A Different Kind of Truth

by The Infamous Man

Johnny Joestar was a young man who had it all. A rich family, fame, respect.. everything. But an action done out of pride cost him all that, including his legs. He left for Inaba to escape from his memories, but Johnny is now dragged into to a bizarre murder case. A mystery which may teach the former genius jockey that bonds can make the most broken bird fly again...

21. Achtung Baby Part 6

I do not own JoJo's Bizarre Adventure or the Persona series.

---

"Aw dammit..."

Gyro groaned as he blearily opened his eyes. He saw white. White tiles that were on his eye level, which lead down to a seemingly endless hallway. The walls were a dull cyan color, and from what he could tell there were pieces of art hanging from the walls. But the thing that stuck out the most was not the hallway or the paintings.

Rather it was the eerie yellow fog that drifted about a foot from the ground. It obscured Gyro's vision somewhat, but there was something unearthly about it. It didn't look like normal fog, since the vapor didn't move or shift. It was as if the fog was frozen in place. Gyro waved his hand just a bit, and it was only then that the fog seemed to shift to follow its movements.

"Weir-" Gyro closed his eyes and hissed as a sharp pain came from the back of his head, and his vision blurred just a bit for a second. "The hell?" Gyro then raised his hand to the back of his head, and winced as his fingers touched something wet. "Damn... I got cut. But since I'm not blabbering gibberish or dead... my skull didn't crack." Gyro then brought his hand back in front of his face and looked at the blood. "But how did I even get this in the first place?"

Gyro hissed as the back of his headed continued to throb, straining as he tried to remember what happened.

There was noise, a knock and a shout. Gyro saw himself go down the stairs leading from his room and heading to the door. He looked through the eyehole at the door, and saw a man dressed in green with a cap. Gyro heard himself let out a sigh of relief and open it...

"Okay... that's weird..." Gyro muttered as his eyes blinked and the pain faded. Gyro remembered. He decided to stay in his house after that warning Johnny and Yosuke gave him about the killer targeting him. It could have been speculation sure, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

So then why was he so relieved when he saw the guy at his door?

"First things first..." Gyro muttered as he gingerly got to his feet. The last thing he wanted was to give himself vertigo from his head trauma and getting up too fast.

He looked around, and saw that his first observations were not wrong. But now he could see that there was an end to the hallways. It was just so very hard to see because of the fog... and there was this ringing in his ears. It was almost like TV static.

"Hello?" Gyro cried looked from side to side. "Is anyone there?"

He then began slowly walking down the hallway to his left, and cried out again

"Hello!?"

Nothing. Not even an echo from his own voice. Just silence.

"Hello!?"

This time the cry was even lower. Maybe the silence was getting to him.

"Is anyone there!?"

He kept his hand to the wall, just in case he gets another round of dizziness.

"HEL-!?"

Gyro then gasped and placed his left hand on his forehead, as visions came back...

A flash of movement. As soon as he opened the door, Gyro watched as an arm came out to grab him. However, Gyro's body jumped back and attempted to kick the door shut. Instead the man in green tackled the door open. Gyro's arms quickly grabbed the man and pushed him to the wall, cracking the glass of a picture. While the man in green was stunned and dropped a syringe in his left hand, Gyro tackled the man and rushed both of them straight into his living room...

"So I-I fought that guy..." Gyro muttered as he saw his real surroundings once more. He was on his knees, the tell-tale signs he had partially blacked out. "Must've been the killer..."

He then frowned and scratched his chest. It hurt a little when he touched it... a bruise from the fight probably. He wasn't dead, which was good, but he didn't know where he was or how he had gotten here. Nothing about the hallway suggested anything, except that whoever owned the place probably had a good taste in art. He saw pieces from Warhol, Van Gogh, Dali... the greats. Everything was so sterile and clean...

"HELLOOO!?" Gyro shouted one more time. "HELLOOOOO!? IS ANYONE THERE!?"

Gyro waited, anxiously and hopefully waiting for something other than his own shouting voice to break the silence.

"…Okay, so no one is here."

That... was not good.

No point in screaming anymore then. He didn't want a sore throat to compliment his head wound.

"…Well, I'm not gonna get anything accomplished just standing around." Gyro said to himself. He glanced to the right and was relieved to find a door, quickly making his way over to it and opening it up.

It was a huge office, with a desk to the far wall in front of him and an operating table in the center. There was a mirror on the wall, which showed his reflection and the reflection of the rest of the room... but not the bottom of the desk.

"A doctor's office?" Gyro muttered, mildly shocked. He took another look around. "But… no staff or patients."

Gyro then noted on the desk was a small first aid kit. Since no one was around to stop him and because he didn't want it to go to waste, Gyro quickly took it for himself. He walked over to the desk and picked up the kit, opening it. There was some disinfectant, bandages, a needle and some surgical suture. Not much, but it was enough to treat his head wound.

"Well, thanks for your generous donation." Gyro muttered to himself with a grin as he reached down...

...Only to stop as the knob to the door he had just closed began to shake.

Gyro's eyes widened as his instincts suddenly screamed for him to run and hide, and Gyro didn't feel much like ignoring. He grabbed the kit and ducked under the desk. It was just big enough to fit in Gyro's crouched form next to a black mini fridge to his right. Just what could be opening that door?

He soon got his answer.

Gyro's eyes widened as he saw from the mirror's reflection a back robed being about six feet tall swung the door open. The being also wore a black cap with his face behind a bone white beak mask with the rest of the head covered in black cloth. Like some plague doctor from the Renaissance.

It was a 'being' and not a 'man' due to the fact that his feet were black tendrils.

"What the hell is that thing?!" Gyro thought as sweat dripped from his face and he let out a gasp. He covered his mouth as soon as the creature's head darted to look straight at the direction of the desk. "Shit! That thing heard me!" The creature then glided itself towards the desk slowly. "I-I have to make sure I don't breath or else it'll hear me again!"Gyro held his breath and looked anxiously at the reflection, and froze as the creature disappeared from view.

Then he heard a thump, and the desk shake.

"Shit. It's on this thing!" Gyro then watched as gloved hands gripped the edge of the desk just above him, and the beak of the mask could be seen. It opened partially, and drool came out and dropped in front of Gyro's feet. "Go away... I'm not here! Go away!"

The mask moved slowly from one side to the other before letting out a dissatisfied grunt, and the desk shook once more while the fingers of the creature and its beak disappeared from view.

"Hurry up and leave you freak of nature!" Gyro shouted in his mind as his lungs ached and begged for relief.

The creature shifted back into view of the mirror and towards the door. If the thing did not leave in the next few seconds, Gyro was sure he would let out a gasp. Sweat dripped down his face as the creature paused before the open door... before it went past the frame and it closed behind the creature.

Gyro gasped, taking in greedy gulps of air."That thing wasn't human... and after seeing it I think's it's safe to say that I'm not in Inaba anymore." Gyro groaned as he placed his left hand on his head. "How could I have gotten here? Is this the killer's sick game or something?"

Pain shot from his head again, and the visions returned.

Gyro saw himself knock down the man in green with a punch, toppling over his couch. He breathed heavily as he picked up the man and threw him down onto the table, breaking it. The man didn't move, and Gyro watched as his body stood by its right side with his back to the TV, taking out his cell and beginning to dial for the police...

Then a sharp pain in the chest. The man's leg shot out and hit Gyro in the middle of his chest. Gyro flew back and crashed into the TV with his head hitting the wall, cracking the electronic. He fell, his vision going in and out. He saw the man get up. He saw the man grab his arms and begin dragging him to the front door, rambling gibberish. He saw the man pick up the syringe before everything went completely black.

"Damn it... that doesn't explain anything!" Gyro grumbled as he shook his head. "Except the fact that I got my ass kicked." He then opened the mini fridge and found bottles of water inside.

He had two options. Either fix himself up and go exploring, potentially running into that creature again... or fix himself up and wait in the room for help to arrive.

"Damn it..." Gyro groaned as he moved away from the desk and stood up, taking the sutures and needle before turning his back, eying the mirror to make sure he didn't screw this up.

Help better come soon, or else Gyro knew that he was completely screwed.

---

xxXXxx

"Well, this is… something." Yukiko commented as she looked at the area where Kanji and Gyro were in.

She honestly didn't know what to expect. She supposed the Midnight Channel gave a clue with its 'shows' but she didn't know how accurate they would be.

Like the Kanji segment had hinted, there was an old Japanese bath house, with springs at the sides of the pathway and steam coming out from the door which mixed with the yellow fog on the floor.

But to the building's right was another building just as tall as the bathhouse, but it was a hospital painted entirely white with tinted windows. The hospital had a small bridge on its left that connected the two buildings, and it had an automatic door at its entrance underneath the world 'EMERGENCY' which was in bright red neon.

"Two buildings side by side. Convenient." Johnny grumbled out while Yosuke scratched the back of his head.

"Damn, I was kinda hoping that they would be in the same place…" Yosuke then looked at Chie, Yukiko, and Teddie. "We're going to have to make a choice here. Which one should we go into first?"

Yukiko blinked in surprise while Chie just gaped at Yosuke. "What the hell, Yosuke!?" Chie then pointed at the teen. "How can you say that!? We have to rescue both!"

"Think about it, Chie." Johnny spoke up, causing the tomboy to look at him. "It's safer to stick together, that way we can just go through whatever Shadows are in our way."

"There is definitely logic in that." Yukiko thought to herself with a hum. It was more reasonable to stay in a group to fend off whatever dangers head their way. Splitting up meant cutting your strength in half, but on the other hand it would cause them to delay in one person's rescue. "I… I really don't know how to feel about that…"

"But we can save both Kanji and Gyro at once if we do it this way! It makes way more sense!" Chie countered, only for Yosuke to groan.

"I have to help Johnny get around, and this is Yukiko's first time really exploring the TV World. Plus, she hasn't had enough time to get used to using her Persona, Chie. Splitting up is just asking for trouble."

"I can go with her and back her up!" Chie then looked at Yukiko. "Plus I was able to beat her Shadow all by myself!"

"You got lucky and you only had to do that because you were forced to." Johnny glared at Chie as he continued. "And last I remember, you barely made it out alive."

"But I didn't die! I was able to win in the end, and now Yukiko can defend herself!" Chie motioned to her friend and glared back at the American. "God damn it, Johnny! I can do just fine without you pretending to ca-!"

"Chie, please calm down!" Yukiko shouted, making her friend cease her argument and look at her. "I agree with Hanamura-san and Joestar-san."

She could not stand it. Seeing Chie argue like this with the others. Their time should be spent trying to help those trapped here, not squabbling amongst themselves. It just wasn't right.

"Yukiko…" Chie walked over to Yukiko and placed her right hand on Yukiko's left shoulder. "You don't have to worry. Me and you can kick lots of…"

"Chie, I am inexperienced." Yukiko admitted with a sigh. "I-I don't know how to fight. I never even tried to fight anyone until now. If I went with you and just you, I would slow you down. I would be a hindrance… I could get you killed. But if we were in a group, we can clear these buildings one at a time, and I have less of a chance of messing up and putting everyone in danger."

"Yuki-chan, you shouldn't put yourself down like that!" Teddie spoke up with a bright smile. "Everyone starts out sometime! All you have to do is get experience!"

"That's right. But it would still be best if we were to stick together." Yosuke agreed with a nod of his head.

"Last thing we need is to be separated with no way of talking to each other." Johnny grumbled.

Chie looked from the boys and back at Yukiko before sighing. "Yukiko, if that's what you want, fine…" She then began to let out a nervous laugh before saying, "I guess it would be better to stick together instead of splitting up, huh?"

Yukiko smiled a bit. "At least that's over…" Helping to stop this argument… it felt good.

"Okay, but now we gotta choose as to where we go." Johnny then pointed at the bathhouse and then motioned to the hospital. "I'm thinking the hospital because it doesn't have so much fog."

"Well, if we're going to go in one at a time, maybe the bathhouse should be first." Chie interjected as she pointed to said building. "Getting the hard stuff out of the way first and all that."

Yukiko hummed in thought. Both had valid points… After all, the bathhouse would be difficult to navigate around because of all the fog and steam but at the same time it might make it hard for the Shadows to see them. But with the hospital they could see more clearly and avoid Shadows as they went along. What to choose…

Then suddenly, a loud slow yet sensual jazz tune came from the bathhouse, causing the teens and bear to look at it in confusion as a deep voice spoke over the music, "Well, hey there, pussycat!"

Yukiko blinked as another voice was heard, "Y-You have an amazing set of abs, my omi-palone…"

"T-That's Kanji-kun! Or… the Kanji-kun from the Midnight Channel…" Yukiko could not help but notice that Yosuke's eyes were widening in horror and he even took a step back.

"There's nothing to be afraid of…" The other voice returned, its voice husky yet reassuring. Yukiko was beginning to feel just a bit uncomfortable… "Just relax…"

"Okay! Whelp, that settles it!" Yosuke then pointed to the hospital. "We're going there first!"

"You cannot be serious! We haven't even agreed on it yet!" Chie shouted as she stamped her foot down and glared at Yosuke.

"Well, I'm not going in that… that… place!" Yosuke shouted with a shake of his head. "Nuh-uh! No way!"

"Yosuke, come on! It's just the Shadow screwing with us!" Johnny argued out, only for Yosuke to look at him fearfully.

"Dude, do you know what could happen to us in there!? What we might see!? What might be done!?"

Johnny simply stared at him blankly. "You cannot be this paranoid."

"You heard all that! There is no way I'm going in there!"

"Stop being such a prude Yosuke and suck it up!" Chie shouted out in anger, and Yukiko looked down to see Teddie staring at her quizzically.

"What's wrong with, Yosuke?"

"Um…" Yukiko thought about how she could best explain Yosuke's behavior. "We… humans I mean, well… men usually like women and women usually like men." When Teddie didn't say anything, she continued. "There are also men who like other men and women who like other women."

"Is that supposed to be a bad thing?" Teddie asked, only for Yukiko to shake her head.

"No! Of course not! It's perfectly fine. But…" Yukiko inclined her head to Yosuke and said, "Some people don't really like it…" That caused Yosuke to freeze and look at her, shocked and mortified.

"Woah! No! I do not have a problem with gay people!" Yosuke shouted as he pointed at Yukiko. "You gotta believe me!"

"Then why exactly are you having such a problem with the idea of going into the bathhouse?" Chie asked, causing Yosuke to let out a nervous laugh.

"Well, I just… I kinda…" Yosuke was silent for a moment before sighing, "I-I'll just shut up now."

"Look, if it's going to be that much of a big deal to you we'll go and rescue Gyro first." Johnny said with a sigh. "But after that you're just going to have to suck it up and go in there with us."

Yukiko thought that was a reasonable compromise.

"Okay! Okay! Geez, I'm sorry alright?" Yosuke then sighed as he began walking to the hospital with Johnny. "Let's just go and rescue the guy…"

Yukiko nodded and followed the others. It only took a moment for them to get inside. The doors slid open, and Yukiko had to close her eyes as cold air blasted into her face.

"Aw man, why does it have to be so cold?" Yosuke complained, his teeth chattering ever so slightly.

"It's a hospital. They always have the AC on for some reason." Johnny replied instantly, causing Chie to groan.

"Come on guys, the temperature's the last thing that we need to worry about." Chie then looked ahead and blinked in confusion. "What the heck…?"

Yukiko squinted her eyes saw what Chie was staring at. There were several female white mannequins, five to be exact. Each wore a white nurse's uniform and cap on their bald heads, but two of them were holding scalpels and three others had bone saws in their hands. Their lips were still, and they had no eyes… they were positioned differently. One was leaning against a wall holding its left hand to its ear as if talking on a cell phone. Two were facing each other on the opposite wall as if having a conversation together. And further ahead, seeming to push a medical bed down the hall, were the last two. One on each end, not moving at all… just like their kin…

"This is… really different." Johnny muttered out before looking at Teddie. "Are they Shadows?"

"They don't smell like it, Sensei." Teddie replied, but then furrowed his eyes in thought. "But this is strange… I've never seen things like these in my world before."

"Well, we can check." Yosuke then raised his left hand out, and Yukiko watched as a blue card floated over it. "Jiraiya!" With that shout, Yosuke crushed the card. The sound of shattering glass and the gathering of blue energy was all that was needed to announce the arrival of the Persona. Jiraiya jumped over Yosuke and floated in front of the 'nurse' leaning on the wall.

"What is he doing?" Yukiko did not need long to get an answer to that question.

Jiraiya stuck two of its frog-like fingers up the mannequin's nose.

Yukiko just gaped at the scene. "He can't be serious…" Jiraiya then used two fingers from its free left hand and poked the mannequin's eyes, only to get no response. The Persona brought them back and then stuck its thumbs into its ears, hopping on one foot to the other as if to mock the still statue.

"Damn, guess these things aren't Shadows…" Yosuke groaned out while Johnny just stared at him.

"That was your plan to see what they were? Just screw with them until they did something!?" Johnny asked while Yosuke gave a nervous laugh.

"Well, when you put it that way…"

"Yosuke, this is not a time to be screwing around! We have to keep moving to rescue Gyro!" With a huff, Chie got in front of the group and began going forward in front of them.

"That was pretty lame, Yosuke…" Teddie added, causing the teen to sigh.

"Shut up, Ted…"

"It was definitely lame though…" Yukiko thought to herself before the others began going forward. She passed by the mannequin leaning on the wall…

…And heard a crack.

The crack of breaking hard plastic, of wood. "What on earth?" She turned back to the mannequin, and saw that the bottom of its right eye had risen up. "Was it like that before?"

The left corner of its lips moved up, followed by another crack. Yukiko's eyes widened in horror as the head then suddenly turned to her with another crack. "T-They're…" More cracks, and its right hand raised up, holding the scalpel in its hand. "THEY'RE MOVING!"

"Huh? Yukiko what…?" Chie's eyes widened as she saw the situation Yukiko was in. "YUKIK- GAH!"

Chie was unable to finish as one of the mannequin's by the medical bed jumped on her, wrapping its left arm around her body and holding its right arm up ready to stab its scalpel down. Chie grunted as her right leg shot upwards, hitting the arm and making it stab into the mannequin's forehead.

"Tomoe!" Chie shouted as a blue card appeared in front of her, and she smashed it as she brought her leg down.

She ducked as Tomoe appeared and kicked the mannequin directly in its face, cracking it and launching the body into a wall… but it wasn't enough. With sickening cracks and an almost unnatural movement, the being got itself off the wall and its lips opened to form a twisted and broken smile.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me!"

"T-These Shadows must've been hiding their presence! Hiding in plain sight so that we would think they were just part of the scenery!" Teddie shouted out while pointing as the two mannequins in 'conversation' suddenly turned their heads to him. "EEEK!"

"Yosuke, look out!" Johnny then pushed off Yosuke, making the teen stumble back and the American crash onto the floor. Just in time to miss one of the mannequins swinging down a saw where they once were. Johnny groaned but held his hand up, crushing a blue card as he glared at the mannequin. "Jack Frost!"

The tiny snowman mascot appeared in a flash of blue mist. Another mannequin wielding a saw jumped towards him, and he pointed at the Shadow. Jack Frost giggled in excitement before waving its arms… and a two-foot thick and six foot tall wall of ice appeared in front of him. The mannequin couldn't stop it's trajectory in midair and ended up crashing into the wall.

"Gotta change…" Johnny muttered as Jack Frost began to disappear and the wall began to fade from existence. A new card appeared, and Johnny crushed it with his hand. "Izanagi!"

Before the wall could disappear, Izanagi appeared and thrust its naginata forward, stabbing the Shadow directly in its chest before flinging it to the ground… however, it simply got back up and held its saw with both hands.

"Shit, these things just don't die!" Johnny shouted.

"Damn it!" Yosuke shouted as he waved at the mannequin. Jiraiya flew in front of it… and punched it in an uppercut to the gut.

"Yo!" Jiraiya shouted as the mannequin shot upward and hit the ceiling, numerous cracks and the splitting of hard matter being heard. But the mannequin simply parted its lips… and a white liquid shot out. It hit on Yosuke's right leg before hardening, and the Shadow simply crashed back onto the floor.

"Gah! Gross!" Yosuke shouted out before his eyes widened as he tried to move his leg forward, only to find that he couldn't "What the hell!?"

"OH NOOOOO!" Teddie shouted in horror as he stumbled back. "These Blank Nurses have the power to excrete some sort of hot wax! If that stuff gets stuck on you you'll be stuck in place or worse!"

"Aw, damn it!" Yosuke then gasped before he bent backwards, just missing a saw being swung by his head. He screamed as his body fell onto the ground, groaning before his right hand unzipped one of his pants pockets and he took out his kunai. "This isn't good…!" The nurse Shadow then straddled his body, and Yosuke grunted as he flipped the kunai in his right hand and held it in a reverse grip while the nurse brought down the saw, aiming for his neck… and Yosuke was able to intercept it with his weapon. "Damn, you're strong…"

The pressure and strength of the Shadow was too much, and Yosuke's grip slipped, causing the saw's blade to go on his arm.

"GAH!"

Blood drew as the nurse began to pull back, and its lips parted as white liquid came out of its mouth and covered Yosuke's own. He screamed a muffled scream, and quickly grabbed his second kunai with his left hand and stabbed the nurse in its side. As the Shadow paused as if reacting in pain, Jiraiya then appeared behind the Shadow and punched it down to the ground, stepping on its arms so it could not do anything of harm. Yosuke stayed on the floor, clawing at the wax that was now covering his mouth…

Yukiko jumped to the side as the mannequin stabbed forward. This was insane. This was totally insane. "Why? Who do these things want to kill us so much!" Yukiko then gasped as she ducked, avoiding the swing of a saw-wielding mannequin. "We weren't going to hurt them. If they had just remained still, we would have continued without even bothering with them. Why? Just what is the point of all this!"

As she scooted back, avoiding one of the Shadows stabbing down, she knew in her heart what the answer was.

These things wanted to kill them. The reasons were inconsequential. Reasons did not matter. Only the killing.

And if she didn't fight back, she would die.

"No choice then…"

Yukiko then took out her fan and unfolded it. She remembered how Chie described it. She had to envision the card she had seen. Her Persona…. A blue glowing card appeared in front of her.

"Come, Konohana Sakuya!"

She raised her fan, and as it made contact with the card it shattered into pieces. Her Persona appeared over her, and Yukiko thrust her hand outwards, almost unconsciously.

One of the smaller petals attached to the flowers on Konohana Sakuya's wrists disengaged, and flew at fast speeds towards the mannequin wielding the saw. As soon as it made contact, the petal transformed into a ball of fire, exploding. Yukiko could almost hear a scream of pain coming from the creature as its head and chest melted in an instant. The flames disappeared, and the body fell to the ground lifeless.

"Oh my! It seems that these Shadows are weak against fire attacks! They can't take the heat!" Teddie waved his paw enthusiastically as he shouted, "Good job Yuki-chan! Keep it up!"

"I-I can't believe I had that power in me!" Yukiko didn't really get why she was happy about that. Was it because she had such a useful power through her Persona? Even if they were trying to kill her… shouldn't she be upset that she had to kill these Shadows? Even if only a bit?

But that didn't matter. She and the others were still in danger, and Yukiko now knew she was the only one who could get them out of it.

Before the scalpel wielding Shadow could move, Yukiko pointed at it which Konohana Sakuya mirrored with its right hand and a petal shot out. It hit the Shadow, melting its head and most of its right shoulder, and the creature stiffened before falling to the ground. Then she watched as the two now dead Shadows burst into black smoke before disappearing completely.

She ran forward, ready to help the others… but stopped as she saw that the other teens were simply using their Personas to beat the Shadows' heads in. Powerful blows rained down again and again, each one harder and faster than the last. "It makes sense… they can't be indestructible…" Yukiko then looked to Yosuke and rushed over, kneeling in front of his body. "Teddie!"

"Y-Yes!?" Teddie asked, waddling over to her and Yosuke.

"What can I do to get this off?" Yukiko asked, attempting to help Yosuke pull off the wax to no avail. "We could very well pull his lips off…"

"Well, Yuki-chan, my beary best guess would be to destroy the Shadow that did this too him…"

"Hanamura-san, get Jiraiya out of the way!" Yosuke nodded his head and Jiraiya jumped up. With a quick motion, another petal was launched, and the Shadow's head melted off. It disappeared in a haze of black smoke, and as if like water the wax restraining Yosuke and covered his mouth melted off causing him gasped for air.

"G-Gah! Oh god! That tasted so gross! Like hot rotten milk!" Yosuke shouted out, taking in greedy gulps of air. "T-Thanks for getting me out of that sooner rather than later, Yukiko…"

"I-It was nothing…"

Then, two sickening sounds of crushing plastic were heard. The two teens and bear looked to see Johnny and Chie sitting down, gasping for air as their Personas disappeared and the Shadows by them were on the ground, their heads crushed into bits of plastic with liquid leaking out from their throats before they burst into black smoke and disappeared like the other three.

"Chie! Joestar-san! Are you all right!?"

"We're fine Yukiko!" Chie shouted back at her, and Johnny only gave a swift nod in confirmation. "J-Just a bit out of breath…"

"You holdin' up, Yosuke?" Johnny asked, causing Yosuke to wince and look at his wound.

"That thing didn't cut too deep, and the bleeding has stopped." Yosuke sighed as he sat up and walked to Johnny, putting away his kana and outstretching his right hand. "I can keep going. Can you?"

"Yeah…"

"W-We're continuing?" Yukiko was honestly surprised. The fight was so intense… she was thinking they would want to take a break and recuperate for a bit.

"We have to Yukiko. Otherwise Gyro's never going to be saved today." Chie replied with a sigh as she also got up.

"But don't worry Yuki-can, you were amazing! Bear-rific!" Teddie encouraged her with a smile. "Keep it up and we'll be able to rescue this Gyro guy in no time!"

Yukiko looked back at Konohana Sakuya, who had yet to disappear. She noticed that the three petals that were launched from the right hand had yet to return. Perhaps that was the limitation to her Persona's power? "I need to remember this… I have to. If I forget… it could mean trouble. For me, for the others, and for Chie…"

"Yes… we will." Yukiko got back onto her feet and nodded at the other teens. "Let's get going."

Konohana Sakuya faded from existence, but Yukiko kept her folded fan in hand.

She would keep it for the battles to come.

---

xxXXxx

"At least I've got enough water…" Gyro thought to himself as he sat underneath the desk, sipping on the bottled water he had found within the mini fridge.

He had been in the room of this strange place for what seemed like hours… or was it minutes? Time was weird, and without some sort of clock Gyro couldn't tell how much time had passed.

"But at least that thing hasn't come back." Gyro hadn't seen the creature that had been stalking the room before for a while. It might have lost interest in the area for all he knew. "Or it's still waiting outside."

That possibility definitely wasn't good. Which was probably another reason why he was content to wait in the room for help.

"Just what kind of creature was that?" Gyro thought with a frown as he set aside his drink. "It had tentacles similar to a squid, but an upright and human form above the waist. It shouldn't have a spine… it's completely contradictory. Its biology must be something completely new."

Gyro sighed a bit. There his mind goes, attempting to bring about all the medical knowledge he had learned and that his father crammed into his brain. Trying to solve a problem that confused him greatly…

"Duty of the Zeppeli Family… and look where both following and not following that got me."

No, now was not the time to be thinking about that. It was useless in this situation, a situation that could very well cost him his life. "I would be dead, gone. Unable to return. Just like… Just like hi-"

Gyro's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the knob of the door to the room moving. "Great, is that thing back?" Gyro remained under the desk and looked at the mirror as the door opened.

Perhaps he was expecting that monster again, or maybe a SWAT team here to catch the guy who put him in this place.

Last thing he expected to see were Yosuke, Chie, that Yukiko girl, a thing that looked like a mascot from a cartoon or cereal box, and Johnny Joestar.

Who could now use his legs apparently, even if he had his arm over Yosuke.

"Damn, he's not in this one either." Johnny cursed as he looked to Yosuke. "We're going to have to keep looking."

"Wait, are they actually the ones looking for me?" Gyro could not help but be a little suspicious at that. After all, who was to say this wasn't perhaps one of those monsters trying to trick him?

"This is bad man. We wasted too much time looking for the way up on the first floor, and those Shadows only slowed us down…" Yosuke gave a sigh while looking down. "Not to mention we've got a ton of other floors to go through… I don't want to get out of here after Junes' closing time and have a guard catch us."

That caused Gyro to blink in confusion. He was in Junes? Or was it some place in Junes? "Why would he be worried about a guard catching them 'getting out of here'?"

"Well, then we can't stay here and complain! We have to keep looking for him!" Chie cried out in frustration, glaring at the two teens. "If we don't find Gyro today he'll be stuck here another day! And so will Kanji!"

"But if we rush things, we might miss something Chie." Yukiko commented as her head turned and her eyes scanned the room. "If we do, then Zeppeli-san could be stuck here and he could get seriously hurt…"

"Stuck here another day… and that Kanji Tatsumi guy is here too? They're also trying to get him out?" It was odd. First Johnny and his friends come to warn him about the killer, and now they're trying to save him from this wacky place? "But are they trying to trick me to come out or…?"

"I don't know guys… I kind of smell that someone is here."

Gyro's eyes widened as the new voice came from the bear. "So it can talk huh?" Well, this definitely put a damper on the plan to lay low.

This thing knew that he was in the room.

And considering that Johnny and the others weren't tearing up the place looking for him, it was safe to say that they weren't monsters.

They were the real deal.

"Better reintroduce myself then." Gyro crawled out from underneath the desk and stood up. He then turned around and gave the most reassuring grin he could muster. "Uh, hey!"

The others just gaped at him in silence for a few seconds. Probably processing how he was so casual about the situation and of hiding from them. "Doesn't mean they have to stare though…"

"Um, is this the Gyro guy you've been looking for Sensei?" The bear asked again, causing Johnny to come out of whatever trance he was in.

"Yeah, yeah it is…" Johnny cleared his throat and asked, "You okay?"

"Johnny! That isn't the kind of question to be asking him!" Chie shouted at the American, who simply shrugged. She turned back to Gyro and said, "Look, I know this all seems weird but you… um…" Chie then fumbled for the right words before she gave him a sheepish smile. "…Keep calm, I guess?"

"Is this your first time doing this?" Gyro could not help but ask that question. After all, it definitely seemed like it.

"No!" Yosuke shouted in response. "Well, yes kinda… but I mean no! We've done this before! But not, well, this."

"It's my first time for both." Yukiko decided to add, and Gyro had to keep himself from chuckling. After all, this entire situation was rather comical.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Mostly, anyway." Gyro replied as he stepped forward to the group. "What are you all doing here?"

"We're here to get you out of course!" Chie shouted instantly before pointing out. "Come on! We need to hurry up and…!"

"Wait, wait, wait…" Gyro held up his hands, perhaps in an attempt to slow down the pace this conversation was already going in. "Can you all please explain to me where I'm getting out of?"

The teens looked at each other and Yosuke said, "You might not believe us…"

"I just saw a creature that should not exist and had to hide from it. At this point I'll believe in anything." Gyro meant it. If the Easter Bunny were to hop by he would instantly believe that just happened. Made about as much sense as everything else here.

"You're in a world inside TVs." Johnny spoke up, making Gyro stare at him. "This is a place inside that world."

"A world inside a TV."

"Yup."

"Huh." Well, in all honesty Gyro was expecting some crazy answer, and he got it. "Why am I here?"

"Look, remember how we warned you about the killer?" Yosuke asked, and when Gyro nodded he continued. "Well that's the thing, he kidnaps people and throws them into this TV World so that they can be killed by their Shadows."

"Shadows?" Was that what the monster was called? A Shadow? Not the most imaginative name, but Gyro supposed that it fit.

"They're the darkness within people's hearts." The bear spoke up, waddling towards Gyro and looking up at him. "This place was created by the one in yours."

"I have one of those things too?"

Not only were those things monsters, but they were some weird evil doppelgängers too? But why a hospital? Why model this place as a hospital?

"It knows what I hate, and it wants to piss me off."

Well, at least that was the simplest explanation Gyro could think of.

"So why are you guys here? And not the cops?" Gyro had to know that. After all, when he expected a rescue party these guys were the last thing he would have thought of."Then again, they did warn me about the killer before the cops did…"

"We have skills that let us go in and out of this world, and keep us safe from the Shadows." Johnny summarized before motioning to the door. "Look, we can go over the finer details later. For now, let's get out of here before we have to fight anymore."

"Well, aren't you in a hurry?" Not that it wasn't expected. After all, if what they were saying was true then this situation really was serious. "Before we go…"

"What is it now?" Chie groaned out, and Gyro simply pointed to the bear.

"What's that?"

"I'm Teddie!" The bear said with a raised paw and a smile. Gyro looked closely at Teddie. "Um… are you okay?"

He did look kind of cute… but not as cute as his bear.

"Say, is your last name 'Bear'?"

"Huh?" Teddie asked with a blink while Gyro patted his head.

"Or perhaps you have a brother named Pooh?" Gyro then grinned and chuckled out, "Nyoho~!"

"Let's… let's just go…" Johnny groaned while everyone just blinked owlishly at Gyro. He just shrugged. Perhaps the situation was too tense to try and lighten the mood.

Still! He was definitely keeping that one!

Gyro then blinked as he stepped out of the room. "Say, how did you guys get up here?"

"Well, usually we take some stares, but for some reason this place has an elevator instead." Chie then pointed to the left, and Gyro looked to see an elevator with shiny metal doors. "It's just down there."

"Oh, so if you guys really have some way of fighting those monsters… did you get to kill that Shadow thing that tried to find me?" Gyro asked, and all of the teens and one bear looked at him strangely.

"There was a Shadow here?"

Gyro froze at that response. "They haven't seen it?" No, that couldn't be right. From what he could tell that creature was trying to find him specifically, being able to almost find his location from his breathing. If these guys were just walking around then where did it go?

Then, something dripped from the ceiling down onto the floor. Gyro looked down and saw some sort of liquid.

It wasn't that hard to guess where it came from, and what made it.

"Look out!" Gyro shouted as he jumped to the side. He saw the other teens do the same, just in time to avoid the massive tentacle Plague Doctor thing that crashed down on where they once stood.

"I-It had been waiting outside this entire time!"

"OH MY GOSH!" Teddie cried out as he pointed at the creature. "T-That smells like one mean Grizzly! And I'm smelling something weird from it too!"

After he said that, a switch seemed to flip in all of their eyes. Gyro watched as their eyes grew hard, Yosuke and Yukiko took out a pair of kunai and a fan respectively, and their muscles tightened. Johnny separated himself from Yosuke and shouted, "Gyro, get back!"

Then, something amazing happened.

A light appeared overhead them, and out of that light came a card which glowed an unearthly blue. "What the hell is that!?" Johnny took the card in the palm of his right hand and crushed it before he fell on the ground, Yosuke performed an uppercut and sliced the card with his kunai, Chie performed a reverse kick and hit the card in front of her dead center, and Yukiko simply raised her open fan and the card was destroyed on impact with the sound of glass following each.

Then, ghostly figures floated behind them. Yosuke, Chie, and Yukiko's were distinctly distinctly humanoid while Johnny's was smaller and looked like a floating humanoid, but each gave off the distinctive aura of power. Of some unnatural force that was both deadly… and yet comforting.

Gyro could see why they were able to combat creatures such as this.

"Hey! Let's go back a bit so that we don't get in Sensei and the others' way!" Teddie cried out while pulling on his right arm with his paw. Gyro nodded and went with the bear further down the hallway, just as the sound of action started.

Gyro turned his head and watched.

A whirlwind came from under Johnny, pushing him back before Johnny pointed at the creature. The being Johnny had summoned cried out "Nii!" A cyclone appeared under the creature, causing it to be raised up and smacked into the wall to the opposite of the room door.

"Amazing… it's able to lift it so easily…" Gyro muttered out before looking at Teddie. "Hey! What the hell are those things?!"

"They are Personas! The special power Sensei, Chie-chan, Yosuke, and Yuki-chan wield!" Teddie responded as they reached the end of the hallway.

When that happened, Gyro turned his body and looked back. All of the ghostly humanoids were keeping their distance from the creature as its tentacles flailed around. "Let's end this quickly!" Yosuke shouted as his being then took the two shuriken attached to its hands and threw them at the creature.

But the Shadow was too fast. Two of its tentacles to its left stretched out and attached themselves to the wall, pulling it away from where it was so fast that Gyro almost didn't catch it. The Shuriken missed, and although they embedded themselves to the wall, two horizontal lines around a foot long were engraved away from the blades.

"So both Johnny and Yosuke's… Personas have to do with wind. Good to know."

At that moment, Chie's Persona appeared where the creature was. Its left leg was raised back before it shot forward, a mighty kick landing on the side of the Shadow's head. Gyro could even hear the sound of something hard breaking…

"Sensei wields Tusk, Yosuke wields Jiraiya, Chie-chan has Tomoe, and Yuki-chan has Konohana Sakuya!" Teddie informed Gyro, stars gleaming in his eyes. "And with their power, Sensei and the others can take on any kind of Grizzly!"

But as soon as Teddie said that, things started going to hell.

The Shadow, which Gyro decided to now call 'Dr. Feelgood', seemed to get out of the haze it was in before its tentacles launched forward. Each was covered in almost purple-ish slime, and Gyro almost had a hard time keeping his lunch down as they wrapped around that Persona called Tusk. Johnny then instantly froze. His skin grew pale, and his eyes widened in horror.

"WAAAAAHHHH!" Johnny shouted as he then began crawling back.

It didn't take long for Gyro to understand that whatever happened to Tusk also happened to Johnny, which also meant… "Those tentacles… they're secreting some sort of hallucinogenic!"

"Oh no! That Shadow's main power is to let out a poison that can make you see things! Someone needs to get Sensei out of this or else things'll look pretty bad for him!" Teddie shouted out while flailing his arms around, causing Gyro to stare at him. Bear sure knew how to state the obvious…

"Johnny!" Yosuke shouted as the Shuriken returned to Jiraiya, and the Persona threw them another time at the tentacles. This time, they were flying horizontal, slowly coming closer to one another…

"Yosuke! Duck!" Chie shouted as Tomoe then drew with its Naginata a wall as tall as Chie with blue lines, causing an actual ice wall to appear before touching it with the small part of the staff. The wall then burst into tiny ice shards and launched forward.

"WOAH!" Yosuke shouted as he and Jiraiya launched themselves to the left. "Chie, no!"

It was too late.

The shuriken then were on top of one another, and a cyclone came out of it. Dr. Feelgood's tentacles latched onto the wall in a desperate attempt to keep hold. It succeeded, but only by letting go of Tusk. The Persona was caught in the cyclone, and Johnny was lifted from the floor and flung towards Gyro. He quickly rushed forward, spread his arms, and braced himself for impact. Johnny hit Gyro's chest like a ton of bricks.

"OOf!" Gyro cried out as he fell on his back and skidded on the floor.

"Woah! Sensei! Gyro-guy! Are you two okay!?" Teddie asked as he waddled over to them, and Gyro groaned out his answer.

"Peachy."

"Again with peaches…" Teddie grumbled out as Gyro sat up, and Johnny was leaning on him shivering with widened eyes and pale skin.

"FallingToGroundNotGoodHelpSpeedingUpHelpHelpHelp…" Johnny muttered fearfully in rapid speeds, making Gyro look at Teddie.

"You wouldn't happen to have some sort of cure for supernatural poisons would you?"

"No…"

"Aw, damn it!" Yosuke's shout caused Gyro to look back at the battle, and saw that the ice shards had been swooped up into the cyclone. They spun around with the winds, and while some imbedded into the monster several others were also imbedded into Jiraiya's right arm, and the wounds were mirrored on Yosuke's arm complete with blood. "Chie! What the hell!?"

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't think that they would…!" Chie stammered as the cyclone began to die down, and the ice shards fell to the ground.

But one flew at the two foreign teens. Gyro didn't have time to react as one of the ice shards flew past Johnny's ankle, cutting it open with blood seeping out.

"GAH!" Johnny screamed in pain as he sat up, breathing in and out heavily.

"Johnny! You okay man!?" Gyro looked at Johnny, who was staring off into space.

"S-So real… It was so real…" Johnny muttered as he placed his right hand on his face.

"He's getting some color back… and his eyes aren't dilated anymore…" Gyro thought to himself while looking at Johnny's face.

"That's it! The Shadow's poison can be subdued by pain! It becomes something new and real to focus on, which brought Sensei out of his daze!" Teddie announced as he shook his fist, and the message was a bit unbelievable to Gyro.

But then again, he wasn't dealing with regular poison.

"You should have warned me you could do that!" Yosuke shouted out before a tentacle then wrapped around his leg. "Aw damn…!" Again, pale skin, widened eyes, sweat… all the same symptoms as Johnny.

"This isn't going well!" Gyro grimaced a bit as Johnny groaned, his skin returning to a normal tint.

"Everyone get back!" Yukiko shouted, and Chie jumped back. Konohana Sakuya raised its right hand, it having six petals on it. One launched out and hit Dr. Feelgood square in a chest with a burst of flame. The Shadow screamed in pain and let go of Yosuke, but did not fall. Instead it clawed at the burn marks of singed cloth and burned purple flesh. "It's not working!"

This wasn't good. Everyone was panicking and none of their current actions were doing anything. If this kept up then they were all screwed. "Unless…"

Yes! That could work!

"Chie!" Gyro called out, catching the kung-fu enthusiast's attention. "Hit Yosuke!"

"What?"

"Just do it! It'll get him out of his funk!" Gyro replied, and saw Chie grimace. "Come on, trust me…"

Chie then ran over to Yosuke and kicked Yosuke in the thigh, being sure not to hit him with her shoe. As if on cue, Yosuke blinked and cried out in pain.

"Ah damn! God, that stings!" Yosuke then looked around as his pale skin began to gain color. "I-I'm back? T-The mountains and penguins are gone?!"

Chie stared at him with a raised eyebrow. "Mountains and penguins?"

"Hey! Those penguins were fat, and white, and didn't have any eyes…"

"Both of you, not now!" Gyro shouted, causing the two to look at him. "Listen to what I have to say!" He then looked at Johnny and asked, "Think you can do another one of those cyclones?"

Johnny looked at him for a second, and Gyro could feel he understood the plan. Or at least part of it.

"Y-Yeah…" Johnny groaned out, and Tusk floated to his side.

"NIIII!" Tusk cried out as it raised both of its arms. Suddenly, Dr. Feelgood halted its mewing and began to shake from side to side. It was then raised up, and moved back. And with a mighty crash, the creature fell face-first to the ground.

It's bottom part raised up, they could all see the giant circular mouth with snapping white teeth, spewing out bits of saliva as it kept chomping.

"Yosuke! Cut those things!"

"On it!" Jiraiya went back and this time only threw one of its shuriken. It passed by the front of the tentacles grasping at the air, cutting them. The mouth howled in pain as blood spewed out of the stumps and the separated tentacles flailed around on the ground.

"Yukiko shoot some fire into that mouth!" So far, so good. Everything was going as Gyro thought it would. "Please let this work…"

"Y-Yes!" Yukiko shouted, and Konohana Sakuya reacted. It launched the final five petals from its right hand and launched them into the gaping mouth. It closed, and the body of the Shadow convulsed five times. The creature screamed a screeching, inhuman noise as smoke came from both its mouths. It raised its head, and continued to scream, its beak opening and letting out more smoke and saliva.

"Finish it off! Quickly!"

Jiraiya and Tomoe shot forward, keeping to the ceiling to avoid the flailing tentacles on the ground. Jiraiya brought back its right hand, rightening to a fist while Tomoe drew back its left leg.

They then shot forward. Before Dr. Feelgood could react, Jiraiya's fist connected with the left side of its mask while bottom of Tomoe's foot connected with its right.

"YOSHA!" Jiraiya cried out before the mask of the Shadow cracked, and its head was crushed. Blood spewed out like a fountain as the Shadow instantly turned into black smoke.

"W-We did it!" Chie cheered out, while Yukiko breathed a sigh of relief and Yosuke crashed onto the floor on his back. Johnny groaned and Gyro simply smirked while the Personas disappeared.

"Lucky… You are so lucky Mr. Zeppeli…"

But the smoke did not.

Instead, out of the black smoke a small blue light shown. "The hell is that?" The blue light then went forward, revealing another blue card. It went in front of Johnny, who stared at it for a second before reaching out and crushing it.

Blue energy then shined in front of them, and Gyro saw as the light faded to reveal a young woman as tall as Yukiko with short black hair that reached her shoulders. She wore short white hot pants with a white belt, white gloves that only covered her fingers and half her hands with a strange black mark on them, and a verst that practically didn't cover anything save for the sides of her breasts and nipples. She had a small skin-colored tail with a spade at the end, swishing in the air and things coming from her back.

"She's actually pretty hot."

"Lilim…" As Johnny spoke the woman's name, she giggled with her right foot raised back, nearly touching her wing and leaned down near Johnny's forehead, as if to kiss it. Johnny looked away with an annoyed expression, but sighed in relief as the Persona drew back and disappeared. Blue energy replacing her and floating into Johnny before it died down.

"There's a long story to that too I guess?" Gyro asked the American, who simply nodded. "World has gotten to new levels of weird…"

"Uh dude, can you help us?" Yosuke called out, causing Gyro and Johnny to snap out of their thoughts.

"Right! Right…" Johnny then raised his right hand, and another blue card appeared. "Pixie." Johnny then crushed it, and a small blue fairy appeared. It quickly floated to Johnny's ankle and kissed it.

"Amazing. The skin is healing and it's creating new cells in seconds!" Gyro thought as he watched Johnny's wound heal before Pixie then flew to Yosuke.

"How about that…" Gyro muttered as he watched Johnny and his Persona Pixie began healing everyone's injuries. This really was amazing. Before today Gyro would have never believed in the supernatural… okay, maybe he was a Catholic and thus kinda believed in the supernatural in a sense, but not like this!

He definitely did not expect to see people controlling beings of great power to fight against these Shadow monsters.

"Wowwie! You were great back there, Gyro!" Teddie cheered as he waddled over to the Italian, standing over his sitting form. "You were able to grasp Sensei and the others' abilities so quickly and were able to direct a strategy to beat that grizzly! I've never been more amazed in my life!"

"Yeah, well…" Gyro honestly wanted to say that it wasn't much, but he couldn't. It honestly… felt good. To be able to pull something like that off. After all, who wouldn't be proud of themselves?

"Thank you so much, Zeppeli-san." Yukiko said with a slight bow of her head. "If you hadn't told me where to hit it, then…"

"Relax Yukiko, you were doing great! Konohana Sakuya is one cool Persona!" Chie encouraged her friend. Yosuke merely laughed from his seated position and scratched the back of his head, while Johnny simply sighed.

"How were you able to figure out a plan so quickly?" Johnny asked, causing Gyro to blink.

"Just something I was able to think up on the fly." Gyro then got onto his feet and stood up. He reached down and outstretched his arm to Johnny, who grabbed it and got onto his feet. "Best make like some and buzz off before more of those things show up."

All of them stared at Gyro blankly.

"Get it?"

"Pffhahhahahaha!" Yukiko laughed out, clutching her stomach and causing Gyro to grin. She got it! "Z-Zeppeli-san! Y-you…. hahahaha… need to hold off on the jokes… ha… until we get back home! P-Plea-haha!"

"He's good with jokes too! Amazing! Bear-rific!" Teddie cried with stars in his eyes.

"Geez Yukiko, you laugh at the weirdest things…" Chie commented with a sigh while Yosuke got up and went to Johnny. He took Johnny by the arm and brought it over his shoulders, making Johnny lean on him and get off of Gyro. At that moment, Pixie disappeared and turned into blue light before fading from view.

"Man, I'm on the roll with original gags!" Gyro congratulated himself with a proud smile and a nod of his head, not noticing the blank stare Johnny continued to give him.

"Yup. Real clever. Nobody ever thought of that before. Amazing Gyro."

"I know!" Gyro then looked to the left and saw the metal doors of the elevator that brought Johnny and the others' up. "So that's our ticket down right?"

"Yeah. So let's hurry up and get ourselves out of here." Chie confirmed while patting her friend on the back, who gave only small giggles. Gyro gave her a firm nod before the group went forward.

Gyro pressed the button to the side of the door that had an arrow pointing down, and the metallic doors opened. Of course being a gentleman, he let everyone else on first before he entered. "Kinda weird how a place like this has a functioning elevator…" The doors then closed, and Gyro felt the elevator begin to move down.

And then it suddenly stopped, causing all of them to stumble just a bit.

"Is it supposed to do that?" Gyro could not help but ask.

"No! It's not!" Chie looked at the floor indicator, which was blinking between floors one and two. "I don't understand! We pressed the down button!"

"Why would this thing break? Can machines break in this world?" Yukiko muttered to herself while Teddie shrugged.

"I don't know. This is the first time I've ever seen one of these elevator things."

"Wait, this is your first time seeing one?" Yosuke then glared at Teddie and shouted, "What the hell Teddie!? You couldn't have told us before!?"

"D-Don't yell at me!"

Gyro ignored the bickering going on and looked at Johnny. He was narrowing his eyes at the floor indicators. It was weird… the elevator mysteriously stops before they can get to the first floor and try to leave this pla-

Gyro's eyes widened in realization, as did Johnny's. "It's a trap."

At that moment, the elevator shot up. The force from the speed caused everyone to fall to the ground as the counter began to climb upward. "Damn it! I can't believe we fell for this!" Johnny shouted out while Gyro attempted to sit up.

"If we hit the roof at this speed we're all going to die!" Yosuke then looked over to the floor counter. "We're already on the fourth floor! Fifth!"

"E-Everyone calm down! Gyro's Shadow wouldn't try to kill him like this right!? Right!?" Yukiko looked fearfully at Chie, who had her teeth clenched while leaning on a wall in the elevator.

"I-I'm not feeling too good…" Teddie mumbled out, causing Yosuke to push him a bit to the side with his foot.

"Then don't be near me, bear!"

Gyro looked at the counter. They were now on the seventh floor. If what Yukiko said was true, then this probably some sort of scare tactic or something. "Keep calm, don't freak out and it'll all be…!"

Then as suddenly as it started, the elevator stopped. All of them were flung to the ceiling before they landed back onto the ground. Gyro grunted in pain and touched the stitches on the back of his head. They stung, but he couldn't feel blood or anything…

"Is everyone okay?" Yosuke groaned out, and the others moaned in response while attempting to get up.

"That wasn't beary fun…" Teddie mumbled while Chie got onto her feet and picked up Yukiko.

"I'm fine… but we need to figure out a way off this thing!" Chie turned to the doors as Yosuke, Johnny, and Gyro got back up.

As if on cue, the doors then opened. A blast of cold air hit them all, and Gyro could not help but shiver. It felt like it was almost zero or something. "Charming."

He looked outside and saw that a hallway as sterile as the floor he was on. However, the tiles were strange. Now they seemed to be circular. Circles within circles, creating an almost vertigo-inducing pattern. The paintings were now replaced with TV screens. All of them either having static on them, or the error screen, and some of them flashed white words on black screens. 'Duty' and 'freedom' changing between each other from one moment to the next.

"If this thing… this Shadow of mine is trying to freak me out… It's getting there."

"We better get out before this elevator tries to take us on another crazy ride." Gyro commented before he stepped out, the others following him. As soon as all of them were out of the machine the doors instantly snapped shut. They looked back as they heard the screeching of metal became more and more distant before there was a mighty crash.

"We're definitely not getting out through that way." Johnny commented while Yosuke groaned.

"Great. How are we supposed to get out of this place at all!?"

"These Shadows wouldn't make ways to go up and down for no reason." Gyro pointed forward and said, "Considering this is a hospital, there must be some kind of emergency staircase going down."

"So we just have to look for that to get out?" When Gyro nodded, Chie began going forward. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"Not many other options." With that, they all walked forward for what seemed like minutes. Down a hallway that seemed to stretch on forever, and where no noise was made save for their breathing and footsteps. Then, there was a hallway to their right. They turned, and saw another hallway.

But the hallway to their right had a large oak door on the right wall. On it was the simple bronze name tag titled 'Dr. Zeppeli'.

"That must be where your Shadow is." Johnny then looked up to the ceiling. "But it's not forcing us to go in and greet it."

"Then let's not go in unless we have to." Gyro walked to the wall opposite to the door and reached into his pocket. He took out a small two inch sharpened pencil he liked to keep on him just in case and drew a small arrow pointing to the right. "There. At least now we can be sure we checked out this place."

"Well, we better hurry up and find the exit. This place is giving me the creeps…" Yosuke muttered while shivering just a bit. They all went forward and turned to the right at the end of the hallway.

The feeling was mutual all around.

---

xxXXxx

"This door…" Gyro muttered out with narrowed eyes, looking at the same oak door with the same damn name tag in the center of it, its words almost mocking the team as they stopped in front of it. "What the hell?"

"Didn't we pass this thing before?" Johnny asked as he pointed to it, frustration apparent on his face. In fact, everyone looked tired and frustrated. But it was understandable. After all, these guys had come to rescue him and they now just wanted to go back home to the real world.

So did Gyro. He had enough of this creepy place.

"But that's impossible! Teddie would have told us if we were going down the same hallway again!" Chie shouted, only for the aforementioned bear to simply shake its head.

"My nose may be stuffed Chie-chan, but I can still catch our scent!" Teddie then frowned and continued. "But… our scent has thinned out for some reason! I can only catch a beary small whiff of it when I focus hard!"

"Ah damn… this isn't good!" Yosuke groaned out, slapping his right hand into his face. "We've been exploring this place for an exit only to get lost!?"

"Maybe this is a new area." Yukiko then pointed back at the tag and elaborated. "Maybe all the doors had that tag on it and we never noticed."

Gyro hummed in thought. That could be a possibility, considering they never really inspected the doors beforehand. There might be some truth to Yukiko's guess.

But the alternative was…

"LOOK!" Johnny shouted as he pointed to the wall to the left, and Gyro's eyes widened as he saw the mark of an arrow pointing to the right. "It's your mark Gyro! The mark you put on there just in case!"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait…." Gyro groaned out while tapping his foot on the floor. "Then that means we're back where we started!"

"Are you kidding me!?" Yosuke's eyes shifted from side to side. "We spent like twenty minutes exploring this place! How could we have just stumbled back where we started!?"

Gyro didn't like this. It was too freaky to be a coincidence, but then again…

"Let's go the opposite direction from where we went off on." Gyro pointed to the right. "We went right last time, so this time…" Gyro then moved his hand to the left. "We go that way."

The others looked at each other and nodded in agreement. They ran down the hallway, and turned left to see a hallway that lead down and diverged left and right. "The left will lead us to the same hallway again probably, so we'll go right." They went down and turned right, running down another hallway. "Okay, so we should be seeing that elevator door at the next turn…" Gyro then noticed a corner on the right that lead to another hallway. "Okay, now let's go right…" Gyro reached the corner and made a sharp turn…

…Only to halt, and his eyes widened in horror.

To the left side of the hallway was the same oak door, and to the right was the same mark that they had left to mark it.

"How the hell did we go in a circle!?" Gyro shouted out while the others gaped in shock.

"T-That's impossible! We were going the opposite way!" Yukiko shouted before raising three fingers. "And we only made three turns!"

"Oh man, oh man. This is bad…" Yosuke looked at Chie and asked, "The hell do we do!?"

"Don't look at me!" Chie shouted while raising her arms in defense.

"M-Maybe the hallways are curved or something, and we just didn't notice it!" Johnny shouted as he looked back at the hallway they just went down. "They could have all lead in a circle, which lead back to here!"

"No, that's impossible. The corners on the ceiling would have to be curved as well, and they're in a straight line!" Gyro then clenched his teeth. "Shit! Let's go back!" The entire team turned back, and Gyro directed them in a new direction. "Left, first hallway on the left, right, left…"

But it was no use. Now they ended up in the same hallway as the door and the marking once more, with the door now on the right side and the marking also pointing to the right.

"Damn it! What the hell is going on!?" Gyro shouted as sweat began to bead on his forehead. This was messed up! How could they have come here again!? What was making them come here?!

"What the hell do we do now?" Johnny muttered out, and Gyro clenched his teeth.

There weren't many options. Hell, there weren't even more than two. And those two are simple.

Either continue exploring in hopes of finding the exit, or opening the door and finding out what is bringing them back to this place.

And either it was a way out, or it contained… his Shadow. And as much as he didn't want to…

"We're going through the door."

"Are you sure?" Teddie asked quizzically, causing Gyro to bite his tongue a bit.

"Y-Yeah. Don't have much of a choice, y'know."

Gyro saw the others giving their own nods of acknowledgement, but he could not help but notice that Johnny was just staring at him, and Yukiko seemed a bit unsure. "It's fine. They're just stressed with the situation is all…"

Gyro then walked up to the door and grasped the handle. "Well, here goes nothing." He then twisted it and pushed…

…And gaped at what he saw.

The room was wide and expansive, with a small jacuzzi bath built into the floor at the far left side overflowing and spilling water onto the floor. The floor itself was grass rather that being the same ceramic white tiles, the walls were now comprised entirely of small TV screens. The screens on the left wall showed the scene of a horse galloping in a loop, the one on the right showed images of mothers playing with children before it turned into static and then showed a doctor operating on a patient. Finally, the wall in front of them showed their images, staring forward with confused expressions.

But that was not all.

On the ceiling, as if crashing through the plaster, were the hoods of three cars. Trabants to be exact. One was graffitied on, the other was painted completely yellow with numerous red polka dots, and the last one simply had paint of all different colors splashed on it with the word 'ZOO' painted in black on the hood.

"What the hell?" Gyro muttered out as he looked around. This was bizarre in every sense of the word. Nothing about this room made a lick of sense!

But at the same time… Gyro had this horrible feeling that it in fact made complete sense deep down.

"What the hell indeed…"

"Stay on guard guys!" Yosuke suddenly shouted, bringing out his kana while everyone else tensed up. Even Johnny who let go of Yosuke and was now leaning on the TV screens to their side. Chie was in a karate stance, Jeet kun do if Gyro remembered correctly. Only Yukiko seemed to be frozen, breathing in and out heavily while her hands shook.

She wasn't the only one.

Sweat was dribbling down his face, and despite his hands being clenched into fists Gyro knew they were shaking a bit. The figure staring at the TV screens showing them with his back turned at them had a smooth voice, but one that seemed distorted.

And sounded just like him.

"Tell me, how long did it take you to enter here?" The figure asked, his voice still monotone. "Only when you couldn't see any other option? Or was it when there was another option, but this one seemed to be the easiest?" Gyro's eyes widened in shock. How did he…?"Of course, I know it is the latter. That's always the path you take. Always have, always will…"

"You sound like you know me." Gyro replied with a grin, one forced on his face. He needed to remain calm. Gyro remembered what they said this thing was… although deep down, Gyro hoped that it wasn't true. "But I guess that's to be expected."

"Correct. For you see…" The figure turned around, and the rock in Gyro's stomach grew even more as he saw a reflection. "I am you."

One thing leads to another…

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[To Be Continued |\|]

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Note: Another new chap of this fic betaed by Kiiam and Sir Godot! Thanks guys! Luckily I was able to finish this before I had to focus on finals!

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter. I tried very hard to make the fights good, since I had to create brand new Shadows for this section. I slipped in some horror and movie shout-outs but tried to not make them obvious, and aside from the very obvious Motley Crue shout out I tried to be clever and make the room where the gang meet Gyro's Shadows into a twisted version of U2's Zoo TV tour stage.

Also here are Konohana Sakuya's stats...

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Stand: Konohana Sakuya

User: Yukiko Amagi

Destructive Power: B

Range: C

Durability: C

Precision: B

Development Potential: C

Power:

Konohana Sakuya can launch projectiles in the form of the petals that make up the Sakura flowers on its wrists. The smallest eleven can create concussive blasts of fire while the seventeen that connect them can create lines of fire. However, the power behind the fire depends on the amount of oxygen and humidity of the air. In enclosed spaces, the oxygen can burn up quickly and potentially endanger the user. In open spaces, the fire can burn metal like butter. And when the petals are launched, it takes an hour for them to regrow.

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Anyway, please check out the TV Tropes page and add whatever you find appropriate. Also check out the Spacebattles page for this story for a more in-depth discussion.

Please leave constructive criticism.