A/N: Hmm, I enjoyed writing this chapter, but I can't really point my finger on the exact reason. Perhaps it's the chapter title. Maybe, it was the action or just the extreme feel in the chapter, but I'm not completely sure. Here's to hoping that you share my sentiment and find a point in the chapter where previous trivial things have suddenly come together. I wonder how many people take the time to read the author's note, but I digress. Regardless, we are seventeen chapters in and this is probably one of the more exciting ones. Watching both the FES and P3P versions of the battle on Youtube gave me a lot of ideas and there were a couple of parts where things meshed better than I thought possible, but that might just be a bit of hubris on my part, aha! One example that gave me an idea was how the Priestess Arcana constantly seemed to say something when I watched the battle on Youtube and well yeah it will make sense once you read the chapter. Still, I am still enjoying the project, the many different directions that it has pulled me so far, and hearing from readers of differing backgrounds, and for that I am thankful during this holiday season. Best wishes from your author, and forgive me if there are a few grammar issues, as I am waiting for my beta to proof the last three chapters including this one. I think that is all. Cheers.

Final Update: Updated with my beta's edits.

Reader Reviews:

Yoshikunitsu: Thanks for understanding, and yeah, he may never regain his powers because Hamuko has them. It is really I guess a rebirth for him in a sense of figuring out what he has to work with and going from there. Yup, I definitely enjoy writing still and I think that's because I only focus on one project at a time. I think there is some connecting with the premise in this chapter so happy reading!

rydia3791: I would say that is partially true. She really has an acute sense of things going around her in the environment I would say. There aren't enough data points yet to correlate the large Shadows appearing only during the full moon phase, but yeah Minato will have to be quick on his feet to keep Hamuko at bay without a doubt. Good to see you again!

Yami no Majou077: Hi Yami! Of course it would've been far too early for Hamuko to know everything. I'm glad that the previous chapter created differing emotions with excitement and disappointment. It tells me that I'm doing a decent job and thank you for the compliment I continually strive to try to get better as a writer.

ShatteredMirage: Hello there! Thank you for the compliment and here is another chapter to peruse through.

IronShounen: I try to keep the chapter lengths relatively similar, but of course some will be longer or shorter depending on the context and natural pauses during the storytelling. And this chapter grants your wish in terms of Minato and Mitsuru conversing. We'll eventually get back to Chidori once things have calmed down a bit. Thank you for the review.

Chapter 17: Crucible

May 9th, Saturday (Iwatodai Dorm Control Room, Late Evening)

Mitsuru P.O.V.

The soft fizzing noise of a recently poured soda was the most noticeable noise in the solitude of the control room. A certain redhead had her eyes closed, lost in deep thought, with a stack of worn documents littered on the table with annotations bursting from the margins of the yellowed edges. Mitsuru had been hard at work trying to piece together information about the Dark Hour, but all she had succeeded in was to give herself a headache. It did not help that Akihiko entered the room shortly after and proceeded to pace back and forth around the bookshelves like a madman.

"Akihiko, would you sit down?" It was really more of a command more than anything else.

"Sorry, Mitsuru," he answered sheepishly, taking a seat across from her. "I just thought you had nodded off."

"There's time for rest later," she replied, massaging the back of her neck with her left hand. "I have to be alert for the Dark Hour."

Akihiko looked a bit concerned at her condition, and perhaps he had noticed that her eyes were a bit bloodshot, but gave her a measured nod of encouragement as the time ticked down to midnight.

The Dark Hour hit and Mitsuru was ready as she clicked the trigger on her evoker to summon her Persona, Penthesilea, who towered above her. Mitsuru strained herself trying to find out if there was any Shadow activity that she could hone in on. Still, this was not an exercise that she excelled at, and it bothered her deeply because she was the only one who could do this on the team. Her lack of confidence must have appeared on her face because Akihiko read her perfectly.

"Mitsuru, don't blame yourself," he said with a determined glint in his eyes. "We all know you're doing the best that you can."

"Thank you for the sentiment, Akihiko," she replied, a light smile playing on her lips. "But I do wonder if any of Arisato-chan's Personas can gather data better than mine."

Mitsuru did sound a bit defensive as she said this because in truth she was a bit envious of how the meek looking junior could change Persona at will. It had been unheard of that someone could harness multiple Persona, let alone change them in the middle of a heated battle. And even more surprising was that she had only awoken to her power recently, it just didn't add up in Mitsuru's mind.

"I have to admit that it surprised me as well," Akihiko said thoughtfully. "But since she's on our side I don't have any complaints."

Mitsuru wished she could have Akihiko's conviction in deciding one way or another with reckless abandon. He could be a bit simplistic in his reasoning, but they had been working together long enough to know each other's faults. That was when Mitsuru gasped, her eyes widening in shock and her heartbeat going up a notch. She felt a sharp disturbance from Penthesilea, feeling a Shadow's presence scurrying out of Tartarus toward the rail station.

"It's a Shadow!" she exclaimed, abandoning all pretense.

Akihiko leaned over, nearly spilling her drink and said, "What?! You actually found one?!"

If it weren't for the seriousness of the situation, Mitsuru would have had retorted to Akihiko's disbelief about her abilities. Regardless, this had suddenly gone from a tiring night to an official state of emergency.

"This isn't an ordinary Shadow either," she continued. She stood to her full height as if to emphasize the point, looking over at the bank of consoles her expression changing to one of being in control despite the turmoil. "The data from the readings agree with what I saw and that this is one of those Shadows, Akihiko!"

"You mean, it's one of those?!" Akihiko replied in even further bewilderment.

"Yes, it must be," Mitsuru concluded for him and beginning to think of the logistics of getting all of S.E.E.S. to the rail station as soon as possible.

Akihiko recovered from the initial shock and began to grin, that battle mania beginning to control him again. "Well then, this is gonna be fun. I'll wake up the others with the emergency alarm."

In between the commotion of the emergency siren wailing at a high pitch, there was a lull and Mitsuru felt an epiphany that made her suddenly question Akihiko.

"Wait," she began, her hand grabbing the side of her head. "Didn't Arisato-kun say yesterday that a Shadow may appear in the train station?"

"Only in passing," Akihiko replied, as he stood near the doors of the control room waiting for everyone to show up. "He mentioned some other places as well, but I thought he was only joking. I guess he's just good at guessing."

Mitsuru's mind began to race with ideas about how Minato seemed to hint at where the Shadow would appear, ignoring Akihiko's idea that he was simply lucky. However, each idea that she came up with was more farfetched than the one before. Apparently, she must have looked irritated because the junior members of S.E.E.S. seemed a bit afraid of crossing the threshold into the control room, huddling up around each other after opening the door.

"Um, we're here!" Yukari bellowed, with a worried expression, trying to gain the attention of her senpai. "What's with the loud alarm, is it another Shadow?"

"A Shadow has been detected outside of Tartarus," Mitsuru answered, dragging her thoughts about Minato out of the way for a moment.

"Where is it?!" Junpei muttered with his teeth clenched. "I'll rip it a new one!"

"We don't know for sure, but we think it is another one of the large Shadows," Mitsuru explained to the group. "We have to defeat any of them that we find, as quickly as possible. Most people don't realize that the Dark Hour exists. But, if half the city is destroyed, there will be panic. That must be avoided at all costs."

"In other words, we need to kick some ass, right? Well, count me in!" Junpei seemed to not care about the danger at all.

"Junpei, did you even listen to anything Mitsuru-senpai just said?" Yukari sighed, but Junpei just ignored her, as he pranced around on the balls of his feet.

"You can't blame him for being so excited, Yukari," Hamuko added with a small shake of her head at Junpei's excitement. "This will be his first battle against one of the big ones."

"Quite accurate," Mitsuru agreed, but then she changed her tone to address Minato. "Arisato-kun, you stay here and wait for the Chairman."

"I refuse," Minato replied flatly, with no hesitation.

The loose atmosphere that was in the room just a moment ago gave way, as everyone in the room turned their eyes towards Mitsuru and Minato not quite grasping what had just transpired. It seemed a bit inevitable that there might be an explosion because of Minato's audacious refusal to listen to the Kirijo heir.

For a moment Mitsuru needed a moment to take in the shock and was at a loss for words. Recollecting herself she took one purposeful step closer to Minato and said, "You still need to recover. You'll just be a hindrance. I am ordering you to stay. End of discussion."

Minato's face was impassive and hard for her to glean anything useful, but he refused to back down.

"Mitsuru, this isn't the time for this!" Akihiko cut in between them and pushed them apart. "If he wants to come along, then let him. He can just stay with you while you're supporting us."

"You're right, I apologize, Akihiko," Mitsuru relented and calmed down. In turn, she gave Minato an icy glare and said, "You may assist me in gathering the equipment necessary for this operation."

Minato nodded and didn't seem to have a problem with that much at least.

"Alright, now that's all settled." Akihiko turned to Hamuko and put a gloved hand on Hamuko's shoulder. "You're in charge this time around, Hamuko."

"Her?!" Junpei growled. "You're fine as the leader, senpai."

"We're counting on you," Mitsuru added to Junpei's chagrin.

"Leave it to me, you guys!" Hamuko said cheerfully, full of confidence.

"Shouldn't a guy be leading the group in a dangerous mission like this?" Junpei refused to keep his mouth shut.

Mitsuru took the opportunity to release some of the anger she had stored up because of Minato's insubordination.

"Whether one is a man or woman doesn't factor into it. The responsibility falls to those who have the gift," she intoned. "And let me add, if you ever say or do anything to condescend to her because she's a woman then you will have to answer to me, Iori."

Junpei's face did a rather comical face and began to whimper in fear.

"The four of us will go on ahead. Mitsuru, we'll meet you at the rail station," Akihiko said.

"Indeed. Let us rendezvous in front of the rail station," she replied and motioned for Minato to follow her.

"Alright, we'll see you all later!" Hamuko interjected and the two groups split off accordingly.

Was it Mitsuru's imagination or did Hamuko refuse to make eye contact with Minato?

(Iwatodai Dorm 3rd Floor, Dark Hour)

Minato P.O.V.

It hadn't been easy to stand his ground when Mitsuru had tried to reprimand him for not following her orders. Her temper had begun to flare at him, as he could see her eyes become rather menacing, and if Akihiko hadn't saved him well, Minato may have been on ice until the mission ended. Still, there was no way Minato would miss a full moon battle against the Priestess Shadow when the alternative would've been listening to Ikutsuki crack an endless stream of bad jokes to him in the control room. He had wondered how Akihiko hadn't lost his mind, having to listen to that drivel before.

Mitsuru and Minato proceeded to the third floor landing where Mitsuru opened the door to her room with a key.

"I need to gather some equipment from my room for the operation," she said and left him to loiter in the hallway.

Minato wondered if anything would be different this time around, as the Magician Shadow had mostly stuck to its script of crawling up the dorm and getting pulverized by Hamuko. Though, he felt that having Akihiko in the rail station exploration team could make things a bit more interesting. Well, Minato did have his Hanged Man Persona card and an evoker should things get a bit out of hand, but he felt it was really just an unnecessary precaution considering his current strength. The chances of him doing anything substantial were once again close to zero.

Mitsuru finally reappeared from her room with an assortment of equipment in her arms, along with a change of clothes to close-fitting motorcycle gear, which Minato thought she wore with aplomb. He averted his eyes quickly so that he wouldn't get any unhelpful ideas in his head that could cause him to get into even more trouble. Mitsuru led the way outside to a sleek, white motorcycle that was hidden away in an alcove near the back of the dormitory lot. Minato stifled a chuckle, as he remembered how freaked out he was the first time he had seen Mitsuru ride the motorcycle, and had wondered at the time if he was about to be attacked by some vicious thug. They loaded up the equipment Mitsuru needed in relative silence, no doubt in part because she was still smoldering under the surface from his words earlier.

"Here, wear this." Mitsuru handed him a shiny, black biker helmet that covered the top of his head with a rather snug fit.

"So, senpai," Minato started unsure of how to broach the subject. "How am I going to come with you to the rail station?"

"I would think that is rather obvious," she replied, adjusting her own helmet. "I will ride and you will need to hold onto me. Remember, you were the one that asked for this."

"Alright, I don't have any complaints about that," Minato replied solemnly. "Please, just don't drive too fast, I don't want to fall off."

"We have already wasted too much time," she said, turning the key in the ignition as the motorcycle came to life. It purred a deep throaty roar and began to shake a bit, as if eager to be on its way. "Get on. Now."

Minato did as he was told and held his breath, wrapping his good arm around her waist and praying for his safety. He tilted his head forward a little so he wouldn't be as liable to fall off backwards. At the same time, this had the side effect of getting his face covered full of Mitsuru's luxurious hair and he felt a bit intoxicated, his eyes losing focus.

Mitsuru applied the throttle and they were on their way, the dorm quickly receding from the side mirrors. She seemed determined to ignore Minato as much as possible, even with the uncomfortable fact that he had to hug her the entire trip to the rail station.

The silence of the world around them except for the motorcycle made it seem like they were the last two people alive in an apocalyptic world's aftermath. As the bike hummed along Minato felt that this wasn't the most comfortable ride he had ever been on, with the slippery blood puddles from the Dark Hour causing Mitsuru to swerve on occasion and Minato feeling rather queasy as he hung on for his life. However, it did remind him of all of the time he had spent together with Mitsuru before and how he had never taken a ride with her. It was really more to circumstance more than anything else, because her precious motorcycle had been trashed in a battle against one of the full moon Shadows, and even though the bike was repaired, the opportunity didn't materialize again later because of his death. Mitsuru had even gone as far to give him the key to her motorcycle so that one day she could teach him to ride. Minato choked up a bit at these thoughts, his body shaking slightly because this wasn't nostalgia; it was regret. For now, Minato just tried to enjoy the moment, putting slightly more pressure on his arm around Mitsuru, even though Mitsuru couldn't possibly realize the significance of what they were doing.

"Arisato-kun, are you feeling alright?" Mitsuru's voice rising above the noise of the engine.

"I'm fine, Mitsuru-senpai," he said. "Just remembering some things that I had long forgotten about."

"Well, we are nearly at the rail station, so be prepared," she advised, sounding a bit confused.

The rail station came into view and the motorcycle started to slow down with Mitsuru easing off the gas. They could see Akihiko, Yukari, Junpei, and Hamuko grouped together near the base of the steps. As the motorcycle stopped in front of them, the junior members all jumped, while Akihiko just had a knowing smile on his face.

Mitsuru removed her helmet and said, "Sorry to keep you waiting. Listen carefully. Tonight, I'll be providing support from here. Everything else is the same. The Shadow is currently located inside a monorail, not far from the station. To get there, you'll have to walk on the tracks."

Junpei seemed to get cold feet at the idea, but Mitsuru reassured him that electronics did not work during the Dark Hour, which of course led to the discussion of her motorcycle. Minato didn't really pay any attention to the thread of the conversation and only perked his head back up when Mitsuru had finished her discussion.

"Is everyone ready?" Akihiko asked, and he was met by nods from everyone in the team. "Just remember to not panic, no matter the situation." Akihiko looked to Hamuko to provide the last word and she noticed the cue he provided.

"Everyone, let's roll out!" Hamuko exclaimed, almost like a fierce battle cry. "We got a mission to accomplish!"

(Monorail Bridge, Dark Hour)

Hamuko P.O.V.

Well this is awkward, thought Hamuko. The four member team carefully moved on the tracks, but as Mitsuru mentioned, none of the trains could run in the Dark Hour. They all simply stumbled along with their weapons out in the open expecting a Shadow to pop up at any moment, but nothing happened. At least after a while, Mitsuru mentioned that they were less than 200 meters away from the monorail and Hamuko could clearly see the distinct outline of the commuter train sitting idle under the ominous dark green light of the full moon. Now wasn't really the time to daydream as S.E.E.S. closed in, but Hamuko still hadn't forgiven Minato for ignoring what she thought was a solid theory about these large Shadows. For some reason, her anger had spiked towards him when she saw him arrive with Mitsuru on the back of her motorcycle. Why the heck did she care anyway about what Mitsuru and Minato did?

A sudden ringing noise startled Hamuko, but then she realized it was simply Mitsuru contacting them to provide support on the communication line.

"Can you all hear me?" she asked.

"Loud and clear, Mitsuru," Akihiko answered, while taking a quick look at the train. "It doesn't really look too dangerous yet."

"The readings indicate that the Shadow is on that monorail," she replied. "Continue at your own discretion."

"Well, it's obviously a trap then," Hamuko said openly. "But we don't really have much choice do we?"

"It just makes things more exciting," Akihiko said, while taking a few jabs in the air with his fists to warm up. "I'm ready for the challenge."

Hamuko observed beforehand that Junpei seemed rather nervous and kept stuttering since the start of the mission. He seemed to have calmed down a bit somewhat as he said, "My Persona is just begging to be used!"

With that, they all climbed aboard the monorail with the girls going up behind the guys so that Junpei wouldn't be tempted to look up. Yukari confided to Hamuko as they watched the guys climb up that Junpei would look up no matter what, but that Akihiko was too modest for that kind of thing.

Once inside, the door slammed shut, and Junpei attempted to yank it open with no success and ending up with mangled looking fingernails. The section of the train they had climbed into was full of people transmogrified into familiar black coffins that threatened to scrape the ceiling.

"It knows you're here," Mitsuru chimed in. "Be careful."

"We know, senpai," Junpei said. "It's time to kick some ass!"

"Calm down, Junpei." Akihiko scolded him and turned to Hamuko. "We're in a restricted space and need to figure out a battle formation. We can't use the same tactics that we use in Tartarus."

What Akihiko said made a lot of sense to Hamuko. It really helped that he was around to rein in Junpei from doing anything too stupid because he respected Akihiko. Hamuko thought for a moment, tapping her foot impatiently for an idea to come to her.

"I think that we should have Akihiko and Yukari protecting our backs, while Junpei and I lead the charge." Her statement elicited approval from everyone, except one person.

Minato had coughed in the background at her suggestion over the communication channel with Mitsuru.

"Well, if you have a better idea, Minato," Hamuko began with bitterness in her voice. "Please, do tell."

"Just ignore him, Hamuko," Akihiko said. "I think your idea is fine."

"Yeah, any idea with me charging out front is a good one," Junpei said smugly. "Make sure not to fall behind as I wipe out all the Shadows."

"As if I'd let that happen, Junpei," Hamuko replied, readying her naginata, but still annoyed at Minato. He treated her like she was incapable of doing things on her own.

The only thing was there weren't any Shadows present in the first two carriages and everyone tensed up at the slightest noise, occasionally knocking over each other in the cramped space. When they entered the third carriage, they saw a rather frail looking Shadow that hovered slightly above the ground with a peculiar looking book on top of its head. It looked at them once and quickly floated away from them, leaving the door to the next carriage wide open.

No one seemed to know what to do. "Not like we have much choice," Hamuko said. "Everyone, let's keep going, stick together."

Then, it finally began. The Shadows had a large ambush in the next room and they had the drop on S.E.E.S.

"Where the hell did all of these come from?!" Junpei said out loud as he swung his katana in a wide arc, trying to sever the head of a Shadow.

There were at least half a dozen Shadows and behind all of the Spurious Books, a strange-looking Shadow in the shape of a cross kept on spamming spells at them.

Hamuko signaled Junpei to follow her lead, and they tried to bulldoze their way to the cross-shaped Shadow. From their training in Tartarus they had developed a level of rapport where Hamuko was comfortable with Junpei swinging wildly over her head as she acted like bait to draw in the Shadows. It worked well, as a couple of the Spurious Books were severed in two, their ichor coating the inside of the train, splattering on the windows, dimming the already poorly lit area. Sensing an opportunity, Hamuko summoned Orpheus and a couple well placed Agi spells took care of the rest of the books who were confused by the disruption created by Junpei.

After a quick scan by Mitsuru, the Heat Balance Shadow was eliminated by Zio and Garu spells, Akihiko and Yukari making short work of it. The team had managed to turn the tables on the Shadows' ambush attempt.

"That wasn't too bad," Junpei muttered, as he rubbed his katana on one of the passenger seats, attempting to rub Shadow ooze off the blade.

"Well, you two did most of the heavy lifting," Akihiko replied. "Let's keep going."

As they moved closer to the front of the monorail they met a couple more Shadows, but it seemed the brunt of the Shadows were in the ambush earlier. When Hamuko's foot stepped on the junction between the fourth and fifth carriages the train suddenly lurched forward, causing everyone to topple over like a neatly arranged stack of dominos.

"What happened?" Mitsuru's said. "Are you all alright?"

"Yeah, Mitsuru," Akihiko said as he helped Yukari up. "But it seems like the Shadow is moving the train somehow. I didn't think it could do such a thing."

"It seems the monorail is under the enemy's control," Mitsuru replied. However, her tone changed to a graver one as she said, "There's another train stopped in the railway where this train is eventually heading. If you cannot stop the Shadow controlling this train, then the trains will collide with each other!"

"What?!" Yukari screamed her hands grabbing her face and looking crazed. "You've got to be kidding me!"

'"W-what are we going to do?" Junpei said with his stutter returning and his face blanched.

"Calm down, there's a strong presence in the front carriage," Mitsuru said with urgency. "You will have to defeat it to stop the train."

Just as Mitsuru said that, another trio of Shadows appeared out of nowhere and attacked them. Akihiko recklessly thundered in and knocked out the first two and his burly Persona, Polydeuces, took out the last one. "Let's go!" he barked.

After chaotically dispatching any Shadows that got in the way they finally reached the door to the front car.

"Senpai, how much time do we have left?" Hamuko asked in between breaths, trying to get some oxygen into her system.

"Approximately six minutes, until impact," Mitsuru said. "Your primary target is up ahead. Are you ready?"

There was no time for indecision; Hamuko forcefully grabbed the handle of the door and slid it open. When S.E.E.S. entered they weren't quite sure what they were up against.

Hamuko's eyes gazed on one of the more repulsive things she had seen in her life. The Shadow had a disturbing amount of human-like qualities. It was a Shadow sitting with its legs pulled apart, staring them down dismissively behind a pink mask that looked like it belonged at a costume party. What should have been its hair stretched out throughout the carriage and consisted of deeply saturated black and white scrolls with calligraphy on them, which Hamuko could not remotely decipher. The skirt on the large Shadow was periwinkle blue with white lace near the bottom, but the top half of the Shadow's body was exposed and engraved with two letters.

"Hurry!" Mitsuru's urgent voice commanded them.

Hamuko, Junpei, Akihiko, and Yukari moved towards the Shadow which let out an ear-splitting shriek. Mitsuru's initial scan revealed that the Shadow was of the Priestess Arcana, that it repelled ice spells, and had no major weaknesses. Hamuko made a mental note that Asparas wouldn't be of much use in this battle. The Shadow must have sensed it needed assistance summoning three Muttering Tiaras to come to its aid and the battle began in earnest.

It seemed that S.E.E.S. had the advantage, as their attacks devastated the frail Muttering Tiaras without much chance for retaliation, but their main target remained unscathed because the Priestess continued to summon replacements as fast as the team could dispatch them. Sensing that the battle was coming to a stalemate that they could not afford, Yukari stopped healing the team for a moment and summoned Io to cast a Garu spell right at the Priestess Shadow, which caused its dress to flutter in the attack. Junpei, who had been aggressively slashing away at the Muttering Tiaras caught a glimpse of the Priestess Shadow and proceeded to turn a nasty shade of green.

"Junpei, don't let your guard down!" Akihiko punched away an attack from one of the elongated strands on the Priestess' head.

"Sorry, senpai," Junpei said as he withdrew.

As Junpei straggled back, Hamuko noticed that since the start of the battle the Priestess Shadow's black lips continued to mutter something over and over. During the din of battle with the weaker Shadows it had summoned, Hamuko found it impossible to hear what it said. However, after a while the Shadow seemed to lose its ability to call for backup and Yukari's carefully aimed shot impaled the last Muttering Tiara allowing everyone to hear what the Priestess Shadow had been saying.

"Where is he? Where is he? Where is he?" it said without pause.

"What is it talking about?" Yukari said, while lining up another shot, which was quickly deflected.

"Who knows?" Akihiko grunted as he tried to force an opening, but the Priestess continued to keep them at a distance with its attacks.

Hamuko knew they were running out of time so she quickly told everyone what to do. "Junpei, Akihiko-senpai, clear a lane for Yukari to get a clear shot off at its mask."

Junpei and Akihiko stood on either side of Yukari as they marched closer to the Shadow preventing any attacks from reaching Yukari. A moment later, she must have seen an opening and let an arrow fly unimpeded straight for the Shadow's mask. At the last second, the Priestess tilted its neck to the right and avoided the arrow's trajectory screaming indignantly at them.

However, Hamuko had anticipated that this combined attack may fail and had already hurdled a seat, planted her right foot on the ground, and let her forward momentum do the rest. She launched her naginata out of her right hand in one fluid motion while the Priestess was distracted. Hamuko's aim was true and her spear connected, lodging itself into the center of the Shadow's mask. The Priestess began to writhe in agony, stumbling backwards, and lifted its white hand into the air and cried out, "You didn't come. Why must I suffer alone?" It laid its head on the ground and began to slowly vanish before the team's eyes. Everyone relaxed a bit, the tension easing out of their shoulders.

Minato P.O.V.

Minato felt something in his mind, or was it his psyche? Regardless, when S.E.E.S. had managed to defeat the Priestess Shadow he almost felt like someone had called out to him, but why? Had it been the Priestess? However, there was no time to ruminate over this because he instinctively knew what would happen next.

"Mitsuru-senpai, we need to get to them!" he said without hesitation. "Get on your bike!"

"Arisato-kun, what are you yelling about?" Mitsuru replied, looking up from the equipment she used to communicate with the others. "They just defeated the Shadow controlling the train."

"Just ride!" Minato replied. "Things will make sense on the way."

"Very well," she said and the pair zoomed towards the direction of the team. As Mitsuru and Minato closed in toward their destination a transmission came on the headset.

"Mitsuru!" Akihiko yelled. "Why isn't the train stopping? We just beat the large Shadow and the train hasn't slowed down at all!"

Mitsuru found her voice and quickly said, "Akihiko, you must get out of there, now!" Mitsuru cried out, all sorts of desperation in her voice dropping the calm façade she normally used. "The gap between the trains is almost gone!"

"Dammit! The train is going too fast for us to jump out." Akihiko swore out loud and Minato could hear the others losing control of their emotions in the background.

"Go to the front controls and pull the blue lever," Minato said loudly enough above the motorcycle's engine for Akihiko to hear. "Trust me, this is your only chance."

Akihiko P.O.V.

Akihiko didn't have anything else to go on, so he went into the first compartment, and felt dazed by all of the different buttons and levers that controlled the train. There was a temptation to push the red button that said emergency, but he put his faith in the hope that Minato knew what he was doing. He frantically looked for a blue lever. From the corner of his eye he saw it and moved to pull it with all his strength. The lever budged and clicked into place and the joyous noise of the brakes screeching against the rail tracks brought a smile to his face. However, that smile was wiped off his face because he could see the outline of the other train in the distance.

"Get up!" he yelled, to Junpei and Yukari, who had fallen on their rears because of fear infecting them.

"I-I can't move, my legs are like jelly," Yukari said tearfully.

"Hamuko, get Yukari, I'll grab Junpei," Akihiko instructed and Hamuko obliged, dragging Yukari getting to her feet. Akihiko forcefully opened the doors of the train compartment they were on and saw to his dismay that they weren't slowing down fast enough.

"The train hasn't slowed down enough yet!" Akihiko said over the headset. "And we're too exhausted to use our Persona anymore."

Minato P.O.V.

Mitsuru's motorcycle was nearly alongside the moving train, sparks flying everywhere from the brakes.

"I don't know what else we can do to help you, Akihiko!" Mitsuru said, her voice full of anguish.

"Keep riding," Minato interrupted and Mitsuru nodded. He didn't tell her what he would do because she would never agree to it in his mind, but this was a desperate situation. He pulled out his Persona card, nearly fumbling it away because of the wind that blew in his face, and crushed it. Something that felt larger than Inugami emerged from the sea of his soul, but he didn't have time to figure it out just yet. Next, he pulled out his evoker and placed the barrel on the right side of Mitsuru's head.

"What are you doing?!" she demanded as she felt the cold steel of his evoker on her head.

Minato pulled the trigger and simultaneously yelled, "Penthesilea!" Somehow, his gambit paid off and the Amazonian Queen heeded his call, appearing before them. Mitsuru's Persona seemed to consider him for a second, looking rather curiously in his direction, and then slowly hovered next to a Persona that Minato recognized. Take-Minakata had a rather evil-looking visage, a crisp white uniform adorned with a blue sash around its waist, peculiar sharp horns on its head, and the most noticeable feature, the absence of its arms. The irony wasn't lost on Minato that he had summoned this Persona from his past, one that was missing its arms, something Minato could relate to, but for now it was time to be the hero.

Take-Minakata moved towards the train that the rest of S.E.E.S were on and rammed its upper body against the front end to try to slow the momentum. Next, Minato directed Penthesilea to use Mabufu, which formed multiple, small barriers of ice along the opposite end of the track in between the two trains. Minato's head felt like it was on fire from trying to control two Persona out in the open at the same time, with each Persona demanding more of his attention than the other.

Mitsuru kept the motorcycle at a steady speed to match the train in motion. All of a sudden, she gasped and Minato saw what had caught her attention: Hamuko and Yukari, then Akihiko and Junpei, had jumped out. Everyone tumbled out and rolled across the unforgiving ground, their limbs all entangled with each other so it was hard to tell which body part belonged to who.

Minato couldn't let his focus wane any more, but judging my Mitsuru's reaction, none of them seemed too badly hurt. Take-Minakata struggled on its own, but the barriers of ice made by Penthesilea seemed to do the trick, as each one's destruction helped slow down the train in conjunction with the manual brake Akihiko had activated. The monorail continued to screech and came to a halt with barely any distance left. An unbroken silence indicated the success of the mission. Minato slumped forward onto Mitsuru's back, in complete and utter exhaustion with a smile on his face.