Disclaimer: I do not own Persona or Fate or anything in the nasuverse, any resemblance to any other Persona 4 or Fate fan fiction is coincidental and plagiarism is not intended. No flames please, constructive criticism only.

AN: It's been months since I hit a wall with this story, but I've finally completed this chapter, I'm not gonna lie I'm still unsatisfied with it but here we go maybe I can finally start moving this story forward again.

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[September 1st, Yasogami High Front Gate, Inaba]

"Summer vacation is over for good." Chie sighed as she Yu, Yukiko and Yosuke walked to school together.

"I actually got lost on my way here," Yosuke sighed hanging his head.

"The break was sort of long." Yukiko said trying to remain neutral between him and Chie.

"I don't care how long it was that's just pathetic." Chie shook her head.

"I'm surprised you realised you were lost." Yu teased getting a giggle out of Yukiko and Chie, and a hearty laugh out of Rider and Cu Chulainn.

"Dude cut me some slack." Yosuke griped scowling at Yu for the remark.

The four of them stopped short of walking through the gates when they heard a familiar voice.

"Good morning." They looked to see a certain blue haired detective.

"Uhh…who are you?" Yosuke asked struggling to remember the detective.

"He's that tiny detective." Yu explained for Yosuke who gained a look of realisation.

"My name is Naoto. " Naoto reminded them with a tone of insistence in his voice. " Please use it instead of some insulting nickname. Moving on I know the police think the investigation is over and that this case is solved but there are still several points that lead me to believe otherwise. So that coupled with some personal business I must attend to means I'll be staying in town for a while. I'm now a freshman at your high school. So let's try to get along, whaddya say?"

"Sure I don't see why not." Yu answered calmly.

"Well see you later."

The team watched as the detective walked off.

"What was that about?" Cu Chulainn asked watching the detective walk into school.

"I think our new friend is suspicious." Li Shuwen said with a smirk.

"It's not terribly surprising." Diarmuid said "Think about it, all the kidnapping survivors all sticking teaming up. That's got to be suspicious to a detective."

"Whatever the case we better hurry and get to class, we're leaving early." Chie reminded them, causing them to hurry.

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[September 8th, Train to Tatsumi Port Island]

"THIS IS SO FREAKING COOL!" Yosuke yelled jumping up in excitement while they were travelling on the train with the rest of the school. "I've been dying to go on this school trip!"

Yu was sitting watching the scenery go by. It was just like when he first came to Inaba.

"We'll hit the tourist spots, take pictures with cute girls and maybe have an out of town romance!"

"I doubt we'll have time for that." Yu spoke up Yosuke's mood to crash.

"Whaddya mean?!" Yosuke demanded angrily.

"We're visiting a private school." Yukiko said "But that's all they told us."

"Yeah I hear this trip was being arranged by King Moron." Chie said munching on some potato chips. "But he died before he could really get past the planning stages, so apart visiting the school it's a mess. Especially as some kids from a school in Tokyo are gonna be there at the same time."

"So we might not have any free time. Kashiwagi may be our chaperone but well she's Kashiwagi." Yu told him.

"And that should tell you all you need to know." Chie said sardonically

"Aw man, this sucks." Yosuke groaned his head dropped in disappointment.

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[September 8th, Inaba Police Station, Inaba]

It was noon, and as per usual Adachi had been lumped with desk duty. As such he was on his own in the office at his desk while the others were out getting lunch he was doing paperwork. Thankfully all he had to do was sign a few papers with ordering a pile of 'tips' about the murders, which was far less than he usually had to do when he got desk duty.

Suddenly a familiar fist slammed onto the desk, causing the wood to crack where it had been impacted and scatter the papers he had just gotten in order.

"Man, Now I'm gonna have to get those all-in order again." Adachi complained to his Persona who had materialised before him. "You know you're lucky there's no security camera's in here or you'd have been busted."

"I'm bored." The Persona complained

"So get a hobby." Adachi retorted being down to pick up the papers.

"This town is boring, there are no amusements parks, no arcades and nothing to do at all."

"You don't have to tell me that, But I'm a rookie, so I get a rookie's pay get off my back already."

"I want to fight!" The Persona demanded slamming both hands upon Adachi's desk.

"And I wanna be obscenely rich and live in a mansion but reality disappoints us both." Adachi answered as he began ordering the papers again.

"Those kids are going on a field trip today. I'll wait till they're alone go a few rounds, I want to see how good that Narukami kid is in a fight." The Persona stated restlessly.

"One problem, I don't need you being recognised and exposing yourself."

"Then I won't use my Noble Phantasm." The Persona replied heading for the rooms TV.

"Make sure you don't blow my cover, oh and I'm not gonna support you, so use the Prana you've got wisely." Adachi relented as he finally got the papers back in order and set them down.

"Yeah, yeah" The Persona waved him off as they vanished, slipping through the TV.

"Man, what a pain." Adachi grumbled.

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[September 8th, Iwatodai Train Station, Tatsumi Port Island]

Everyone disembarked from the train. Rise and Kanji had joined the others in waiting to be escorted to the school they were visiting.

"I'm so lucky!" Rise exclaimed "This is the first-time freshmen and sophomores get to go together."

"Yeah, with the drop in enrolment they're trying to cut costs by making this trip only once every two years." Yukiko explained.

"Well if you guys are out on this trip it won't blow too hard." Kanji commented.

"Hey have you heard about this Tatsumi Port Island that we're going too?" Chie asked

"I've just heard that it's a man-made island." Yukiko answered, "Everything there faces the ocean, oh I know since we're going together maybe we should invite Naoto to come with us." Yukiko suggested drawing everyone's attention to Naoto who was standing by himself in a corner of the station near some vending machines. "I'm kinda worried about him."

"Well I'm not." Chie said nonchalantly. "Didn't he say he was coming on this trip just to help out with the case."

"He may some big star detective but when this case is over he's still just your average kid." Rise commented.

"I guess I should sorta feel his pain, I know how much it sucks being a transfer student. Yosuke said.

"Let's go talk to him." Yu suggested walking over to Naoto.

"Huh hey wait!" Yosuke called after him like he was about to protest, but it was too late as Yu was already at Naoto.

"This place we're going to is called Gekkoukan High School." Yu said trying to make conversation with Naoto. "Do you know anything about it?"

"Hmm….I do know that before it was a High School the building was owned by the Kirijo Group." Naoto answered giving Yu a wary look. "But for some reason they spent a large amount of money remodelling it into a school and founded Gekkoukan."

Everyone save Naoto and Yu nodded. Both were meeting each other's eyes. Yu was curious at the cold look Naoto was giving him.

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[September 8th Gekkoukan High School, Tatsumi Port Island]

Later the Yasogami students moved from the train station and were now gathered at the gates of Gekkoukan High School.

"Dude this school is majorly ginormous." Yosuke remarked gazing over the large school building.

"It's the size of three Junes stores." Yu commented.

"What we're standing on is a school and Junes is a department store." Yukiko said trying desperately to hold in her giggles.

"There's nothing even remotely funny about that." Yosuke whispered ignoring the principal.

"Hello everyone." A girl stepped forward and started speaking to the students.

She was wearing the school outfit, which consisted of a black blouse and skirt, with a red, white, and black patch, with a red ribbon. She had brown glasses on and long flowing brown hair.

"Welcome to Gekkoukan High School." she greeted them with a polite bow "I'm so glad to meet you all I am Chihiro Fushimi from class three B and Student-Council President."

"That has got to be the hottest four-eyed fox I've ever seen!" Yosuke commented blushing at the girl's appearance.

"I will be the one giving the tour and showing you around this campus of ours. I hope you all enjoy it." Chihiro said cheerfully as she gave another polite bow. "I would like you all to know, for our school this is a first. We've never had other students for a cultural exchange tour before. We will do our best to make sure everyone involves comes away with something valuable and unforgettable from this experience."

Fushimi then lead them to a second-floor classroom, inside with a teacher who was wearing glasses, a poorly fitting lab coat that was open with a shirt one wouldn't expect a teacher to wear. He had black hair that looked like someone had put a wig sideways on his head. Honestly he looked like he had only just crawled out of bed.

"First up, we have a special lecture that we've prepared for you all today." Fushimi stated gesturing at the classroom. "So if you would please have a seat."

Everyone filed in and took a seat with the team taking seats near each other. However, when the teacher began talking everyone was regretting taking a seat.

"Welcome… Nice to meet you all." The teacher greeted a boring tone that a person could fall asleep too. "A meeting is only the beginning of the parting, the Alpha and the Omega. My name is Edogawa, and I'll be keeping you company for this period. You are all from Yasogami High, correct? Ah, a school of many gods. I had considered a lecture on Qabbalah philosophy, but I have a better idea," he chuckled and carried on. "Since I was able to meet you all today, I shall tell you a story of partings. One could say that this is Japan's oldest tale of curses. You all know about the gods who created this country, I assume? The two gods who gave birth to this country are the god Izanagi and the goddess Izanami. They got along very well…"

"Boring!" a voice all too familiar to Yu called out, judging by the way the other team members sat up straight and gained confused looks they had heard the voice too.

"But one day, Izanami died giving birth to Kagutsuchi, the fire god. Extremely saddened by this, Izanagi left for the land of the dead to bring back Izanami. Yomi… the dark, dark, underworld…"

"Sorry guys, I set up a telepathic link between us." Rise said apologetically.

"Wait so everyone heard me?" Chie asked, her face becoming red.

"Yup." Yosuke told her, everyone could hear the grin in his voice.

"Aggh." Chie groaned with embarrassment.

"Seriously why do we have to listen to this guy?" Kanji complained changing the subject.

"Yeah, I heard ya, I have so much pent up energy." Yosuke whined "I need to let it out, I need to fight!"

"I can help there." Tamamo spoke up "I scanned this city, and there's a big space pretty far underground. It seems to be an old military bunker, we can go a few rounds there without being disturbed."

"Sounds like a good idea to me." Drake agreed.

"Indeed." Li Shuwen agreed.

"Ahh… is our time up already?" the teacher asked as the bell suddenly rang, "I may have gone on too long… Eheheh."

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[September 8th Gekkoukan High School entrance, Tatsumi Port Island]

Yosuke was still looking annoyed as they sat on the coach riding towards where they would be spending the night.

"Thank you, Children, for all being so good in class today!" Kashiwagi said on a microphone that the Conductor usually used for tours. "Now we're heading for our Inn for the night."

"Oh man, I hope it isn't gonna be worse than what I've been through today…"

They got off the coach when it stopped and walked with their luggage to the place they'd be spending the night.

Seaside Clamshell Inn

"YES!" Kashiwagi said. "The Seaside Clamshell Inn. I got a good deal on it…"

2 Hour Break- 3500 yen
3 Hour Break- 4000 yen

Reduced Rates:

From 8 AM to 8 PM- 4000 yen

All Nighters:

1 Room 9 PM to 12 Noon- 7000 Yen
2 Rooms 12 Noon to 2 PM the following day- 7000 Yen

"Yes, children, it just recently opened so I get one hell of a sweet deal!" Kashiwagi exclaimed causing everyone to sweatdrop.

The students in front sweatdropped. Then they walked in and Kashiwagi followed them in. The team however hung back.

"Is this a real hotel?" Yosuke asked glancing at the suspicious looking building.

"It's screaming sketchy to me." Kanji commented looking over the building.

"Really? I wouldn't know I've never been to a skanky motel." Chie stated.

"This part of town is called Shirakawa Boulevard.…" Rise said, blushing. "I bet this place was a very different kind of hotel before."

"I see, a love h…" Yu started to say before Yosuke clamped his hand over Yu's mouth.

"Shut it, your gonna freak 'em out dude! "

"It doesn't sound so pervy if Narukami says it…." Chie stated.

"Yeah he's nice." Yukiko agreed.

"What really?" Yosuke groaned "Aw man, he always gets off easy."

"Hold on everyone!" Kashiwagi suddenly came rushing out, pulling Naoto along with her. "Hey, soo….I may have booked a few less rooms than we need, so here's the thing, you seven will be spending the night elsewhere. You'll be shown there by a former student of Gekkoukan, she's part of the show for elementary students tomorrow. Well toodles!"

Before they could say anything Kashiwagi quickly retreated into the hotel, as she hadn't made any mistake at all.

"Hey, are you students from Yasogami High school?" The group all turned to see a girl with neck-length light brown hair and brown eyes, wearing a pink top with white lace design, light navy collar short jacket, light beige short shorts, and brown high heel boots.

"Er…yes that's us." Naoto spoke up approaching her.

"Lets see…Yu Narukami, Yosuke Hanamura, Yukiko Amagi, Chie Satonaka, Kanji Tatsumi, Rise Kujikawa and Naoto Shirogane right?" The girl asked after listing off their named seeing their collective nod she continued. "I'm Yukari Takeba."

"Yukari Takeba? The actress who plays Pink Argus in Featherman Victory?" Yukiko suddenly asked excitedly getting close to Yukari.

"Ease up Yukiko, give her some space." Chie chided the girl pulling her back. "Sorry about that, Yukiko's a fan of the show."

"It's ok." Yukari chuckled nervously before coughing into her hand and regaining her composure, she looked at the hotel and turned beet red. "Jeez, that's where you were gonna stay, what kind of irresponsible teacher do you guys have?"

"Oh, someone's been here before." Angra Mainyu sung leering at Yukari "I say we pry and find out who she banged."

The team barely managed to conceal their surprised looks.

"Wait you're here? Then is Teddie here too?!" Rise demanded telepathically

"He can't be seen right now, how would we explain it?" Chie cried through the link.

"Relax he's on the rooftop out of sight he'll show himself when all's clear." Avenger quipped sarcastically

"Anyway, you were lucky that Gekkoukan was monitoring the trip, we had to after Mr Mooroka passed away before he could make the arrangements." Yukari having not heard Avenger at all.

"Do you work for the school as well?" Yukiko asked

"Nah, I'm close friends with one of the administrators of the school." Yukari answered vaguely. "She asked me to keep an eye on things while I'm here. Anyway, I'll show you guys to dorm where you'll be staying, follow me."

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[September 8th Iwatodai Dorm, Tatsumi Port Island]

"Well here we are." Yukari said wistfully as she looked up at the building she had lead them to.

The dorm was a four-story building, with a sign saying Iwatodai Dormitory over the doors.

"Hey are you alright?" Yukiko asked of the older girl.

"Yeah sorry, just memories, this used my dorm with my friends when I was at school." Yukari said shaking her head. "The place is still being renovated but the it should be fine for you guys for a couple of nights the bare necessities are still here."

With that Yukari unlocked the doors and pushed them open, the team followed her in. Teddie who had joined them on the way had been made invisible thanks a spell from Rise. However when they were all inside a loud sound began blaring causing the team to cover their ears.

"Damn, what the hell is that?!" Kanji yelled angrily over the noise.

"It's so loud!" Chie complained.

"What?!" Yukiko yelled unable to hear her friend.

"What the hell, why is the alarm still here?" Yukari groaned "Hold on I'll take care of it."

Yukari quickly ran over to a control panel on the wall. She rapidly hit a few buttons and the alarm abruptly stopped.

"Sorry about that. I thought they'd have at least deactivated that stupid thing." Yukari said apologetically "Ok, so follow me."

They did so going up the stairs to the second floor.

"Alright this floor is for the boys." Yukari told them, "Now go pick a room for the night."

Yu, Yosuke, Kanji and Naoto did just that. Yu took the door that was the third on the right. With Yosuke taking the room next to him, Teddie undoubtedly following. Naoto meanwhile chose the door opposite of Yu.

"Uh…" Yukari was about to say something, but it died in her throat.

"What's wrong senpai?" Yukiko asked tilting her head.

"That room." Yukari said looking at the door Yu had chosen "It used belong to a good friend of mine, he passed away a couple of years ago."

"I promise to be respectful." Yu vowed firmly.

"Thanks. Come on I'll show you girls to your rooms." Yukari said sadly trudging up the next flight of stairs with the girls in tow.

'That was a half-truth' Semiramis commented as Yu the boys entered their respective rooms. 'She was holding something back, I think she may have been in love with whomever was in this room before you.'

'This room, it smells strongly of Thanatos. As if he was here, occupying this room for a long time.' Medusa said suddenly appearing leaning against a wall in spirit form.

The room itself was quit spartan, with a simple bed, a wardrobe and desk where a computer had clearly been, if the outline in the dust was any indication.

'I get weird feelings from this place.' Cu Chulainn chimed in.

'Indeed, a strange aura hangs about this building.' Gawain agreed nodding his head.

"We'll keep our guard up, just in case." Yu stated looking around the room sensing the eerie aura that seemed soaked into the room.

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It didn't take long for midnight to roll around. A quick scan by Rise revealed that Yukari who had taken her old room, was fast asleep. Not wishing to push their luck any further, the team snuck downstairs and out of the dorm.

Then they made their way to the military bunker, they found the entrance which was concealed and had plants growing over it and went inside. The team went down, deep into the complex, passing long abandoned and out weapons and heavy armour, all of them many decades old.

"Man this place is a wreck." Yosuke commented looking around at the large room they entered.

"Hey, are tanks supposed to stand on four legs like that?" Kanji asked pointing an tank lying on its side, with four sets of treads acting like legs. Near it on the ground was the wrecked turret, which strangely looking like it had wings either side of it.

"No they're not." Rise said summoning her mirror and approaching it "Let me do a scan."

On closer inspection it looked like the tank been through a war. It had scratches, large gashes in the metal, large dents and holes covering it, as did the turret.

"It looks like this tank and the turret, were shadows once." Rise told looking at the results in her mirror.

"This tank was a shadow?" Chie asked incredulously.

"Not just the tank, the turret as well. It seems that they were separate shadows but worked together." Rise clarified.

"Are they still dangerous?" Yu inquired standing next to her.

"No, these shadows were beaten a while ago. About two or three years ago. The remaining essence of the shadows is so faint I only barely managed to detect it. These things aren't going to be causing trouble without some serious help." Rise replied putting her mirror away.

"So there were shadows on Tatsumi Port Island two years ago?" Yosuke asked.

"Two years ago….hey wasn't that Apathy Syndrome most heavily reported in this city two years ago before it stopped?" Yukiko pointed out.

"I remember that." Chie said "That was that weird condition where people just stopped doing anything, it was really creepy, they didn't eat or move or do anything. Then it all went away when February of Twenty-Ten began."

"It was also around that time, that weird cult popped up, you remember, the one preaching about the end of the world." Yukiko added "Their leader vanished one day and the cult just fell apart."

"So the shadows that were here, were defeated by someone in Tatsumi Port Island nearly two years ago." Yu stated putting the facts together. "This caused the Apathy Syndrome to also disappear. It's safe to assume that the shadows caused Apathy Syndrome somehow."

"Wait, but if shadows caused Apathy Syndrome, why do they kill people who get thrown into the TV?" Chie asked "Why don't they just give them Apathy Syndrome instead?"

"Maybe it's because of the killer?" Rise suggested causing everyone to look at her. "Well back then, whoever was responsible for the shadows getting people wanted them to give people Apathy Syndrome for some reason. But our Killer is just interested in killing people, so maybe that's why the shadows are killing people instead of giving them Apathy Syndrome?"

Everyone was silent for a moment, their thoughts awhirl at this information. If the shadows had been involved in that, then what else had the shadows been involved in throughout history?

"Enough of this crap!" Kanji yelled causing everyone to see that he had installed Hercules. Further evidenced by the fact that he lifted and tossed several tanks aside to make room. "We're here to fight right? So let's do this!" He lifted up the axe-sword and crashed it into the ground impatiently.

"Alright, you're on." Yukiko said installing Rider. "I'll fight you."

"I will team up with Yuk-"

"Not happening bear, I'm with Yukiko." Chie interrupted installing Assassin and halting whatever scheme Teddie was cooking up.

"You can be with Kanji." Yukiko suggested.

"Oh beary-well." Teddie said with disappointment as he got out of his bear costume and installed Avenger.

"Ok so its Kanji and Teddie versus Chie and Yukiko." Rise announced, "Which just leaves Yosuke and Senpai."

"But what about you Rise?" Yosuke asked as he installed Diarmuid and readied Gae Dearge, not wanted to use the other spear just yet and risk permeant injury to his friend.

"I'll just stand on the side-lines and watch." Rise replied with sly smile, backing up against the wall out of the way.

Yosuke nodded and looked at Yu who had that same blue magic circle below his feet, and orbiting him were about sixteen arcana. He inspected each arcana in front of him carefully before nudging it aside with his fingers to inspect the next one.

After a few seconds of inspecting he chose an Arcana. The Emperor.

"Install, Nero!" He called out.

A red light rose from the circle and enveloped the Fool. When it was finished he was wearing a red roman general style uniform, in his right hand was the strange flame shaped blade, Aestus Estus.

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[September 8th, CCTV Surveillance Room, Police Station, Paulownia Mall, Tatsumi Port Island]

There were few officers on duty this time of night. But all of them would tell you that the thick fog which filled the Surveillance feed monitoring room did not belong there, nor did the figure concealed within it, who was staring at one feed in particular. Of a group of six teenagers entering a pair of thick pair of metal doors which had weeds and other plant life overgrowing them.

"There you are." The figure chuckled before erasing the footage on all the cameras for the past hour or so. "Lets see what you've got."

With that the figure departed, taking the fog with them. When the officers from the dayshift entered the room, they would find the officer who had been manning the feeds. His head firmly planted through one of the shattered screens and his hand gripping his gun, never having had the chance to withdraw it from the holster.

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[September 8th, Military Bunker, Tatsumi Port Island]

As she narrowly avoided the blow which shattered the concrete where she had last been standing and returned fire which her pistols Yukiko knew she was in a bind. The mana bullets she fired did nothing to Kanji. After installing Berserker, he gained the mad persona's immense durability and that was without Mad Enhancement switched on. Kanji never turned the skill on when installing, for fear of harming his friends. As such he did not gain the boost it provided but he did not need it. She could use the Golden Hinds cannons, but there was a problem.

She quickly dodged another attack moving up on of the support pillars which dotted the room.

'If I use too much power then I'll trip Kanji's God Hand, then he'd become immune to them.' She thought quickly avoiding more attacks and leaping to cling to another pillar. 'It's only thanks to the fact that he keeps Mad Enhancement off that my agility is greater than his, without that I wouldn't be able to dodge, but he's hot my heels and I can't keep running forever.'

'Damn it, Yukiko-Senpai won't hold still, those bullets and cannonballs are really pissing me off.' Kanji thought angrily. Every time he thought he had her she'd dodge at the last second forcing him to pull his axe-sword of the ground try to find her again. 'I don't know how long we've been fighting but I'm running low on juice.'

'I need to end this now!' Both fighters thought in unison as they each saw the other preparing their respective Noble Phantasms.

The Golden Hind manifested itself and Yukiko leapt onto the figurehead, an armada materialising behind her ship.

"GOLDEN WILD HUNT!" "NINE LIVES!"

The two powerful Noble Phantasms were unleashed an collided in an explosion of light, this itself caused a massive shockwave which caused not only the whole bunker to shake violently but, unknown to the team, the city above as well.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

[September 8th Iwatodai Dorm, Tatsumi Port Island]

"W-wha!" Yukari Takeba cried awoke with a start and fell out of her bed with a thud. "Ow what….an earthquake?"

Yukari confusedly stumbled to her feet as the dorm shook under the powerful tremor. However as quickly as it came, the shaking stopped.

"It stopped, thank goodness." Yukari sighed in relief. "I should check in on those kids."

She tried making her way to the door only for her legs to give way, she felt slightly dizzy.

"After my head stops spinning."

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

Meanwhile Chie was having an easy time with Teddie, who was out of his bear costume having installed Avenger. A small part of her was rather suspicious.

'Teddie isn't this bad at fighting' Chie thought to herself as she landed another kick on Teddie's chest which caused him to fly onto his backside and causing his install to vanish leaving him in his normal clothes .. 'What's going on? He's barely fighting back.'

Her Persona had been quiet throughout the match giving no advice. Apparently, he wished to see her progress without his aid, which was fine seeing as this was just a spar. Frankly she'd been dominating in this fight with Teddie returning only half-hearted attacks which did little to no damage.

"Hey Teddie, come on get back up I know you've got more in you than that." Chie called out to the bear in human form.

He didn't respond. In fact he wasn't moving at all.

"Oh Crap I didn't kill him did I?" Chie panicked wondering if she'd used something lethal without realising,

She rushed over to the fallen bear however before she could bend down to inspect him, she heard a chuckling.

"Bear print Chie? I'm honoured." Teddie suddenly said his eyes open.

It took only half a second for Chie to realise what he meant, the bear could see up her skirt She'd been tricked!

"YOU PERVERTED BEAR, I WAS ACTUALLY WORRIED ABOUT YOU!" Chie screamed, her face going red, whether with anger or embarrassment only she knew for sure.

Teddie quickly reinstalled Avenger as Chie flipped over him and reared back her leg.

"DRY UP AND DIE YOU STUPID LECHEROUS BEAR!" Chie yelled kicked Teddie in his crotch with all her might, causing him to fly into the wall opposite.

Although his chuckles had become considerably higher pitched, Chie was still furious but also slightly concerned as to why he was still laughing.

"Verg Avesta!" Teddie chanted, suddenly catching Chie off guard.

Teddie was enveloped in a dark shroud which took the form of some sort of wolfman. It jumped at her, she tried to kick it away but her foot merely passed through and it shrouded her.

She felt it, all of her blows being reflected on her. She didn't receive any wounds but the pain itself was just as real. The kicks on her arms, her chest her legs, to her head and finally the absurd pain of Teddie's family jewels being crushed by all the might she had put into that kick, the fact of anatomical differences between them made no difference and so Chie fell to the floor, paralyzed by the sheer pain coming to her all at once.

Teddie had stood up and began making his way over. Tawrich and Zarich in each hand, he limped slowly until he stood over Chie, his pain was fading but hers had all come at once leaving her defenceless and exhausted, Teddie had taken a while to finally lie down and play dead causing her to use up more prana than she thought she would have too.

So she clenched her eye's shut as Teddie loomed above her. However the blow never came, instead she felt a weight suddenly come down on her knocking the wind out of her. Opened her eye's she saw Teddie's install had dropped again and he was unconscious. She felt tired herself and decided she was fine with a tie before lying down to rest.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

"Sheesh, Yukiko really gets competitive when she gets all fired up like that doesn't she?" Yosuke commented nervously with a sweatdrop as the whole place trembled as Yukiko and Kanji's Noble Phantasms collided.

It was like something out of a shounen manga, really cool yet something you'd never think would happen in reality. However Yu was concerned by the borderline earthquake that the collisions had caused, and hoped that it had not done any damage to the city above them.

"Well, at least its Kanji on the receiving end and not us." Yu told his friend non-chalantly.

Neither of them had started fighting yet instead choosing to watch the others go at it for a little while before getting into it themselves.

"That's a little cold don't you think?" Yosuke asked his friend at the apathetic way he seemed to prefer Kanji to be fighting Yukiko and not either of them.

"Are you saying that you'd like to have a whole fleet's worth of cannons firing at you?" Yu asked giving Yosuke a funny look. "I didn't realise that you were a masochist. Don't worry, I won't judge you for it."

"WHAT?!….NO I just….ugh forget it, let's just do this." Yosuke groaned deciding to stop himself before he put his foot even further into his mouth.

"Ok, are you both ready?" Rise asked looking between the two who both nodded "Alright, Ready"

"Steady!" The two gripped their weapons tightly their focus entirely on each other.

"Fog?" The boys prepared to attack each other but both abruptly stopped upon realising what Rise had just said.

"Fog?" The two echoed her what she had said before realising that there was fog seeping into the bunker.

It became thicker and seemed quickly surrounded the two boys and girl before spreading outwards throughout the bunker.

"So you're the leader of this sorry bunch?" A voice asked from with the fog "You don't look like much to me, even borrowing a heroic spirits Noble Phantasm and powers."

"Who the hell are you?" Yosuke demanded levelling his spear at the fog.

Yu squinted and could just make out a silhouette hidden in the fog. But he could tell anything other than that they were there. He couldn't see any clothing, or whether they were male or female, even the voice was distorted. The weapon, he couldn't tell what it was, the silhouette in the hands seemed to shift, as if to try and conceal it as well.

"What's going on here?" Atalanta asked with confusion.

"This isn't a human that's for sure." Cu Chulainn stated seriously.

"Indeed, our opponent is not a shadow either, but a Persona like us." Medea informed them, intrigued.

"Did the killer send you?" Yu asked the figure within the fog.

"Wait the killer what?" Yosuke asked looking from Yu to the fog and back again.

"Yosuke you be careful you idiot, that's a Persona!" Rise shouted at him before looking down at her mirror and frowning "I can't detect anything, my scans are just bouncing off that fog."

"A persona!" Yosuke cried before growling "Did the killer send you?"

"No that guy didn't send me, I came here on my own." The Persona replied seeming to shrug its shoulders. "There's really nothing to do in that backwater little town."

"How can this be?" Ruler asked with surprise.

"What's wrong?" Gawain inquired.

"My True Name Discernment skill, it isn't working. I can't see that Persona's true name, status or anything else" Ruler gasped shocked "But that's impossible even the fog of that world shouldn't be able to block it."

"Maybe that fog is some type of Noble Phantasm?" Cu Chulainn suggested. "But I've never heard of a hero related to fog, the only one who comes close is Jackie."

"Father, its different from my mist, it smells a little bit like rotting flesh." Jackie commented.

"That just makes things more confusing." Astolfo chimed in, Yu could see the persona rubbing the back of his head in his minds eye.

"Well you're going down!" Yosuke letting out a battle cry as he charged into the fog.

"Yosuke!" "Yosuke Wait!" Rise and Yu called after him.

He ignored them and quickly vanished in the fog.

"The glasses aren't working either." Yu looked at Rise who had her special glasses on. "I should be able to see through the fog but the glasses are ineffective."

"So maybe it really is a Noble Phantasm" Tamamo mumbled, her fox ears twitching.

Rise and Yu both focused as they could hear the sounds of battle, metal meeting metal, the exchange of weapons. The two held their breath, a few seconds passed before the sounds stopped. The silhouette of the enemy Persona had vanished, leaving no way to see even what type of weapon was being used.

"Yosuke?" Rise called out into the fog

Yu suddenly shoved her aside. "Watch out!"

As she fell onto her behind a body flew between them and hit the wall with a loud c rash. It was Yosuke, his install vanished returning him to normal. He was out cold.

"Ok, finished with the appetiser and now the main course." The Persona stated, their silhouette returning.

"Yu, be careful." Rise said with worry.

"Don't worry, go help out, understand?" Yu commanded.

Rise nodded and went to work as the boy walked into the fog.

"So lets see what you got" The enemy chuckled as their silhouette vanished.

"So that's how you beat Yosuke so fast." Yu realised "You used the fog to hide where you were."

"Ha, make excuses for your friend all you like!" Yu quickly whipped around and Aestus Estus just narrowly blocked an attack from his side. The enemy pressed their weapon against his own, locking with him, as expected from a Persona they were strong, stronger than any opponent he had faced thus far. "Huh? Oh so you blocked me did you? Your friend couldn't even tell where I was coming from."

"This fog conceals everything about your identity, it even distorts your voice. But it doesn't conceal the direction your voice is coming from." Yu said, holding firm before pushing the weapon he could not see away. "Even if you stop talking, I'm willing to bet that you aren't an Assassin. You said you came alone, are you an Archer perhaps?"

"A close range Archer, that's just stupid." The enemy chuckled coming at Yu from behind this time, this strike was faster, a split second too late and the blow would have hit him.

They disengaged, but instead of striking from somewhere else, the enemy attacked again, Yu remained on the defensive. As long as he kept his guard up, he could survive this.

"Stranger things happened, so if you aren't an Archer that means you don't have the Independent Action skill, that's good."

"Oh, afraid I'd get you between the eyes?"

"No, you said earlier that you came on your own." Yu replied as he continued to parry blows from his enemy. "I'm willing to bet that the killer didn't supply you with much prana, I bet he wants to keep his identity and yours a secret badly enough that you don't even have enough to use your Noble Phantasm."

The next blow was significantly stronger, a wave of pain flowed through the Fool's arms. The next blow was stronger and caused Yu to slide backwards. The third blow was even stronger, and almost caused his sword to fly out his hands but he quickly returned it to a defensive position, anticipating another attack.

Suddenly, he as flying backwards, unable to cry out as all his breath had suddenly left him. Then he crashed back to the ground rolling painfully along it before skidding to a halt. He barely had any time to get his breath back, he raised Aestus Estus just as his enemy's weapon crashed against his own.

"You spend so much time talking about what I don't have, but what I do have is greater power and skill than you." The Persona said smugly, pressing down, causing Aestus Estus to get closer to Yu's throat. "Install all you like, but at the end of the day that human body of yours has limits to what it can do. So even if you borrow a heroes' powers and skills, there will always be a gap between a human like you and hero like me."

The enemy pressed down harder putting more weight down on their weapon, now the sword was only inches away from slicing his neck. "You got too cocky, did you really think that you could beat me so easily?"

"I wasn't looking for victory, just a few minutes." Yu replied

"What?"

"It's ready!" Medea told him hurriedly.

"Now Medusa!" Yu cried out.

"Blood Fort Andromeda!" The gorgon's voice echoed through the fog invoking the Noble Phantasm.

At the very same time the fog around them turned a blood red colour, the coppery smell of blood entered the air. The pressure upon him relented and Yu could tell that they were looking around in confusion. The boy quickly got to his feet and attacked, he locked blades again but the enemy's strength was diminished.

"W-what the hell is this?" They gasped trying to catch their breath "What have you gone and done?"

"This is Medusa's other Noble Phantasm, Blood Fort Andromeda, I planned to ambush Yosuke with it. Normally it takes days to set up, but with Medea's help, as well as sacrificing range and number of targets, It can be set up faster. It's a bounded field that sucks away the magical energy of those caught inside, and with no supply of prana, you'll run empty pretty fast."

"You installed a persona and were able to sustain two other persona's in the real world at the same time, and use a Noble Phantasm, there's no way unless….the girl?!"

"You got it, Rise and I were colluding this whole time, she supplied me with more than enough Prana for this fight. Now." Flames ignited covering Aestus Estus as he pointed at the shadowy opponent. "You are weakening with every passing second so you have two choices. Stay and fight in your weakened state and get beaten by a kid, or run away with your tail between your legs, what'll it be?"

A frustrated growl came from the figure shrouded in fog. "You won't so lucky, next time I'll have all I prana I need and my Noble Phantasm will turn you into a bloody stain!" The figure began fading away, the fog around them also quickly receded. "You'll regret this! I'll crush every persona you throw at me next time, just you wait!"

With that last echoing threat, the enemy was gone, having fled. Medusa shut down the Blood Fort and Yu released the Install, falling onto his behind. The danger had passed for now. He looked and saw Chie, Teddie, Yukiko, Kanji and Yosuke were all up again. Now they had to get back to the dorm.

"I think, we should call it a night." Yu suggested.

Everyone agreed and they began making their way out of the bunker.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

[September 8th, Iwatodai Dorm, Tatsumi Port Island]

Yukari Takeba was currently frantic. She'd been woken by the earthquake and had gone to check on the kids staying in the dorm, but with the exception of Naoto Shirogane who was strangely still sleeping, they were all missing.

"Where could they have gone, this town is dangerous at night." Yukari ranted as she headed towards the stairs.

"Stop." The demand from a monotone voice caused her to whip around.

There in the hallway, was a girl she didn't recognise. She had had braided navy blue hair adorned with a hairclip with a Chinese design.

"Who are-" Yukari stopped mid-sentence as the girl extended a hand towards her, she felt her consciousness slip away as this happened her eyes glazed over.

"There is nothing wrong, all of them are safely in their rooms and were not woken by the earthquake."

"All of them are safely in their rooms and were not woken by the earthquake." Yukari parroted.

"You forget this and go back to sleep." Aika commanded.

"I will forget this and go back to sleep." Yukari echoed the command and began stumbling back upstairs to her room.

Diligent as ever, Aika Nakamura had infiltrated the dorm and those she charged with cleaning up after had left. She knew they were going to fight and most likely unleash Noble Phantasms.

Then the earthquake happened. Her magic circuits flared at the outburst of prana. Clearly a Noble Phantasm had been unleashed. She was thankful that they had gone underground to prevent there being any witnesses, it made her job much easier. Which meant she only had to cover for the two-remaining people here. Naoto had briefly awakened during the earthquake but Aika had quickly taken care of that. A quick hypnotic suggestion put the detective right back to sleep.

Aika let out a weary sigh, it's not that hypnotism was particularly difficult, but the time of night did bother her, however she had a duty to fulfil and now it was done. Now she would go back to her own bed. She was certain that the Second Owner would deal with the rest, even if they would most likely never find that out her charges were responsible for the earthquake.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

[September 9th, Train back to Inaba, Iwatodai]

The team had managed to return to the dorm without incident, which was odd considering the emergency services out investigating the town for damages. When they woke up however they found themselves herded back onto the train and heading back to Inaba. The trip had been cancelled, apparently the artificial island which had the school on it had been closed.

No one had been injured by the earthquake thankfully, the property damage was almost entirely superficial.

"It seems that two of the Artificial island's supports which go down to the ocean floor had fractures which were exacerbated by the earthquake last night." Naoto informed them. "So the Kirijo Group has closed down the school while repairs are underway, they're also searching for anymore fractures in the supports, it could take months to complete."

"So if the earthquake never happened that wouldn't have been a problem?" Yosuke inquired causing Kanji and Yukiko to suddenly find the windows very interesting.

"Have you two ever heard of overkill?" Rise teased the two telepathically causing them to blush just slightly.

"It's safe to say that the Featherman Show isn't going to happen either." Chie sighed with disappointment through the link which Rise had kept active.

"Not for a number of years, but those fractures would have become a problem eventually, it's better that they're dealt with sooner rather than later I suppose." Naoto answered looking out of a window. "I heard the epicentre of earthquake is being investigated by a team lead by Mitsuru Kirijo herself."

"Isn't it weird for the head of big company like the Kirijo group to be investigating an earthquake herself?" Chie pointed out.

"I agree, but then again it is her property, however rumours and circumstantial evidence have circulated for years about the Kirijo group being involved in some very shady activities." Naoto said with a suspicious tone, the detectives eyes narrowed at the scenery passing by. "Nothing concrete though, the Kirijo group is very thorough at keeping their dirty laundry from airing, if nothing else."