Chapter 4

By the time Minako, Junpei, Minato, and Yukari arrived at the station, Erik and Kae were already there. Kae got up and approached Minako, a far more serious expression than usual on her face.

"Where's Mitsuru-Senpai?" Kae asked. Before Minako could answer, a motorcycle whizzed by and parked directly next to them. Driving it was Mitsuru, in her usual school clothes, just with a helmet added to the uniform. Mitsuru immediately took her helmet off and set up her booster device.

"I'll keep this short, we picked up massive energy readings in one of the trains." Mitsuru explained. "We'll have two teams, Minako's team, Maeda and Reed, will go to the middle and clear any Shadows leading to the front. Minato, you will lead Iori and Takeba to the back and clean up anything that manages to get past them."

"What!?" Junpei exclaimed. "Why don't I get a chance at being a leader!? And why am I on the glorified cleanup crew!?"

"Junpei, not now…" Minako pleaded. Yukari had a far different reaction.

"Ugh, it's because you're not capable, Stupei." Yukari spat. Junpei took personal offence to that.

"I'm capable, I can lead us into battle! Just give me a chance damnit!" Junpei yelled.

"Both of you, stop it." Mitsuru ordered with a glare, shutting the two up. "We don't have a lot of time, you all need to get up there now."

"Yes Senpai…." the two bickering teammates sighed.

"It may not be wise to put Takeba and Iori on the same team. Reed, Iori, you two are switching teams." Mitsuru ordered.

"Copy that." Erik responded, mimicking a soldier despite the fact he was still a student.

"Yeah whatever." Junpei responded, clearly still bothered by something. Erik went to his new team, clearly hitting it off with Minato and Yukari. Junpei, however, wasn't too happy, despite how well he got along with her and Maeda.

"Let's go…" Junpei murmured. The teams made their way to the train containing the energy readings.

"Alright, I'll climb first." Minako stated, stepping onto the ladder leading into the train.

"You want me to look away?" Junpei asked in a slightly teasing tone. Wow, that was way too forward of him, too bad she prepared for such an event.

"Nope, I've got shorts on." Minako responded with a smirk.

"What about Kae though?" Junpei asked. Kae looked annoyed, the same expression on her face one would have when watching someone walk into a lamp post because they were checking a text.

"Junpei, have you ever seen me wear a skirt?" Kae asked.

"No…" Junpei responded.

"Am I wearing one now?" Kae asked again, waving her hands to the side of her pants.

"No…" Came Junpei's repeated response.

"Think before you ask a stupid question." Kae stated. The two followed Minako into the train, weapons drawn as the green moonlight filled in.

"Wow, the moon's full tonight, quite pretty, actually." Minako marveled.

"Wasn't there a full moon that night at the dorm?" Kae mused. "Think it's connected?"

"Could be, we'll have to wait and see." Minako responded.

"Jeez, all these coffins, they're all people but they've become this, you think they know what's happening?" Junpei murmured just loud enough to be heard.

"Don't think so, the coffins are supposed to protect them after all." Minako responded. The train suddenly lurched forward violently. Mitsuru's voice beckoned to them in their minds.

"The shadows hijacked the train, get to the front or it's going to crash into another one!" Mitsuru ordered. A smirk appeared on Junpei's face.

"Alright, time to do this!" Junpei yelled. "Just follow me, I'll meet you guys up front!" Junpei rushed ahead, ignoring any attempts to stop him. Minako and Kae pursued him, killing as many Shadows as they could, leaving the stragglers for Minato and the others. Eventually they reached the front, a massive Shadow waiting for them. It was a woman slouched over, in a rather, compromising position. It wore a mask with the letters 'II' on its forehead.

"Alright, I got this, PERSONA!" Junepei yelled, summoning Hermes. Hermes launched at the Shadow, provoking it into launching a series of icicles at him. Junpei dodged it and smirked. "I get it, a nice blaze should do the trick, PERSONA!" Junpei summoned Hermes again, launching a blast of fire at it. Shockingly, it was ineffective, barely bothering the Shadow. A look of despair fell on Junpei's face.

"Kae, use the Shadow Breaker!" Minako ordered. Kae sighed in response.

"Can't, we're in a big metal box." Kae responded. "I can punch it though, but I don't think it's gonna let us get anywhere close." Just as the others arrived, it released a blast of ice, pushing everyone back a fair distance.

"Jaysus that thing's big." Erik grumbled. "I don't think we can get close without getting our rears kicked in." Erik summoned Hipocrates, healing everyone as best as he could.

"We can do this, we just gotta think." Minako called out as she got up on her feet. She and Minato were weak to ice, so they had to hang back. Kae and Erik could take turns peppering it with physical damage but that's only a temporary solution. Another attack came, knocking everyone down. Minako saw Erik's face as this happened. His face was empty, neutral, but hidden under that was desperation, same with Junpei. Her friends were in trouble, she had to help them.

"They can still help you, you do share a bond with them, after all." A voice in her head rang, seemingly that of Igor. "Just call upon their strength, and you shall awaken to marvelous power." Really? That's what she had to do? Sounded like an anime for kids, but if that was the case, it was worth a shot. Erik, let's hope we got this. Minako thought to herself before she stood up. Her brother stood up at the exact same moment.

"Persona." The two stated together. Rather than their versions of Orpheus arriving, something new arose to the battle. A cute, cuddly little guy with a goofy face arose from Minato, with a winged man with a sword appearing for Minako. Jack Frost and Oberon, two whole new Personas.

"Are those-" Yukari began, before being cut off by Junpei.

"They have two Personas?!" Junpei cried out, more confused than anything else.

"I heard whispers, but I didn't think it was true…" Kae murmured. Erik just gasped in amazement. Jack Frost absorbed the ice of the Shadow's attacks, giving Oberon a chance to swoop in and slash at the Shadow with his sword.

"NOW KAE!" Minako yelled. Kae closed her baton and rushed at the Shadow, punching it directly in the face with the Shadow Breaker, knocking it off balance.

"LET'S DO THIS!" Minato yelled. The team rushed at the Shadow, producing a cloud of smoke as they struck the Shadows with their various weapons. When the smoke settled, the Shadow was gone, but the train was still moving.

"Someone pull the breaks!" Junpei yelled.

"Oh god, we're gonna crash!" Yukari yelled in response. Naturally, Minato had no emotion or concern as he walked to the cab and ripped back on the brakes. The train crawled to a halt, stopping with only a minute to spare.

"We're alive, hah, holy shit!" Erik gasped.

"Minato, how'd you know to pull that lever?" Yukari asked as Minato walked out of the cab.

"Intuition." Minato responded, leaving the train as a whole. The team followed suit, celebrating a job well done. Minako felt a rush of heat as she walked out of the train.

"Hey, are you okay? You look like you're freezing." Erik asked.

"I'm fine, warm, actually." Minako responded. This didn't ease Erik.

"Give me your hand." Erik asked as they stepped into the station. Minako offered her hand to Erik. Erik took it, holding it for a moment before reaching into his bag.

"You're freezing cold, I have a blanket and some heating packs in my bag. You may be hypothermic." Erik stated, pulling a few pouches out of his bag.

"Okay…" Minako pouted. Erik sighed.

"Hey, you should take care of yourself, I don't want you getting sick or hurt, okay?" Erik told Minako. "If you get sick, hurt, or anything at all, talk to me, okay? I can probably deal with it."

"Alright." Minako responded as she wrapped the blanket around herself. "You know, you and Kae have been spending quite a bit of time together."

"Oh we're just friends is all." Erik responded. Minako smirked, it was time for Erik to see why she was a matchmaker. Okay, she only called herself a matchmaker but it still counted!

"What do you think of her?" Minako asked. "As a friend."

"Well, she's a great woman." Erik responded. "She's always there, she's fun to hang out with, just good company overall, you know?"

"That's all, huh?" Minako asked, her face tilted down, shit eating grin on face, eyes pointed towards Erik and eyebrows raised. Erik didn't get the clue.

"Yeah, that's it." Erik responded. Christ, either this guy's as dense as Akihiko or Americans are Idiots.

"Ah well, cmon, I think the others are planning a celebration." Minako stated, dodging the fact she was just probing for a response from Erik. Erik, again, not realizing what was happening, just happily nodded and followed Minako down the steps.

Kae took a bite of her burger, talking amongst the other members of SEES, laughing about how Ikutsuki rode his bike to the scene of the battle. Well, she really wasn't involved in the conversation, she was just there, being present, which was enough for her.

"Wonder if we're ever gonna get any more teammates." Junpei asked. "What are you hoping for, Erik?"

"Well, I think we need someone who can take more of a support role, like Mitsuru." Erik answered. "Mitsuru's good at her job, but I get the feeling she'd be better suited to combat."

"One hundred percent agree." Minato stated. "In her current job, she's unreliable." Minako smacked her brother.

"I told you not to say things like that!" Minako scolded.

"What? I'm just being honest!" Minato responded. Kae chuckled.

"I'm guessing Minako's the one who does all the discipline in the family?" Kae joked.

"Normally no, she's usually too busy mingling with people to do this." Minato stated.

"I keep my brother in check when I can, usually it doesn't work out so well." Minako stated, slight hints of sarcasm in her tone.

"Yeah, cause you're usually doing something you shouldn't." Minato responded. Minako groaned.

"Name one time I did something I wasn't supposed to!" Minako shot back. Minato immediately gave his response.

"Remember middle school, at the museum?" Minato asked. Minako attempted to answer, but was unable to respond.

"Oh yeah…" she grumbled, reminiscing. "Security couldn't catch that monkey for three hours."

"Yeah, it was kinda funny though." Minato sighed, also reminiscing. Kae nearly choked on her drink.

"Did he just say something was funny?" Kae sputtered. The rest of the team laughed. Kae took notice of Erik's laugh in particular. It was a hearty chuckle, like that of a grandparent laughing at a cheesy joke in the newspaper. Despite some, quite frankly, not very happy memories with her grandparents, Kae liked his laugh, it felt genuine to her. All around, dinner at Wild Duck Burger was enjoyable. It was a nice way to celebrate defeating their first big shadow as a team. If only they knew what was ahead.

A/N: Another chapter done, hell yeah! I'm proud of the progress I'm making, I'm hoping I can get more done soon though. Also, yes, Erik's Jaysus is a real thing. It was common back in circa 1700- late 1800's when it was considered improper, even among the lower class, to say Jesus in a negative connotation, like saying "Jesus, that hurt." so people would say Jaysus instead like "Jaysus that's not how it works, probably". This is a perfect time to explain how I'm going to handle battles, it's gonna be more like in the movies, where (for the most part) the entire team is there, and the bosses are usually taken out in a tag team with two members. Like how Minato, Minako, and Kae all worked together to take out The High Priestess. That's all for now, hope you enjoyed, and have a wonderful day!