Chapter 7
I am butchering dialogue, battles, and s-links to get the novel version respectable. I can make characters more cynical, mean, out of character, and amusing. My character is "special" personality-wise.

My ownership of SMT and Persona amounts to… nothing. I do own… my personality.

This is just finishing up the dungeon.

The first foray into the sauna was an exhausting one. The next day would prove to be an excruciating one. Souji walked to school with some mild trepidation. They would find out the test scores for the first exam today. The scores would be placed on the bulletin board. Their names, unfortunately, would be placed right next to their scores. It's not like he wasn't smart, but he didn't study at all before he took it. He knew Rion would be first, and Yukiko would probably be second. Though he wasn't sure since she was in the TV for most of the time they were covering the material. Just one more morning of listening to Morooka and they'd find out. "Oh joy," Souji was thinking.

"The test scores are now posted!" some random student who probably flunked the damn thing yelled at lunchtime. She looked like a ditz to Souji.

Yosuke who was standing next to Souji's desk shook his head and muttered, "Now for the awful moment of truth." Souji looked at Yosuke. Yosuke was rather pale.

As Souji walked down he heard various expletives and random words of happiness being emitted throughout the area by the bulletin board.

"Ahh, Dammit!" Yosuke yelled.

Obviously, Yosuke was not happy with his test results. Souji felt a small tinge of empathy for his Junes buddy. Maybe Yosuke should have spent less time yelling at those slacker girls, and more time studying.

Chie, meanwhile, was busy yelling at the wall like it was a teacher, "This is what you get for not teaching me what I need to know!"

Yukiko and Rion looked quite satisfied with their scores, said nothing, and only smiled while consoling Chie and Yosuke.

Souji went to look at his score. Amazingly, he had the third-highest score. He was only behind the smart-ass and the pretty girl. Everyone else looked at him like he the next best thing after sliced bread. Souji smirked inwardly. He didn't really need to study after all.

"Not bad," Rion said to him after turning around and walking over.

"Good job, Souji," Yukiko said, "You must have studied really hard."

"Yeah, I studied really hard," Souji rolled his eyes, his words dripping with sarcasm. Souji immediately changed from his façade and smiled at Yukiko, "You too! It was amazing you did so well with all the time you were gone."

"It's because I had someone to tutor me," Yukiko blushed and Souji definitely noticed.

Souji was having a good day and was even happier by Yukiko's most recent comment. His expression changed. Rion rolled his eyes. Souji made a note to find some way that Rion doesn't blackmail him later.

"Not fair! How come he does well when he doesn't study, when I study all the time and I suck?" Yosuke said.

"That would require you actually studying," Rion said with his usual dry tones.

Everyone broke out laughing at that besides Rion. They had to wait a while for Yukiko to stop laughing before returning to class.

Souji hung out with Ai by skipping school. Yukiko looked at him disapprovingly. Was it because of him skipping class, or the girl? Now that Souji thought about it, she didn't look that happy to see him leaving with Ai. Souji and Ai returned right before the bell rang. He spent some time the next day polishing balls, no, shooting hoops with Kou.

Souji saw that you can order items from the TV now. Tanaka looked like some kind of crook. "Who'd want to buy some of that shit? It looks like crap. Diet food, my ass!?" Souji muttered. Yet, May 22nd would be spent fighting Shadows in the bathhouse. Souji had called the others to head over to Junes to reach the world of the TV.

"Let's try and finish this today…," Souji told the group while petting the fox. He wanted it to be in a good mood and not eat them when he paid it. The fox spat a key at Souji while he was petting it. Souji was disturbed.

"All of it?" Rion said, a little disbelievingly, "You sure about that?"

"I want to at least get through four more floors today," Souji said, "We don't know how far up he'll be."

Chie kicked Yosuke in the leg because he was about to object, "Whatever you say, leader," Yosuke said. Yosuke looked like going back was the last thing he wanted to do.

"Yosuke just doesn't want to go back to that steamy bathhouse. He doesn't want to be attacked," Chie joked.

Yosuke pushed her, "Hey! I'm not scared!"

Chie kicked him, "Watch where you push!"

"Dammit, Chie!" Yosuke held his shin.

Yukiko looked at Souji with exasperation on her face, "They'll be at this for a while, so let's just go and let them catch up."

The others left Chie and Yosuke behind as they entered the TV world…

"Hey guys!" Teddie said as they came in from the Junes' Electronic Department, "Are you guys going to save Kanji today?"

"We'll try to…," Souji said. "There were not many things I could say without making some innuendo comment," he thought. He readjusted the sword on his back. He had pulled it out of his uniform and nearly ripped his jacket apart. Why they had to hide it under the uniforms was so annoying.

"Let's just go and try not to get killed," Rion said. He was leaning on his walking stick. His sword's scabbard was adjusted to be on the back part of his waist this time. Souji just shook his head.

"Fine, let's just not suck," Yosuke muttered who had arrived a short while ago with Chie.

Chie and Yukiko looked at Yosuke wide-eyed.

"Suck?" Souji thought, "So much for not having innuendo comments." Souji rolled his eyes and shook his head.

Teddie looked at everyone else's shocked faces, "What's wrong?"

"Well, there was something seriously wrong with that statement," Rion said.

"He just doesn't want you to guys to suck," Teddie said.

Rion shook his head, "In this area, you wouldn't want to make that statement."

All the same, they headed up to the sauna where Kanji's Shadow and Kanji was.

"Let's deal with this," Souji said as they walked into the steam and fog.

"I swear if one more thing blows up in my face," Rion muttered in the fifth floor, dealing with a dice Shadow. It decided to blow up before it could be killed. It knocked over every single person and dispelled every Persona. Finally, it was discovered that Souji's Oberon could massacre those creatures.

"Calm down, Rion," Souji said, "It's under control." "Oberon!" "Zio!" "By the way. I thought you said no more innuendo."

"Shut up…," Rion muttered as his sword cut into the dice. Rion had a burn on his arm, and he was not amused. Rion started darting in and out of the dice and cutting through the downed dice. Souji followed with his sword.

"Media!" Yukiko had yelled again. Konohana Sakuya was busy. It didn't help that every time someone attacked with Bufu that she would be blown over and her Persona would suffer the same fate.

"Dia!" Souji yelled as he summoned Archangel to heal the frozen Yukiko. His jacket was on fire again from the dice, and he had to beat it out repeatedly before it spread.

"Why is everything only weak against lightning?" Yosuke wondered as Jiraiya attacked with "Sonic Punch" and he cut through a raven with his kunai simultaneously.

"Quit whining," Souji said, "Mazio!" Oberon's sword became a conductor of electricity and fired into the ravens.

"Thank you…," Yosuke said in relief.

"Okay, Chie… You deal with this one!" Souji pointed at the stupid hands that kept resisting every Persona magic he had.

"Help me, Tomoe!" "Skull Cracker!" Chie yelled. The double-bladed spear-wielding persona massacred the hand. She took the other hand out by kicking it with her iron feet.

The hands kept on coming. They were bum-rushed by hands.

"I need your halp, Rion!" yelled Chie.

"Don't get your skirt in a twist!" Rion exclaimed, "Reach for the Sun, Tajikarawo!" His staff and sword were a blur, while Souji's Eligor was shielding Souji while he attacked with his katana. Konohana Sakuya healed Chie and Yosuke, while Yukiko's fan attacked anyone who came near.

"Torrent Shot!" "Torrent Shot!" The staff-wielding hermit knocked away the hands that encircled Rion. "Alright! Are you ready?!" They all ran at the hands haphazardly and blew them away into oblivion.

"Was it just me, or was that really odd?" Souji said afterwards.

"Shut up…," Rion muttered, "It's better than "Alright guys! Pile-on!"". Rion was mimicking what Chie said before they charged Shadows.

"You're right, that is worse," Souji shook his head.

"Are you making fun of me!?" Chie yelled.

"Yes…," Rion said.

"Jerk…," Chie muttered.

"Right… Well whatever," Souji said. "No wonder he actually can deal with fighting Kanji's Shadow," Souji thought.

Rion had ignored all the talk, and was the only Persona-user not breathing heavily as they had hit the seventh floor. A lot of steam was being emitted from beyond the door in the center of the little causeway.

Yosuke looked at the others, "I think there is something scary beyond this door."

"Then go take your ninja frog thingy, and run off with your tail between your legs," Souji said. Souji knew Yosuke wouldn't. Yosuke had too much pride.

"Fine…," Yosuke looked a little hurt. Yosuke wasn't going to run away, even if a good portion of him wanted to.

They entered in a diamond formation with Yosuke and Chie on the sides, Souji in the front, Yukiko in the back, and Rion in the middle. In front of them, was the Shadow of Kanji and a similar Gigas that they faced in the earlier floors, but it was much larger.

"Guys…," Souji started to say, but he was cut off.

"Welcome to Man's World!" The Shadow said, "This place is heating up from the sudden entry of a fine young man. To celebrate this encounter, I've prepared a special stage tonight! A single match with no time limit. Who will be left standing at the end? Now, pour out your hot blood and guts!"

"You got to be kidding me!" Yosuke yelled looking at the monster who was flexing his massive deltoids.

"Time to roll the dice," Rion muttered.

"Kanji-kun…," Yukiko said.

"Can we fight this?" Chie asked herself.

"Don't lose Sensei!" Teddie said.

"I don't plan to!" Souji said.

They entered the battle by the gigas charging itself up twirling his arms. It had "Power Charged" then used an attack to knock the others down easier, "Rebellion".

"One enemy ambushed you!" Teddie yelled, "Hang in there, Sensei!"

"We know!" Souji yelled.

"Sworry," Teddie responded.

They soon learned there was a pattern to this madness. The monster soon used "Tarukaja" which had strengthened its attack. It then proceeded to use "Single Shot" to try to knock out or destroy one of the members.

The first attack came straight at Yukiko and her Persona. She wasn't ready for the attack. "Souji!" she yelled.

Souji heard her cry and ran towards her, but he knew he wouldn't get there in time. Souji wasn't sure what he was going to do. Yukiko was closing her eyes, and Souji was doing the same as he and Eligor fruitlessly charged towards her.

Before the attack hit Yukiko, an impact was heard, but it wasn't Yukiko that was hit, it was Rion and Tajikarawo.

"Thank goodness," Souji thought as Tajikarawo's staff was holding against the Shadow's fist. Rion was bleeding from the lip and in Souji's mind, must have been hit before Tajikarawo blocked the fist.

"Rion! You idiot! You almost died!" Yukiko yelled.

"You have a better idea?" Rion asked Yukiko, struggling to his feet as Souji's sword hit the gigas as Sarasvati lowered its defense with "Rakunda". Unfortunately for Rion, this wouldn't be the only time he would have to do this for someone.

Rion spit out the blood in his mouth, "Don't use physical attacks unless you have to. Utilize magic."

"Okay…," Souji answered. "Bufula!" The ice froze the legs of the gigas, and Yosuke followed with Jiraiya. "Garu!"

"Come, Konohana Sakuya! Agilao!" Yukiko's flames had melted what was left of the ice after the wind had blown away some of it. It was also doing some damage to his skin it was so fast. The flames were causing burns. It was making for an unhappy gigas.

Still it continued its pattern of charging its strength, charging a little more, and then trying to one-shot someone. The only person that could survive it was Rion, but even afterwards he would need Yukiko or Yosuke to perform countless "Dia" spells to survive another blow. Luckily, Rion boosted his own defense with "Rakukaja" to make it out alive a few times.

After a few repetitions, the Shadow was softened up enough that Yosuke had come forward and driven his right kunai into the Shadow's left leg, forcing it downward slightly so he could launch himself into the air to slash it in the face with his left blade. The Shadow recoiled in pain as the blade raked across his face.

Chie came forward and used her right leg for a roundhouse and continued with her left as a backlash, while Yukiko's fan accurately hit in the same spot where Yosuke's blade had just made its mark.

While the gigas was struggling to regain its balance, Souji ran up and cleaved the Shadow in the right arm, and as it staggered he continued to strike in its left arm.

The Shadow was pissed and it lashed out at Souji, and he ducked out of the way. It struck at Rion, who was running and flipped away from the Shadow. Rion was running circles around it, and he grabbed the massive Shadow's blond hair and pulled it down by using inertia.

"Finish it…," Rion gestured to Souji.

Souji walked up to the massive Shadow, and drove his katana into its chest.

It died…

"Did we win?" Yukiko asked, as Konohana Sakuya disappeared.

"Yes, you're fine," Souji said, "I think even if we didn't, you'd be alright."

"Oh, okay…," Yukiko looked slightly confused.

"What does that mean?" Yosuke asked Souji.

"It means that they aren't interested in the girls, only Yosuke," Souji said calmly.

"You jerk…," Yosuke muttered.

"Anyways, it's dead," Souji said.

They looked on Teddie said, "That's our Sensei," congratulating them on the win, "I knew you would win!"

They had obtained a bathhouse key from the dead Gigas.

"Let's head back, guys," Souji said.

"Yeah, I'm pretty tired after being a punching bag for this guy," Rion said as he fingered a cut in his shirt. Rion sighed; he was tired of replacing his clothes. Souji could relate with jackets and them catching on fire.

"Well, it was your choice to protect me," Yukiko said, but she looked happy regardless.

"I have to thank him later," Souji thought, "Though I'm not sure what he'll say… He doesn't seem like the blackmailer type."

Chie looked at her, "Well, if he didn't… I wouldn't want to see what you'd look like after that," and she then looked at Rion and said, "You do look like shit though."

"Thanks," Rion muttered.

They headed out of the dungeon and went back home. When he arrived at his adobe Souji fell asleep right on the living room couch and not even Nanako could wake him up.

The next day he figured he would be hanging out with Yumi and Nanako today. During lunch Rion asked him a question, "So, I want to hurry and save Kanji too, but hurrying too quickly may not be really healthy for us. What would you have us do?"

Souji was surprised that Rion would ask him, but he understood that they had a mutual bond of respect after all.

"I don't think any of you are going to hang out with each other until we finish this, Rion."

"Fair, enough. I'll see you tomorrow," Rion shrugged.

Yumi was a moody bitch during the whole drama club, and had nothing positive to contribute to society.

"What a waste of time," Souji said to himself as he left.

He ate his ramen on the way home and reached his home for the year. He was ready to deal with his eternal enemy… Nanako. Well, he was kidding, but it was fun.

"Welcome home, big bro!"

Souji held his ears. They were bleeding. "Hello, Nanako," he responded.

"What are we doing today?" she asked.

"You're making me dinner, Nanako," Souji responded with an evil grin on face.

"But… I can't make dinner yet, Big Bro," she whined. Tears were starting to form on those tiny brown eyes.

"Fine… I'll make it," Souji said as he sighed as he had just sat down. He wasn't sure what to make. He thought to himself, "If I try to make something, I'll probably burn the house down…"

"Yay! Big bro is making me dinner!" Nanako looked happy.

"She's so easy to please…," thought Souji. He looked in the fridge, there was a bunch of expired crap that he didn't know what the hell it was still doing in here, "Probably because Dojima is never here to clean it out," he muttered to himself.

After eating a dinner of some kind of food, he liked his ramen better, he sat across from Nanako.

"So… what now, big bro?" Nanako asked.

"I'll show you a magic trick," Souji answered.

Souji took a five-yen piece from behind Nanako's ear.

"That was so cool! How'd you do it?" Nanako seemed in awe of the trick.

"It's because I'm loaded," Souji said. He didn't say, "It's because I spend time killing things all day… I would be more loaded, but the fox steals my money."

"Huh?" Nanako was confused.

"Never mind, Nanako… Go to bed…," Souji told her.

Nanako looked disappointed, "Okay, big bro."

She went to bed and Souji watched go up to her room.

"Finally, some time for myself," Souji said as she closed the door, "I'll fold some envelopes, study, and then I think I'll watch what I want on TV for a while."

As he fell asleep watching TV, Souji decided they would save Kanji tomorrow.

Flashback…

"So why are we at the Sauna again?" Yosuke asked.

"To find Kanji, and save him from… yeah," Souji said.

"What do you mean by yeah?" Teddie said.

"Never mind," Yukiko muttered.

Yosuke looked at him, "I mean why we are here twice in two days?"

"We have nothing better to do," Rion rolled his eyes, "It's either that, or study."

Souji knew Rion would never study.

They entered the sauna again.

They were all pretty perturbed at the suggestive themes that were being told by the voices of "Kanji" as they walked up the "dungeon". The voices were especially disturbing to Yosuke.

"The things that these voices are really getting to me," Yukiko muttered.

"You know what's getting to me, Yukiko," Rion said, "These multi-handed Shadows that keep using "Agilao" and "Bufula"." Ice was knocking over both Rion and Yukiko. The fire was burning Chie and ruining another of Souji's coats.

Chie and Souji had to deal with each of them separately.

"They are not weak to anything," Rion said, "We have tried all of the elements."

Souji sighed. He figured as much. "Sarasvati… Bufula!" The icicles reached the top of the magus, and Chie followed up by attacking multiple ones at the same time, "Rampage!"

"Okay, okay," Souji said, "Let's move on."

Chie had more of her own issues as they walked on, "There are too many enemies that I can't kick!" She would kick a Shadow that would look like a table with flames or a twin that was connected by spokes and it would bounce off harmlessly.

"It's reflective!" Yosuke yelled.

"Thank you, Mr. Obvious!" Chie yelled back, "Bufu!" It knocked over the table Shadow.

"Finally!" Souji exclaimed in relief, "I wondered if I was going to have done something about them myself." He was about ready to summon Sarasvati.

"Konohana Sakuya" "Agilao!" "There, the other monsters are dead," Yukiko told Chie, pointing at the twins who had been knocked over and turned into purple dust.

They did enjoy killing the same kind of Gigas over and over, well kind of.

"Magaru!" Yosuke's wind blew not just their blond hair, but also their bodies into the air. It made good target practice for well… everyone. Souji wiped off a mess on one of those Shadows' hair.

Trying to walking into the 10th floor was difficult as they had encountered another kind of beetle Shadows.

"Everyone, move back…," Chie said as one of them tried to strike again with its horns.

Rion casually crushed his card, "Tajikarawo, Torrent Shot!" as needles flew into the Shadow.

"Anything will work…," Rion said calmly.

"Magaru!" "Mabufu!" "Mazio!" "Maragi!" came from Yosuke, Chie, Souji, and Yukiko respectively to destroy the beetles.

"Will someone please kill those Magi?" Souji wondered as they were pounding the others… They were bugging the members of his group again.

"They're a strong one, Sensei!" Teddie had yelled.

Souji had yelled back that he really didn't care how strong they were, but now they were being driven into the ground by them. They were picking off the members using their weaknesses. Yukiko had ice, Chie had fire, Yosuke had lightning, and Rion had two of them: wind and ice. Souji had to keep switching his Persona to finally get rid of the Magi.

Reaching the final floor, the 11th, they went back to the bottom to heal with the fox.

"Man, what a rip-off," Souji thought.

It was incredibly steamy on the "final floor".

"It's Kanji. I sense him here!" Teddie had stated using his outside voice.

"So, are we ready?" Souji asked as they were ready to enter the realm of steam.

"Well, do we have a choice?" Rion asked.

"I don't think so," Chie said.

Yukiko looked at them, "Let's save Kanji-kun."

They ran into the "steamy paradise of love" to see the real Kanji facing his Shadow.

"There they are!" Chie yelled.

"Thank you for that observation," Rion said.

"Kanji!" Yosuke yelled.

"Kanji-kun! Are you okay?" Yukiko looked worried.

Souji went forward, "Kanji, we came here to get you away from this."

"Completely unrelated to the innuendo that could be caused by any of the sayings," Rion muttered.

Kanji was stuttering at facing the Shadow.

"I… I…" Kanji was trying to say something to save him from fighting the Shadow.

The Shadow had other ideas and talked to him, "Oh, come now, enough with this charade. Isn't it awful to deceive people? To decide yourself…? What's so bad to do what I want to do?"

Kanji seemed worn out and said to the Shadow with lackluster, "That has nothin' to do with it."

The Shadow was not deterred, "I'm what you really want, aren't I?"

"Hell no!" Kanji had gotten angry in a heartbeat.

The Shadow began mocking Kanji, just like Yukiko's Shadow mocked Yukiko, "Oh, how I hate girls… So arrogant and self-centered! They cry if you get angry, they gossip behind your back, they spread nasty lies. They look at me like I'm some… some disgusting THING and say that I'm a weirdo. Laughing at me, all the while. "You like to sew? What a queer!" "Painting is so not you!" "But you're a guy!" "You don't act like a guy!" "Why don't you act more manly?" What does it mean to be "manly"? What does it mean to be "a guy"? Girls are so scary…"

"I ain't scared of 'em!" Kanji was pissed.

"Men are much better," Kanji's Shadow was goading him. Trying to aggravate him some more, "They'd never say those awful, degrading things. Yes, I vastly prefer men."

"To hell with that! What makes you think you think I can say that shit to my face?!" Kanji yelled at the Shadow.

Kanji's Shadow looked confident, "Why, you're me, and I'm you. You do know that, don't you?"

"No, Nuh-uh! No way! There is no way in hell that you're me!" Kanji yelled.

The Shadow started laughing as purple flames started engulfing him, "You're me, and there is no denying it!"

It turned into a large Shadow that was much bigger, more muscular, black and white, and covered in roses with half of a Kanji sticking out. Let's just say… that the others were freaked out by its appearance.

"Kanji-kun!" Yukiko yelled as they ran forward towards the Shadow.

"Ohh, this'll be exciting," Rion murmured. He slowly drew the blade out of the back of his waist.

"Everyone, on guard!" Teddie exclaimed as they faced the behemoth.

"Let's get ready to fuck this thing up!" Souji said.

So, the battle began…

"I am a shadow… The true self!" the transformed Kanji proclaimed, "I'm just being true to myself… And that's why… I'll get rid of anything in my way." The Shadow threw two large crosses on the ground next to him.

Yukiko looked disbelieving, "Are these Kanji-kun's true feelings?"

"This is only one side of him, we have to deal with him," Souji said.

Yosuke seemed adamant otherwise, "This isn't really him. It's just his emotions going haywire."
The Shadow stared them down, "This has nothing to do with you guys anymore! Didn't I say I'm gonna get rid of you?"

"I'm afraid we can not allow you to remove us from this path," Rion stood in front of them and pointed his blade at it.

They gathered themselves to form their Personas and crushed their cards.

"Konohana Sakuya!" "Jiraiya!" "Tomoe!" "Tajikarawo!" "Sarasvati!"

"Umm… guys," Teddie looked at them, "There's two other Shadows," He pointed at the "Nice Guy and the Tough Guy."

"Let's take care of them too," Souji said.

The battle started off with the shadow using "Power Charge" and the Nice Guy using "Heat Riser". The Tough Guy would attack the group. Souji would have to push Yukiko out of the way. It would soon become Rion's job.

"You need to debuff the guy!" Rion yelled, "If you don't weaken him first, he'll slowly wipe us out, one by one."

"I got you!" Yosuke yelled, "Dekaja!"

There were seriously problems from the start of this battle. Too many of the Shadows attacks were causing far too much damage. What was worse was that some of the attacks would only heal the enemy.

"Skull Cracker!" Chie attacked the Tough Guy. All the damage she had done on it before had dissipated. "What the hell!?"

Chie tried again, "Bufu!" She fired ice at the Nice Guy, only to heal him. "Damn it! Sheesh, what's happening?"

"Konohana Sakuya, Agilao!" Flames had reached the Tough Guy, and it absorbed it as well. "Come on!" Yukiko was exasperated.

"What the hell guys!?" Yosuke yelled, "Dekaja!" He had weakened Kanji just in time as he used "Kill Rush!" on the group.

Tajikarawo, Tarunda!" Rion weakened Kanji, while dodging the Tough Guy's attack.

"Media…," Yukiko muttered. They were taking too much damage.

Souji knew he had to take control of the situation, "Yukiko, control Konohana to use Agilao on Nice Guy after your attack has been buffed. Chie, use Bufu on Tough Guy with Tomoe or attack Nice Guy on your own. Rion, protect everyone, or attack Nice Guy both with Tajikarawo or attack yourself."

"Tarukaja" was cast on Chie and Tomoe by Tajikarawo courtesy of Rion. Slowly, but surely, they made progress in attacking and damaging the shadows. Both Yukiko and Souji were a little side-tracked by casting "Media" to heal when "Rampage" was used, "Swift Strike", or "Kill Rush".

Tajikarawo was getting abused, "I'm tired of being knocked around," as Rion got up after shielding Chie.

"Hang in there!" Yukiko told him.

Through Souji's commands, repeated Bufu attacks, Agilao attacks, and many kicks, staff and sword blows; both the Tough Guy and the Nice Guy were eliminated from existence.

"One to go!" Yosuke proclaimed.

"We must now focus our attacks on the main foe," Rion said.

Souji had switched his Persona at some point to Valkyrie to cast "Rakunda!" He switched back to Sarasvati and proceeded to have everyone pound on the enemy. Souji used his sword, Rion's staff, Yosuke's knives, Yukiko's fan, and Chie's iron feet.

A combination of "Torrent Shot" and two people casting "Bufu", along with "Agilao" and "Garu" caused a large amount of damage. When Kanji attempted to level Chie, he missed and fell over.

"Aha, is this our chance?" Chie yelled to the group.

"Is it?" Yosuke asked.

"Let's just go," Chie responded.

Everyone rushed in and proceeded to beat down the Shadow. "I'm going to get you, you summa of a bitch…" was heard at some point during the attack.

Let's just say the Shadow had something to say after that, "I've already made my decision to go through with this. Get out of my way… or I'll crush you!"

The Kanji Shadow used the attack, "Forbidden Murmur" which poisoned Souji and Rion.

"Sensei, you're all poisoned. I'm bear-y worried for you!" Teddie exclaimed.

Souji and Rion nodded, "We need to use items to heal the poison," Souji said. Through that they were able to heal their afflictions.

They proceeded with the buffing and smashing down process of taking care of the shadow. Tajikarawo's own staff drove into Kanji's rose-covered head, while Rion's short blade hamstrung him. Souji pushed his own blade straight in, while Chie kicked and flipped.

"Keep it up!" Souji said, as he cast "Bufula!" with Sarasvati.

"Media!" Yukiko was trying to keep the group in decent shape.

The Shadow had more to say as the magic kept coming from the Personas, "Stay out of my way! What's wrong with acting however I feel like?"

It started casting much stronger magic instead of using weaker attacks. The "Fanatical Spark" reminded Souji of Shadow Yukiko's "Burn to Ashes".

Teddie put in his two cents, "Wow that was intense. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, we're fine!" Souji said, as Yosuke fell over from the attack, "Chie! Pick him up!" Souji remembered that Yosuke was weak to electricity. He was glad he switched to Oberon instead of keeping with Sarasvati.

Chie did pick him up as Tomoe went straight at Kanji.

"Yosuke, start guarding when he uses that attack!" Rion yelled at him.

"Okay, I hear you!" Yosuke responded.

Every time the group of them finished attacking the shadow, he followed with the same attack, "Fanatical Spark".

A short time later, after more "Agilao" and "Bufula", the Shadow continued his diatribe, "I know you all thought I was weird. Deep down, you didn't accept me at all. No matter what, I won't lose!"

"I think we're almost done! Let's kick his ass!" Rion yelled.

"We're getting dizzy, Rion," Souji said. They had used too much magic. Yukiko and Yosuke looked the same. Rion looked like he had taken one too many hits in the head. Plus, most of them were bleeding in multiple places.

"We have to do this!" Yukiko exclaimed.

"You're right," Souji said, "Let's finish this!"

Despite all of this, the group redoubled their efforts on beating the Shadow, even with repeated attacks of "Fanatical Spark" and "Forbidden Murmur". It was just too much "Agilao" and other elemental attacks combined with "Media" when needed. Souji finished him with a final blow with his blade and the Shadow dropped his male blades and fell to the ground in despair.

Rion was sure he might have a bruised rib, but it wouldn't be that bad. The blood from the cuts on his arms and legs were minor at worst. Souji had an interesting gash on his forearm, but nothing major. Chie had some bruises on her legs, but it was her choice to try and kick the Shadow. Yosuke was thrown by all three Shadows at one point or another, so he would definitely need to be healed by Yukiko. Yukiko was always protected by the others, so she only had a minor burn on her arm. She was just the dizziest of them all.

After the battle, the original Shadow Kanji was facedown in front of the group of the investigators. Kanji was in the middle and slowly got up…

"Dammit," he said as he slowly got up to face his Shadow.

Yukiko looked at Kanji worriedly, "Kanji-kun!"

"Wait, Yukiko! Something is wrong!" Yosuke warned her.

Rion looked at them, "It may not be as easy as we think for Kanji to accept this."

The Shadow had staggered to his feet and faced them.

Teddie was shocked, "It's still coming at us! Kanji is still rejecting it."

"With this many people watching? Who can blame him?" Souji said.

The Shadow looked at them, "Such a passionate approach…"

"What!?" Yosuke yelled at the Shadow.

"I think that the four of you would make wonderful boyfriends!" the Shadow said in a sleazy voice.

"Stop it! You've got it all wrong," Yosuke was stuttering.

"I reject your claim," Rion said in what had to be the most boring British accent ever.

"Excuse me?" Souji said with disbelief.

Kanji looked at the Shadow, "Enough… Stop… What the hell are you blabbering about?"

The Shadow was dismayed as it whined, "I don't care who… Won't someone, anyone, please accept me?"

Kanji was losing it again, "Stop it!"

"Accept me for who I am!" The Shadow yelled.

"Whoa! I really don't swing that way," Yosuke said. He obviously was very uncomfortable at where this was going.

Kanji was getting mad again, "I said stop it!"

"I don't want to do this again," Rion muttered. Souji was wondering if Rion was right, and if another battle was going to break out. If that happened, they'd lose.

Kanji had run up to the Shadow and punched it in the face.

"Tch, can't believe something like that is inside of me," Kanji said.

"So, he does know it's inside of him," Souji said.

"Well, that's certainly a step in the right direction," Rion shook his head.

"Kanji, you're…," Yosuke looked shocked though.

Kanji was defiant, "Yeah, I know… I've known all this time I had something like you. It ain't a matter of guys or chicks. I'm just scared shitless of being rejected. I'm a total pansy who tries to make everyone hate me."

"You're not alone, Kanji," Souji said.

Chie told him, "We're all like that."

Kanji was a little shocked at those comments but he looked at the Shadow, "C'mon, get up. Anyone who looks like me, I know they ain't so weak that they can't take a punch."

The Shadow slowly rose and got to his feet.

"I already know that you're me," Kanji said, "You're me, and I'm you, dammit."

The Shadow disappeared in purple flames and in the light above appeared a Persona of a skeleton covered humanoid person. It carried a lightning bolt and was black. Take-Mikazuchi, the god of thunder.

He fell to the ground after that, "Ngh… damn"

The five and the bear ran to Kanji and Chie worriedly called out, "Kanji-kun!"

"We need to get him out of here!" Souji said. "We need to get out of here too or a magus will kill us," he thought to himself.

"Yeah, he's been in here for too long, and he's been through a lot," Yosuke said.

"So who's taking him out?" Rion said, and they all looked at him. Rion rolled his eyes and muttered, "You have got to be shittin' me."

They slowly carried him out of the dungeon and away from the bathhouse. Souji was happy; he came out of this unscathed on both accounts.