength returned to him in leaps and bounds. The pain in his joints melted away like butter on a hot plate. The Silky's eyes glittered merrily, and it disappeared again.
"Hunh?! What was that?!" Courtney's voice thundered. "I just felt this huge like, burst of energy an-and then you guys got stronger or something?"
"…close call, but we're fine now." Ken said.
"Phew, well that's a relief," Courtney's voice softened. "S-so you're still gonna find me? I think you're getting close?"
"Of course," Gene deadpanned, and the two boys continued their journey. Down hallways and up rickety stairwells, through abandoned buildings and over bridges – wait, there were bridges in Bog Harbour? That was a new one – Ken and Gene battled their way through thick and thin to reach Courtney.
"How did she even… get this far?!" Gene cried, collapsing at the top of a set of stairs. "She gets lost in homeroom!"
"No I don't Gene, I just sometimes pick the wrong seat…!" Courtney's voice protested. "And another thing! I – oh, wait! I can see you!"
"You can?!" Gene span around on the spot. "Great! We can leave this place!"
The boys ran across one last empty room and down a hallway to spy the blonde in the flesh at last. With a meek smile and a little wave, she toddled towards the pair of them. "Th-thanks…"
"Don't mention it," Ken offered a smile. "Now maybe we should get somewhere safe before-"
He span around and found a pair of bright yellow eyes staring the three of them down. "…oh."
"Yes, thank you for saving me, Ken!" The yellow eyed creature leered. With the same manic grin as Gene's version, it was obvious that there was a link here. "After all, I have a congenital heart defect," the 'other' Courtney drawled, "And you saved it, Ken! You're my hero!"
The real Courtney's eyes bolted open. "W-what do you mean…?!"
"You know exactly what I mean," the other Courtney chuckled, and let out a nasal, raspy, yet still chilling laugh.
"Err…" Gene pointed and frowned. "Did… did I do this?"
"Pretty much," Ken hissed back, as the 'other' Courtney continued to laugh. There was no struggling for breath or anything from her, however, and if anything, she seemed stronger than ever.
The manic grin returned, and her yellow eyes flashed;
"I am a shadow, the true self," The other Courtney cackled. "This heart defect… it's all super convincing, huh? Makes you wonder… would all these friends stick around if you didn't have it?"
Courtney's back was already against the wall. One hand tugged persistently at her necklace, while the other shook at her side.
"I-I don't… I don't know what you mean!" She spat back at her 'other' self. "I-I… I don't have lots of friends, I know that! But they like me for me, e-even if I am kinda weird!"
The other Courtney's grin widened. "Oh? Are you super sure on that? Tell me, would they miss us if we just… disappeared?"
The real Courtney gasped, and clutched at her chest. Suddenly the entire corridor surrounding them pulsed inwards, and flushed a deep red. Every couple of seconds the room would pulse again, shaking the very foundations like some sort of localised earthquake.
"You have a weak heart?" The other Courtney spoke, however her voice had grown deeper and more demonic. "Would your friends still like you if you didn't?"
"…yes!" Courtney gasped, her breath coming in hitches. "Y-yes they would!"
There was another pulse, however this time everything remained blood red. Only the dimly lit silhouette could be seen of the other Courtney, an ominous shadow in the distance. Even Ken found himself taking a step back as the creature slowly, twitchily elongated itself, like something out of one of those cheap Claymation movies. Two gaunt, spiky looking arms stretched out from the central body, with the dark backdrop of what looked like a cape fluttering behind. Then the face elongated outwards like a beak, and with another disorientating pulse, was illuminated to the three.
"Your heart…" the plague doctor's voice was thick and conniving. "…belongs to me!"
"Oh, hell!" Gene was surprisingly the first to leap forward. "J-just stay behind us Courtney! We'll keep you safe!"
Courtney shuddered on her hands and knees behind the boys, who readied their weapons. A toxic, vile looking gas spewed from the plague doctor's depths, shrouding both boys before they could so much as move. The poisonous gas absorbed into Ken's skin, and he felt his knees tremble under his weight almost immediately. The foul, life-sapping poison was what almost got the better of him against Medusa last time. If they didn't find out a way to heal it, they wouldn't last long at all.
Ken's eyes widened. That Silky creature. He somehow summoned it, and it healed his paralysis earlier. Could it do the same with poison?
It stood to reason. But then there was the question of summoning it again. Did that work like with Changeling?
There was only one way to find out. Ken took in a breath, gulped down his nausea, and said thickly. "…Silky."
In a burst of what he could've sworn was flowers, the dainty lady in her red dress appeared, just like she had done before. With another gentle caress of his cheek, Silky gave a warm smile, and Ken could feel the toxic vitriol from within his body evaporate.
"Wait, so she's on our side now?!" Gene looked aghast. Ken simply shrugged back at him.
"Ohh, nothing makes sense anymore!" Gene groaned and summoned his seaweed creature. It gave him an understanding nod and launched a cloud of ice at the plague doctor. However, the frozen blast was barely enough to ruffle its cloak, forget damage it.
The plague doctor snorted, and extended a long, skeletal arm towards Gene. He whimpered as the limb crept closer, and started visibly sweating when a bony forefinger was pressed into his forehead, but the attack didn't seem to actually do anything…?
Ken frowned. Maybe there was some hidden effect to the attack that they were unaware of, but if that were the case, he would have to wait for it to manifest or whatever. With a cough, he ordered Silky, who struck the plague doctor with an electric attack. But again, like Gene's ice attack, the creature didn't even flinch.
And then there was Gene himself.
Hands clamped about his head, doubled over, wide eyed and staring. If it weren't for him moving on occasion, Ken could've sworn that he was frozen again, like with Medusa's spell. Ken waved a hand in front of him, and barely got a reaction. But Gene didn't look like he was about to do anything any time soon.
He groaned. This was not ideal. Meanwhile the plague doctor stretched an arm out towards Ken. He tried his best, but his feet felt rooted to the floor. The digit burned against his forehead, and immediately everything he possessed just felt slimy and hollow. Like a graveyard at night time, everything just felt like the colour black. Ken gathered himself, and focused, just enough to shake off the worst of it. Another chance to get this right.
Electricity wasn't doing anything, nor was ice. He pondered, what about wind?
"Changeling," Ken massaged his throbbing head. His little goblin baby appeared in a whoosh of air and blinked at him. Without a word, the creature generated a little spiral of wind, and shot it at the plague doctor. It was lost in the vortex for a few seconds, but yet again, no real damage seemed to have been inflicted. And yet again, Gene seemed unable to do anything. This time however, Ken could better understand his situation. Whatever that evil touch thing was, it felt awful.
The plague doctor puffed out its chest at the two of them, and Ken could've sworn it even looked proud of its achievements. However, like a flash, the thing leapt forward, and whacked Ken across the face with the staff it was holding. There wasn't a lot of strength behind it, but it was still a whack from a big stick, and it knocked him off his feet. Ken wrestled himself back up but couldn't find the mental state to ready another attack. A drawn-out grunt to his left however gave hope, as Gene began moving again at last.
"Ugh…!" His voice sounded heavy, but any action was better than nothing. "Magic doesn't seem to be working, Ken! What can we do?"
The words filtered into Ken's mind like they were sinking in through a viscous, fat jelly. Gene might as well have been speaking another language for how much of it Ken understood. He heard his name, but that was about it?
From the endless blackness in his vision came a beacon of hope though. Three or four brightly coloured notes fluttered up from nowhere it seemed and launched themselves at what Ken could only assume was the plague doctor. With every hit, the blackness thinned out, and Ken's senses returned to him just in time to find the creature stumbling to the floor. Basic physical attacks? Those were the key?
He rubbed his forehead and considered for a moment. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense; this was the manifestation of Courtney's ill health after all. It only made sense for it to be frail and weak.
Gene shook off the evil touch and battered the plague doctor with his harp once again. It bounced back almost immediately however and lunged forward, wrapping its long, skinny fingers around Ken's head. With a red glow in its eyes, the creature lifted and shook violently, before simply dropping him and returning. The strength to get back up just wouldn't come. Like a helpless lump on the floor, Ken could barely grip at his spear. With half an attempt to attack his opponent, his efforts failed miserably, followed by a strange burning in the side as punishment.
"Ken…!" Gene cried, rattling off another crescendo of notes from his harp. Each one knocked the creature back, and again left it vulnerable. Gene didn't hit it again, though. Instead his seaweed creature illuminated Ken with its healing spell.
It seemed utterly pointless, Ken muttered internally, but he managed a weak thumbs up anyway. The pointlessness of it all was proven further when the plague doctor bounced back yet again and readied its staff. However, instead of a strike across the face this time, it was a stabbing action right in the chest. Ken gasped, and something thick and purple splashed out of his back. Moments later the nausea returned, and what little strength he had recovered was sapped away again. What had he done to deserve this, he groaned.
Luckily though, Silky was there to help. The creature not only healed his ailments but was kind enough to help him back to his feet. Ken took in a deep breath, and looked to Gene, who knew exactly what to do. More notes sang from his harp and struck the plague doctor down, and then both boys piled on. Once again the cartoony fight cloud appeared as the two boys beat this thing black and blue. When they finished up however, the creature was still there.
"Uhh…?" Gene gave Ken the warning look. Ken shrugged back at him. Didn't that move finish things off? And wasn't this one especially weak to physical hits? It didn't make any sense!
The plague doctor lifted itself from the air and rubbed its hands together. A bright energy suddenly encompassed Gene, who collapsed amid it. Said energy then made its way over to the plague doctor and was absorbed into its body. Was it… draining his health?
Ken slashed at the plague doctor with his spear, knocking it back, and then gave it another hit for good measure, and Gene countered by healing himself, however it was Ken's turn to take the draining move next. His vitality was sapped away from him almost instantly, and the plague doctor was only looking stronger with every attack. Gene gave it a combo of hits from his harp, and then made sure to heal up Ken, but the cycle wasn't breaking because the thing seemed to be healing itself faster than they could damage it, even with its frailty.
The plague doctor rubbed its hands together again, and both boys braced themselves for impact, but there was no impact this time. Ken opened his eyes again, only to find a clear, glassy barrier surrounding both of them. He looked around confused and noticed that Courtney had thrust both her hands at them?
"What… the?" Gene cried, and Courtney struggled back to her feet.
"Y-you… you leave them alone!" She gasped. With a limp forwards, she launched the shield she had somehow created at the plague doctor, which surrounded and trapped it. Atop the barrier, something small and feathery appeared. Not unlike just an ordinary bird – maybe a heron or something? – the creature flapped glowing wings, and suddenly a blade of light pierced into the barrier. Three more followed, impaling the plague doctor at every angle, and then suddenly it all exploded, with a bright burst of light leaving the plague doctor in tatters on the floor.
"I c-can… I can fight my own battles!" Courtney gasped, a hand against her chest. There was another, feeble grunt, and the plague doctor seemed to implode in on itself, leaving behind a pile of robes and a cracked mask.
"…huh!" Courtney's victory seemed short lived, as she collapsed from the effort almost immediately. Strangely it was Gene who leapt forward, attempting to catch her and instead just cushioning her fall as she landed on top of him.
"Ughhhh!" Gene groaned, flailing under Courtney's dead weight. "C'mon, get up already!"
"Y-you… saved me Gene?" She mumbled.
"Yes, now get offa me!" Gene crawled out from under her. "And let's get outta here… Ken?"
"Wh-where'd he go?"
Ken was at the other end of the hallway. After all, it was pretty strange that the plague doctor didn't just disappear, rather leaving half of itself behind. Was there something else back here, he wondered.
A strip of fabric leading down the grotty corridors certainly seemed to suggest so. Ken crept along the hallway, following after the unravelled robes. There had to be something…
"Ken?!" Gene's voice echoed after him, followed by the heavy clapping of footsteps, but Ken edged a door open and immediately fell away from it.
"Ken! Where'd you… go." Gene caught up to him, with Courtney a few feet behind. His eyes followed where Ken was staring, and the colour drained from his face too.
"Wh-what is it, what's the prob-" Courtney began, but then she saw it as well.
A pair of legs.
Author's Note
Hey there everyone. Sorry it's taken so long to update. Both of us have been really busy with real life stuff, so productivity has slowed. However, here's a chapter, and it's a really big one, so hopefully that'll make up for it?
Some more world building stuff, a new Persona user (if that wasn't obvious already), and a new boss fight. Also about twice as long as the rest of the chapters lol. As always, feedback is both welcome and appreciated. Thanks for your patience. Over and out. :3