It was a Sunday morning. Rise's phone rang. It was Souji on the other end.

"Rise? You have to get to Junes. NOW. Teddie was in the TV and he says he senses something big. Could be another shadow. I'll see you soon."

She could sense the urgency in Souji senpai's voice. Rise rushed her breakfast, gave her grandmother a hurried goodbye kiss and dashed out of Marukyu.

When she arrived at the special headquarters, she couldn't help but notice the serious expressions on everyone's face. Teddie and Yosuke were nowhere to be seen.

Once Rise was there, Souji spoke without hesitation. "This morning, Teddie gave me a call and he said he could sense a strong presence from inside the shadow world." He looked straight at Rise, "Have you senses anything while we were in there recently?"

"Yeah... I could always feel a really mild presence. But it always seemed far away and I could never pinpoint its position."

Souji nodded before continuing: "Well, whatever it is, its presence is a lot stronger now. Teddie and Yosuke are in the TV now. We should go."

Entering the shadow world from the electronics department at Junes, Rise could immediately sense that something was different. Her persona, Himiko, was picking up dark energy from every direction and the world definitely seemed a lot bigger.

Teddie waddled up to Rise in his bear suit. "Rise-chan! Can you track this shadow down? Teddie's nose isn't strong enough..."

Rise nodded and focused her energy. It wasn't hard to find it this time.

(This presence... It's definitely the same one I've sensed before!)

The team followed Rise's lead and they arrived at a small hilltop with a single tree in sight. This was different from all the other dungeons they had encountered. There didn't seem to be any additional levels to this small area.

Then a dark figure stepped out from behind the tree. A tall, black skeletal figure with huge dark wings.

"Th-that's a shadow?" Naoto stared at it in horror.

"Hmph. Whatever it is, it doesn't look too friendly!" Kanji whipped out his power plate, ready for battle.

The monster certainly didn't look like any shadow they had fought before. It growled at them and charged at the team with blinding speed. Kanji dodged it easily as the others rushed to aid him.

Rise did her best to analyze the monster and tried to advise the team as the battle wore on. The beast didn't seem to be weak to anything and it just kept up its attacks, clawing at anyone who got close.

(This thing... What is it..?)

Finally, Chie managed to get a hit in and her galactic punt knocked the monster down to its knees.

"There's our chance!"

(It's going to die!)

Before Rise realized what she was doing, she dismissed Himiko and threw herself between the monster and her friends. Souji stopped the team's charge just before they could hurt her.

"Rise? Wha-?"

(This monster... It's...)

She looked horrified as she studied the beast more closely. Rise knelt beside it, the beast bleeding profusely from its wounds from the battle. Just in that last moment, when the team was about to finish it off, she sensed...

"Yuri..?"

As she whispered his name, a white light engulfed the monster before dissipating to reveal Yuri's human body, bleeding.

"Yuri!" she could feel tears streaming down her face as she hugged him, drenching herself in his blood.

(He's still alive!)

She could feel his heartbeat.

She heard Souji's voice: "Let's get him out of here!"

Rise couldn't be sure exactly what happened next. She remembered a pair of hands grabbing her to her feet as she struggled to stay by Yuri's side. The next thing she knew, she was at Inaba Municipal Hospital, waiting with the team as Yuri was rushed into an operation theater.

Rise looked down at her clothes. Her orange shirt and white turtleneck had become dark red from the blood. The sight of it scared her. When she had finally calmed down, the doctor emerged from the ward and told them that Yuri's wounds were severe but for now, he was out of danger and was likely to make a full recovery.

"He has a strong will to live," the doctor said with a small smile before leaving.

Rise breathed a sigh of relief.

(He's gonna be okay...)

Souji sat down beside her. "Hey... You alright?"

She could only nod silently.

"Listen... When Yuri wakes up, we need to find out exactly what happened back in the TV. I think you should talk to him. He trusts you."

She nodded again.