CHAPTER 12 / Forced Introduction

February 18th, 2010

Dear Yukari,

It is getting harder than I thought it would. Generally I can last for most of the day, as long as I sleep through at least one of the classes. But to be honest even when I'm awake I often spend my time purely on writing the journal. I'm running out of time, and I have to increase the time I spend on this. Plus I also want to make sure I have time to spend with you before it comes down to the end. Even after the world is saved I can't even give myself a day off.

I don't like thinking about this. It doesn't matter whether I regret the decision or not. The choice has already been made and I can't undo it, nor would I, even if given the chance. What I did saved you…it saved everyone. How could I ever feel bad about that? Except…it doesn't change the fact that I'm leaving you…and everyone else behind. And…I hate that. I hate it so much.

Why now? After all this time, I finally found a place I belong. I'm not alone here…I have friends that like me and need me. I have a girlfriend who loves me. She spends so much time worrying about me. But it's all going to be gone soon and yet I….

No, I don't have time to dwell on that. I have so much more to tell you before it's all over. I want to tell you everything that I can, while I am still able. At the very least I will leave my memories of the time that was easily the best of my life. I'm going to finish to finish this journal, so that maybe...there will be something left behind of me even after people have forgotten me.

Love Always,
Arisato Minato

August 6th, 2009 / Dark Hour

Standing against the wall in his usual spot in the command room, everyone was gathered as it became the Dark Hour. Minato was used to the change into the Dark Hour, but it was still unsettling. After all, despite being accustomed to it, that didn't make it normal. Honestly he was more used to the dark hour than the man Ikusuki Shuji...whom even after all this time still didn't seem trustworthy. No he still rubbed him the wrong way. His insistence that the defeat of the Shadows meant the end of the Dark Hour didn't help either. Minato could never believe things could end so simply.

"Well, it's a full moon once again," Ikutsuki said, seemingly amused by this fact.

"Tch," Minato muttered as he moved towards the window on the other side of the command room walking by Fuuka as she was scanning the area. Minato just felt himself get irritated when Ikutsuki spoke.

"Any luck, Yamagishi?" Mitsuru asked.

"Yes, I've located it," Fuuka paused. Her tone made it seem like she was confused. "And this time, it's not an ordinary one."

"Now, that's more like it," Akihiko grinned. Minato just shook his head. None of this could be good. Well, Akihiko, being ready to fight wasn't out of the ordinary though.

"It's by the deserted residential section in the northern part of Iwatodai. But, there is one thing that is strange…it seems to be underground…almost ten meters," Fuuka definitely was baffled by its location. Minato figured that these larger Shadows went for more strategic locations, places that made use of their unique aspects.

"It must be in some kind of basement," Yukari said. Minato agreed, although they would have to be pretty big for it to be of any strategic use to a Shadow.

"According to my records, there is no structure in the area that matches those criteria. However, in the past there was an underground facility that was used by the military," Aigis spoke up. That would definitely mean there was more than enough room down there for a Shadow to set a trap. Minato turned back towards the window looking out over Iwatodai and the Dark Hour. It was going to be another trap...and just like before they would go and spring it...Minato was beyond caring about this recklessness. His mind had more shifted in thoughts to instead...limiting the amount of potential damage.

"The military? Is that true?" Yukari voiced her doubts.

"Well, the architectural and geographical data for the area were loaded into her memory bank. Then again the information hasn't been updated in a decade," Ikutsuki said with a sigh.

A decade? That put Aigis last in operation around the time the accident had happened. He had a suspicion that the reactivation of Aigis was not something that just suddenly happened. There was too much coincidence for his taste. But Aigis had proven to be incredibly powerful in battle. Although her skills were purely physical in nature, so some enemies she was of little use against. However she was also capable of using buffs on the party and it had helped quite a bit. What worried him was that she was a machine…he wondered if it was possible to directly control her. Except there was no way that he could possibly find any of that out. But she needed an ego to control a Persona...so she had a measure of free will. She had to in order to be able of having a Persona.

The others talked back and forth a bit before coming to the conclusion that Minato had already come to. They needed to head down there to the scene before making any real decision as to who should go or the tactics of approaching the Shadow. Still Minato figured it would be yet another trap, one way or another. There was no use in trying to convince SEES to halt the whole thing…even Minato knew that they couldn't leave the Shadows as they were. If left alone then people would be in danger, and even more would join the Lost Ones. People victim of the Apathy Syndrome. It was a damned if you do and damned if you don't kind of situation. Minato didn't know enough to convince anyone either way.

It took longer than he wished, but eventually they had found the entrance to the underground facility around the harbor in northern Iwatodai. They stood inside and he felt the oppressive atmosphere coming from deeper in the facility. Minato felt conflicted about this fight.

"The target should be further in," Fuuka said as she continued to be scanning the area.

Minato suddenly turned around as a sense of alarm pulsed through him. He turned to see two individuals walked in. One had long wavy hair and...had no shirt on. And the other was carrying a silver case and had on a pair of thick black glasses. The shirtless man clapped his hands together slowly and grabbing everyone's attention, "Well done…This is the first time we've met in person." All of SEES was understandably alarmed by their appearance.

The possibility of other functioning people in the dark hour had certainly occurred to Minato, but not any that would really be aware of their activities.

"Who are these guys? Lucia didn't sense a thing 'til now!" Fuuka's surprise definitely got everyone's attention. Minato was oddly…not that surprised by that thought. More than likely someone had a persona capable of blocking the ability to sense them. Persona's ability was probably broader than they thought.

"My name is Takaya. This is Jin. We are known as Strega. We've been keeping an eye on you…From what we hear; you've undertaken a "righteous" battle to save the world. But, we've come tonight to put an end to that dream. You've gained new allies, yet this land still crawls with sin. Tartarus is towering beautifully as always…" the one named Takaya was confident, and they had definitely calculated this appearance tonight.

"But, why the hell would you wanna stop us?" Junpei spoke out. Minato wished he could stop that from happening. He would rather control the flow of this conversation rather than the rest of SEES. But he also equally wanted to say nothing, if only to observe them and get a read on what exactly they were doing here.

"Simple…if Shadows and the Dark Hour disappear, then so will our power…And we can't let that happen, can we?" Takaya seemed amused by this exchange. Minato looked at them curiously...was that really their purpose? Why would they assume that the power of Persona was linked to the Dark Hour?

"Power…? Don't tell me you're Persona users as well!" Mitsuru was genuinely surprised.

"Why don't you use that pretty little head of yours for a change? Only a select few wield the power of Persona. And the Dark Hour is a frontier that is ours alone to explore. Just like the Tower of Demise," Takaya was probably disappointed with the viewpoints of the other SEES members.

Minato had never heard Tartarus referred to it that way. The Tower of Demise…Did he pull that name from somewhere? Or maybe he had information that they didn't. It would be bad to assume anything at this point.

"That's your reason?" Yukari was speaking now. "Are you crazy? There's no telling what will happen if we don't do something about the Shadows." Minato agreed with her completely...regardless of anything else...other people couldn't be put at risk...in danger just for them to have 'power' or a time of their own. Minato had many other concerns about the nature of the Dark Hour and if the Shadows were directly related or not, but it was hardly something he was going to bring up now.

"What difference does it make? There will always be disasters. Whether they are caused by Shadows or human folly. No one can predict the future anyway. But, all that is beside the point. Surely you will acknowledge the sense of significance the Dark Hour has given you," Takaya obviously made a point to look at everyone as he said this.

Minato said nothing, despite what anyone could say he was right in a way. The Dark Hour had changed all of them and it was more than that.

"You think I like this?" Yukari was defiant.

"Is it not so? How about the rest of you…? Do you also wish to return to your pathetic, ordinary lives?"

Minato could only figure that Takaya was trying to lead to some sort of point. Obviously he thought that ending the Dark Hour was not what they wanted. But the end of the Dark Hour would not be the end of Shadows…after all Shadows had existed long before the Dark Hour. But maybe Takaya didn't know that.

"You've each got your own reason for fighting. "Justice" is only an excuse…And it makes you all hypocrites. So I say, to hell with you!" Jin spoke this time and the two of them jumped back as Jin kicked a switch. "Have fun in there."

The large steel doors slammed shut.

"Dammit!" Akihiko yelled.

Was it bad that Minato wanted to laugh? While the possibility of this hadn't been high on his list it had certainly been a possibility. And what Takaya said hadn't exactly been wrong, but he was misinformed on a few points. Except that he actually was quite well informed on SEES activities. There was definitely something wrong…because someone had told them that information. Most likely with this kind of result in mind. Despite Strega more or less only coming to announce themselves, they hadn't really done anything against them. Trapping them inside was more like a bully shoving a kid in a locker. Well...a locker with a monster inside it.

"We will be all right. Rather than waste our energy, I suggest we deal with the Shadow first," Aigis was the voice of reason in this instance.

Everyone seemed to agree on this point. Minato had said absolutely nothing so far in regards to Strega. Obviously the fact that there were Persona users directly against the ending of the Dark Hour would cause problems. Minato wasn't convinced that it would actually end the Dark Hour. Minato walked over to the doorway that seemed to lead further into the facility. He couldn't see well…it looked like there was much light. He could see some down below but it seemed sparse.

"Minato, who should make up the party? Since the room down there is limited we should keep the number the same as when we explore Tartarus," Akihiko said coming up to him.

So he needed to pick the team again? That process was becoming harder all the time. All of them were capable of being effective in combat. What made it harder is that Minato often had to rework his collection of Persona to accommodate for the weaknesses and strengths of the people that were with him. The others were watching him so he turned away from them and closed his eyes. He had a wide variety of Persona but lacked one with a decent healing capability. Yukari would have to be part of the group. And he also felt that Aigis should be part of the assault group. It would be a gamble whenever he brought her because if the enemy was strong against physical attacks it would cause her to be less optimal of a choice. The last spot was difficult. Mitsuru would no doubt be a good addition; she had a strong magical attack and could also heal in a pinch if Yukari was unable to do so. But then again Minato himself could do it himself although not to the same effectiveness. Akihiko would be able to debuff the enemy and that had saved them a few times in the past.

He sighed as he turned back to the others. "Akihiko-senpai, Aigis-san and Yukari-san will be with me with the main force. Junpei-kun and Kirijo-san will remain with Yamagishi-san to protect her and in case there is another trap that we may need help with." His voice was flat and showed no emotion to the events that had occurred. He even was a bit more formal to Yukari just to show that he was focused. He turned back away from the others.

"Minato, are you okay?" Yukari asked coming up on his side. He knew it was bothering that he hadn't said anything about Strega. No doubt she wanted to know his thoughts on the two that had appeared. But honestly he was concerned about another thought...that they may not have been the only ones that made up Strega.

"Just focus on the Shadow for now. We can talk later," Minato said without turning back to her. "Let's move, time is wasting."

Unsheathing his sword he ran through the doorway and down the dimly lit hall not even bothering to check if the others were behind him.

"I sense the target two blocks ahead of you. It's moving slowly downward. Chase after it!" Fuuka spoke to him telepathically.

"Are there any other shadows?" Minato asked.

"There are a few regular Shadows, most likely to try and slow your progress," Fuuka reported.

"I wonder if it is looking for more ideal ground to attack us at," Minato muttered as he continued to move forward. Then the hall suddenly opened up revealing a large room. "What the?" Minato stopped.

"This place…it's a weapons depot?" Akihiko said as he entered the space.

"Most of this stuff is decommissioned, most likely this place was only active during the last World War and then abandoned sometime after. Most likely forgotten about," Minato said as he moved over to one side and sheathed his blade. He picked up an object. It was a sword. "Well I suppose not all of it is useless." He unsheathed it seeing the full blade of a katana. The quality of it was…amazing, definitely more than he would expect to find in an abandoned military facility. Then again even today most higher ranking military personnel had swords. It was just surprising that one would be forgotten and left down here. He had a feeling it might be more effective than the blade that he had. So Minato sheathed the katana and tied it next to his other sword. He could at the very least use it if necessary. And it would be a better fit for him to have a weapon that could be used one or two handed.

"The target is gaining speed! You need to hurry!" Fuuka's voice brought Minato back to the present and he set out in a sprint.

Leaving the depot behind, Minato found himself running down a dirt tunnel. It didn't seem like it was like the rest of the facility…but he could hear the Shadow moving ahead.

"Shadows are moving to block your path!" Fuuka warned.

Minato pulled out his evoker. "Avoid the ones you can, don't waste time on the small ones." Minato ordered. "Sarasvati! Mabufu!" It hit a pair of shadows that had jumped towards him and forced them into a dead stop as he switched his evoker to his off hand and pulled out his sword. He sliced cleanly through one of the Shadows and continued down the path, leaving the rest to the others. More Shadows blocked his path ahead.

Using his offhand he put the evoker to his head, "Virtue! Mahama!" While the spell had a low success chance it could instantly kill Shadows. Two of them were defeated. It was better than Minato had hoped but had no time to switch Personas. He jumped over the Shadows lunging attack and landed behind it. With a swift turn he brought his blade across in a vertical slash and then kicked the Shadow back. An arrow pierced the Shadow and disappeared only a moment later. The others finally caught up to him and he turned towards their destination.

"The Shadow has stopped, it's just in the next room," Fuuka informed them.

Minato rushed down and stopped when he saw the Shadow. It was a tank? But it was standing up on its treads? That was just odd…how could it be standing up on four treads when it only had two to begin with? Well it wasn't like Shadows ran on logic to begin with.

"This is interesting," Akihiko said from next to him.

"That's one way to put it," Minato frowned. Shadows were weird.

"It's Arcana is Justice…no wait…its Chariot? What the…I'm sensing two entities…it doesn't make sense!" Fuuka was obviously confused.

"There must be two of them then, we just can't see it," Yukari said from Minato's right.

"Aigis, you're up," Minato spoke concisely, it was time to stop speculating and get to work.

"Acknowledged," Aigis ran forward and began firing at the tank, grabbing its attention. "Palladion!" Her Persona materialized and rushed by the boss hitting it several times as Aigis continued to unload ammunition on the Shadow.

"At least it isn't strong to physical attacks. Senpai, debuff all you can and then back up Aigis on the attack," Minato ordered.

"Alright," Akihiko grinned. "Polydeuces!"

Minato charged forward as well, seeing that the Shadow was finally looking ready to attack. So far the damage they were doing was stacking up, but it was obvious that this Shadow was a lot tougher than normal ones. This wasn't going to be a simple fight. Not that he had expected it to be.

The Shadow aimed the canon at Minato and fired. It hit him hard sending him spiraling in the air and Minato managed to recover himself and come out of the spiral just right, hitting the ground with his feet and sliding backwards to a stop. His ears were ringing and the pain seemed so surreal. He needed to focus…he knew he wasn't thinking clearly tonight. The pain was quickly eased as Yukari was quickly by his side. Mistakes were costly in a battle, and he needed to make sure he didn't take another direct hit.

"Don't be so reckless, Minato," Yukari said softly and offered to help him up.

He took her hand and allowed her to pull him up to his feet, the pain now just a recent memory, "Sorry, I'll be more careful." However, Minato was fully aware that sometimes being reckless was the best course of action.

Minato watched as Aigis attacked the Shadow, hitting it again with her Persona. That was when the Shadow decided to show its true nature. The top of the tank split from the bottom taking the canon with it. It sprouted wings and flew effortlessly in the air as the other stood up on its hind tracks. Aigis and Akihiko fell back as Minato moved to the front of their formation. Things were probably only going to be more difficult.

"Aigis-san and Yukari focus on the flyer. Senpai and I will get the main body," Minato gave quick orders and no one argued it. More than likely the flyer was the Justice Arcana and the main body was Chariot. It made sense logically. He wasn't sure if they would reform or not but at least Aigis and Yukari could deal with the range of Justice while Akihiko and he could easily deal with Chariot. Well...easily was a relative term.

On the charge again, Minato held his evoker in his off hand and kept his blade in his right. "Oumitsunu!" He summoned his Persona it charging forward and hitting the Shadow hard. Akihiko followed with his own Persona and caused it to rock back. Minato jumped towards the Shadow and swung hard and slashed across the Shadows underside. Despite having a tank body the Shadow reeled back in pain. Minato in the last second was able to position his feet so he landed on the Shadow then out all his strength into jumping back off of it. The Shadow rebounded and attempted to swat him from the air. Minato quickly summoned his Persona once more, "Kill Rush!" He yelled as Oumitsunu came quick and knocked the Shadow back. Landing, he jumped back to create distance as Akihiko charged forward and landed a zio skill on the Shadow. It didn't look like it was particularly effective.

Minato rushed in again, switching his Persona. "Orthus! Getsu-ei!" The two headed dog persona appeared and slashed at the Shadow, the body fell backwards and stopped moving. But the Shadow had not disappeared like it usually does.

"Alright, one down!" Akihiko said as he moved to help out Aigis and Yukari. Minato turned to do the same and saw Justice was heading straight towards him.

"Minato!" Yukari's voice was panicked but the Shadow went right past him and towards the...

"He's going to revive the other Shadow!" Fuuka quickly informed, clearly panicked.

"Shit," Minato swore as he made a dash towards Justice. "Orthus!" He summoned his Persona to try and hit Justice. He succeeded and knocked it to the ground before it could revive the other one. Still running he brought his sword up to slash the downed Shadow.

Justice recovered faster than he had anticipated. It jumped up and fired at him. Instinctively he brought up his hands to block but it wasn't fast enough. The Shadow had hit Minato's left hand causing his arm to lurch back and his evoker to fly off into the distance. Minato groaned as the pain rolled from his left hand to the rest of his body. The Shadow turned to head back towards the downed Chariot. The others were running to support him but they weren't as close as Minato. Except he was now without his evoker.

He didn't hesitate. He ran forward and past Justice with a burst of speed. He only realized a second later that Aigis had casted Sukukja increasing his agility. Minato jumped onto the remains of Chariot and then jumped towards Justice at an impressive height. Justice tried to fire at him but it wasn't fast enough. Minato used both his hands to bury his blade into Justice. The Shadow shook violently and hurled Minato down. Aigis was there to catch him.

The mechanical maiden quickly put him down and he drew out the katana he had found earlier since currently his other sword was buried into Justice. He got a quick idea, now was the time to use Aigis at her maximum. "Aigis, use Orgia mode. We need to down him before he revives Chariot."

"Acknowledge, removing limiters. Orgia mode active," Aigis charged forward towards Justice and attacked before it could recover.

"Io, Diarama!" Yukari was at his side and had healed him.

"Thanks Yukari," Minato said taking a moment to catch his breath. He hadn't even noticed how badly he'd been hurt before. Most likely due to the adrenaline. "We need to make a decisive blow against Justice it seems…Akihiko-san! Can you knock it down?"

"Consider it done," Akihiko charged forward.

Yukari stepped next to him, "You're about to do something reckless again, aren't you?" He glanced over at her and saw the worry in her eyes, but knew she wasn't going to stop him. Minato was actually happy a bit...Yukari could read him...and what he was thinking. Well...it felt nice to have his girlfriend worried about him.

"It'll work, trust me," he smiled at her. Despite his attitude from earlier, battles had a way of putting him at ease. Maybe it shouldn't be surprising considering, before his days of Tartarus, he had only ever felt at ease in a kendo match. He was a warrior, maybe this was just the way it was meant to be for him.

"I do trust you, but that doesn't mean I don't worry," Yukari stepped forward and kissed his cheek and then placed her evoker in his left hand. "You may want this. But be careful, I can't heal you this way."

"I'll be right back," he promised and strengthened his grip on the katana in his right hand and Yukari's evoker in his left. Minato was charging again, he brought Yukari's evoker up to his head, "Virtue! Tarukaja!" He buffed himself even more increasing his strength this time. His speed from Aigis' buff and his strength were nearly doubled as he approached Justice as Akihiko moved into place.

Minato switched his Persona again, "Orthus! Getsu-ei!" His Persona knocked Justice back just enough as Akihiko jumped forward.

"Polydeuces! " Akihiko's Persona came from above Justice and with force knocked it down hard.

"Now! Go for an all-out attack!" Minato yelled. Aigis, Akihiko charged in but…it didn't go well. Aigis suddenly stopped moving. She was overheating, her Orgia mode had brought her to the stopping point already. Akihiko and Minato rushed in alone. Akihiko jumped onto Justice and gave some powerful punches straight into Justices face. Minato came in and stabbed down into the Shadow. Quickly he holstered Yukari's evoker and grabbed onto the katana and his other sword that had still been embedded in the Shadow. Justice recovered and Akihiko was quick to jump away but Minato instead held on to his swords as Justice took to the air again. Justice spun at a high speed but Minato held on tight. His grip did not loosen but both swords freed itself from Justice. Minato felt himself flying off at a high speed.

This time there was no one there to catch him and no time to recover. Minato hit the wall hard and then fell about five feet onto the ground. He looked up and saw that Justice had successfully revived Chariot. The two combined into the tank form once again. They had done a lot of damage to Justice, and it was unlikely that Chariot hadn't regained much energy even after being revived. So all they needed to do was damage them both enough to get them to split. Then they should focus on downing them both simultaneously. Only problem being that Minato was in bad shape, he was sure the only thing keeping him up was his adrenaline. He switched Personas and let go of his swords finally and reached down to the holster to pull out Yukari's evoker. "Ganga. Diarama," he muttered and pulled the trigger. The healing went over him and he felt a lot of the pain withered away.

"No! Minato!" Yukari yelled.

"Arisato!" Akihiko yelled as well.

"Look out!" Fuuka also yelled in alarm.

Minato saw the combined Shadow on a full charge at him. It ignored the others and was setting its eyes squarely on him. Well...he was the logical target since he was the one capable of adapting and supplementing the group's weaknesses. Except he had no time to dodge. He switched to his strongest Persona, Oumitsunu. The Shadow attacked…but it stopped just short of him, the image of Oumitsunu appeared its hands stopping the attack and countered with his own causing the combined shadow to fall back.

Aigis came jumping down from quite a height and kicked the Shadows front causing it to split. Justice was thrown from Chariot straight towards Minato. Only having a few seconds, Minato dropped the evoker and picked up both swords and stabbed straight into Justices mask. Using the strength of Oumitsunu he pushed one sword down and the other up, making a full vertical cut and splitting the mask and entire Shadow in half. Justice disappeared into a black mist.

Looking up he saw Aigis and Akihiko smash Chariot in on itself making it disappear as well.

Minato stumbled back to the wall and collapsed. They won, so he could rest for now. The appearance of Strega had done little to stop the mission. Still it wasn't something that could be easily dismissed either. There would be plenty of time to think about that in the days to come.

"You scared me," Yukari said as she came forward. Minato brought his gaze up and smiled as she had both of their evokers in her hand. "You're way too crazy in battle."

"You don't like crazy?" he laughed and felt a pain in his gut. Yukari must have noticed it because not two beats later Minato felt her healing spell coming over him and the pain instantly vanished...well not all of it but a good portion of it. "I think I sprained my arms…"

"I don't like crazy that gets you hurt like this," Yukari said as she moved forward to look at his arms. "Take off your jacket so I can look properly."

"We should head back up top first," Akihiko said walking over to them. "Damn Minato, how'd you split that Shadow apart like you did?"

"I focused my Persona's strength into my hands," Minato shrugged as he let Yukari help him up to his feet. He groaned in pain as he could feel it in his arms. "Yeah…I definitely sprained my arms or something. I'm gonna have to ice them when we get back to the Dorm. Anyway, good job guys. That's two more down."

The Great Seal

Date Unknown

Hamuko felt incredibly strange. Her body seemed so light as if she weighed nothing. And then she finally took a moment to take a look at the surroundings. Smoke…no, fog surrounded the area, but oddly Hamuko was not afraid or worried about it. She made the decision to keep moving and walked forward for some time. Although she wasn't really able to see where she was heading, she just knew she was heading in the right direction because she felt something familiar was pulling her towards a destination.

It couldn't have been long, but something told her that perhaps it should have taken her longer, like this was not a place that should be so easily navigated. However, she had arrived at her destination. The fog began to clear as she came to a stop on the base of a staircase. She looked up to see a large gate. It seemed like more than a gate…it was gold, and the gate gigantic. But from this Gate went walls in both directions and to which each went into the fog seemingly to have no end.

"Why does this place feel so familiar?" Hamuko voiced her question to no one as she looked up. There in its glory was a statue placed against the gate like a crucifix. She recognized it only a moment later. "That's…my brother? Just what is this place?"

Suddenly a blue smoke appeared in front of her, so Hamuko took a step back in alarm. The smoke amassed and began to take shape. A strangely friendly face appeared from it.

A young man with blue hair greeted her with a smile, "Welcome to the sea of unconscious."

Author's Note:

Short chapter today. This is more of a transition chapter as it is setting up the next part of the storyline. But still another Full Moon event down. Hopefully the next Chapter will be a bit surprising. Thanks for all your support so far guys. I hope you are enjoying the story as I'm posting it.

See you all tomorrow with Chapter 13.