One Last Chance
Chapter 21
Boarding Hell's Train
Minato stepped forward, sword in hand, smirk on face, hair still blue, and evoker within reach. He felt Apsaras' presence in his consciousness. "Do you have Pixie equipped?" he asked Minako, not looking back though.
"Yeah," she replied.
"The shadow is called, the Rampage Drive of the Chariot Arcana," Mitsuru said from Tartarus' lobby, closing her eyes, concentrating with her Persona, scanning the shadow as best she could. "It's strong against physical attacks and agi spells."
"Damn, that's all Hermes has," Junpei said.
"Screw you, all you can do is slash that thing with your sword."
"You're magical!" Junpei argued back. "You can make things catch on fire when I shoot myself in the head with a gun-like thing!" he said, realizing how silly the whole thing was.
Didn't make it any less fun to kill shadows, though.
"Calm down, Junpei," Yukari said, rolling her eyes. "We still have Minako and Minato who'll back us up."
Junpei sighed in annoyance. "Yeah, whatever. Let's just kick this thing's ass!"
The team ran across a corridor and encountered a large machine-type shadow with two ends of lances on its sides and wheels of legs for its feet, meant for spinning around. "These things just get weirder and weirder," Yukari said, drawing her evoker.
"Pixie!" Minako shouted, pulling the trigger as the familiar Pixie appearing in front of her, a purple aura surrounding the shadow before disappearing. "Its defense is down!"
"Go it! Apsaras!" the blue-skinned dancer appeared, a blast of cold air hitting the Driver, making it spin around for a moment before regaining control. "Surround it!" Minato commanded, and the four made a circle around the shadow, evokers drawn.
"IO!" she shouted, pulling the trigger, Io appearing above her, extending her hands as a green gust of wind struck the shadow, actually slashing at it with the wind itself.
"Hermes!" Junpei yelled, summoning Hermes as it slashed across the shadow before slashing it with his katana. "Woah!" he exclaimed, ducking as it spun around, luckily not getting hit by the lances on its sides. "Damn it, this thing means business!"
Yukari nodded in agreement, falling back to dodge another spin-attack from the shadow. "Pixie, attack it!" Electricity struck the Rampage Driver, spinning out of control again before its leg-like wheels were frozen in place by Apsaras' Bufu. Minako closed her eyes as Pixie faded away. "Orpheus!" she summoned, the female musician playing her lyre as an orange aura spread through the shadow. A Tarunda spell.
"Minako, switch back, before-!" Minato yelled before feeling lightning going through his entire body. "...he casts Mazio..." he said, watching in frustration and worry as Minako and Yukari fell to the ground, knocked down. "Junpei, protect them! I'll distract it!" Minato shouted, drawing his sword, Apsaras right behind him.
"You got it!" Junpei answered, running over to Minako.
Minato ran straight towards the Rampage Driver, slashing at its side before jumping back. "Apsaras!" the blue-skinned woman nodded, doing a twirl in the air as a green aura spread throughout the the shadow's body, a Sukunda spell. Minato grinned, he couldn't help but enjoy himself as he ran around the shadow, slashing at it from all directions. One slash, two slashes, three slashes, and four!
Actually make that five. Slash slash slash! That's what he could do! "Why won't you just die?!" he couldn't help yell, his sword slashing through the cold night air of the Dark Hour, standing out in the pale green light. He laughed, feeling the adrenaline rush throughout his entire body. Slash slash slash, until it no longer looked like a word. The Wild Driver turned and turned, trying to kill the blue-haired boy, but he just ducked, side-stepped, and rolled.
"Minato, time to Cadenza!" Minako voice's echoed, snapping him out of his...'episode.' He nodded, regaining composure. "Right!"
"Orpheus!"
"Apsaras!"
"CADENZA!" both twins shouted in unison. Orpheus played her lyre as Apsaras twirled in the air, finishing off with a strong melody and a bow.
"Hell yeah!" Junpei yelled. "I feel as light as a feather!" he ran towards the Rampage Driver, slashing at it before it could even react, leaving behind a large scar across its body.
"Pixie!" Minako summoned the small fairy once again.
"The enemy is weak, finishing it off!" Mitsuru said.
"Finish!"
Pixie nodded, smirking. "It's time to zap this fool!" she shouted, gathering up electricity in her hands. "Zio!" the bolt of lightning struck the shadow as it almost seemed to scream in pain before dissolving into red mist. Minako let out a sigh of relief as Pixie disappeared.
"Another one down!" Minato said. "Great job team."
"You've all done well, come back and get some rest."
The full moon was almost upon them.
At the moment, all Minako and Minato did as strengthen their bonds once more...
"Time to sew!" Minato shouted as Bebe, Minako, and him worked the sewing machines. He turned to Minako. "Think you can sew better than I can?"
'Oh no. There's no way Minato can get me to turn this into a competition-'
Five minutes later...
'CRAP CRAP CRAP I'M LOSING!'
"Wow! Minato-san, Minako-chan, you two are so good at the sewing!" Bebe exclaimed. "I hope you two come 'ere to continue improving. Your future seems bright, no?"
And thus, the Temperance Social Link was established once more.
"What are you doing?" Minako asked while Minato furiously typed on his computer.
"I'm grinding with my new online girlfriend, duh!"
"Online?"
Minato nodded. "It's this MMORPG, you should give it a try."
"Well, I'm not into video games that much-"
Ten minutes later...
"AHAHAHAHAHA! ANOTHER ONE DOWN!" Minako laughed in glee as she killed another group of monsters in Innocent Sin Online. Minato grinned, proud of his work.
Woah, this grl sure is grnding hard! Minato saw 'Maya' post, grinning as his bond with her deepened again.
May 9th
"The full moon's upon us..." Minato whispered as he looked out onto the the city from the school's rooftop, school had just ended, and he wanted to take another look at the city he was trying to save. "The Priestess will be a tough one..." he let out a shaky breath. "Bring it!" he yelled, but received no response. "I'll kill you just like-!" a noise! What? He turned around, seeing Minato trying in vain to hide behind a potted plant. "I can see you."
"No you can't!"
"Minako..."
Minako stood up and walked over to him. "Just like what?" Minato walked past her. "Minato, what do you mean?" Minato turned to her.
"When it's all over, you'll know," he said, his face unreadable. "I can't tell you everything, at least, not yet."
"...I can't afford to wait if it endangers my friends."
Minato looked at her, blinking, for a moment before smiling. "You really are..." he paused for a quick second. "...an Arisato."
Minako let out a frustrated scream. "Damn you!"
"I love you too, sister."
"The shadow is inside the monorail. You'll have to get inside of it in order to confront it."
"You got it Mitsuru-senpai!" Minato said, sword his in grasp, hair once again blue in the sickly green Dark Hour, wearing his winter uniform for the added spirit bonus (which still didn't make sense to him), and his teammates right behind him. "All right team, this is our first mission outside of Tartarus," Minato began as they ran towards the monorail. "Are you ready for this?"
Junpei grinned. "Don't worry about me, I'll take out any shadows in my way," he said, doing some practice swings.
Yukari nodded. "I'll do my best," she said, bow and arrow in hand. "I can take care of myself."
Minako simply nodded.
"There it is!" Junpei shouted, pointing at a Muttering Tiara slowly floated away from them. "Let go after it!"
"Wait, it might be a trap!" Minato warned, grabbing his evoker.
"I agree, the shadow is attacking strangely..."
Junpei rolled his eyes. "We're going to lost it if we don't finish it off right now! I can take care of it, just sit back and watch." Junpei ran ahead, grabbing his evoker.
"This is a bad idea."
"Shut up Hermes!"
"Wait, Junpei!" Yukari shouted, about to run after him.
"Aw crap, behind us!" Minako yelled as two shadow blobs were crawling over to them from behind. Yukari and Minato turned around, anxiety clear in their faces.
"Damn it, Yukari get behind-!" Minato began before Yukari let out a scream.
"We're surrounded," she said, seeing more shadows crawling over to them.
"Wait, I sense a strong presence at the front of the train, and I also sense shadows moving towards Iori. Finish these ones quickly and regroup immediately!"
"Easier said than done while we're in this nightmare," muttered Yukari, grabbing her evoker along with the twins.
"PERSONA!"