Author's note: A double whammy! This one is extremely short, but I felt it necessary to post for plot advancement. I would have combined it with chapter 3, but I liked the cliff hanger ending too much. As I said before, I have a long week ahead of me, so probably won't post for a while. Until then, enjoy!
Fragile Bonds
His arm extended out to the side in front of Chie, as if that would ward off danger.
She glanced to his arm, then to him, confused. Was he trying to protect her? It was a simple act of chivalry she hadn't expected. She was taken by surprise, flattered, and insulted at the same time.
The lantern flared brightly as Pyrojack turned his attention on him. The rain seemed to part like a curtain as a fireball exploded from the lantern.
The three of them cried out and scattered to avoid the blast. The fireball struck the shrine and destroyed the offering box where visitors could place tokens of respect to their ancestors.
Yosuke got to his feet. "Perso—! Oh… right. Wah!" and he dove out of the way of another powerful attack.
"We can't call our Persona, and we don't have any weapons!" Chie screamed as the rogue Persona charged her. She rolled out of the way. "We're so screwed."
"Why is it attacking us?" Yukiko hid behind a pillar.
"Maybe it knows we're not part of the gang." Chie ran across the distance, avoiding another burst with an impressive handover somersault. She puffed and panted, taking refuge next to her best friend.
"Like a body's immune system defending itself. We're the intruders." Yukiko risked a glance around the pillar. "By the way, nice moves."
"Thanks. Yikes!" The two split up away from their shelter as another fireball blew the pillar into chunks of stone.
Chie's response to their assailant would be to send Tomoe in to deliver a roundhouse kick to its head, but this was a spirit, and Tomoe wasn't here. It didn't have a body to injure. However, neither did she. That made her wonder if the damage she may sustain here would transfer back to her body the same as it did with their Persona in battle. It was all way too weird, but it was real.
Pyrojack's light flared again, this time in a stream of fire.
She didn't have more than a second to think of an attack before Yosuke leaped in front of her.
"Chie!" He threw out his right hand automatically. The wind power that would normally explode from his Persona rushed from his body, from the invisible cord, and exploded outward at their attacker.
Pyrojack's flame licked harmlessly into the sky. It spun through the air to crash into the building across the courtyard. The impact sent a massive plume of dirt and dust into the air. Rock, roofing tiles, and stone shrapnel rained down around it.
The two girls stared at him in shock. "Whoa..."
"That was your Persona's power," Yukiko's jaw dropped.
He'd just gone with his gut reaction to protect his friends. "That was... Awesome!" He thrust his fist into the air, standing tall. "Hahah! Woo! Yeah! Take that, you Halloween costume reject! Who's the badass now, eh?"
Two glowing eyes blinked into existence from the swirling, settling dust cloud.
"I think you just made it really angry." Chie slid one foot back and grinned mischievously. Her friend's revelation had given her an idea. She wasn't powerless anymore. She charged the injured Pyrojack in an aerial side kick. The energy pulled from her, from her link to Tomoe, and sent a line of ice from her foot through the air to slam into the fire Persona. The rush of power sent a chill up her spine. It was thrilling, amazing, and she'd never felt more capable.
Pyrojack became one with the wall again. He drifted forward slowly, though dropped the lantern. Static flickered throughout his defeated form.
Chie raised her leg in a battle cry to send another blast of ice when Yosuke caught her foot with his other hand on her back to balance her.
"Stop! Don't destroy it!"
"It was trying to kill us!"
He let her go. "It's still a part of Yu. Destroying it might harm him. We can't take the risk." He looked down at the weakened Persona, who shifted its gaze to him in return. He knelt down. "You're gonna answer some questions, firecracker, and you're gonna tell us the truth. Why did you all wake up?"
Pyrojack opened his mouth to show those teeth again. Sound crackled like a fireplace flames from the pitch dark of its face. "Sssssummoned."
"Who? Who summoned you?" He demanded.
Pyrojack gurgled a response.
Yosuke reached down and grabbed a fistfull of its hood. "Answer me."
"Yosuke..." it hissed.
He blinked in confused disbelief. "What the hell are you talking about? I didn't summon you."
The injured Persona moved to sit on the ground and stared at its lantern. "Friend," it sighed. "Want to...live."
He didn't get it at all.
Yukiko knelt next to them. "This is a part of Narukami. It wants to live. They're all awake, so it makes sense that they all want to 'live' at the same time. It overloaded him and put him in a coma."
"Alright, but that still doesn't answer who woke them all up in the first place." Chie stepped back and calmed down.
Yosuke let it go and stood. As he did, the injured persona's eyes closed. Its form dissolved into a cerulean blue mist to hover over the stone. It didn't speak, nor did it move or make any motion of attack. It was simply... sated. It was asleep.
"It knows you, so it must be associated with you somehow." Yukiko stood and brushed off her skirt. The motion to clear the mud from her clothes was pointless since the rain continued to fall. "Maybe it's your bond with Yu?"
"That's likely. All of his Persona are connected to his life since he moved here." Chie frowned. "You're right. We can't destroy any of them."
Yosuke stared down the hill toward the shopping district where Kanji and Naoto had gone. "Crap. I hope the others get it."
No one wanted to think of what would happen if any of his Persona were taken down permanently.
No one wanted to try.
Next Scent: "Perspective"
