Chapter 3: Start of the Lunacy

The full moon made Minato nervous for some reason as he walked to school the next day. For him, it wasn't all that often he saw the moon in the daytime; most times, he would see it sickly green at midnight. But to see it pale blue, hovering opposite the sun…

"Oi!" Minato was snapped out of his daze as Shinjiro ran up to him.

"Shinjiro-san," Minato nodded to him. "Good morning."

"Morning to you too," Shinjiro nodded back. "What's up?"

"Well, I guess the moon." Minato pointed to it.

"Ah yes," Shinjiro glared at it. "Out here, you can see the moon clearly even in daylight, unlike the city…"

"The city? You used to live in one?" Minato asked.

"Tch… it was a long time ago, Arisato." Shinjiro growled.

Taking the feral sound as a sign to drop the subject, Minato decided to bring up a new topic. "So… you and Hamuko-san. How long have you known each other?" he asked.

"Tch. We've known each other for about two years now, but it feels like forever to me," Shinjiro replied, smirking a little.

"Oh? Then you two are close," Minato nodded.

"Hm… I guess you can say that," Shinjiro shrugged.

"Then are you two… well… dating?" Minato bit the bullet.

To Minato's complete and utter shock, Shinjiro was blushing. The intimidating man who could make most thugs crap their pants was blushing! At the mention of a girl!

"Heh… It's not like that. We're close… but we're too incompatible to be a couple," Shinjiro sighed, honestly sounding sad about what he had said.

"What do you mean?" Minato wondered.

"We're… just different," Shinjiro clammed up, unwilling to say more.

"Sorry…" Minato apologized.

"Tch, it's alright," Shinjiro's mood softened a little. "The girl's an attention grabber; it's only natural you'd be curious. So, Arisato, how about you tell me about the girls in your life?"

"Uh… well…" Minato could've sworn Shinji's blush jumped ship over to him.

"Now, where is that crook?" Minato carefully scanned the treasure room for the one item he was searching for. For some bizarre reason, he was dressed in clothing best fit for an archeological dig, including a broad brimmed hat and a bullwhip to one side. Normally, he would have questioned why he was dressed like this, and who had gotten him drunk enough to give the okay for it, but right now, he was on a hunt.

He was on a hunt for the fabled Crook of Hamatutan, which was said to grant immortality and the wealth of ten kings to whoever took it from its resting place in the clutches of the thief who stole it centuries ago.

It had been a long, tiring trip, and the others who had been after the Crook as well had been particularly vicious about it. If it weren't for the Ruby Gyspy and her moonstone-eyed bodyguard, Minato would have been dead and dropped in a well too early on for it to be comfortable. As it was, he could hear the screams of pain from the bodyguard's victims, and the Gypsy herself was sitting on the feet of a giant statue, playing some silly song or another. If he listened, he could swear she was saying something about biting the dust, but he was too preoccupied to care.

"Ah! There it is!" At long last, Minato spotted the blue and white cane he desired sitting on top of a mountain of gold coins. Heading towards it, he ignored the faint tremor that passed beneath his feet. "Come to daddy," he smirked as he climbed the coins for his prize.

As he reached for the crook, he felt the coins collapse beneath him. "No!" he cried out as he fell further and further and further…

"Arisato, wake up!"

Minato jolted awake by the sound of something heavy hitting his desk. He looked up to see Sofue-sensei looking none too pleased at him.

"Am I really that boring, Arisato?" she asked.

"No, no, Sensei," Minato shook his head. "It's just that… I always fall asleep in class; I can't help it."

"I see…" Sofue nodded. "I'll guess I'll just have to have a pot of coffee ready for you at all times in my class." The class let out various degrees of snickers as Sofue returned to the front of the class.

"Anyways, Arisato, since you're now up, how about you answer the question," Sofue ordered.

"Uh… What was the question, sensei?" Minato asked.

"The question was 'In ancient times, what is the name given to rulers of Ancient Egypt?'" Sofue repeated her question.

"That would be the Pharaoh, sensei," Minato answered.

"Very good, Arisato," Sofue nodded. "Now then, as the rulers of Ancient Egypt, the pharaohs would…"

As she began lecturing again, Minato's gaze shifted around the room, where he spotted Hamuko flashing him a thumbs up. Minato slightly nodded to her in thanks, to which she winked back at him before focusing on the lecture.

'Uh… what did that wink mean?' Minato wondered. 'Does she… nah. I've only known her two days.'

"Ugh… long day…" Minato sighed as he crawled into bed. After school, Minato had been gang-pressed by the family servants to do some paperwork for his grandfather. Resigned to the task, it took up all his free time and now he was ready for bed. "Even if that freaky green event gives me extra sleep, I could live without the paperwork…" Minato mumbled as he pulled the covers over him, ready to embrace sleep.

TAP TAP

"Who the hell wants my attention now…" Minato grumbled as he turned around in bed.

TAP TAP

"Psst… Psst…"

"Meh… Whoever it is, go away…" Minato tossed around in bed. "I'm sleeping."

TAP TAP

"Psst… Psst…"

"I don't care what it is, Yuriko-san, it can wait until morning," Minato pulled the covers over his head to drown out the sound.

WHAP!

"Gah!" Minato shot up, his head throbbing in pain. "What the hell just hit me?" Taking a quick look around the bed, Minato found a reddish-brown boot lying amongst the covers. "The hell?" Minato held the boot up and examined it. "A woman's boot? But where…"

"Do I FINALLY have your attention now?" Minato whipped around to find Hamuko sitting on the windowsill. Instead of her usual school uniform, she was wearing a tan-orange sweater, a bright orange scarf, a plaid orange-red skirt, black nylons, and a single reddish-brown boot.

"…Hamuko-san?" Minato looked at her, completely puzzled by her arrival.

"That's my name; don't wear it out," she winked at him. "Anyways, about damn time I got you up; was afraid I'd have to chuck my other boot at you. Last thing you need is a double boot to the head."

"Gee, thanks," Minato chucked her boot back at her. "And just how the hell did you slip by security? This place is sealed up tight."

"Well, that's easy," Hamuko slid her boot back on, hopping off the windowsill. "Your window is completely blocked by a tree. That tree is the last in a line of trees that extend off the property."

"…Are you telling me you went all ninja and hopped from tree to tree to get here?" Minato eyed her warily.

"Of course I did," Hamuko giggled. "It was the easiest way for me to get in here unnoticed."

"Great… And I just HAD to leave my window unlocked too…" Minato sighed, palm connecting with forehead. "But what exactly brings you here at this time of night?"

"Wanted to take you out for a night on the town." Hamuko offered. "You in?"

"I dunno… I'm so drained right now," Minato sighed. "I'd rather go back to bed and hope in the morning your bootprint is not on my forehead."

"At least it wasn't covered in dog shit," Hamuko stuck her tongue out at him as she grabbed his arm. "Come on; it'll be fun."

"Do I have to?" Minato whined, desperately wanting to go back to bed.

"If you don't, I'll go downstairs and alert those servants of yours that you had a girl in your room." Hamuko smirked.

"Oh crap!" Minato paled. "Don't do that! My grandfather would kill me!"

"Then come on!" Hamuko tugged his arm again.

"Uh… Alright, but can I get changed first?" Minato gestured to himself, showing he was only in sweats.

"Whoops!" Hamuko gasped. "Hehe, alright. You've got ten minutes to get ready. I'll be waiting." she plopped out on the bed.

"Just wonderful," Minato grumbled as he picked up some clothes and went into the adjacent bathroom.

"And here is the park!" Hamuko lead Minato around, gnawing on a steak kabob.

"I'd say I love the view, but it's pitch black out here, Hamuko-san," Minato joked, eating his own steak kabob. "And I can't believe there's a kabob place open this late."

"They're not; the owner is good friends with my grandma and lets me come around at the end of the night sometimes and take some of the excess food at a discount," Hamuko smiled as she pulled the last bit of meat off her kabob.

"Ah, I see…" Minato finished off his kabob as well.

"And over there is the Samegawa River," Hamuko pointed off in the distance. "Right on the other side of the road. Great place to fish; not such a great place to swim."

"You don't say," Minato began walking towards the river. "What kind of fish do they have in the river?"

"You don't know?" Hamuko asked him, trailing right behind him.

"Not really; before starting school here, I didn't stay in Inaba often," Minato shook his head.

"Ah, then you probably don't know the legend of the Samegawa Guardian." Hamuko walked up to the edge of the river.

"What's that?" Minato wondered.

"It's this legendary giant fish that's said to inhabit this very river. Some say its meat will bestow magical abilities to those who eat it. It was last seen fifty years ago, caught by the best fisherman in town, but since then… No one has caught it. Rumors of its appearances have popped up now and again, but there's never been any proof." Hamuko told him of the legend.

"Sounds like the yeti or the Loch Ness Monster." Minato nodded.

"You can say that," Hamuko shrugged. "It's such a nice night out."

"Yeah it is. It's rather… What are you doing?" Minato eyed Hamuko, who was kicking off her boots.

"I'm gonna wade in the water, of course." Hamuko reached under her skirt and started rolling down her leggings.

"Uh… you're not gonna get naked, are you?" Minato felt the heat rising in his face and his pants.

"Of course not, silly." Hamuko stuck her tongue out at him as she slipped her feet out of her leggings and stuffed them into one of her boots before kicking them away from the shore. "I'm only gonna get my feet wet."

"But it's April; won't it be cold?" Minato questioned her.

"That's what makes it so much fun." Hamuko inched towards the water, slowly dipping a foot in. "Whoa! It's cold, but it's fun!" she kicked some of the water into the air. "Join me, Minato-kun!"

"Um… I think I'll pass…" Minato walked closer to the shore, gathering Hamuko's boots for her.

"Aw… come on, Minato-kun? For me?" Hamuko stuck out her lower lip, giving him the puppy-dog eyes.

"Dammit…" Minato growled, unable to look away. 'Is she… is she really interested in me, or is she just that friendly?'

"Pwease?" Hamuko held her hands up in a begging position before kicking some water in his direction.

"Hey!" Minato leapt out of the way of the attack. "Watch it!"

"Pwease?" Hamuko begged again.

"Ugh… fine…" Minato put Hamuko's boots down as he kicked off his own boots. "You're crazy, you know that?"

"Shinjiro says that all the time." Hamuko laughed.

"I wonder why…" Minato rolled his eyes as he slid off his socks, stuffing them into his boots and rolled up his pant legs.

"Hurry up!" Hamuko waved him over.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Minato wandered towards the shore. "Are… Are you sure it's okay?"

"It's cold at first, but then you come to enjoy it," Hamuko smiled at him, holding out a hand.

"I… okay," Minato took her hand and stepped into the water. "Whoa!"
"Warned you about that," Hamuko giggled. "You'll adjust in a moment."

"Hm… Once you get past the shock, it's not so bad." Minato adjusted to the water.

"I knew you'd like," Hamuko kicked some water into the air. "C'mon. You do it too!"

Shaking his head in amusement, Minato mirrored Hamuko's actions, sending some water into the air. "Hey, this is kinda fun!" Minato laughed.

"See if you can keep up!" Hamuko began quickly kicking water into the air.

"You betcha!" Minato quickly matched her pace.

Meanwhile, Shinjiro was roaming the streets of Inaba, a scowl that could freeze time itself stuck on his face as he continued to walk around. He'd gone to ask Hamuko something about a bit of homework, only to find that not only was the girl not in her room, her boots and scarf weren't hanging up in the hall anymore.

"Dammit, Hamuko. How many times have I told you not to go out at night?" he growled to himself, looking around for the girl. "You never know what might happen…" All of a sudden, the night turned sickly green and Shinjiro's face paled. "SHIT!" he cursed to himself. "I hope to God she's in a coffin or…"

A familiar chill ran up his spine; a chill he hadn't felt in two years, yet instantly recognized and knew what it meant. "No… don't tell me… Not now!" He gritted his teeth. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted an axe in the display window of the metalworks. "Dammit, I really hope things don't go to shit…" Shinjiro thumbed the gun in his coat before breaking the window and stealing the axe. Casting his head around, he made a run for the Flood Plain; hopefully Hamuko was safe, or the thing that was attacking was easy to beat so he could look for her some more …

"That was fun, wasn't it, Minato-kun?" Hamuko asked him as the two lay on the grass near the river, pulling her leggings back on.

"Yeah, I suppose it was," Minato nodded as he pulled his socks back on. "I can't believe you got me to do that."

"I'm that good," Hamuko smirked, pulling her boots back on.

"I have no idea how to take that." Minato laughed as he pulled back on his boots.

"You're not the first to say that." Hamuko laughed.

"I'm not surprised." Minato laughed as well.

As the both laughed, a green light blanketed the environment, changing it drastically. "No …" Minato gasped as he shot up, instantly on his guard. "I forgot about the time!"

"Minato-kun, what's going on?" Minato whipped around to see Hamuko standing next to him, quaking in fear as she stared at the river of blood in front of them.

"What the? How are you…? Why aren't you in a coffin?" he gawked at her.

"Huh? What?" Hamuko looked at him confused. "Minato-kun, what's going on?"

Something surfaced out of the river of blood with a loud splash, and loomed over the two teens. It was a long, black creature resembling a snake. Flicking out its forked tongue, it stared them down.

"Wh-what the hell is that?" Hamuko hid behind Minato.

"One of them…" he growled out.

As if confirming his answer, the snake lowered its head, showing that, on top of it, a porcelain mask engraved with the Roman numeral for 'one' rested there. The brilliant blue of the mask glowed in the dim lighting, and when the full moon finally appeared again from behind a set of clouds, the green light illuminated it farther.

It was mostly black, but thin veins of acid green raced down its sides in a sickly pattern, one that pulsed and undulated as if it was alive as well. A thin pair of slits revealed themselves to be the thing's 'eyes', burning acid as the tongue flickered out again, tasting the air. A feeling of darkness wafted over Minato and Hamuko as they stood on the beach, and Minato's instincts all screamed at him to run.

"M … Minato-kun … what the hell is that thing?" Hamuko whispered in Minato's ear, sound far more frightened that Minato had ever thought possible. Opening his mouth to speak, Minato froze when the snake whipped its head over to look at them. Letting out a loud hiss, it reared back and opened its maw, revealing immense teeth that dripped with venom.

"Move!" Panicking, Minato grabbed onto Hamuko's arm and leaped out of the way in time to dodge from the snake's lunge. Ignoring the mild crash it made, the blue-haired boy was on his feet and running away. Before he could get to the steps, however, the tail lifted up and slammed down in front of him, totaling a part of the cement dock in the way of its attack. "W – whoa!" Skidding, Minato began to look around, trying to find an exit. 'If this thing hits me, I'm a dead man!' at that, Minato's eyes widened, and he looked around again. "Hamuko-chan!"

Looking for the auburn, Minato saw her cowering behind an embankment of sand and stone, clearly scared for her life. Minato couldn't honestly blame her, but if she stayed in one spot … "Hamuko-chan, you've got to keep moving!" He called out, running over to where she hid. "Come on, don't sit there! This thing'll eat you if you do that!" Grabbing onto her shoulders and shaking her, Minato saw that she seemed to hear him.

"B … but how the hell are we going to get away from that thing?" Hamuko finally got out, voice a shrill whine. "It's big, it's fast, and I think it wants one of us for dinner!" at her words, the snake lunged right at the embankment, making Minato knock Hamuko over to one side to get away from the attack. Even then, he felt one of the bottom fangs rip open a gash in his breast coat.

'Shit …' Looking up as the snake reared back again, Minato closed his eyes and swore to himself; there was no way that they were going to get away from the attack in time …

A gun sounded, making Minato pause. Why was he hearing a gun? Modern technology didn't work during this hour …

The next noise he heard was a solid crash as something rammed into the snake, making it reel backwards before crashing into the river of blood. Looking up, Minato barely caught a glimpse of a black, skeletal horse as it faded away. About ready to get up and run, he stopped when he heard something sliding down the embankment behind them. Horrified that it might be another creature, Minato whirled around, only to stare in shock as Shinjiro appeared, wearing a maroon peacoat with a black beanie, a battle axe in hand.

"S – Shinjiro-san?" Minato blinked, completely confused; how was he awake now?

The older boy looked Minato over briefly, and despite what Minato felt was an undercurrent of rage in those sharp eyes, there was also concern and worry there. "Good, you're in one piece." He muttered gruffly, helping Minato back up onto his feet and handing him a length of lead pipe. "Hold onto this and defend yourself if it goes after you while I get Hamuko back up."

"B – but I -! How are you awake?" Minato stammered as he stood aside, letting Shinjiro get to Hamuko. "And what the hell knocked that snake back? Why did I hear a gunshot? And … and where the hell did you get a battle axe?"

"Don't have the time to answer questions right now, Arisato!" Shinjiro snapped back, shaking Hamuko to get her out of her trance. When the auburn girl looked at him, he let out a sigh. "Hamuko, listen to me; don't let the snake get you." Nodding towards a set of barrels, he added, "Hide back there until you see a clearing to run, okay? When one comes, GO."

"B … what?" Hamuko objected, and would have added more if the snake hadn't managed to recover itself. "Shinjiro! It's up again!" Shinjiro let out a curse and turned around, his left hand diving into a pocket of his peacoat. Before either Minato or Hamuko could ask what he was doing, the older boy had drawn out a gun. "! Shinjiro, what the hell are you doing?" Hamuko seemed more frightened of the gun in her friend's hand than the snake that was attacking them.

"Shinjiro-san!" Minato echoed her, and then paled when the older boy put the barrel of the gun to his head. "Shinjiro-san, what the hell are you doing? Shinjiro-san!" The older boy ignored them both, eyes focused on the snake as he went to pull the trigger. Waiting until the thing was directly in front of him, Shinjiro drew a deep breath.

"… Let's do this! Castor!"

The gun went off with a bang, and Minato found himself unable to look away. Instead of blood, however, shards of what appeared to be glass and blue dust appeared, swirling up and around in a whirlwind that played with Shinjiro's coat and hair. Above him, the black shape from before reappeared, but this time, Minato was able to focus on it more. The skeletal, black horse was still there, but now he could see it had a rider. The figure seemed to wear black armor, and had a bronze sword impaling him through the chest.

"W … what the …" Minato felt his eyes go wide as he stumbled back, utterly floored.

The horse let out a neigh and charged the snake, ramming into it head on and canceling out the attack. Not waiting for the thing to get its balance back, Shinjiro lunged in and swung at it with the battle axe in his hand. The blade scored a wound on the snake's hide, cutting through black scales to let something green and acidic spray outward.

"Tch, this bastard's tough …" Shinjiro growled, watching the snake as it lunged for him again before ducking away and swinging the axe once more. The snake shrieked before lunging at him again, one fang coming dangerously close to his arm and ripped a small gash open in the sleeve of his coat. "Oi!" growling, the brunet slapped the snake on the nose with the flat of the axe before pulling the gun out again. "Castor!"

Again the black horse and rider appeared. This time, however, the rider drew the sword out of his chest and slashed at the snake. Sparks flashed in the air from the cut as the snake let out another shriek, retreating for a moment. The large wound at the base of its neck seemed to bubble for a moment, hissing and spitting out more green liquid as the skin around it began to twitch and bulge.

Seconds later, a second head erupted from the wound, which healed.

"… Fuck." Was all Shinjiro could bring himself to say before attacking again.

Minato felt himself pale, knees threatening to give out. 'H – how? I've never seen this sort of creature do THIS before!' He thought to himself, watching in shock and amazement as Shinjiro continued to dodge and attack at both of the heads, the black horse and rider – he shouted Castor on occasion, so Minato assumed that was what the rider was named – appearing whenever he put the silver gun to his head. 'What's going on!'

"Aren't you going to help him?" Minato blinked and went wide-eyed, turning around to look at the strange boy in striped pajamas. He simply gave Minato another unsettling smile, and spoke again. "Your friend is going to be in danger soon … he'll need all the help he can get." Before Minato could ask the boy what he meant, a faint pulse went through Minato's body.

'Wh … what the …'

"Gah!" Jerking back into reality, Minato's eyes went wide when he saw the snake's tail swing, knocking Shinjiro's feet out from under him. The older boy went down with a thud, the gun knocked out of his hand. The twin heads both let out shrieks, taking turns lunging down at the teen as he rolled and dodged, trying to get the gun back.

A second burst of energy went through Minato, and something stirred in the back of his head. "!" Gritting his teeth, Minato began trying to rub his head. 'W … what the …?' he thought, unable to look away from the battle taking place in front of him. 'Why did I get a headache all of a sudden?'

'Thou art I …' a voice responded somewhere between his ears and brain, making Minato's eyes widen. 'And I art thou …' Stumbling, Minato tried to keep his footing as he shook his head, trying to get the voice to shut up. The energy was filling him up from head to toe, and it felt like it was burning him from the inside out …!

Opening his mouth to go to scream, Minato felt the burning energy solidify and center itself. A name sprung to the forefront of his mind, and Minato let out a sigh before closing his eyes and gritting his teeth. Would it just come out if he called out the name?

"… O … ORPHEUS!"

Glass shattered, and the energy flew out of Minato in a rush to form the same whirlwind of glass and blue light that appeared when Castor appeared. Both of the snake's heads, Shinjiro, and Hamuko all focused on Minato as they watched, in various stages of shock. After a moment though, Shinjiro let out a sardonic chuckle.

"Well … I'll be damned."

Minato looked above him as the light began to condense, revealing a figure that slowly began to solidify. "Thou art I … and I art thou …" The voice that boomed in the air was distinctly male, and the figure began to become more solid and visible. "From the sea of thy soul I come forth ... I am Orpheus, master of strings …" While the voice continued to boom in the air, the figure became fully visible. It was a male marionette of silver and white, a set of speakers installed in his chest. White hair mimicked Minato's effortlessly, falling into a dark skinned face with bright red eyes. A red scarf wrapped around his head and neck, and a large lyre was strapped to his back.

Letting out a noise best labeled as a roar, the marionette unhitched the lyre and swung it, nailing the snake's second head to send it crashing into the first. While the snake reeled, Shinjiro managed to grab the gun again and summoned Castor once more. As the bronze sword nearly cut off the second head, the older boy managed to get over to Minato, who was now staring at a card in his hand.

"Wh … what did I just do?" Minato asked after a moment, knowing he probably sounded completely and utterly petrified. "I – how did I -? How did you -?" Seeing that Minato wasn't going to be able to talk sense without help, Shinjiro whapped him upside the back of the head.

"Chill out for a moment, Arisato." He glowered when Minato went to rub the back of his head from the slap. "I can't explain everything now, but as long as you can fight with that thing, it should be easier for us to beat this snake into leather." Standing up, he hefted his axe again and nodded. "All I'll say right now is that you can use something called a Persona, and believe me, it's a good thing in this situation." Before Minato could ask him anything else, he'd taken off again, going to beat the snake into a pulp.

Deciding that his questions had to wait, Minato sighed and stood up, looking at the snake before looking at Orpheus again. 'I don't think the lead pipe will do much damage against that, so I'll have to stick to this Orpheus character …' Sighing, Minato let go of the card, which began to hover and glow a pale blue. Not knowing what else to do, he slapped it with the pipe; the card shattered, and Orpheus appeared again. Unhitching the lyre again, the marionette strummed the instrument, causing a small burst of red fire to temporarily blind the two heads. While they were hissing and shrieking, trying to clear their vision, Shinjiro struck again and severed the second head.

It landed next to Hamuko, who shrieked and fell backwards away from it with wide eyes. Watching the head as it twitched and writhed on the ground, she noticed that while the head was nearly identical to the one still on the head, it lacked the mask. "Shinjiro! Minato-kun! Get the other head off the snake!" She called out from the sidelines "Get the one with the mask!"

"That's easier said than done right now, Hamuko!" Shinjiro called out, ducking away from a tail swipe. "Arisato! Get up here and help somehow; it doesn't look like the fire's hurting it!" Minato nodded and raced in closer, smashing the snake on the nose with the pipe. It actually seemed to do some sort of damage, because the snake hissed and recoiled. The empty stump where the other snake's head had been was bubbling and twitching, which Minato noticed almost instantly.

"Crap! It's trying to regenerate the second head!" He called out, trying to summon Orpheus again to cauterize the wound. Once again, the fire did little more than temporarily blind the actual head, and the stump started to twitch and bulge. "Shinjiro-san, we need to hurry and get the other head!"

"I know that, I know that! It's using its goddamn tail too!" Shinjiro responded, summoning Castor to attack the snake's rear. He wouldn't admit it, but he was getting tired dangerously fast. "Shadows are relatively intelligent, and this one seems to be especially so!" Waiting for the tail to come in closer again, Shinjiro slashed a gaping wound in one side, making the limb painful to use as a whip.

The snake didn't take kindly to this, and it seemed to somehow slow down the regeneration of the second head. Panting, Minato watched it of a moment. 'Crap … we need to seal off that wound somehow …' He thought, limbs trembling. 'But how? It isn't affected by fire, and the only thing that can burn without fire is …!' "Shinjiro-san, do you know any lightning magic or whatever the hell you call it?" He asked, whapping at the snake to keep it distracted.

"Unfortunately, no, I don't." Shinjiro ground out, clearly frustrated about something. "Dammit, of all the time for me to be missing Aki …" He muttered bitterly, but before Minato could ask him what he meant by that, the snake seemed to change its tactics. Instead of lunging for one of the boys again, it let out a shriek and dove for Hamuko, who had managed to get up and move a few feet. "! Shit! Hamuko, get the hell out of here!" Shinjiro yelled out, running for her beneath the snake. Minato followed in a second, wondering why Shinjiro's voice had sounded almost scared there, for a second.

Hamuko just stood there, fists clenched as she watched the snake dive towards her. "I'm not leaving!" She shouted, shaking her head. "I'm not selfish enough to leave my friends behind!" At her words, something shifted, and Minato heard glass shatter seconds before a blue aura shot up around her. The snake hit it and recoiled a few feet, sparks lacing between it and the aura as a feminine figure appeared above the shocked girl.

"Did she just -?" Minato realized with a jolt that she'd done the same thing as him, but her 'Persona' – at least, that was what Shinjiro had called Orpheus – was clearly feminine in nature. It eventually settled into a young woman with long, star colored hair held in place with a diamond-covered circlet. Her form hugging dress was low cut and a deep red, the split skirt flowing in the breeze. However, almost as if completely contradicting the dress, the figure wore armor on her arms and lower legs, a curved scimitar in her right hand.

"I am Ishtar, the morning star … may my light guide you well." With that, the woman raised her sword, and lightning struck the bleeding stump of the snake's neck. Letting out a shriek, the serpent recoiled before it could get hit again, but the lightning had done the job it had been needed for; the second head had stopped regenerating.

"… Well, we've got lightning now." Shinjiro deadpanned, shaking his head. A card had appeared in Hamuko's hand, glowing like Orpheus's card did whenever Minato summoned him. "Now we just need to get the head away from the body, eh? I hope that's all we need to do; this thing's wiping me out."

"Hold on, I'll see if I can stun it …" Concentrating on the card in her hand, Hamuko simply threw it towards the snake. It shattered halfway there, and Ishtar reappeared. Pointing her sword towards the heavens, the Persona summoned more lightning, but instead of hitting the snake directly, aimed for the river of blood. The instant it hit it, the whole lake seemed to light up, catching the still mostly submerged snake in several chains of lightning.

Letting out a hiss, it slumped towards the ground, stunned. "Get it while it's down!" Shinjiro and Minato charged at it, vanishing in between small bursts of lightning and the dust that the snake's collapse had kicked up. Somehow, the head was severed, and the snake let out one last shriek before dissolving, the blue mask slipping into the lake of blood.

The three hesitated, as if expecting the snake to reappear, but eventually relaxed and sat down heavily. "Damn … never thought a Shadow like that bastard before." Shinjiro panted, leaning on the battle-axe for support.

"A … Shadow?" Minato questioned, lying down and rubbing a bruise on his forehead. "Is … is that what you called that sort of thing? I thought they were some sort of demonic beast …" Glancing at the taller boy, who seemed to know the most about what was going on, Minato paused when he saw the battle axe again. ".. and where did you get that?"

"In town." Shinjiro shrugged. "I'll have to pay Daidara for it and the window I broke to get it." Hamuko latched onto that.

"You did WHAT?" She demanded, red eyes alert. Shinjiro seemed to edge away from her, giving a weak laugh up until Hamuko grabbed his ear and pulled him back towards her. "Shinjiro Isamu Aragaki, you know that Dojima-san's not going to go easy on you if you screw up one more time!" Hamuko began to lecture the older boy, who Minato was amused to see reacted in a very cowed expression come across Shinjiro's face.

'Heh, even if they aren't dating, he clearly likes her.' Minato thought to himself, rubbing his head again. The pounding headache from when he'd first summoned Orpheus had returned, only this time without the surging fore of the Persona's energy. 'Ugh, why does my head hurt so much?'

"Hey, you alright there Minato-kun?" Hamuko asked, worry spreading across her face as she caught sight of him. Minato shook his head before groaning and blacking out, making both Hamuko and Shinjiro start. "Ah! Minato-kun!" She gasped, and went to get up when she felt her head get a bit light. "W – whoa …"

"Sit down before you fall, Hamuko." Shinjiro pulled on her arm lightly, checking Minato's pulse. "He's still alive; it was probably just the strain from summoning for the first time that made him pass out like this." Standing up, Shinjiro pulled Minato over one shoulder, still managing to keep a grip on his battle axe in spite of that. "Let's get this guy home, alright? I'll explain everything when he wakes up." Hamuko nodded and went to help lead the way back to Minato's house, the green lighting slowly fading away behind them.

And now the adventure begins and the first enemy has been beaten... Or has it? Stay tuned for more!