"What happened to our school?" Junpei yelled. Clearly the shock of the school turning into a monstrous abomination of a tower was too much for him to handle and his brain to process.
"Once the Dark Hour passes, everything returns to normal." Mitsuru stated calmly.
I knew school was one fucked up place." Minato exclaimed, earning snickers from all except Mitsuru. Obviously she was too proper to react.
"But why the school?" Minato asked with a raised brow at Mitsuru who stiffened up visibly.
She looked down sadly and replied with, "I don't know."
Minato frowned. He knew that she was hiding something, and he was going to find out what sooner or later.
"Exciting, isn't it?" Akihiko grinned, much to the chagrin of Mitsuru. "Mitsuru, Hamuko and I have only gone in to take a peek. This will be our first time exploring it." He explained, his grin only widening.
Mitsuru turned to Akihiko with an icy glare. "Akihiko, I respect your enthusiasm but you won't be accompanying us today." She hissed with a sickly sweet smile, only foreshadowing what would be coming for him if he pressed on the matter anymore. However, Minato was more amused as he watched Akihiko breaking into a cold sweat.
"You don't have to remind me." Akihiko looked down, heartbroken. Minato instantly classified him as a 'gym junkie.'
"Can we go inside the fucking tower now?" Minato growled. He hated waiting. With Mitsuru's nod, the team entered.
"Whoa…" Junpei said in awe as he stared at the interior of the lobby.
Nobody could expect to know that such a horribly made tower could look so beautiful if you were standing outside. Unmarred marble tiles spanned on the floor in a black and white check pattern. Round pillars of the same material were erected around the lobby, suspending the walls and ceiling around then. What was probably the centrepiece of the large hall was the golden clock against the wall, which had a glass-like stair case that led up to it as if it were some kind of ceremonial gate.
"This is only the entrance. The labyrinth lies on the top of the staircase." Mitsuru explained.
Hamuko nodded in agreement. "Yup! We go in there, and step into another dimension of sorts," She pumped her fist in the air eagerly. "Yeah, we're like time travellers! Awesome!" She cheered while Minato smiled. While he thought it was cute, he had to stay focused. What if something caught him off guard and bit him in the ass?
"Firstly, weapons." Mitsuru said as Akihiko dropped the bag he was carrying. Loud clangs of steel clashing against steel rang out when the bag met the floor. Minato unzipped the bag to see the weapons inside.
"Awesome!" Junpei grinned as he swung his katana around like a baseball bat.
"Watch it Stupei." Yukari hissed, picking up a bow.
Hamuko swing her naginata around pointed it's blade at Minato. Adopting a warrior accent she spoke firmly, "I challenge you to a duel!"
Minato smiled. "Yeah, a game of Tekken then," He took a solid grip on the short sword. "I choose this."
"We're going to appoint a leader to make any necessary decisions." Akihiko stated and Junpei brightened up as he heard this.
"One of us?" He suddenly began jumping. "Oh me, me. Pick me!"
Akihiko winced at the thought of this hyperactive kid commanding. After a few seconds of deliberation he decided. "Minato, you're in charge."
Minato shrugged. "Fine." He replied curtly.
Junpei however, was not pleased. "Why him? He doesn't look like a leader."
Minato turned towards him with a glare. "Oh, and you do?" He sneered. "Do you even know how to handle your fucking sword?" He pointed at Junpei's sword which was being held like a bat.
"Do any of you punks have the balls to shoot yourself with a replica of a gun?" Minato pointed his Evoker towards his temple with and absolutely sick smile on his face. "Bang." He grinned with an utterly wicked voice, making the once cocky teen, not to mention Yukari shiver at the display.
"Besides…" Hamuko cringed as the image of a pained Minato flashed in her mind. "He has fought them before…" Her hand trailed towards Minato's previously injured shoulder and grasped it.
Minato smiled slightly at her concern. His hand glided towards her and he grasped it, giving it a quick, but reassuring squeeze. "Don't worry about it. I'm okay now."
Hamuko smiled. "I'm glad…"
"Why is… he only nice to her?" Yukari asked herself, jealousy seething within her.
"Alright. So, are you ready?" Akihiko asked to which Minato nodded. "Heh. That's the spirit."
Minato noticed a blue door as he glanced around the room. He ignored whatever Mitsuru was saying and walked towards it. Hamuko saw this and whispered to herself. "I guess the key I gave him a while ago will work now." She whispered to herself.
Unbeknownst to him as he walked by, Hamuko slipped a key into one of Minato's pockets. This same key was glowing a warm light blue colour as he stood in front of the door.
"The hell? I didn't know this existed until now…" Minato said in awe as his arm automatically clicked the key into its home and opened instantly, momentarily blinding him with a bright flash of light.
Minato opened his eyes to be greeted by Igor's excited face.
"Well shit…" Minato spoke after snapping out of his stupor. "Kids would have nightmares after seeing you." Igor's smile duly disappeared and formed a frown but Elizabeth giggled, oddly amused by Minato's words.
Igor discarded the annoyance and spoke, "I see you're about to venture into the tower."
"And you won't tell me anything useful about that, right?" Minato mumbled under his breath. Igor ignored it and briefly explained to Minato about his rare power, the Wild Card.
"So basically I have to beat the Shadows and get stronger?" Minato asked after taking in all that information. Igor nodded.
"Yes. Now, you must be off, but please come again of your own accord. Then I can tell you about my true role; the manner in which I can best assist you. Farewell…" Igor waved as yet another flash of light Minato.
"Yo dude?" Hamuko shook Minato out of the trance. To those around him it just looked like he was staring at the wall dumbly.
"W-what?" Minato stammered after composing himself.
"You were staring at the wall… are you okay?" Yukari asked, trying to be friendlier to Minato.
"Yeah… Let's go." Minato replied curtly, heading towards the staircase with the rest of the team following just behind him. Taking a deep breath, he walked through the portal to the labyrinth of Tartarus. Or the newly dubbed 'weird portal-like thing' as Minato thought.
"Sweet…" Minato muttered with a devilish grin as he glanced around the new environment. The place was filled with puddles of blood. The checked marble floor had a green hue cast over it, the scarlet red liquid splashed over it like haphazard paint. Oddly, Minato enjoyed it.
"So this is it huh?" Junpei commented as he tightened the grip on his sword.
"My knight will protect me… right?" She gave a grin to Minato who could only nod dumbly.
"Y-yeah…" He replied nervously. Hamuko found how easy it was to tease him hilarious to say the least.
"I can do this on my own", Junpei thought. "Hamuko doesn't need a jerk like him to protect her." Junpei glared at Minato's back.
"Here I go!" Junpei yelled, determined to find and kill some Shadows in order to prove his worth. He ran, taking off from the group.
"Iori!" Mitsuru yelled, her voice reaching everyone through means unknown.
"Whoa, is that you senpai?" Yukari asked but at this moment, Mitsuru was ignoring her surprise.
"Iori, get back!" She yelled, but he just wouldn't stop running. "Tsk… Marie. After him."
Hamuko nodded to run after Junpei, leaving Minato and Yukari alone.
"Fucking moron." Minato cursed.
"Um… Minato-kun, I'm so-" Her words were cut short as Minato began walking away.
"Where are you going?" Yukari asked frantically.
"Away from you." Minato replied simply with no remorse whatsoever. She could very well die in Tartarus and he wouldn't care.
"What if a Shadow attacks me?" Yukari said with a quivering voice.
"I don't care." Minato hissed.
Yukari was feeling pissed, but most of all she was scared. In the end she followed behind Minato. "Jerk…" She spat, but not in front of Minato of course.
Minato ran forward suddenly, shocking her. She ran behind him and stopped dead at the display. He was driving his sword through the chest of a Shadow. It seemed like there were two identical Shadows, being impaled by a wire.
"Die!" Minato shouted with a frightful amount of glee as he shot himself with his Evoker, summoning the form of Discord Orpheus above him.
"Burn it to the ground…" Minato commanded with a smile. The musician began to play an off-tune melody with his broken and damaged lyre. As the ferocious strokes of the notes ended the song, a column of fire burned the sword-impaled Shadow, reducing it to ashes.
The Shadow was vanquished so Minato kept walking, not even bothering to notice the horrified Yukari behind him.
"Wuss…" Minato sneered at Yukari. "Why don't you summon your Persona now?"
"I-I'm scared…" She admitted with a shaky voice.
Minato gave out a hauntingly eerie laugh. With that, he walked forward. Minato still didn't like her, calling her a bitch in his mind. His heart was bursting with complete anger, just by remembering what Yukari said to him at the hospital.
"Arisato! Marie and Iori are in trouble!" Mitsuru's voice blared inside Minato's mind, his heart beat speeding up painfully fast.
"Fuck!" Minato yelled as he dashed forward, Yukari barely being able to keep up with him.
Minato quickly found Junpei and Hamuko panting on the ground with a huge beetle-like Shadow in front of them.
"Hamuko!" Minato shouted, running towards her. "Are you okay?"
"No…" Hamuko smiled despite the situation. "Nothing is working on it." She stood up groggily while Minato turned towards the beetle with a cream coloured mask on its horn.
"Asshole…" He cursed as he drew his Evoker and shot himself, revealing Orpheus from the blue mist that poured out.
"Agi!" Minato commanded as a ball of fire was thrown towards the beetle form Orpheus' form. Resist.
"Shit…" Minato muttered under his breath as the dodged the incoming beetle's Kill Rush attack. Dashing to the left, Minato unsheathed his sword and drove it through the beetle's wing eliciting a screech from the Shadow.
The group stared on in shock as the Shadow quickly pinned Minato to the ground with its large horn. Flying up it planned to land on Minato and crush him with his weight, but Minato quickly rolled away as he saw the attack coming.
"Orpheus!" Hamuko summoned her Persona, not being able to bear seeing Minato fight the Shadow alone… like the last time. The beautiful Persona flew towards the Shadow and fired a hard Bash attack with its harp, but it barely flinched.
"The fuck is supposed to hurt it!?" Junpei yelled as he tried to burn the Shadow with Hermes' flames but like before, it barely flinched.
Minato staggered to his feet. "How the fuck can I hurt it!?"
"It's weak against Wind!" Mitsuru advised. "Takeba has a Persona that could be used to attack it, but it has not learned any attack up till now."
Yukari cursed herself. "Why am I so useless!?"
Minato was prepared to summon Death now. There was no other option. He was just about to, but a soothing voice rang inside his head. 'Master… Summon me…' were the words. His mind flashed back to Igor's words. "When you have defeated your enemies you shall see the faces of possibility before you…" Minato grinned wickedly again as he made up his mind.
"Come forth, Angel!" Minato yelled as blue shards exploded from the other side of his temple. This time it was neither Death nor Orpheus but a scantily dressed female that was blinded by a blindfold with a pair of wings and blonde flowing hair.
"Blow it apart." Minato snarled. The new Persona fluttered its wings, bringing forth a gust of wind to blast the Shadow onto its back and anchor it to the ground. Minato charged towards the beetle and quickly dove his sword into its weakest part; the mask, and killed the pesky insect.
Minato sighed in annoyance as he turned around to see the shocked faces of his team members.
"How did you…" Yukari started, not getting the how he was able to summon Angel as she only had one Persona.
"Summon…" Junpei continued.
"Another Persona?" Hamuko finished to which Minato shrugged.
"Beats me…" He replied.
"This is certainly interesting, Arisato." Mitsuru said, her voice filled with excitement. "We shall discuss it tomorrow. For now, I order you all to split up and find the access point."
Minato would normally ridicule her for ordering him around, but right now he was too tired to care. He nodded and ordered the team to split up like she had told them to.
Hamuko followed just behind Minato grinning. "You're fucking amazing Minato-kun."
"Um… Are you hurt…?" Minato asked softly, surprising even himself by the tone.
"Oh I'm okay, thanks to you." Hamuko grinned.
Minato sighed in relief. "Don't you go running off again, got that?:
Hamuko nodded and saluted him. "Of course, leader!"
Minato smiled at her cheekiness. That girl was definitely something else… He continued to watch as Hamuko bounced around cheerily.
Eventually they found the access point and the arrived at the bottom floor. Mitsuru and Akihiko welcomed them.
"So, how was it?" Mitsuru asked to which Minato shrugged.
"Okay I guess." He replied.
Mitsuru gave a small smile. "I see. Well, I'm glad it wasn't too tiring for you. If you gained confidence then that's the best thing you could have achieved."
"But man… you busted out another Persona now." Akihiko said with a smirk.
"I'm certainly surprised myself but you all must be tired. We will discuss this another day." Everyone nodded at her words and walked out of the tower.
Minato felt the Fool Social Link level up to rank two during all that. His eyes darted towards Hamuko who was skipping rather than walking like the others. Would he ever be able to create a lasting bond with her? "Would she seriously make a bond with a monster like… me?" His heart wrenched painfully as he thought about her. "He looked down thinking. If I just wasn't like this…"
"Hey knight! Come on!" Hamuko's cheerful smile was contagious, no doubt.
Minato smiled back. "Coming you crazy woman!" He shouted as he reached her, walking beside her.
Hamuko wished a lot for this one thing. That she could have a bond with Minato… She suddenly grasped his hand, shocking Minato.
"W-wha?" Minato stammered, but stopped when he gazed into Hamuko's crimson eyes. They looked like they were missing that shine in them that gave them life, and others around her life. But only when she looked at Minato. As if something… was missing.
"Please… let me be like this…" Hamuko pleaded as she squeezed his hand a little tighter.
Minato nodded slowly. "Alright then…" Hamuko gave him a small smile, and continued to walk along with him.
Nights : There you go, hope you enjoyed this chapter as it was pretty fun to write, with the first visit to Tartarus and I really hope you enjoyed Minato's interaction with Igor IMO they seemed funny. Anyway, please review. Ciao.
Hoshi: Welp, fun to write and fun to edit. I'm going to get out of here now. *Dashes off to do awesome things.* Oh right. Please tell us what we can improve and all that good stuff. Plz review, no flames, and I'll catch you in another chapter.