AN: Ok, this is about the time where I'm sure things will star becoming inconsistent and make no sense. Once again, I apologize for everything in advance.

-Summer Day 4-

"Satonaka."

"Yes sir?"

"I need you to come in today, we need help filing documents today."

"O-oh, ok then I'm on my way."

She couldn't have said no. What was she going to say? 'I'm sorry but I'm jumping into a TV to save your nephew?' like he'd believe that.

Chie had woken up early, rested and well prepared for the final battle had taken it's toll but now they were certain to beat Souji's shadow and bring him home. But now Dojima calls her and tells her she has to come into work.

She wasn't really a cop just yet, for now it was just a simple apprenticeship. Honestly it's not how she expected at all, most of the job was paperwork. It was dull and boring and it was easy to see why Dojima was tired most of the day. In fact she feared that if she worked at the station any more she'd become a caffeine addict just as badly as he was.

However she was surprised on the importance of paperwork. Heck if even one paper was misplaced then the whole case could fall apart. Despite knowing it's importance now, Chie still preferred the fieldwork to the paperwork. She didn't care if it was the cliche image of rescuing cats from trees, or just patrolling the areas. She vastly preferred it to the paperwork.

She sighed.

But hey, someone has to do it. Everything had to be meticulously recorded and archived for the paperwork to be submitted, reviewed, and/or approved. And if that led to the bad guys behind bars, well then heck Chie Satonaka would file paperwork for all her life was worth.

But that didn't mean she liked it.

And so was her dilemma. Go with friends to save their leader in distress, or go work for said leader's uncle and not arouse any suspicions? If she said she couldn't come in, not only would she get a reprimanding, she would have to fabricate a pretty damn good excuse. And not only that, but Dojima was stressed about Souji missing as it was, if she were to ditch her duties he'd only be more so.

This is why Chie flipped open her cell and dialed Yukiko's number.

It range several times before Yukiko actually picked up.

"Hello, Chie?"

"Hey Yukiko, I'm sorry, but I can't go today..." she flinched and felt her stomach drop, she felt as though she was letting her team down horribly.

"You see Dojima-san just called and... I can't just say no..."

"It's ok, I understand." her voice was surprisingly gentle.

"But Yukiko you don't get it, I feel so terrible now. What if you guys go in without me and something happens to you all and I'm not there to help?" she cried, "I wouldn't be able to live with myself knowing that. We're a team you and I, if I'm not there to protect you then-!" her voice fell silent.

Yukiko was quiet for a long moment, "It's ok Chie, we'll be fine. I'll be fine."

"No!" Chie suddenly interjected stubbornly, "I've made up my mind, you guys aren't going ok? Not without me!"

"But Chie-!"
"No, I'm sure Souji is strong enough to last one more day, I just-!" she bit her lip searching for a way to make this sound not selfish at all, "I just don't want any of you to get hurt. And I want to be there to punch that stupid dummy Shadow in the face!" she tried to sound her usual happy self, but her voice betrayed her.

More silence, "I.. I understand, I really do Chie but the others-"

"No Yukiko!" she placed her hand on her hips, "Promise me you won't go. Please Yukiko, promise!" oh god she sounded desperate, but she didn't care. If Yosuke, or Yukiko, or anybody got hurt and she wasn't there to do anything about it, well then she would just fall apart.

"I promise..." after a moment of hesitation Yukiko responded.

Chie sighed in relief, "Thank you. I know I'm horrible for making you promise that, but I promise that tomorrow we'll charge in there and save the day like we always do." she smiled and hoped Yukiko got the sincerity in her voice.

Yukiko gave a small giggle, "All right then, I'm holding you to that promise."

"As am I holding you to yours." Chie giggled back, "I'll see you tomorrow ok?"

"Ok."

"Bye-bye."

"Bye."

Chie flipped her phone shut and changed her clothes into something a tad more professional. It seemed unlike her to wear a dress shirt, and pants. She pinned her hair back as best she could while attempting to wiggle her way into a rather stiff work jacket and slipping on some shoes with moderate heels. Oh man and she had to walk in these, thank god she actually didn't live that far from the police station. She bid farewell to her mother and walked out the door quickly.

When she hurried over to the station she was thankful for the cold rush of air as she walked through the doors. She then reported to Dojima to begin today's apprenticeship. She sat with most of the receptionists filing paperwork, and filing more paperwork, and even then filing more paperwork. She was incredibly bored to the point where she was actually thankful for when Dojima would ask her for a cup of coffee. Not only did it give her a chance to get up and walk, but also allowed her to get a cup herself.

It was almost scary that she knew just how Dojima liked his coffee by this said he liked it black, but in honesty he actually liked it with just a dash of sugar. She herself loved it with french vanilla cream. She carefully held both cups in each hand, remembering which was which before making her way to Dojima's office.

She found him slumped over his desk, head in his hands, looking quite miserable.

Chie's heart flew out to him. It was understandable. His nephew just went missing and poor Nanako was probably heartbroken. She imagined him having to explain it to her, having to explain why he could protect her big bro, his own nephew. He must be working just as hard to find Souji as they were. Suddenly Dojima became that much more admirable in her eyes.

"Here you go sir." she whispered setting his cup gently on his desk.

"Thank you Satonaka-san."

Wow was it weird to hear herself being called Satonaka-san. It was so formal, she wasn't used to it.

Just as she was about to walk out back to the receptionist area,

"You know where he is don't you?"

The question flew out of nowhere and metaphorically slapped her in the face.

"I-I'm sorry, excuse me sir?" she turned back to him, body recoiling.

Dojima looked at her with stern, tired eyes, "You know where Souji is, don't you?"

Chie fidgeted nervously, Dojima was an intimidating figure, and when he looked at her with those hard eyes it was hard to think straight.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about. If I knew where he was, he would be here right now." she tried to sound confident.

"Don't lie to me Satonaka." his voice was sharp, "I know your little group was always with him twenty-four seven. You all were gone most of the days, coming and going to Junes and it's electronics section."

Aw shit what does she say now?

Luckily he continued on, "I have a feeling that this is related to those incidents last year, where everyone in your little group went missing at one point or another."

Oh man oh man he knows.

"Then I remembered when Nanako went missing, Souji said something about a TV world. Of course I didn't believe him. Not when he told me Nanako was going to be thrown into a TV. But then shortly after he said she would be, she went missing." His face contorted in pain at the memory.

This is getting awkward.

"So I decided to trust him and sure enough, you all left and came back with Nanako."

He looked to her with a deep frown, "I'm not sure if the whole TV world is real. I don't understand and I'm not sure I want to." he scowled.

Then his features softened and suddenly he looked tired and old, "But I'm going to trust you guys one more time." he took a shuddering breath, "Just please find him and bring him back."

Chie was at a loss for words. She was just glad she wasn't gaping like she usually did when she was surprised. She opened her mouth once or twice to say something, but only silently stumbled over her words.
Eventually she took a steadying breath and put on a determined smile, "Don't worry sir. We'll bring him back safe and sound, ok?"

Dojima gave a weary smile and nodded, "Thank you." he turned back to his desk and reached for the coffee she had set out for him.

"By the way," Chie was interrupted from leaving once more, "Since I'm trusting you with this task, you don't have to come in until it's done. I'm going to call in someone else to help out around with all these cases so you don't have to worry."

Chie wasn't sure what to say about that, "Oh. Ok then. See you sir."

And with that she left back for her seat and nearly melted into it. That was stressful for her, wow that whole conversation could have gone bad really fast but it remained surprisingly calm and sane and he didn't explode on her. She sighed and took a big chug from her coffee before remembering it was still hot.

- o O o-

That wasn't the only surprise of the day. After their little chat, Dojima found Chie still at work at her desk and insisted that she leave early, her assistance no longer needed for the time being. Happy and thankful, she called Yukiko up as she rushed home to tell her to have the group meet at Junes. It seems that they would be going today after all.

When Chie arrived in her more casual wear this time, they all had serious looks on their faces and were ready for anything. Chie now felt that she had to accomplish this more than ever, Dojima was counting on her, and so was Nanako. And so with determination set in her heart, Chie was the first to plunge into the TV and run up to the circus tent.

Thanks to Rise they started off right at the curtain where they left.

"Are you sure you guys are ready?" Rise asked unsurely.

"Heck yeah we're ready, let's do this thing and rescue senpai!" Kanji declared.

"I agree." Naoto nodded in confirmation.

Yosuke pulled back the curtain to reveal the big top circus. There was a single ring in the center with seating surrounding the whole stage. In the center of the stage was Souji's Shadow looking rather melancholy.

When approached his gaze was on the floor, hands held behind his back which was turned to them.

"That's not how the story went." he whispered with a disappointed gaze.

There was something wrong. Rise scanned the whole stage but...

"Souji's not here." she declared.

The shadow was right in front of them, clear as day, and yet the real Souji was nowhere to be found. Hearing her remark the Shadow decided to comment, still not facing them.

"You're wrong. I am here. I'm right here."

"We're not talking about you!" Teddie pointed out waving his fingers(?) at the shadow.

"Then who else could you be talking about? Are you looking for someone else?" the shadow replied despondently.

"Where is Souji, you better tell us where he is!" Chie threatened balling up her fists.

The shadow turned rather angrily, "I said I'm right here!" it cried, "I am Souji, and Souji is me! You think you would have that memorized by now!" it hissed.

"You ruined it, you ruined the story. You were supposed to not make it past that part." it bit it's lip in frustration.

"We don't care for your childish story." Naoto scolded loading her pistol.

"Well I do." the shadow scowled, "It's the best memory I have, the best thing that happened to me."

"You call those murders the best thing that ever happened to you?!" Yosuke shouted,"How dare you call them that."

The shadow inclined it's head and looked at them condescendingly, "So people were killed. I'm not jumping for joy over that. But it's not like I knew them personally. It's hard to feel sad about someone you don't know." it stated with a shrug.

"Besides, while the murders may have started it, it was the mystery I liked. The kidnappings, those were fun." it chuckled darkly.

Kanji seemed shocked for a moment before he glared "Hey! Those were our lives on the line dammit!"

Shadow Souji frowned and put his chin in his hand thoughtfully, "Yes, but you were all saved and nothing bad happened to you. So why so angry?" it honestly looked innocent for a moment, "Besides, you all have to admit it yourselves, you found it fun too. Going into a TV and discovering the worlds inside it. Then going back into the real world and having to solve a mystery. It's like something out of a book, or a movie, or maybe a game." it laughed.

The team fell silent.

"Yosuke if I recall, you said that it gave you a purpose didn't it? You all decided it was a common goal you all had to work towards." it's smile grew as it knew it had hit a spot, "Hehe, and you can't deny we all bonded over it. Answer me honestly, do you think we would even be friends if not for this?"

Chie's heart skipped.

"We wouldn't have even given each other a passing glance if not for this. Chie, you only approached me because you thought I could tell you something interesting. Yukiko didn't even acknowledge me until Chie pointed me out. Yosuke you just thought I was a city boy who would keep you entertained. Kanji would have chased us all away and we wouldn't even have associated with him in the first place. Naoto wouldn't even be here if not for the murders. And Rise wouldn't even know we existed. Heck Teddie would never even come into our thoughts in a million years."

Silence befell the ring.

"I had fun. I really did. Fighting and solving the mystery. Wouldn't it be fun if it started happening again?"

It was then that Naoto spoke up, "Is that what you meant when you said that more channels were to come to the Midnight Channel?"

The shadow only nodded in confirmation.

"That's sick!" Yukiko cried taking a step forward, "How dare you want to risk people's lives just so you could keep having fun!"

"You say you felt nothing over the murders, that doesn't make it right! Those people meant something to other people, Saki senpai was important to me!" Yosuke cried angrily.

"Sorry to rain on your parade pal, but we're not going to let you have your fun this way, we're not going through all that all over again. So just suck it up and deal with it!" Kanji waved his fist in the air.

The shadow seemed taken aback by everyone's strong responses, golden eyes scanning each of their angered faces before looking down to the ground.

"You all are so mean."

The team went silent with confusion.

"I accepted you all at your worst and here you are reprimanding me at mine. Hypocrites." It smiled wide.

"Hahahaha, you all think you're safe don't you?"

Rise quickly felt the shadow's energy spike to higher levels.

"You all think you're safe because the other me isn't here to reject me don't you?" the shadow suddenly doubled over covering it's face, "Well you're wrong." it sneered peeking up at the through it's fingers, those gold eyes piercing them.

"Be careful you guys, his shadow's going berserk!" Rise stated.

Teddie bounced back, "But how, Sensei isn't here, he never rejected it!"

Rise summoned Kouzeon and prepared for battle, "I know, but it doesn't matter, it's going berserk anyway! Get ready you guys."

The team then braced itself as Souji's shadow began to glow a dark aura as smaller shadows flocked to it before bursting into a black wave of energy.

What was left in the shadow's place was a monster shadow, one that looked very similar to a Jack-in-the-box. It's torso jutting out of a black and white striped box with a handlebar at the arms writhed from said torso, one pair covering it's eyes, the other covering it's ears, and the other pair just casually in the air, poised for attack. It's body was bisected into the left side being white, and the other being gray. Still stop it's head was a black and white jester's hat with loud oversized bells.

"I am a shadow. The true self." it chuckled.

Chie hopped from one foot to another, "Alright you guys, let's do this!"

Yosuke as the fastest started out with summoning Takehaya Susano-o and performing Garudyne, wind slicing at high speeds towards the shadow. The damage was fairly average,however the shadow only laughed foolishly and smiled widely.

Chie jumped up to summon her persona causing damage to herself as she sent God's Hand down upon the shadow, fairly severe but not enough to make much of a noticeable dent.

Yukiko then let an inferno of fire free, engulfing the shadow entirely in it's flames. However when the flames dispersed the shadow had retreated into it's box, the lid shut tightly.

"Now what do we do?" Teddie frowned fidgeting cautiously after a moment of silence.

"I don't kn-"

At that moment the handle of the box began to move, playing that childish song of pop goes the weasel slowly as it echoed throughout the stage. Slowly, agonizingly , before it came close to the end and the team put up it's defenses just before the shadow sprang up from it's box. It's free hands outstretched and as it swiped it's hands across knocking the whole team back, but luckily the damage was reduced.

"Some friends you are." it taunted returning to it's previous position just as Kanji let loose Primal force this time knocking the shadow back.

Naoto followed up, calling forth Yamato Sumeragi and slicing through with Vorpal blade.

The Shadow itself, not yet done but having found itself at the halfway mark growled. With a flick of it's wrists, fire spread out, catching Chie by surprise and sending her back and unconscious. Again while Yukiko hurried off to help her back onto her feet, Souji's shadow then reached up and brought down lighting down onto Yosuke. However, being as quick as he was, he evaded it with ease.

Teddie then bounced forward eagerly claws outstretched, and teeth bared but instead Kamui-Moshiri appeared smile as big as ever before performing a Bufudyne attack, the ice crawling up the box of the shadow and covering it's attacking hands in hard cold ice.

The shadow gave a displeased shudder, it's lips forming a scowl before it swung it's arms back at Teddie, the hard ice serving as a blunt object as it hit Teddie dead on. Like a baseball Teddie was sent flying before coming to a halt after several bounces.

Whilst the shadow busied itself with bashing the ice off it's arms quickly, Yukiko had managed to pull Chie back onto her feet and cast mediarahan on the team while Chie rushed up Haraedo-no-Okami close behind as she brought down her kick, so did her persona bring down it's weapon up the iced arms of the shadow, successfully shattering them and now leaving it without any method of physical offense.

"Are you guys ready? Take it down now while you can!" Rise declared as a battle cry, signaling for the others to prepare.

"Alright, you're going down!" Kanji cried, the first to charge at the shadow, leading the others.
With weapons at hand, and personas loyally at their backs they rushed forward, the shadow stood no chance as it fell to the force and relentless attacks of the investigation team.

Personas faded away as the dust settled, revealing a breathless team and a more than bewildered shadow Souji, reverted back to his original form. Dazed the shadow only sat dizzily swaying as it intently stared at the ground. Not long though, it stared at the team with a playful glint in it's eyes before jumping up cheerfully and brushing itself off nonchalantly.

"Well that was fun, how about another go?" the shadow smiled and adjusted it's jester hat.

Naoto nearly collapsed from exhaustion, "It's not.. Down yet?"

"It must be because Souji's not here to accept it." Yukiko whimpered.

"So it's just going to keep coming at us?" Yosuke groaned adjusting his headphones.

"You didn't have as much fun as me? How sad. Unfortunately I'm done playing with you guys." it tilted its head suddenly looking uninterested.

"Done playing with us? But we're not done beating you to a pulp!" Kanji exclaimed.

The shadow scowled at him and groaned, "Wow are you guys pushy. Too bad I'm done here, I guess you guys were better than me after all." it shrugged before giving a chilling sadistic smirk, "Have fun with the others, I'm sure they'll be much more fun than me." it winked before disappearing in a dark black mist.

"Wait! Just where do you think-" Rise huffed as it was gone before she could interfere.

The team was silent for a long time, absorbing what had just happened, letting it's words sink in.

"Others..." Yukiko whispered.

"Does that mean there are others already in here?" Teddie looked to Rise with a concerned frown.

Rise shook her head in disbelief, "No. No there can't be. I sensed no other energies here or anywhere else, there is no one else in the TV!" she sounded as though she was trying to convince herself rather than the others.

"Ok yeah I can see how that can be pressing, but what I want to know.. Is where is senpai?" Kanji was examining the area, but there was no sign of their leader whom they had come searching for.

Yosuke, in frustration, threw one of his knives to the ground, "What the hell, we risk our lives and he's not even here? What the fuck?!"

He found a hand on his shoulder, "Calm down Yosuke-senpai. There has to be a logical explanation for all this. We'll watch the midnight channel again tonight for clues." she muttered looking down at the ground.

No one wanted to admit they were genuinely upset about this whole turn of events. Souji's shadow had said things that legitimately upset them. They never would have imagined his shadow to say such drastic things and seem so... Unperturbed by them. It just didn't seem like him at all, their once so highly idolized leader suddenly didn't seem so perfect in their eyes and for a moment they were angry.
But he was their friend who had pulled through for them many times, so they could do the same.

Chie stretched and sighed, "Next time for sure. You guys can bet on it!" she cheered. How she would explain it to Dojima though would be difficult. 'Sorry I couldn't bring him back.' but no, there was a next time and she would bring him back. For Dojima, and Nanako, and for Souji.

"Well.. Good job everyone. Let's just.. Go home and watch for clues." Rise forced a hopeful smile.

The tired team nodded and followed her out the twisted tent. Today's trial was simply the first of many, the next to start sooner than they expected.

- o O o-

"Phew-! I'm glad they pulled out of that one..."

"Yes, they did marvelously for their first trial."

"Indeed, let's see if their resolve holds out as more pawns are thrown onto the chess board shall we? Hehehe.."

"Ok why are you chuckling, I don't like it when you chuckle weirdly like that."

"It seems this will have a few unexpected turns even I did not foresee."

"Why what, what do you mean by that? Woah who is this? Who is that?"

"He appears to be a vital piece in this game, though I do not know who he is."

"Hmhmhmhmh, ah seeing his face brings back fond memories. I shall eagerly await to see the outcome of this turn of events."

"... You're really creepy have I ever told you that?"