[Now playing: Land of Morytha, Xenoblade Chronicles 2]
Shinjiro woke up with a massive migraine, groaning as he held his head when he sat up on the bed he was on. He took deep breaths to try and maintain the pain, but there was still some tinnitus lingering in his ears from that faceless man. He'd seen that creature in the Dark Hour a few times before, but never had he thought the being could cross over into the normal hours of day.
He decided not to think too deeply on it for the time being, as he didn't know the danger his friends and Michael were in. He needed to find a way to break out of this cell, so first he needed to see what it was like.
Taking more notice to the surroundings, it seemed he was in some sort of padded cell. It was poorly done, as he could see cement showing in some spots where the padding was ripped. Other parts were stained with blood; almost like a massacre had happened in this very cell. But that was all. The room was very simple.
Then, Shinjiro felt eyes staring him down. He looked directly towards where the feeling was coming from, but didn't flinch at what he saw. A white creature was sitting at the foot of his bed. It was humanoid, with a gaping jaw, black eyes with a white glowing pupil, and long claws upon his scrawny fingers. Another creature from the Dark Hour, only this one had been documented for sightings before- often causing families to be torn apart through telepathy, convincing its prey to end their lives, or something. Shinjiro never paid much attention to this stuff, since it was all just boring to him. This creature didn't scare him, and it didn't seem to be trying to communicate with him.
Shinjiro groaned as he tried to stand up. He was in immense pain. He dug his hand into his pocket, to find that both his pill bottles were gone. So now not only could he not dilute his pain, he couldn't compress his persona. The creature looked at Shinjiro's pain and felt some sort of sympathy. The creature took Shinji's coat off of him (somehow not destroying it in the process) and examined the wound.
"What the fuck," Shinjiro groaned, trying to take back his jacket, but finding his pain to be too tremendous. The creature continued to stare at his injury.
"So you're 'The Rake', huh," Shinjiro asked himself as he gave up trying to get his coat, as he was in too much pain to get his coat back. He decided to mind his own business now, thinking about Sayaka, Michael, and the others.
Suddenly, he felt something slimy on the wound- he wanted to depart, run to the corner of the room, but he couldn't bring himself to do so. He only slowly turned his head to look at what he was feeling, and saw the creature sliding his elongated tongue across the wound. When The Rake was done, the wound closed up and Shinjiro was healed. He was dumbfounded at the fact that this creepy monster wanted to help him. He moved his arm, feeling no pain at all. But when the Rake tried to tug at his pants, he said, "oh hell no, buddy," and lightly kicked the Rake's face.
The Rake walked over to the doorway and made a screeching sound. It would take some time before Shinjiro and the Rake would escape the padded cell, but at least the monster was proving more use to him than he expected.
-
[Now playing: Traumerei, Persona 4]
Owen's chambers, Owen's hideout - 1:34 AM
Yu looked at Owen as he sniffled sadly on the couch. He sat next to Owen and patted his mushroom head as though he were a cute kitten.
"Don't worry Owen. We will resurrect him, using the blood of those S.E.E.S. members," Yu said to him, but got no response. He assumed the toad was sleeping and just making sounds in his sleep, so he got up and approached the billboard, noticing one of the photos was gone.
Yu frowned, but said nothing; he knew becoming enraged would only frighten Owen, especially if it was something that he was to awaken to. He took another picture and looked at it. It was of Owen the Toad and the same boy from the image, on a grass field with picnic items, looking like they were having a very good time together. Another photo that Narukami took showed the same human boy with him and Nanako.
"Don't worry James. You will come back to us," he said, as he looked over at something wrapped up in blankets.
"H-How do you know it will work?"
Yu looked over at Owen.
"Owen, you're awake?"
"I-I *sniffle* I was never sleeping…"
There was silence, before Owen spoke up again.
"I-I… I don't think we should b-bring harm to these people-"
"Why not," Yu demanded to know, "We've worked so hard to get them, and you want to back out?"
"I-I killed the scary man's doggo-"
"OWEN! We have a chance to SAVE Jamesy! Don't you want that?!"
Owen began to cry, and Yu immediately felt bad for raising his voice. He hurried over to Owen and coddled the toad, shushing him soothingly and apologizing over and over. Owen hugged Yu and cried, "I miss Jamesy…"
"I know. Me too. That's why we will kill Shinjiro Aragaki and his stupid girlfriend."
-
[Now playing: Land of Morytha, Xenoblade Chronicles 2]
Shinjiro's padded cell - Owen's hideout, 1:50
Shinjiro finally decided to get up and walk over to the Rake.
"Got any ideas as to how we're gonna escape," he asked. The Rake stared up at Shinjiro and then nodded. He walked over to the wall, and started to vibrate very quickly, before phasing through the wall. Shinji blinked twice, cocking his head diagonally in a stiff motion, as to show disbelief. Was the Rake fucking with him this whole time?
Shinjiro could then hear more Ardainian Soldiers screaming in pain, and soon the door creaked open. The Rake was on the other side, his hands bloody from the murder he committed.
"Uh… good job," Shinjiro said as he stepped out of the cell. He was in one of the hallways that he'd previously passed through. He didn't have his weapons anymore, but he had the Rake, who would tear apart anyone who came between him or Shinji.
"Rake, can you track down my friend," Shinjiro asked, showing The Rake a picture of Michael. The Rake made a screech, then ran off down the hallway.
[Now playing: A Portent Crawling Over, Xenoblade Chronicles 2]
Shinjiro figured he would never see the Rake again, and decided to look for his friends on his own. He looked through the windows of the cells, only seeing other strange creatures from the Dark Hour; creatures like Jeff the Killer, , and other creepy creatures.
"How did Owen get these bitches from the Dark Hour," Shinjiro questioned to himself, as he finally found the cell of one of his friends; it was Makoto Niijima. He peered through the small window and gave the door a loud knock to get the attention of the girl. Makoto looked up from her bed and rushed over to the door.
"You got out," Makoto asked, "how?"
"Long story. I need to bust open this door. Do you have any ideas as to how I can do that?"
"Um," Makoto scratched her cheek as she tried to think, "I think some guards have keys. Can you take them out?"
"Guess I'll have to," Shinjiro said, then left the doorway. Makoto could no longer see him, even when she tried to look out the window. Shinjiro hunted down an Ardanian Soldier and stealthily knocked them out and took the keys. He returned to Makoto's door and opened it. Makoto rushed out and then pointed at two doors down, with some blood stains on the bottom of the door.
"That's where Haru is," Makoto said with worry in her voice. Shinjiro approached the door, and found that it was unlocked, since he barely touched it and it opened. Inside the room, he could see Haru standing over the dead body of a creepy creature. Somehow she kept the axe, maybe she'd fought someone for it, you never knew with a girl like Haru.
"Haru," Makoto ran over to her, "are you alright?"
"I'm lovely," Haru said as she straightened her composure, "S-sorry you had to see this situation. This creature was let into the room, but I managed to kill it in self defense."
"It seems like all these 'creepy creatures' are being used to kill us," Shinjiro said, "one was in my room, but I managed to tame it."
There was suddenly a loud screech, and the Rake was running on all fours towards Shinjiro. Behind him were Michael and Kanji.
"We couldn't find Sayaka," Kanji said, "and this weird creature saved me and Michael from what I think is the 'creepypasta' seedeater."
"Uh, yeah," Shinjiro decided not to discuss that he knew about what Kanji called 'creepypastas' were creatures he encountered in the Dark Hour.
"And no shit you wouldn't find her, I'm sure that Owen has her elsewhere. You know, as 'bait'."
"Oh, yes, he does," Haru exclaimed, "Yu Narukami told me himself, that he was planning to use her to lure you to him and-"
"Wait, you got to talk to Yu," Kanji practically yelled, enraged that Yu would discuss something with some random anime girl, but not his own investigation team member.
"It seems we have no choice but to go to Yu Narukami then, since he has a valuable member to our team," Makoto said, "I mean, she is the reason we came here…"
"Makes sense he'd wanna put up a fight then, we should hurry," Michael agreed.
Shinjiro made a short whistle and started to head to the door ahead of them. The Rake quickly followed him like a hound. Everyone was shocked that Shinjiro had tamed such a strange beast, but they followed after him and his new pet.
[Now playing: Flashback, Xenoblade Chronicles 2]
Shinjiro and his group stood on the balcony that they'd previously kicked ass on, and saw Yu with Sayaka and Owen on the high balcony. She seemed unharmed, and was even unrestrained.
"Shinjiro," she called out to him, peering over the balcony at his group.
Yu smirked smugly and said, "I see you were able to escape. I'm quite surprised, honestly. But you still stand no chance against the Slender Man," he pressed the button on the remote once again, and Slenderman arrived. The white noise returned to the humans, but not at the same intensity as before. The Rake cried out in agony as he charged at Slenderman.
[Now playing: Codename Z, Xenoblade Chronicles X]
The Slenderman revealed the tentacles on his back, and shot them towards the Rake. The Rake dodged them all, leaping on them as he tackled the faceless man. He was ripped off with one of the tentacles and slammed against the wall. The Rake was not so easily defeated though, as he clawed on and freed himself from Slenderman's grip. He then stabbed Slenderman with one of his claw-like hands, but Slenderman was immune because he's a creepy pasta. The Rake screeched, causing all the humans and Owen the Toad to cover their ears in order to not go deaf.
The Rake and Slender Man battled for about five minutes, before Yu Narukami got tired of waiting, and took out Naoto's gun. He shot The Rake in the shoulder, causing the Rake to succumb to pain, and fall.
"That's cheating," The good guys all shouted in sync, except for Shinjiro who stayed quiet.
"You pests," Yu said. "It matters not who wins that battle, as all of you S.E.E.S. members will be coming to your last moments of life."
Yu looked over at the large containers that had the poisonous mushroom liquid in them, but then looked over at another one that was entirely clear. The others approached the railing and saw the same clear liquid.
"That is where the blood of you S.E.E.S. members will go. As persona users, you are all special, and your blood will bring the one ingredient needed to resurrect Owen's deceased loved one," Yu revealed to them. Owen looked discomforted, as if he were second guessing things. Shinjiro immediately took notice of this and spoke up.
"Owen. Is this what you want?"
Owen shuffled his feet as he began whimpering and started to cry. Yu looked very angry and shouted, "Do NOT bring Owen into this! Of course it's what he wants! Jamesy was his beloved! Killed by one of your personas!"
Shinjiro crossed his arms and said, "if you've got a problem with it, come down and fight. Don't be a priss."
Yu then hopped over the railing like a teen jumping a fence, landing on the other end of the balcony. Donkey Kong then took his place above, as one of the members of Owen's crew who had not been fighting previously. Niijima facepalmed and asked, "how many henchmen does this one Toad have?"
Haru handed Shinjiro his axe, and Michael gave him his most basic pistol, so now Shinjiro was decked out like a Persona 5 character. The Rake watched Shinjiro and Yu approach each other, just as everyone else did. The final battle was about to begin.