Chapter 48 / Deceive
May 5th, 2012 / Time Unknown
The Tower
YU'S POINT OF VIEW
No good. No good at all. I move in front of Chie and Yosuke and bring up my sword. I can't move from this spot. If I do, then my friends would be at his mercy. Minazuki Sho stood there menacingly with his Persona standing behind him...adorned in black and red. How had it come to this? And why did this Sho feel so immensely different form the one just moments ago?
"Such trouble you've caused... Thanks to the three of you, I'm forced to show myself," the voice from Sho is an oddly calm one. Nothing like the angry voice from Sho before. Something about this definitely had me completely on guard.
"Who...are you?" I find myself asking. Perhaps I could buy some time for Chie and Yosuke to recover and find out exactly what it is that had changed.
"I'm Minazuki Sho... Rather 'we' are Minazuki Sho," he said in a calm voice, even his eyes showed no real emotion, he just held his gaze on mine, ready for me to act. Still something clicked in place.
"I see...so there are two personalities within you. You have a split personality," I kept my defenses up.
He shook his head, "That isn't strictly correct. I awakened within this child and I exist to grand his wish. That's why I'm using that thing..."
"That thing?" I couldn't makes sense of it but it wasn't referring to Adachi. However, considering all that has happened it was hard to believe that any mere human could accomplish this alone. No, much like the serial murder case...there must be some sort of otherworldly being similar to Izanami involved.
"This child's heart was warped due to great suffering at the hands of man. I must eradicate all that lives to win back peace for him," Minazuki Sho was talking about the other Sho. So he was aiming to destroy the world for the sake of Sho? Minazuki Sho was two individuals sharing a body...and he was awakened from within Sho? Was I getting this all right?
"What good will it do to make the world that way? Humans can't live on their own," I can't help but call out to him.
"That's your perspective. He's unlike you, though, and requires help from no one. Are you that scared of a world with no allies?" This...Minazuki offered the question as if it were something to ponder but I didn't need to think about it.
"No...you're wrong. People grow by living together with others. That's how they're able to better themselves," I wasn't about to accept his words.
He merely shook his head, "As I said, that's your perspective. Sadly...you have no more friends to save you." He looks past me. Obviously looking to the hall behind me. "Seeing as none of them are rushing in, your other friends must have fallen somewhere along the line."
His words make me stop. It was stupid to even consider it but still, why hadn't anyone made it up to us yet? No, there was no way of knowing the situation elsewhere. We were flying blind but I had faith that everyone else was okay. I wasn't about to let the words of one guy shake me up.
"Dammit...Yu! Don't listen to that guy!" Yosuke called out weakly.
"Yeah...We're fine," Chie added. But the two of them were in no position to do this.
"You shouldn't try and act tough. You're on the bring of death. What use would the two of you be? Actually...perhaps you were a hindrance to begin with? Isn't that right, Narukami, since you seem more accomplished than them?" Minazuki quickly turned around their encouragement back on them and causing the both of them to say anything else. I notice in the corner of my vision that Adachi is simply watching to confrontation. "Narukami...Why not cast them aside? Then you'll be able to fight freely. Or are you unable to fight properly without those 'bonds' you speak of? Your weakness is propped up by others, as is the rest of yours. Protecting your wounded comrades will result in your death." Minazuki summoned his Persona once more. His strike with it had been powerful enough to basically render Chie and Yosuke out of the fight. I wasn't about to just stand by and let them get hit.
"Yu! Forget about us! You at least gotta..." Yosuke was panicked.
"That's right! Don't let us...drag you down!" Chie added.
"Shut up, both of you," I say as I stare back at Minazuki.
"How does it feel? You are about to be slain because of your precious friends," he seemed amused, as if his strike was that powerful. "These are indeed 'bonds,' but only in the sense that they restrain you. Don't you think it would be better to remain alone?" He's taunting me but I instead step into a defense stance and focus on his Persona. Something about it looked familiar to me.
"Is that what you really think?" I glared up and met his Persona head on. "Izanagi-no-Okami!" I blocked his attack as I felt my strength and stamina recover. "You don't get it. None of my friends have never been a burden. They've never restrained me or held me back. My power...this power is because of them! And I will not be defeated that easily!"
Minazuki recoils a bit. "Yet it isn't like you need them now that you have that power, right? Do you really think you can hold out against me?"
It didn't matter if I could do it or not. I was going to hold out, one way or another. But just as I was getting ready to block another attack, Adachi spoke up.
"Sounds like a bad plan. Haven't you ever heard the saying, 'The cornered stag is most dangerous?' I don't think you have time or energy to waste," Adachi said simply. The next moment the building was shaking once more. It was getting a lot worse, but I did my best to maintain my defensive guard.
"So it's begun," Minazuki looks up for a moment before looking back to me. "I'll be taking my leave. All that's left is to see this through." He then leaps up to the top of the staircase, far higher than any normal human could and disappears behind the large door. Its sounds echoes through the room as it closes.
As he leaves I feel myself relieved to see him gone.
"Looks like he's gone up to the roof. Hey, not to butt in, but don't you think you're in over your head this time a little, Narukami?" Adachi asked as he took a few steps towards the stairs. "You should realize by now that you are up against more than just that brat. I mean, you're also a bit late. He said he has all the Persona fragments he needs. Only one thing left is to summon that thing. But hey you can't say I didn't warn you." He disappeared through the large door that Minazuki had also gone through.
That left us all alone here, but we couldn't afford to just sit here and wait. I let out a deep breath as I picked up my sheath and put my sword away. I turned and helped Yosuke to his feet, and then Chie.
"So what now? If we head up there, we aren't in any shape to face Minazuki himself," Yosuke said but both of them were looking a lot better. "That hit caught me off guard but it shouldn't hold us back too much. Do you think you could face him, one-on-one, Yu?"
I shook my head, "Honestly, I don't know. If he had continued to attack I'm not sure what would have happened. But there isn't any point on dwelling on it."
"Yeah, plus we can't just sit here and wait. I'm worried about what is taking the others so long but we have to keep moving. Kayane-senpai could be up ahead too," Chie reminded us.
I nodded, she was right. "Staying here does us no good either way. We have to keep going."
"Don't worry, Chie and I only got the wind knocked out of us, nothing serious. We should be in good enough fighting shape, but I'm not sure how much help we'll be against Minazuki," Yosuke said as we all headed to the stairs and continued up. The others would have definitely would have kept going to. And if everything was going as planned...then whatever it was that he was going to summon was what was going to be what would end the world.
I found myself being renewed with strength as we made our way up the stairs. We climbed and climbed, and thankfully it didn't lead us to another maze-like hallway that we had been traveling to get to this point. Instead the stairs only kept us going up more and more. Chie and Yosuke seemed to be gaining energy as well as we continued and seemed to be more like themselves by the time we found ourselves at a door.
I opened it and it opened up to...a rooftop? No this looked a lot different.
"What is this place?" Yosuke knew we didn't have an answer but it was a thought that we all had. However that didn't matter for much longer. We notice attached to a cross was Kirijo Mitsuru. Not only that but tied up in a similar position was Kayane!
"Senpai!" I called out. Kayane looked up at me.
"If it isn't the calvary," he smiled. "Took you long enough."
"Be careful," Mitsuru was speaking. "One of the Shadows is nearby."
"Your journey will end here. Bring on the ring," an individual stepped forward. I quickly turned and pushed Yosuke and Chie back as the four red pillars fell and enclosed around me and the fake. Naturally it was a fake Mitsuru.
"Yu! What are you doing?" Yosuke banged on the invisible wall.
"Don't worry, I can handle this. Go help Senpai and Kirijo-san," I once more threw my sheath to the side.
"Now, it's time for your execution. I'll send you to the afterlife. One after another," The fake Mitsuru pulled back her rapier. I wasn't about to let myself be beaten by a fake. Not here, not when I had finally gotten to Kayane-senpai and Kirijo-san. We were going to succeed. We would turn all of this around and win out this day. In order for that momentum to shift I would have to start it here.
The fake used her rapier to open with a thrust attack, and immediately followed up with fast rapid attacks in succession. She was fast but her strikes were definitely more manageable than Minazuki's had been. I only deflected certain attacks and dodged the others. I flipped around and attempted to sweep out her legs but she jumped back and then swept right back towards me to attack. I jumped away just as she attacked where I had been with the fake Persona Artemesia and a large group of icicles came out of the ground. The fake Mitsuru continued to press the attack, charging straight through the ice and thrusting again with the rapier in quick attacks.
I switched Personas as I met her blade head on. "Mada! Agidyne!" I predicted her movements, she jumped over the fire attack to continue to press her own. As she landed and turned towards me I switched Personas again. "Asura! Primal Force!" The piercing attack went straight through the fake and caused her to collapse back.
"This isn't nearly enough to finish me," the fake still put her left hand over the wound for a moment before getting to her feet. She readied her rapier once more.
These fakes were all created for a single purpose. And ultimately their destruction. To only exist for a short time, only to return to nothing. The power needed to do such a thing had to be greater than any normal person. Was the end goal truly for the end of the world? And why would Minazuki go to such lengths for Sho? And was I to really believe that it wasn't a split personality but two different consciousness within him? The fake Mitsuru was going to charge right in again. No sense of self preservation, only a single determination to defeat the enemy. Yet it was the lack of preservation that made it impossible for the fake to win.
I switched Personas one final time and met her attack head on. I summoned Izanagi and went into a slide as my own Persona increased the force behind me. I hit fake Mitsuru hard at her legs and then spun past her. I quickly got back to my feet and jumped into the air. Izanagi was at my side and propelled me fast back at fake Mitsuru. I slid to a stop as the fake was hit by Ziodyne. Then the fake collapsed into a heap and disappeared. The four red posts disappeared and the fight was over.
Chie was helping Mitsuru down as Yosuke was helping Kayane get to his feet. I quickly moved to Chie's side and eased Mitsuru down to the ground.
"Thank you," Mitsuru gave a nod but she then moved to Kayane. He put his hand up to stop her though.
"If you think what they did is going to actually affect me then forget it," Kayane said as he took a moment to move away from Yosuke and the others.
"What they did?" Chie shared a look with Yosuke.
"His own fake, along with the fake Kujikawa have been torturing him. Though that is putting it rather lightly. It seemed like they were aiming for more psychological based attacks to affect him," Mitsuru said for our benefit. Kayane just looked away from us.
"Kayane-senpai, are you alright?" I ask.
"Do you really want to know?" Kayane glanced at me for a moment. His eyes said enough. He didn't want to discuss it. Still whatever had happened had shaken it up.
"It isn't about that. We don't have time," I quickly replied. "All of us our banged up. I'm not sure we'll be able to stop whatever it is that this Minazuki has planned."
"Minazuki Sho," Kayane said his name. "How much do you know about him?"
I shook my head, "Not much. But he seems to have a split personality. But both of them are drastically different. Not to mention only one side of him seemed capable of summoning Persona. Though Minazuki claimed that they aren't a split personality. He implied that he awakened much later."
"So I guess that means you are right, Kirijo-san. And I suppose that is how I fit into this as well," Kayane was scratching the back of his head. "The quick version is that Minazuki Sho has a Plume of Dusk embedded in him. So there is literally two separate beings occupying his body. And also why one can summon a Persona and the other cannot."
"A plume of dusk? You mean what your Father discovered and what makes the Mechanical Maidens like Labrys and Aigis able to summon Personas?" Chie asked.
"Yes, although I would say a plume of dusk is the equivalent to a soul. It is essentially an independent being. My Father simply found a way that the soul could live," Kayane looked like he wasn't sure what he wanted to think on the subject. I couldn't blame him. It still had only been a couple days since he had learned about his family. He was definitely still trying to figure out how to move forward knowing all this.
"The one responsible for Minazuki Sho was Ikutsuki Shuji. After he took over the Mechanical Maiden project he split off a different division to find other applications for the Plume of Dusk. Which led to them trying to see if they could develop a different method to force the creation of a Persona. Minazuki Sho was the test subject," Mitsuru spoke somewhat softly and she definitely had an angry look on her face. Just how much did she have to deal with because of her Grandfather's twisted desires? "Minazuki's current personality is a direct result of the solitary environment that he was forced to grow up in. His only real interactions coming from Ikutsuki."
"Alright, that solves one thing," Yosuke spoke up, likely to keep our conversation moving. "Do you have any details about whatever it is he's trying to summon?"
"No, I know nothing about that. But if it's similar to what we encountered years ago atop Tartarus...it's nothing welcome," Mitsuru shook her head.
"Well he does want to destroy the world," Chie added.
There was too much to consider, and not much time to act. I wished, if only for a moment that I could know how all the others were doing. However the five of us were left in silence.
May 5th, 2012 / Time Unknown
The Tower
HAMUKO'S POINT OF VIEW
This situation was far worse than I thought it ever could be. This seemed to be more of a mess than it should be. This gymnasium was large, so maybe having this many of the fakes made sense. But there was no way we could have predicted them creating a fake of Minato. Fortunately we got some back up as Yukari, Junpei and Rise had just shown up. This would have been too much for just Labrys and I to take care of.
"How dare you use his appearance!" Yukari yelled out at the fake Minato.
"Does his looks offend you, Yukari?" the fake Minato's voice completely duplicated that of my Brother. I only knew what he sounded like because of the whole mess with Nyarlathotep and my Uncle when I first met them about a year ago.
"You don't get to call me that," Yukari was more than angry.
"Don't wind her up too much, Onii-chan. You'd probably regret it," My own fake moved next to the fake Minato.
"Shut up the lot of ya," the fake Labrys seemed irritated at the other fakes. She stepped forward as the ax on her back detached and she held it straight out towards us.
"Someone seems a bit impatient," the fake Kana strolled next to the fake Labrys and put her hand on the fakes arm. "We aren't in a rush, we already have enough Persona fragments for the plan."
Enough what? Persona fragments? So their tactics were changing? Either way...these fakes seem to be well coordinated. They weren't just mindless dolls with a directive. They seem to be more than capable to think on their own. Something definitely felt off about all of this. What could we do? It was five against the four fakes but the announcement had stated the rules for the fights to be one on one...but maybe that was all it was...rules. It didn't mean we were being forced to follow them.
This was different than the previous incident. Last time when the others had entered the TV they were forcibly split so they only encountered each other one at a time. A benefit to being able to set the rules in that world was that the culprit made it so whenever two individuals that were deemed participants met only one would be able to move on. After they were forced to fight, the winner would be able to leave, but the loser was still stuck inside the barrier. However, that was obviously not the way this was set up, more than likely caused by the limitations they had in controlling where all the would be participants would start. So what would be the plan to ensure you had the people you needed? Well that was why they had kidnapped people. It ensured that the ones they wanted would come.
Aigis, Akihiko, Fuuka, Mitsuru and Kayane were all taken. The four had been together, so likely as long as part of the individuals was part of the Shadow Operatives it would do well enough. And Kayane...was it necessary to take him? The fact that this was occurring in Inaba would likely be more than enough reason to get the others involved. Kayane included. Yeah, that seemed like additional work that didn't have to be done.
"Our purpose was clear," fake Labrys muttered as she was directly facing the real Labrys and I.
"Then how about this, we can split this fight up to one on one, that is the rules of this competition you know," fake Minato grinned. "How about you decide who faces who? Can't complain that way right? Don't worry, we can wait."
"I'm taking Minato," Yukari spoke resolutely. I glanced over at her, and I don't think there was any way to dissuade her. As much as I wanted to beat the crap out of the fake I think I could concede to this.
"Alright, then I'll take the fake Kana," I decided. "Labrys, you should take the fake me."
"You got it," Labrys nodded.
"Leave the fake Labrys to me," Junpei said after a moment.
I looked over to Rise for a moment, "Leave this to us. We don't know what they might have in store for us after."
She nodded, "I'll back you all up. Please be careful, something seems really odd about this situation." She seemed calm, and judging by the pair of baton like objects she had, she was also ready to fight. With Kayane missing, I could understand that desire to fight and take him back yourself. I turned back as I looked at the fake Kana. She seemed more than eager to start.
"My, so eager to face off are we?" the fake Minato chuckled and stepped forward toward Yukari. Then after a moment the clear vivid golden eyes of a Shadow were made more evident. "I see you are still going forward with your useless promise. Saying you'll change the world to not wish for the fall. Do you truly believe that it is something that will happen in your lifetime? Such useless sentiment. Haven't you realized that mankind will never change? There will always be people that wish for death, those that cannot stand against the adversity of life."
"Maybe so, but creating a world where people can recover, can reach out to others and find a way to live. That is something I can influence. And slowly over time those that wish for death will dwindle until there is not enough to even form the being known as Erebus. It won't be easy but its the future that I am striving for and no words can ever convince me that I can't achieve that dream. Not just for Minato but for our daughter and all the people that come after us," Yukari spoke so effortlessly. We all moved away as we knew what was happening next.
"I suppose it is up to me to test that resolve," fake Minato held up his left hand and snapped his fingers. Red pillars appeared around Yukari and the fake and no doubt made it so neither could escape. I slowly walked away to create some room as the fake Kana moved across from me, staring at me as if she had won a prize.
"Color me surprised, here I thought you would go and challenge your own fake. It isn't like you've been paying much attention to the real Kana lately," the fake said it so easily but it made me stop. She was right. I had been spending all my time thinking about Kayane, and actually having family that I didn't even factor in Kana to the equation. Why? Because she was a Shadow? Like it somehow made her not apart of it?
Seems I always need to apologize to Kana for something. She was an important part of my life. She was family before anything else. It didn't matter if she was a Shadow. Thanks to Mitsuru and some documents she was listed as my sister now. In my eyes and even the eyes of the world she was family. So if Kayane was my cousin then he was a cousin to Kana too. I was being selfish thinking that only I was affected. "That's right, I owe Kana an apology. But what really gets on my nerve is some fake running around as her. You may look like her but it undermines everything that she experienced to protect me. I owe Kana not only my life but so much more. So unfortunately for you...you've managed to really piss me off."
"Works for me," fake Kana grinned as the four red posts appeared to separate us from the others. Now the only way out was to fight and defeat her. The fake pulled out a copy of Kana's chain sword in its sword form.
There was a significant difference between Kana and I when it came to fighting. The most obvious is our weapons. I use a Naginata. I have practiced Naginatajutsu since I was a child. When I was free from the experiments. My foster parents had encouraged me to take something like it. Looking back at it now and knowing that my foster parents had been Kirijo Group employee's still trying to spur on growth of a Persona makes more sense in hindsight. Still I had done so, and was quite good at it. Kana used a chain sword, which could extent out as a devastating whip with the parts of the sword serving to cause even more damage against who she fights. Not to mention it being incredibly hard to defend against. Not to mention a weapon like mine where the main part of the weapon is made of a hardened wood, but repeated strikes was definitely bad. I shouldn't have any problems dealing with that but there was another aspect of defending against the chain sword that was difficult. The main problem was she could switch between chain and sword, and the power it does so with should not be underestimated.
The most distinguishing about our differences was the actual fighting style. I was technique driven. My knowledge of martial arts could probably make me predictable if someone is familiar enough with they style of Naginatajutsu. Kana, however, was more driven on instinct, and an incredibly amount of agility and speed. Maybe it had to do with her being a Shadow, but she picked up the use of the chain sword quickly. If anything I would say she was a genius when it came to fighting. Even without using her Persona she would be a frightening opponent. But with one, it was something different. Her Persona used Ice and Lightning based skills but not really much in terms of physical skills. When she first awakened to her Persona, Eurydice, did have some physical attacks. However as we faced different Shadows it was obvious that her Persona was actually more powerful as a caster. It subtly changed her fighting style to one where she focused on creating space and cornering her opponent to be unable to evade her magic attacks. Her attacks were incredibly strong.
I could counter her. After all I had a lot of Persona at my disposal, but that didn't mean it would ever be easy.
Plus expending all our strength here against them could also be a part of the overall strategy. Either way it meant it would be best to end it as fast as possible. The best way to do that against a fake Kana though...
I spun my Naginata in hand as I settled my mind on the Persona that always seemed to be the one I used. Tam Lin was a Persona that was gifted to my by my brother Minato. While he wasn't sure himself how we had been able to do so my Uncle had believed it had to do with how closely the two of us were tied together. We were twins, but just like any pair of twins that were opposite sex we were fraternal. The difference between fraternal and identical twins can be best defined by their differences in genetic makeup. Identical twins are typically between 80 to 100% the same in genetic makeup. However fraternal twins usually are about the same as any siblings born of the same parents, typically sharing 30 to 60% genetic makeup. But Minato and I were different. Our Uncle Yoshimitsu picked me as a test subject because with the initial tests we were around 90% identical in genetic makeup...something that does happen occasionally when fraternal twins are born. I'm not sure if that was correct. No matter what my twin and I shared, I think just being a part of the Arisato family line was likely a big part of it. That was a subject for another day. The fact was that something allowed Tam Lin to be passed on to me from my brother.
I had changed his skills as I needed to thanks to the help of Theodore and my occasional visits to the Velvet Room but after catching my Uncle my contract had technically been fulfilled so I was more or less stuck with the Persona's I had. Although I did have some skill cards left so I could change some things around. And I still learned new stuff and gained other skill cards when defeating Shadows...I just couldn't fuse or pull stuff out of the grimoire.
"Are you finally ready, Hamuko?" the fake Kana put her sword and let it fall into its whip form.
"Heh," I readied my weapon. After everything I have done up to this point, someone like a fake had no chance against me.
"Don't get too cocky!" the fake opened the fight with its fake Persona. A massive ziodyne attack came towards me but I met it head on with Tam Lin who easily weathered the attack and then disappeared. I jumped forward as the fake Kana swung the chain towards me. I met the chain straight on and struck it and pushed it to the ground. Momentum was key for keeping a constant attack with the chain whip form of her weapon. Putting it to a stop forced the fake Kana to revert it back to the sword and leaving her momentarily defenseless. Well mostly. While she retrieved the sword she would likely attack with her Persona to keep me away from her. Which is why I immediately rushed forward after knocking her weapon down.
As the fake Eurydice summoned a powerful bufudyne I leaped into the air and swung my Naginata around and came smashing down at fake Kana. She stepped back but my momentum made her have to take a few more steps back as I landed and spun landing a powerful back kick. It was enough to knock her off balance. I quickly switched Persona to Cybele. "Try to dodge this. Myriad Arrows!" Cybele unleashed a massive attack as many projectiles fell from the sky towards fake Kana.
There was little chance in her able to dodge all of them. And she took a number of attacks and slammed up against the barrier that enclosed us. The fake sent out a number of ziodyne and bufudyne spells to attempt to get me to back off so they could recover. I switched to a new Persona, this time Alilat and moved quickly to avoid the Ziodyne attack while I used Alilat to use Makarakarn on myself. I then moved straight into the bufudyne attack.
"You are nothing like my sister. She would have put a better fight than you," I say as I bring the blade of my Naginata onto the fake, going straight into her. The four red pillars that restricted us collapsed and the fake glared up at me before disappearing. Something gold in color appeared from the melting Shadow and started to head up...but then it stopped and then traveled across the gym to two new individuals stepping into the gymnasium.
"You! What do you think you are doing! The Persona fragments are supposed to go to our Master!" the fake Labrys who was still fighting against Junpei had seemingly noticed the end of my fight with the fake Kana.
"He already has enough for his petty little plan. And he is hardly my Master," the new individual said and had a side-lopped grin as he said this. This was a fake Kayane and at his side was a fake Rise.
"You were created by him weren't you! How can you..." the fake Labrys seemed actually concerned about this. Apparently this fake Kayane was going against whatever the culprits plans were.
"I wouldn't turn your back on your opponent. Iori Junpei is no slouch you know," fake Kayane said calmly as the fake Labrys turned back and started to fight Junpei. "Hurry up and die. I could use the Persona fragments you've gathered."
"C'mon, die, die, die! Kay-chan needs all of your powers, okay?" the fake Rise was attached to the fake Kayane's arms.
What was more disturbing about this was that the fakes currently looked normal. No Shadow eyes or anything unusual about it. Except that the fake Kayane was wearing a Yasogami Uniform...something he would hardly do now because he was now graduated. The fake Rise was also wearing her Yasogami Uniform, which the real Rise wasn't because there had been no school today.
"You! Where is Kayane!" the real Rise was next to my side and was holding the baton weapons in her hand. I hadn't really thought anything of it before...but those batons were actually...Kayane's? But the sickle blades were gone. And the tone in Rise's voice...oh no, something has happened to Kayane and judging by the way his fake was acting it might not have anything to do with the rest of the incident.
"Hmm," the fake Kayane looked up for a moment, pretending to be considering the question. "Seems like Narukami, Satonaka and Hanamura are about to get to him and Kirijo. So I imagine he'll be free relatively soon."
"What did you do to him! Why did you take him?" Rise pressed.
"No real reason. If I was to give an answer I would say she wanted to see him more," the fake Kayane indicated the fake Rise at his side.
The fake smiled big at his side, "Oh having him tied up and unable to resist is so tempting. Can't say you haven't though about it right? Kayane all tied up unable to do anything. Forced to be subjected to everything that I want. Just the mere thought of it gets my motor running if you know what I mean."
"I'm sure if she had the time, your precious Kayane would be more like damaged goods," the fake Kayane shrugged. "As entertaining as it would be to break him its unimportant. So as much as I'd want my own Rise to enjoy herself we have to keep our priorities straight."
"You promised you would make it up to me later," the fake Rise pouted.
"And I will. Minato, Hamuko, we're done here," the fake Kayane said and I realized he was talking to the other fakes but it threw me off. Suddenly the red posts that were holding in the fights with Yukari and the fake Minato as well as Labrys and the fake Hamuko disappeared. The fakes then jumped back to where the fake Kayane was standing.
"Well I knew we wouldn't have long to play, but it was fun while it lasted Yukari," Minato held up his hand as the Persona fragments he had no doubt taken in the fight.
"I had fun with you too, Labrys. Say if Kayane is my cousin then I guess that makes us cousins too huh? Let's play again sometime," my own fake held up her own hand and the Persona fragments and then the Persona fragments went to the fake Kayane.
"You traitors! How? How could you betray him?" the fake Labrys said as the four red pillars disappeared and it seemed Junpei had defeated her. She began to melt away.
"I wasn't created by him. Don't you remember? The fake Kayane was assigned to protect the route to Kirijo Mitsuru and the real Kayane," the fake Kayane's words made all of us stop.
"What? Who are you! Don't get in the master's way!" the fake Labrys said but melted away into nothing. And the fake Kayane pulled all the Persona fragments to him and then seemingly absorbed them.
"What a loud brute. Following so blindly for such a ridiculous plan," the fake me laughed.
"Who are you? If you aren't a fake of Kayane then why are you taking his appearance?" Labrys asked. "What benefit do you get from posing as Oniisan?"
"Seems like none of you get it yet," the fake Minato scoffed. "I think its time we leave."
"No, stop! You can't just leave!" Yukari yelled, but with the way things were...I was more under the opinion that fighting them would not be the best option. Something about the fake Kayane rubbed me the wrong way.
"Fortunately for you, you don't have that choice. Besides you all might want to hurry. The end of the world really will come if you don't hurry. Oh and Kujikawa, give Kayane my best why don't you?" the fake Kayane said as the four of them seemed to be covered by a dark shadow.
"Bye, bye for now!" the fake Rise called out. But then...they were all gone.
"What the heck was all that about? Betrayals on the enemy side?" Junpei was scratching his head as he moved up.
"I dunno, but something was definitely different about that fake Kayane," I commented after a moment.
"Yes, you're right about that," Rise spoke up. I turned to see her gripping those batons even tighter than she had been before. "His energy is different than the others its...darker. Much closer to that of a real Shadow...but there is something else. I couldn't quite place it but the power was immense."
Darker? And an immense power? We had met many foes over the years that worked by impersonating others, but whoever this entity was seemed to have a specific reason to take Kayane's form. And even the fake Minato had seemed to find it amusing that we didn't know why they would take his appearance. What was it that we didn't know? Still as much as I hated to admit it we didn't have time to...
The whole area began to shake violently.
"Whoa, what is going on?" Yukari was having a hard time standing up so I moved over to her and we stabilized each other. After a moment the shaking stopped.
"Kujikawa, any way you can figure out what is going on?" Labrys asked.
She shook her head, "No, something is still getting in my way. I can almost break through but..."
"We can't stand around wondering. Regardless if that fake is working against the culprit here, he indicated that the world really was in danger," Yukari separated from me and took a few steps away. "Likely whatever that shaking was means whatever is coming is on its way."
"Then what the hell are we sticking around here for?" Junpei said as he moved over to a door on the far side and pulled it open. "What the hell?"
"Junpei? What is..." Yukari followed him and looked through the door. "Hey! Isn't this Club Escapade?"
What did she say? I rushed over and peered in from behind them. Sure enough...what was before us was the location of Club Escapade. "Hold on! Its Fuuka." Tied to a cross was none other than Yamagishi Fuuka. Why was Club Escapade a part of this tower? It was intentional, that was for sure, but why combine aspects of places that the Shadow Operatives knew and the Persona users from Inaba? Was there a reason for that? What was the thread that connected all of this together?
Yukari and Junpei rushed into the room and immediately took Fuuka off the cross. Junpei grabbed her as she fell as the rest of us came in to the room.
"This is the place from Tatsumi Port Island. We visited this place during the school trip this year," Rise commented as she moved next to me. "I was supposed to have a concert here a couple years ago but it never happened because of some power outage."
I looked at her for a moment and shook my head, "It wasn't a power outage. Not completely anyway. One of the Shadows related to Tartarus was in the basement of Club Escapade and had been feeding on the power lines. From what I read, it was the one full moon battle where everyone was here...was still alive."
Rise looked to me for a moment, "I can't imagine how hard it must be for you. All these things you were told about your brother. But you never got to meet him."
I shrugged, "Well not really at any rate."
"Either way, I don't know how I would feel about it if I learned something like that about myself. Its why I think Kayane is having such a hard time. He spent most of his life thinking he had lost everything. That he had no family left. And now he doesn't know what to think, or do. Well, he hasn't said anything about it. But he always clams up when he has a lot on his mind," Rise definitely had a lot on her mind when it came to Kayane. I couldn't blame her, she was his girlfriend, and more than that they were going to be in the music industry together. It wasn't some passing relationship for her. Most girls her age wouldn't be in a serious relationship, but Rise had dealt with Shadows and all the troubles that the Persona users in Inaba had faced. I didn't know what they had gone through, but there was more than just camaraderie between their members. It was easy to see that all of them deeply trusted each other. "I think you understand what he might be thinking better than anyone else though. And while I want to be the one to comfort him, he might need you more than me in all of this."
I pause for a moment as I look to her and I shook my head, "Don't kid yourself. He needs you, not me. For me, its pretty selfish. He's my cousin. I always dreamed about having family, and it took me so much willpower not to tell him. But not because he deserved to know, but just because I needed him to know." Rise looked like she was going to say something, probably around the lines of its okay or whatever, so I shook my head again. "It isn't okay. Not once did I think how it would effect him or what he was going through. In the end I didn't tell him but then he had that boatload of information dropped on him. I want to help him but you should be the one to do it. He's family, and because of that I want to get to know him but you love him. You never had any obligation to help him or get close to him, but you did. Your motivations are far better than my own."
Rise turned to me and shook her head, "He needs everyone. Not just me. I wish I could help him on my own but that is just my own selfishness as his girlfriend. I want him to put me above everyone else. And I also want to prioritize him over everything else. That was the choice I made when he came back to life."
Back to life? I blinked and I believe I heard a little bit about that. "That must have been an emotional time."
"More than can be easily explained. It was when we thought we had caught the killer in the serial murder cases here in Inaba. Kayane rushed in to save Nanako, the young cousin of Narukami-senpai. But he was alone, and by the time we got to him, it had been quite a long time to be in the TV world. We don't know why but when we left, he collapsed and fell into a coma. He spent around a month slipping in and out of the coma. We weren't even dating at the time, but we had been growing closer. I had already been falling for him. But I had to see him. I went there so often and in that time I made my decision to dedicate myself to him. It was an emotional choice on my part and I didn't realize the impact on my life it would make. I even told him I would marry him, as long as he came back. I thought it was a fair price at the time. That I could do that," Rise explained this softly and looked towards the ground. "But I've spent my whole life focusing on my own life. I didn't know the first thing on how I could support someone like Kayane. He is someone that has gone through so much that I can only relate to so much. And I had no idea how I could support him. Just listening to him and offer words of comfort can only go so far. But Kayane has many ingrained fears in him because of what he went through. It took a long time to just be able to touch him without him shaking, or trying to get away."
I knew about his past, about the abuse but also the traumatic events he had been a part of. But I knew nothing about how he had dealt with them after the fact. And in that way, I knew nothing about Kayane. "He hides it well."
"You say that because you are only starting to know him. After some time, you'll see it in how he walks, in how he stops to think about something. Even the way he orders food at a restaurant. He does everything to not cause ripples, to have the lowest impact, to sneak under your radar. He doesn't let people get close to him, not until us. And he's so afraid to let himself live that he builds it up inside him, and he doesn't sleep well," Rise shuffled her feet a bit. "I've watched over him for months now and the nightmares he has only seem to get worse. And he won't talk about it, whatever it is that seems to be eating him alive. I don't know how I'm supposed to help him bring that out but I know I'm going to do everything I can to protect and support him to get to that point," Rise became more resolute than she had started.
Things were probably more complicated than I knew. And now was hardly time for us to sit down and talk, and it seemed like talking about all of it was something that Rise needed to do. "How about we get together after this mess ends and we'll talk about all of it. First we focus on rescuing Kayane," I smiled a bit.
"Hamuko-san," Fuuka was walking over to me and then looked over. "Wait, Kujikawa? Can you help me? Us together should be able to get past whatever it is that is blocking us from contacting the others."
Rise nodded, "You're right. I feel like I've been close but I need a bit more help to get through it."
"Okay I...wait. Kujikawa-san, you have another Persona?" Fuuka looked alarmed, and this caught my attention as well. Of course, Fuuka would be able to pick up on that. I hadn't known at all.
"Whoa really? You have two Personas?" I ask her.
She nodded, "It's complicated. It isn't like you or Senpai. You guys have that power called the Wild Card right? It was explained to me as awakening to an additional Arcana...something that goes with my second goal." Rise seemed like she wasn't sure how to explain it but I think I could tell that it was something told to her by Igor.
"You saw that room, didn't you?" I ask her.
She nods, "Yes but we need to keep moving forward. But I'm not going to stick to the sidelines. I'm going to fight."
I found myself smiling. So her resolve with Kayane gave her power to actively protect him instead of staying by the side. And if she had been to the Velvet Room that means that even though she only gained another Arcana, it was a power that would still require their help to fully use...or the ordeal she was going to face required her help. Well, that could be left alone for now. Her power she gained might be helpful here, but I seriously doubt it was the reason she got it. No, whatever the reason it was coming later. And if it involved Rise and Kayane then I couldn't ignore it. Either way, we still needed to deal with right now. "I'm with you. Now lets see if we can contact the others."
"Right, Persona!" Rise said as her Persona appeared behind her and fitted a visor over her head. Fuuka did the same with her own.
"You expand your search, and I'll focus on guiding you through the fog," Fuuka spoke directly into our minds as she was within her Persona. I had wondered what it was like to search using your Persona. I always knew when a Shadow was nearby but there was something more to it that having a support ability. I knew Fuuka could essentially see it with her Persona, I couldn't say if Rise's ability was similar.
"That's it! I found them! Everyone! Everyone can you hear me?" Rise's voice came into my head as I felt the odd sensation of multiple people being connected. This was one difference between Rise and Fuuka's power. Rise literally connected people together, whereas Fuuka was more powerful with analyzing and giving everyone information using herself as a medium. This was it. All our minds were connected. Maybe now we could piece together what we knew. It was time to bring this night to an end.
May 5th, 2012 / Time Unknown
The Tower
Not having a weapon made me feel more exposed than I thought it would. However, Yu and the others had taken a beating to get up to this point. And something about those crosses that Mitsuru had been tied up to had been draining her power. The extent of that was hard for me to quantify but Mitsuru seemed worried about us being in a encounter with Sho. It wasn't something that we could avoid though. Facing him was the only way to stop all of this. I wasn't clear as to why I had been taken, especially when I had been treated differently than the others.
"Everyone! Everyone can you hear me?" Rise's voice suddenly came to my mind.
"Rise?" I spoke reflexively.
"Kayane!" Her voice changed the moment after I spoke. "Are you okay? Where are you?"
"Don't worry. Chie, Yosuke and Yu rescued Kirijo-san and I. Take a moment to get your bearings, you should know where I am," I spoke as soothingly as possible. No doubt her mind was moving at a mile a minute. Still I couldn't believe how badly I had missed her voice because I found myself sighing in relief.
"So have we recovered everyone?" Sanada Akihiko voice came over next. "Aigis is over with us here."
"Don't forget yourself, Akihiko-san," Aigis added.
"I am here as well. With Kujikawa-san and I combining together we can get past the interference the red fog is causing. I believe we have everyone here," Yamagishi Fuuka confirmed to us that everyone was accounted for.
"Unfortunately we are short on time. We need to pool together our knowledge quickly and decide our course of action," Mitsuru was quick to begin taking charge of the situation.
"Let's not overwhelm each other all at once. We'll go over the start of this incident and how it started before going into information that has been gathered since," I quickly spoke up before anyone else could. "Kirijo-san, you should start."
"Agreed. After our meeting at Ikakure's house the other night, we returned to the temporary Shadow Operative headquarters. Labrys accompanied us to have maintenance but was going to return to Inaba upon completion. However, things changed when in that time we discovered an odd spike in Shadow activity in Inaba. Aigis, Akihiko, Yamagishi and I decided to investigate it before we determined a course of action. So we headed straight back and left Labrys at the facility while she was still under going maintenance. As we approached the city we found that our driver was under the control of the mastermind similar to how the individuals were used in the plane hijacking from the previous incident. The vehicle was forced off the road after which we were quickly ambushed. After the collision, none of us were in the best shape the fight," Mitsuru offered a simple but concise explanation of the events.
"This also happened much earlier in the day. I would imagine we were out for several hours," Aigis added.
"Okay that sets up the first actions for them. I was taken next to the Flood Plains. Where I fought multiple fakes on my own. I was easily overwhelmed and captured," I propelled the conversation forward.
"Multiple fakes? On your own?" Yu was next to me and he definitely wanted to know more about it.
"Fakes of Rise, Naoto and myself if you want me to be specific," I glanced at him for a moment. "Anyway, they took me to Yasogami around the time everything changed. I was conscious for most of it, so I was briefly with Kirijo-san and all the others before they split them up. Likely when the fakes figured out how the rest of you were moving around the town. Which moves to the next point. Teddie, Rise, Kirijo and Yamagishi were all unable to properly help the remaining Persona users. The Red Fog in fact serves a double purpose."
"To disrupt communications and to collect Persona fragments," Naoto's voice caught me off guard for a moment. Hearing my friends after being isolated for some time was a greater relief than I realized.
"Essentially. Kirijo-san and the others were out cold for most of the time but I heard the fakes and Minazuki Sho talking about it in some capacities. The Persona fragments are meant to be used as a source of power. To fuel however it is the one behind all of this intends to end the world. I'm not too clear on that but all of it is connected. If I had to guess, kidnapping Labrys and the whole first incident was just to ensure that the Shadow Operatives were aware of his existence. So that his next move would make the Shadow Operatives act to try and prevent something further. It was how they caught them off guard and kidnapped them. The first incident was also a test to see how strong mentally not only was the Persona users of Inaba, but the members of the Shadow Operatives as well. So whether or not they were able to make our Persona's revert to Shadows or the fate of Labrys didn't really matter either way, all of that was simply a set up and test for the plan they would enact tonight," I only had a portion of it but I knew the connected parts were there.
"So succeeding wasn't really a prerequisite to what they wanted to accomplish here. But it was like a trial run to test some of the power they would have to use for the goal of today. And maybe gather information about the Persona users as well?" It was a voice I had only heard a couple times but it was Takeba Yukari. The woman that had apparently had a child with my cousin who had died saving the world. Man things just sounded weird when you try to sum it up like that.
"And also why they didn't show themselves in that first incident. They had been manipulating it from the outside like what both Rise and Yamagishi figured out later," I think we needed to get on to the more important part of this discussion. "We should talk about Minazuki Sho. I believe Yu and the others here are the only ones that have encountered him so far. He has red hair and a scar on his face, that is very distinct, like a large X. But he isn't necessarily normal. He is tied to something with the Kirijo Group's past. Although that is just based on my observations."
"Oniisan, I can explain. On the way here I was given a data storage device containing encrypted files from part of the Kirijo Groups research. Kikuno-san entrusted to me as I would be able to work on decrypting the information as we progressed. I haven't fully decrypted it but I have a significant amount of details. Minazuki Sho was a test subject for a side experiment to Ikutsuki Shuji. The experiment was to plant a Plume of Dusk inside of a human being," Labrys words held a heavy weight, and a subtle anger. I doubt there could be anyone Labrys hated more that Ikutsuki Shuji. After all he was the one that had killed my parents and caused my family to be split. And also why Labrys had been forced to destroy her own sister units. It was a great source of pain for her. Even if I wasn't sure what to quite think of my own relation to the Mechanical Maiden that called me her brother, I knew she really felt these strong emotions.
"A Plume of Dusk inside a human? Perhaps as a means to awaken a Persona?" Mitsuru thought near by.
"But its more than that. Both Aigis and Labrys exist because of the Plume of Dusk they have. It is not just a means to gain a Persona. A Plume of Dusk is a soul, a living being," I spoke softly but with Rise and Yamigishi's power connecting everyone it wasn't like I needed to speak loud for everyone to hear me.
"I get it, that was how he changed. He doesn't have a split personality, but is literally two separate beings occupying the same body. That is why Sho doesn't have a Persona, bu the side that refers to himself as Minazuki does," Yosuke added to clarify some of the events that they had seen. Likely before they had gotten to Mitsuru and I.
"But there is another individual. Minazuki also referred to them as having borrowed a power from someone," Yu added.
"Putting that information to use, I would assume that this power they borrowed was how they were able to create this tower and the red fog. As well as the fakes they were using to collect the Persona fragments. So the individual must have the ability to copy or mimic as well as twist perception," Naoto was speculating but it made sense with what we knew.
"If that's the case then likely the Ikutsuki Shuji I saw when we arrived was a copy to split us up," Another voice I didn't recognize spoke.
"Amada?" Mitsuru seemed surprised.
"Hi, Mitsuru-san. Koromaru is here too," the boy named Amada spoke and immediately a dog barked over the communication. Wait...a dog?
Mitsuru was smiling, "That is Amada Ken and Koromaru. Both Persona users and valuable friends of mine." She explained in a simple phrase. I guess a dog having a Persona didn't surprise me too much. Dog's definitely have strong wills of their own so why wouldn't they be able to use that power to protect things on their own?
"Another thing to keep in mind. Adachi is here, and was roped into helping, but his intentions are a little unclear," Yu added.
"Adachi? Yu, are you okay?" Yukiko was instantly worried. She had every right to be, considering how close Yu had been to Adachi...or thought he had been. Still the presence of Adachi was weird...why would they need him to do anything? Maybe they thought that the goal of destroying the world was something he would get behind?
"I'm fine Yukiko," Yu assured his girlfriend.
"But he's not okay to fight," I said after a moment. "We can discuss the greater details of this case later. For now we need you all to head up here so we can press forward and..."
"There is more to it than that. There is also a fake Kayane running around, and seems to have control of other fakes," Rise interjected.
"Yes. But they also have a fake Rise, one of myself...and a fake of Arisato Minato," This was Hamuko speaking.
"Wait, we defeated the fake Kayane on our way to rescue him, so how could there..." Yu started but Hamuko interupted.
"Because he wasn't created by whoever is responsible here. He basically betrayed the other fakes and then left," Hamuko's words worried me for a lot of reasons.
"So it was a fake of me that was leading them? But why?" I mutter not expecting to get an answer.
"I don't mean to push this aside but we don't have time. We need to come up with a plan," Mitsuru was right, we couldn't keep standing around and talking about all of this.
Then the Tower began to shake with a renewed ferocity. I managed to brace myself from falling, but the others that are already tired from the fights they had been in to get this far collapse to the ground.
"This is bad! I can feel Shadows, lots of them!" Rise suddenly announced.
"Shadows...Countless Shadows are gathering at this tower! They keep coming! They are going to be here soon!" Fuuka added.
"The Shadows are passing through here...It looks like they're heading to the top of the tower! Wait, hold on. The Shadows at the top of the tower are merging together!" Rise words catch us all off guard.
"This must be part of the summoning that Sho mentioned before," Yu shook his head. "We're out of time."
"Everyone fall back to where we are now. Yu and I will head up to the top and see what we can do in the meantime. Just hurry up. We don't have much time. And I am going to need the backup," I say after a moment.
"Good idea. Let's head up and see if we can create a choke point we can defend from. After that we'll send up some reinforcements to you guys, so hold up until then," Akihiko quickly added.
I turned and started running to the stairs with Yu behind me.
"Good luck you two," Mitsuru said as she was picking up her sword from the belongings of hers that were on the ground.
"We got your back," Yosuke added.
"Go give him hell," Chie cheered.
As we started going up the stairs I glanced back at Yu for a moment, "Don't go crazy. You aren't in much better shape than the others, even with your power. Let me fight for now and you back me up."
He nodded, "You got it Senpai."
"Don't do anything reckless, Kayane," It was Rise, she was speaking to me, and me alone now. "I'm coming to help you, so please..."
"I'll be waiting for you," I say in a whisper but she heard it loud and clear. We had no idea what we would be facing, but this was the only action that I felt made sense. With everything that had happened it felt like my life was still blazing forward and I had no time to adjust to the amount of information I still needed to sort through. But I wasn't alone. I had family. A sister, a cousin, well two cousins. I mean Kana counted as family too. Although she probably isn't sure if she should feel that way. And Rise, who I know was trying to support me, and help me through all that I had learned.
"Senpai, about Sho. I think we should try to save him," Yu pulled my mind back to the present.
"Save him?" I'm not surprised by Yu saying this. "He might be a victim of the past as well, right? He may have been used by whoever the mastermind is, that is what you are saying."
"Yeah, I get that feeling from him," Yu said after a moment.
"Then we'll try. But you know saving the world comes first right?" I remarked and he nodded in response as we continued up the steps. There was no knowing what would happen next. An ending where everyone could be saved would be ideal. But that may not be an option.
A/N:
Sorry for the delay! I honestly forgot to post this yesterday...but better late than never, haha.
Well now everyone is connected again. But time is definitely not on their side. Then again those that have played Ultimax (which I would assume is the majority of my readers) would know that already. But obviously there is a big difference here. Namely that there is also a Shadow Minato running around, but being led by a Shadow Kayane who apparently is not created by our big bad that created all the other fakes. There is a lot that happens as we're quickly nearing the end of Ultimax. Though I think we still got a couple chapters left.
There is going to be quite a lot to cover before we get to Dancing All Night. Which the plot of Dancing All Night is also going to differ in a lot of ways due to Kayane. I'm really looking forward to getting there but we have other things to get through before we do.
This story has changed and evolved as I've written it. Originally I was only going to write through the original game. The story originally did not include anything from Golden, and I had a much different ending in mind. But due to many reasons, including a lot of talks among my friends and reviews from my readers the story naturally changed over time. When I started posting the story here on fan fiction I had already planned to incorporate Golden as I posted it. Eventually I figured out some ideas to bring in the other games. The focus of the story is still about Kayane and Rise. If it doesn't really add to the two of them then likely I won't dwell on it too much. The main reason is that I wanted this to be a journey and how they both grow and struggle together.
To be honest, Rise was a character I enjoyed but wasn't really my favorite. But she also made the most sense for the story I wanted to tell with this fan fiction, so her and Kayane just seemed to be a natural fit. The more I wrote, the more it made sense. Then again with Kayane having a background in music, I'm sure it would have worked with another of the girls but I don't feel it would have been a big enough emotional impact. And even though Rise is younger, she is in a lot of ways more mature than the rest of the cast. Strangely both of the younger girls, Rise and Naoto have a lot more real world experience than their would-be seniors. Naoto has likely seen a lot about the ugliness of humanity, but so has Rise, although the sides they've seen are much different. Which is partly the reason why out of the cast the ones that get along with Kayane the best are Rise and Naoto. Although Yu and Yukiko get along with him pretty well as too.
There is a lot more to come but we are coming towards the end of Ultimax. Not sure if it will be two or three more chapters but we'll see. Thank you so much for taking time to read my work in this small corner of the internet. I greatly appreciate your time. I hope you have enjoyed it.
