"Look, it's her." Chie said.
"Yeah, and that's her shadow." Yosuke said as the persona users ran up to her. "Rise-chan."
"Oh my, have you all come to see everything about me?" Shadow Rise asked. "Well just wait a little longer, the show is about to start."
"No stop it, please stop." Rise said holding her head.
"What a joke, she's asking me to stop. Like that's even close to what you're really thinking you little skank." Shadow Rise said coldly. "We both know this is exactly who you are, not Risette some fake celebrity who doesn't even exist."
"Dad, what does she mean?" Nanako asked. "Rise-chan is Rise-chan right?"
"Well it isn't that simple, she's an idol which means other people tell her how to act." Dojima said. "Risette is the person on TV but technically nobody named Risette is real. It's just Rise, do you get it?"
"I think so." Nanako said. "So Rise-chan isn't Risette?"
"Let me try Dojima-san." Adachi said. "Think of it like this Nanako-chan, Risette is a character on TV that's like Rise-chan but there's more to Rise-chan than you see on TV."
"Ok." Nanako said in confusion.
"Maybe the game will explain it." Dojima suggested. "Plus we need to save her right Nanako?"
"Yeah." Nanako said happily.
"Please stop it." Rise said shaking her head.
"This is bad, at this rate she'll reject her shadow." Yosuke said nervously.
"Don't worry, we'll take down the shadow no problem." Chie said confidently.
"Patience, the show's going to start any minute now." Shadow Rise said excitedly.
"No, stop it." Rise said. "You, you're not me."
"Oh wow, here it comes." Shadow Rise said as a red cloud appeared around her before Rise fell unconscious.
"This is it, let's take down the boss and save Rise." Dojima said calmly.
"Yeah." Nanako said before Shadow Rise appeared to be a rainbow colored humanoid figure with a satellite dish for a face.
"I am a shadow, the true self. What you're trying to rush the stage, then I'll have to give you some extra special extra intense service." Shadow Rise said.
"What do you think Nanako, should we go with the usual strategy?" Dojima asked.
"Ok." Nanako said. "Oh, which one was it again dad?"
"Masukakaja." Dojima said calmly.
"Dojima-san, I might not know as much as you two about this game but isn't it a good idea to make ourselves stronger first?" Adachi asked.
"We'll get to that Adachi." Dojima said. "Now then, as for Chie let's try her new Black Spot."
"Ok." Nanako said.
"Persona." Chie said before her persona appeared and struck Shadow Rise.
"That didn't do much Dojima-san." Adachi said nervously.
"I know that." Dojima said in annoyance. "Ok, now what should Yukiko do?"
"Nobody's hurt, um she should protect herself." Nanako said.
"In that case Yukiko can guard and as for Kanji, Matarukaja." Dojima said calmly.
"Oh, I get it Dojima-san." Adachi said "Good idea."
Suddenly Shadow Rise used a fire attack and hit everyone knocking Chie off her feet.
"Oh no, she's hurt." Nanako said nervously.
"Don't worry, Yukiko can heal her." Dojima said before Shadow Rise hit Kanji.
"Alright, now you can do a lot of damage to that boss Dojima-san." Adachi said.
"Right, ok let's see which persona should Junes Dojima use now?" Dojima said. "Alright let's try this one, Pyro Jack."
"What are you doing Dojima-san?" Adachi asked. "He's weaker than the other ones."
"Maybe, but he does have this." Dojima said selecting Agidyne.
"We're going to win right dad?" Nanako asked with a smile.
"We'll win as long as the boss doesn't have any unexpected surprises." Dojima said.
"You should never say that Dojima-san, it never ends well." Adachi said nervously.
"We'll be fine Adachi." Dojima said. "Now then, let's have Chie use Black Spot again."
"We need to make Chie feel better dad, she's hurt." Nanako said.
"Yeah, I know." Dojima said. "Now's as good a time as any to use Mediarama."
"Good idea, if this keeps up we'll win in no time." Adachi said confidently.
I have a bad feeling things won't be as simple as we think, Dojima thought nervously.
"Do you think we should attack dad?" Nanako asked.
"No, something tells me we need to defend." Dojima said. "I have a bad feeling about this."
"Is it your detective's intuition?" Adachi asked.
"Something like that." Dojima said. I only hope I'm wrong, he thought.
"That's it, you clearly have no understanding of how these things work. No touching allowed." Shadow Rise said before scanning Junes Dojima, Chie, Yukiko, and Kanji.
"What did that do dad?" Nanako asked.
"I don't know, but it didn't do any damage so we should be safe for now." Dojima said selecting Agidyne again only for the game to say that it missed.
"Maybe it was just bad luck." Adachi suggested.
"No, it isn't bad luck. She knows exactly what we'll try, that's what it meant when she scanned us." Dojima said. "We can't win."
"We have to dad, otherwise Rise-chan will get killed." Nanako said nervously.
"I know, but there's nothing we can do. All of our attacks will miss." Dojima said. "All we can hope for is that the game planned this, otherwise we'll have to get stronger and beat her before this happens."
"So are we just supposed to block everything until some kind of miracle happens?" Adachi asked.
"Right now there isn't anything else we can do." Dojima said. "Maybe we can wait for it to wear off like the other techniques."
"I hope so Dojima-san." Adachi said while Dojima had Chie, Yukiko, and Kanji guard.
"It's not fair, we came all this way to save Rise-chan and the game isn't letting us." Nanako said. "We need to do something."
"I know, but until that move wears off we just need to wait." Dojima said before the screen faded to white and the battle ended. "Oh, now I get it."
"What happened dad?" Nanako asked.
"That wasn't the boss battle, the real boss hasn't shown up yet." Dojima said. "I have a feeling I know who the boss is going to be."
(Dojima, Nanako, and Adachi have managed to get through Shadow Rise's battle, but the boss fight isn't over yet. Next chapter the real boss of the third dungeon will appear and the battle will begin. As always any reviews or critique is appreciated.)