-Summer Day 10-
"Wait what?!" Chie and Yosuke shouted in unison as Naoto and Kanji nodded somberly.
"I didn't even know it rained last night, I was so tired from exploring the tv." Yukiko covered her mouth in surprise, even though she seemed much calmer than her colleagues.
"But the weather didn't say anything about rain!" Rise cried out slamming her palms onto the table.
"Well weather is pretty unpredictable." Naoto had her hand to her mouth in thought.
"Well yeah but there was no chance at all!" Rise shot back.
"Well no use fighting over it now. What's done is done." Kanji leaned forward holding his hands out to keep Rise calm.
"What we should be focusing on is what we saw last night. And it wasn't a hallucination either, guys. We saw senpai on that screen again. Apparently since we didn't finish the job last time, it's come back." he added.
Rise calmed down and sat in her chair, defeated, her hair hanging over her face. Yukiko leaned over and gently rubbed her back comfortingly.
"We'll just do what we've always done, go in there, beat the shit out of it, and this time we'll finish the job and get senpai back, right?" Chie seemed to perk up and brought a fist to her face.
"Y-yeah! We gotta save sensei,we shouldn't worry too much about the weather! I'll go in there and sniff him out myself if I have to!" Teddie puffed out his cheeks.
This would have to be a team effort this time. It was decided that they'd all go in together. But of course, they had to prepare firsthand. They learned from last time in terms of shopping, trying not to buy too much of one thing, and enough of another. It still wasn't a perfect system, they bickered of course, but the time it took was far less than previously.
When they entered the TV world through their usual spot, Rise got right to work silently. This time, Teddie didn't smell it as strongly but it was faint.
"That way." Rise pointed in the place where Kouzeon sensed the energy spike. Teddie confirmed this by nodding and indeed yes, he did smell it in this direction.
Naoto was first to lead. The scenery began to change, they found themselves walking on red velvet carpet, with golden rails on each side. Show lights slowly waved back and forth and applause could be heard faintly in the distance. Yousuke held his breath, hoping no surprises would happen like last time with the puppets. There still something eerie about it as their footsteps echoed. It wasn't until they came to golden gilded doors did they pause. It looked much like a theatre entrance, with a ticket booth, and posters advertising various acts.
Teddie noticed the last shadow of Souji they fought was there among the posters as "The Storyteller". But it's picture had been crossed out with red paint. Chie looked among the others and grimaced.
"These…" she swallowed, "These are all Souji.." she looked to another poster which read, "The Star."
Yukiko shivered overlooking another, "Yeah…" she eyed the one that read, "The Freak Show"
"What does this mean?" Yosuke was staring intently at the main poster, with golden framing with the shadow they had seen last night, "The Silver Tongue."
"I…" Naoto swallowed, "I have an idea, I just hope I'm wrong." she whispered out.
"Welp, no point in standing around here. You guys ready?" Kanji looked back to his team, hand on the door and waiting for confirmation.
They looked to one another and nodded.
Inside the theatre was certainly different. There was red velvet carpeting, with many pictures and display cases along with the occasional cage.
"HEY!" Rise cried out and rushed over to a particular display case.
The team gathered around her to see it's contents. It was a picture of herself, one they had taken last year. It was even signed, it was no doubt her handwriting.
"WH-WHAT'S THIS DOING HERE OMG?!" she cried out clawing at the glass, "THIS WAS FOR SENPAI AND SENPAI ONLY!" she cried out, face a bright red and flustered.
"Youuu… Gave him this?" Chie peeked over Rise's shoulder.
Rise swallowed and spun around nervously, "W-well yeah, I mean, it was to symbolize our friendship and stuff!"
"I dunno, giving someone a picture of yourself seems a little suspicious." Yosuke teased.
"Shut up Yosuke-senpai!" she abruptly stepped on his foot, watching as he hopped up and down.
"H-hey!" This time it was Kanji who cried out, looking into another display case.
When the team crowded around him, he seemed to be getting flustered over a cell phone strap.
"I… I gave this.. To him." he swallowed hard and his face was red.
"Did you make that Kanji-kun?" Rise took a look at it, "That's super cute." she mumbled to herself with pursed lips.
Kanji covered his face with embarrassment muttering out a small "thank you."
"I gave this to him too.." Yukiko looked up on the wall in a frame that held the shrine charm she gave him long ago.
"This was ours too. They were supposed to match." Chie looked at her wristband and the one inside another small display case.
"The detective badge I made for him is here too." Naoto scrunched up her face in confusion.
"What are these all doing here?" Yosuke swallowed looking at the unused bandage in the smallest display case.
He was rather bashful, compared to everyone else's gift, his was pretty damn cheap. But it meant a lot to him that despite that, he kept it.
"I don't know man." Kanji cleared his throat, "But they're here and on display like they're some kind of… Treasure."
Everyone's hearts warmed a little knowing how special their items were to Souji. And yet Naoto was the only one who had a sick feeling in her stomach.
"W-well, let's continue on.." Rise giggled bashfully leading the way with a skip in her step.
The team nodded and followed her lead.
All through the theatre they found mementos from all his friends, from Nanako, from Dojima, from Kou, Naoki, Ai, and so many others. Wow, this guy really went out of his way to befriend people and to help them. It didn't surprise them, that's just the kind of person he was.
Teddie gave out a rather high pitched shriek and jumped almost ten feet into the air, or course this was exaggeration but it sure seemed like it. When looking at the source of the noise they found a small little hand, dancing on it's fingers and it's wrist a masked head. A simple Almighty Hand shadow.
"Wow Teddie, getting a lil' worked up there aren't ya?" Chie called out.
However this little hand wasn't the only one, there were two Sleeping Tables, and several smaller Magic Hands. All simply waiting for the attack.
Yosuke, once again priding his speed, was the first to jump out of the way as a sleeping table summoned a megidola attack. Teddie was able to evade it, still quite far from the initial jump. The others were not so fortunate and felt the burning blow. But they were all relatively fine. A magic hand latched onto Chie's ankle, causing her to trip as she was ready to land a kick to one of the tables.
"Augh!" Chie screeched in disgust, "Ew, let go of me you freakish thing!" she waved her foot in the air and eventually kicked the thing off her ankle.
Rise summoned Kouzeon right away and began to analyze.
"Yukiko, you remember right? Light the tables up!" she cried out.
"Roger!" and with that, Yukiko unfurled her fan and raised it above her head, bringing it down on the fragile card that manifested before her. It shattered and from it emerged Sumeo-Okami who gave a graceful twirl and raised her hand high above her head, lighting a spark that became an inferno that engulfed a Table. Whereas Chie and Naoto began to aim for the smaller hands, who began to target Yukiko due to her advantage of fire.
Within moments, the battle was over and no one sustained serious damage. It gave them a chance to continue on without relying too much on Yukiko's healing abilities. It was almost irritating how many magic hands there were, no they weren't strong and they were taken care of quite easily, but there were just so many it really began to irritate everyone.
"YO!" Kanji roared as he slammed a desk chair into a shadow angrily, "Just how many more of these little shits do we have to fight?!"
"This is really starting to piss me off!" Yosuke snarled throwing a knife at a small hand and pierced it spot on.
"Tell me about it!" Chie kicked a shadow high into the air and Naoto shot through it.
"We must persevere, we must be getting close if there are so many!" she cried out breathing heavily and reloading her gun.
"I can't take beary much more of this!" Teddie sobbed while falling to his hands and knees.
Yukiko protected him by attacking a quirky hand that came his way, "C'mon Teddie, now is not time for slacking on the job!"
"Guys!" Rise called out waving her hand, "Hurry, this way! The stairs are here!"
Without further instruction, the team abandoned all the other undefeated shadows and hurried on up the stairs.
There looked to be curtains blocking their path. Rise shivered at the sight. "We're really close you guys. What should we do?" she turned to look at the exhausted team members.
"Naoto wiped sweat off her brow, "Let's go back, we're all very tired right?" she looked to Kanji and Yukiko.
"No way!" Kanji declared with a fist in the air, "I'm pissed as hell and want to beat the shit out of something that isn't a damn hand!"
"Me too!" Chie jumped into the air, hopping from foot to foot.
Naoto frowned and looked to Yukiko who shrugged, "I still have plenty of spiritual energy to heal, those hands were easy to beat and I didn't really need to use magic to defeat them." she flipped her hair over her shoulder.
With a sigh, Naoto gave in, "Alright, but we must exercise extreme caution, alright?" she said sternly looking each and every member in the eye, who nodded nervously under her gaze.
"...Alright, please be careful everyone.."she sighed with a small tremble in her voice as Chie pulled back the curtains.
It was a large lavish auditorium with a stage in the center surrounded by rows of seats. Lights shone onto the stage and soft orchestra music played somewhere in the distance. The rows were lined by soft directional lights and so far the tattered curtains were hung over the stage, concealing anything behind it.
"Welcome, welcome, please take your seats ladies and gentlemen, the show is about to begin."
A voice that could be recognized as Souji's resonated through the stage, causing the investigation team to jump in surprise.
Somewhere in the distance, a smoke machine went off, fog trickling from under the curtains and over the stage and pouring down softly. It flooded the floor and snaked through the seats of the stadium. It was eerie and unnerving, but there was something about the smoke that smelled sweet, like cotton candy. Naoto's head began to feel fuzzy, thoughts getting tangled in a sugar coated stupor. Teddie was the first one to walk off into the seats, without an explanation, and took the row right in the very front. Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, and Rise followed suit. Kanji and Naoto were the last to hesitate but took their seats in the very front with the others as well.
Eventually, the curtains pulled aside and revealed the new shadow of Souji wearing a rather lavish cape in addition to what he was wearing when he appeared on TV last. Instead of taking action for battle, Yukiko broke out into applause with the others following her example. Kanji and Naoto exchanged concerned looks, but made no actions themselves. However Naoto noticed that Kanji was gripping his seat's armrests far too tightly.
"Welcome ladies and gentlemen! We're ever so glad you could make it to our show so soon!" The shadow clapped back with an irritatingly fake smile.
He then put a finger to his lips and smiled coyly, "Of course, my friends do get the VIP treatment so you get a sneak peak before anyone else does."
The shadow reached up and plucked the top hat from it's head, throwing it in the air and catching the rim on his shoulder. It was for a split second, but everyone seemed enraptured by the way the hat spun on its rim all the way down his arm until it reached his hand where he caught it with a flick of the wrist.
"Let's get this show started, shall we?"
He reached into the hat casually and with little effort managed to pull out a decorative bouquet of flowers. He only had to kneel at the edge of the stage to hand it to Rise, who squealed with delight. He pulled several pigeons from thin air, allowing them to fly and land on Yukiko's arms, one even gently nuzzling her cheek.
He went on and on with typical magic tricks: Making things disappear and reappear, predicting someone's answers, optical illusions, and even levitation. And every time, all but Naoto and Kanji applauded with vigor.
The shadow took notice of this and frowned to itself.
"For this next trick, I'll need a lovely assistant. Why not you madam?" It cooed gently, reaching a hand out to Naoto.
"Yeah! C'mon, you can do it Naoto!" Yosuke grinned and urged her up from her seat.
She gave a pleading look to Kanji who then bolted from his chair and placed himself between her and the shadow while placing a hand firmly on Yosuke's shoulder. This earned him bewildered looks from the rest of the team.
The shadow simply shrugged, "Not what I had in mind when I thought lovely assistant, but I'm not one to judge. I'm sure you're lovely in your own way" it chuckled.
At this, Kanji's face turned bright red and he seemed too stunned for actions or words as the shadow took hold of his hand and pulled him up onto the stage. Whether because he was too flustered from the shadow's words, or because he was slowly succumbing to the same trance as the others, Kanji didn't resist as much as Naoto had hoped.
Rise and Yosuke giggled and teased, Yukiko watched him with envy, Chie was bouncing in her seat and Teddie whined about how lucky he was. But Naoto sat back down and chewed on her fingertips in fear.
Suddenly something came to her mind and she faltered. Something the shadow had said last night came to her and caused a sense of dread to grow.
"Humans are so easily fooled. Just simple distraction and you can pull anything over their heads."
It had said something like that before and it's foreboding words made all the now.
She looked to her team who were awaiting the next act eagerly with bright faces. This was wrong. This isn't how they should have been acting, not at all. They shouldn't have been smiling. They should be fighting. This wasn't what they came here for.
She looked to Kanji who looked more complacent now though his face was still red as he focused on his hand in the shadow's. This was wrong. In Naoto's mind this was all wrong and she knew it, and yet her body refused to act. Her blood turned cold as she recognized the next act. The classic trick of sawing the assistant in half. But this felt like no act, not the way the shadow was gleaming down on Kanji maliciously. Did no one but her really notice it?!
She reached over to Yosuke and tapped his shoulder urgently.
"Shh, come on Naoto, keep your eyes on the show!" he reprimanded as he slapped her hand away before snapping his eyes transfixed on the stage.
Naoto flinched and looked back onto the stage as Kanji stepped inside the death trap. She gripped her hand rests the point of her knuckles turning white. What should she do? Her body wouldn't react. Was she doomed to become a spectator in this? To witness what would most likely be Kanji's end? How could she bear the sight?
By this point she felt as though she were hyperventilating. She clenched her eyes shut and tried to remember calm waves. Yamato Sumeragi gently tapping at her face like rain. The scent of sea water assailed her nostrils and she took a deep calming breath.
What should I do?
"Fight."
My body won't move.
"Make it move."
How?
"Fight. You are not alone."
That secure floaty sensation overcame her once again, easing some of the tension and anxiety. Without opening her eyes, Naoto could feel the calming presence of Yamato Sumeragi standing boldly behind her.
At that point she felt her persona's hands on her own, raising them above her head, pulling her upward in a standing position. She moved her hands to her side where her gun holster was. Naoto instinctively grabbed hold of it tightly. Yamato Sumeragi raised both her hands in front of her, helping her steady her arms and take aim. It was then Naoto realized she was no longer floating carelessly on the waves anymore, but she was back in the theatre, on her feet, gun aimed and the investigation team looking at her in horror.
The shadow froze and turned his icy gaze to her. Kanji himself seemed bewildered as he looked back and forth between the shadow and moments he seemed to come to his senses and flailed violently until the box fell off the cart and he managed to squirm his way out. He stood quickly, but clumsily, raising his fists for a fight.
"Not fond of magic tricks, are we Naoto-chan?" the shadow tilted its head innocently.
It irritated her that it addressed her so familiarly in that manner. She cocked the gun.
"Are you just jealous that you didn't get to be the assistant?" it teased.
She continued to glare at it.
"... Tough crowd." the shadow finally sighed, rubbing the back of it's head and glancing off to the side with a bored expression.
"Where is senpai?!" she demanded in her most threatening tone.
"Duh, I'm right here." the shadow smiled coyly and pointed at it's chest
.
No, this is what angered the last shadow, let's not go down that road again.
"Where is the Souji-senpai who isn't a shadow?" she rephrased.
His shadow chuckled darkly, "Not here, I'm sorry to say. You just missed him though."
"Wait... What?" Teddie droned on lazily rubbing his eyes furiously as though he had just woken up from a nap.
"Not.. Here?" Chie yawned and shook her head.
"Yup. Scramed. Gonzo. Outta here."
"How can I be sure you're telling the truth?" Naoto leered at the shadow, lowering her gun only slightly.
"You don't trust me? I'm hurt."
Naoto grit her teeth in irritation, "Your title, Silver Tongue. A title only given to those notorious for being smooth talkers and liars."
"Oh alright there's that."
Naoto then made the connection and dropped her hands to her side. Her face blanched and she looked ghostly pale. She swallowed hard and the pieces began to fall into place. Souji's shadow took on a wicked grin at her realization.
"That's it. That's what you are. His shadow that's his-"
"I'm such a liar." The shadow cried in mock sadness.
"Everybody lies for different reasons. I never meant to take it so far, but I did." the shadow fiddled with his hat as the rest of the investigation team members seemed to come to their senses as it explained, it's magic tricks revealing themselves to be merely illusions.
"I only meant to lie a little at first. But then something happened..." he placed the hat back on his head, overshadowing his eyes, "Someone told me bonds would be my power. I had to make friends. And everyone knows friendship is based on lies." it sneered.
"Wh- no, that's not true!" Yuikiko cried out, stealing a glance at Chie.
"Oh but it is. Big lies, little lies, lies, lies, lies. If you asked me 'Does this outfit look good on me?' Of course I'm going to tell you it does even if it looks hideous on you." it shrugged and strolled toward Kanji.
"To make friends, all you gotta do is is whisper sweet-nothings to them. Praise them. Give them all the attention they desire. Just gotta smile and pretend you care." it patted his cheek condescendingly before his hand was slapped away.
Kanji snarled angrily and grabbed the shadow by the fabric of his shirt, rearing a tightly clenched fist back to hit him. Souji's shadow smiled manically at the idea of being punched. Naoto cried out in protest, Stopping Kanji shortway, the last thing they needed was the shadow losing control. Seeing Kanji had no more intention of going through with it, Shadow Souji's grin faltered to a disappointed scowl and tore himself from his grip and straightening his shirt.
"So then…" Naoto shivered and refused to look him in the eye, "All those momentos back there… You didn't really keep them because you wanted to.. They were just-"
"Trophies?" it's voice was piercing ice.
"They were all so cute, I couldn't bear to part with them. They were proof of my strength that I had forged with you all. Proof that you all were so quick to swallow the bullshit I fed you, making you all believe I actually cared." he smiled and clapped his hands together.
"If my powers didn't rely directly on my relationship with you, I probably would have been more brutally honest with you." it shrugged finally.
Something in Naoto snapped at that moment. She firmly grasped her gun, finger on the trigger, whipped it up into the air in front of her and without a moment's hesitation: Fired it.
The loud crack echoed through the auditorium, Everyone jumped slightly, and the shadow went still.
Naoto had angry tears streaming down her face.
The shadow eventually gave a violent shudder before rubbing it's ear and straightening up from leaning to the right a little bit.
"You aimed right for my head…" It looked at her incredulously before breaking out into a wide grin, "You really mean business Naoto-chan!" it cried out, bringing its arms out to the side.
The shadow didn't get to say another word as Kanji had rushed up to it's side and landed a solid, well-aimed punch to it's cheek unhindered this time. The shadow was downed for a split second before staggering to it's feet, hand on it's swollen red cheek with a pleased laugh.
"That was a dirty shot Kanji-kun. Well, while I'm at it.." it turned to the other team members and held open it's arms, "Anyone else want to have a go at me?"
"Yeah, you can count me in on that!" Chie snarled pushing herself off her seat angrily.
"I'll take you up on that offer." Yosuke sneered, twirling a kunai between his fingers precariously.
"Me too." Tukiko glowered, pushing her hair back and whipping out her fan.
"And me and me!" Teddie Cried out jumping up with renewed vigor.
The shadow's smile fell as it silently counted all of them with a finger, "Hm, so seven of you, against one of me. Huh, well that's sounds a little unfair."
Rise gave a jolt, "Kanji move! The shadow's going berserk!"
Kani's mouth hung open, "Wha-? Again?! But Senpai's still not here!"
"Just get off there already!" she cried out angrily.
Naoto, being the closest, quickly wiped her tears and hurried onto the stage, gripping Kanji's wrists, and then tugging him along aggressively until they were both off the stage.
"Allow me to level the playing field." the shadow chuckled darkly, allowing a dark aura to overcome it.
Before it exploded in a mass of dark energy, the entire investigation team hurried to the edge of the stage and ducked down close against the small ledge of the theatre stage. Once they did here the loud slam of the dark energy dispersing, everything went too eerily quiet. A few panicked but hushed breaths later, nothing seemed to happen. Well, at least it seemed that way until something thin, but large slithered around Yosuke's neck.
It clamped down, successfully catching his throat in a vice grip and pulled him from their hiding spot. Chie and Rise were too stunned to react in time as he was hoisted into the air, legs dangling below him and hand frantically scratching at the thing constricting his neck.
The shadow itself was larger than was expected. It's face was concealed by a mask, marked by the roman numeral 1. But from its head sprouted long ears jutting into the air, rabbit ears to be more precise. Despite wearing the suit coat, it looked as though it didn't have arms. There were no wrists whereas the white pristine gloves floated on the breeze The fingers were long and gangly, twisting in odd almost disgusting ways. It's hind digitigrade legs were coiled, ready for a pounce. It's tail, as it turned out, was nothing less that a long, winding, slithery, scaly, serpent. Golden eyes piercing, scales black as coal, and long forked tongue flickering out against Yosuke's skin, still checking for a pulse.
"Hey!" Chie roared hopping up onto the stage, "You let him down right now you big jerk!"
She rushed for the snake,calling upon her persona Haredo-no-Okami for help.
The snake snapped its head to her and let out a threatening hiss before uncoiling around Yosuke to lash out a Chie's persona, wrapping itself around her arms and make use of her weapon impossible. Chie too felt like she was being constricted as it tightened its grip and truthfully as she could hear the sparking of her persona she could feel a crackling in her shoulders.
"Wait you guys, hold on!" Rise announced, Kouzeon behind her and scanning the shadow. What she found was less than a favorable outcome. The rest of the shadow that wasn't the tail was summoning more and more smaller shadows to do it's bidding. Various Magic Hands, Sleeping tables, Amenti Ravens and Wondrous Magus. Kanji cursed out searching for his weapon only to find some pesky had shadows were trying their best to discreetly carry it off. Yukiko had taken to Yosuke's injuries while Naoto and Teddie did their best to free Chie, while also fending off the horde of smaller shadows surrounding them.
The shadow was delighted to see the investigation team so organized as they were frantically running about in every which direction like chickens with their heads cut off. If this kept up for much longer, then it would be almost painfully easy to pick them all off. Or at least that's what it seemed like,until each member summoned their own persona.
'Our Personas are always with us, in this, we are not alone.' Naoto smiled to herself triumphantly as Yamato Sumeragi gripped her lance and lunged forward toward the main shadow. The momentary distraction allowed Chie and her persona to slip out of the snake's grip as it loosened enough to get away.
Teddie's persona Kamui-Moshiri froze several shadows in their tracks, allowing Haredo-Okami to break through with ease, shattering their frozen forms. Takeji Zaiten easily stomped the small shadows beneath him, allowing Kanji to retrieve his trusty foldable chair. Sumeo-Okami and Takehaya Susano-O protected both Yukiko, and Yosuke who was still recuperating.
The shadow's tail hissed angrily, trying to fend of Yamato Sumeragi, until Takeji Zaiten managed a firm hand around the neck of the snake, keeping the shadow pinned in place. Kanji rushed to Naoto's side with a nod of confirmation. She simply smiled back and focused on her persona's movements.
All was going well until the shadow jerked suddenly with a horrid screech and suddenly everyone's feet felt heavy and their bodies slower. It gave the perfect chance for the shadow to rear it's hind legs up and donkey kick Takeji Zaiten off it's tail while still leaving time for it to parry Yamato Sumeragi's attack.
Sumeo-Okami and Takehaya Susano-O were pushed back to back with Yosuke and Yukiko between them.
"C'mon-!" Yosuke breathed out and staggered to his feet, "We gotta-!" he looked up to his persona who vaguely glanced down at him, "We gotta push them back!" he roared out.
With a similar battle cry of it's own, Takehaya Susano-O released a torrent of harsh cutting winds, sending shadows flying every which way, but successfully driving them further from them and their wind barrier. It was only needed for that one purpose as both persona sprung forth from the winds and began to attack with violent energy. Yosuke stood steadily on his feet and lent Yukiko his hand and together they charged on.
Teddie was clawing desperately at shadow after shadow in an attempt to protect Rise. When a magic hand, blown away from Yosuke's trump card, landed with a slap on his head he flinched and flailed to get it off.
"Teddie! Teddie just a little bit longer!" Rise cried out, stepping back from the oncoming shadows looming over her.
Rise's persona was not one made for combat, but in certain situations she found that if she concentrated enough, she could cast spells of her own. Most of these were status spells that could raise the team's stats, or lower the enemies'. Other times she could even heal physically or spiritually to some degree.
But she needed time, and these shadows didn't seem ready to give it.
"R-roger, in just a moment Rise-chan!" Teddie whined as the magic hand had a rather tight grip on his fuzzy face.
That was when Kamui-Moshiri landed beside Rise and Kouzeon. With a rather showy display, it sent out a gigantic fist toward the horde and even kicked it's rocket into overdrive to push them back.
Rise sighed in relief and stayed close to Kouzeon's protective arms to concentrate.
Chie and Haredo-Okami had taken to trying to attack the shadow head on with a flurry of slashes and kicks, but this proved easier said than done as the shadow would reduce speed, or power, even defense for the team.
"Augh, this guy just keeps casting debilitating spells! The smaller shadows are doing more damage here!" Kanji cried as Takeji Zaiten sat up with a weary creek.
Chie turned her body to Rise and found her breath, "Rise!"
"I'm working on it!" she shot back.
Yukiko of course did her best too, although her spells were more for physical and ailment healing, yet she still tried. However, what with the shadow casting so many debilitating spells, the team found itself doing less damage, resisting attacks less,their movements slowed whereas the smaller shadows were performing at twice their usual strength.
Rise bit her lip, it was now or never. One of Kouzeon's many arms came to rest on her shoulder. Rise looked up to her and felt a strong sense of security. If it was a sign she was ready if there ever was one.
"Here we go, Heat Riser!" she practically screamed out as Kouzeon let out a violent shudder before releasing what looked like veil of lights which encompassed every team member.
With that spell, they could feel air rush into their lungs, their bodies overtaken with some inner movements became quicker, their attacks became stronger, attacks were less likely to affect them. Their whole bodies moved with vigor. But they moved hastily,they knew a spell like this wouldn't last long so they had to make the most of it.
At that same time Rise found enough breath to shout out one last thing, "All of you, ignore the smaller shadows and gang up on senpai's shadow! Yosuke, the reason it went after you first is because it's weak to Garu skills. Blow that asshat away!"
Yosuke was delighted in knowing this and was the first to kick into gear, stepping over all the other shadows just to get to the main one. Takehaya Susano-O was fast behind him. Both in perfect sync, launched themselves into the air, Yosuke with his knives and his Persona readying a powerful cyclone cut in it's hands. The Silver Tongue shadow flinched in fear for a second. Unfortunately the snake tail gave a loud rattling noise and just before the hit landed, a wall of green light surrounded the shadow.
Yes the shadow was knocked back a couple of feet, but the green wall deflected most of Takehaya Susano-O's attack, and so it wasn't as effective as it could have been.
"Shit! Now what?!" Yosuke spat out, readying himself of another attack. But with that wall up, his wind attacks wouldn't be as effective as he would like.
"Keep moving slowpoke!" Chie laughed out as she breezed by him easily with Haredo-no-Okami at her heels.
Just because the green wall was up didn't mean attacks didn't work, it just meant that wind attacks weren't as strong. Any other attack would be just as strong as before. Right, no need to worry about this right now. Yosuke smiled and charged right beside her with everyone else following close behind.
The shadow was clearly overwhelmed. Despite the hundreds of other smaller shadows ganging up on them, they merely ignored them in favor of attacking it. Now with them working twice as hard due to the Heat Riser, it was a struggle. Kanji and Chie both were dealing brutal blows, Naoto and Yosuke's hits were more critical, and Yukiko's magic was strong while Teddie just proved to a thorn in it's side.
If this kept up, it wouldn't last much longer. In an attempt to brush them all off, the shadow quickly turned around whipping it's tail at them in order to push them back. Takeji Zaiten and Haredo-no-Okami caught it by it's tree-trunk sized neck and held on firmly as it thrashed. Pinned down, the shadow had no where to run. The most it could do was strike back with it's hind legs and hope the smaller shadows could distract them if even for a moment.
There was no mercy when Naoto towered over it, Yamato Sumeragi hovering over her with her Sabre drawn and aimed for him.
Instead, the shadow only let out a hissing laugh as it stopped it's struggling. It said no words, just looked up at her with a masked face.
Naoto had her persona press the sword to its mask and glared down at him. The smaller shadows dispersed in clouds of black smoke. Slowly, slowly, the Silver Tongue shadow itself began to evaporate into smoke. Kanji and Chie's persona's arms dropped to their sides as there was no more snake to hold onto. And when the smoke dissipated, all that was left was the defeated shadow magician; legs crossed and head in it's hands with a shit eating grin.
"Good show, really." It smiled happily.
Yamato Sumeragi's sabre was still pressed to its forehead.
"I was telling the truth when I said your precious leader wasn't here though." It's grin suddenly faded as it looked incredibly bored.
"Then where is he?" Naoto hissed.
The shadow shrugged nonchalantly, "I don't know. He was here at one point, not anymore though. He skedaddled long time ago." it threw its thumb over it's shoulder.
Naoto squinted at the shadow with skepticism, "So he WAS here then?"
"Yup." it nodded, "He wasn't too happy, we talked a bit, he got angry and stormed off. I guess he didn't like what he heard. He was pretty confused about it all, so he moved onto the next guy for answers."
Naoto looked to her allies and saw the confusion spread on their face as well.
"What did you talk about?"
The shadow waggled a finger in her face, "Ah-ah-ah, that's classified, my lips are sealed." it then smiled condescendingly.
Naoto frowned and swallowed hard, "Are you.. Really his shadow? You're nothing like the senpai I know."
At this the shadow burst out into a fit of laughter, "Well I'm here aren't I? I look like him don't you think? I know things only he does, right? What do you think little detective princess?"
The shadow abruptly stood up, causing Naoto to flinch. Her uncertainty made her Persona waver as well.
"I'd love to stay and chat, but you said so yourself. When am I lying, or when am I telling the truth? Who knows. I guess it's up to you on whether you trust your precious senpai or not." it spat out 'senpai' laced with venom and contempt.
Rise hopped forward with a look of anger, "And where do you think you're going?! We're not done with you!"
The shadow glanced to her and leered, "Ugh, so impatient, just wait for the next show. I have to meet up with a stupid fool, if you don't mind."
The shadow gave one final wave as it began to disappear into smoke.
Naoto seemed stunned at first, before her voice took on a pitch of rage, "Wait! Don't you even dare-!" Her anger spurred Yamato Sumeragi to pierce the smoke with her sabre.
When the smoke cleared, there was nothing, and the sword had passed right through into the stage flooring.
Naoto's breath hitched and she felt the tears of frustration and anger sting her eyes.
When all was said and done, they were just as confused as before. How much of whatever Souji told them was truth, and how much was a lie? How much of his encouraging and inspiring words were simply because that's what they wanted to hear? All those moments spent together having wonderful conversations, the laughter, the smiles; how much of it was faked?
Naoto let out a loud curse and felt the shame grow in her chest as she let the heated tears stream down her face.