Before we begin, I have some shameless advertising to do. First, I've recently been reading a Persona 4 story, called the Persona 4: Darkness of Hope, by demonspartan117. As of this writing, I'm the only person to have ever reviewed it, and that's a shame, since it's a good story, with interesting ideas.

Second, I promised my brother I'd promote an old Disney series called Gargoyles. I've watched some of it and it's pretty good. I'd recommend that you at least read a bit about it and see if it's something you'd like.

Anyway, shameless advertising over. On with the story.

Chapter 35 – Plan of Attack

The Senior classrooms were as extravagant as they were insane. Beautiful decorations lined every surface of the halls, and stairs stretched as far as the eye could see. But while it was very beautiful, no one would deny the fact that it openly defied several laws of physics. While people could argue that the floors resembling walls, and the walls resembling floors and ceilings could be an eccentric design choice, there was no explanation for the many fountains scattered throughout the area, each pouring water in any direction other than down.

It was through these mad halls that a group of Seniors strode through. They had been ordered to perform the initial attack on the Freshman area of the school, and their confidence and anticipation could practically be felt by anything they passed. Several of them bore maniacal grins as they walked, while others bragged about how many Sophomores they'd killed in the war. With a variety of weapons and skills, they were convinced that the Freshman were nothing more than insects to be twisted to their leaders will.

They slowly made their way to their Dimension Gate, a large red circle, surrounding an intricate pentagram of the same colour. As its bloody light began to shine onto their skin, it activated and two figures appeared. One of them was a trench coat wearing man, his eyes obscured by a pair of glasses, with a white cross over one of the lenses. The other wore a dirty looking poncho, and an equally unclean hat, which completed his gunslinger image.

Before the Seniors could react, both of them pulled out a pistol each and fired at them, the bullets from the first man's gun exploding upon impact. While their enemies were distracted, both of them dived behind pillars for covers.

"Looks like we got here just in time!" Juro yelled to Cross, before launching several more shots at the enemy, who were now advancing towards them. Cross didn't answer, but did respond by pressing a small button on his belt, resuming fire as soon as he had. After a few second of stalling the Seniors, the Dimension Gate activated again, this time bringing in four people. The first of them, Aki, wasted no time in rushing into the heart of the battle, spin kicking at least three Seniors before they even knew he'd arrived.

While he made a big show of taking on as many enemies as possible, Samantha had snuck away as soon as they had beamed in, moving just out of the enemies line of sight. Then, as soon as no one was looking, she snuck up on one of them, lifted him over her head, and threw him straight into his team, leaving them all open for the fireball that Gin and Beryl had been building up to collide with them. No one who was hit by the spell got up again, leaving everyone to conclude that they were either dead or unconscious.

While they had all been focussing on that, Aki, Juro and Cross had dealt with what was left of the team, and Cross grabbed a radio like device from his hip. "This is Cross, all clear."

Just a second after he'd given the ok, the remainder of both Shinji and Mao's teams teleported in. Wasting no time, they all gathered into a circle. More than a few of them looked quite confident, though a few looked nervous as well. Aki was one of the former. "These guys were easy!"

"They were the scouting party, they were never meant to be the strongest. Besides we caught them off guard. The others won't be so easy." Gin said solemnly. Before anyone else could speak, he continued. "The path to the north is the main hallway, that's where Mao's decided he's headed. Shinjiro, your group's gonna take that path east. Remember to head towards the main path once you've dealt with the anti-grav symbol."

"I got it. You don't have to keep reminding me." Shinji said, before signalling his team to gather around him. "Don't get yourself killed Gin."

The mage chuckled slightly, though his face remained grim. "Same to you."

Turning away from the one good Senior, Shinjiro's gaze fell on Masaru. "You're sure you can disable the Gate?"

Masaru gave a casual shrug. "Of course. Focus on your job for now. Me and Aki'll meet ya later."

With a final nod to the allies he was leaving behind, Shinjiro led what remained of his group down the east corridor, while Mao and his subordinates took the central path. Once both groups were gone, Masaru and Aki approached the Dimension Gate again. "Now be very careful Aki. We're dealing with pure energy here. We need to divert it, but not cut it off completely, otherwise we'll be stuck here to."

"Ummm, how do we do that?"

"Just follow my lead, and be careful. You'll be fine."

Aki nodded at his friends reassuring comment. "So, what do we do first?"

In a small chamber near the heart of the Senior classrooms, a man in black cloak with white hair and a man with blonde hair in a blue hoodie watched several monitors. One showed Shinjiro's group, a second showed Mao's, and the final one showed Masaru and Aki. Raiga smiled slightly as he watched. "Clever of them, trying to divert our attention."

"It won't be enough." The man in black answered.

"So… How do you wanna play this?" Raiga asked, spinning in the chair he was sitting in.

"Since you're clearly bored, I'll let you have your fun…" His ally answered. Before Raiga could get past him though, he stuck out his arm. "I also want to see first-hand what our new ally is capable of. Take her with you."

Raiga glared at him. "After what she did to my foot!?"

The white haired man's face never changed, but he took a step forward, showing just how much taller than Raiga he was. "Believe me Human, if you defy me, I will do infinitely worse to every fibre of your being."

There was no doubt in his voice, nor was there anger, joy, fear, or even confidence. To this man, his powers were fact, and that's what made Raiga back down. With a small nod, he walked past the taller man and out the door.

Only to come back a few seconds later. "Boss! She's gone!"

"…What?"

"The doors burst open and there's crystals everywhere!"

"Hmm, it would seem that she is harder to tame than I initially believed. No matter, she will still return to us. Let her have her fun for now."

Raiga scratched the back of his head at this, clearly not liking the idea that the girl who stabbed him was wandering around, and that they had no way of finding her. "If you say so… So what should I do?"

The white haired man turned his back on Raiga before answering. "Take the mad beast for a walk. He could use the exercise."

The blonde Human backed away slightly at this. "That… thing!?"

He would have continued, if his superior hadn't turned to stare at him. Even though the stare held no emotion, it was still threatening enough to make him comply. Without another word, he left to find his new travelling ally. With no one left in the room the man in black turned back to his monitors. "Well, it looks like I'm in for quite a show. Don't disappoint me."

The gold halls were a blur as a pink shape rushed down them, not caring for anything in her way. She had caught a glimpse of the monitors her new 'friends' were looking at, and had seen some interesting sights. The thought that someone had escaped her was infuriating, and she vowed that she would find the large axe wielder that she had fought not long ago.

But while she wished for vengeance against him for her earlier defeat at his hands, there was something else that had caught her attention, something which both looked like a lot of fun, and would give her some time to practise her skills before fighting him.

She had seen two men split off from Shinji's group, and wait in one of the biggest rooms in the entire Senior base.

She didn't know who they were, since they hadn't been travelling with him at the time she encountered him, so perhaps she could trick them into thinking she was innocent and score an easy victory. Then again, that wouldn't be very fun.

"Ah well. I'll decide when I find them~!" she said to no one as she got closer and closer to her destination. "But either way, I'm gonna take my time with them. After all, it's less fun if they die right away!"

Meanwhile, in a shadowy part of the Senior base, that even some of it's inhabitants had never seen, two figures appeared. They used no obvious Dimension Gate and there was no sgin that they had already been. It seemed as if the two had simply appeared from nowhere.

The two's appearance contrasted each other greatly. The first had white hair and a cloak of the same colour, while the other had black hair, and a similarly dark longcoat. The only things the two seemed to have in common, was that both of them had stoic expressions and were each carrying a katana.

"It would seem like the targets have gone their separate ways…" Ruroni said, examining a strange device. Terre let out an annoyed sigh at this.

"Can't they make anything easy for us?" The white haired man grinned at his allies comment.

"Afraid you can't keep up with them Terre?"

"No. It's just I have more important things to do. I'd rather we got this done quickly."

"… You're still looking?" Ruroni asked him. He got no answer other than his accomplice's silence. "I understand why you feel that this is your responsibility, but you don't have to do this alone."

An even deeper silence filled the room, as he waited for the man in black to answer. Eventually he did, but it was not the answer he wanted. "I'll follow Aragaki. I'm still curious about his beliefs. You can track Mao."

Ruroni knew that that was basically Terre's way of ending the conversation. He could have pressed further, but he knew that it would do him no good. Instead, he simply agreed to Terre's suggestion and wished him luck, before running into the corridors with unparalleled speed.

With Ruroni gone, Terre was left alone with his thoughts. Champloo had seen fit to deliver that message to him, so that must mean that he found something. But he wouldn't be able to ask his boss the details till after the mission was complete. "Well then, I guess I'll just have to wipe out the enemy fast."

With his thoughts cleared, he vanished, seeking to strike down as many Seniors as necessary to end this conflict. He'd waited years for these answers, and he would be damned if he was going to let these arrogant Demons' plans for conquest get in his way.

"I have finished examining the patient." Matildo said into a voice recorder while standing over a Demon resting in a bed. "All attempts to interact with the patient have failed. The patient's pupils neither expand or contract in reaction to light or darkness. All attempts to feed the patient have been unsuccessful. Patient shows no reaction to physical, visual or audio stimuli. There are no obvious signs of pain or illness. As far as I can tell, the patient's mind is still active, but has been robbed or its ability to control its own body."

"Uhhh…" The sound of her patient moaning reached her ears. Quickly, she was at his side, attempting to work out what he was saying. "… Fal… c…ing…"

It was no good. He didn't seem capable of saying complete words, let alone sentences. However, something about this situation was starting to sound familiar, something relating to an old report Champloo had given her for research. Looking through her bookshelf, she found the large tome she had hidden the notes in and began to read it.

The syndrome is a peculiar one, robbing it's victims of all motor functions and ability to communicate. All emotions are taken from them and they are rendered only able to mutter occasional syllables. However, some cases have shown examples of full speech, and all speak of an unspecified event approaching. While further research is required, all signs indicate that this is not a natural phenomenon. Suspected interference of supernatural origins.

Everything listed in the book matched her mysterious patient. There was no doubt in her mind that what was documented in the report was the same as what she was examining. But of all the sentences in the report, it was the last one that shocked her the most. Given the author of this report, there were very creatures that sentence could refer to, and one seemed more accurat thatn the other…

"Impossible… The barrier should keep them out…" She said to herself, fear and anxiety growing. "But if they've found a way through…"

She stopped herself before she could finish that thought. If they had found a way through, than this world was about to face something worse than the Seniors. If they truly were here, than the fighting hadn't even begun yet.

Good news. I finally have Persona 4 Arena! I haven' finished it yet (So don't spoil anything!), but I'm really enjoying it. Anyway, as you can probably tell, this chapter's more foreshadowing for later events. The next chapter will be more action orientated, so I hope you look forward to it.

See ya next time!

PS. I'm gonna keep the poll on my profile open a little longer. Please vote on it, or leave a review with your opinion, or maybe PM me your opinion.