Disclaimer: Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha belongs to Seven Arcs and all respective license holders. The Persona Series belongs to ATLUS. I only own this fic and nothing else. I also own all the mistakes too.
Chapter 28: Dawn of the Night Sky III
"And that's another one…" Ren said the new mask dissipated into the darkness of the Velvet Room. He'd been there for what felt like hours already, but he had to make sure that he was ready for whatever was to happen tomorrow. It may be Christmas Eve, but past experiences just made him all the more wary for his visit to see Suzuka and Alisa's friend. Especially if it was who he thought it was.
"Still, didn't expect a Persona from there at all. I suppose it does make sense, but… Lavenza, what do you make of… Lavenza?" She wasn't there. Neither was Igor. Both of them seemed to have disappeared. "Lavenza? Igor?" He called out but received no reply. Just the dripping of a leaky faucet, and the slight rattling of restless chains.
"Where did they go?" Ren tensed up. Something was happening, but he couldn't tell what. His Velvet Room was already a dreary, dreadful place. However the sudden loss of company magnified those feelings. No matter where he looked, he couldn't see anyone from inside of the cell… but he could feel someone's presence. His eyes darted about as best he could to try and find the source of the presence, but it was fruitless endeavor as all he could see was an empty room…
But then something from behind him caught his ear.
"Lavenza?" It was a girl's voice… no more specifically, a girl was crying. It seemed to be a messy cry from first blush. Sniffling, muffled, wet, that's what he heard without having to turn around. Lavenza wasn't someone he could imagine crying, so who was that? The tension too heavy for any sudden movements, he slowly turned himself around, centimeter by centimeter. As he did so, he slowly was able to make out the visage of a young blonde girl.
She looked no older than Nanoha or Fate, perhaps even younger. She sat on the hard bed of the cell. One hand, attending to her weeping face. The other, holding a cute stuff rabbit doll. When Ren had finally managed to turn all the way around, he scanned for anything else, making sure that it wasn't some sort of trick. However those feelings waned further and faster, as the only thing that he could hear, that he could see, was this crying little girl. He shook his head quietly to himself. This probably wasn't a trick of any kind. He already walked carefully towards the girl, bending down before speaking.
"Hey there…" he spoke softly, so as not to frighten her. She didn't stop crying, but she did stop trembling. That probably meant that she had heard him. "What's the matter? Are you lost?" He asked. The questions were a bit silly, but he didn't know what else he could ask in the first place. He did notice though that the crying seemed to have stopped completely once she heard his voice. Slowly, the hand that was rubbing her eyes had fallen to aid the other in holding the rabbit plushy.
Her eyes opened, wide with wonderment, and hope.
"Red and Green?" Ren whispered to himself. Heterochromia: The girl's eyes were different colors. Her left was Red, and her right was Green. That wasn't exactly a common trait, and he'd remember if he knew anyone like that. He was sure he didn't know anyone with that trait… so why did it feel familiar to him?
Before Ren could say anything else, the girl's expression immediately brightened. Though her eyes were still puffy and red, her appearance had become far happier.
"_!"
Ren's Brow furrowed. The girl's mouth moved, but no sound had come out. Her body language at least let him know that she was apparently ecstatic to see him. Her smile was wide, and her eyes were aglow with familiar affection… something he knew he didn't share. But why was he not averse? Again, did he actually know her?
"Who-" The girl leapt at him, bringing him into a hug. The sensation of her small, thin arms, and the poor plush bunny knocked out any momentum he had to ask his questions… Ren realized that she seemed lonely. The hug was tight, desperate, like a child after being left alone by their parents. He placed a hand on her head unknowingly.
"Alright, you don't have to move, but I do need to know… huh?" It was just a blink, but in just that infinitesimally small amount of time, she'd disappeared. Not only that, but he was also back to where he'd started.
"Are you alright?" Ren looked down to see Lavenza staring at him. "Did something happen just now?"
"You didn't see that?" Ren asked, seeing no reason to be coy with the Velvet Room attendant. "There was another girl in my cell."
"Hmm? I'm not sure what you're talking about. You're the only one who's been in that cell. However you don't appear to be lying…"
"A trick of the mind? Or of fate perhaps?" Igor spoke up. "Everything that happens in the Velvet Room is intertwined with your destiny."
"Yes, that is true. If this vision has appeared before you, then there must be a reason. It is best that you treat it as an omen. For good or ill, only time will tell," Lavenza told him with all seriousness, making sure that he had understood.
"Right…" If that's the case however, why was it another kid? And for that matter who was that? She seemed to know him, but he would didn't know her. Maybe… somebody he will meet, rather than already have? He could only sigh. There was too much going on at the moment. He had more pressing matters that he needed to address sooner. He'd keep it in mind, but only so much.
"Now then," Lavenza started. "Will you be needing anything else?"
Ren looked back towards the attendant. "Yeah, just a couple more things." He needed to be ready for whatever tomorrow.
-0-0-28-0-0-
"H-hey… Joker!" Skull managed to squeak out between exhausted heaves. "The cavalry… has arr…arrived! Uh… there's more of you," He noticed as he saw unfamiliar faces in the group. While Skull tried to catch his breath, the Woman with long pinkish hair walked up next to Joker. "Hello?"
"I assume you know these people?" Signum asked, her guard still up, though a bit lowered given their friendly (and somewhat incompetent) demeanor.
"They're my friends," Joker answered, his warm expression lending credence to his statement, causing Signum to lower the rest of her guard, at least towards the newcomers.
"Friends, comrades, confidants," Mona lazily listed off. "Though thick as thieves as we are, that doesn't explain how you guys got here." As soon as he said that Mona noticed out of the corner of his eye Yoshizawa raise her hand.
"Um… I was the one that messaged them. I sent them a text through the group chat you let me into before I met up with you all," she explained, her tone a bit sheepish as she seemed to struggle to hold herself under everyone's scrutiny and wide eyes.
"So you're Yoshizawa, our prospective newest member," Queen was first to step up to greet her. "It's nice to finally meet."
"Yes it's great to finally have a face to name. However I'm afraid I must ask… what is he doing here?" Noir pointed towards the man standing beside Joker. "Crow, how are you alive?"
"Yeah, how the hell did you respawn? I saw your vitals disappear myself." Oracle's voice held a mixture of disbelief and traces of venom. The Knights and Hayate, as well as the TSAB affiliated could tell that the Thieves and Crow had not left on the best of terms. "If you say something like hiding yourself to heal yourself…" The girl's ire was almost murderous, but in the end contained.
"As much as an explanation is admittedly warranted, I'm afraid we don't have time for it. Those things are starting to get back up after all," Crow pointed at the shadows beginning to reassimilate and recover from the hit and run. "We have maybe a few minutes at best until those scum reform."
"You heard him," Joker commanded, gathering everyone's attention. With everyone's eyes on him, he pointed towards the thieves first. "Skull, Panther, Fox, Queen, Oracle, Noir," he called their codenames one by one. He then pointed towards the Knights. "Vita, Shamal, Zafira, Signum… and Hayate." Joker looked around as they all got the message of the quick introduction, leaving out Nanoha, Fate, Yuuno, Arf, and Chrono since they were already known to both parties. With that understood he moved on.
"Our target is in the middle of the city it looks like. You see that bright light in the sky? The one with things… growing towards it? That's what we're after." Everyone looked in the direction towards the light. Bone, flesh, wood, whatever it was, things were growing to reach that light, coming closer and closer with every second. The growths were converging in such a way so as to form what looked to be a tower. Nanoha looked at it with ever growing concern and a mild bit of repulsion.
"What a wretched, ugly sight. There's not a shred of beauty in it at all," Fox said, his mouth contorted into a grimace, barely looking at the mess as that was all he could bear to see of it. "How shall we proceed?"
"Indeed, what's the plan?"
"Lindy?" Joker reacted in surprise when comms link was opened.
"Well it seems that this is more your territory of expertise than ours… besides that we have our hands full just trying to recover our ground troops and recover our failing systems. Everything's scrambled and this comms link is the best we can do for now. Because of that, I believe it's best to leave you in charge," Lindy explained, her voice crackled, fading in and out. Through the static he could hear panic and other commands being issued from the background of the feed. Looks like it was on him.
Joker took a second to breath. No time for a real plan, especially not with this cobbled together crew. "Let's keep it simple. We're going to break straight on through to the light in the middle of the city. There's no telling what that white book's going to do. So before it can do anything at all, we're going to make a mad dash for it and seal it before it can do any more harm.. Since half of us here can't fly, we'll just have to defeat any shadows in our path. Let's not force any teamwork we're not used to. You can try, but at worst, just stay out of each other's way."
"Mine especially, if the rest of you don't want to die," Crow interjected.
"Just let him be," Joker said quickly after to regather everyone's attention. "Ready or not, we're getting started." Joker turned around to see the shadows having fully reassembled themselves and approaching. He heard shifting weapons and bodies behind him for only a brief moment. The curtain called.
Joker crouched down, breathed in, and out. Suddenly, he leapt at the front most shadow of the lot, swung around its neck before landing his feet on its shoulders, his hand on its mask.
"Show me your true form!" A fast sound of ripping flesh cracked out as he ripped the mask from the shadows face. Before the shadow could fully fall over from the attack, Joker jumped off of it, kicking at the same time towards the rest of the shadows. Small bursts of darkness erupted from each shadow, shedding the black sludge to reveal what was underneath.
Joker's mask flashed blue as he hit the ground, getting up with a spin, he called down the first assault. "Lucifer! Morning Star!"
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"Die!" Signum sliced in two the multi armed red female demon, kicking its disappearing corpse into another of its kind before, going in to strike another.
"Bardiche!" On her end, Fate flew about one of the eight headed serpents, slicing off each head as she flew by. "Arf!"
"Got it! Take this!" The last head that remained was struck from above by the familiar, slamming into the ground. "Another one down! Who's ne-"
"Behind you! Freidyne!" Before Arf could turn around, the serpent was disintegrated in nuclear energy. "You have to make sure it's completely gone," Queen chided the wolf girl.
"Sorry about that… and thanks for the save." Arf scratched the back of her head, embarrassed by the mistake.
"Yes, thank you Queen," Fate flew down to say to her.
"It's no problem, but we have to keep moving." Queen looked over to see the rest of the group already going on ahead, destroying more shadows in their wake.
Zafira and Mona both moved in on a demon that took residence inside a coffin.
"Rrah!" Zafira struck first, using a shield spell to bash against the coffin. A wail of some sort could be heard as the shadow flew away. As it tumbled in the air, Mona was ready for the follow up.
"Garudyne!" The force of the spell shredded the shadow, evaporating it into nothing. With the kill confirmed, the two continued on.
Nearby Vita launched shadows one after the other into the air with her hammer. "Next! Up you go! Out of our way!" Even though the size of the shadows could dwarf her by several magnitudes, her inhuman strength allowed her to send them into the sky all the same. Those sent in the sky would only be so lucky for it to have only been that.
"Boom! Blam! Kaboom!" A dainty voice could be heard near Vita between sweet little giggles. Noir's aim kept true, her grenades hitting the shadows one by one as they flew up like a twisted round of clay pigeon shooting. The combined damage from Vita's strikes and Noir's explosions were enough to eliminate the shadows that came near them. Though after a while Vita finally noticed Noir trailing behind her.
"Hmm? What's the matter Vita-chan? Why do you look so scared." Noir asked, curious as to why Vita looked so frightened.
"Was… was that you laughing just now?" Vita asked recalling the spine shivering small laughs she heard in the middle of the explosions.
"Oh, sorry. It's just that the screams of the shadows when their dying are a bit exciting so I can't help it sometimes," Noir gave an apologetic expression. Though that wasn't enough to completely assuage Vita… at all. The Knight looked towards the cat, or whatever he was.
"Does she always do that?" Vita asked Mona in a hushed tone.
"Lady Noir… is a bit special like that, yes," Mona admitted with a shrug. "Anyways, come on! We're starting to fall behind!" Mona pointed out, seeing everyone else getting ahead, this time fighting angels.
"Heretics!" Was the last cry the angel let out before the rest of it became encased in ice, falling onto the ground. Its frozen body shattered on impact.
"That's another one! They just keep coming!" Yuuno complained as another shadow started to encroach upon on him, Chrono, and Fox.
"I've got it!" A magic circle appeared beneath the giant Shadow with a gaping maw. It let out a roar as razor wind flew up to slice at it, trapping it at the same time. Even so, it struggled against Shamal's trap, trying to break free.
"Oh no you don't! Blazing Hell!" Panther swooped in, directing Hecate to burn the green skinned monster before it could escape. The razor wind from Shamal's spell ignited in tandem with Panther's attack, immolating the shadow into a crisp. When both spells ran their course, the charred remains crumbled and faded.
"Much appreciated Panther," Fox said, the girl giving a wave acknowledgement back.
"Guys, I know you can see it, but we're almost at the center. Good news is that the shadows are beginning to thin out," Oracle told them telepathically.
"Oh thank god!" Skull let out as he bashed the Skull in on a shadow, kicking it away as it had gotten stuck on his weapon. It was lucky for him that any stains on it also faded when the shadow did.
"Yes I can also confirm that their numbers are beginning to lessen as well," Hayate added, surveying the area with Reinforce to be sure.
"Hrah!" Crow knocked away with a brutal strike of his saber another shadow towards Joker, who, after giving it a few slashes for good measure, then proceeded to kick it up into the sky.
"Nanoha!" Joker called.
"Firing!" Nanoha fired at the shadow as it reached the apex of its ascension. Within a second, she could see the sky through it before it completely faded away like all the rest. "I think that's about the last of them." Nanoha looked down to see that no more shadows were approaching them now that they were near the tower.
"This thing is even uglier up close," Joker mused as he took in the full sight of the thing. The others gathered around him, a quick glance telling him that everyone was accounted for. With that weight lifted off his shoulders he turned back towards the unwanted addition to Uminari.
In the time it had taken for them to reach the tower it had fully formed itself. The outer shell of it having become a gleaming white pillar like thing. One could still see pulsating roots and stony bone jutting out, but they were far and few between the rest of the unsettlingly clean, holy looking exterior. The structure become taller than any of the surrounding buildings, looking like it even reached into the murky red clouds above. Even so, the bright light of the book could still be seen at the very top. Looking right in front of them at ground level, there was an entrance of sorts that they could get in with.
"Oracle, how's the front entrance look?" Joker asked.
"I'm getting a reading from the whole tower, but nothing that seems like a trap," Oracle reported to the team.
"Reinforce?" Hayate asked for a second opinion.
"I am not detecting any immediate danger beyond the entrance. I still advise caution however."
"Hmm… that's weird… a bug?"
"Oracle?" Queen asked.
"I'm not getting anything from inside… I actually had something on the radar for a split second but then it disappeared. I can still get the general structure though. Seems to be just a giant elevator to the top. Pretty convenient, but it's probably a trap if I know my big bad evil guys," Oracle answered, everyone becoming more cautious as her explanation went on.
"It does seem like a trap given that information. While the rest of us could fly up, it's probably best we continue to work together through the tower," Signum stated. "We'll have a better chance of resolving whatever is going on if we pool our strength, which we will only be able to do if we stay together."
"Agreed," Chrono was next to say. "Not only that, but we'll have a better chance against the trap as well. What say you Joker?"
"Hmm… Hayate, Reinforce?" Joker turned to the young girl.
"Yes?"
"What is it that you need?" The two of them answered simultaneously, their voices overlapping.
"Um…" he stumbled from the reply from both of them. He hadn't expected Reinforce to answer. He'd only called her as a matter of course. "Are you two picking up anything now that we're close?" He asked after recovering.
"Well, I'm getting something, but it's… it's… it's like if you had a puzzle and one of the pieces was changed I guess?" Hayate did her best to explain.
"While the Defense Program remains recognizable as such, it has gone fundamental changes that render it incompatible with the current structure of the Tome of the Night Sky, based on preliminary analysis of the energy signature currently resting atop the tower," Reinforce further explained.
"That's… something to keep in mind."
"Sorry it's not much help, I know…" Hayate looked downcast, causing Joker to double back as quickly as he could..
"No, it's at least something we can work with. With it, we can infer now that we can expect something fundamentally different from the Tome of the Night Sky when we get up there. Good to at least know that and keep our expectations in check."
"Yeah, you're right!" Joker silently sighed in relief at seeing the girl's expression brighten.
"Anyways, is everybody ready to enter the tower?" Joker turned to everyone else.
"I mean the sooner we get in there, the sooner we can bust through whatever they've got planned," Skull replied, rotating his arms to stretch them out.
"The lunk head makes a point. No use fretting over it if we're just going to dive in headfirst." Vita shrugged with a dismissive cadence in her tone.
"Hey who are you calling a lunk head, tiny?" Skull fired back, only for Panther to shove him down.
"Okay, down boy. Joker, I think it's safe to say the rest of us are ready to go whenever you are," Panther said, as she let go of skull. Looking at the other thieves, they all held the same confident looks in their eyes. Yoshizawa was the only one a little scared, but she still stood firm.. They already knew what to do.
"Us too, we're ready any time," Fate spoke out to catch his attention as she brandished Bardiche.
"Yup! Raising Heart and I couldn't be more ready!" Nanoha cheerfully added, holding her staff close to her. Chrono, Yuuno, and Arf were also looking over themselves, but soon gave their own quick expressions of readiness. Joker then looked over to Hayate's family.
"Knights?" Hayate calmly asked, her expression as mature and warm as usual.
"As Vita has already stated, we're always at your command," Signum said with a hand on her heart. She wasn't the only one as the others were the same. Seeing this, Hayate nodded.
"We're ready Joker," Hayate confirmed one last time.
"No more stalling. Let's just get this over with. I'll meet you at the tower when you're done with all this."" Crow didn't even wait for his command, already heading towards the entrance.
"Follow his lead then," Joker let out in an amused cadence as he and the rest followed Crow into the tower.
-0-0-28-0-0-
"Yup, it's an elevator alright. Seems like I can interface directly with-it using Prometheus." Entering the large tower, it was immediately easy to see what was indeed something that could be understood as an elevator. It took most of the space of the tower center, which was impressive given the diameter of the tower was already so large. Pillars and twisting roots reached high towards the ceiling of the tower, but not in a way that would obstruct the elevator. It seemed it would be a straight shot once it got going. At the very center of the elevator, of the structure, there could been a control of some sort.
"At the very least, we won't have to worry about being too tired from the ascension when we get up there," Fox mused.
"But what about the trap? Are you sensing anything Oracle?" Noir asked, as she along with everyone else looked around for any signs of danger. The fact that the roots and pillars obstructed their view did nothing to help them.
"No… nothing. I'm not sensing anything at… all. That's even weirder. I shouldn't be detecting nothing at all," Oracle said in a rush as she continued to redo her scans.
"Maybe it's broken?" Skull asked.
"No way you idiot! Persona can't break like that," Oracle chided the blonde boy. "Or I don't think they can anyways."
"Then… could it be jamming? I mean it makes sense to interfere with the enemy," Yuuno offered as possible explanation.
"This probably part of the trap then, don't you think?" Shamal asked while also looking around.
"Well somebody might have to play guinea pig then and take the first step forward. Joker, how about you do the honors?" Crow tapped him on the shoulder. He couldn't tell if Crow volunteered him for it because it might hurt him or… no that might have been the reason. Everyone else looked to him, despite the dubiousness of the suggestion. It seems he'd been volunteered.
Brandishing his knife, he took careful steps forward, as his eyes darted about for any attacks. The room had become silent watching him. His footsteps echoed in the cavernous room, but not so loudly enough as to make him unable to hear his own breath or heartbeat. In no time, he'd managed to stand on the large elevator, though the control was still a bit away. It would certainly be able to take them all at the same time-
"Joker!" Before he could even realize it was Nanoha's voice that called him out, he'd already flipped backwards. A clang and crackle of lightning could be heard from just where he'd been standing. The moment he was upright, he'd already knelt down, bringing out his gun with his free hand to aim at the surprise assailant… Only for him to lower his weapons.
"How are…"
"At your sides!" This time Signum was the one to warn him as Joker Jumped into the air, followed by swinging on his grapple hook to get clear of the attack. In doing so, he was able to catch a glimpse of the two others that had joined in. Joker's expression could only become more desperate and confused. He detached the grappling hook and fell back to the floor near the others.
"Are you okay Joker?" Queen asked, concerned by Joker's unusually shaken demeanor as she watched him stay kneeling for a bit of time as he breathed deep breaths to seemingly calm himself.
"No… I mean, I'm fine, but this isn't good. It's not good at all…" Joker got up from the floor, dusting himself as he did so before walking forward a bit to get a better glimpse at the ones that ambushed him.
"Guys! There's more!" Oracle cried out. Just as she said so, more appeared from behind the pillars, or dropping from above, landing one by one. In total, nineteen individuals had appeared from the shadows to stop them.
"Huh? Who are these guys? They look… kind of normal?" Skull scratched his head, confused by the fact that regular people had apparently appeared to stop them.
"They seem to be wearing school uniforms, but from two different schools," Fox noted. Outside of the obvious alterations, one group had black uniforms that appeared more modern, while the other sported grey, more classical gakuran and sailor styled uniforms.
"They also seem to have a familiar…" Zafira muttered, noticing that there was a dog with a white coat amongst their ranks.
"Holy Crap!"
"What's the matter Oracle? Did you detect something bad?" Hayate asked, concerned by the sudden outburst.
"Well, yeah there's that, but I mean that's Rise Kujikawa over there!" She pointed towards a girl whose reddish hair was done up in twin tails nearer to the back, standing next to a girl with bluish teal hair.
"Huh? Woah… yeah she does look like her but like from a few years ago. I mean she's in her twenties now right? She's been out of high school since forever, so that can't be Rise-chan, right?" Skull mused but couldn't do so for long before someone else suddenly made a gasp.
"Wait a second…" It was Panther who gasped and was currently leering at one of the opposing group.
"Do you recognize someone too?" Fate asked.
"Yeah, I mean, they look younger, but I think that's Yukari Takeba!" Panther's voice rose with each word until it turned into a high-pitched squeal
"Aw man you're right!" Oracle jumped in. "That's totally Feather Pink!" Now Oracle's voice was rising as well…
"You mean from that show you've talked about before?" Fox asked.
"You mean from Phoenix Ranger Featherman? That boy's show?" Nanoha, looked at the woman in a pink cardigan who had a bow in hand. She did seem familiar, but she didn't care much for those kinds of things.
"I recognize her now, that's Mitsuru Kirijo, of the Kirijo Foundation. I was actually scheduled to meet her next year for a joint venture with my company. J-just to oversee the meeting really, not actually join in. But the more important thing is that she matches the pictures I was given of a younger Kirijo-san perfectly," Noir chimed in once she finally remembered who the red-haired woman with a rapier was.
"What kind of sick joke is this…" Barely anyone heard Crow mutter as he eyed the young man… no, the woman who dressed like a man. Crow was probably one of the few there that would know otherwise… He remained silent as she continued to eye the first detective prince.
"I don't get it, who are these chumps? Are they really supposed to be what stops us?" Vita asked. She'd been sizing up all of them this entire time. Outside of the ones already mentioned, on one side there was this silver haired guy with gloves on, a guy in a trench coat and Beanie next to him with a hammer, a weak looking guy with a baseball cap and bat, a robot girl, and even a little kid. On the other there was a blonde guy with a chair for some reason, two brunettes, one with a knives and headphones, while the other was a girl in a green jacket and greaves standing next to a pretty black-haired girl in a red cardigan holding only fans… and a bear mascot? It was a moving bear mascot…
Standing in the center though were three figures. One had silver hair with an open gakuran. He wielded a katana in one hand that didn't look like anything all that special. The other guy, wearing the other school uniform held a simple one-handed sword, though he looked a bit off given that his dark hair covered his lavender eyes, headphones hanging off his neck. The last one was a red-haired girl with matching red headphones. She carried a naginata that was almost as long as she was tall. For some reason, Vita felt those three were the most dangerous.
"Joker? Is there something weird about them?" Hayate asked, noticing that Joker hadn't let his guard down at all. Without answering her, his mask flashed blue before he placed a hand on it.
"Yoshitsune! Ziodyne!" Suddenly he'd summoned his person, his lightning aimed straight at the silver haired boy in the middle.
"_" The man seemed to say something, but nothing came out of his mouth. However despite that, energy swirled around him as familiar azure flames erupted. A faint card materialized above an outstretched hand, before being crushed, making a sound like that of shattering glass.
"No way a Persona! So I wasn't reading things wrong!" Oracle panicked as she saw familiar readings show up.
Before the lightning that Joker cast could reach the silver haired boy, a figure clad in gray attire with a spear like weapon forced its presence into being in front of its summoner. Without even moving, it caught the attack with not even slightest bit of effort, negating the lightning into nothingness.
"Wait they're all Persona users then?" Panther connected the dots…
"Each and every one of them, but those three in the middle," Joker pointed to the silver haired boy with a katana, the dark haired, lavender eyed boy with a sword, and the red-haired girl with a naginata. "They're like me. They're also fools…"
"Wait, what does that mean?" Chrono asked, but was ignored as Shamal cut in.
"It sounds like you know who they are Joker?" Shamal asked.
"Wait when did you meet other Persona users?" Skull let out loud once he pinpointed what was bothering him.
"There are more Persona users than just us?" Yoshizawa asked at almost the same time.
"No time to explain unfortunately," Joker waived Skulls question off as he looked towards Hayate.
"Reinforce… do you know how they're here? Are they like Crow?" That was the only thing he could come up with for why they were here; why those Persona users he met at that theatre could have appeared.
"It would appear so. During your capture, all your memories were scanned, with only a few referenced and recreated for your dream. The Defense Program would also have those memories, and as such may have conjured them as a means of warding our assault. They are most definitely creations crafted from your other memories that were scanned but were deemed irrelevant for the initial task. It is safe to assume they have been manifested in a similar manner. Though given the lack of voice, either she made an error, or it was deemed unnecessary." Reinforce explained, confirming Joker's theory as to their origins.
"Now that she says that… yeah. I'm still getting blocked, but from what I can get, they're giving the same vibes as Crow. Hmm… I think it's Rise-chan and that other girl in the back that seem to be blocking me," Oracle said, her voice a bit strained as she continued to struggle against whatever it was those two were doing.
"It would probably be them, since they also have support type Personas," Joker explained.
"Woah, really? So I'm not the only one with a support Persona…" Oracle caught herself before getting too excited. "Uh I think break times over, cause I'm getting energy spikes! Are we really going to have to fight other Persona users?"
"Who cares, if they're in our way, we just have to take them out too!" Vita did her best to remind them in her own way. "Besides they're not the real ones anyways!"
"Yes Joker, don't you dare go easy on them," Crow growled to a still dazed Joker.
"Well…" he replied, finally gathering himself. "I don't think we'll be able to afford to do that in the first place." Joker's hand tensed around his knife… Could he beat them? He actually didn't know.
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"Rrraah!" Vita swung her hammer as hard as she could at the beanie wearing man in front of her, who deftly dodged the first strike made against him with one of his hands still in his trench coat pocket. Undeterred however, Vita swung again. This time though, the man swung his own hammer to meet hers. The force from impact knocked them both back, skidding across the ground, though not losing their stance.
"Huh?" She let out as she saw the young boy and the dog descend upon her. The young boy with a spear bigger than he was had somehow gotten up high to drop down on her. The dog meanwhile was dashing forward with a knife in hand in a zig zagging path, making it difficult for her to keep up visually.
"No you don't!" Zafira jumped in at the last moment, conjuring a barrier to block both the boy and the dog from a would be strike. The two repelled, backed off to stand near the older man Vita had just clashed with.
"Watch out Zafira, they're tougher than they look…" Vita said, shaking one of her hands of its soreness. She was a bit surprised to feel pain from the impact but kept it down as best she could. "Signum! How are you holding up?" Vita asked over comms.
"It's… more dif-difficult than I thought," Signum's voice started and stopped as she engaged in a dance of blades with the red-haired woman. Parry after parry, near miss dodge after near miss dodge. Her opponent, this Mitsuru-san, had impeccable fencing skill. Immaculate and clean, but no less deadly, Signum had to watch her opponent's sword for even the slightest twitch, as it was the only warning she could get before another strike came at her.
"_" Before Signum could react, the woman had kicked her away before pointing a gun at her own head. She was confused for only a moment though, as upon firing, a familiar glass shattering sound reached her ears as she saw familiar azure flames rise up from beneath her feet. An Larger armored woman appeared with a whip like weapon in hand. One swing, and in the next moment, Ice… grew towards her at frightening speed. Signum jumped back to gain distance.
"Laevatein!" Her blade separated into its serrated whip form, becoming engulfed in flames. She desperately slashed at the ever-growing iceberg over and over, stopping its advance as it broke into chunks. Only she had to slash again as her opponents Persona sent its own whip towards Signum once the ice had fallen to the wayside. The two whips let out harsh metallic screeching as the grinded against one another. The violent torrent left little room for others to jump in.
On the other end, Queen felt air pressure from the fist that she had only narrowly dodged. She couldn't spare it more thought of the kind of strength necessary for that as she had to dodge another punch, and another, then another. The silver haired man in a red jumper continued to pile on punch after punch. Queen for her part had been able to avoid each one but was unable to find her footing to counterattack. That is until she went for his. After dodging one more punch aimed at her solar plexus, she used the momentum of the dodge to crouch all the way down, swinging her leg in a sweep aimed at the man's legs.
The man quickly backed off, dodging the attempt at his ankles, only to suddenly rush back in for another strike as Queen was getting back up. Caught off guard, she could only block the strike with her hands crossed in front of her.
"Urgh…" Though damage wasn't much, she still ended up knocked back. While her opponent was now making to close the distance he created, she at least had an opening now. "Oh no you don't!" She pulled out her revolver and made aim for him center mass, firing the moment her aim flicked into place.
One shot, two shots, three, he dodged each one, but keeping track of his movements, she was seeing a pattern. She threw off her mask before aiming a fourth.
"Anat! Freidyne!" She fired her fourth shot as her Persona manifested itself. As she predicted, the man dodged in the exact same direction, bobbing and weaving, only this time into a mass of nuclear energy. A crackle and explosion caught the man, and obscuring him in the bright, dissolving light. "Did that do it?" Queen asked herself, only for the man to emerge unscathed, a Persona clad in roman style white clothing wielding a sword in one hand a globe in the other, standing next to him… no it wasn't that he was unscathed. He was looking slightly more exhausted, but just without wounds.
"You can heal…" she let out exasperated, fearful for how long the fight was going to drag on.
"Get off me!" Arf said indignantly as she kicked the weird mascot bear thing away. She did not like the faces it was giving off at all. It just sent shivers down her spine no matter how cute that thing looked at first blush.
"Arf above you!" Yuuno called out. Without looking up, Arf dived out of the way, only catching some weird star, red mechanical thing with a cape out of the corner of her eye. It crushed the ground beneath it upon landing, only for it to repair itself moments later.
"That things creepy," Arf said as she joined up with the ferret boy.
"Despite its looks, it's no joke. It knows how to fight," Yuuno said as he tried to figure a way to fight it. It had slipped out of the chains that both of them had cast earlier. The physics behind the bear thing simply didn't make any sense, but they had to deal with it all the same. "Arf, on our left!"
At his call, the both of them generated barriers towards the oncoming strike. A torrent of wind ripped its way at them, a single person spinning inside at its core, matched with a Persona with a flaming head, blue body suit and spinning buzzsaw. The tornado continued to grind at their barrier for a few more seconds before, the brunette man with headphones kicked off their barrier, ending his attempt at and assault.
"You can have this!" Before the brunette could land, Yuuno summoned chains, grabbing onto the other Persona that the bear had left behind, and flung it at the young man. A look surprise and panic appeared on his face, but of course no voice came out. Instantly, they lost sight of their opponent as he got slammed away by the Persona.
However before it could fly any farther, the Persona disappeared, and the young man caught himself onto the ground using his kunai, before launching himself like a spring back towards them.
"Like a cockroach!" Arf complained as she put up a barrier to block it. While it did stop him for a moment, he kicked off the barrier again, only this time to fly over her and Yuuno, striking the boy behind the barrier.
"Ahhh!"
"Yuuno-kun!" Arf said as she swatted away at the man who lingered in the sky, only for him to zip downwards elsewhere and launch away again in a V like pattern. Before she could pursue, Ice appeared behind him, cutting them off. With no way to retaliate she instead tended to her injured companion. "Are you okay?"
"I'll be fine in a second." Yuuno had wasted no time in applying a healing spell. "Where are they?"
"Behind the ice, probably prepping for another strike," Arf explained.
"We need to come up with a plan. We can't underestimate them, no matter how silly they look."
"Yeah, but what can we do?" Arf asked, as Yuuno tried to think of something, anything.
Mona, desperate to catch the flying robot girl, transformed into his bus form.
"Out of the way!" He said to no one in particular, dodging arrows fired by the girl in pink that flew his way, and having Mercurius redirect ones he couldn't. As closed in however, a bevy of weaponry suddenly appeared on the robot girl.
"Are you kidding me!?" Gattling Guns, and Missile launchers had seemingly materialized out of nowhere. As much as he was in shock, he had no time to contemplate it as they were all aimed at him. He skidded to a stop, hopped up and then tried to drive away.
"I'll cover you!" Shamal said as she created a barrier in the way of the missiles and bullets hailed down on Mona's escape path. A Persona appeared in his path however, some winged bust like thing with a mirror above it. Despite this, Mona didn't panic as it had only casted wind magic earlier in the fight. Only for an arrow to hit from the side.
"Ow! What the-" Mona took a glance around to find wind pockets that sat in the air.
"They're redirecting the arrows!" Shamal pointed out, having saw it from a distance. The woman in pink would aim at the wind pockets generated by the Persona rather than directly at Mona. The wind pockets would then redirect the arrows towards him, all from unpredictable angles. "Mona watch out!"
"Aw crap!" Mona said as more and more arrows flew his way. He did his best to drive around, swerving, hopping, drifting, but he still got nicked bit by bit.
"I got you! Makougaon!" Before another could land, an arrow light slammed against the arrow, with more intercepting others. A last set of light arrows managed to strike at the Persona. It faltered in the air for a moment before dissipating. "Over here Mona!" Yoshizawa called to him as she landed next to Shamal. Upon reaching nearby, he popped out of bus form, flying through the air from the momentum before being caught by the red head. "You okay?" She asked
"I'm fine. Thank you for catching me," Mona said before jumping out of her arms. A light glow surrounded him healing his wounds. He looked up to see Shamal casting a healing spell on him. "Uh, thank you as well, Lady Shamal."
"You're welcome, but we can't do this forever," she said looking at their two opponents, the blonde robot girl and the pink wearing archer.
"What do we do Mona?" Yoshizawa asked, knowing that she lacked experience in this regard.
"I… I don't know. They're just too slippery. Argh, if only Joker and them weren't busy fending off the worst ones…" Mona could only lament, as he struggled to figure out a way to defeat their opponents.
Crow pointed his own gun back at his opponent. The two had been carefully aiming at the other for quite some time. However even with the tension so high, Crow felt the need to say something.
"I never imagined meeting you quite like this, Naoto Shirogane. Though it isn't actually you, and I'm not actually me, but all the same, the meeting of the first and second Detective Princes… it's a bit disappointing."
"You know this person?" Chrono asked, also aiming his weapon at the so called First Detective Prince.
"By reputation… Should you be helping him by the way? Speaking of, how are you holding up over there?" Crow threw his question over to a Fox currently trying to parry a folding chair with his blade.
"This brutality… there's… a surprising elegance in it. This raw emotion. Though naught but a shadow of the true person, this fake is quite convincing in its demeanor," Fox couldn't help but admire his opponent in way as h all the while dodged, parried, and made to strike.
"Watch the hand!" Crow warned, but even with that warning, Fox found the collar of his jacked suddenly yanked about before he could do anything. The blonde delinquent swiftly threw him away, a sound shattering glass coming out at the same time as Fox flew, sliding across the ground. Fox could not rest however when he came to a stop, as he saw a Persona which looked like a Giant Crimson mechanical being with a blade of some sort drop towards him, blade first. Fox rolled out of the way as fast as he could, launching into the air for a moment as the shockwave from the attack he just dodged shook the ground.
"Kamu Susano-o! Bufudyne!" He commanded as soon as he got his bearings again, aiming right at the delinquent. Before the spell could properly form however, a shiver of instinct to overcome him. He raised his blade upwards, and the instant he did so, he felt something hit it, and heard the sound of metal clash against metal. Shaking off the shock of what just happened, he looked over to see the feminine young man with a cap aiming his gun at him, smoke rising from the barrel. Only for a moment however as Crow had already made to attack in response.
Seeing how Crow and Chrono seemed to overpower the effeminate man, the blonde delinquent began to move in, only for Fox to block his path with ice.
"If you'll excuse me, our bout is not yet over. There is much I have yet to see of you, of your essence of being…" Of course Fox's words went unanswered, but all the same he had regathered his opponent's attention. Readying his blade, he waited for his blonde boy's next move.
"This is how you swing!" Skull made good on his word as his pipe practically sang as it passed through the air at worrying speed. The force of which was enough to completely knock the baseball cap wearing man off balance, but that only lasted for a second before a Metallic Red Persona with Gold wings flew towards him feet first. "Crap!" Skull dove out of the way, unable to follow up on his initial strike. After getting to safety, he turned back towards his opponent, only to see him winding up a swing. By instinct, Skull turned around to see the Persona… throwing a pitch? With fire?
"What the hell? Oh nononononononono!" Skull dove out of the way again, as a blazing ball of fire flew by at incredible speed. However he couldn't rest yet as he had to dodge again as the a crack rang out. Skull didn't have to see to know that that was the sound of the fire ball being hit by a bat, probably aimed at him. He blindly kept diving and running, trying his best to get away.
"Seiten Taisei! Charge!" Skull felt strength well up within himself as he simultaneously prepped to dodge another swing from the wannabe baseball player. Though he thought that, right now he'd rather have been dealing with just a normal baseball player. Making another dive to dodge another attack, seeing his opening, he tried again.
"God Hand!" Skull's Persona summoned from the ether a mechanical fist that flew towards the batter. A loud boom erupted at the moment of impact, spraying stone and dust. "Hell yeah! How's that?" He celebrated his small victory. However he still kept his guard up despite the jubilation. When the dust finally settled he saw his opponent lying in the crater, seemingly knocked out.
"Alright! Score one for Skull!"
"Skull, be careful! Your opponent seems to be recovering at a rapid rate!" Oracle warned him.
"Huh?" Skull looked over again to see that the scratches and bruises he inflicted… were disappearing. The opponent's eyes flickered open and closed, before finally staying open. Getting up from the crater, Skull saw him pick up his bat and turn back towards him.
"You've got to be kidding me…" Skull heaved a sigh as he also readied his pipe again.
"Panther, how are you holding up?" Noir asked while still keeping her aim on the two girls in front of them.
"I'm doing okay, but my attacks aren't doing anything towards the red one…" Panther whined. The two had been fighting the girl in the green jacket and the one in the red cardigan for the past while, but they'd so far been out done. Though neither of the Phantom Thieves members felt outmatched in power, they certainly felt it in the teamwork. Panther and Noir were by no means on bad terms, their opponents were simply on another level when it came to synergy. Despite being soulless copies, their teamwork was second to none, almost psychic really.
Every time Panther made to try and set the green girl ablaze, she was stopped by the red one, whose Persona was immune to fire, taking Panther's strongest spells with ease. Noir herself had a hard time trying to make an opening for Panther, always being rushed down by the girl in green before Noir could make any real headway on starting their offense. Noir also was unable to really figure out how to escape the green girl's oppressive assault. Though not having received a clean hit, the green girl's pressure was difficult to escape, locking Noir down from helping.
"If only I could get a clean shot at the green one…" Panther muttered out in growing frustration.
"If only I were a bit faster…" Noir lamented. "Though there's no use in complaining, everyone's doing their best, and we have to as well!" Noir took a deep breath and took aim again.
"Yeah, we can't fall behind! Come on Noir!"
"Let's go Panther!" And in they went for another attempt.
Everywhere around the inside of the tower, battles raged between the Phantom Thieves, TSAB, Knights, and the copies of Persona Users. In the middle however, things were still somewhat calmer.
"Oracle, how's the hack going?" Joker asked, keeping his eye on the three he could reasonably call his senpai.
"Not good! It's a two on one here. Both of them are basically rock-solid front to back! Rissette's really got some chops for support, and so does that teal haired girl! Heck I think she's the better of the two. Anyways, I… I think I'll need to prioritize keeping them busy from supporting the others. Sorry," Oracle's voice came out sheepishly.
"That's fine, just do what you can. But if anything comes up let us know," Joker tried to ease Oracle's frustrations. He already knew how good support Rise and Fuuka could be. They were Oracle's equal and then some. In this case, a two on one was no laughing matter. But he knew Oracle had also gotten better since their time at the Theatre. She might just have enough skill to win. "I believe in you."
"…Thanks Joker, I'll make sure to keep them out of your hair. Just be careful. Those three are…"
"Just like me," he finished for her. "Don't worry about it, just focus on your part, okay?"
"Alright… if you say so. Well, I'll leave you to it. You better not lose!" And with that, Oracle's voice disappeared from his mind.
Turning to his sides he made sure of the status of the three next to him.
"Are you sure you three don't want to be helping the others?" Joker asked. He knew it was a fruitless question, but he still felt the need to ask. As expected though, Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate refused to budge.
"Somebody has to help you out," Nanoha said with a smug little smirk. "It might as well be us."
"Besides, you know you need us," Fate followed, doing her best to imitate Nanoha's demeanor, though not as successfully. She was just too sincere for that.
"Reinforce thinks we stand the best chance by offering our support here!" Hayate answered.
"Our properties allow us to mimic the power of a Fool most closely. To that end, we believe it will serve as useful in this fight," Reinforce chimed in.
"What she said!" Hayate affirmed once more. Seeing their resolve once more, Joker decided to shelve whatever else he might have wanted to ask. Time was of the essence, and he might as well take their help. He was going to need it.
"Alright, then let's make the first strike!" The three girls moved in to strike while Joker stayed behind. "Attis! Thermopylae!" Immediately, the four of them became surrounded in a warm trio of orange, green and purple light. Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate felt stronger right away, but remained focused.
Thanks to her speed Fate was the first one to make it to her target. "Bardiche!" She swung her scythe of lightning at the blue haired boy. Before her strike could connect, the young man put a gun looking object to his head and then fired it in a single swift motion. Though surprised by it at first, she became more surprised as a strange monster appeared and blocked her strike with an unornamented blade. It's white ghastly skull like mask seemed to stare directly at her soul. It's slender body in a dark body suit lent it this lanky, chilling atmosphere, as if the ring of coffins attached to it weren't frightening enough.
Shaking herself of that fear, she disengaged once she felt the presence of her ally.
"Preparing Sraosha."
"Kougaon!" Hayate command as the Persona heeded her call. Arrows of light fell upon the ghastly monster and its summoner, but just as they were about to connect-
"_!" A Japanese Soldier like Persona with two swords appeared in front, blocking the strike in its entirety as if it was but a light rain.
"Yoshitsune?" Joker looked over to see that it was the silver haired fool who summoned it. Before he could switch-
"_!" Yoshitsune made a motion, and three lights rose from the ground beneath the red-haired fool.
"_!"
"Dammit!" Joker leapt towards the newly summoned Persona by the blue haired fool, revealing itself to be Siegfried. Bringing out his own Yoshitsune, Joker moved him in front to block a Vorpal blade that was aimed at the girls. Once the attack died down, Joker forced his voice out, trying to minimize any panic in it. "Are you girls okay?"
"We're fine, thanks for the save!" Fate said, before turning back. "What were those lights on the red-haired girl?"
"A strengthening spell. Like the one I used earlier… but why her?" Joker scowled, trying to figure out what they were doing. "Nanoha! Keep an eye on her!" He looked up to check on her. Looking back, she nodded in response, recentering her aim on the red-haired girl. Her job at the moment was to provide long range fire support when needed, and also if needed, fire off her trump card once enough ambient magic was in the air. With her focus confirmed, Joker turned back towards their opponents. His mask flash blue before going back in.
"Alice! Dekunda!" He commanded, dispelling the buffs that had but put up on the red-haired fool.
"Preparing Trumpeter." Reinforce flashed blue. "Enhancing."
"D-debilitate Genocide Shift!" Hayate stumbled in the heat of the moment but was able to cast the spell proper. Instead of vile orbs of rancid orange, green, and purple descending upon a single target, they instead fell into the center, of the enemy formation, exploding in a blast of deleterious, crippling magic, sending all of their opponents' statistics to fall.
"Attis! Thermopylae!" Joker cast again, to extend their own enhancements. Only for it to fall flat.
"_!"
"_!" The two men quickly summoned new Personas, the blue-haired boy summoning his own Norn, while the silver-Haired boy Kohryu. In that moment Joker recognized the spells as Dekunda and Dekaja, Rendering his and Hayate's enhancements and diminishments null and void. Before they could try again, the silver-haired boy already was making his way towards them.
"Not happening!" Fate moved into intercept as the boy's katana once again became sheathed in Lightning. Bringing up Bardiche, she blocked the oncoming strike, sparks flying as blue and yellow electricity clashed, crackled, and boomed against one another.
"Fate! Behind you!" Fate couldn't even tell whose voice it was as she was struck from behind soon after.
"Argh!" Though she screamed, she still did her best to see who it was. Apparently, her opponent had summoned his Persona, the grey one with the spear, behind her, sandwiching her between them. Forcing her muscles, screaming, and tearing, she caught herself into a tumble on the floor to recover. As she did so, she saw the young man and his persona slide across the ground, the electricity carrying him towards her. Seeing this she rose in the air in an attempt to dodge the strike, only for the silver haired boy to use the momentum from the slide to leap at her with his sword.
"Not today!" Finding his opening, one where Fate wouldn't be caught in the crossfire, Joker summoned his own Persona. "Hastur! Garudyne!" Finally, a clean hit had landed. The silver haired boy became knocked away. However the small victory only lasted for so long.
"Joker, he's coming for you!" Hayate warned as the blue haired boy broke off his battle with her.
"I've got him!" Pink rained down on the blue haired boy's approach. Nanoha aimed carefully, trying to make her shots count, but the boy was slippery, only getting barely grazed. However it was enough as it forced him to back off. Nanoha sighed in relief, only for a shrill voice to ring in her ears.
"Guys! Watch out, the red head is preparing something big! All her statistics are buffed and her magic's focused!" Oracle warned. The four of them turned to see that the red-haired fool had already aimed her evoker on herself.
"Dammit!" Was all Joker let out. While they were distracted by the other two, she was preparing her assault by herself in back in the midst of all the chaos. She was too far away for any of them to stop her in time.
A bang rang through the room, and massive figure, a long blonde-haired angel descended upon them. His six wings flitted daintily in the air, matching the calm way the angel made its presence known. However in spite of the holiness, there was a dark that Joker could feel in it, as well as a familiar spell being readied to cast.
"Everyone, take cover!" He yelled out, not just to Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate, but to everyone in the room. After yelling it out, he noticed that everyone seemed confused, their opponents having already cleared the area. It seems that this was the enemy plan. He heard a low rumbling boom while he was distracted. Turning around, he caught a glimpse of the Morning Star, weakly shielding his eyes, before everything faded into a blinding wave of white.
Author's Notes:
Merry Christmas everyone, or at least it's still Christmas when I wrote these Author Notes. This was late, but as I think I've mentioned before, I got a new job that made things difficult to keep up with this… that and SMTV came out which I got all the endings in. Also a few other things too, like finally crossing off Dragon Quests 1-3 off my bucket list, and just trying out Dragon Quest in generally really (Good games, III's the best of that set, could even recommend today).
Anyways, I toyed around with the idea of whether or not to do this honestly. I mainly stuck it out though because I'd already set up that Joker had memories of Q2, the Tome of the Night Sky able to bring out those memories in a fashion, but also the fact that I didn't know how else to challenge this line up. I mean you have a pseudo-fool in the form of Hayate here, as well as everyone else. It's a stacked deck, and I needed a credible threat for the season finale. This was the best I could come up with. I hope it goes over well.
As for the very first section of the chapter. I've basically given it away at this point. If you know who that is, yup it's exactly who you think it is.
I don't want to take up more of your time, so I'll leave it at that. As always I hope you had a great time and have wonderful rest of your day.
PS. ATLUS PLEASE PUT ROLLBACK IN P4AU! FIGHTING GAMES WITHOUT GOOD ROLLBACK ARE NON-FUNCTIONAL IN THIS CURRENT AGE. END OF STORY. THANK YOU FOR COMING TO MY TED TALK!