Disclaimer: None of the authors owns any of the referenced properties.
[Digital Devil Saga], [My Little Pony]
Atma Variant: Herbivore – part 4
Author: Gamerex27
"-and I saw her when I went to that village to restock on carrots," Fluttershy finished. "It's good to know everything worked out for now. Still..." she said, trailng off.
"It is disturbing to know that Gilmmer, in Baseline, hunts Twilight down," Zecora said, pouring a potion of amplification on the speakers. "I suspect that the Expansions will lead to some final showdown."
"...Izzat a rhyme?" Cielo asked."Cause 'dat sounds like a bit of a lazy rhyme to me."
"It's not that hard-like rhyming with orange!" Zecora said, before her mouth caught up with her brain, and she flinched. "Er...you just need to remember that Foppies are pink, and Fobbies are Borange!"
"...yeesh, ya prob'ly have to reach a lot, ja?"
"We should save this for later," Gale announced, as a dull hum began to sound in the distance. "The group of infected ponies-"
"Herd," Fluttershy corrected.
"...herd of infected ponies is coming this way. If Seraph's song fails,we may risk being trampled."
"I can only do so many Tetrakarns at a time," Argilla agreed. "Are you ready?"
"I think so." Seraph stepped up to the microphone, grabbing it with hir horn's magic.
Liiiight-
Shi winced as microphone feedback drowned out hir voice.
"They're almost here," Heat growled, shifting into Agni by reflex. "Now or never!"
"TREES!" bellowed Mayor Mare. "HUNGRY! NEED EAT! EAT IT ALL! EAT IT ALL!"
"EAT IT ALL!" the herd behind her echoed.
Liiiight shines, on the heavens
As the thundering of countless hooves, paws, feet, and other appendages came ever closer, Fluttershy could spy a great deal of the Atma-infected ponies stumbling in their steps.
The earth the spirit, light brings glory and grace
May it open your eyes to the truth, Shan-Ti
The mad chanting of the herd turned to the confused whimpers of animals, and then to yelps of surprise and pain as most of them flashed blue and returned to their normal forms.
Shan-Ti
The crowd of monsters was now a crowd of ponies, dazed and falling all over each other into a tangle of hooves, heads, and tails. Only Mayor Mare stumbled forwards, even as her carapace turned back to fur and the writhing mass of tentacles on her face melted to become her eyes.
Divine light, our heart cries out to you
As shi sung, Seraph hopped off of the podium, and grabbed the Mayor as she fell.
Deliver us from the dark and give us hope
Veins of light covered the Mayor's body, and she returned to her pony form.
May you feel as with your undying love
Shan-Ti
Shan-Ti
As the last notes of the song rang, Ivory Scroll fell fast asleep in the Enlightened One's hooves, snoring softly.
"...that's it?" Fluttershy asked, cocking her head to the side in confusion as Seraph eased Ivory Scroll to the ground. "Usually singing starts a Heartsong. At least, in Ponyville."
"You are referring to the phenomenon where all affected break out into a choreographed song and dance routine, regardless of their ability to sing or having practice before hand," Gale said. "Perhaps we are immune to it due to our nature as-"
"Geez, mon! I thought you stopped bein' all serious and Spock-y in Baseline!" Cielo butted in.
Gale blinked. "There is a difference between being emotionless and being subdued, Cielo. Though I admit that I occasionally engage in sesquipedalian loquaciousness when I speak, this does not make me as souless as you suggest."
Cielo still looked at him suspiciously. "You're still doin' it. You're messin' with me, aren't you?"
"...Affirmative."
The group was cut off as Sweetie Belle stumbled into view.
"...still hungry," she moaned, as she slumped forwards. Trudging over to one of the tress on the outskirts of the forest, her teeth turned as sharp as razors, and bit a low-hanging branch clean off the trunk.
"...this won't be permament, will it?" Zecora asked. "Because Rarity (or anypony else) wouldn't like that one bit."
"Thankfully, the Admins made a patch for that," Argilla said, patting the worried zebra on the back. "It should be gone by the end of the Loop, so she won't have to go through this again."
"After all this time, you still think Atma's a bad thing," Heat snarked, pushing his way past Zecora to stare Argilla in the eyes. "Live a little, for God's sake! Eat someone: they'll be back next Loop anyways!"
"Heat...please drop that."
Rolling his eyes, he turned to face his leader. "C'mon. It's not like we can get this cured, even if we wanted to. We got used to this way back in Baseline, so why the hell can't she suck it up already?!"
"You're already on a short enough leash after you replaced the Indominus Rex some hundred Loops ago," shi said, a note of sternness slipping into hir voice. "We had to eat to get stronger; to survive our Baseline. And now that we're Looping, we're all strong enough to afford eating when we need to, not when we want to. It's her choice."
"Fine. As long as you give me mine." Heat turned his back on Seraph, took a few steps, and promptly tripped over the Mayor's body and landed face first on the dirt.
Several minutes later, Seraph, Fluttershy, and the rest led the confused and hungry herd of ponies back to town with a few trees in tow, dragging a still furious (and now stunned, to stop him from eating Ivory Scroll) Heat with them.
[Persona 3], [My Little Pony]
Great Seal – part 1
Author: Gamerex27
Rarity rubbed at her horn with her hoof. "Right...Mitsuru, dear, please explain to us what happened with Starlight Glimmer."
"We didn't do a damn thing!" Akihiko said, pumping his forehoof. "The moron did herself in with her spell!"
"My pony name is Great Seal," Minato said, sighing as he slipped his headphones back on, struggling for a bit to get them onto a comfortable position on his now non-human head. "Names here tie back into your talent, right? What'd she expect, when she took away my 'talent?' Guess she was too dumb to realize that she'd break the seal."
"In all fairness," Aigis said, rubbing at her flank (and, for the first time, regretting how human/equine she had become over the Loops: enough that the Cutie Mark removal spell worked on her), "she had no idea of what removing your Cutie Mark entailed. Death-or, at least, the personification of such-being trapped inside a mortal being is an outside-context-problem for the ponies of this world."
"Look, girls-and guys-" Starlight Glimmer said, in a decidedly more masculine tone of voice, "we can talk this out! Maybe go out for some drinks? Catch a movie? Go to some hot springs and take off our-no, stupid Ryoji, girls don't like that!"
The furious townsfolk didn't seem to care that this hypocrite who had been keeping them imprisoned for so long had done a total 180 in personality (and gender identity, and apparently normal identity), and marched towards her/him with their pitchforks nevertheless.
"She's possessed," Twilight sighed. "That much is obvious. But...how? And by who?"
"Aigis, if you would," Mitsuru asked, looking at the mechanical pony.
"Very well, then." Aigis removed a screen projector from her Pocket, hooked it up to herself, and started playing a slideshow.
"When Minato-san was a young boy," she explained, "he was unfortunate enough to travel to Tatsumi Port Island. Tragically, the personification of destruction and death, who had been summoned to the island through a series of fairly convoluted events, had broken free of its bonds in an evil cultist-slash-scientists' laboratory, and rampaged across the city, killing his parents. I managed to defeat it, but only by sealing away one thirteenth of its incomplete form within Minato-san."
"That's why Ryoji's here," Minato explained, walking up to the Cutie Mark Vault and breaking it open. "Since he was locked inside of me for most of our Baseline, he sometimes ends up Looping along with me."
"I take it by the lack of panicking that he has mellowed out after all these Loop?" Rarity asked.
"He was always pretty mellow to begin with," Akihiko admitted, as the Equal Cutie Marks were knocked off all their flanks and replaced by their normal ones. "He was only gonna end the world 'cause he had no choice. And because the Chairman of our school who tricked us into killing off the other parts of Death was an asshole."
"Okay, and your Cutie Mark symbolizes how good you were at sealing away Death both within yourself and protecting people from it with the 'Great Seal' thing," Twilight concluded, noting Minato's Cutie Mark was, appropriately enough, a shield marked with an overlaying skull and rosary. "And when she stole your Cutie Mark, she let Death out as your friend Ryoji to rampage. I get that. But why is he inside her now?"
"I do not know," Aigis admitted, as Starlight/Ryoji desperately projected a magical shield and battered his/her way through the angry townsfolk. "A reasonable explanation was that, since Starlight was drawing some of the magic into herself by the nature of her spell, Ryoji was forced into her body as a side effect of Minato-san's Mark being stolen.
"H...hi" Starlight/Ryoji panted, galloping over to the other Loopers, breathing heavily as the townsfolk gave chase to them. "Maybe...we can finish the recap later? If they get to me, they might kill this body, and I never like ending the world...or Loop."
"You could've avoided that if you waited to wash the paint on your butt off," Akihiko muttered. "You didn't see her memories at all?"
"I never meant to get stuck in her body!" Starlight/Ryoji objected. "I didn't want to pry! And we really should pick this up when we get out of here!"
Nodding, Twilight teleported them all away in a flash of light, reappearing in the map room of her castle.
"That...was different," Mitsuru sighed, flopping down onto her haunches. "I doubt that removing our talents would have stopped us from using our Personas against her, but it's always possible if that spell functioned like a Magic Bind or Silence spell."
"I...you should probably go back to them," Starlight/Ryoji told Twilight. "They may end up hurting themselves or others trying to find her...me..."
"You usually don't see a spirit of death being so...compassionate." Twilight remarked, smiling.
"A little bit of him rubbed off on me," Starlight/Ryoji said, smiling in turn as he/she pointed to Minato, "and-"
Suddenly, Starlight/Ryoji's eyes widened, almost popped out of his/her head, and he/she grabbed Twilight by her mane. "KILL MEEEEEEE!" the composite being screeched in Starlight's normal voice.
Then, just as suddenly as it happened, his/her expression returned to normal, and he/she released the other(?) mare.
"Er...sorry. That's never happened before," the composite being spoke in Ryoji's voice, scratching the back of his/her head with a forehoof. "I'm not trying to traumatize her, but being connected to the Appriser of Nyx (um, not your Nyx) isn't wearing well on her mind."
"Is it that," Minato asked, "or is it seeing your fantasies?"
"Uh…" Starlight/Ryoji thought, blushing a little. "Maybe more of the latter. I should probably take a cold shower so she can stop screaming about the-"
"Don't want to hear it!" Twilight interrupted, ignoring as Mitsuru muttered about perverts and "Executions" in the background. "It'd probably be better if we can just separate you two: it'd make all this a heck of a lot easier. Rarity, any thoughts?
"I may have a ponikin lying around in my Pocket," Rarity mentioned, as Twilight regained her composure, and straightened her mane. "You may be able to enter into there so we can deal with Glimmer properly."
"That would be good," Minato said. "But, you might need to end up sticking her in a mental ward instead."
"Amala," Twilight said with a sigh, grabbing a bottle of absinthe and passing it around.
"We don't have to deal with all of the really bad stuff from the other Linked places that badly," Akihiko admitted as he took a swig from the bottle, "...but I appreciate the booze. Gives me some carbs to burn for my next workout. Any more monsters to beat up?
[Persona 4], [Fantasy Life]
The Angler God
Author: Alternis_Alcor
Although most people tend to change Lifes on the fly, Yu Narukami had deigned to stay as a Cook this loop. After saving Reveria, he and Yuelia were travelling through the Elderwood looking for a few ingredients he needed for a Dish he had in mind.
"So do people really poke that dragon sleeping in the plains?"
"Yeah. It seems to have become some kind of game lately, 'Let's poke it as much as possible before it gets really mad!' The poor thing just wants to sleep, so let it!"
Yu couldn't help but laugh at that as his persona Izanagi asked him, 'It couldn't be that much of a challenge for loopers, can it?'
…
"OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT-"
"DAMMIT KANJI! WHY DID YOU TAKE UP THAT STUPID DARE!?"
"BECAUSE A MAN SHOULDN'T BACK DOWN FROM ANY CHALLENGE!"
"THAT'S IT! NO MORE FAIRY TAIL LOOPS FOR YOU, THEY ARE A BAD INFLUENCE!
*ROOOooOOOaaaAAARRRR*
…
'I am missing shenanigans, I know it.' 'Not now. Hm?'
Yu had noticed a large shape racing under the surface of the river as it sped by.
"What's that?"
"Oh! That's one of the Lordfish."
That got Yu's attention. Asking her about them, she went on, "They're these really huge fish that live in the waters around Reveria, kind of like the big bosses of the fish. There's quite a few of them around, we even found one that swims in LAVA it just so awesome!"
As Yu was getting tempted to go after them, the Forest Lordfish made itself known when it jumped out of the water. The massive catfish was covered in years worth of moss, cloaking it like a majestic cape fit for the king of the forest.
Yu instantly had flashbacks of the River and Sea Guardians from back home, and then he knew what he had to do. "Challenge accepted."
…
It had taken a long time, many hours of dedication, and many broken fishing rods. He had began as a Novice, but quickly rose through the ranks of the Angler Life, soon surpassing his Master- soon surpassing human limit. His dedication to his Life had grant him the rank of God Angler, bestowed upon him by Yuelia's father Divinus.
He chased after all the Lordfish of Reveria, catching them one by one until only the strongest was left. His house was covered in prints of the Lordfish he caught, as testament of the prowess he had.
He tracked down the last one in the Deepsea Cave, a cold and dank place off the coast of Port Puerto, and was about to begin the final battle. Kanji and Yosuke stood by with nets, ready to catch it when Yu gave the signal. Yuelia was holding a large bag filled with many SP-potions and other stamina replenishing drinks.
"Wow, Senpai looks really psyched for this!"
"More like obsessed. He did the same thing when we were in the Zelda loops."
Yuelia shushed them. Turning to Yu, she said, "Remember, once you start this, you can't stop or else it will escape. We don't know when it will ever show up again, so fish like this is your only chance, got it. I'll help you out with stamina recovery,so focus on your task, okay?"
With a nod, Yu walked to the edge of the water and casted his line, ready to catch the Poseidon Swordfish.
…
Even though he did manage to catch it an hour later, he never did remember that recipe we wanted to make.
[Persona 3], [Persona 4], [Spectrobes]
The escape pod (title placed by compiler) – part 1
Author: Tincanman125
"So you're a girl again huh Minato?" Narukami asked.
"Yeah, I think the Edit knocked something loose in my code," Minato replied, "still, at least it doesn't happen to me as often as it does to Shepard."
"Mind telling me where we're headed?" Narukami asked, "My unAwake self wasn't paying attention to the briefing."
"Some near Earth-like planet, second rock from the local star," Minato told him, "I think it was called 'Daichi' or something."
"Ten to one says this mission sends us on some galaxy spanning adventure." Narukami said.
"That's a sucker's bet." Minato said with a grin.
=== Some time later===
"Ok, I've found what looks like an escape pod and some kind of..." Narukami struggled to find the right words, "prism shaped thing, which conveniently fits this empty slot on my armor."
"We'll deal with the obvious Macguffin later," Minato said over the radio, "what can you tell me about the pod?"
"Well there's some old guy in it, and he looks alive," Narukami reported, "we'd probably need some heavy lifting equi-" Narukami lost his train of thought as he noticed what looked like a purple tornado headed for him.
"Something wrong?" Minato asked, only to receive static as a response.
[Nocturne], [My Little Pony]
Demon Negotiation
Author: Gamerex27
The two ponies-for a given definition of the term-glanced around the room awkwardly, not meeting each others gazes.
"Um..." Fluttershy said, creeping up to the bolted door. "Can you let us out now?"
The small hatch in the door opened, and a pale, bleached skull peered through.
"Neigh," it said. "For those who have conquered Death time and time again, it is foalish to remain afraid of mere bonds. Neither of you shall leave this room 'till you make amends."
"Uh...what he said," another skeleton agreed, which could just be seen polishing its bike in the background. "Stop being wimps."
"We already-"
The slit slammed shut, cutting off the Demi-Fiend's protests. Slowly, he sighed, then turned around to face Fluttershy.
"I...so..." he tried to say. "Fuck me, I suck at talking. No clue what to say."
"Er...well...let's start with the basics," Fluttershy suggested. "Who...are those demons outside? Are they from-"
"Amala, yeah," Naoki confirmed, trying very hard not to look down at his currently equine body. "And before you ask, no, they aren't from my Branch, because no one else from my Branch can get Activated now. At least, they're not native to any parts of Amala we know."
"Um...what does that mean?"
"All we know is that they're always Loop Aware entities that pop up in any Loop at random, or that the part of Amala they came from is gone from the Event that started this whole mess. Or, their branch is still around, but it's so corrupted Masakado hasn't managed to sort out the files for backups or render anything about it besides keeping it Read Only. Or, they were from Amala as a whole, and when the Loops forced the Admins to split the fragmented universe into different Branches, they never had a home Loop since they were from the multiverse... so they just got shunted from place to place." Naoki tried to shrug, then noticed his current lack of shoulders, and scowled. "That last one's the most likely, I think...but I really am not sure how many of them are Looping or not."
"Oh."
The two of them were silent for a good thirty-ish seconds.
"You know," Fluttershy said timidly, "I could teach you how to shapeshift back to your human form. I-"
"No."
Fluttershy blinked in surprise. "But I thought you were still really uncomfortable seeing us as ponies. Or being a pony."
"This...yeah, it's jarring...but it's something I need to get over," Naoki explained. "I said I was going to put everything in the past, and to do that, I need to start with this. A body's just a bunch of meat, Magnetite, Magatsuhi, and a soul pinning it all together, anyways. It shouldn't really matter what it's shaped like."
He paused for a second, seemingly spacing out.
"Wait. The brainwashing thing wasn't inherent in the serum?!" he exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me that?!"
Another pause.
"'I never asked,' my ass!" he yelled, again to thin air. "Okay, okay, she had to die, I get that, I agree with that, but-wait, razed the planet to the ground?!"
"Um...who are you talking to?" Fluttershy asked.
But Naoki didn't seem to notice. He just kept ranting and raving at a voice only he could hear.
"You just said you destroyed her kingdom!" Naoki roared. "Killed the tyrant?! What about the thousands of brainwashed humans, and, hell, those non-brainwashed, weak-as-hell ponies?!"
Another pause.
"Don't give me, "I was willing to do the same in Baseline!' In case you forgot, the world was dead already! And Lucifer never gave me the full story! That manipulatuve bastard never said we'd break all of reality by trying to-"
He trailed off as he happened to look towards Fluttershy, noticing how she was suddenly standing on the other side of the room.
"...Shit," he exclaimed. "Fine, we'll put this on hold. But it's far from over, dickwad."
Sighing, he pulled out a piece of paper, fumbled at it for several seconds with his hooves, then gave up. "Urgh. There goes making a diagram to explain all this crap. Okay, you deserve an explanation for all that. I didn't...mean to scare you. This time, I mean."
"I wasn't scared," Fluttershy said, her body visibly relaxing. "I just thought you might blow up again, so I was trying to-"
"-Get away from the ticking time bomb," he finished. "...can't say I blame you for that. Okay, here's what happened: remember how I told you in my Baseline that I ended up destroying the multiverse? That's only kind of true. It was me, but it also wasn't.
"Wait, let me go from the top," he said, smacking himself in the face, then grunting as he was unable to balance on only three legs and fell to the floor.
"Basically," Naoki said as he stood back up, "I was tested throughout my journey by those assholes," he said, jerking his head in the direction of the door, "and we fought over candelabras, which opened the door to a giant maze full of the worst traps ever. I pass all the tests, and learn the whole deal about the Great Will's infinite resets of the universe via the Conception, how he was trying again and again to find a world without free will, all that junk. So, Lucifer offers me power to try and break this system. What he didn't tell me was that I wasn't just getting the heart of a demon: I was getting the soul of one, too. He basically broke open my pysche and pumped metaphysical steroids into my id until it gained sapience. Which...uh...killed me."
"But an Anchor needs to survive a Loop in order for it to run, right? Unless...is it like with Toothless and Hiccup?"
"Co-Anchors, yeah," the demon confirmed. "One second Lucifer is throwing a lightning bolt at me, and the next I'm back on the subway near the hospital. Activating the Loop joined us together, since he basically tore his way out of my soul to exist. Took us a while to stop arguing-and by the time we did, we died in the Conception. So in the next Loop, we shut up long enough to learn what I missed in the rest of Baseline. Some stuff I really wanted to stay missed. You know the rest."
Naoki suddenly stopped, his ears twitching.
"What is it?" Fluttershy asked.
"You're...you have a body this time?!" Naoki asked his split personality. "The last time we tried that, you ended up incarnating as a Slime!...How the hell are we still talking if you're not in my mind right now?"
More silence.
"Forget it," he growled. "Guess it doesn't matter. You have any idea where you are?"
Silence again.
"Alright. Just don't kill any tough demons without me," Naoki replied. "A good fight's probably in short supply here."
"Will he be alright by himself?" Fluttershy asked, sensing that the inter-personality conversation was over.
"He punched an avatar of the Great Will so hard, it stopped existing in every reality ever. He'll be fine." Slowly, on unsteady legs, Naoki walked over to the door. "Open the door."
He was met by the sound of a blaring trumpet, blowing him backwards and right onto his flank.
"So, no," Naoki confirmed. "The hell do you want us to do, then? Sit around and talk about our feelings?! I want to get over all this, yeah, but I'm not gonna hold hands with her and whine about how my life is a literal goddamned mess. What the hell with that solve?!"
"And...we kind of already talked about that when we saw each other again through the Mirror," Fluttershy added.
They were met with no response, save the rumbling of an engine starting up and the Hell Biker driving out of wherever the heck Trumpeter had stuck them.
"The gate has been sealed with my strongest of magics," Trumpeter muttered, "as have the walls, ceilings, and floors. There is no escape 'till you commune and overcome the-"
"You want us to fu-no!" Naoki yelled. "Why would you even say that?!"
"Wait." Fluttershy stared at the door. "The doors and walls are all magically reinforced."
"Correct," said the Trumpeter.
"...what about the hinges and locks?"
The Fiend was silent for a few moments.
"Oh, damna-"
It was cut off by an adamantium door crashing right into its face.
Slowly, the vines and tendrils of dark magic withered and faded away from where they had wormed into the door and wrenched its workings apart.
"Oh, no!" Fluttershy gasped, galloping over to where Trumpeter's body was. Was, as in the past tense: it had vanished in a flash of light mere seconds after it was crushed by the door. "I didn't mean to-"
"Relax," Naoki said, bending down to slowly and carefully pull out the dropped Macca from where the other demon was. "Demons never stay dead where I come from. You kill 'em, and they just pop back up in the Expanse and sulk for a while."
"...your universe is strange."
"Never heard that one before," Naoki muttered, slowly pulling the demonic currency into his Pocket. "Though...I guess I owe you for all that's happened. Where's the local equivalent of hell?"
"Tartarus," Fluttershy automatically answered. "But...why are we going there?"
"Figure this is something anyone who spends any time with someone from Amala needs to know. Ye-Fluttershy," he corrected himself, "you're going to learn how to negotiate with demons."
[Persona 3], [Persona 4], [Spectrobes]
The escape pod – parts 2 and 3
Author: Tincanman125
=== Meanwhile In the Vortex===
"Those kinda look like shadows," Narukami remarked, "Minato you seeing this?" Instead of an answer Narukami received an earful of static.
"Oh well," he shrugged it off, "Let's do this!"
"PERSONA!"
Instead of the usual card wreathed in blue flame materializing in his hand, the device Yu picked up earlier opened and started to glow as Angel and Pixie appeared.
"Well that's new." Yu commented as the Personas started attacking the amorphous creatures, ripping them to shreds without him having to issue a command.
With the pseudo-shadows gone and the storm dispersed, the comms came back to life, "-ay something damn it!"
"Minato? Is that you?" Narukami asked.
"No it's Igor." Minato said, voice dripping with sarcasm, "Of course it's me! What the hell happened?"
"I'm not really sure," Narukami said, "I'll tell you when I get back, first I need to see if the pod's alright."
…
Aldous was once again back in his pod, right after it opened, he had no idea why he always seemed to return to this exact moment, nor why he and Rallen seemed to remember things randomly (If at all), but he did know one thing:
The young man standing over him was most certainly not Rallen.
…
Narukami wasn't sure what exactly he expected to happen when the pod opened, so when the man inside jumped out and pinned him to the ground he had been quite surprised.
"Who are you?!" The mystery man shouted at him.
"I'm Yu." He answered, only registering his poor word choice when the man punched him in the jaw.
"Don't you get smart with me boy!" The man yelled, "I'm old, not stupid!"
Choosing his words a little more carefully he responded, "Sorry, I meant that my name is Yu, as in Yu Narukami."
"Oh," The man said looking both calmer and little embarrassed, "I'm sorry, it's just that I was expecting someone else to open my capsule," the man said as got off of Narukami and helped him up.
"If you don't mind me asking, who exactly were you expecting?" Yu asked.
"This is the first time anyone other than Rallen or Jeena has opened my pod," the man replied, "I'm not sure why you're here though."
"Wait, from what you said it sounds like you've had this happen before." Yu remarked.
The man looked a bit uncomfortable, "I doubt I'd be able to explain things in a way you could understand."
"Actually, I think I might know what's going on," Yu told him, "let's head back to my ship, I'll explain on the way.
===Patrol Cruiser 15 Minutes Later===
"Huh," Yu said, "so that's where you were."
"Shut up and get the old man to fix me already." Commented a chibified Izanagi, his voice much squeaker and his usual weapon replaced with a staff.
"First off my name is Aldous," the Spectrobe Master scolded, "and secondly before I do anything of the sort we'd need to find some fossils, or else we'd have no way of searching for resources after you evolve."
"...I'm squeeing internally right now." Minato said.
"Screw you Minako," Iza-chibi said.
"Oh yeah, I forgot I was a girl." Minako mused.
...
"We got some fossils here!" Iza-chibi said as he tapped his staff on the ground twice to indicate the location.
The group had easily worked out an efficient excavation system: Minako would do the actual digging (as she had obtained a paleontology degree a few loops back), Chibi-zanagi would find the minerals and fossils, and Narukami would stand guard against any Krawl that might try to sneak up on them.
Aldous meanwhile was busy working on a 'secret project' back at the ship.
"Pharopod huh?" Minako said, "I think we just found ourselves a replacement scanner."
"Great, someone go wake up creepy kid, I'm headed back to the ship." And with that the pint-sized Persona stormed off.
[Persona 3], [My Little Pony]
Great Seal – part 2
Author: Gamerex27
"So. Um...how's your Nyx?"
"She's fine," Twilight said, sipping her tea and trying to ignore the Royal Guards sitting at either end of the four-seated table, to the sides of herself and the entity currently controlling Starlight Glimmer's body.
"She's still going steady with Lemon Rush," she continued. "And I think she said something about a hot springs trip with Minato during a gender-switched Loop?"
"Eh, he's a girl about half the time now," Ryoji replied, sipping his own cup with Starlight's hooves, speaking in his own, more masculine voice. "Something to do with the Edit knocking off his gender marker. Even though that...thing...isn't in our Loop, it still did something to our Branch since they're connected. The biggest thing were these Persona users from Tokyo getting glitched by-"
He trailed off, as he nervously glanced at the guards. "C'mon, is this really necessary?" he whined. "I've got her under control!"
"Be that as it may," one of the guards replied, "the pony you are possessing still committed mass violations of equine rights. Although the Princess confirmed she is no longer a threat," he explained, pointing to Twlight with a forehoof briefly, "Princess Celestia still assigned us to watch you until the trial can begin."
"Or until your friend gets you into another body," the other guard added.
"Oh," Ryoji said. "I guess that makes sense. She was being naughty, if you get what I THAT DOESN'T GO THERE!"
He slapped Starlight's hoof to her mouth.
"...um, sorry," he said. "She breaks through sometimes."
"We'll need to call in more backup, just to be sure." One guard took a sending stone out of his saddlebag. "Shining Armor, we'll need two more guards here-"
"That's...not needed," Twilight interrupted, gently pulling the stone out of the guard's hooves with her magic and setting it on the table. "I trust Ryoji enough that he can keep her under control. Though it is a temporary solution."
"Yeah, I wanna get this over with too," the Herald of Nyx agreed. "I feel bad for her. Trapped like an animal, with all her freedom stripped from her, not even allowed to move her face or be herself, and I'm suddenly describing her, aren't I?" Ryoji shrugged, then yanked a roll out of the breadbasket and popped it into Starlight's mouth.
"Ironic, I guess. So, when is the THAT'S NOT WHAT HOOFCUFFS ARE USED FOR!"
As Starlight briefly took control of her body back, crumbs of the roll lodged themselves in her throat, and she began chocking as Ryoji seized control of their shared form. As the guards gave him the Heimlich Manuever, Twilight rolled her eyes.
"Still heard worse."
[Persona 3], [Persona 4], [Spectrobes]
The escape pod – parts 4 to 6
Author: Tincanman125
"Oh yeah," Izanagi said with a contented sigh as he stretched, "this is much better."
"Now that's out of the way, I have a gift for Minako," Aldous said, "it wasn't easy, but I made you Prismod out my pod's life support system," He told her as he handed over the device.
"Thank you very much," Minako said, "now we just need to awaken Pharos."
…
If Izanagi had been good at scanning, then it was fair to say that Pharos was damn near omniscient.
"Show off." Izanagi commented as Pharos found yet another large cluster of minerals.
"Now, now," Pharos chided, "it's not my fault that you can't do anything right if violence isn't involved." Earning a chuckle from Yu.
"I've just gotten a message from headquarters," Aldous said over the comms "we're to return to base, but..." he trailed off.
"Something wrong?" Minako asked.
"The strange thing is that the message was audio only, and I didn't recognize that voice as Commander Grant's." Aldous explained.
"Well staying here isn't going to solve anything," Yu said, "might as well go see what's up."
===Grant's office, Kollin===
"Welcome once again to the Velvet Room," Igor greeted the loopers as they walked in, "ah, I see you've brought a guest," he said as he turned his attention to Aldous, "my name is Igor, might I inquire as to your reason for being here?"
"This is Aldous, he's a native looper." Minako explained.
"I assume he has yet to sign a contract?" Igor inquired.
"Does he need to?" Yu asked.
"The alternative is for him to not set foot in this room till the loop ends if you wish for my assistance," Igor explained, "I do not make the rules, I merely follow them."
"What does this contract entail exactly?" Aldous asked.
Igor simply smiled and snapped his fingers, causing an exact, albeit unsigned, copy of Minako's baseline contract to appear on the desk, Aldous studied it for a few moments before signing.
"Now that bit of formality is out of the way, I believe I should inform you all that due to the unique circumstances that the Velvet Room has manifested itself under, I am allowed to be a bit more...flexible in regards to my typical non-interference clause." Igor informed the group with a cheshire grin on his face. "You will find that many powerful items and weapons are now available to you long before they should be, though compensation for their use will be required," he told them, "on an 'unrelated' note, as you are temporarily under my employ, any items you should purchase for the completion of your mission shall be filed as 'work related expenses' and shall be paid for by this organization."
"Best. Boss. Ever." Izanagi said.
…
"Igor read my fortune after both of you left." Aldous said.
"So what's the word?" Minako asked.
"He pulled up lovers, flanked by upright hanged man and strength," Aldous told her, "he said it meant we had a choice on how we want to grow stronger, through sacrifice or patience, I assume that by 'patience' he meant that we could use the traditional method of raising spectrobes, having them fight and feeding them until they evolve, which I admit is a lengthy process," he explained, "but I'm not sure what he meant by 'sacrifice'."
"Typically Narukami and I obtain more powerful Personas by 'fusing' two or more lesser ones, the result is a strong Persona with skills inherited from its components." Minako told him.
"I'm guessing he wants us to choose between whether we want more firepower now with decreased diversity, or if we'd rather have more Personas to pick from at the cost of them being weaker for longer," Yu conjectured, "I suggest we use both as the situation calls for it."
"We should probably head to Genshi for now," Aldous said, "if I recall correctly, Doctor Wright is currently being attacked by black vortexes."
===Research Lab, Genshi===
"Are you Digg?" Minako asked, silently wondering why anyone would name their kid something so stupid.
"Yes, I am," Digg said, "Who might you be?"
"I'm Yu Narukami, Nanairo Planetary Patrol," Yu said, flashing his badge the same way he'd seen Naoto and Uncle Dojima do it with their police badges millions of times before, "and this is my partner Minako, we're here because you reported Dr. Wright missing."
"Yes we got separated in the jungle when we were attacked, follow me and I'll show you." Digg said.
===Sometime later===
"Good thing Yukiko wasn't here," Yu sighed, "I don't think she'd have ever stopped laughing if she heard about 'Digg the Paleontologist'."
"Let's just find this guy quick," Minako groaned, "I don't think I can stand this heat much longer."
"At least you both got some pretty cool jetpacks out of this." Pharos commented.
…
It only took a few more minutes of walking before they found Dr. Wright cornered by a trio of black vortexes.
"STAY BACK IT'S TOO DANGEROUS!" The Doctor yelled.
"Calm down," Yu said, "we're here with the NPP, they sent us to rescue you."
"Huh? Rescue me?" Wright asked, surprise evident in his voice.
"Izanagi, cleave them to bits," Narukami ordered,"Pixie keep him healed."
"Got it!" Izanagi responded.
"Orpheus, start spamming Agi skills, Angel start buffing." Minako told her Personas.
Unlike Izanagi, Orpheus gave no acknowledgement, content to play a haunting melody as the Krawl began to burn.
…
The Krawl stood no chance, the fight had been three on four in humans' favor and all that was left of the amoebic creatures was a thin paste-like substance smeared across the ground.
"I-I've never seen anything like that." Dr. Wright said dumbfounded and at a loss for words.
"It was nothing," Minako said, "just your taxpayer money at work."
"Still, I feel like I need to repay you somehow," Wright said, "follow me back to the lab."
…
"I want to give you this fossil, its coloration is highly unusual, and so far we have no clue why," Wright said as he handed over the purple tinted fossil, "everyone else has written it off as a hoax, so I don't see any harm in giving it to you two, it'll make a nice paperweight if nothing else."
"The Prismod can't identify this thing," Yu stated, "we should probably take it back to Aldous."
===Lab/Cargo hold, Ship===
Everyone was gathered around the newly awakened...thing for lack of a better term.
"Doesn't look like any Persona I've ever seen." Izanagi commented.
"The color of the fossil means this should be a dark spectrobe," Aldous said, "but I don't recognize it, and dark spectrobes can't be found in this system."
"It looks like a large crow." Yu remarked.
"I think it's cute." Pharos interjected.
"I guess I'll take care of it then," Minako stated, "but we should probably figure out where we're going next."
"We need to go to Nessa," Aldous told everyone, "a cube we desperately need is there, and unfortunately to get it we have to deal with the most unpleasant man in the entire system."
[Persona Q]
(no title)
Author: Alternis_Alcor
Minato always liked the school's trip to Kyoto. Even with getting Executed nearly every time, it was a rather nice distraction from dealing with the Full-Moon Shadows. Or from his shenanigans, but that wasn't important now. What was important was his quest for sleep as he returned to his assigned room for some shut-eye.
As soon as he slid open the door, all thought and need of sleep evaporated. A figure was standing in the middle of an empty space of space and time, his black tattered cloak clashing with the bright yellow collar it wore.
"Z-Zen! Is that you?"
"Yes. It is a pleasure to meet you again, but I have an urgent problem, that I need help with."
"Of course. What's the problem?"
"I've been noticing that time seems to reset around you and Narukami quite regularly," noticing Minato's shock, he continued. "I don't believe that I am affected by these resets, but this time I can't seem to find Rei anywhere."
"... wait."
…
"Urrrrrrg..."
"So Partner, can you explain this to me?"
"...bluuuuuurg..."
"Well, Yosuke; not much to explain, really. She showed up on my doorstep crying about losing Zen, so I brought her here to Aiba's to cheer her up. From what I gathered, she started Looping very recently, but we have no idea where Zen is at."
"...oooohhhhff..."
"You brought her to Aiba's on a rainy day, where she could get the Mega Beef Bowl. Look at her, she looks like she swallowed a basketball! Oh my god, if even a bottomless pit like her can't even beat the challenge..."
"Actually, this is her fourth bowl. The owner is thinking of signing her on as the challenge's mascot at this point."
"...oooowww..."
"Really? No wonder she looks so sick. But I thought she was a spirit, unable to get full or something, right?"
"I don't know, but right here and now she's a flesh and blood person with all the restrictions that it implies."
"...nom nom nom-"
"Dammit, if you're actually full then stop eating!"
Eventually, Rei was able to eat a total of six Mega Beef Bowls and was recognized as Aiba's mascot. She did the same thing next Loop, too.
[Persona 3], [Persona 4], [Spectrobes]
The escape pod – parts 7 and 8
Author: Tincanman125
===Colony, Nessa===
"Well ain't this a surprise," Cyrus said, "I didn't expect the NPP to send someone so easy on the eyes. It almost makes up for the fact that I've been waiting for hours."
"It's not like we came from the next town over," Minako told him, "cut us some slack."
"Anything for a pretty lady," Cyrus replied, "but we're getting off topic, I want something called a blue keystone from the ruins on the other side of the planet, so why don't you go over there and get it for me?"
"What's in it for us?" Narukami asked.
"Well I happen to have this rare cube, the kind you chum-, I mean officers, have put out a bounty on," Cyrus told them with a huge grin on his face, "get me that rock and it's all yours."
"Fair enough," Minako replied.
"Not so fast little lady," Cyrus interrupted her, "I need to make sure you don't just run off with the keystone, so your boyfriend has to stay here."
"He's not my boyfriend." Minako growled.
"So what you're saying is that you're single?" Cyrus asked with a smirk on his face.
===Ruins, Nessa===
"Thanks for agreeing to come along Izanagi." Minako said as she looked around the dark room.
"No problem, I'd be bored to death if I stayed there," Izanagi replied as he held up a improvised torch he made out of a petrified wooden comb Minako found earlier, "plus I heard you were bringing Birdie along, and I kinda want to see how he fights."
'Birdie' was the name the team decided to give to the still unidentified Persona, who had grown even bigger and lost most of it's feathers upon evolving into adult form, additionally its wings had evolved into arms and it had become far more agressive.
"Aldous says he's been attacking anything that moves in the incubator," Minako commented, "I think he'll calm down if he kills a few Krawl though."
Behind the next corner was a black vortex blocking the way, and having no other options, Minako decided to engage.
…
Izanagi managed to get the first hit in with a quick Ziodyne before impaling a Krawl on his naginata.
Meanwhile 'Birdie' had pounced on another enemy and started tearing it apart with his talon-like hands, only stopping when the enemy was reduced to fist sized chunks.
…
"Well, he's certainly enthusiastic, I'll give him that." Izanagi stated in a deadpan manner.
"...Something about that felt familiar, but I can't quite put my finger on it," Minako puzzled, "anyway we should keep moving."
After traversing several sand filled rooms the pair managed to locate the blue keystone and went about the time consuming process of dragging it back to the ship.
===Colony, Nessa===
"So what happened next?" Cyrus asked, clearly invested in the story Yu was telling.
"Ok, here comes the good part," Yu said,"so when they saw the blood on my shirt they naturally assumed it was mine. So I had to explain to them that-"
"Oh hey," Cyrus interupted, "your friend's back." He said as he pointed towards Minako, who was pushing the blue keystone on a hovercart.
"It wasn't easy, but I got your stupid rock," Minako stated, "so where's the cube?"
"Well now," Cyrus commented, "cute and resourceful, you're a real force to be reckoned with ain't ya?" He said as he handed over the zeta cube, "Tell you what, if you kids ever get bored playing cops, give me a call, I might have some work for people like you."
"We'll keep that in mind." Yu said, as he pondered why he seemed to have an unnatural ability to befriend sociopaths.
===Lab/Storage, Ship===
"The final preparations are finished," Aldous told everyone, "we can now unlock the full potential of your 'Personas' just as if they were evolved form spectrobes."
"I vote that Birdie goes first," Yu suggested, "because frankly I want to figure out what that thing is already, and if this doesn't work I don't know what will."
"I'll admit, Birdie does seem ready," Aldous said, "Minako, would you like to do the honors?"
"Sure!" Minako replied, practically giddy with anticipation.
…
"Thou art I," a deep, almost other worldly voice resonated throughout the ship,"and I am thou," it said, sending chills down everyone's spines, "I am Thanatos... I was born of thee, and I shall walk by thy side..."
And with that, death incarnate emerged from his cocoon.
…
"Now I know why the way 'Birdie' fought was so familiar," Minako said aloud, "it's the same way Thanatos destroyed the Magician Shadow back in baseline!"
"Yes, I'm getting a clear reading now," Aldous called out from his position hunched over the lab console, "it says 'Thanatos, Property: Flash, Arcana: Death, Charge Attack: Door of Hades' this will definitely help when the Krawl invade Kollin!"
"...Dr. Wright is my new favorite non-looper." Yu said.
[Persona 4], [Gundam]
Kira Yamato's Design – part 4
Author: Drakohahn
Rise frowned as her Persona scanned the Shadow Self. According to the data, he was very resistant to pretty much everything with physical blows being outright negated. Thankfully, he did have a weakness to Fire. That said, he was also remarkably fast. His main attacks were Fire as well with a few physical attacks to boot.
"Okay guys, he immune to physical attacks, but can be stunned by Fire and his main form of attacks are Fire too. Just keep on him and fight long-term." The fighters nodded at the advice. With that acknowledgement, the eight teenagers sprang into action alongside their Personas. Blasts of Fire, Wind, Lightning and Ice shot towards the armored form in front of them. The Shadow Kira merely smirked at the oncoming rush of magic, dodging the ice and fire with seeming ease while tanking the faster wind and lightning spells.
"Oh, is that all? Is it my turn yet?" He chuckled haughtily. The protrusions on his back ring came off to reveal themselves as remote drone weapons. They zipped wildly around the Investigation Team for several moments, almost tauntingly. Then the Shadow spoke in a sinister tone, "How long can you survive?"
The drones stopped in midair, barrels aimed at the group. Out of combat reflex, the group scrambled out of the way as green rays of plasma struck the ground they had just been and made glowing hot craters. The Investigation Team immediately realized that this fight wasn't going to be simple. So, the members with defense spells rushed to cast them while others started trying to throw debuffs onto the crazy Shadow Self. He didn't seem bothered when the beams were weaker than his last shot and that they splashed harmlessly against the barriers now surrounding his foes.
"Trying to level out the playing field? That won't work for long, you know!" He taunted while taking some hits of ice and lightning. Then he took a fire spell to the back and fell to the ground. "Shit!"
"Get him while he's down!" Yu shouted as he and Izanagi charged. The rest of the Team followed suit with a battlecry, somehow kicking up a cloud of dust in the process and the sound of a savage beating could be heard as Team members and their Personas kept getting thrown out of the shroud. Eventually, the cloud of dust faded and the Team backed off to catch their breath.
The Shadow Kira recovered after that, returning to the air with a nasty scowl on his face. He grabbed a pair of small devices from his hips and activated them to reveal their nature as blades of plasma. In response, the Team refreshed their defense buffs. With a feral snarl, the mechanically armored Shadow charged.
[Persona 3], [Persona 4], [Spectrobes]
The escape pod – parts 9 to 11
Author: Tincanman125
"We got a call from Igor, patching it through now." Minako said as Igor's face appeared on the video screen.
"I trust everything is well on your end?" Igor Inquired.
"Yeah," Narukami responded, "Aldous told us the Krawl are going to attack Kollin, so we're headed back now."
Igor chuckled, "I wouldn't worry about that if I were you, they didn't even reach the upper atmosphere before I wiped them from existence."
"You're that powerful?" Aldous asked, a look of surprise on his face.
"I do work for what essentially amounts to the physical manifestation of all that is good in mankind," Igor replied, "but I'm afraid I've become complacent and overstepped my bounds, my master has warned me not to give a repeat performance."
"So, what you're saying is we're on our own?" Minako asked.
"Not entirely, I am still allowed to preform my regular duties, as well as direct you towards you next objective should you need it, but I am only allowed to provide you with one last favor." Igor explained.
"Which is?" Aldous asked.
"A door connecting directly to the Velvet Room has appeared in your ship's cargo hold should you need it," Igor told them, "I wish you good luck and safe travels." He said as he hung up.
"Well that seems to have worked itself out nicely," Izanagi commented, "so where do we go from here?"
"First we need to get the ship's hull degaussed at one of Kollin's orbital service bays, then we should find Professor Kate on Ziba to acquire her red keystone, and get her to have curator Webster lend us the green keystone."
"Wait if we need the keystones, why did we give one to Cyrus? And for that matter why not get the green keystone from the museum before going to Ziba?" Pharos asked.
"Because I thought we'd need the zeta cube to stop the Krawl invading Kollin, and giving Cyrus the keystone is the fastest way to get it," Aldous explained, "as for the other question, Kate is the only one Webster will listen to, and she only ever agrees to talk to him when we meet her in person for some reason."
"Well at least we can get more fossils on Ziba while we're there," Yu sighed, "sure we picked up a lot every time we visited a new planet, but I for one plan on doing a lot more fusing now that we can access the Velvet Room from anywhere."
…
It had taken a ridiculous amount of time and effort, but Minako and Narukami were finally happy with the Personas that they had fused and evolved, Narukami chose to go into battle with Izanagi-no-Okami and Lucifer, while Minako opted to bring along Orpheus Telos and Thanatos.
The pair made sure that their bases were well covered, Izanagi-no-Okami was classified as the Aurora property, and thus resisted Flash, meanwhile Orpheus Telos and Lucifer both shared the Corona property, and would destroy Aurora enemies, and finally Thanatos' Flash property would deal with any Corona Krawl.
===Orbit over Ziba===
"Everyone brace yourselves," Aldous ordered, "our preparations should make things easier to manage, but as the adage in Nanairo goes: 'There are no smooth landings on Ziba, only controlled crashes.'"
"That's not very comforting." Yu said as his face turned pale.
===Planetside, Ziba===
"I think I'm gonna hurl," Izanagi groaned, "and I'm not even sure if I have a stomach this loop!"
"That was not pleasant." Minako commented as she picked herself up off the floor.
"FiVe MoRe MiNuTeS mOmMy." A dazed Pharos mumbled.
"Good job everyone," Aldous said cheerfully, seemingly oblivious of the state everyone else was in,"that was the most successful touchdown I've had on this planet to date!"
"I'd hate to see what normally happens then." Yu shuddered.
===Kate's Field Research Lab, Ziba===
"These are some strange times we live in," Professor Kate mused as she poured some coffee for herself and her guests, "first these 'black vortexes' show up all over the system," the scientist said as she placed a cup on the table in front of where Aldous was seated, "then an escape pod containing the last known survivor of an entire star system crashes into Daichi, only to be found by the pair of NPP officers with the worst disciplinary record in the history of the organization."
Izanagi, Narukami, and Arisato remained silent as Kate handed them their cups.
"These officers not only learn about the previously unknown hostile alien species behind the aforementioned phenomena, and become hyper-competent seemingly overnight, but they also manage to bring fossilized creatures back from the dead to fight the alien menace, and save a famous paleontologist soon afterwards," Kate continued as she handed Pharos a cup of hot chocolate (having decided the boy was to young for coffee), "meanwhile, the commander of the NPP somehow stops the invasion of Kollin within seconds of it starting, causing citizens all over the system to form some weird cult worshiping him, more specifically, his nose of all things."
Minako looked a bit uncomfortable upon hearing the word 'cult', but decided to let Kate continue.
"And now, for some reason, all of you are here, in my home, not five minutes after Ziba's moons' sped up their orbits, which is impossible for them to do under their own power according to all currently known laws of physics I might add; with some random child and a floating man with blades instead of legs, asking for my help." Kate said as she massaged her temples and sat down,"Did I miss anything?" She asked, clearly stressed.
"Well we did crawl through some ruins on Nessa," Izanagi remarked, "but that really wasn't too important anyway."
Kate sighed, "Look, I don't think I can even begin to understand what's going on here," she said, "I'll give Webster a call, and you can have the keystone, just please promise me that things will start making sense again soon."
"Don't worry," Yu told her, "it'll all be over soon."
…
Intermission: ===Elsewhere in the Multiverse===
"I can't believe you took that bullet for me," Shinjiro said as he stood over Rallen's hospital bed, "you barely even know me for crying out loud!"
Rallen gave a weak chuckle,"I'm an officer of the law back home," he said, his voice barely audible, "protecting civilians at all costs is part of the job in the NPP."
Mitsuru sighed, "No wonder your Persona is Icarus," she scolded, "you're far too reckless!"
===Junes department store, Inaba===
"I must say," Naoto remarked, "it's been a while since I've seen a Persona so focused on healing skills."
"I guess Cassandra makes sense," Jeena sighed, "I'm always warning Rallen not to rush into things without thinking," she told Naoto, "I just wish he'd listen more often, I've had to patch him up more times then I care to remember before the commander just gave up and had a healing pod installed in our ship."