Episode 102

[Invocation]

Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting

A platinum-blonde girl in a traditional school uniform ran up the glass steps of the Hōrai Shrine, evoker in hand. A large Shadow about the size of a boulder clawed its way after her, smashing the walls of the staircase with its large dark claws and elongating its neck so that its mask could get closer to her. The girl took one last step and turned around, gun-like evoker held upside down, pointed at her head. She pulled the trigger.

"Rán!"

Immediately, a slim woman clad in modified fishnets and crisscrossing fabric appeared in a surge of blue light. The woman, whose skin was entirely blue and eyes white, held an oversized fishnet which she raised in the air, summoning a large plume of water to envelope the Shadow like sleep to a newborn child.

A light brown haired young man charged at the Shadow from behind it, punching it with a well-crafted brass knuckle gauntlet. With each impact, little shreds of gelatinous shadow tore itself away from the parent body and dissolved in mid-air. Behind him stood a short blond boy, who held an evoker in his hand. He slowly raised it to his forehead, closed his eyes, and pulled the trigger.

"Persona!"

A dark-robed man with surreal lights flowing around him appeared out of the blond boy's head. He lifted an arm at the large Shadow and immediately, orbs of light travelled from the Shadow to the Persona.

"Cover me for a second while Mímir scans the target!" said the boy.

The white-haired girl leapt over one of the Shadow's attacking tentacles before diving in, diamond nails outstretched and aiming for the kill. "Yeah, no problem, Chris!" She shouted sarcastically, "It seems pretty persistent on killing me, so don't worry about yourself."

The orbs of light stopped appearing and the Persona Mímir folded his arms before disappearing, becoming one with Christopher Rivers' mind once more. "Heh. I love you Rae." Chris chuckled a bit in response to her remark, "This Shadow is weak to Zio spells."

"Well, that's just wonderful," Rae rolled her eyes as she jumped backwards a good distance, dodging a sword arc from the Shadow. "None of us have any Zio spells!"

The well-built brown haired boy pulled an evoker out of his pocket, summoning Virtus, who flexed his hulking muscles by raising two large curved swords before diving at the enemy. "Don't worry about it Rae," he grinned, sticking his evoker back into its holster, "I still have one of those Zio Magatamas that Duncan gave us." He lifted a shining golden intricately woven circle, which immediately dissipated into the air, shooting up a beam of white light, which shot back down as lighting, knocking the Shadow down to the ground.

"Here's our chance for an all-out attack!" Chris yelled. "Rae, focus on Aqua spells and Brady, go all out on physical attacks!"

Two loud gunshots filled the air and two supernatural entities appeared, one summoning a large tidal wave and the other again floating up and then proceeding to dive downwards, swords thrust forward, at the Shadow. Within a few moments, it dissolved into a pool of darkness, which looked like liquid smoke. The only solid object left of the Shadow was a thin light blue eyeless mask.

Rae climbed down the glass steps to approach her two companions, leaning over to pick up the strange mask on the way. She was a pale girl, with light pink lips, long icy blonde hair, and light blue eyes. She was slim in figure, studious in nature, and steadfastly wore the school uniform whenever possible. She had long ago said that she wouldn't have to worry about matching clothes with the uniform on.

"Shit. Third floor of Hōrai and we already run into a Shadow that we can barely kill," Rae lamented as she flipped her hair out of her eyes.

The boy named Brady shrugged and cracked his knuckles. He was a very attractive boy, with a swimmer's body of toned lean muscle and a rugged, contoured face with stubble underneath his mouth. His brown-orange hair was short and neat, and his facial hair grew out so often that he was rarely, if ever, seen clean-shaven. Brady put away his evoker. "What's so special about the mask, Rae?"

Christopher approached his allies, looking visibly shaken. He was a relatively short guy, with messy dirty blond hair and a thin, decidedly non-athletic build. His eyes were a deep blue and he had a habit of biting his lip when nervous. "I think we should get back to Duncan. There's no way we can do this without her."

As if on cue, static blared in the team's earpieces and Professor Meredith Duncan's voice came online. Hey, is everyone okay? Their status was given to her. About a half an hour ago, I picked up two students who may have the potential. They're twins.

Brady grinned. "I remember the last time I got with twins. Are they hot twins?"

One of them is male.

Brady hesitated a bit.

"Anyway," Christopher rubbed his eyes with two fingers in exasperation, "How soon will we know if they have the power?"

I-I'm not sure. Duncan laughed nervously, I moved them to our dorm so we could all keep an eye on them. Make them feel at home and I'll try to find out any information about them. And, while we're at it, why don't you come back for tonight. You have less than half of the Dark Hour left, anyhow, and we'll need students in the dorm so it won't look strange to them.

Christopher nodded, "Roger that, Duncan. I'll see you soon." The wire disconnected and the three checked to make sure that all of their belongings were with them. "Make sure you don't leave anything in here, guys," Christopher warned, "When Duncan and I came in the first time just to scout around, I left my wallet and we found it the next day floating in the water where Hōrai is in the Dark Hour."

The team gathered their belongings and was out of the Shadow-infested shrine in just a few minutes.

---

Alice Walker woke up at five thirty the next day, exhausted and confused. She brushed her auburn hair out of her eyes and groaned tiredly. Despite the contrary evidence, she had a hard time believing what happened the night before was true and she even looked around the dorm to make sure she wasn't in her bedroom back in her parents' house. She fixed her hair and pulled on a cotton pair of pajama pants and a red tank top before leaving her dormitory.

The hallways were completely empty, and the light had only started to shine through the windows, begging to come in like a dog scratching at a master's door. She opened some of the curtains in the circular lobby area of the second floor before approaching the door to her brother's room. Alice hesitated for a brief moment and then knocked on the door slowly. She could hear a sleepy moan from inside.

"Nick? Are you awake?"

An annoyed gurgle and a rustling of blankets later, an irritated Nick with extreme bed-hair opened the door wearing a blue and white t-shirt and a pair of gym shorts. "What do you want, Alice?"

"School starts tomorrow and I couldn't go back to sleep. Do you want to look around the area?"

Nick stared at her for a few seconds, shrugged, and then closed the door. She could hear sounds of him getting ready inside and in a few minutes, he was out, hair combed and jeans on. "Where to?"

Alice led him downstairs to the lobby to get breakfast from the kitchen. A lone girl stood facing the counter, apparently making coffee. She wore a tight sleeveless black top and a pair of jeans. Alice hopped down the last few steps and awkwardly approached the girl, "Hi! I'm Alice, an 'honorary member' I guess. How are you?"

The white-haired girl waited a few seconds for her coffee to be done before turning around and smiling, "I'm Rae Regan. I've heard about you from Duncan. It's nice to finally meet you."

Nick suppressed a grin, "Why are you up so early?"

"I could say the same to you." Rae took a sip of coffee. Nick noted that she drank it black. "I like to watch the sunrise in the morning sometimes. The good part's already passed though." She motioned for them to sit down in the lounge.

It was a comfortable place, with couches and furniture a lovely shade of ivory and a small television positioned in a corner. There was a fireplace loaded with wood but decidedly unlit that positioned itself between two solo plush chairs, and a long and slender glass table between all of the seats.

Rae sat down in one of the solo chairs and took another sip, "What time did you get here? I heard it was pretty late."

Alice nodded, "Yeah. I think I started hallucinating or something. I must have been really tired."

Rae nodded almost instinctively.

The dorm double doors opened suddenly, and a sweaty, lean, and muscular young man came in, jogging in place. He wore a sleeveless athletic jersey that showed off both athlete's fitness and European hair and a pair of track shorts, "Hey, Rae? I think I lost my car keys."

"This is Brady," Rae ignored and motioned to the man before turning to Brady himself, "And this is Alice and Nick Walker."

"Nice to meet you, Alice." Brady winked. He began stretching and performing floor exercises, both because it was unhealthy to abruptly stop exercising after a run and also to impress the female twin. She awkwardly turned away and kept her gaze firmly on Rae.

A short rush of static blared through the dorm speakers violently grabbing the attention towards it and forcing Brady to stop doing push-ups.

Sorry to interrupt this little get-together, but a Shadow is about to attack the dorm! It was the voice of Duncan. It's just one, but watch out!

Rae's eyes widened in surprise, "How'd they find us here?!" Brady shrugged but cracked his knuckles and pulled out a pair of metallic gauntlets from the nearby locked counter.

"How did who find us, and has the Professor been listening this entire time?!" Nick looked around frantically for an answer. Alice backed up a little, staring at the dorm door which seemed like it could burst open at any moment.

Brady continued stretching, "Prepare yourself, Rae." However, she already was. Turning her wire on to a private line, she tried futilely to contact Christopher.

I'm trying to get him up, Rae, but it's not working. I know my scans are more for locations of things, but I guess I'll have to focus on enemies this time. I'm sure I'll be adequate. Nick looked up at the blaring speakers, trying to figure out if there was a camera nearby. Get ready, guys. Here it comes! the voice of Duncan ended as a sudden gunshot filled the speakers.

Nick and Alice screamed and tried to find a safe place to hide behind. The double doors were forced open, and a single floating sphere entered, blue mask firmly placed on its back and a giant mouth with an elastic tongue and sharp teeth on its front.

"It's a Hablerie!" Brady groaned, sidestepping a sweeping elongating tongue attack. He ducked behind the check-in counter which bore the full impact of the damp onslaught and then jumped onto the top of the counter, driving his spiked fist into the side of the floating sphere.

The Hablerie fell backwards into an armoire, shattering the glass. Alice grabbed onto Nick and tried to slowly make it to the stairs.

"It's no use, Brady! We can't kill it with physical attacks alone!" Rae cried, grabbing her evoker.

"Don't do it, Rae! We can't risk it!"

The speakers suddenly interrupted the argument, static blaring. Althaea finished scanning the target. It's weak to Aqua spells!

"I'm on it!" Rae shouted. The Hablerie, seeing its incoming demise, shot out its tongue, which stretched like gelatin and punched her in the face, sending her flying into the ground.

Brady gasped, whipping out his own evoker and jamming it up the bottom of his chin. "Virtus! Cast Dia!"

The muscular winged man appeared once more. This time he crossed his swords in mid-air and a heavenly light engulfed Rae, closing her wounds.

"Thank you!" Rae groaned, getting up to her feet and pressing herself against the wall of the tight hallway, dodging another extended tongue attack. She pressed her evoker against her forehead, held upside down, and pulled the trigger. "Persona!"

The blue-skinned woman appeared with her oversized magical net in hand. She raised the net into the air, summoning a torrent of water to drown the Hablerie and also leaving the surrounding furniture soaking wet. The Hablerie fell to the ground as Rae's persona disappeared into her consciousness. "Here's our chance, Brady! Are you ready?"

His reply was unspoken, but understood. The two rushed at the Shadow and it was quickly disposed, leaving a puddle of darkness, a cracked blue mask, and a drenched pair of car keys, which Brady quickly hid.

"It's just like the other one." Brady commented.

Rae found the twins cowering near the staircase.

"What the hell was that?" Nick gasped standing up defiantly.

Rae looked down. "I think it's about time to tell you the truth."

The voice blared through the speakers once more. I'll force Christopher to get up. Everyone be in the lounge in fifteen minutes.