Chapter 13
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.
I know what I own. I know I own nothing of SMT and Persona.
It's time for a Game… Mitsuo's Game. Hope you enjoy. If you ever wondered… Yes, I mean to call Adachi a defective. I worked rather hard, and rather quickly to get this done. It helped that I already had this done and I was just revising it.
So Souji, as usual, began scouring the streets of Inaba to find out who the ugly dude was. He found nothing of note talking to people in the shopping district or Yasogami. After wasting some time near Samegawa, he headed down to the riverbank to talk to Kanji.
"Did you find anything?" Souji asked Kanji. Kanji was near the fisherman dude that was selling him keys for fish. Unfortunately, he never had any fish to give the guy.
"Mmm… info on the suspect? It's pretty tough. Seems like no one knows anything, huh?" Kanji responded.
"Yeah, I understand," Souji nodded as he said.
"Instead of bitchin' about it, why don't we go straight to the source?" Kanji confronted Souji.
"You mean the police?" Souji asked.
"Just ask Dojima-san. He's your uncle, right? He'd tell you something," Kanji suggested.
"I highly doubt he'd give information freely. Especially us," he thought, "He'd probably arrest me."
Regardless, he went off to try and find his uncle. It wasn't exactly easy to find him. "He's probably hiding," Souji thought. Souji finally found his uncle near the gas station and the bus stop. Maybe, he was waiting for a bus, or a contact.
As expected, asking for a clue on the suspect did not go well with his uncle…
"A clue to the criminal investigation?" Dojima asked.
Souji attempted to appear meek and innocent with his questioning.
"You… I told you not to stick your neck into things! There's no way I'd tell you!" Dojima yelled at his nephew.
"Temper…," Souji muttered as he cowered.
Souji backed off, but before he got out of range he heard this, "Geez… Damn, where did that Adachi go off to?"
"I'll try and find Adachi tomorrow, if Dojima can't find him. He'll tell us anything," Souji said to himself while leaving.
After spending time playing word games with Nanako in the evening, he started looking for Adachi the next day.
"We'll probably find him at the same place we always find him blabbering. He's probably buying something stupid, like cabbage," Souji thought to himself as he headed to Junes.
Adachi was there by the elevators; muttering to himself and sighing, "I think I'll stay here a little longer before I go out again!"
Souji did a Dojima impression and yelled at him, "Adachi!"
"Aah! You startled me. Don't sneak up on me like that!" Adachi exclaimed as Souji walked towards him.
"What are you to up, Adachi-san?" Souji asked the defective.
"What was I doing? Oh, you know… Investigating," Adachi replied nervously.
"Didn't look like you were investigating to me. I'll have to tell Dojima," Souji said, blackmailing him. Souji smirked inwardly.
"Did Dojima-san say anything about it?" Adachi asked, sweat running from his brow. Souji nodded his head.
"Just keep this a secret from him… Please!" Adachi wiped his brow.
Souji nodded, "Okay, but I want something in return." He loved
"Clues? If I tell you , will you keep quiet? Okay then… I'm just talking to myself here, but, supposedly he had a part-time job in the shopping district," Adachi told him.
"Do you know where?" Souji asked.
"Where was it? Oh, I don't think they told me that much," Adachi explained.
"Worthless…," Souji thought. Yet, Souji said, "Alright, I won't say anything."
"Thanks…," Adachi wiped his brow again.
Souji headed towards the shopping district to find out more information about this part-time worker/suspect.
It was at Souzai Daigaku that he found some new information. The lady seemed annoyed at this intrustion.
"Where'd you hear that from? I told him not to tell anyone," talking about Adachi, "Anyways… He did work here for a short time. This was a while ago. He freaked out just cutting the raw meat. I do remember him having black eyes. He said that the person who worked here before him was his classmate in middle school. I see him around here sometimes. He dyed his hair; it's now golden-brown," the lady explained quickly. She seemed in a hurry to get rid of Souji.
"Thanks," Souji nodded.
He went back the next day to try and find the other boy. He found him near Rise's tofu shop. "Probably wanting to see Risette, no doubt," Souji thought.
"Huh? You want to see my yearbook? Oh, are you looking for him?" the boy asked.
"Yeah, we are…," Souji told the boy.
"You wanna see his picture?" the boy asked.
"Sure…"
"Well, today's your lucky day, because me and my friends are going around showing it to everyone! Want a copy?"
"Alright, I'll take one."
He got the boy's picture. He was an ugly boy. It was the same person on the Midnight Channel and his name was written below. His name was Mitsuo Kubo. Souji thought he recognized the boy from somewhere.
With everything in place, Souji called for everyone to meet at Junes. They all met at the "secret headquarters."
"Do you think you have enough information?" Yukiko asked.
"Yeah, I got a picture and a name…," Souji said.
Rion looked at him, "That should be sufficient to find where he is. The hard part should be getting him out."
"Yeah, it is gonna be a pain in the ass to get him out. But, we have to question the guy once we see him, and ask him why he threw in Saki-senpai, Yukiko, Kanji, and Rise," Yosuke went on, "Not to mention that announcer."
"Well, let's go," Kanji said.
As the others jumped into the TV, Souji nodded to Rion who nodded back. As Souji jumped in, Rion turned around and caught a young boy by the throat with his staff horizontally, lifting him into the air.
"You may fool Yosuke, Kanji, Yukiko, and Chie. Yet, Souji saw you following him around. And, don't think you could get by me," Rion said with a flash of anger in his eyes, "I wouldn't be a very good cover man if I didn't notice you a long time ago. If you didn't try to come with, I wouldn't have said anything… But, you just had to try and follow us."
"I…," the boy muttered.
"Where we're going is not a place for children. If you can't control where you land, we don't know where you'll end up… We're only planning on saving one person this time," Rion said. His voice never quivered.
"I was just curious," he said.
"That is too bad… I'm afraid. Curiosity killed the cat, and it could easily kill you. I won't let you follow us," Rion said.
"What are you going to do to me?" the boy was terrified.
"You will not remember spying on us, you will not remember trying to follow us, and you will not remember that this occurred," Rion said as his staff dropped from the boy's neck spun over his head, and around the boy's skull to hit him in the back of the head. The boy dropped like a log. Rion picked him up, luckily he wasn't bleeding. He put him in a place where he would be found and made sure someone would find him… He would have a concussion after all.
He made his way into the TV world and nodded at Souji to tell him that it was taken care of.
When they went in, Souji showed the picture of Kubo to Rise and the others.
"That's him all right. He's definitely the one on the Midnight Channel," Yosuke said.
"There's no doubt that he is the one we seek," Rion said.
"Then, it's settled then," Yosuke said, "He's the killer, and he's in here now."
Rise told the others in surprise, "This guy came to our shop before." This surprised most of the group, "Was he spying on me? Oh my god! I really was being targeted."
Kanji yelled, "Dammit! Frickin' punk!"
"Hey, I've seen him before too," Chie told them. She was thinking when it hit her, "Oh, now I remember! Yukiko, it's that one guy!"
"That one guy?" Yukiko questioned.
"She is quite popular," Souji thought, "Quite popular with me…"
"Back in April, remember?" Chie tried to jog her memory, "He suddenly came and started hitting on you."
"Oh, him!" Yosuke remembered, "The guy who got served by Yukiko in front of the school!"
Rion was back to normal calm as he spoke to Yukiko, "That's not uncommon for Yukiko. Yet, I remember that person's features quite vividly." He had obviously recovered from earlier.
"Man, Chie, how'd you remember something like that?" Yosuke asked.
"Well, that was the first time he talked to her, but I remember he was always following her around," Chie said.
Yukiko was still confused, "Umm… Sorry, who are we talking about?"
"That's just proof that you reject too many guys," Souji said.
Yukiko blushed scarlet.
"The dude who came right up to you at the gates and called you Yuki!" Yosuke tried to remind her.
"Oooh…," Yukiko remembered, "Uhh… Really?" Well, she kind of remembered who it was. I guess that's all you could expect from her.
Rion said, "Chie, Souji, Yosuke, and I were all there too. Yosuke showed up after the fact."
"Wait, did he kidnap Yukiko to get back at her for rejecting him?" Chie asked.
"That's a bit childish…," Souji shook his head.
"Umm… I really didn't reject him," Yukiko said.
Rise said to the group, "He came up to me while I was busy working and asked, "Don't the biker gangs bother you? Just going on and on about how biker gangs can't do anything unless they're in a pack and stuff. He seemed to be the type who keeps talking and talking, whether you like it or not… if that makes sense."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Rise continued, "I usually treat those people politely, but I was so tired that I kinda ignored him. Was that why I was kidnapped?"
"Huh?" Kanji blurted out, "Wait… I'm not a biker."
"He may have mistaken you as one," Souji said. "This Mitsuo guy is screwy," he thought.
"Well, you were perceived as one for a long time," Rion explained, "They still perceive you as one in some regards." Rion shook his head.
Kanji muttered, "Ugh… That damn special report… So, that's why I got dragged into this.
Chie went on, "You know, I heard he'd been saying stuff about that announcer's affair, too. Lots of muttering about how women who cheat on their husbands should be executed."
"How would you know if you didn't even know who he is?" Rion wondered.
"Sounds like it's all coming together," Yosuke told the group, "Well, it's time for a showdown!"
They nodded and Souji looked at Rise, "Can you tell us where Mitsuo is located?"
"I'll give it a try," Rise told him, "Give me a sec," as she summoned her Persona, "Yeah, I found him! He's that way!" She pointed off to the 7o clock area of the plaza.
"Ok, let's go!" Chie exclaimed, "We're so close to the killer… We can't lose him now." She re-adjusted her high tops. She was ready to drive her boots into Mitsuo's ass.
"Alright," Souji said, "Let's go." He put his sword over his back. He almost ripped through his shirt again, hiding it.
They went off in that direction only to find themselves in a video game-like environment with the swirly red and black at the entrance.
As Chie walked past the bridge, "What is this? Some kinda game?"
"Well, he did taunt us, saying "Try and catch me." I guess he thinks of it all of some kind of game," Yosuke said.
"Judging by the background that we saw in the Midnight Channel, this does not surprise me," Rion said. He pushed up his glasses with his left pointer finger while adjusting his scabbard with his right hand.
Chie yelled, "Oooh! This pisses me off! I hereby sentence him to one-hundred kicks in the face."
"Let's go… We have a job to do…," Souji said, "No matter what he has supposedly done; we need to take care of all aspects of the mission just like always. Let's just reach the ending of this." He smiled, "After we catch him, Chie can dole out the punishment."
"Gotta admit… All guys love games!" Yosuke joked.
Teddie joked back, "And all girls love Teddie!"
The whole group just walked away without answering him, completely ignoring the bear.
Entering the void for the first time was a new experience… and had new Shadows to die from. On the plus side, they also had new allies. Teddie was a Bearsona user, and they had Rise.
The Shadows that were encountered were interesting to say the least on the first couple of floors. "Another stupid rock Shadow," Souji thought.
The group was sick of rock enemies that physical attacks just couldn't damage. It didn't help that none of the group's Personas had an advantage against the enemy. You could kill the rocks by repeatedly using basic elemental attacks like "Agilao" or "Garula", but they would bounce on top of you by then. Chie found out the hard way not to use try and use "Black Spot!" with Tomoe. Also, those rocks were accompanied by a tower enemy that used "Mazionga!" It knocked over both Yosuke and Teddie, and they found out that the tower also summoned more rocks.
"Damn towers," Kanji yelled as his "Zionga!" from Take-Mikazuchi was resisted. He hit with a desk instead.
"Use fire!" as Souji summoned Hua Po, a Chinese tree spirit, "Agilao!"
Well, that took out the towers efficiently, but there still was the issue of the rock enemies.
He left the job of killing of towers to Yukiko and Konohana Sakuya. Her "Maragion!" could weaken both kinds of enemies.
Souji switched to a Persona, Power, an angel of the sixth order. "Mahama!" he cast on the rocks. They all disappeared.
"Hell yeah, Souji!" Yosuke yelled, "That's what I'm talking about!"
Unfortunately, his yelling brought new enemies coming.
"Look what you did, you idiot!" Chie yelled at him.
"It's not my fault…," he said, "If you had beaten them faster…"
"Why you!" she screamed.
"We need to focus on those who will actually kill us!" Rion yelled.
"Tajikarawo!" "Torrent Shot!" he yelled at the new enemies. They were snake-like enemies and freakin' big sword-enemies.
"Damn!" Rion muttered, "Why can't anything ever be weak to straight attacks." Rion rolled out of the way of a slicing sword, and struck with his ninjato. He back flipped away to dodge the snake's poisonous mist.
Yosuke was hit by the mist, "Guys… I don't feel so good…"
Souji switched to Parvati, "Posumudi!"
"Guys… This one is weak against Ice!" Rise pointed out to the snakes.
"Teddie, use your Persona!" Souji yelled as he cleaved down on one of the snakes. The snake responded by circling around him and knocking him over with its cross-sword.
"Souji-kun!" Yukiko picked him up.
"Bearsona!" "Kintoki-Douji!" "Bufula!" Teddie exclaimed at Souji's command. The snakes fell to the ground.
"Well, that was super-effective against the snakes," Souji said.
"Kanji, you should attempt your electric attacks on the overly-large swords," Rion said as Yukiko's attacks and Yosuke's were woefully ineffective against them.
"Take-Mikazuchi!" "Mazio!" Kanji exclaimed.
The lightning made the swords all droopy and sad. They were paralyzed, and they could not attack if they wanted.
Teddie yelled as all were knocked over, "Bear-pile onto the enemy!"
All of the group ran onto the enemies and on all accounts destroyed them mercilessly.
They kept running into them until the third floor. The third floor made Souji want to pull out a "gun" and shoot himself.
Mitsuo seemed to be taunting them with a game. You'd go one way, and it would warp you another way. It was pretty damn annoying in Souji's mind
"Bastard!" Kanji yelled, "Quit playing games!"
"Let's think logically here…," Rion said, "The best way to find a way out of here would be to move in…"
"Screw logic, let's just run around till we find the damn exit!" Yosuke yelled in annoyance and ran off.
"But…," Yukiko said, "I don't think we should…" She looked at the others as she stared at Yosuke as he disappeared, "We have to run after him, don't we?"
Souji nodded and they ran after Yosuke, who had warped off somewhere. "Where did that idiot get to?"
Yosuke had emerged and was currently fighting a new kind of enemy. An enemy that seemed to be a bunch of eyeballs until it attacked with fire spells.
"Yosuke!" Souji yelled, "Don't bother using Sonic Punch or your Kunai! Use Garula!"
Yosuke spit out blood, "Jiraiya! Magaru!" The eyeballs fell over… and new enemies emerged.
More raven-like enemies and book enemies that was similar to the ones seen in previous areas.
"I swear," Chie said as Tomoe used "Heat Wave!" "It's like they have stronger versions of the same kinds of Shadows."
"It's way too teddious for my brain to think about!"
"Just blast the damn books!" Souji yelled. Souji picked up his card as Yukiko's fan had flown into one of the Shadows.
So they did so… Souji's blade cleaved one book while his fairy friend, Hua Po, burned the heinous books with "Agilao".
Yukiko and Teddie's Personas, Konohana Sakuya and Kintoki-Douji respectively used "Mediarama" to heal the group, while they used a fan and claws to shred the books and ravens.
Yosuke found the ravens weak to wind, so he casted "Garula" on the birds, while using his kunai as a sharp bookmark for the books.
Kanji finally found a use for a school desk and books. By smashing the books with his desk, while Rion just darted in between the enemies, nimbly cutting and slicing his way through. Tajikarawo, meanwhile used "Masukunda!" to slow down the ravens.
The only problem was when the books started casting "Makarakarn!" Yosuke could not use wind on the ravens, and Souji or Yukiko couldn't use fire on the books. So, Souji turned to Kanji, Chie, and Rion for help.
"Tajikarawo! Torrent Shot!" Rion exclaimed as needles came flying from the staff of the hermit and Rion dove at the books, sword bared.
"Kill Rush!" Kanji hit all of them at once as Chie used "Heat Wave!" to eradicate her foes. She wiped the sweat off her brow when she was done.
"You idiot!" Chie yelling at Yosuke after the battle, "You could have died!"
"Jiraiya!" "Garula!" Right behind Chie was a fairy enemy that had a bow pointed straight at her. As it was falling, Yosuke pierced it by throwing his kunai into its body.
"Who's the idiot now?" Yosuke joked.
Yosuke was suddenly was on the floor holding the lower part of his torso.
"Men…," Chie muttered as she walked off. You couldn't see the blush on Chie's face, however as she walked away.
"Note to self… Don't annoy Chie," Souji thought as he helped Yosuke up. Teddie healed Yosuke with "Mediarama!" so he could have children.
They ran through more and more of those enemies. It was some stupid white-hand Shadow that was easily taken care by Yosuke when he finally stopped complaining about his groin.
"You're going down, you piece of shit!" Yosuke yelled, "Jiraiya! "Magaru!"
They had finally gotten out of the third floor, "About time," Souji thought.
"More of the same…," Rion said, as he cut into a raven on the 4th level. Teddie had frozen the one next to him.
"Tell me about it," Yosuke said. His wind blasted two arrow-firing cupid things.
Yukiko sighed, "Maragion!" The book burning had begun.
The 4th level had been completed.
"So… are we done for today?" Rise asked. She put her rose-colored glasses back on.
"Yeah, we goho-m," Souji said.
"Right, though Souji runs us ragged trying to get us done as soon as possible," Yosuke told her.
"Okay… I gotcha," Rise said.
Teddie told them as they left, "Good job everyone! I'll see you before we come back."
"You better," Yosuke said, "You work for me now!"
Yukiko laughed, "Snrk…"
When they got out, they noticed there that an ambulance had come through Junes recently.
"Rion… Did you have something to do with this?" Souji asked.
"The best answers are the ones without questions…," Rion told him.
"Right, well I'll talk to you tomorrow. I want to get up a few more floors. Sunday will be free for us," Souji replied.
"If that's what you want…," Rion shrugged in approval. He sighed.
"What the hell did Rion do to that kid?" Souji thought as he walked away, "Rion doesn't have a violent streak, but he had to protect our secret. It is far too important for some innocent kid. If someone who could defend themselves got in would be one thing, but some kid who didn't know what they're doing would be just like Kanji, or Yukiko. I don't know if we'd have time for both of them."
He spent time resting and then got back straight to the dungeon the next day. He was ready to go fight and win the game. Souji imagined he was playing some vintage, retro style video game with cheesy music before he went in.
"So, will we not suck this much today?" Souji asked.
"We sucked last time?" Chie asked.
"Well, we got lost…," Rion said.
"You better damn believe it!" Kanji yelled.
"We need to catch this guy…," Yukiko said, "Besides… What this guy says each floor is sickening."
Souji agreed, "This guy has major psychological issues."
They entered the fifth floor and were ready to deal with a bunch of new crazy Shadows.
There was a kind of beetle that showed up. Nothing really worked against it. All magic absorbed it unless Souji used "Mudo", but he didn't really have a Persona to use it reliably. He had Matador, but he didn't really trust himself with that.
So, he mainly he relied on Chie and Rion's Personas to beat up the shadows, along with their own weaponry. Chairs and bear claws make short work of beetles.
"Tch…," Rion said. The beetle's horn struck upwards and Rion's staff parried the blow. Chie's feet kicked the beetle backward. "Black Spot!" Her Persona blew the Shadow away.
When another one attacked them, Yukiko's fan deterred it at first. When it still advanced, Souji beat it back with his cleaver. "Fatal End!" Kanji yelled with Take-Mikazuchi to knock down and destroy the beetle.
So it was to take out the rest of the annoying beetles.
There were vase monsters with people sticking out of them that were weak against fire. So, Yukiko made short work of them using "Maragion" and Souji with Gdon used it as well.
"Are you all still alive?" Souji asked.
"I think so," Yukiko replied, "Konohana Sakuya!" "Mediarama!"
"That feels better," Teddie said, but he was still pouting, "But that doesn't fix my beautiful fur!"
"Quit whining bear!" Yosuke exclaimed.
As they walked on in the 6th level, "No more freaking rock monsters!" Rion yelled as one rolled into him. Souji was just amazed that he was actually hit by something.
"Rise… what its weakness?" Souji asked.
"Umm…," Rise scanned, and scanned, "Wind!"
"Let's go, Jiraiya!" Yosuke exclaimed, "Magaru!"
"Titania!" "Garula!" Souji exclaimed to finish off the last one.
There were huge samurai Shadows. Okay, a single one… but it was rather imposing. It reflected fire, ice, wind, and electricity. It pissed off Souji to no end. So, he tried to have Chie kick it in the nads. She missed and fell to the ground. The Shadow proceeded to slice into her.
"Chie!" Yukiko yelled.
"Chie-chan!" Teddie exclaimed, "Go, Kintoki-Douji!" "Mediarama!"
Yosuke ran in and dragged her out, but barely dodged his long blade by using a kunai to block it. Souji thought even Yosuke was surprised that he blocked it as he dragged Chie back to them.
"Yosuke…," Chie said.
Souji was distraught. If he could dodge physical attacks, magic was reflective; there were his expel and curse techniques, but they could fail. He trusted only one person to at least hold them off.
"Everyone else runs towards the stairs, Rion and I will hold them off," Souji said.
"What!?" Yosuke yelled.
"I'm glad you asked me first," Rion said sarcastically, "But just go."
"Don't do this, Souji-kun…," Yukiko said.
"I'll be fine, Yukiko," as Souji charged the samurai. He put his katana up as the thin blade flashed up. Souji barely got it up in time before he was cut in two. He tried to retaliate with a left-high downward diagonal cut, but the Shadow was already gone, and was charging the only remaining person left on the floor. "I guess I'm not worth his time," Souji thought.
"Come on, you son of a bitch," Rion sneered. As the Shadow's blade flashed from his scabbard to a horizontal position across, it was caught by Rion's ninjato before he was cut.
"Don't waste my time," Rion said, "Hurry up Souji. Act as a leader."
Souji ran up and thrust his katana into the Shadow's back, right through the armor. Rion feinted off of the thin blade and jammed the ninjato into the Shadow's unprotected face.
"Let's go. They're waiting for us," Souji said, as the Shadow disappeared. Rion nodded.
They climbed to the seventh floor.
As they would soon discover… life hated them.
"I hate myself!" Souji said as he got turned around again, and again. For some reason, this level turned you around when you reached a crossroad. It pissed Souji off.
It didn't help that they had new enemies to fight too. Dancer Shadows that reminded them of the ones from Rise's dungeon… when Rion wasn't using his blade to fence with them. Rion enjoyed fighting them at least. Souji enjoyed watching him fight them, actually. Yukiko was using her flames on them.
"Maragion!" Yukiko yelled. There were plant Shadows, and plants don't do well against flames.
"Burn baby burn!" Chie yelled.
Dice Shadows that liked to blow up on people. There were dice enemies that blew up on people every place they went to rescue somebody. There seemed to be dice everywhere they turned on this floor.
"Freakin' dice," Chie shook her head as she flipped back, "Protect me, Tomoe!" "Bufula!"
That did work after all, and Teddie was the one who took care of them after that. Kintoki-Douji was very effective for taking care of the dice that blew up on people. "Bearsona!" "Mabufula!"
As they were spun around again, they encountered idols and those gun toting police Shadows.
"I don't like being shot at," Rion muttered.
"Tell me about it," Souji muttered.
Kanji yelled "Mazionga!" It destroyed all of them at once.
Being turned around constantly required a lot of healing and so, "Mediarama" was used a lot. They saw Shadows constantly as they hit all four directions at once.
They were about to advance to the next floor when Souji got a feeling.
"I don't think we should go up yet," Souji said.
"You think there is something else to accomplish?" Rion asked.
He nodded, "Let's keep looking…" They kept looking, and running into Shadows, and using "Mediarama!"
They managed to stumble onto a door where Rise warned them.
"There is something beyond there! Are you ready?" she asked.
"Sure, why not!" Souji said.
They came upon a hand enemy similar to the one on the 3rd to 4th floor but it was colored black.
The hand started the battle by summoning one of the hands from the earlier floor; the white kind.
"What!? It can summon?" Rise freaked.
Souji told them to calm down and he summoned "Phoenix!" He proceeded to use "Garula!" It knocked over the weaker hand.
Chie yelled, "Ooh… me… me… Let me do it!" Souji nodded and Chie stretched out and she kicked the stronger hand into oblivion. Teddie spent one second clawing the weaker hand and the battle was over.
"What a waste of our damn time!" Kanji exclaimed.
They grabbed an item called the orb of darkness and walked up the 8th floor before walking out.
"Great job everyone, but we need to goho-m!" Teddie told them.
Souji was happy to go home and rest for a whole day. Besides, he needed a good dinner for once instead of collapsing on the bed before eating.
Sunday, he would be hanging out with Yosuke. They ended up looking out over all of Inaba and pointing out all of the groups' houses. They couldn't find Rion's, but he thought no one really knew where he lived.
He kind of didn't want to find that dude the next day, but he had to save him.
The Monday of destiny… The job… save the freak named Mitsuo.
The eighth floor had a lot of the same enemies. It was a lot easier because of Souji's new Personas. The "BLACK FROST!!!"
The 9th floor, however, was a mess. A new giant gigas, that was weak to nothing that came down to a brawl between Personas, people, and giants.
"You will die now," Souji said, "Triglav!" "Mustard Bomb!"
"Tomoe!" "Black Spot!"
"Fatal End! Take-Mikazuchi!"
"That was a fun fight…," Souji said. Did anyone notice he was being sarcastic?
They fought a huge robot on the 8th floor that just wouldn't seem to die.
"Virtue!" "Hamaon!" Souji exclaimed. It died.
"There you go," Yosuke said.
A tank Shadow that resisted physical attacks, so Chie and Rion couldn't do much except buff the party. It became "let's heal after the Shadow "Power Charges" and hits and kills people, and then tries and do damage by other means".
The others used their best magic in retaliation, but it was rather slow going. "Garula, Agilao, Zionga, Bufula!" isn't much to shake a fist at.
Finally, there was another one of those lion creatures that attacked them on the 9th floor from before that became another brawl between the enemies and the investigators. That was only because nothing was really effective.
Reaching the Endgame was a blessing. He went to be gipped… no, healed by the fox, and then went back to the final level of the game.
Rise warned them when Souji got to the door, "I can sense him past this door!"
"Are you ready?" Rion asked.
"Let's kick his ass!" Souji replied.
"Hell, yeah!" Yosuke responded.
The orb of darkness or whatever the hell it was opened the door.
As they entered through the door at a run, Chie yelled, "Look, there he is!" as she pointed ahead.
The boy was there, and ahead of him was a Shadow.
Kanji yelled at the complacent boy, "You Mitsuo? You better be ready to pay, you bastard"
"Wait, Kanji!" Yosuke yelled, "Something's not right!"
"You think…?" Rion said like it was obvious. Souji thought it was obvious that it wasn't right either.
"Everyone gets on my nerves… That's why I did it!" Mitsuo yelled at the Shadow, "What do you think of that? Say something dammit!"
The Shadow said nothing, "…."
"Nobody even thought of me after the first two people!" Mitsuo told the Shadow, "That's why I went for the third one! I killed them!"
The others seemed shocked. "Well, he's confessing," Souji thought.
The Shadow still was silent, "…."
Mitsuo was worried, "What are you all quiet for?"
"Because… I feel nothing…," The Shadow said in that monotone voice.
Mitsuo freaked, "What are you talking about? Make sense, dammit!"
"What the…?" Chie was confused, "Which one's the Shadow?"
"The one with the purple flames…," Rion muttered.
The Shadow continued, "I have nothing… I am nothing… And you… are me…"
Mitsuo cried out, "What? What's that supposed to mean? I'm… I'm not nothing!"
"No…," Yukiko worriedly said, "If this keeps up…"
"We'll have a big problem on our hands," Souji said.
At this point, Mitsuo turned around and noticed the group. He wasn't exactly happy to see them either. Not happy at all…
"Who are you guys? How'd you get in here?" Mitsuo asked, "Dammit, who the hell are you? What're you doing here?"
"How do you think we got here?" Souji thought.
Kanji yelled at him, "Shut the hell up! We came after you!"
Chie questioned him, "Are you the killer?"
Mitsuo began laughing maniacally, "Haha… Ahahahaha… Of course I am! I'm the one behind everything!" He turned towards the Shadow and laughed, "I don't give a damn what this imposter's saying! Hahaha, you hear that! You have nothing to do with me! Get outta my sight!"
"….," The Shadow was silent.
Mitsuo turned on them, "That goes for the rest of you, too! Why'd you chase me all the way here? I'll kill you! I'll kill all of you! I can do it, ya know! I can do anything!"
"Not likely," Rion said detaching the end of his staff, but not lengthening it yet.
The Shadow's creepy voice rang out, "So you don't accept me," as the flames turned to black.
Mitsuo collapsed, "Ngh…"
The Shadow began transforming into his true Shadow form.
"Arrgh…," screamed the real Mitsuo, as the Shadow finished its transformation.
It grew into the form of a sort of baby with data over its head.
"Dammit, here we go again!" Yosuke yelled.
"I expected nothing less," Souji said.
Rise warned them, "Get ready, everyone! Once we beat him, this case is as good as closed!"
At the beginning of the fight, the baby protected itself with the "Character Setup" which formed an 8-bit shell that looked like a little knight.
"I am… a shadow," the Shadow said in a creepy game-like voice, "Come… I'll end your emptiness."
"It's all jaggy and blocky!" Teddie exclaimed.
"Is that thing supposed to be a game character?" Yosuke asked, "Geez… how insulting can you get?"
"You'll have to destroy the outer shell first!" Rise told the group.
"Let's fuck this guy up!" Souji yelled.
Their respective Personas were summoned, "Jiraiya, Tomoe, Konohana Sakuya, Tajikarawo, Take-Mikazuchi, and Kintoki-Douji." Souji however, summoned "Black Frost."
"Oooh…," Yukiko squealed, "Can I hug it?"
"Let's focus on the battle!" Souji said as the huge bit Shadow's sword came down upon Souji who rolled away. "Mind Charge!"
"Heh, you're wasting my time!" Rion yelled, as he detached his staff, "Masukakaja!" He wanted the Persona to increase the ability to dodge attacks.
"Why aren't you protecting us with one of your magic shields?" Yosuke asked, right before he was hit by a magic spell…
"It wouldn't have worked anyways… Someone heal Yosuke!" Rion retorted. Yosuke had been hit by a bomb that had injured Yosuke and made him weaker.
"Diarama!" Yukiko commanded. She also gave him something to try and help him feel better.
"Thanks…," Yosuke said.
Rion and Souji charged the Shadow with Black Frost and Tajikarawo supporting him with "Rakukaja!". Swords, staffs, and flames flared at the blocky Shadow.
"Agidyne!" The black plushy fired his flames and damaged the game character as Teddie used "Matarukaja!" to strengthen their attacks for Souji and Rion.
Yukiko was supporting them with "Agilao" with Konohana Sakuya and Kanji's Take-Mikazuchi was using "Fatal End". Likewise, Chie was using "Black Spot" with Tomoe. After being healed, Yosuke fired back with "Garula" with Jiraiya.
"Tajikarawo! Torrent Shot!" Rion's Persona peppered the Shadow. The Shadow retaliated with a bomb.
Meanwhile, the rest of the group only had to dodge magic spells, the character's sword, and bombs while it was casting its magic.
"Bufula!" Teddie yelled and the game character disappeared, revealing the baby Shadow, which fell hard to the ground.
"Bear-pile on the enemy!"
"Hell yeah!" Souji told them as all charged onto the baby Shadow that seemed to represent Mitsuo.
The baby didn't take well to being bombarded by more magic and in Kanji and Rion's case, a desk and staff. He started to exploit weaknesses in each person. He used "Agidyne!" on Chie, "Ziodyne!" on Yosuke and Teddie, "Garudyne!" on Kanji, and "Bufudyne!" on Yukiko and Rion. After all but Souji had fallen… the baby cast "Megidola!" It knocked down Souji and the plushie, Black Frost. Souji staggered to his feet after being knocked over. They were all in serious trouble.
"Be careful everyone!" Rise yelled. She was worried for them.
As Teddie and Yukiko casted "Mediarama!"; the Shadow baby used a spell called "Whisper!" to begin reforming the game character that had been destroyed early.
"Oh, we are so going to kick your ass!" Kanji yelled as he had Take-Mikazuchi cast "Fatal End!" and smacked his desk against the partially formed game character. Mitsuo's shadow responded by using "Devil's Smile!" that froze him in his tracks.
"What's wrong with Kanji? He's scared!" Rise yelled.
The shadow began its next attack, "Ghastly Wail!" to finish off the unruly brawler
"I got you Kanji!" Chie yelled. She pushed him out of the way.
Yukiko supplied the sedative to Kanji to wake his from his scared state.
The baby was annoyed again, and used "Arm Chopper!" to knock back Chie.
Chie fell back, and the game character was almost finished reforming.
Yet, the baby was distracted by dealing with those two Persona-users.
He didn't notice the others supported by "Matarukaja" and in Souji's case, "Mind Charge" bearing down on him.
One "Agidyne", an "Agilao", a "Zionga", a "Torrent Shot", a "Bufula", and a "Garula" later… The baby fell to the floor again, game character dissipated.
"Let us dance with death, you bastard…," Rion smirked.
"Yes, let's!" Souji replied.
Again, the group attacked the shadow with all they had, staff, swords, ninja tools, desks, and fans notwithstanding.
The group continued its constant barrages of "Agidyne!" coupled with "Mind Charge!" or "Fatal End!" and that did more than enough damage to make it fall. The baby fell, the data disappeared, and the Shadow burst into flames.
When the battle was over, Mitsuo climbed to his feet in front of the group.
"Ngh…," he staggered.
"Finally awake, huh?" Yosuke asked, "You've been a major pain in our ass!"
Mitsuo looked confused, "What the…? You guys… Who the hell are you guys?"
Souji told him, "We came to capture you… and deal with you."
"….," Mitsuo looked despondent.
"The police are after you," Yosuke told him.
"You are their primary suspect for the death of Mr. Morooka and the other two murders that have occurred in April," Rion told him.
"So…? Are you the killer?" Yosuke asked.
"All the cases…," Mitsuo talked softly, "All on me…" He started to laugh, "Ahahaha! That's right, I did it!"
Emphasizing his anger, Kanji said slowly, "You piece of shit!"
"And not just that bastard Morooka… That stupid announcer and that Konishi bitch, too! I killed all of them! It was all me!" Mitsuo seemed proud of his accomplishments .
The Shadow disappeared.
"Where'd it go?" Rise asked.
"What's going on?" Chie looked confused.
Mitsuo laughed, "Ha… Hahaha… It's gone… That frickin' monster disappeared. Take that, son of a bitch!"
The fish-eyed boy fell over after it disappeared.
"Urgh…," Mitsuo said after the Shadow dissipated
"Hey!" Kanji exclaimed.
"He's exhausted," Rise told them, "We need to hurry and get him out of here."
"So… Who's taking him out of this place?" Souji asked. He looked at Rion.
"Why do I always get the worst jobs?" he muttered. Rion thought to himself, "Next time there is a girl, I'm carrying her out." He chuckled to himself… "Yeah, like that will ever happen."
Mitsuo was thrown to the ground in the Electronic department of Junes after being carried out by Rion.
"Where am I?" Mitsuo asked as he was on the floor.
"It's the real world, reality… you bastard!" Souji told him.
Mitsuo was still confused, "Why am I here? What the hell are you guys? Stop it… Why did the TV? Ngh…"
"Hey…," Chie started thinking that Mitsuo was messed up.
Teddie started talking to him, still in his bear suit, "You seem confused from everything that happened. But we have a bunch of questions for you. First off, why did you do all this? Answer in ten words or less!"
Mitsuo laughed at Teddie, "What the hell? Is that a costume? What a loser… Get outta my face, you freak!"
"Freak! Grr…," Teddie wasn't happy.
"You aren't helping," Souji told him, "Are you the killer, Mitsuo Kubo?"
Mitsuo responded, "Get off my back… I already told you. I did it."
Rise looked sad as she said, "Why? How could you do such a thing?"
"Three people are dead because of you!" Chie told him.
Mitsuo started laughing non-stop, "Ha… Haha… Hahahahaha!"
"Clearly deranged…," Rion said.
"Everyone's talking about it, right? It's a huge deal… and I did it! All of it! All by myself!" Mitsuo was laughing, and it was nothing like Yukiko's laughter. It was the laughter of someone who was clinically insane, and Souji knew it.
"You just wanted the attention?" Yosuke asked dumbfounded.
Yukiko asked Mitsuo, "Then why did you target me and the others? How did you kidnap us?"
Mitsuo had trouble breathing, "Whoa… Look who it is… Haha, hey Yuki. After all this time, now you wanna talk to me? Haha… what bullshit!"
Yukiko in her own silent anger again asked, "Answer me! If you held a grudge against me, that's fine… But why the others?"
Mitsuo laughed, "Haha… What a joke. You're so desperate it hurts. I didn't care who I attacked. Everyone pisses me off."
Souji wanted to kick his ass right here. He started to take a step, but Rion put his arm out and shook his head. "It's not worth it," Rion's face said.
"You what?" Yosuke asked in a threatening voice, "You gotta be kidding me. You killed Senpai over nothing! You son of a bitch!"
Souji had to restrain Yosuke from kicking Mitsuo. The only thing holding him back was Rion. He felt Yosuke's pain. Kanji walked forward towards the fish-eyed boy.
"I hope you're ready to get what's comin' to you," he said.
Mitsuo chuckled, "What? You gonna kill me?"
Yukiko yelled, "Kanji-kun!?"
Kanji lifted him up by his shirt, "Kill you? It ain't gonna be that easy, you piece of shit! What you did can never be taken back! No, you're gonna own up to your crimes and pay for what you did. You ain't gonna be allowed to kick the bucket until you understand exactly what it is you've done."
"….," Mitsuo sighed in resignment.
"You had to know it would come to this," Rion said, "There is no crime that does not have a punishment to it. You can not run and hide."
Kanji dropped the boy, and Yosuke yelled in despair, "Why dammit!? Why did she have to die because of this bastard?"
"….," the boy sighed again.
"Dude, the cops…," Kanji said.
"Huh?" Yosuke looked confused.
"What are you waiting for? Call the damn police!" Kanji yelled.
"Yeah… You're right." Yosuke muttered.
"Yosuke…," Chie looked worriedly at him
After the police picked him up, cuffed him, and took him to the station… The group returned to the covered table. The group seemed to have calmed down a little. Souji had wrapped a bandage around his wrist. He had hyper-extended it.
"At least Adachi-san seemed happy…," Chie said.
"Well… I guess this means our work is done," Yosuke said.
"He did it all to draw attention," Chie said, "I can't get my head around that. It's just wrong. I mean, not that it would've been okay if he had a better reason."
"I know… don't worry," Yosuke told her.
Rise told the group, "It's finally over. Let's leave the rest to the police."
Teddie smiled, "My world will be peaceful again now."
"Yeah, I'm happy for you," Yukiko told the bear/human, "We really went through a lot."
"It sure was painful at times…," Souji said, holding up his wrist. It hurt to flex it.
"Like scoring with guys!" Teddie told Yukiko.
Yukiko was annoyed, "Oh… Come on! Will you ever let it go?"
Kanji was confused, "What? Scoring with guys?"
Yukiko was flustered, "You don't need to know the details…" She taunted Kanji, "I'm sure you'd like us to forget the sauna incident too… right Kanji-kun?"
"Urgh… Well…," Kanji felt sick.
Rise pouted, "That's not fair. I wanted to see everyone else's too!"
Yosuke pointed out, "That's right. We four are the only ones who saw everyone's secret."
Chie asked Souji, "Hey, so what was Yosuke's like? C'mon, it was about time you told us."
"Uhh… Pretty much like the rest, I guess," Souji said.
"C'mon… let's leave it at that," Yosuke said. He then looked at Souji, "Speaking of which, nothing really happened in your case, huh?"
"Really? Wait, really? Is there something special about Senpai after all?" Rise asked. She looked in awe of Souji. Yukiko glared at Rise again. Souji just rolled his eyes at Rise.
Teddie told them, "Sensei is da man!"
Kanji told Souji, "Now that the case is solved, we won't be calling you "leader" anymore, will we?"
"Oh yeah, it's kinda sad," Chie looked down.
Everyone looked down… Rion was deep in thought as usual, which was probably why he wasn't talking. Rise had a brilliant idea!
"Hey, why don't we have a celebration!" Rise said, "We always have a wrap party after we're done shooting. It's fun, and it'll help give us some closure."
"Ooh… a party! That sounds great! Let's go all out!" Chie exclaimed.
"That sounds like fun…," Souji said. Souji was thinking, "Parties are always fun."
"Oooh ooh, I wanna go to Yuki-chan's house!" Teddie said, "Gorgeous dinner, hot springs, table tennis, yukata! Geisha, Fujiyama, full wootness!"
"That sounds like a great idea," Souji thought, "If it was only me and her…"
"You're right, Yukiko's family runs a hot springs inn," Kanji realized, "A hot spring that Yukiko-senpai bathes in too?"
Yosuke was disturbed, "Hey, keep it to yourself. You're sounding like a creep."
Yukiko pretended to look down, "Well, it sounds like fun, but I don't think it would be possible today."
Chie said, "Yeah, it's summer vacation. All the rooms are probably occupied."
Teddie looked sad, "We can't do a sleepover?"
"Maybe next time, I promise," Yukiko said.
Yosuke looked at Souji, "Hey, why don't we hit your place instead?"
"Mine?" Souji looked at him, "Fine, whatever."
"Oh, but will your uncle get suspicious? Like, why are you celebrating?" Yosuke asked.
"He's never home… But do you mind if Nanako is there?" Souji asked.
"Why would we leave her out? The more, the merrier…" Yosuke said.
"Yeah," Chie confirmed with Souji, "If your uncle is a detective, he probably won't be home tonight. Nanako-chan might be getting hungry."
Yukiko looked at them, "Hey, then why don't we make dinner together?"
"Wow… are you good at cooking, Senpai?" Rise asked Chie.
"Well… sort of," Chie responded. Souji, Yosuke, and Rion all cringed at that statement.
Yosuke got a worried look, "What are you saying?" He pointed out, "Did you already forget the tragedy of the school campout?"
Yukiko and Chie looked affronted, and Chie said, "We already told you that was an accident."
Souji thought, "Yukiko's cooking… is no accident."
Yukiko told him, "She's right. We only got a couple of ingredients wrong…"
"A couple… Ha!" Souji chuckled.
"I don't think it was a couple…," Rion said with a sigh.
Yosuke begged, "Guys, please don't do this, I'm begging you. We don't need another trauma to deal with."
"Hey, I'm a good cook too!" Rise exclaimed, "I'll make something for you, Senpai!" She smiled at Souji. Yukiko was glaring at Rise again. She was making it a habit. It didn't help that Rise was so flirty. "What's with this? My dream is going to come true where Yukiko kills Rise for hitting on me."
Souji looked worried about everything. Girls' cooking had been notoriously bad recently, and even he had a tendency to set his house on fire. Souji didn't know if he trusted Rion, because he couldn't fix Mystery Food X, but who knows… he didn't have much to work with. He didn't want to kill Nanako.
"Tadah! Teddie has a great idea!" Teddie said, "Let's have a cooking battle! The winner will be crowned Iron Cook Inaba!"
Yosuke frowned as he said, "A cooking battle? Now I'm even more worried…"
Chie said a little worriedly, "Sure… That sounds like fun."
Rise sounded confident, but looking sorry for the others, "Aww, but I'll win hands-down. You sure you wanna make it that easy?"
The others turned to Souji, and Yosuke said, "Dude, listen to me. For the sake's of our stomachs, you have to cook something too." He turned to Rion, "Can you make something too?" Yosuke looked at the pair, "Help us you two, you're our only hope!"
Rion looked up, "Wait, we're cooking something? Okay, whatever, I'll make something."
"How out of it was Rion?" Souji thought. "Was he thinking about the detective again? If he was, he's getting worse than Kanji. No, I bet he's probably just going over that whole battle and how to improve his tactics.'
"Sure, I'll do it," Souji said, "For my sake, and for everyone else's."
Chie turned to the pair and said, "Then you two can represent the guys' team. Nanako-chan will be the judge."
"I can be a taster too!" Kanji told them.
"I don't know if you want to…," Souji thought.
"Teddie can be a tester too!" The bear/human responded, "At the end, you're supposed to say, "That was delicious!" right?"
"You won't be saying that that often," Rion thought.
"Woo! I'm getting all fired up!" Chie exclaimed. She had stood up and pointed to the elevators, "Alright, let us advance forth into the grocery section downstairs! Charge!"