This Shadow was not like any others that the mercenaries had fought before. For the first time, the Shadow had a mechanical appearance with a riot gun on its left arm. It growled as it scanned Enforcer and his allies. When his allies attacked it, their shots could not hit the target. It was during that moment while the Dark Hour was present in Inaba that something awakened inside Enforcer.

"Promethean Vision!" he yelled.

Yellow light shone from Enforcer's eyes, which were hidden by his helmet, as he looked at the Shadow, the light illuminating what the mercenary could see right now. "I. . . I can see the enemy's weak points." he said as he fired at the Shadow and hit it. Dmitri then finished it off with a few shots from his mini-gun.

Dmitri said to him, "That new power just saved our hides. Now if those Shadows scan us and we can't hit them, we can make use of your vision to be able to attack them normally."

Enforcer replied, "Yeah. Let's get going and get closer to the top of this dead tower."

Everyone grunted in agreement as they continued.

Mercenaries of Fortune Chapter Six

Ghost Force 969 Field Base, barracks, Friday, April 15, 01:13 local time.

"Tunazu, that report will need to be on my desk before 06:30 hours today. HQ is expecting it before we get going to Yasogami High." Enforcer said.

"Sure can do, Enforcer." Tunazu replied as he got to work on the mission report of what happened in the TV world.

Enforcer then left the room.

Meanwhile, the Black Train transporting Minato Arisato had to increase its speed and was transmitting messages to all railroad traffic to clear the way. Even as it did so, the Black Hawk helicopters escorting it still fired at any Shadows that tried to board the train. Because of the increase in speed and judging how fast the train was going, it would now take only forty-six hours to reach Yasoinaba Station.

Foxtrot One-Two shouted into his radio, "This is Foxtrot One-Two! Enemy RPG fire is increasing and we are nearing Inaba! Where's ground support?!"

Ghost Force HQ responded, "They are en route now. Just stay in the air."

Foxtrot One-Two then replied before cutting communications again, "Understood."

As the Black Hawks had to dodge enemy RPG fire, the train itself was boarded by a few humanoid Shadows a few times, all of which were eventually repulsed by the Ghost Force soldiers on-board. Epsilon Five-Four always remained near the H.V.I., Minato Arisato, since if the Shadows got him, it would be over and to prevent that, Epsilon Five-Four and two other mercenaries stayed near Minato and killed any Shadows that tried to reach the blue-haired young man.

When it was nearly 03:00 hours, Epsilon Five-Four said to the other soldiers, "Look alive. We'll be at Yasoinaba Station in only forty-four hours now."

As he and the other mercenaries got ready, the train continued on its way to Inaba, moving faster than it previously had.

Yasogami High School, Auditorium, 13:45 local time.

As students stood around, they are already chatting amongst one another. As it started to heat up, one of the teachers, Ms. Sofue, said into the microphone in front of her, "Everyone, please settle down. The school assembly is about to begin. First, the principal and the famed mercenary from Ghost Force 969, Enforcer, member of Echo Squadron, have something important to say."

Ms. Sofue stepped away from the microphone, which was attached to a podium and waked over to its right and stopped. Then the principal walked up to it and began, "I . . . regret to say that I have a terrible announcement for all of you. In fact, Enforcer knows about what happened more than I do. Regardless, he decided that he is not speaking it yet because Ghost Force 969 has not yet officially made this information public. They only authorized him to tell me about what actually happened. One of our third-year students, Ms. Saki Konishi of class 3 has been afflicted with Apathy Syndrome. She was discovered on top of the Junes Department Store by Enforcer and the rest of the Squadron alive and unable to move. The reasons behind her affliction are currently being investigated by both the police and Ghost Force 969 and as a result of suffering from Apathy Syndrome, Ms. Konishi's well being has been entrusted to the mercenaries. Should they ask you for their cooperation, I urge you as students of the school to provide only the facts."

As chatter picked back up immediately, the principal said, "All right, please quiet down." before he added, "I have been assured by the faculty that there's been no evidence that bullying was involved in the incident. So mind what you say, not only to the police but to anyone who asks that is not a mercenary."

When the principal stopped, Enforcer walked to the podium and then said, "Be aware that you pay attention to what I say next because certain segments of what I say will not be on the news with the official announcement. Yes, Saki was afflicted with Apathy Syndrome if anyone asks. However, This is not the first time that Apathy Syndrome has struck. Two years ago, in the Iwatodai City area, students from Gekkoukan High School and civilians alike also were afflicted with Apathy Syndrome. For now, the Apathy Syndrome pattern has not been recognized, but two years ago, the number of people suffering from Apathy Syndrome fell after a night that had a full moon, only to spike upward as the next full moon approached. In other words, the number rose and fell as the moon phases marched on and it inexplicably ended on January first of the previous year."

As the chatter picked up again, Chie said, "Afflicted with Apathy Syndrome . . .? How could this happen . . .?" while Yosuke looked depressed and didn't say anything when the principal resumed his address. Yu also didn't say anything as he was aware that Yukiko was not at school today. When it was over, Wellington asked Yu, Chie, and Yosuke to follow him and they did so, taking their stuff with them since Wellington also added that this was going to be a one-way trip to the field base, which would take some time. When they got there, they were herded into the third vehicle hangar and onto an elevator. When Yu, Chie, Yosuke, and Wellington were on the elevator, the doors closed and then it descended. When it stopped, it opened into a small hallway that they went down before entering a large, round room. Once inside, Yu noticed that the rest of Echo Squad was already there and Nanako was also inside along with Ryotaro Dojima and Yukiko Amagi.

Enforcer explained, "I had to pick up Nanako from her elementary school while I had Dmitri get Yukiko and bring her here for this training session. In any case, head into the second door to the left of where you guys entered and head straight to enter the holo-simulator room. Also through that door and on the left is the room where we store the computer that is connected to that holographic simulation room. We nicknamed it the Bridge."

Wellington then said, "We'll set the safety parameters so that you guys will get to experience what's it like to be in a real combat scenario, but if we detect that you're in mortal peril, the simulation will automatically end. Is that okay?"

"Yes." Everyone said.

"Good. Now let's head in." Enforcer said as he accompanied them into the holo-simulator room.

"Right, now whenever a simulation is run, we always have someone in the Bridge. Right now the rest of the squad is in there. Now I will get to the stuff that you guys will need to know. Dmitri, bring up File Six-Sigma-Delta-Five-Four-Omicron-Two-Omega-Eight-Alpha-Three-Epsilon-Nine, Code name 'Shadow Combat Tutorial', and load the simulation."

"Yes sir." Dmitri said as the holo-simulator room changed its appearance from a futuristic one to a simple stone hallway.

"Right, now this simulation will test your abilities on combating what we know as Shadows. They are monsters born from human emotion that prey on human minds. Unless a human intrudes on their nests, that is the only threat that we have to deal with when facing Shadows. However, the Shadows became a threat to humanity only recently."

"Any reason why these things are only a recent threat?" Ryotaro asked.

"There is only one word that describes why: Demons."

"De- Demons?! Those things are the reason why Shadows are considered a recent threat?!"

"Our world has been invaded by demons twice so far: one of them was an incident about fourteen or fifteen years ago that we don't have the details on, and the other one was the more recent Sumaru City Incident, which happened twelve years ago. Both invasions were pushed back by Persona Users who came into contact with a spirit guide named Philemon. Shadows also surfaced around the same time as the Sumaru City Incident, but back then, the Shadows were subservient to the invading demons. As it stands now, the Shadows have become a threat of their own. Yu, take this." Enforcer said before handing Yu a katana.

"Thanks."

"Now then, I can tell that the spirit guide Philemon has been taking more of an observer role ever since the Sumaru City Incident was resolved, however, to effectively combat the Shadows, you need to have either a Persona or access to military-grade weaponry. Without those advantages, you're screwed."

Enforcer then went into further detail and explained the nature of Shadows and the Dark Hour to everyone. "Shadows can come at you from any direction, so be aware of your surroundings. In fact, a Shadow is coming right at us from the left." he said as a Slipping Hablerie appeared out of the darkness of the hallway.

Something awakened within Yu Narukami as the Shadow approached and he said, "Per. . . So. . . Na!" as he crushed a Tarot Card that had appeared in his hand. Izanagi formed when he did so and fired off a Zio spell that eliminated the Shadow.

"Good work, Narukami. However, that was one of the weaker Shadows in this simulation. These things come in different varieties and each have their own strengths and weaknesses, so it's always a good idea to have allies that have different elemental powers. Zio spells are electrical in nature, so they won't be useful on enemies that are strong against electricity." Enforcer said as he gave Yosuke a pair of wrenches, Yukiko was given a fan, Chie was given a pair of cleats that had sharp spikes on the bottom, and Nanako was given some sort of weird box that had what looked like an 'eye' at the front. A floating spherical drone three feet in height then appeared next to her, its singular 'eye' looking at Yosuke.

"That thing Nanako has is a Laser Designator. It's used in conjunction with that spherical drone to take out enemies. The designator itself marks a target for the drone to attack and the color of the laser being generated determines what weapon the drone uses on its target. For example, a purple laser marks for a missile attack from the drone." Enforcer explained as another Slipping Hablerie appeared, this time in front of the group, and Nanako marked the enemy with a purple laser. When she did that, the drone opened its sides and revealed two missile launchers that fired on the Shadow and killed it with one volley from both before they retracted back into the drone.

"Up to three missile volleys can be unleashed from both launchers when a missile attack target has been marked." Enforcer said. "Now, Yu, there's another Shadow at 12 o'clock, right in front of us. Take Yukiko, Yosuke, and Nanako with you and eliminate it. It's pretty far away, so you'll have the advantage of surprise. On the other hand, it's different than the Hablerie, so it's got different elemental properties."

"Understood." Yu said as he surprised the new Shadow, which survived a slash from his katana, but Yosuke eliminated it with a physical strike from his wrenches. Suddenly, a pair of Shadows formed and they looked like pathetic blobs that had a mask and hands. One of them tried to attack Yosuke, but he dodged it while the other went for Yukiko and was stopped by two missile volleys fired from the drone that hovered around Nanako. Yukiko then dashed up close to the blob-like Shadow and hit it several times with her fan, which knocked it down and left it vulnerable as Yukiko threw the fan at the Shadow and killed it. Her fan then inexplicably appeared back in the firm grip of her right hand.

["Excellent. You took out that Shadow and the two reinforcements that had come after you killed it. Dojima is with Chie right now and I just had them take on three of those Hablerie type Shadows."] Enforcer said to Yu before adding, ["A strong Shadow's coming for you! Defend yourself!"]

A Shadow that looked like an eagle then appeared before the group. It quickly unleashed an ice attack on all of them, which knocked down Yukiko and let the Shadow spread its wings as a poisonous mist surrounded Yosuke and his face turned purple.

["Hanamura's been poisoned! Certain attacks will inflict status ailments on combatants, so watch out. Poison will sap your physical fortitude and halve any damage inflicted by your attacks."]

Yukiko got back up and immediately used a Dis-poison on Yosuke, who then unleashed an attack that wounded the Shadow and knocked it down.

["Now's your chance! When all enemies have been knocked down, you can unleash an All-Out Attack on them for massive damage that completely ignores normal elemental parameters. To knock down enemies, inflict a critical hit or exploit their weaknesses."] Enforcer said.

"Let's go for it!" Yu said. Immediately everyone agreed with him and joined in for the All-Out Attack, which ended up generating a mushroom cloud that meant the Shadow was dead. As Chie and Ryotaro rejoined them, the wall to the left of the group broke open and a Shadow that looked like a knight riding a metallic horse appeared out of it.

["The boss of this simulation has just shown itself. It's a Hell Knight. Analysis indicates that it resists Physical, nullifies Wind, absorbs Electricity, and everything else affects it normally. Use everything that you guys have learned so far to defeat this enemy!"] Enforcer said to everyone.

Yu immediately assumed a defensive position while Yosuke, Chie, and Yukiko did the same while Dojima tried to attack it, but he missed. Nanako also tried to attack, but she was successful in damaging the Hell Knight with two missile volleys. It ignores the damage caused and raised its sword up as a red aura surrounded it.

["The Hell Knight just raised its attack power! In a real mission, you'll eventually be able to do the same plus raise your defenses and agility and lower the enemy's statistics, but for now, just focus on defending against its attacks."] Enforcer said.

Everyone simply defended before the Hell Knight decided to skewer Yosuke, who was somewhat hurt by the attack, and he retaliates by attacking. Chie also attacks as does Ryotaro while Yu, Nanako, and Yukiko guarded. The Hell Knight then tries to skewer Yu, but it misses.

Attacking again, Yosuke manages to land a critical and says to Yu, "Now's our chance!"

"Let's do this." Yu calmly said. Everyone else also agreed and joined in with the All-Out Attack, which seriously injured the Hell Knight. Chie also attacked as did Nanako and Yu while Yukiko and Ryotaro guarded. The Hell Knight, instead of trying to skewer someone, decided to act smart and raised it defenses. Yu weakens it with a normal attack as does Yosuke and then a red laser marked the Shadow and the drone floated over it and opened its underside to reveal a flamethrower that roasted the Shadow and finished it off before the drone retracted the flamethrower into itself.

["Excellent! You guys have completed the simulation! On one hand, you guys have proven that you can defend yourselves if you encounter any Shadows. Om the other hand, only Yu has a Persona, so the rest of you I would not recommend getting up close until you get your Personae. Perfect for Nanako since she has a laser designator and that drone, but I can't say for sure about the rest of you."] Enforcer said as the simulation ended.

Somewhere in Inaba, 15: 35 local time.

The Reaper asked someone, "Takaya Sakaki, remember when I said that Chidori and Jin had been rebuilt as cyborgs?"

Takaya replied, "Yeah."

"I lied. Only Jin Shirato was brought back as a Cyborg. Some buddies of mine gave Chidori some cybernetics after pulling her out of the civilian hospitals. In any case, you should continue to lay low until an opportunity arises. The Shadows outside of the original nest have been gravitating away from town for some reason and I'm not sure why they are doing it." The Reaper then said.

Takaya answered, "It probably has something to do with the mercenary train coming to Inaba."

"Yeah, that's a good possibility since that train is under attack as we speak." The Reaper replied.

"Like hell that's a possibility! If there is any information on Minato Arisato, the Shadows will try to get it and attempt to kill him. Since his body is soulless, the Shadows think that he'll be an easy picking and they believe that by killing him, they can undo what that fool did." Takaya replied.

"Well then, it looks like we're going to need to cut this short. I'll be seeing you in secret."

"Take care." Takaya said as he left.

A/N: Read and Review.