So, SMT V has just released as I'm writing this. I spoiled all the endings for myself, since I really don't have the money to go & get the game. And they're pretty good. I won't spoil it for you guys though, but just know that info was leaked about the game at least a week before it was officially released.
That said, I will point out that Casey Mongillo did a phenomenal job as the Nahobino. I'd go as far as to say it's their best performance in anything they've been in thus far.
Now, onto something considerably less canon.
Wednesday, March 6th, 2024
Afternoon
Downtown Los Angeles
Shouma nonchalantly walked along the street near Central Market holding a black backpack. He leaned on a wall near the alleyway where the entrance to Agartha was and pulled out his phone to text his father. While typing the text, he overheard a conversation from two men near him.
"Hey, you hear about that shady website that's been making the rounds lately? I heard it's delivering to the US now." One of them asked.
"You mean Tanaka's Amazing Commodities? Yeah, doesn't that sell and deliver all kinds of weapons and other stuff like that? How's that thing even legal?" The other one shook his head.
"I heard a rumour that he was able to get the site up and working in the States by buying off some people in the FBI. Crazy, huh?"
"Man, you don't need to remind me how corrupt the system is." The second one groaned.
Shouma had heard of Tanaka before. He was rather infamous back in Japan, the kind of man who'd slit his own mother's throat for a five-yen piece. But FOSC could use those weapons he was selling. He made sure to make a mental note of that.
He finished off the text and sent it. "At central market. Who else is coming?"
Less than a minute later, he got a response from Wataru. "Juniper and Piers. They should already be there by now."
Shouma walked into the alleyway where the two were indeed waiting for him, with Juniper carrying a large case of some kind. "Sorry I'm late." He said.
"Actually, you're on time." Piers reassured. "By the way, where are Daigo and Lucas?" He asked.
Juniper sighed. "Lucas had to go visit his relatives in Seattle. He's gonna be gone for a while."
"And Daigo said he had some important business to do for now." Shouma added. "Haven't seen him since this morning."
Piers looked at the two of them. "So it's just the three of us?"
"Looks like it." Juniper answered.
Shouma opened the crack in the wall to reveal the door to Agartha. "Well, there's no use in just standing around here. Let's go." He stepped through the gateway into Agartha, Piers and Juniper following closely behind as the three of them were bathed in light.
Agartha
Shouma stood again on the monochrome cliff face he arrived on before. He gazed out over the horizon to take in his surroundings. All of it still felt so surreal to him. He looked down and noticed his Persona manifested as the cape around his neck. Good to see he still had that.
Piers and Juniper materialised right behind him and gathered their footing as Shouma turned around to meet them.
"Juniper, you have the thing?" He asked.
"Of course I do." She backhandedly remarked. She opened the case and pulled out a modified transceiver.
"That model looks kinda old." Piers noted. "Like, really old."
"Digital devices don't work in Agartha." Juniper explained. "The best we can do is transistor-based equipment."
Shouma pulled his phone out to test the theory. His phone flat-out just wouldn't turn on. This was going to be annoying.
Juniper turned it on and started fiddling with the dials until the static on the other end became clearer. "This is the field team to Operator, come in. We've made it to Agartha safely. Over." She said into the transceiver.
The voice on the other end briefly stuttered, though eventually became more legible. "...is is ope...ome in. Do you read?" Shouma immediately recognised the voice as his father's.
"We hear you." Shouma replied. "So, what do we need to get done?"
"Your mission is to investigate Tharmas Tower and get as far up as you can." Wataru answered. "Try to look for anything that could connect it to the other three towers or Shambhala and photograph it. Wall-paintings, artifacts, anything that looks important."
"Got it." Shouma nodded and began to walk towards the tower.
"Shouma, there's something else I need to tell you." Wataru managed to say.
Shouma turned back to listen to him. "Yeah, what is it?" He asked.
"Daigo told me to tell you that as a Wild Card, sometimes even low-ranking shadows can be converted into new Personas. He thought it might be of use to you."
"Good to know." Shouma said.
Wataru continued. "I'll be in contact with you to assist the three of you in the absence of Lucas and his Persona. I don't have one, so my ability to help you is more limited than the extent of Atash Behram's abilities."
"Don't worry about it." Piers reassured. "We're more than capable of handling this. I mean, we all have Personas on-hand."
"I understand, but don't get cocky." Wataru warned. "If any of you get knocked out, I won't be able to reach you."
"It's okay, dad." Shouma interjected. "We'll be fine, I know we will. We'll call you if we need your help."
The transceiver went silent for a moment. "Just stay safe, okay?" Wataru pleaded. "Operator out." The feed then cut.
Shouma looked off towards the direction of Tharmas Tower and motioned his two companions to follow him. "You heard the man. Let's investigate." He, Piers and Juniper ran off towards the Tower.
Tharmas Tower
The three stood in front of the tower they fought in front of a few days prior. Shouma noticed scorch marks near the entrance. No doubt they were from their battle with the guardian. On his signal, he kicked the door down as they walked through the entrance.
They walked into a large foyer with the symbol of Tharmas shining blue and hanging on the archway above a staircase going up the tower. The floor was made of cobbled stone arranged into patterns, almost like a medieval castle.
"Hey, what's this meant to be?" Piers asked, walking over to a strange-looking device made of stone. It looked like a two-tiered terminal with dim green lights slowly flashing along the sides.
"Don't touch it, you idiot!" Juniper chastised. She opened the case again and pulled out a polaroid camera and lined it up to take shots of the terminal, moving around to get more angles and quickly placing the photos into a plastic ziplock bag.
Shouma then noticed something out of the corner of his eye. A shining light-blue butterfly flying off to the left. He turned to try and follow it.
"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Juniper asked.
Shouma pointed at the butterfly. "Do you not see the butterfly right there?"
Piers and Juniper looked around. "I don't see anything, man." Piers told him. "Are you okay?"
Shouma kept looking back between his friends and the butterfly. It was still there. The butterfly then circled around him before finally settling down near the stairs. A flash of light filled the room, though Piers and Juniper again didn't react. Shouma looked back where the butterfly was, only to see a door where it sat. The door was a bold blue with gold embellishments lining the sides. In fact, it was a very familiar shade of blue.
He felt something strange in his pocket. The key that Igor had given him was flashing blue.
"Wait, I recognise that key." Juniper's eyes shot open. "Daigo called that thing the 'Velvet Key'. He'd unlock a place somewhere, black out and sometimes come back with stronger Personas."
That explained it. Shouma walked towards the door and unlocked it with the Velvet Key as he was engulfed in a white light.
Velvet Room
Shouma came to in the Velvet Room, sitting just across from Igor and Walton. "We've been waiting for you." Igor mused.
"So this is what you meant by our next meeting being of my own accord." Shouma said, leaning back in his chair.
"Indeed." Igor answered. He then closed his eyes. "So you remember when I told you of a coming threat?"
Shouma remembered him saying something like that while he was above the Pacific Ocean. "Yeah, why?"
"It has not yet made itself known to you, however it's already starting to make its first moves. You must be prepared for when it inevitably strikes." Igor warned.
"And you're going to need all the help you can get for this." Walton added. "I'm not even mocking you here. It's that bad."
"So is this threat you keep telling me about related to Agartha in some way?" Shouma asked.
Igor shook his head. "That, I cannot say. We barely know anything more than you on that front, only that it's coming."
Shouma sat back in his seat. "Right." He then restlessly looked around. "So, I think I need to get going."
"Of course." Igor reasssured. "We're always available whenever you need us."
Shouma's vision slowly blurred until it went completely white.
Tharmas Tower
"...ouma. Shouma!" He heard call out.
"Huh?" Shouma snapped back to his senses, and shook his head.
"Dude, you were out for like a few minutes!" Piers said, concerned.
"I-I'm fine. Don't worry about me." Shouma reassured. He then eyed the staircase. "Anyway, don't we have a tower to climb?" Piers and Juniper both nodded as the three ran up the stairs.
They entered into a winding corridor amid a maze of ascending, interlocking staircases above them, all hugging the walls and reaching far above them with various platforms hanging off the edges at certain points.
"So..." Shouma looked on, utterly overwhelmed. "Any idea which way to go?"
Juniper stared at him. "I'm sorry, I thought you were the field leader." She remarked.
Shouma stared back at her, completely unimpressed. "Are we really doing this right now?" He asked rhetorically.
Juniper scowled at him. "...Whatever you say, vice president Tashiro."
Piers stepped between the both of them. "Hey hey, how about we all calm down and focus on our mission?" He then took glances at the both of them. "You can have an argument about this later, but maybe now isn't the right time."
Shouma and Juniper glared at each other for a few seconds, their barely-concealed frustration with the other plain for all to see.
"Right." Shouma eventually replied. "So, what are our options here?"
Juniper took a look at the labyrinth of stairs above them for a good few seconds. "I say we split up and cover more ground. It'll save us a lot of time looking through this place to get to the top."
"But then won't we get easily picked off by shadows like in the movies?" Piers questioned. "If a shadow finds us, then we're sitting ducks."
"Shadows from this region of Agartha are weaker than most. We shouldn't be in too much trouble." Juniper responded.
Shouma considered for a moment. They both had good points, but who's side made more sense here? He finally came to an answer.
"Juniper's right. We should divide and conquer to get this done faster." Shouma asserted.
Juniper's eyes widened. "Wow. Didn't expect you to make that call."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Shouma raised an eyebrow.
Juniper didn't answer. She turned around, walked off to the right and pulled out her staff from her bag. "You two go left for now. I'm heading this way." She said before running off.
"Well fuck you too." Shouma muttered. He and Piers both took her advice, brandished their own weapons and ran off towards the left.
The two ran through the winding corridors, moving through turns almost by instinct. Until suddenly...
"Get down!" Piers yelled as he tackled Shouma to the ground. Just behind them, a pillar of golden light shot down and pierced the stone floors. Shouma looked up to see a being right above them.
"A High Shadow. Just great." Shouma grunted.
The High Shadow was a barefoot winged humanlike figure clad in white robes, a golden halo behind its long brown hair and holding a golden spear. Its face was hidden behind a mask of ornately-decorated solid gold moulded to look like a face, complete with sculpted eyes with immaculate detail.
"How curious. That blast was at speeds just barely lower than light, and yet you both still evaded it." It calmly assessed. Its voice was soothing, but emotionless to an almost robotic degree.
Shouma and Piers managed to stand up from the blast. "So I take it you're guarding this tower?" Shouma asked it.
"That is correct." The High Shadow stated coldly. "Your very presence here desecrates holy ground, and it is my duty as a guardian angel to punish those who transgress against the word of God. Leave now."
"Sorry, can't do that." Shouma dismissed. "We've got a tower to climb."
The angel readied its spear. "Then you have chosen death." On cue, Shouma and Piers heard movement right behind them making its way through the corridors towards them. A swarm of shadows were on their way.
"Show these sinners no quarter, let the lord sort them out!" The angel demanded.
Piers quickly pulled out his gun and shot directly up at the angel, hitting it directly in the middle of the mask. The angel recoiled in pain from the shot, though its mask showed no signs of damage and immediately flew up.
"Run for it!" Piers called, as he and Shouma sprinted ahead to avoid the shadows coming their way until they reached one of the staircases, where three shadows were already waiting for them.
These shadows resembled floating balls each accompanied by a pair of white gloves levitating alongside them. Their mask was also a little different, resembling a pink domino mask with the Roman Numeral "II" on the top. Shouma gave them a mental nickname: "Glovers".
"Shit! Gotta cut a path!" Shouma cursed.
"Musashi!" He cried, throwing his cape off and summoning his Persona. Musashi manifested itself and rushed at the glovers with its katana and jitte in hand. It made wild overhead slashes against them, managing to impale one through its face with its jitte.
The impaled glover turned into a ball of blue fire that flue towards Shouma and into his chest, causing his eyes to widen. "Interesting." He said.
The two remaining glovers however flew either side of Musashi and began rubbing their hands together as static electricity began to build up. Within a second, they shot small lightning bolts out at Musashi, shocking him into stopping. Shouma writhed in pain and screamed in pain as he dropped to the floor.
"Shouma!" Piers called out. "Okay uglies, try a taste of this!" He cried as he threw off his cape.
"Anansi!" He yelled and immediately quickdrew his revolver and shot twice at one of the glovers. Anansi manifested out of the fire from the cape and launched a fireball the size of a soccer ball at the other one, as both went down and dissolved into black goo.
Piers ran over to Shouma. "Can you stand?" He asked.
"Y-Yeah..." Shouma reassured. "Just got caught off-guard. Not gonna let that happen again." The two then heard the encroaching horde coming closer and bolted up the stairs.
While halfway up the staircase, they both noticed Juniper fighting off a larger shadow on another set of stairs. Wait, no. That was another High Shadow. This one looked like a thorny black demon with spikes all over its body, leathery wings, fiery red hair and a gold pitchfork in its hands.
Juniper managed to catch the demon's pitchfork with her staff and twisted it until it was close enough for her to kick in the stomach.
"Heh... Nice shot." The demon strained out. Its voice was like nails on a chalkboard with the pitch somehow set even higher, yet every word dripped with a hateful venom.
"Go to hell." Juniper bluntly replied.
"I've been there, little missy. You wouldn't like it." The demon taunted. "Well, hate to mock and run but- oh who am I kidding? I LOVE doing that." It said as it flew up toward the ceiling.
Almost immediately, Juniper began running up the steps towards the platform where she met back up with Shouma and Piers. "This way!" She cried, as the three of them ran up another flight of stairs to where a large, ornate door stood.
As they got to the door, they all rammed the door in unison and fell through onto the floor. The shadows behind them all rushed to here they were, and as they reachd the door...
They stopped.
Shouma looked up and saw the shadows all just wait in front of the door and do nothing, all while he, Piers, Juniper and all the equipment just sat there completely safe.
"I think the shadows can't get in here." Shouma guessed.
Juniper sat up and caught her breath. "...Seems like it."
"Hey... how about we all take five?" Piers suggested with heavy breath. Both Shouma and Juniper nodded, as the three of them sat near the wall to catch their breath.
A minute passed and all the shadows got disinterested and walked away.
"Is the equiment still working?" Shouma asked.
Juniper opened the case containing the transceiver and the camera and checked them. "They seem to be fine." She responded.
Shouma gave a sigh of relief. "That's good to hear."
The three of them sat in awkward silence for a few minutes, with Juniper photographing some of their surroundings. Shouma looked down at his watch. At least it still worked in here. He noticed that they had all been in Agartha for about half an hour. It sure felt longer than that, though.
Shouma then stood up. "Hey guys."
Piers and Juniper looked up at him.
"...I'm sorry, but I think the both of you should head back. I can take it from here." Shouma blurted out.
"Wait, what?" Piers asked, shocked.
"I made the decision to split the team, and we almost got picked off one by one." Shouma explained. "I almost got the two of you killed. You can come back another time, but not now."
Juniper stared off into the distance. "In hindsight, even if we'd stuck together, we would have been overwhelmed." She then rose to meet him. "And anyway, I'm not leaving."
Shouma groaned. "Look, if you're trying to prove that you'd be a better leader or something-"
"It's not about that!" Juniper exclaimed. "What you're doing is a perfect way to get yourself killed! The only question is who'll kill you first: the angel or the demon!"
"And if the both of you come along, that could be another two corpses added to the pile!" Shouma retorted. "I'm not gonna let you suffer the consequences of my mistake!"
Juniper froze in place. "..You sound just like Daigo." She muttered.
Shouma stopped for a moment. He and Juniper both sat down just to take in what just happened between the two of them.
"I'm not leaving either." Piers asserted. "I made a promise to you yesterday, remember?"
Shouma looked down at his watch. "...I just..." He sighed. "I just don't know if I'm cut out to be field leader. I'm now having to make decisions that could affect whether people other than live or die, and I just... Argh!" He punched the wall behind him out of anger. He then collapsed to his knees, utterly dejected.
"...Maybe mom was right. Maybe I am worthless." Shouma just seemed to stare off into an abyss only he could see.
"Shut up." Juniper responded angrily.
"Hm?" Shouma looked back at her.
"You have no idea what you're fucking talking about!" Juniper yelled. "You're a wild card, the son of Dr. Wataru Tashiro and brother of Daigo! You're better than this and you know it!"
"I'm not my brother or my father!" Shouma shot back.
"Then who are you?!" Juniper screamed at him.
"How the hell am I supposed to know?!" Shouma retorted.
They both went completely silent.
"...I'm sorry, I yelled like that." Shouma sheepishly admitted.
"No, you're right." Juniper looked away from him with an embarrased look on her face. "You're not Daigo, you're Shouma. And you're your own man. But most importantly, you're not worthless."
"Juniper..." Shouma was shocked by what felt like a 180 in her attitude, but it still felt reassuring to have someone else vouch for him. "...Thanks. I needed that."
"Anytime." Juniper started blushing and refused to make eye-contact with Shouma.
And in that instance, Shouma heard it: A new Social Link, now ringing out in Juniper's voice.
"Thou art I... And I am thou... Thou hast established a new bond..."
"Thou shalt be blessed when fusing Personas of the Priestess Arcana."
Shouma clenched his fist and stood up. "Let's go back out and finish the mission." He declared.
"You have a plan?" Piers asked.
"Sort of." Shouma replied. During the battle against one of the shadows, I got a new Persona. I think it's strong enough to beat both of the High Shadows."
"Ready when you are, field leader." Juniper said, straightening her cap.
Shouma smirked. "Alright, let's raise some hell with those fuckers." Piers and Juniper both nodded as the three of them ran outside the room and back into the monochrome tower.
The three of them noticed that most of the shadows were congregating at the bottom, far out of their immediate field of danger. As the got closer to the top floor however, they noticed the angel and the demon sitting at the top, conversing with each other.
"And you are SURE they're nowhere to be found?" The angel asked.
"Seems like it." The demon replied. "They just apparently went through a door and vanished. What a bunch of little bitches!"
"An angel working with a demon, huh?" Shouma whispered. "I guess I've seen everything."
Piers pulled out his revolver and aimed it at the demon. "Should I take the shot?"
Shouma nodded. "Go ahead."
Piers smiled as he pulled the trigger and the hammer hit the back of the pistol with a loud bang. The bullet went sailing through the air directly into the demon's upper arm as it screamed in pain.
"Shit, they're here!" It winced.
"I can see that!" The angel snapped.
Shouma walked up to the top platform. "Hey jackasses. We didn't get to finish our fights before you both ran off." Piers and Juniper followed closely behind him. All of them brandished their weapons and ran towards both the High Shadows.
Piers and Juniper both threw off their capes to summon their Personas.
"Anansi!"
"Seshat!"
Both Personas materialised in front of their users and charged at the High Shadows.
Seshat conjured a blast of razor-sharp wind against the angel, though it swiftly evaded all the blades of wind. It then brandished its spear and slashed across Seshat's body, causing Juniper to flinch
Anansi used its spider-legs to try and pierce the demon's skin, but all attacks bounced off. The demon then summoned a dark portal underneath it where it proceeded to plunge its pitchfork into it, conjuring a blast of dark energy towards Piers personally, stunning him.
"I got this!" Shouma cried as he threw off his own cape.
"Ratatoskr!" He cried.
From the blue flames emerged a small, brown squirrel-like Persona with drill heads for teeth and green moss growing on its back. Its eyes were glowing a light blue colour and had a bright red star-shaped gem on its forehead.
Ratatoskr dove towards the ground and punched the stones that adorned the floor, shattering the top layer around the impact. It picked up some of the shards with its tiny hands effortlessly and lobbed them at both the angel and the demon, knocking them both out of the air.
"W-What? How?!" The demon winced.
"Alright guys, go!" Shouma called, as the three of them all dogpiled both the High Shadows. Juniper spun her staff across the angel's body and followed it up by thrusting it into its face.
The demon tried to fly out of the way, although turned around to find Piers's revolver with its barrel pointed directly in its face. Piers fired it point-blank into its face three times and followed it up with an uppercut to the stomach.
"Where do you think you're going?" Shouma yelled as he slashed across the demon's chest with the teeth of his sword, and Ratatoskr bit into the angel's arm, reducing the both of them to balls of blue fire that flew into Shouma's chest.
"...I see. I understand now." The angel's voice called out in Shouma's mind. "I am Angel. I shall guide you down the path of righteousness, my other self."
"And I'm Daemon!" The other shadow added. "Pleasure's all mine, other me!"
Shouma, Piers and Juniper all stood in place in awe of what that was.
"That was... surprisingly easy." Shouma noted. "I know I said Ratatoskr was powerful, but I didn't think it was that broken."
"Guess you lucked out." Piers answered.
"That, and we managed a successful sneak attack." Juniper continued. "I'd say if we keep at this, we can make it up there with few problems left."
Shouma looked up at the remaining floors. "So, you guys still have enough energy to make it the rest of the way?"
"I'm with you the whole way." Piers answered with the utmost conviction.
Juniper nodded. "I should be okay."
Shouma smiled. "Then let's get going." He said as the three began a walk up the tower.
A few minutes later, the party made their way to what looked like the top floor and sat down to catch their breath.
"Finally..." Shouma said, out of breath. "The end."
Juniper opened the case and pulled out the camera again and began taking pictures of things that looked important. Until...
"Hey guys, take a look at this."
Shouma and Piers stood up and walked towards a great door opposite of the stairs. It was marked with glowing runes of Tharmas along the sides, and had a strange mechanism on the front. It almost looked like some kind of timer ticking down to... something.
"So..." Piers took a closer look at the timer. "...What do you guys think it's counting down to?" He asked.
"No idea." Shouma was utterly stumped by it. "Maybe Daigo will know."
"I've already taken as many photos of the mechanism need be." Juniper said. "It should give him an idea of what the thing even is."
"Right." Shouma looked both his friends in the eye. "Good work, us. Mission complete." He held out a hi-five for both Piers and Juniper,but while Piers reached out in without hesitation, Juniper held off from reciprocating the gesture.
"Don't push your luck. We're not that close." She said coldly. "I'll call Dr. Tashiro to let him know we made it to the top." She took the transceiver out of the case and began setting it up.
Shouma wandered around for a few seconds before leaning against a somewhat familiar-looking stone structure. As he did however, it instantly beeped and lit up with a green light. He instinctively moved away from it to see a holographic display of some kind in front of the slab. Upon closer inspection, it was just like the terminal-looking slab on the ground floor.
"Wait, what's that?" Piers ran over to Shouma and took a closer look at the display.
Shouma reached his hand forward. "I wonder..." He mumbled as he tapped on one of the lights on the display. As he did, he was engulfed in green light and vanished.
"Shouma! What happened? Where are you?!" Piers cried out. He frantically looked around to find his friend.
Just a few seconds later, Shouma reappeared on the terminal in another flash of green light.
"I thought so." He turned around to his friends. "Turns out, this thing can teleport us back to the entrance and back."
Juniper glared at Shouma. "You know what? Nevermind. I hate you again."
Shouma chuckled. Piers and Juniper didn't.
Evening
Tashiro Residence
Shouma sat at his laptop in his room accessing the university website and looking over material for his upcoming courses. He heard a knock on his door. "Come in!" He called.
Wataru entered the room and stood in the doorway. "Can we have a talk?"
Shouma turned around in his chair. "I know, I fucked up. I led my friends into a fight we almost didn't win and recklessly endangered their lives." He looked at the floor. "I just don't know if I'm cut out to be a leader. Maybe you and Daigo were wrong to place your faith in me."
"Shouma." Wataru took a seat on the bed. "Piers and Juniper both told me what happened. They told me how adaptable you were in that situation and how you handled it as best you could."
"But what if 'the best I can' isn't good enough?" Shouma asked. "What if my actions get someone killed?"
Wataru place his hand on Shouma's shoulder. "Relax. I know you won't let them down, and I'm sure Daigo feels the same way. I understand your concerns, but they just prove you'd go above and beyond to make sure the two of them stay safe."
Shouma's grimace worsened. "But what if..."
Wataru looked at his son with a sad expression. "Shouma..."
Suddenly, they heard a knock at their door. "Pizza's here!" A voice said from the other side.
Wataru smiled. "I hope you don't mind, but I got you peperoni."
Shouma got up. "Yeah, I don't mind." The two of them walked to the door to get their dinner.
To be continued...
Party:
Shouma Tashiro - The Fool
Piers Fils-Amie - The Magician
Juniper Black - The Priestess
Social Stats:
Moxie: Bold
Wisdom: Beginner
Charisma: Unremarkable
Empathy: Caring
Wits: Innocent
Personae:
Musashi (0 - The Fool)
Orobas (I - The Magician)
Ratatoskr (IX - The Hermit)
Angel (VIII - Justice)
Daemon (XV - The Devil)
Normally, I won't do descriptions for generic Personas, but since Ratatoskr has only appeared twice in SMT and Daemon literally in the most recent game which only came out 2 weeks ago at the time of writing, I thought I might as well.
Ratatoskr
Arcana: The Hermit
Yeah, not giving titles to the generics.
Ratatoskr is a squirrel from Norse mythology that runs up and down Yggdrasil as a messenger between the eagle at the tree's top and the dragon Nidhogg who gnaws at its roots in order to stir shit between the two. Its name means "drill tooth", as it also gnaws on the rotting bark of Yggdrasil.
For its design, I wanted to give it a look that while being a harmless squirrel, it was divine. But also incorporate Yggdrasil itself into the design to make it look like a part of the tree's ecosystem. The drill teeth are an admittedly on-the-nose representation of its name, but they had to be worked in there somehow.
As a Persona, Ratatoskr knows the Earth-elemental Magna and eventually Magnala skills, as well as low-power physical moves of all three physical types. It has low magic, but high physical attack and is weak to ice skills.
Daemon
Arcana: The Devil
Daemons originated as a term in Greek mythology as an umbrella term for spirits of various kinds and moralities, though came to mean "any malicious entity of magical or divine origin" following the Christianisation of Europe and the Roman Empire, becoming the word "Demon". What we think of as "demon" in our modern terminology would be called a "Cacodaemon" under the original Greek classification.
Daemon uses his SMT V look in this fic, and is an aggressive Persona with curse and slash skills; as well as high attack, magic and speed, but low defenses and weak to bless skills.
I'm not going into Angel, as I'm sure you're all acquainted with them. But yes, I AM using its SMT V design. It's better than that weird fetish shit they'd been using for it since Devil Summoner. Seriously, what the hell was up with that game?
But yeah, that's the another chapter under wraps. I'm gonna upload chapters to this a bit more slowly for a bit in order to focus on seeing if I can revive Xross from stasis, as well as try & start a Kamen Rider fic I've had ideas about for a while. I don't have an esitmate for how long that's gonna take, but I'd expect at least a couple more chapters of this before you see anything on either of those fronts.
So, yeah.