(This is not as far as I wanted to get... but I've been busy and my goal was 3,000 words and I juuust barely made it, so... I regret only revising this once; I kept thinking I had more time to write it xP)
"Benkei!"
"Lu-yan!"
"Tsutomu!"
"Maion!"
"Hael!"
… this was chaos. You had no idea which Persona to summon when there were already five on the loose. Unwilling to think about it, you decided to take on the small bots with your trusty sword. It worked well, but your enemies possessed machine guns at each arm. You took out three of them standing next to each other before they began to shoot you in the side. The bullets were too weak to break through your skin, but they hurt immensely.
"Protect yourself," Zukin advised, "that attack is of the physical element."
Struggling to get your mind together, you remembered your Chariot partner, Futsunushi. Your right arm gripped onto your sword as you tried to guard your face, while your left arm summoned the demon's card. You closed your eyes to concentrate through the noise and pain. After a surge of power left you weak, you immediately felt the relief of your Persona's ability to block all physical attacks. You opened your eyes and saw his swords flying in all directions; the Persona knew not to hit you while he skillfully blocked all the shots. You took full advantage of his guarding power and sliced the heads and arms off of the small soldiers that continued to mindlessly shoot at you. You periodically looked around in the small amount of time the fight took, trying to note how your teammates were doing.
Zero and Zukin remained in the back, both of them looking as if they were lost in their Personas' thoughts. Yuni had apparently long disappeared into a distant corner that no one else had been able to navigate to, and you assumed Akira had followed because you couldn't find him, either. Alice's Persona was also casting spells; it seemed she was able to use Garu powers to blow the enemies away from her. And Rage...
"BURN!"
You didn't even need to look; you could see a bright fire's light every minute or so as the temperature skyrocketed. He seemed to have taken his own side of the room as well, somewhere far from everyone else.
You continued to hack away; the robots were weak, but their numbers were endless. You didn't know how the battle was going to end until you heard Zukin's voice.
"There is a door!" she yelled. "In the very back, there is a sensor for a card key. You must find the card to open it."
"This thing?" Rage yelled.
You looked at him, obviously not fearing the bullets that were constantly shooting in your direction with your Persona at your side. Rage ran to Zukin while Benkei followed him, trying to lightly char some of the flying bullets before they could hit his partner. Ouze faded while Zukin took at look at Rage. He was apparently holding a card in the air, and Zukin directed him to the back of the room.
Having faith that Rage had found the right card, you yelled at the rest of your team to head to follow Benkei's fire to the back. Benkei continued to send small Agi blasts that made him the easiest Persona in the room to find.
When you saw Zukin and Rage next to the far wall, she was directing him to the small reader to the right. Futsunushi was able to guard all of you while the room's lights continued to flash and the robots continued to fire at your Persona (they really never learned that it had no effect). After the card reader beeped, a secret metallic door that was previously camouflaged with the wall slowly slid open to the left. By then, it was unnecessary for Benkei to keep signaling, and he faded. Your Persona continued to combat the robots' shots until everyone found the door. Alice, Yuni, Akira, and Zero ran through the battlefield before you finally went through the door. Zukin hit a button on the other side, allowing it to close. Fortunately, the absent-minded robots didn't bother to follow you.
When the door finally closed, the sounds from the other room became quiet. The most prevalent sounds were the deep exhales coming from your exhausted comrades. You declared that everyone should take a quick break.
"Good idea," Rage said.
"Is everyone all right?" Akira asked.
He received several "mhmms" in response.
You felt a warm, soothing feeling radiate through your body. Everyone else looked confused, except for Zero. You figured this was his and Maion's doing. Had he developed the ability to use Mediarama yet?
After asking him, he simply nodded.
"That was your Persona?" Alice asked. "He can heal?"
"Yeah, that's what he's good at," Rage answered for him. "By the way, how are you doing with your Persona?"
"Oh, Hael's really helpful. She does wind spells and she sort of... shows me the power of each one. That doesn't make a lot of sense to say..."
"It's okay," Yuni told her, "a lot of this stuff is just instinct. If you can't put it into words, it just means you're doing it right."
She was right.
While they continued to converse about their Personas, you decided that, if Emi's dungeon ever turned into a maze like the others, you wanted to split the seven of you into two groups. You would lead one, but who would lead the other? Ouze had the ability to read enemies, while you had enough experience to work on your own. Zukin would be on the other team, for starters. Alice had the least experience, so you wanted to keep an eye on her and help her if you needed to. Zero was still developing his healing powers... should he be on your team? Rage and Akira worked well together, and Akira and Yuni worked well... but you were hesitant to put them all on one team without you. You wondered if you could take the girls on your team, as Zero would likely need to be on the opposite team to heal; you knew you had your own healing Personas if you needed them.
You proposed, then, that you would team with Alice and Yuni, while the others would be on their own team.
"You're leaving Zukin alone with three guys?" Yuni said. "Akira, you better help her out."
The tall man nodded. "I guess this works out for the best. Take care of the girls, Souji."
There was something about Akira... perhaps you weren't given many opportunities to talk with him, but he seemed to have the least amount of trust in you. You couldn't blame him; your lack of a strong bond made him distant to you as well. Still, he was level-headed enough to be on the other team, and you felt he would be of great help; perhaps he would even make a good leader.
After everyone was ready to go, you paced your way down the hallway until you found a room with stairs leading to the next level. The next room had conveyor belts to the east and west sides, but it was mostly empty in the middle.
"All this computer junk is boring!"
The girl sounded very young... was this Emi from years ago?
"Think about your future. You're so good with electronics, and if you knew how to use computers, you could be very rich some day!"
"But I don't want to make money some day doing computers... I want to get more into music."
"Was that Emi's father?" Alice asked. "Is he..."
They were the sounds of Emi's memories, likely having something to do with what she's hiding and what makes her Shadow's personality. Alice listened to your explanation, but you could tell she didn't quite get it. It wasn't necessary for anyone to understand, so you decided to move on. You saw a large opened doorway several feet away from you. Despite knowing that this wouldn't be that easy, you ran toward the door with Alice and Yuni closely behind you, holding onto the faint hope that maybe there was nothing to this area.
A siren began to blare across the room as the large door, much like the one on the first floor, began to slide shut. You sprinted for a moment before realizing you would never reach it in time, so you skidded to a halt.
"WARNING. INTRUDERS HAVE REACHED LEVEL 2. PREPARE DEFENSE MECHANISMS."
The room vibrated, and two large panels opened up from the floor. Two giant robots, much like the supersized mechas you used to fight in the first world, rose from the floor. They each pulled out a large sword; one was left handed and the other was right. Now was the time for the two of you to split up; you led your team to the one to your right, and the others ran in the opposite direction.
Believing the machine was elementless, you summoned Futsunushi. Alice and Yuni called their own Personas behind you. Tsutomu darted in front and took the first punch to the robot's head. The robot tilted backward, but it regained its balance shortly afterward. It lifted its sword for a quick swing headed for the ninja girl; your Persona protected her with all of his swords.
If the machine was anything like the ones in Inaba, the only thing more fearsome than its physical power was its massive stamina. You would be there for hours if you couldn't find a weak point. You mentally vowed to knock the monster over and perform an all-out attack; to do this, you would need Hael to blow him off balance so that Futsunushi and Tsutomu could push his heavy body onto the ground.
"Huh? Blow him... with Garula?"
If that's what she knew, it would work. Any wind spell would probably do. She nodded and silently communicated with Hael. The feminine Persona raised her arms and pushed a wind in the massive soldier's direction. As soon as it began to stumble, Tsutomu kicked it high, and she leaped away from his face so that Futsunushi could form his swords into a needle that pierced the robot's head (it didn't penetrate the armor, but the it made a powerful impact). The combined forces were enough to cause the enemy to fall like a giant domino. It struggled to get up, but its position was so unusual that the robot couldn't figure out how rise again.
Excitedly, you commanded your team to hit the robot with everything they've got!
Yuni was the first to jump onto the middle of the robot's body and jam spiked punches into its chest. Alice timidly skipped to one of the legs and began awkwardly slicing away at the metal. The more she tried, the more she elegant her swipes were; before anyone knew it, it was like she was dancing with her fan. You wanted to get to his neck, hoping to sever some sort of wire that controlled the rest of its body. A dust cloud enveloped your group for about a minute of harsh pummeling before the robot shoved Yuni off.
At this time, Akira or someone would probably panic, but they must've all been busy handling the other machine. The robot also swung its leg to the side; it couldn't stretch far at that angle, but it was enough to hit Alice, making you a bit worried for her. You knew that the Persona in her soul had enough power to keep her safe, so you kept hacking at the neck until you noticed the shadow of a sword heading your direction. The robot had lifted its right arm and began to jam it into the ground; you ran for your life before it dug into the floor.
The machine had turned onto its stomach; Tsutomu came back and refused to give up as long as she still had strength left. She jumped onto its back and attempted to stomp the machine into the ground with her clawed toes. She would fail if she was alone; Futsunushi aided by digging swords into the enemy's shoulder blades. Hael levitated above and sent a fierce wind to push everyone downward; unfortunately, that included Tsutomu and Futsunushi. Luckily, their weight aided in the attack by knocking the machine off all fours and causing it to fall flat onto its stomach.
You all took the opportunity to pile onto the robot, this time with your Personas on top. Your arms were aching from the heavy sword, but you didn't want to drag the battle on longer than you needed to. You mentally allowed your Persona to go all-out with intense physical attacks, draining your health (knowing either you or Zero would be able to restore your wasted stamina later). Tsutomu saw your warrior's harsh moves and decided to try her own, though instead of using single blows to the enemy, she liked moves with multiple, quick attacks. Her speed was her strongest point, after all.
"You're still fighting this thing?"
You heard Rage's voice. The others were coming in your direction.
"Everybody stand back, Akira's got this."
You weren't entirely sure if it was a good idea, but you and the others fled from the battle as Rage instructed.
"Ziodyne!"
Electricity shot through and around the robot you were fighting. Anyone within a foot of the robot would've been harshly electrocuted; you were thankful Akira knew what he was doing with that move. Surely enough, the robot faded into Shadow dust. Yuni walked into the floating debris and found a card that the robot left behind. You thanked Akira for his help.
"It was no problem. Once Zukin learned its weakness, our soldier was defeated easily."
"Your spirit power is rather low, Akira," Zukin warned. "I certainly hope that not all the robots have the same strengths and weaknesses. We must take the cards and open the next door."
Zero flashed a card he pulled from his sleeve. He and Yuni led the way to the back of the room, and they each slid the cards across readers on the opposite sides of the door (they assumed the right robot provided the card for the right reader and vice versa). It worked, and the door was opening yet again. Zero grabbed your shirt collar before you could hastily run into the hallway; he put his hand on your head, and Maion healed you.
"You should be a more strategic leader than that," he joked.
Right... the attacks Futsunushi used had taken a toll on your health. You asked him to help Yuni as well. He did the same to her; he and Maion placed their right hands on her blonde head, and you assumed he was able to heal her. She thanked him... and then you were able to move forward.
You made it to the top of the next set of stairs. Instead of instantly being brought to another large room, you were in a hallway with a shining exit. That was quite a short dungeon.
"Look at this test! You never received a C before!"
"I'm sorry! I'll do better next time... I'll study harder!"
This was more recent; she sounded like a teenager.
"If you didn't spend so much time playing video games..."
"DDR is good for me! It keeps me active, and it's the one time I get to see all my good friends!"
"I know you're working at the store sometimes, but you go to the arcade too often for your own good."
"What do you know about what's good for me?"
You heard a small cry. Evidently, everyone did, because everyone was looking at its source: Devil Zukin.
"That evil," she muttered, "it is on... the other side." She tightly gripped her stomach, trying to stop herself from shaking. What was so evil about Emi's Shadow as opposed to everyone else's?
"I... I don't know," she said unsteadily. "I can't... move on. N-not with..."
"C'mon, Zukin," Rage began. "There's nothing to be afraid of." He grabbed her shoulder and pulled her a little, but she wouldn't budge.
"You don't have these irrational senses... you have... no idea..."
"Fine, stay here."
You were all a bit surprised.
"Rage!" Yuni yelled. "Be a little more-"
"I'll stay with you."
You were all more surprised.
"I'm no good on teams, anyway. I'll stay here, while Souji leads those guys to whatever's behind that door."
Was he really willing to stay behind like that? Alone with the girl that was trying to divide Rage and Emi apart? You decided not to ask; you believed Rage meant what he said. You asked if everyone was ready to go on; they had just recovered from a fight, and there was time to turn back if they needed to.
"Nah, I'm still going strong," Yuni said. "Emi's our friend, and we gotta get her out of there ASAP."
Akira chuckled. "Don't worry about us. We're all worried about the girl behind that door."
You nodded, and you opened the door, closing it after everyone was on the other side.
You didn't see Emi or her Shadow.
You saw someone else.