Since there are so many chapters and I don't want to be stuck writing only one chapter a month, I'm going to do my best to churn them out as fast as I can without being disruptive to the narrative flow. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy!

May 8, 2009, Friday, Dark Hour

Seth, Homura, Daichi, Nobuo and Emi were all fighting off Shadows after making it to the fifteenth floor of Tartarus. A few Obsessed Cupids approached Homura, who was ready to fight back.

"Aphrodite!"

Homura fired her Evoker at her head and summoned her Persona, Aphrodite, to shoot bolts of lightning that obliterated the Shadows. There were some stragglers that Homura charged at with her fists and knocked them to pieces with a single punch from her gauntlets. At the same time, a pack of Cowardly Maya were slithering their way to Daichi.

"Heracles!" Daichi shot his Evoker at his head and summoned his Persona.

Heracles smashed his fists on top of the Cowardly Maya and smashed them to the point of disintegration. One of them tried to struggle free, but just as Heracles had disappeared Daichi came charging in with his shield and bashed it against the wall until it was destroyed.

"Daichi, look out!"

Daichi turned around to see a Muttering Tiara attempting to strike him from his blindside, but it spontaneously exploded before anything could happen. He looked over toward Nobuo, whose revolver was smoking from being fired.

"Thanks, Nobuo!" Daichi gave him a thumbs-up.

A Merciless Maya made its way to the group of Persona users, only to be stopped by Emi.

"Persephone!"

Emi used her Evoker and Persephone appeared to form a purple circular seal in front of the Shadow. After a few seconds, the Shadow disappeared into nothingness and Emi just smirked sinisterly. Just then, a Grave Beetle appeared before them.

"Let me handle this." Seth said as he dashed forward with his double-sided sword and Evoker in hand. "Fortuna!"

With a click of his Evoker, Seth summoned one of his recently acquired Personae, Fortuna, and she called forth geysers of wind that blasted the Grave Beetle and knocked it to the ground.

"Here's our chance!" Seth shouted. "Let's end this!"

All five of them ganged up on the Grave Beetle and wailed on it until it got back up.

"It's a lot tougher than I thought." Seth said before firing his Evoker again. "Helios!"

Helios appeared and shot a ball of fire at the Grave Beetle, incinerating it into ash. With all the Shadows on the current floor defeated, Daichi slumped against the wall and let out a heavy sigh of relief.

"Man, it just wouldn't end…" Daichi said. "Can we take a break?"

Seth looked toward the staircase nearby and then back at the group.

"I'm going to take a peek at the next floor." Seth said. "You guys stay here so you won't get overwhelmed by any Shadows that decide to finally show up."

"No argument here." Daichi responded.

Seth walked up the steps to see a circular room with another flight of stairs heading upward, only this time it was blocked by a green, ethereal barrier and dozens of stacked school desks. Looking back and forth around the room, it seemed like that was all there was to the floor, so he decided to head back down and regroup with the others.

"Okay, I've got good news and bad news." Seth said. "The bad news is that-"

"Why aren't you starting with the good news?" Nobuo asked.

"Let me finish." Seth replied. "The bad news is that the next floor has a barrier preventing us from going up any higher."

"And what's the good news?" Daichi inquired.

"There aren't any Shadows, so we can go home for the night." Seth answered.

"Woohoo!" Daichi shot up his arms in joy.

May 9, Saturday, Dark Hour

Emi had been sent out on reconnaissance duty again as Seth was in the computer room wearing headphones to hear her transmissions. Daichi had upgraded the computer so they could be able to get recon information much more quickly. Homura, Daichi and Nobuo were all standing behind him, waiting for something worthy of notice.

"Emi, is there anything out of the ordinary?" Seth asked.

"There are bloody coffins everywhere." Emi replied.

"Don't be a smartass." Seth said. "Now that we have this upgrade in communications, we can relay information much more quickly."

"Why are you so high-strung about this, Seth?" Daichi asked.

"Remember how last month, Emi reported seeing a Shadow roaming outside of Tartarus." Seth replied. "What if there are others out there?"

"Then we'd have to keep our guard up." Homura responded.

"Exactly." Seth said.

"What the hell?!"

"Is something wrong, Emi?" Seth asked, somewhat fearful of his suspicions.

"There's a giant Shadow at the monorail station! It's bigger than any of the guardians we've fought in Tartarus!"

"Hold on, we're on our way!" Seth said before removing the headphones and turning toward the group. "Homura, you stay here and maintain radio communications. Daichi, Nobuo, you're coming with me to give Emi some backup."

"Wait-" Homura was about to say, but the guys left before she could finish. She just sighed. "Why couldn't I come along?"

Emi was hiding behind an alley across the street from the train station as Seth, Daichi and Nobuo arrived on the scene, all of them carrying their respective weapons.

"Any movement from the Shadow?" Seth asked Emi.

"We just heard through Homura that nothing had changed." Daichi said.

"Things can happen very quickly." Seth retorted before looking toward the station entrance. "Hide!"

As Seth jumped to hide in the alley, Daichi and Nobuo panicked and decided to follow his lead.

"What is it, Seth?" Nobuo asked. "Was that foul Shadow watching us?"

"No, look." Seth pointed to the entrance to the station.

Over by the entrance were Minato and Junpei sitting on the steps with Yukari walking back and forth in front of the stairs.

"It's Miss Popular again…" Emi growled and tightened her grip on the edge of the building.

Upon closer inspection, Seth could have sworn he heard the metal of the building crunch as Emi continued clenching it. They then heard the sound of a motorcycle and saw Mitsuru drive up to the trio in front of the station.

"And there's the other bitch…" Emi started grinding her teeth together.

"You have serious issues…" Daichi muttered.

"Could they be here to take down the Shadow?" Nobuo wondered.

"I say let them die." Emi said.

"If so, then we can either leave the Shadow to them or…" Seth trailed off.

"'Or'?" Daichi questioned. "You're not suggesting we help them, do you? We're supposed to work in the shadows. For all we know, they could be with the Hands of Anarchy."

"I really doubt they could be with the Hands of Anarchy." Seth raised his eyebrow.

"Oh really?" Daichi asked. "Then tell me your one hundred percent legitimate proof that they aren't with the Hands of Anarchy."

Seth remained silent for a moment. "… They're already making their way to the train! Let's tail them for now."

"I know you're over there!"

Both of them froze upon hearing that authoritative voice and turned to see Mitsuru glaring at them.

"Oh, you gonna try to stop us, bitch?" Emi asked.

"Do you WANT to get on my bad side?" Mitsuru dared.

"Do your worst!" Emi replied.

"Okay, hold it, ladies!" Seth got in between Mitsuru and Emi and held the latter back from mauling the former. "We're all here to take out the giant Shadow, right?"

"Wait, how did you know about the Shadow?" Mitsuru asked. "Does one of you use a surveillance-type Persona?"

"No, Emi here is our recon scout." Seth answered.

"We can't just let her be, Seth." Daichi said.

"As much as I like the idea of a Persona-user alliance, protocol says I have to agree with Daichi." Nobuo said. "We can't be compromised."

"Well, I'm going to the monorail to help them out." Seth said. "Daichi, you're coming with me. Nobuo, make sure the ladies don't start a catfight. Mitsuru, where is the Shadow?"

"It's on the monorail nearest to the station." Mitsuru answered.

"Thanks." Seth said.

"Do we really have to follow those or-" Daichi was about to say until Seth started pulling him toward the monorail station.

Seth and Daichi made their way along the rails to a monorail that was currently not operating due to the Dark Hour.

"I don't see Minato and the others." Seth said. "They must already be on the monorail."

"I can't believe we're going along with this." Daichi muttered. "Director Matsuzawa's going to be so pissed at you for disobeying protocol."

"I'll take full responsibility, so don't you guys worry about a thing." Seth said. "Right now, we have to help stop this Shadow. There's an open door right there we can go through."

Seth went over to the monorail and climbed the ladder to its back car.

"Seth, isn't something odd about this?" Daichi asked.

"Like what?" Seth asked as he stopped climbing.

"This monorail is right in the middle of the tracks and the door is wide open." Daichi explained.

"Maybe Minato managed to get it open."

Seth climbed into the monorail car and Daichi followed him inside.

"I have a bad feeling about-" Daichi was about to say.

Suddenly the door slammed shut and Daichi frantically tried to open it.

"TOLD YOU!" Daichi shouted.

"You guys again."

Seth turned to see Minato and Yukari standing in the middle of the car and Junpei trying to pry one of the doors open, only for his fingers to get messed up.

"What's wrong? What happened?!" Mitsuru asked everyone through her Persona.

"Looks like we're all trapped inside." Yukari answered.

"It must be the Shadow. It knows you're there."

"No shit!" Daichi exclaimed.

"Be ready for anything. Proceed with extreme caution."

"Got it." Minato replied before turning to Seth. "Looks like we're stuck with each other."

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Seth quipped.

Since they were in the back car, the only way they could go was toward the front of the monorail. As they moved about, they didn't encounter a single Shadow until the end of the second-to-last car, which was a lone Spurious Book.

"There it is!" Junpei shouted.

The Shadow floated away into the next car and Junpei was about to chase after it.

"Wait!"

Junpei stopped in his tracks.

"Something's not right. The enemy's acting strangely"

"But if we don't go after it, we're gonna lose it!" Junpei said.

"Minato, you're in charge over there. What do you think?"

"You may be right, Mitsuru-senpai." Minato replied. "We should be careful."

"Yeah, I agree." Seth said.

"Will my word have any sway in this?" Daichi asked with a raised hand.

"It would be foolish to blindly chase after it."

"Who needs your advice?!" Junpei was clearly getting agitated. "We can beat that thing no problem! Hell, I'll do it myself!"

"Um, isn't the Shadow-" Seth was about to ask.

Junpei ran off to the next car to chase after the Shadow before Seth could finish his question.

"Junpei, wait!" Yukari called out.

"Behind us!" Daichi shouted.

Everyone turned around to see two Spurious Books flanking them.

"You guys go after Junpei." Seth walked forward with his two-sided sword at the ready. "Daichi and I can take these things no problem."

"Yeah, these guys got nothing on us!" Daichi readied his shield.

"How can we-" Yukari was about to ask.

"We can trust them, Yukari." Minato interrupted. "We have to help Junpei."

Yukari sighed. "You're right, Minato-kun. Dammit, Stupei! What were you thinking?!"

Minato and Yukari went after Junpei as the Muttering Tiaras started their attacks. Seth leapt forward and sliced the first Muttering Tiara in half and Daichi bashed his shield against the second and stabbed the sharp end through its head. Both Shadows disintegrated instantly upon defeat and another pair of Spurious Books and a Heat Balance appeared behind them. Seth pulled out his Evoker.

"Pixie!"

Seth shot his Evoker and summoned the Persona Pixie to blast the Heat Balance with a bolt of lightning. Daichi then slammed his shield into the side of the Spurious Book, knocking it into the other one and pulling out his Evoker to summon Heracles to stab both Shadows. With the Shadows defeated, Seth and Daichi walked up to the front of their car.

"Things aren't looking good here." Seth said.

"Didn't that Shadow look like one of the garden variety we saw in Tartarus?" Daichi asked.

"So you noticed it, too, huh?" Seth responded. "Emi said the big Shadow was bigger than any of the Tartarus guardians we've fought. I haven't pieced everything together yet, but we should help out Minato as much as we can."

"Okay."

"You're not going to argue with me?"

"You were right, Seth. These guys aren't our enemy, but I still don't think we should have a permanent team-up. Besides, we don't have time for that now."

Seth smirked. "Glad to know you're being a little open-minded about this."

They suddenly felt the monorail start to move.

"What the?! Daichi exclaimed. "It's still the Dark Hour! How can this thing be moving?!"

"It seems that the monorail is under the enemy's control. If we don't stop that thing, it'll crash into another train!"

"Then we should start moving. Now!" Seth said before he and Daichi ran through the next few cars.

As Seth and Daichi made their way to the front car, following Minato, Yukari and Junpei's lead, they were slaying whatever Shadows they came across with ease until they finally reached their destination. In the control room was a giant Shadow that looked like a topless, half-white-half-black woman with the letters 'B' and 'J' tattooed on her breasts and crazy black and white hair that attached itself to the train like wires.

"What the hell?!" Junpei exclaimed. "Is this the friggin' boss?"

"We're in the front car; it's gotta be!" Yukari responded.

"If this weren't a life-or-death situation, I'd totally be aroused right now." Daichi said as blood started to drip from his nose.

"Hurry and defeat it before it hits another train!"

As Minato, Yukari and Junpei charged to attack the Shadow, Daichi noticed that Seth was looking at something.

"Seth, come on!" Daichi said. "We've got a Shadow to defeat!"

"Daichi, what does this look like to you?" Seth pointed at the Shadow's hair sticking to the train car.

"It kind of looks like…" Daichi muttered. "… Oh!"

"You see? Maybe if we cut these hairs, we can at least slow down the train."

"That… that's brilliant, Seth! Homura was actually right in making you our leader."

Seth looked at Daichi like he said something stupid and used his sword to slash the hairs. He could hear the large Shadow scream in agony. Daichi did the same with his shield to another strand of hair and cut it off. After a few more attacks from Minato, Yukari and Junpei, the giant Shadow summoned two Muttering Tiaras. One of them was about to attack Yukari.

"Takeba!"

Seth dashed as fast as he could and got in between Yukari and the Shadow and it slammed its tendril against his arm. It felt as though it may have cracked one of his bones, but Seth used his other arm, which was carrying his sword, to slash the Muttering Tiara in two. Yukari just stared at Seth in surprise.

"You..." Yukari muttered, but then noticed Seth was cradling his wounded arm. "Hold on! I'll heal you!" She pulled out her Evoker and pointed it at her forehead. "Io!"

As Yukari's Persona, Io, appeared, a healing spell was cast on Seth that quickly recovered his arm. Seth twisted his arm around to check if it was still fractured, but he didn't feel a thing.

"Thanks, Yukari." Seth said.

They both turned to see Junpei slice off the Shadow's right arm and it screamed in pain. Minato took advantage of this and stabbed the Shadow in its heart with his short sword. As he pulled out the sword, the Shadow started to disintegrate and they could see the controls for the monorail.

"Did we make it in time?" Junpei then looked out the windows to see that the monorail was still moving. "Hey! Why are we still movin'?!"

"We're going too fast!" Yukari shouted. "We have to put on the brakes or else!"

"What are you waiting for?! There's a train up ahead!"

"Fuck!" Seth shouted.

"I got it!" Daichi ran over to the controls and tried to quickly examine them. "If only I knew more about monorail technology!"

"Do something!" Seth shouted.

"I can't concentrate when I'm being pressured like this!" Daichi exclaimed.

Minato rushed in, pulled a random lever and the monorail came to a screeching halt. While Yukari and Junpei were on the floor, Daichi looking out the front window in shock and Seth standing frozen, Minato casually walked up to them.

"It stopped." Minato said like nothing happened.

"Is everybody all right?"

"Physically, yes. Mentally… maybe not." Seth replied.

"Haha, my knees are shaking…" Yukari chuckled weakly.

"Dude… I'm like drenched in sweat…" Junpei said.

Seth just leered at Junpei. "… Ew, please don't touch me."

"I'm so glad you're all okay. I'm sorry I couldn't do more on my end… Will you stop antagonizing me?"

"Who are you talking to?" Junpei asked Mitsuru.

"Probably Emi…" Seth groaned and pinched the bridge of his own nose.

After hearing about how Minato simply guessed when pulling the lever, all five rejoined their allies outside of the station.

"You all can go home and get some rest." Mitsuru said. "Mr. Carter, I would like to have a word with you."

"Okay." Seth said.

Once everyone else was walking back to their respective dorms, Seth walked up to Mitsuru.

"Thanks for your help." She said.

"I didn't do as much as you think. It was mostly your team."

"At the very least, you allowed Arisato and Takeba to reach Iori before anything happened to him. Anyway, I asked my father about your organization, Hiewa."

"Yeah, I got a lot of flak for telling you about that."

"I've considered this over the past few days, but after today, I know that it's the right call. Bring your allies to the Iwatodai Dorm tomorrow evening. I'll explain everything there."

"Why not now?"

"There isn't much left to the Dark Hour. I'd feel better if we spoke about this in a more discrete location where we have enough time."

A/N: Finally finished! Like I promised, I tried to get this chapter out faster so there wasn't a major wait. And during finals week, at that! By the way, how many of you have seen Age of Ultron? Wasn't it awesome? My friends have already seen it twice! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! Stay tuned for next time!