Sho had followed near the front of the group as they headed toward the dungeon. A burning look of determination was bored into his face. Thankfully, the group had brought his weapons in case they had to do just this. There was no question; he was getting Marie out of there tonight.

His brilliant blue eyes had grown wide upon seeing the typically peaceful town of Inaba. They hadn't been lying, Marie really had gone nuts. It was raining and the ground was partially flooded, the river looked higher than it typically was but there hardly seemed to be any clouds in the sky. It was surreal.

Entering the TV world had been easy for him. Actually, the air in this world seemed lighter than the fog that had been in that gas chamber. It didn't weigh him down as much, even though it seemed like everyone else was effected the same as they had been during the red fog.

"We're almost to the doors now." Yu explains to Sho. The confident red head nods in response. Clearing his throat, Yu adds. "We don't know what's beyond there. It might be best if you stayed back a bit."

"Like hell!" Sho glares at them and holds his swords tight at his side. When the reach the doors, everyone falls back, unsure what to actually do now that they were here. But Sho doesn't slow his steps. With a look of disgust, he glares at the door then glances back to everyone else. This must be the door that wouldn't open. No one had taken another step. "You all think I need your help? I'm going to save Marie no matter what!"

"But it's dangerous if you can't summon-"

THUNK!

Sho kicks the door and it swings open with little effort. He looks back at them before taking off. Gripping his swords tighter still, he nods in understanding.

"All the more reason to get this over with." Then he charges to the next floor.

Teddie is the first to try following behind him. Though the door is open, Teddie slams into an invisible wall, flattening his adorable face. "Owwie!" Watching this, Yu reaches out to find that, he too, is stuck by an invisible wall. Nervously, the group calls out for Sho, trying to warn him, but they couldn't see the determined man.

The next floor was very blue.

Wait. Sho remembers this place. This couldn't be part of her dungeon, could it?

"And so your journey begins." Says the man with the big nose. "We will not keep you here long, you have much to do."

"What the hell is going on?! Why am I here?"

"This place serves as a reminder that you are about to make many decisions. And how you react to these will determine your outcome." Mr. Nose pulls out a card and looks over to Sho. "Do you know what a persona is?"

"Yeah?" Sho shrugs then looks around for the door. He doesn't have time for this. "It's that thing Minazuki used. Tsukiyomi or whatever." With a fist, Sho looks toward the man with the giant nose and growls. "But what does that have to do with-"

"Personas are facets of ourselves. They are masks that we must wear."

"Oh so now you're sayin I'm ugly or something." Sho grumbles then turns away from the man in the blue room. "Come on, I need to get out of here."

"Remember, it is bonds that strengthen ourselves, whether they are good or bad, a bond will be there."

"Now you sound just like Yu!" Sho finds the door and grabs the handle, listening to the man still comfortably seated at the table. "Bonds, bonds, bonds. I only care about one bond!" Then Sho opens the door and finds himself back in the dungeon. Or, at least he can be pretty sure that's where this is.

When Sho reaches the next floor, he sees the ocean all around him. He was…on the beach? How strange. The sound of waves splash around him but then the annoying gurgle of nearby shadows snap him out of his daze.

"Hey you jerks were you just gonna-" Sho blurts out to the group he assumed he was still with. When he turns back to see no one else with him, Sho brinds his teeth and holds his swords close. "Get lectured by bonds just to find out I'm alone. Great." Sho charges the first group with a scream.

Flailing his arms and jumping about the battlefield, Sho finds himself lighter than he remembered being in the TV world. These shadows didn't seem as difficult as they should be. But god, there sure were a ton of them. Wasting no time, Sho darts around the beach-like floor, searching for a way up. However, it felt like every time he would find a corner, there would be another giant swell of shadows waiting for him.

Once or twice, Sho tries to summon the persona everyone assumes he has to no avail. He just couldn't do it. There was no point. Sho never knew how to summon that stupid thing. That was Minazuki's job. Hell, Tsukiyomi probably didn't even listen to Sho.

Realizing this was a pointless effort, Sho had decided to stick to what he knew, battle with his own two hands. A couple of times, the shadows had made that difficult as the flung spells at him. Bursts of firaga would leave his sin ashy and singed while powerful icebergs of bufudyne threatened to freeze him to the core. But, Sho would not give up. Even as his breath became tired, he would not give in to these shadows keeping him from getting to Marie.

Back at the doorway to the ninth floor, the rest of the group stood, worriedly waiting for Sho.

"Can…you still sense him Teddie?" Yosuke questions after some time has passed.

"Bearly, but he's getting close to Marie." Teddie nods and makes a furry fist. "Ooooo I just hate being stuck down here!" He starts to attack the invisible wall to no avail.

"Ted, man, that ain't gonna do no good!" Kanji puts a hand on his furry friend's shoulder. "We just gotta wait. He'll be alright… right?" He looks over to Yu. They all knew how hard it had been for them all to get this far. And now Sho was by himself. He was strong, sure but was he strong enough to make it to Marie?

"We just have to believe in the power of their bond." Yu speaks at last with a thoughtful nod.

Though tired, Sho feels his heart skip a beat when he finds the stairs. He wastes no time in charging up them. Sho'd been lucky enough to find a couple of chests containing some weird healing shit on the way up so he wasn't doing as bad as…ok, he wasn't doing great still. But, that didn't matter to Sho. What mattered was whether or not Marie was safe.

Flying through the door to the next floor, Sho looked around and saw a thick, white forest all around him. He looks to the trees and his face turns a bit red. That was his poem. This really was made by Marie. And she'd read his poem. Well, at least the –

His thoughts stop as he looks around. Sure, this is the forest, but smack in the middle is a someone that seems to resemble himself almost too closely. It's like seeing Minazuki all over again. He stares at it for a minute before remembering what he was here. He doesn't have time to indulge in the idea that he may have found his other half. If Minazuki was here, that idiot would hang out long enough to wait for him.

"Marie!" He shouts. "Where are you loser Inaba Goddess?!"