There was no Sokila, this time.

In fact, he wasn't sure where he was. There was nothing...identifiable. Nothing tangible. No direction.

And then, there was a nondescript Throne.

"You are doing quite well for yourself."

Someone sat upon it.

"I wonder...if you are cognizant of just how many hands are pulling at your strings?"

Whoever it was...did not belong there.

"How would you react, if you understood the designs you fit in?"

That Throne was not theirs.

"Consider the precursors to this time you find yourself in."

There was something else. A scene of...great import, where a man in gold faced a group of costumed adolescents.

"If it's for everyone's happiness, I don't care WHAT happens to me! Don't resist...accept it."

The scene vanished, and the One Who Sat Upon the Throne was once more in front of him.

"It should be humbling, to realize just how many paved the way for you."

They were smiling.

"I look forward to your consummation."

The vague expanse began to fade away-

xxxx

Shinji Ikari opened his eyes. An unfamiliar ceiling, he thought, gazing at the bright lights and tiles of the dropped ceiling. What...what happened...?

"My sincerest apologies for the unfriendly reception. Our night watch tends to be a bit trigger happy when people drop out of the Metaverse without warning."

Blinking, Shinji slowly sat up - vaguely realizing that he had been lying on a brown couch - and gazed at the person who had spoken. "Uh...?"

The person was a man with eyeglasses, wearing a white lab coat over a light blue collared shirt with khakis; his dark blue patterned tie was rather loose, giving the impression of something which had been put on in a hurry. His brown hair showed signs of being combed unsuccessfully, given the messy locks. "I had considered going for the full 'official' presentation, but I had a strange feeling that you'd appreciate something more casual." He held up his hands, each one holding a NERV-branded mug of steaming hot coffee. "I hope you don't mind coffee. I have some cream and sugar if you need it."

"No...that's okay." Shinji gingerly took one of the offered mugs, taking a whiff of the caffeinated ambrosia. "It smells good." He took a tentative sip. "...and it tastes good." Much better than he had had as of late.

The man chuckled. "My my, not often I see someone as young as you take it black."

"...it depends on the coffee," he quietly admitted.

"Well, good thing we have a dedicated coffee budget," joked the man. "Anyhow, I'm Takuto Maruki, the Director of NERV's First Branch. Welcome to America...is what I'd like to say, but you apparently got a welcome party already."

Shinji frowned, taking another tentative sip of the coffee (I wonder what type of blend it is?). "...um...after I accepted the mission...didn't you get the message that we would be coming?"

"Well, in all fairness, it was a mission sent out to a lot of quarters, not just to NERV HQ. Once we got word that the Third Child had accepted our mission, I had assumed you would be here earlier, but...well, we elected to try and get a little sleep...time zones, am I right?"

"...yeah."

Maruki chuckled. "Of course, it hit me right before I went to bed that you likely had other missions to take care of, so I don't exactly blame you...though I would have thought that Commander Ikari or the First Child would have briefed you on proper handshake protocol...?"

Shinji flushed.

Deep down, the Beast simmered with impulsive anger.

"Um...Ayanami-san left a message that she was on her own missions...and I guess my father just...didn't tell me..."

Takuto Maruki seemed to sense the tension, judging by his nervous chuckle. "Ah, probably just slipped his mind...but the past is the past, as they say."

"...I guess..." He looked around the relatively tiny office, asking, "um...where's Kirishima-san?"

"Ah, I left my dear wife to handle her awakening."

"...is...that a good idea...?"

The Director of NERV-01 scratched the back of his head in a casually disarming fashion. "Trust me, Futaba is more than capable of handling herself."

xxxx

/Thirty Minutes Ago/

Elsewhere, in an entirely separate room in the underground complex of NERV-01, Mana Kirishima - having been awake for not even three minutes - had somehow found herself in a staring contest with an...unusual woman.

The woman in question - wearing a white lab coat with various splatters of colorful paint that had long since dried, hanging over a rather plain green shirt and khaki shorts - stared intently through large eyeglasses. Sitting on a chair in a crouch, with arms balanced on her knees, the woman gave off the vibe of a youthful adolescent than someone over twice Kirishima's age.

Mana grimaced. "...you can stop staring, you know."

"I could."

"..."

"..."

"...you're still staring."

"Yep."

"What for?"

"Because I want to. Can I hold your weapons?"

Mana glanced over to a nearby table, where two security personnel stood protectively by the prone forms of AIGIS and LABRYS. "What's stopping you? Why not go ahead and try?" she subtly challenged.

"Nice try with the event flag, but I know from what little Dr. Akagi's profiled of you that you can summon those weapons from a distance."

What the heck is an 'event flag'? "So why ask?"

"Cause it's polite. Duh."

"...if that's the case, then no."

The woman smirked. "I can make it worth your while~"

Why did her glasses flash? There's no light reflecting off of them. "What do you mean?"

With sudden aplomb, the woman reached into a large pouch on the side of her coat, whipping out a colorful book of sorts. However, gracing the cover were very familiar figures. "I could let you read a copy of one of my Featherman manga..."

Although Mana couldn't deny that she felt intrigued (heck, REALLY intrigued), she still couldn't help but impulsively ask, "what's 'manga'?"

She thought the woman had been shot, so sudden was her gasp, so stricken was her look of horror. "...you poor soul. How could you reject your Japanese heritage so?!" Without warning, the woman lobbed the volume over towards her, which Mana caught with ease. "You know what, I can look at your weapons when you finish your mission with the Third Child. For now, it's on the house...at least until my dear hubby lets me know that Ikari's awake..."

"...thanks?" People can be so weird, idly thought Mana as she opened the volume and began to read.

xxxx

Takuto Maruki, taking another sip of his coffee, added, "it also helps that we requested her personnel profile from Dr. Akagi while you two were out, and I figured Futaba would be best suited for Kirishima's inevitable awakening."

"...how long have we been out?"

"I would say about three hours. I figured it would be best to let you sleep through as much of the gas's side effects as possible...plus, fighting Ghosts is better done in the light of day instead of the dark. Just my opinion, of course." The man blinked as his phone simultaneously buzzed. Pulling it out, he found himself chuckling at whatever was on the screen. "Ah. I think my wife got bored waiting for you."

"Sorry..."

"Ah, don't apologize. I think something good came out of it." The Director turned his phone around, showing an image taken with a cell phone camera: it was of none other than Mana Kirishima, legs curled up on an aged sofa, with her face practically buried into a Bishoujo Senshi Featherman Z manga. A woman with an orange streak curving through her dark hair was at the edge of the frame, giving a cocky grin and a thumbs-up to the camera.

"...is that woman your wife?"

"As she lives and breathes."

"...she seems nice."

Takuto Maruki grinned with content. "'Nice' hardly suffices. But pleasantries aside..." His smile lessened, replaced by a knowing expression of resignation. "...duty calls, as they say."

Shinji frowned, look down at the remnants of his coffee; the murky liquid matched his thoughts currently. "Yeah..." Why didn't anyone tell me about the proper way to approach NERV-01...? Sighing, Shinji downed the rest of his coffee in one gulp, impulsively scowling from the bitter aftertaste. Yet, in that acerbic sensation, there was spot of clarity: like sunlight piercing through stormy clouds. "...duty."

xxxx

/Command Center, NERV-01, Outskirts of Boston Dead Zone, USA/

The local time was 6:00 AM (or, as Shinji had been helpfully informed, 7:00 PM in Japan Time) when the Third Child and the fruit of JET ALONE - both finishing off a toasted bagel that had been provided for breakfast - gathered around a massive pedestal, displaying numerous holographic screens. The most notable one was of a close-up of America's eastern seaboard: specifically, ranging from New York to the south all the way to Maine in the north. "Over the past twelve hours, there was a sudden spike in Ghost activity all across the East Coast," explained Director Maruki, whose hair was now slicked back in a more professional style. Various staff and technicians occupied computer terminals arranged in concentric rings around the central display; from the sound of it, they were monitoring metaphysical and cognitive fluctuations in the real world. "By and large, the most populated areas are being protected by the Paranormal Tactics Unit of the U.S. Army, as well as by specialized spirit-sensitive squads within various state National Guards...there are also some NGOs and private organizations contributing as well, but there's only so much ground that can be covered...which is where I'd like to divert you two as follows." Leaning over a rather fancy-looking keyboard, the man typed several commands, which highlighted a few dozen locations in the more rural areas of Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. "Ikari-kun, given your ability to cross vast distances in the proverbial blink of an eye, I'd like you to take care of the Ghosts in these areas. Now, Kirishima-chan...Cape Cod is rather isolated these days, but it's still a relatively important source of fishing and aquaculture, and Ghosts are a threat to that." Typing rapidly, the holographic map shifted eastward, focusing on over ten highlighted locations on the hook-shaped island. "We'll arrange for helicopter transport to the closest location...but from my understanding, you're capable of travelling through the Metaverse as well, huh?"

Mana Kirishima, AIGIS and LABRYS hanging on her back, nodded solemnly.

"And would I be incorrect in assuming your velocity within the Metaverse would be substantially higher than it would be in the real world?"

Mana shook her head. "No."

"Do you have a rough figure in mind?"

"...empowered by my weapons, I can maintain a steady pace of twenty-five kilometers an hour. I've been clocked at bursts of around ninety-five kilos per hour."

Futaba, who was fiddling with a pair of headsets near a cluttered work desk near the center of the room, glanced over her shoulder with wide eyes. "Damn, fifteen-and-a-half miles per hour and approximately fifty-nine? Damn. You should try out for the upcoming Olympics."

"Impressive marathoning and sprinting aside, do you have other methods of locomotion?" asked Director Maruki.

Mana quietly brushed a finger across the rim of AIGIS, a small grin on her face. "...yes."

"Then I think we can trust Cape Cod to you," said Director Maruki with a smile. "Now-"

"Hold up," his wife interrupted. Using a broom like an oar, she pushed her way across the floor without leaving her swivel chair, coming to a halt in front of the two adolescents. "First of all: kid, can you summon your Evangelion right now?"

Shinji blinked. "Uh...sure?"

"Cool. Do it."

Takuto Maruki resisted the urge to sigh. "Futaba-"

"He'll have to summon it anyway, might as well save time."

Stubborn woman, he thought with a tired expression. Still, her stubbornness was a proverbial godsend, as far as he was concerned. "Very well. Ikari-kun, whenever you feel comfortable."

Shinji looked around; the boy seemed to impulsively realize how many NERV employees were subtly watching him, because 'Evangelion equals something neat!' in their eyes. Probably. "Uh...okay."

The director made a point to watch closely as the boy reached for his head, concentrating deeply; he couldn't help but wince from the strangely unreal violence of the boy pulling a blue spark of light and ethereal fire from his forehead. I wonder how bloody it would have appeared the first time you summoned your Evangelion? Still, the wound was not real, nor was the apparent blood (little did he know, it was a mere trickle in comparison to the ragged tear it had once appeared as); this was validated as the blue spark blossomed into the looming figure of Shogoki, staring quietly - menacingly - at them all. There was a strange, contemptuous ferocity that hadn't been present with his prior encounters with Zerogoki or Nigoki. "My my..."

However, that wasn't what his beloved was focusing on. "Okay, sample size is now three," remarked Futaba, pressing a finger against Shinji's arm, which was now covered by the material of a strange bodysuit. "Summoning an Evangelion means you also summon some sort of personalized mecha pilot getup. Neat." Which was true: the blue and black bodysuit was a strangely refined thing. (He couldn't help but focus more on Shinji Ikari's eyes, which now gleamed yellow like a Shadow's.) His wife then held out the two headsets she had been working on. "You two, put these on."

Shinji and Mana looked quizzically at the little devices, which seemed to consist of two black triangles affixed to a headband. "What are these?" asked Kirishima.

"Little devices of my own making that will analyze your full cognitive profile as you move in either the real world or the Metaverse. Dr. Akagi's data has been useful as far as you two are concerned, but I also want to collect my own data."

The two children seemed to accept this reasoning, because they nonchalantly placed them on their heads. If they were cognizant about the fact that they now looked like they possessed cat ears, they didn't comment on it. "Can we get going?" asked Kirishima as Futaba pushed her chair back over to her desk.

Director Maruki nodded. "Benjamin, Frederick?" Two security personnel walked forward from their posts along the edge of the circular room. "Please escort them to the surface." The two nodded, quietly ushering the two child soldiers along, acting very casually (and to their credit, because they weren't blind to the fact that the duo could kill everyone here if they so desired) as they performed their duty. Not even a minute after they had left, he walked over to his wife's work area. "...is there a particular reason why your new design looks like cat ears?"

"The better question is, why wouldn't I make them look like cat ears?" she asked, clicking rapidly with her mouse as she began opening several programs across her six-monitor setup. "I'm more surprised by the fact that they didn't get on my case about it."

"In all fairness, Kirishima-chan likely has no conception of the stereotypes involving 'cat people'," he said while providing helpful air quotes, "and Ikari-kun is polite enough that he probably wouldn't have made a fuss even if he felt odd about the design choice."

Futaba shrugged. "Eh, fair enough."

xxxx

Shinji Ikari wasn't sure why Futaba Maruki's headsets were built to give off the impression of cat ears. (Inwardly, looking at Kirishima elicited thoughts along the lines of don't stare, or would she hit me if I said she looked cute, or what's with all the Ghosts? Okay, that last one was unrelated, but still.) Still, he couldn't help but fiddle with them as he wished his comrade good luck.

Mana looked back over her shoulder, snorting at his concern. (Now she's acting like a mean cat.) "You can keep your luck, Ikari." She promptly strolled over to the black Chinook tandem rotor helicopter, which was ready for takeoff. The moment she stepped onboard, the rotorcraft began ascending even before the doors closed. With the cool light of early morning, Shinji could now see the skyscrapers of downtown Boston, which appeared...aged. Dilapidated, from the lack of maintenance. Whatever had happened, this city had experienced something akin to Sapporo, if not quite at the scale of Tokyo-1.

Sighing, Shinji looked back at his Evangelion, which was staring with intense focus to the north. Right. My mission. Focusing (and it was becoming so much easier to just...let go from reality, the more he practiced, and yet it never ceased to be unnerving!), he slowly shifted away-

xxxx

-and emerged in that ever familiar world of gray. There were no other souls to push along, this time.

It was only himself, in all of his mundane glory and base terror.

"Rise to the heavens," admonished the unseen Beast. "See from above where you must strike."

Right. There were so many places he had to go to...and yet the image of the map impressed itself over his mind, a vivid memory of what he had to do.

Before realizing it, he was already a mile in the air. Two miles. Five. Ten. Twenty.

Looking down, he felt no fear for being so high, for physics in this place of in-between were...an afterthought. Yet, amidst the ethereal soup of America's landmass, he could see patches of orange lights, clustered near cities yet scattered about in others. Instinctively, he knew that places without those lights were bereft of human life.

From here...so far away, so separated from everyone else...he could gaze upon the subtle wrongness, where the lights were marred. Corrupted. Sullied.

Shinji quietly angled downwards towards the northernmost mission location - a small town called Greenville, at the southern edge of Moosehead Lake, not that he knew these names - and prepared for immediate arrival-

xxxx

-and he emerged, standing, on the sidewalk near a lakeside marina.

There was a surprised shout, and an impulsive bang-

Shinji blinked, looking at the source of the sound; a local law enforcement officer, leading a family away somewhere, had opened fire upon his sudden appearance. Not that it accomplished anything, as Unit-01's hand had caught the handgun's bullet before it could strike him. With a hoarse sneer, the Evangelion pulverized the lead projectile into dust (an action that didn't do anything to assuage the frightened civilians).

...maybe I should emerge further away from populated areas next time, he thought with a calm detachment that part of him felt like shouldn't be possible. Gazing down the street, he saw a cluster of Ghosts - about twenty - moving about, red eyes turning in their direction.

Shogoki hissed, and immediately charged.

As his Evangelion began thrashing at the spectral remnants, he turned towards the five Americans, who were staring at him with utter disbelief and whispering among themselves. Mustering his limited (albeit more thorough than most Japanese students his age) English, he stated "Go" as authoritatively as possible.

Fortunately, the officer got the hint, ushering the civilians away with short commands and quick motions. They all seemed rather desperate to leave.

I wonder...how I come across to total strangers...? A thought for another time, alas.

Within minutes, Shogoki had dispelled all of the Ghosts within the town. Not wanting to stick around and risk another violent incident (and it was only now hitting him that oh yeah I just got shot at), Shinji quickly phased away, focusing his senses towards the next hotspot...

xxxx

As Shinji and Shogoki were tearing their way through Ghosts in the state of Maine, Mana Kirishima was jumping out of a Chinook helicopter.

Within less than twenty minutes, the twin-engined rotorcraft had made it from the outskirts of the Boston Dead Zone to the sky over Centerville, a village located within the town of Barnstable (not that she knew or cared). Without waiting for the helicopter to stop, she had leapt out, diving towards the rural village. Mere seconds after falling away from the Chinook, she took hold of LABRYS in one hand and swung; the gemstone flared, and the gathered power tore through the dimensional fabric-

-and then she was in the Metaverse, still falling; she could see giant trawlers and fishing poles amidst the waters on each side of the cape; rustic imagery, befitting a history book, among the buildings far below; shockingly tropical features along the mental beaches; phantom flames scattered among woodlands; the occasional cognitive void, sticking out like a black cancer against the psychedelic colors...and why were there so many pairs of red socks just walking everywhere? Those thoughts faded as she got closer to the ground; pulling out AIGIS, she held the shield down towards the ground. The red gemstone glowed, shining brightly; with a burst of gathered power, her momentum was slowed - a simple and nigh-harmless act in the world of cognition, loosed from mere physical law - until she landed softly on her feet. Without waiting, she swung LABRYS again, tearing open another wound which she stepped through-

-and just like that, she was once more in the real world, standing amidst a forest of pitch pine and scrub oak. The subtle tang of salt filled her nostrils as she smelled the air of the nearby ocean. With a huff, Mana Kirishima focused on the telltale aura of Ghosts - some floating aimlessly amidst the woods, others veering towards residential dwellings - and went to town.

Separated from Shinji Ikari - or, more specifically, his Evangelion: the strange and horrid thing - she could allow herself to enjoy her work, moving and acting as though Big Sis and Little Sis were extensions of her very being.

They were bound to her, as she was bound to them.

Even if the circumstances leading to it had been awful and terrible, she was grateful...if only because that connection meant they were never apart.

The same couldn't be said for her brothers.

I'll get stronger, she vowed, casually slashing through a trio of specters. I'll get more powerful. Her shield rebuffed the charge of a red-eyed wraith, stunning it enough for her to bisect it. And then I'll find you...and we'll be together again. All of us.

That was a promise she meditated on as her body and spirit worked in tandem, almost on autopilot.

xxxx

/Outskirts of Tokyo-3, the Metaverse/

Thirteen hours ahead of the Eastern Seaboard of the USA, night had fallen upon Japan.

Not that Toji Suzuhara was aware, busy as he was aching in every bone and sweating from every orifice. "Ugh...ain't this...a mind world...?"

Ryuji Sakamoto, sitting around a cluster of Hitodama Archetypes, nodded sagely as he pulled out two cups of instant ramen from his rucksack. "Yup."

"So...why...do I feel...so...sucky...?"

"Well, your physical body made the move to the Metaverse, so you still have all the fleshy bits. But since we're in a world based off of human cognition, the normal laws of physics and junk like that don't apply...in theory." The older man chuckled. "Thing is, most people are used to thinking that those laws apply all the time. Because of that, they typically apply in the Metaverse...so in order to get around that, you have to get used to thinking differently. Takes practice, though."

Toji grimaced as he sat up, looking irritably at the fiery blue sprites serving as their impromptu 'campfire'; he looked around the small woodland clearing, which was guarded quietly by both Gilgamesh and Seiten Taisei. Other Archetypes of various shapes and sizes stared warily at them from the depths of the woods, unwilling to intrude in the face of two Personas. "...feels weird."

"What does?" asked Sakamoto-sensei, retrieving two pairs of chopsticks.

"...having a fire made of things that look like ghosts. The folktale kind, I mean." There was a distant memory of old shows and storybooks being read to him and his little sister, from a time long past.

"Yeah, most people's cognition of these things has made em' a lot more aggressive since Ghosts became...well, a thing." The older man grinned. "Good thing that they can still be cowed into submission with a few bops on the noggin! You know, metaphorically."

(He watched with tired fascination - because ow, everything hurts - as Seiten Taisei whacked several Hitodamas in one fell swoop. "So, y'all gonna cooperate, or what?" His sensei's challenge was answered by the ghostly fireballs gathering into a pile in the clearing. "Better!")

"Guess so," muttered Toji.

"Anyhow..." Setting down one cup of ramen, Sakamoto-sensei held his hand over the closed lid of the other. "Wah-BAM!" With that exclamation - sounding like an explosion - Ryuji opened up the lid, which was now full of steaming pork-flavored ramen. "Here ya go."

Toji took the ramen cup and chopsticks with a dumbfounded expression, because this particular brand was not the kind that came with water or cooking oil built into the cup...and yet it was practically filled to the brim. "How the...?"

Sakamoto-sensei grinned as he repeated the same gesture with his own cup. "Lots of practice. Always wanted ramen that's truly instant, so I made this a habit. And it stuck, least as far as the Metaverse is concerned. Don't even need to wait three minutes!"

"...that's sick."

"I know, right?!" Thus did two boys - one in fullness, and one at heart - dig into their meal.

With a cup's worth of ramen now firmly in his stomach, Toji licked his chops with satisfaction. "Ah..."

"Need something to wash it down?" At those words, Sakamoto-sensei reached over with what looked like a can of soda, but with some kind of label slapped over it that read 'SECRET SAUCE OF HEALING'.

"...the heck is this?"

"Just try it. Trust me, it tastes great." To cement his promotion of the drink, he pulled out a can of his own from the rucksack, popping the top (there's that telltale hiss of carbonation...) and taking a massive swig. "Ah...man, that hits the spot..."

...well, bottom's up. The teen shrugged, took a gulp of the beverage; it tasted like a fairly normal type of soda - he couldn't quite place the flavor - but that did nothing about the fact he suddenly felt energized as all get-out. "What the...?" His aches and sore joints had seemingly vanished. "How the...?"

The older man grinned. "It's a particular brand of cola that I...had a liking for, growing up. Got told by more than one lady that it ain't the best...s'why I keep it for special occasions. The nostalgic flavor...makes me feel good. And since I think of it that way, that translates to the Metaverse."

"...so why did it fix me up? I don't know anything about it!"

Sakamoto shrugged. "It ain't your cola. You had no idea what was even inside my rucksack when you transitioned into the Metaverse; I did. Therefore, the only thoughts affecting it were mine."

"...are you for real?"

"For real," responded Sakamoto-sensei with a grin.

Toji grimaced. "So why the heck would you share it with me?"

"Well, this is a special occasion, training a new Persona-user. Shooting the breeze, and all that jazz."

"...why did you leave the A.T. Task Force anyway?" Toji looked over at the older man, who had spent much of the last hours thrashing him...albeit productively, giving insight into how the Metaverse functioned, and how to properly synchronize with his Persona. "I mean...with the way you talked with my custodian and her sister, you were a veteran. So why'd ya leave?" One beat. Two beats. "Look, if it's something you don't want to talk about, you don't have to-"

Sakamoto-sensei waved him off. "Nah, it's a fair question. I mean, I kind of have an unfair advantage with you, knowing so much about you when you don't know that much about me. Now...where to start..." Ryuji leaned back, gazing up at the red and black sky. "...used to have yellow hair, in school."

Toji blinked. "...and?"

"Was a bit of a punk. Managed to shine through on the track team, though, so I had the 'Lovable Bad Boy' kind of vibe." Toji resisted the urge to boggle, because the sheer coincidence (he was a track athlete too?!) was mesmerizing. "Got a university scholarship, made it onto the Olympic team, got a few medals...life was pretty good, in the 90s. Even married my high school sweetheart!" He pulled out a small pendant from within his suit, tossing it towards Toji.

Toji opened it up, looking at the tiny photograph within: it was of Sakamoto-sensei as a younger man (early 20s at the most; huh, he still had a bit of yellow streaks left over in his hair...), with his arm around the shoulder of an apparently natural blonde with long hair bound by a wide blue headband. "She looks cute," he impulsively said. Then he panicked, because talking about another guy's girl was a no-no! "Er, I mean-!"

Sakamoto smirked. "Hey, don't sweat it. She was a real cutie. Saw through all of my bee-ess, too. Had a way of knowing that I was putting up an act...and I appreciated that. I always wondered what exactly she saw in me...but whenever I asked, she'd tap my nose and say, 'Maybe read my column and find out'," he said in a faux falsetto, with a strange rural accent that Toji couldn't quite place. "Her advice column was actually syndicated in a lot of big papers...so honestly, life was looking pretty good for us." With a resigned grunt, he poked at the Hitodama campfire with his cane. "Then Second Impact happened. Chihaya...didn't make it."

Toji winced; some people suffered mental shutdowns as a result of Acolyte attacks. Sometimes, their deaths were...messier. "Sorry."

"Eh, you had nothing to do with it. Needless to say, I was angry. Real angry. I wanted revenge." Toji took another sip from his can of 'healing soda'. "It's how I ended up running into Morooka, who was part of the initial group that would form the core of the Anti-Terror Task Force. So I joined! Took a while for me to realize that the 'Olympic golden boy' image I had was just holding me back...that I was always a bit of a punk, deep down. Wouldn't stop me from doing the right thing, though. But I wasn't gonna let anything stand in my way."

...this is heavy, inwardly mused Toji, even as he outwardly nodded. "And then?"

"Life's funny with the stuff it'll throw at you. Ended up reconnecting with an old classmate by the name of Shiho Suzui. She said I was...unrecognizable." He pointed a gloved finger at Toji, his gaze stern and sharp and serious. "Never forget this: just because you've accepted a side of yourself that you refused to acknowledge, it doesn't mean that other sides of you will stay the same. You have to be aware of that...as you change, those sides will change as well. And if you're gonna keep a hold of who you are, deep down...you have to make sure those sides grow with you." Sighing, the man scratched the back of his hair. "Hope I'm making sense. Am I making sense?"

"I...I think I get it." If you ain't careful, you may become something you hate.

"Good."

"...what did this Suzui lady say?"

Sakamoto snorted. "She said I'd turned into a 'grade-A asshole'." At Toji's choked laughter, he added, "her words, not mine. But she was right. I had gotten consumed by my work with the Task Force. I was burning out...and she helped me see that." The man grabbed an entirely separate pendant, tossing it over the spectral campfire.

Toji caught, opening it up; it was of an older Sakamoto with all black hair, with a subdued yet confident grin. By his side was a smiling woman with dark hair in a ponytail, with brown eyes that seemed impossibly deep. "Suzui...Shiho Suzui...why does that name sound familiar?"

"She was part of the first Olympic teams to perform after Second Impact. It was a big event, given how many years the Olympics had been delayed. She ended up breaking a lot of records...earned even more medals than me. She was a real athlete."

"...ah, that's right." The Track Club's Captain occasionally made them watch material of past athletes to gain insights about proper form.

"Anyhow, one thing led to another, and...well, despite some of my teammates dying, an apprentice going missing, and bunch of other crappy stuff happening...we got married. I felt...like things were turning around." With a bitter sigh, the man gestured with his cane. "Then...it was something so mundane. So...normal. Not an Acolyte, or a Ghost...but a traffic accident. It's the reason I've got a bum leg. Shiho...well, I don't need to spell it out."

Toji frowned from the sour queasiness in his gut. Aw hell...he's a widower? Twice over? "...that's rough, buddy," he murmured, tossing the pendants back over.

Ryuji Sakamoto sighed, looking fondly at the photos before stuffing them back into the folds of his leather biker suit. "After that...I just couldn't keep going anymore. Resigned from the Task Force in 2009. Became a Cognitive Freelancer to still fight the good fight, but being an A.T. Agent...there was just too much baggage involved. I had to let go if I was going to move on." The man shot him a tired grin. "That about answer your question?"

It did. Far more than he had ever expected. But it did. "Yeah..." Toji bowed deeply from his sitting position. "Thank you for being so upfront with me. Even if it meant telling me something so...personal."

Ryuji shrugged. "Eh, it happened. No point in pretending that it didn't."

And right at that moment, they heard the sound of...sniffling? "That was...the most tragic...and saddest story...I've heard in a long time...!" Blinking, both sensei and apprentice looked over their shoulders, staring at an incredibly burly bird-man with a red mohawk and a purple tuxedo. "Ah, please. Don't mind me."

"...who the heck are you?" demanded Ryuji Sakamoto, looking rather irritated by the the surprise intrusion of a fancy bird-man. Which was perfectly reasonable!

"Ah, just a friendly passerby. Heard a thrilling tale, and I figured I'd take a seat! As for who...you can call me Mister P." The mohawked figure reached into the front jacket pocket, digging past the golden two-point-fold pocket square to pull out a can of anchovies. "Ah, stories by the campfire...a wondrous time!"

"...wait a sec, I think I've heard Ken and Ikari talk about you a few times." In passing, mostly. Usually in the form of irritated grumbles from Kensuke.

"I'm sure they had nothing but positive things to say!" The bird-man tilted his beak upward, gobbling one anchovy whole.

"...it's...kind of mixed? I honestly don't know."

Sakamoto huffed, his wary glare reducing to mere suspicion. "...how did you actually sneak up on us?" He glanced over to where their Personas had been, only to promptly glower. "...ah. That explains a lot."

Toji followed his sensei's gaze, and...well, he hadn't expected to see Gilgamesh poking an eagle-headed lion in the side, while Seiten Taisei was waving a cartoony steak above the griffin's head. The strange creature, to his credit, wasn't rising to the bait. "Uh..."

"Ah, Gryphon's just being a sore sport," assured Mister P, even as he swallowed another anchovy. "Then again, he'd probably be more amenable to fish than beef."

"...so you're a Persona-user." Sakamoto-sensei leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Pretty interesting look, too. Got a thing for birds?"

"I've a soft spot for feathery things, so to speak."

"...well, it's a self-image that's definitely not A.T. Task Force issue. You a Freelancer like me? Or something else?"

The bird-man sighed theatrically. "I'm just a mere wanderer; a proverbial bard of the Metaverse! Only, instead of songs, I spread righteous justice and manly wisdom!"

Sakamoto grinned. "Well, it ain't exactly normal, but I've learned the hard way not to antagonize people in the cognitive world without a reason."

"A wise philosophy! Truly, the words of a weary soldier who's gone through the school of hard knocks more than once."

"...so, what's up with you and my friends? You've run into both Ken and Ikari before," asked Toji, feeling a bit concerned about this utter stranger. Then again, maybe people like...'Mister P'...were normal in the Metaverse?

Mister P chortled. "Those boys blundered into the Metaverse, and so I felt compelled to offer them guidance! This world is hardly a place for chickadees that have yet to learn how to fly."

Sakamoto impulsively barked a laugh at that one. "Yeah, ain't that the truth! Can you imagine what would happen to this little guy if he ended up in the Metaverse without help?"

"...you know that actually happened to me, right?" he groused, trying not to think of how frightened he had been. Because admitting that to his new sensei and this buff stranger was just...no. Just no. "I got taken over by my Shadow. I could've died."

"Thus making my point," said Sakamoto with a smug grin.

"But the follies of children serve as the springboard to adulthood!" Mister P gobbled the last of his anchovies, before saying, "while I'm here, I suppose it's only fair to share a story or two of my own...perhaps the tale of how I assisted Ikari in the rescue of an A.T. Agent from the clutches of a wicked company?"

"...you talking about Misato Katsuragi, huh?" said Sakamoto, sounding more serious now. "...I was there at the tail end of that mission. Would be pretty interested to hear more about how it started from someone who was apparently there."

"And interesting it was! A fine story of heroic vigor and youthful determination!"

Thus did Toji spend the remainder his waking hours listening to Sakamoto-sensei and this 'Mister P' fellow swap stories of the strange and bizarre and harrowing within the Metaverse. If nothing else...it was pretty cool.

(Even if he had to eventually tell his Persona to stop trying to antagonize Gryphon!)

(...does that say something about me?)

xxxx

/Meanwhile, in America/

Thirteen hours behind Japan, north of a Massachusetts town called Truro, Mana Kirishima sliced through the last Ghost in the area; the sun slowly moved high above, casting searing heat upon the coastal town. One more to go, she thought, thinking about the last place she had to go. Without bothering to stick around for any locals to come out of hiding (for all she knew, they were already dead), she tore through the air with LABRYS, phasing into the Metaverse.

Any particular variances and oddities of the local cognitive landscape were ignored; all she wanted to do was complete her mission.

(She had fallen into a familiar sort of head space, by now. Slaying Ghosts was a routine.)

(Routines kept her from thinking too deeply about other things that bothered her.)

Focusing on the power within AIGIS, she aimed the shield behind and down, at a forty-five degree angle. Focusing on the contours of thought, she gazed up at the rhythmic sky of red and black...and jumped-

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Little Sis quietly breathed, focusing on the power deep within. Blue light surged...and burst-!

xxxx

-right as AIGIS erupted with spiritual power, propelling her forward with a jet of blue light. Power consumed from the souls of the dead, converted into force and momentum.

It was enough for her to leap a four-mile stretch, sailing over the shallow waters to the immediate south of Cape Cod's curved hook. She did not focus on how the beaches seemed to fall into sheer blackness, aiming instead for the cluster of cognition that was a beachside town. (Provincetown, to be precise: site of where the pilgrims landed with the Mayflower centuries ago...not that she knew or cared.)

She once more neared the surface, close enough to the beach where there was actually water instead of mental void; angling her shield beneath her body, Mana actually skipped a few times along the choppy surface, skidding to a halt along the sandy beaches. Mermaid Archetypes whistled at her performance, while large blue crabs with feathery crowns - Chesapeake Archetypes - click-clacked with annoyance. "Yeah yeah, you're angry," griped Mana. "I'll be out of your hair...well, shell." Shaking the mental water - which seemed unnaturally blue - off of her shield, Mana grabbed LABRYS's hilt and prepared to swing-

xxxx

/NERV-01, Outskirts of Boston Dead Zone/

Little did Mana know, but mere moments earlier, Futaba Maruki had been staring irritably at her monitors back at NERV's First Branch. "Hmm..."

"Is something wrong?"

Her husband's words elicited nothing more than a grumble. "Meh. Getting some odd readings around Cape Cod." From what she was viewing, Ikari was doing fine (better than fine, she privately mused; the boy had torn through his locations in Maine, New Hampshire, and Connecticut in mere hours, and was almost done wrapping up his mission load in Rhode Island. Evangelion-users are scary~), but some of the ambient cognitions around Mana's current location - Provincetown, her last stop - were concerning. "...they seem...familiar..." Where have I seen those before?

And then it clicked: the signs were there. Oh no. Without hesitation, she quickly hit several commands, typing in a message in all caps. "Damn damn damn damn damn...!"

Takuto leaned in, looking at what she saw, and realizing instantly what it was. "Oh no...of all the rotten luck..."

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Suddenly, before she could complete her swing, a strange warning blared through her skull with all the subtlety of a megaphone, somehow emanating from the triangles on her borrowed headset.

TAKE EVASIVE ACTION!

It was a command issued in a tone that brooked no argument, so Mana willingly leapt to the side.

Fortunate that she did, for a burst of black and red fire erupted from the sand where she had nearly swung her axe. The lithe wrath in bloodstained coat of leather emerged, holding a long-barrelled revolver in each hand.

Mana Kirishima huffed, recognizing the profile in an instant. "Huh..."

(Shiro Tokita had made sure that she and her brothers were aware of all known Archetypes and cognitive phenomena. One, in particular, carried a 'Retreat on Sight' order. "Acolytes are one thing," gravely said the head of the JET ALONE Project. "But this creature...is something else entirely.")

"...of all the luck to run into a Reaper..." Somehow, the thought made her grin. "You know...compared to the boy's Evangelion...you don't seem that scary."

The wrathful eye gleaming from beneath its mask of sackcloth promised otherwise, full of an undeniable malice that made her instincts scream.

Compared to the utter hate that Shinji Ikari had once directed her way, it seemed bearable. "BRING IT ON!" Without hesitation, Mana tossed AIGIS above her head, grabbing LABRYS's hilt and swinging hard with both arms; intent and ferocity translated into force, culminating in a fierce wave of sharpness that seemed to rip at the air as it passed.

The Reaper tanked it; the energy splashed over the creature's form, splintering into flickers of ethereal light.

Mana blinked as AIGIS fell back into her hands (not even a scratch?!), just in time for the Reaper to fire one revolver into the sky. Bang, went the weapon; a colorful aura flashed around the cognitive monster (ah damn it, it's focusing-!) right as it fired the other revolver. Bang, roared the revolver. "Agidyne," said the Reaper with a hoarse, throaty gurgle.

On impulse, Mana angled her shield towards the source of the incoming conflagration, wincing as a pillar of flame washed over her. Unbelievable, she thought with a grimace as the flames washed over and around here. AIGIS can't even absorb it all...!

xxxx

Amidst the fire and flames, a blonde girl stood stalwart...and yet, she could not stand without the assistance of her sister.

xxxx

Roaring, Mana shifted her shield, giving just enough room to swing her axe vertically; cutting through the fire and dispelling it, she glared angrily (AIGIS is brimming with so much fire...!) at the creature-

Bang. "Bufudyne."

-only to see branching pikes of frigid ice erupt, narrowing down at her from various angles. Out of desperation, she willed her shield to unleash the awesome power it had just absorbed.

FWOOOOM!

A destructive gale of fire erupted from AIGIS, vaporizing the incoming ice in a flash of steam. All prior sense of bravado had vanished. Time to retreat-!

Bang. "One-shot Kill."

-and then there was no time to think, only to survive; Mana barely got her shield up in time to block the incoming bullet formed from sheer physical force, but the angle was off and everything ached as she tumbled end over end, sent flying and spinning by the impact. Other Archetypes scuttled away out of fear as she tumbled through the sand, feeling like one massive bruise. Damn it, what happened?!

Bang. "Riot Gun."

Bolts of ordnance - appearing as lances of fiery lightning - soared down from on high, and all Mana could do was endure beneath her shield.

xxxx

Elsewhere, in the woods of Rhode Island (north of a town called Hopkinton, not that he knew this), Shinji Ikari watched as Evangelion sundered one more Ghost - the last in this area, he hoped - when a sudden voice echoed into his mind from...the cat-ear-headset?

YOU HAVE TO GET TO CAPE COD!

Shinji blinked at the voice. "Huh?"

MANA RAN INTO A REAPER.

SHE'S GOING TO DIE!

That was all he needed to know. Grimacing, his Evangelion responded to his will; wrapping an arm around his torso, Shogoki gazed into the sky as Shinji's own focus narrowed down...

xxxx

/NERV-01, Outskirts of Boston Dead Zone/

"Here's hoping he can get there in time," remarked Futaba, biting her bottom lip nervously; the readings coming from Mana's headset were becoming more and more erratic. "Damn it...!"

Fortunately, Takuto Maruki was there to offer constructive feedback. "I'll keep an eye on her readings. You should go and use your Persona as a beacon."

"...ah, of course. Might as well make their retreat smoother. Thanks, husbando!" She hopped out of her chair - kissing him on the cheek - before galloping out of the Command Center.

Dr. Maruki sighed, settling into her chair to monitor the children's cognitive status. "Time to focus..." he murmured to himself.

So, of course, one of the nearby technicians decided to pipe up. "Sir?"

"Yes?"

"...honest question: have you ever called the Chief your waifu?"

"..."

"I mean, I'm just saying that she calls you her husbando, like, all the time-"

"Back to your station, Jenkins."

"Yes sir!"

xxxx

The sensations of shifting between realms had vanished, leaving only the feeling of zooming through a tunnel.

It seemed appropriate to think of his Evangelion as a bullet train, and he was the conductor...except the bullet train could go anywhere.

"Be on your guard," warned his Other. "You must be ready to retreat."

The Beast snorted. "Or...you could rip, and tear, and destroy. Let the Reaper know how meaningless it is."

Shinji tried not to care about any of that. He just had to focus on one thing, and one thing only.

The feeling of Mana Kirishima's soul was like a lighthouse amidst the soupy gray, yet it was strangely overshadowed by something...deep, yet bright: a transcendent abyss.

Without hesitation, he willed the fabric of reality to part-

xxxx

-and he emerged in the Metaverse upon a battle-scarred beach. AIGIS's surface was marred by a large scorch mark - though the crimson gem in its center shined evermore - while LABRYS was embedded blade-first into the sand.

Hanging limply over the barrel of an absurdly long revolver was Mana. The Reaper - now turning towards him - glared with a shockingly yellow eye.

"Mana!" he yelled. The girl didn't move. "You...why...?!"

xxxx

The One Who Sat Upon the Throne hummed.

"...this presents a fine opportunity."

They leaned forward, observing intently.

"Try not to break him."

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The Reaper snorted, tossing Mana's limp body to the side like so much trash; the girl winced from the landing (she's alive...!), unable to even struggle.

He summoned his fastest Persona - "ANDRAS!" - and willed his other self to strike at the Reaper.

Unit-01 overshadowed the owl-headed creature, providing a burst of power as the empowered Persona slammed into the deathly beast.

Shinji quickly ran towards where LABRYS and AIGIS had fallen (I need them to get her out of here), trying not to panic at the strange anxiety in his chest-

The Beast struggled against the Reaper, growling with undeniable fury.

"Thou art a shade of many...nothing more!"

The Reaper sneered, glaring back.

"Me want you to DIE."

-which was REALLY hard to do when the Reaper was firing its revolvers into the ground (Andras hissed, arms struggling mightily to keep the Reaper from taking aim...!), impossibly loud amidst the cognitive world. With the shield and axe in hand (how does Mana carry these so easily?!), Shinji ran towards where Mana had fallen-

The Reaper grinned madly.

"Die like everything else!"

The Beast sneered.

"Intense and overwhelming menace...but without any hatred. How banal."

-and knelt beside the fallen girl. "Kirishima-san!"

The girl wordlessly groaned.

Grimacing, he managed to sling her over his shoulders, trying not to look at the Reaper, because he had to get out-!

The Reaper chortled.

"Me kill you one day."

The Beast smiled.

"Perhaps...but it will not be this day."

Bang. Bang. Too many to count! "Megidolaon."

Andras kicked the Reaper in the chest, gaining momentum as the ground beneath them began to glow with an unnerving intensity. We have to leave! Shinji was already focusing - panic driving him into a state of oxymoronic serenity - as his Persona grabbed them both. Colors began to bleed away right as the landscape around them vanished beneath domes of blue and white-!

xxxx

The One Who Sat Upon the Throne gazed dispassionately at the devastation.

"Sensible, to flee before a stronger opponent."

Yet, the seed of potential was there.

"Still...to restrain the Reaper even momentarily..."

They smiled.

"How long, I wonder, before Potential becomes Actual...?"

xxxx

A strange momentum pushed Shinji along through the gray expanse. So long as it carried them away from the Reaper, he didn't care.

Mana seemed...heavy, yet not. It was as if AIGIS and LABRYS were keeping her aloft.

And what was with the strange light in the distance?

It looked like...a smiling sun?

HEY. LISTEN!

That voice sounded familiar.

COME THIS WAY IF YOU WANT TO LIVE.

Well, that certainly sounded like a good thing.

AIGIS and LABRYS apparently agreed, given how they subtly angled him towards it.

Before he knew it, he felt a sensation of...safety, beneath that light.

And so he shifted-

xxxx

-and emerged within the Metaverse, in a chamber dominated by four large brains in glass cylinders. Living clouds of equations and thoughts and memes hovered around these giant brains (easily the size of a taxi cab), a veritable testament to intelligence and cognition and mental prowess.

Sitting in the middle of them was a dark-haired woman in a futuristic bodysuit of sorts, looking akin to a character out of a sci-fi flick. It was somewhat undermined by the opaque, nerdy glasses resting on her face, yet they seemed...natural, on her. "Whew! Glad that Prometheus caught your attention!" Above her, a grinning sphere of black - shrouded in rainbow fire - bobbed up and down with glee.

"...Dr. Maruki?" murmured Shinji, blinking with a sudden weariness. Now that he was focusing, he could see that streak of orange amidst dark hair...

"...oh boy. You look and sound like you're about dead on your feet. Then again, given how many times you shifted through dimensions over the past few hours, it's probably just now starting to catch up with your conscious mind. Gimme a second." She opened up a large tablet affixed to her forearm, tapping rapidly on it. "Focusing the MAGI on all of us, preparing for an isolated warp in three, two, one..."

A familiar feeling gripped Shinji, as he began transitioning out of the cognitive world...but not by his own power, for once.

ZHUU

ZHUU

zhuu

zhuu

The four glass-bound brains vanished, replaced by four MAGI units arranged in a quadratic formation; the strange unreality of the Metaverse gave way to hard physicality, and there were a lot of medical personnel reaching towards him and the unconscious Mana. I guess we're safe now...

That was excuse enough for his body to finally give out.

xxxx

END OF 7/11/2015

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/in case you were wondering
/the "game" calendar is based on Japan Time