Chapter VI: The Mission.
***Evening***
The party headed back to the boys' apartment as the day began to sink behind the horizon, and the pace of the city faded to a slow silence. Raymond Oz was sitting at the kitchen table, as if in waiting.
"Welcome home." He said, with the same straight smile that Jackson had remembered.
"Ray! You're like never here!" Alex seemed excited.
"You must be Samantha" Ray said, looking past Alex, "it's nice to meet you. I'm Raymond Oz."
"Err, hello. It's just Sam." She stood awkwardly in the corridor.
Jackson took a seat at the table, and invited Sam to sit next to him, "make yourself at home."
She sat on his left side, and Alex on his right.
"It's probably a good thing that you're all together actually." Said Ray, "I've been meaning to talk to you about last Wednesday."
The conversation stalled, and the three looked surprisingly at one another.
"What about it?" Alex asked.
"There's no need to act innocently with me." Ray began. "I know you've all been to that world. The forgotten frequency is very real, and I am very much aware of it."
"You mean you've been there before?" Jackson was shocked. He'd been foolish. Of course there would be other's who had been there. Did this mean there were other persona users? Was Ray one of them? How many other people knew about it? Questions seemed to form themselves inside his head, but he had no way of answering them.
"Many times.." Ray admitted. He was beginning to make Jackson and the others nervous. "I was given a mission. Or rather, I gave myself a mission… But I failed. I lost hope. But now, you three have the chance that I wasted."
"So can you- err" Alex had to think about how to put his next few words, "can you do what Jackson did?"
"If you mean summoning a 'persona' then yes, I can. Or at least I could."
"You could?" Sam asked.
"I have lost that ability."
"You lost it?!" The three asked.
"How do you lose something like that? It's not a pair of socks." Alex continued.
"Yes, I lost it. But in order to explain how, there are a few things you all need to understand about the forgotten frequency. Those creatures in that world, the ones you fought? They are created from humans."
"Humans?" Sam asked.
"Yes. When ever a human feels sad or unsure, or a great many other negative emotions in this world, a shadow is born in that world." Ray explained.
"How does this have anything to do with your 'persona' or whatever it's called?" Alex was clearly impatient.
"I'm getting to that. In order to summon a persona, you have to control your inner shadow; the true emotions inside of you that you try to ignore or hide. To do this, you must first find your 'evoker'."
"Evoker?" Jackson asked, "I don't remember that, and I don't remember controlling my shadow."
"Your evoker is usually something that you hold close to your heart. Something that means a lot to you." Ray explained.
"Your stopwatch!" Alex said, a proud realization darting into his face.
"Oh, err I guess." Said Jackson.
"Ok, so your stopwatch is your evoker. Now, controlling your shadow does not necessarily mean being happy all the time. In order to summon a persona, you must accept something about yourself. Maybe something that you have been keeping a secret." Ray explained.
"Oh. About my family?" Jackson asked.
"Quite possibly" Ray nodded, "Facing your inner shadow self and accepting it gives birth to you persona. Now that you have awakened the power of 'persona', you can summon it by means of your evoker."
"So how did you lose your persona?" Alex asked again.
"Well, controlling your shadow is only the beginning. If you let the power it grants you control you, then the shadow inside of you begins to take over once more. I'm ashamed to say that I took the power of persona for granted, and I lost sight of the reasons why I had taken control of my shadow in the first place. This means that my evoker no longer has any real relevance to me, and I can no longer use it to summon my persona."
"So that's why you failed in your mission." Sam finished.
"Yes. That's why I needed to talk to you." Ray explained.
"You want us to finish the job for you." Jackson stated.
"But how? Why us three?" Alex asked, "Jackson's the only one with a persona."
"No, he's is the only one who has shown that he has the potential to summon a persona." Ray corrected.
"The potential?" Sam asked.
"All humans have the potential to summon a persona. However, some have more of a chance than others. Jackson here has already shown that he has high potential. For you two, it is just a matter of time before you show the strength of your resolve."
"You mean, we can summon a persona?" Alex was suddenly exited.
"There is quite a high chance." Ray said, "and when you do, you can complete my mission."
"What is your mission?" Jackson asked.
"To close the gateway between this world and the world of the shadows for good." Ray looked proud.
"How do we do that?" Sam asked.
"Well. There are different types of shadow. Some are stronger than others." Ray began.
"How do we tell the difference?" Jackson asked.
"Shadows and persona's are split in to different categories, each representing a certain 'Arcana'."
"Like Tarot cards." Said Sam.
"Exactly. These, however, do not necessarily tell you the strength of the shadow, and we need to find the strongest shadow of all." Said Ray, "the voice that you hear on the radio before entering the shadow channel is the voice of this shadow. It's called the Archangel, and it runs that world and the forgotten frequency."
"So you want us to kill the Archangel?" Jackson asked.
"Exactly." Ray looked intently into each of their eyes, "So what do you say? Are you in?"
"Hell yeah!" Alex exclaimed.
"I'll do it if Jackson does." Sam added nervously.
"I've already told you how I feel about the shadows." Jackson explained, 'you know I'm in."
***Friday, September 26: Lunchtime***
Jackson ate his lunch with Sam and Alex, and they talked about their conversation with Raymond.
"I think it's kinda cool." Said Alex, "If we manage to close the link to that world, then there shouldn't be any more amnesia cases. We get to save people. We'd be heroes."
"Yeah, but what if we die?" Sam asked. "This is really serious and really dangerous. We should go to the cops or the FBI or something because we're not ready for this."
"We're the only ones who can do this." Said Jackson. "The police would never believe us. And this power I have now isn't a coincidence. I don't think I'd have awoken to my persona if this wasn't something that we have to face alone."
"What about Ray?" Alex asked, "Do you think he'll be able to get his persona back? Maybe then he can help us out."
"I don't know." Sam said, "But I don't like that he forced this upon us. Why the sudden interest in us? Is it just so we can finish his job for him?"
"I don't think that's entirely fair." Jackson said. "He didn't force us. This is something we chose to take on. You can still walk away."
Sam looked thoughtfully for a moment. "No. I want to help you. You were right about the forgotten frequency, its only fair that I trust you this time. If you think this is something only we can do, then I'll do anything I can to help you."
"Well you can count on me, partner." Alex said, "Or at least you will be able to once I get me a persona!"
"I appreciate it, but a persona isn't just something you can force out of yourself." Said Jackson, "it takes a lot to face your inner shadow. You'll never awaken to a persona if you take that kind of approach."
"Whatever, I'm off." Alex waved dismissively as he left for his next class.
Jackson sighed.
"He'll be ok." Sam said. "We have you, Jackson. What could possibly go wrong, Right?"
Jackson looked into Sam's eyes and smiled, "C'mon, we should go." And with that, they followed Alex back into the school.