[Now Playing: Mementos (New Layer), persona 5 Royal]
It was dark. Too dark. The only way that the group of four could tell they were going the right way was when they held their phones up to illuminate the hallway. It wasn't much use, but it at least allowed them to see that this hallway was very slim. Eventually, Shinjiro stopped at a locked door. Haru, Makoto, and Michael all bumped into him, but it barely staggered him.
"What's the hold up," Michael asked.
Haru looked past Shinjiro's side and said, "oh, there's a door blocking our path! We should try to open it carefully-"
Shinjiro kicked the door down with his foot and proceeded. Haru sweated from nervousness, but Makoto reassured her that they would be fine. The three followed Shinjiro onto the metal balcony overlooking the warehouse.
"Oh my god…" Makoto spoke.
[Now playing: Cliffs of Morytha, Xenoblade Chronicles 2]
Beneath the balcony were huge contaminants and furnaces, holding a purple and green oozy liquid that had a terrible stench. Shinjiro covered his nose to prevent himself from getting too lightheaded, while Haru covered her mouth in fear of vomiting. Makoto turned away so no one would see her ill. Michael seemed immune though.
"What is this shit," Shinjiro questioned.
"Poisonous mushroom," Michael responded, "I used to get some of this shit in munchies from Doctor Mario."
Doctor Mario… that was the dude who patched Shinjiro's leg when he was shot like two days ago. Who knew he was a drug dealer on the side? Shinjiro shrugged off those unnecessary thoughts as he scanned the area, finally spotting the two people captive. Neither of them seemed to notice the four who came for their rescue.
"Kanji," Makoto questioned as she looked over at the two.
"Who's Kanji," Haru asked.
"He's the friend of one of Akechi's friends, Naoto."
"Oh, I see," Haru said.
There was silence after that. The group wasn't really sure how they were going to get across from the balcony they were on over to the other. Shinjiro looked over to a doorway that was hard to see to the average person's eye. He walked over to it. It was made entirely out of metal. It was cold to the touch, but he was used to the cold on his hands. He slid his hand from the door towards the knob, and then opened the door. It was really easy, since Owen and his henchmen didn't seem to know that they should lock doors.
"This way," Shinji said, entering through the door. Michael waited for the two ladies to follow Shinji as he followed them. The hallway was lit by dangling light bulbs, and the walls were cold to the touch just like the door. In fact, the air in this area was a bit chilled, like a powerful air conditioner was blasting at full power. Shinjiro adjusted the collar of his coat as the four walked down the hallway.
"Brrr, it's really chilly," Haru said, "I can't wait to find the exit."
Makoto said a simple, "me too," as she looked at the walls. There were many doors here, all tightly shut. She couldn't tell why, but something in this hallway made her feel uneasy. Before Michael could comment on her discomofted expression, they made it to the door that led out of this hallway.
Now, the group was in another room, this one had a bulletin board on it, with several images of a human boy and Owen. Shinjiro approached the photos, picking a specific one up between his fingers. The girls thought maybe Shinjiro's heart wasn't all black from this interaction.
"Let's go," Shinjiro said, not giving any hints as to why he had done what he just did. Michael watched him go through the next door, which led into another steel hallway.
"Wasn't that so sensible and soft," Haru gushed to Makoto, "he carries this cold exterior, but he's really just a pure guy inside!"
Makoto cringed at Haru's comments and said, "whatever."
Makoto and Haru then followed Shinji, and Michael went behind them. The walk to through this hallway was much longer, and just as quiet as the previous. But there were stains here and there of red, making things unsettling for the ladies, but not causing a single flinch to arise from the men.
They finally came to the end of the hallway, and went through the door. Shinjiro locked eyes with Kanji immediately, and the two exchanged strange looks.
"Who the hell are you," Shinjiro asked, "and why do you look like a pussy?"
Kanji's face turned red, as he started to shout, "I AM NOT A PUSS-"
"Shinjiro," Sayaka spoke up, "Is that you? Finally- I- They killed Koromaru, I was worried that they got you, too-"
Michael then approached the two and interrupted Sayaka, "this was an easy entry, and it'll be an easy exit." He took out a knife and started to cut the rope, but suddenly an alarm went off because of Michael's carelessness. Immediately, Ardanian Soldiers surrounded the group, aiming their guns at them all.
"THINK YOU CAN TAKE ME," one of them shouted, while another one yelled, "YER DONE!"
Shinjiro looked unamused. He sarcastically spoke up, "oh, whatever am I to do?"
[Now Playing: Black Tar, Xenoblade Chronicles X.]
Haru took out her grenade launcher, Makoto held up her hands ready to fist fight her way through these armed men, and Michael took out some sticky bombs. This frightened the soldiers, but they kept their arms steady, until Shinjiro took out the axe, which then really scared them, causing the soldiers to visibly shake. Sayaka rolled her eyes and tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for someone to strike the first move, and result in what she assumed would be all of their deaths.
"Oh my god," Sayaka finally complained, "someone DO SOMETHING ALREADY!"
Makoto sighed and took initiative, striking her opponent with a punch to the face. Haru then shot one of the soldiers with her gun, and Michael switched his weapon from explosives to a simplistic pistol, shooting the soldiers. Somehow bullets and fists were effective on these guys, despite them being in full-on armor.
Kanji watched Shinjiro and said, "yo, are ya gonna do anything?"
"Nah, they've got it handled," Shinji responded as the bodies of the ardanian soldiers fell to his feet. Haru even snatched his axe and swung at the remaining living enemies.
"I always get such a thrill from ending the shadow's lives when they're begging for it," she commented, disturbing Michael a little bit since she was an anime highschool girl.
The gang then heard the heavy footsteps of Jack the Shyguy and his girlfriend Jenny.
"Oh would ya look at what the cat dragged in," Jenny asked with a giggle.
"It looks like the 'scary man' Owen was so afraid of is all bark and no bite, did'ja see how he didn't do shit just now," Jack asked Jenny, with a laugh of his own. This annoyed Shinjiro enough for him to approach Jack and grab him by the collar of his outfit.
"You're a real piece of shit, you know that," Shinjiro threatened, holding his hand out to Haru for his axe. She gave it to him immediately, and he demanded, "give me one good reason not to kill you right now."
Jack seemed unphased, as the rest of his gang finally arrived at the scene. The yoshi had a sledgehammer, Owen's pet Pichu had a taser,
Shinjiro's grip on Jack was suddenly released as he felt the sudden pain he felt when he first encountered Owen a little less than a week ago. He knew what this meant, but he didn't have the time to fumble through his pockets for the pills. He could only hope that he had the
h
to suppress his persona, Castor, from destroying everyone like he did to Ken's mommy.
After a moment of pain, Shinjiro composed himself…. Only to get fuckign SHOT IN THE SHOULDER!
"FUCK," he shouted in some pain but mostly anger "I'M SO SICK OF GETTING SHOT!"
He wasn't immune to a gunshot though, and was at a disadvantage. Shinjiro was then shoved against the railing of the balcony, his upper body peering over the poisonous substance from melted mushrooms.
There was a sudden shift in weight, and Shinjiro realized he was no longer being pushed over the edge of the railing. To his right was Sayaka beating the living shit out of the fat shy guy with the folding chair she had previously been stuck in. He was flabbergasted as he then looked over at the man in the white dress screaming, "YEAH! YOU GO GIRL! KICK HIS SORRY ASS!"
Shinjiro couldn't take his eyes off of Sayaka when he watched her again. But then Kanji blocked his view with his big ass bod as he, too, started to abuse Jack with the folding chair, the two slamming their chairs into the pudgy man as though they were to beat him to death. Shinji looked away when he realized he wasn't gonna be able to see Sayaka through some cross dressing guy, so he looked around at the other team mates. Haru was rushing to him.
"You got shot," she said to him as she tried to force his coat off in a brisk motion.
"Hey, stop it, would ya," Shinji demanded, grabbing her wrist and shoving her away from him.
"S-Sorry, It's just… you could bleed out, if you don't get patched up…"
"I think that's the last of them," Niijima said as she dropped the sledgehammer on the ground, then looked at Sayaka and Kanji finally finishing up their rage-filled beating. Kanji gave Jack a final hard kick, before they all grouped up together.
"We should get out of here," Sayaka suggested, "I can always make sure Shinjiro obeys the doctor's orders at home."
"Yeah, I wanna get the fuck outta here," Michael said.
"And soon, you will 'get the fuck outta here'," a new voice spoke.
[Now Playing: The Impending Crisis, Xenoblade Chronicles 2]
The group of six looked over to the voice. The figure had jumped down from a higher up balcony, placing Owen the Toad on the ground beside him. It seemed Owen had just finally gotten over his rage induced temper tantrum caused by Mr. Okumura. Kanji's eyes widened at the taller figure's appearance. The silver hair, black and white school uniform, and black glasses gave away his identity easily.
"Yu," Kanji shouted, leaning forward in an aggressive stance, "what are you doing working with these freaks?!" The toad started to cry upon the words. Haru and Makoto blushed at the sight of the handsome anime man.
"Oh come on now, you really think he's a freak," Yu asked as he picked up Owen and held him out to Kanji, "he's almost as cute as Teddie."
Kanji blushed in embarrassment, but then said, "yeah but he made me dress up like this, then said I was 'fugly'..."
"I mean, he's not wrong," Shinjiro commented, only making Kanji's face flush deeper red.
"Shut up, Shinji," Sayaka complained, "I love the dress he's fucking badass in his dress." Shinjiro rolled his eyes as he disagreed, but wasn't about to argue with his future gf about the 'badassness' of some rando dude.
"You all cannot leave, we need you all for our master plan," Yu said, returning to the original conversation, "It's all because of S.E.E.S. that someone very close to Owen is no longer with us. And I was close to that person as well."
"Then take it up with the members of S.E.E.S., not a ton of teenagers," Michael said. This did not please Yu, and he took out a remote.
"That man in the coat, he's a member of S.E.E.S., and so is the girl we had tied up here. It seems he fell for Owen's bait."
"B-Bait," Sayaka yelled, "I'm NOT bait!"
Makoto facepalmed while Haru looked over to the door. She saw a figure behind the door's small window, but it was too hard to make out who. She started feeling really light headed though, and it was apparent that the others were starting to feel similar.
"H-hey, I'm not feeling too great," Haru said. Yu smirked and pressed the button, allowing the door to open. The pain became worse for the group, as they all staggered in their steps and held their heads from a suddenly sharp noise that sounded much like white noise.
"What the fuck is this shit," Michael cussed, before collapsing to the ground with blood slowly trailing out of his nostril, before he passed out. The others all followed similar paths, but merely groaned or cried. Shinjiro even found himself succumbing to the pain, but with the last of his energy, he looked up at the figure that was now above him.
Who he saw… was a man with no face. After that, his vision went blurry, and he, too, became unconscious.