The tower, FL: 3,?

Shizuka was walking slowly over to us, with her sword in her hand. "Hey, Shizuka, are okay, you seem pretty..." Her sword came at me before I could finish. I was able to dodge it but then she attacked me just right after that.

"Shizuka, what are you doing, it's me, Kazuki!" She wasn't listening since she proceeded to attack me against me. I turned on Shadow-Mog and grabbed her wrists when she made another attack. "Calm down will you!" She kneed me in the stomach and kicked me in the head. She then punched me in the gut. Her attack had more weight to it, far more than I was expecting. She was coming over to do another attack but Ryota stopped her.

"Kazuki, are you alright?" "Yeah, I'm fine." "So, this is the girl?" "Yep." She moved in on Ryota. He was able to parry a couple of her attack. He was able to keep up with her speed for a little bit but she outdid him.

"Damn, she's tuff." She continued to attack Ryota while he was on the defensive. Hisoka snuck up behind her, but a second later age noticed. Trying to hit him, Shizuka did a stabbing motion with her sword but Hisoka avoided them all. He did his counter-attack but she jumped over him. "Hermes!" "Skeith!" Our Personas went for her in the air, but as soon as they got close to her they got destroyed. A sharp sensation was coursing through every part of my body. It felt something was tearing through my body.

"What the hell was that," Junpei cursed. "She tore our Personas within seconds." She was much faster than she ever showed, I couldn't see her hand move, plus, if she was able to slash at our Persona in more than one place, then she's moving in speeds that might be on the level of Shadow-Mog...

"Bro, are you okay?" "No Ko, don't come over here! Stay over there!" I'm not fine, but I can still move just fine. I turned on Shadow-Mog and zig-zagged towards her. I needed to be instantaneous in my movements to get close. She swings her sword just as quickly. I had to dodge most of her strikes to not get hit since I didn't have a sword to block with. I needed to find an opening to disarm her. Her onslaught was fast and vicious with no room for wasted movements, however, there was one instance where she made an opening and I took it. I grabbed her by the wrist and pushed my back against her chest and threw her overhead to the ground. I took the sword away from her.

"Okay now, are you ready to calm down now Shizuka?" She turned her body around on the floor and went into a strange stance. She immediately jumped past me. I felt something slice against my arm, a cut had opened up. It was painful as hell. "Did she cut me with her nails!?"

I then noticed she was going for the others. I moved over to her, I tried to grab her but she evaded by moving like an animal. She was aiming for Makoto. A piece of the ground covered the group by the side. She moved to the front of them, Jun had blocked with his sword but she had shifted her body to the air and for Makoto's head. Ryota had spawned a thirteen-foot wide poll. It had hit her in the chest area. He had swung her away from them...

"Damn, she's more than tuff, she's strong!" She was gearing up for another attack but then immediately stopped. She looked back down the stairs. She then jumped down them.

"Wait, Shizuka!" She was already gone before I could stop her. "What the hell was that?" Yukari cursed. "Yeah, why the hell did Shizuka-tan attack us?" "I don't know?" Shizuka was far more ferocious than she ever was before.

"That woman almost killed us," Hisoka scorned. "She's supposed to be your alley?" "Yes, and I know but we don't time for that, we have to go after her!" I ran over to the kid that was unconscious on the floor and ran down the stairs.

"Kazuki, wait for us!" I knew I was going back on my priority of sticking together but I couldn't wait, I needed to run after Shizuka, right away.

...

It had been twenty-four minutes since Shizuka fought Kazuki and group, she has been running herself ragged by fighting monsters that were bigger and tougher than her. But due to her omnipotent pain tolerance, she was able to outdo she tore them in halves. Her speed was also a helpful factor in these fights. She took a moment to settle down, however, this was a weird moment; she was in a state where she was beyond a human, beyond normal boundaries, she was the pinnacle point of what a person can be without Shadow-Mog. So then why is she breathing heavily? The answer is because her mind couldn't stop thinking of a certain person. His visage always popping into her mind, memories of a certain city with this person. There weren't many, but the ones she had were the warmest she ever had in years. These. memories were being pushed back, however not fully.

"*Pant* *pant* *pant*" The warm memories were no longer needed, they were nothing but a hindrance to her now and wished to get rid of them but no matter how much she wished, she couldn't. After a moment it seemed like she was suffering from these memories, she was hurting, wishing they go away already. Then, she sensed something foul, and without looking to see what it is, she attacked it without looking. The person had dodged her attack and the several other ones before she had was hit by something. It went flying past her side and came flying back to their hands...

"Shizuka, can you even hear me?" Minako Arisato asked such a simple question but it went ignored.

"I was watching you fight Kazuki and his group. I noticed you went after Makoto. Why did you?" There was clear anger in her voice. She was ready to chuck her spear at Shizuka. She was about to make the first move, but she was attacked first.

"Shit!" Shizuka drove her fingernails towards her Minako but was able to evade it. She tried to take a stab at Shizuka with her spear but failed to reach. She then tossed her spear again to hit her. Shizuka maneuvered around it and went for Minako, who had summoned Orpheus to intercept her. The Persona was skillfully swinging its' lyre. However, the Persona was outdone by Shizuka when she had crushed its' head. A painful sensation had gone through Minako's head, her head feeling as if something was gripping it with a steel grip and crushing it as if it was a sledgehammer. Shizuka had rushed for her, but sensing something was coming towards her, she jumped up and as soon as she landed she zoomed towards Minako again. She had kicked her in the stomach, it was powerful enough to send her flying down the hallway. This kick had cracked a few of her ribs. Minako was in immense pain but she was going to get back up nonetheless, however before she would be able to, she would be hit again by Shizuka, and this seemed to be coming true. Shizuka's nails were aimed for Minako's forehead. This attack would go clean through her head if it were to connect, and all it would take is a second.

"Huh?" Shizuka's attack was interrupted. Her body was covered in chains, she wasn't able to break free despite her strength...

"Shizuka, I see you're doing extremely well now." She was trying to break free but her efforts were useless. "Shizuka, what's the matter, why do you seem like you are in pain?" An answer didn't come out, but he didn't need one, he knew what was going on. He knew that memories were rising to the surface of her mind, memories of a boy sporting a black jacket. The man had thought if these memories were strong enough to remain then they might grow a tad bit stronger over time, he couldn't let this happen.

"The pain that you are receiving is from memories, and the memories of this person, right? Then all you would need to get rid of that person to get rid of those memories."

Shizuka, who was in no state to listen to what other people had to say had taken in this bit of information. Why? It was one of the single thoughts she had in her mind. There was a sort of influence in her mind that had told her to attack people; it was a beastly instinct of sorts. But now, this beastly instinct was getting specific with its targets... Hifumi released the binds on her.

"..." Minako was holding her breath in anticipation, she was readying her spear so she could react to any movement. Shizuka took three steps back and then turned around for a full-on sprint, she was gone within seconds.

"What did you do to her," Minako asked with a question mark in her head. She was clueless about what just happened. Shizuka was attacking her like a wild animal but then decides to leave.

"I just influenced her to go for another target," Hifumi answered. He began to walk off after her. " Wait!" Minako stopped him. "Why did you interfere, I had it under control." "Is that what you thought? You are lucky that I showed up when I did. She was too much for you to handle," he explained with no consideration for tact.

"How do you know that I wasn't holding back?" "Because all Persona users are the same: above average humans that barely surpass us. But without said Persona ability, they are just like us." "What do you mean just above average?" "I'll get straight to the heart of the matter, Persona users are weak without their Personas, however, the boy Nyarlethnotep is interested in is quite different from an average Persona user since he doesn't need to use one to outdo stronger demons, however it still is flawed since it has side effects based on the use." "What does this have to do with me?" "What I've been trying to say is that you are weak."

What!?

"Your strength is quite insignificant compared to Shizuka's and shall be so. I have no idea why Nyarlethnotep keeps you around, but he must be desperate for another wildcard." He continued to walk for Shizuka. His figure disappeared into the other of the hall. What he said began to repeat in her mind. She punched a wall in frustration, it was had broke under her tiny but callous fist.

"Weak my ass, I'm strong enough, I can protect Makoto with this power... That's why I have it..."

...

We all took a minute to catch a break, the fighting was starting to drain us all of our energy. The guys took one spot while the girls and Ko took another. The boy who was knocked out was lying on the wall.

"Kazuki, we need to talk about what happened," Ryota was trying to revive the topic of Shizuka attacking us. To be honest, I wanted to talk about it out loud as well.

"I don't know why she was doing that Ryota, Shizuka is usually calm and more center minded, but the Shizuka we just fought was wilder. Her swordplay was loose and had no elegance whatsoever, and even without her sword, she fought like a wild beast." "So you think something happened to her" Hisoka questioned. "Yeah, I do."

It's not surprising that she's able to keep up with me while I'm in Shadow-mog, but she overwhelmed me while I was in it. I originally thought that she had Shadow-mog but that was an obvious no since her eyes weren't yellow. And if that isn't the case, then what is it?

"She had a mask on the side of her hip," Hisoka pointed out. "Yeah, and?" "That mask is quite rare you know? Want to know where to find it?" "Where?" What was Hisoka leading onto? "You can find it on monsters that were made from the tower," Hisoka answered. "...You know where I'm leading with this, right," Hisoka asked. "I do, but first, what do you mean by a monster of the tower?" "Yeah, what are you talking about," Ryota's confusion matched mine. Hisoka handed him the map phone...

"What," Ryota shouted. "Arata is a bastard, but he does have some useful gadgets." I couldn't understand what was going on. I looked at the phone and saw a message from Mr. Arata... "The hell is this!?" This thing was able to get a message from someone on the outside, and not only that, it said a threat had just entered the tower. He described the person in question, and it was describing no one else but Shizuka. It was saying how she was with the tower. I wanted to know how he knows that. Did he meet her outside or something?

"Kazuki, who is she," Ryota asked. I wanted to say she was a friend, but I knew that they wouldn't take that as an answer.

"We asked you a question," Hisoka said. "I know, and she's not an enemy, nor is she with the tower." "How can you be sure," Hisoka pressed. "I just am. I know it's suspicious and to be honest, I don't know much either, so that's why I want to help her then get answers from her. So until then, just help me for a bit longer. And if you don't trust me, here." I threw the rainbow key to Hisoka. "It's your decision now, you can leave the floor without me. I'm still gonna save her, but I'd appreciate it if you helped me."

Hisoka took a moment to think to himself, I couldn't tell what he was leaning towards since he's always sporting his poker face.

"You want to help this woman," Hisoka asked. I didn't know why he's asking me that.

"Yeah." "Even if it might get you killed?" "I'm not gonna die, I need to save someone else, so I'm gonna save both of them without dying." It sounds like I wasn't dedicated, but in all honesty, I don't care how it sounds...

"...I rate you a B," Hisoka suddenly said. "Huh?" "I rate you a B for tenacity," he appointed me. "Oh, wait, wasn't it different last time? Does that mean I improved that much from a day ago?" "No." "What, but you just said I'm at a B." "I ranked you for tenacity, the warrior thing is at a pending D." "What does the pending mean?" "Don't read too much into it...".

He threw the key at me.

"You can keep it for now, but note: if saving this woman seems impossible, then we'll have to abandon her, understand." I didn't want to say I understood but I couldn't argue against it. "I understand, if I can't then we'll leave." But it won't come to that, I swear I'll help her, I'll save both of them...

"Guys, he's waking up!" Ko called us towards the boy that was knocked out. His eyelids were beginning to open up. "Hey, are you okay," I asked him. He pulled out a knife on me before I could react. Hisoka grabbed his arm before it had hit me. "That's not a toy, you know," he remarked. "Let me go, you- GAH!" He reacted to the wounds that were still there. Hisoka took the knife away from him and wrapped his arms and legs with bandages.

"Who the hell do you think you are, let me go!" He was trying to struggle his way out of the binds. "It's not use, you won't break out of those. So you better tell us who you are." "Like I would do that, you can forget about asking me anything because I'm not going to tell you anything," he told us with a cocky attitude. "Umm... Guys." Junpei came walking over to us with Yukari and Hana.

"What's up?" "Well, we know who that girl is. She's the person that took Shizuka." She is! Wait, that's a girl!? First, it was Shizuka now it's this kid. But nevermind that, maybe she knows what happened to Shizuka. With that in mind, I took a seat in front of her.

"Why didn't you say anything," Hisoka probed. "Cause I didn't know it was her until a good look at her just now." I guess her hair is covering her face. But now wasn't the time for that, I needed to get answers from that girl.

"Hey, I need to talk to you, will you please listen," I asked her with as much sincerity as I possibly could muster. "Why should I care to?" And sincerity is out of the window.

"I don't care if you don't want to, I want you to answer me on something. What did you do to Shizuka when you took her?" "Gee, I don't really remember, maybe my memory is shot, guess I can't tell you now, can I?" Her lips were sealed on not telling me what happened to Shizuka. If that's the case, then I'm gonna have to do something to make her talk.

"Fine then, we're doing this the hard way." I took off my jacket and threw it at Ryota. "Oh, so you're going to torture me now? Go ahead, see if you can make me wince in pain." "Kazuki-kun, you're not really going to torture her, are you," Yukari edge onto the idea. "I'm going to do the one thing that know might work on her. Despite having Fu-chan in my life, I don't know much about women, in fact, they're pretty mysterious things to me. However, I do know one simple fact about them." "What, what is, come, man, spit it out!" Junpei desperately begged me to answer. "This the most pinnacle fact, so listen well Junpei!"

He perked his ears as I was about to say the ultimate weakness of a woman. "The fact is, their very weakness is... They're very ticklish." I was lifted up by my face.

"What the hell are you talking about!? We're not that sensitive," Hana yelled in my ear as she was crushing my face. "Kazuki, what do you and Fuuka do in your room?"

Goddamn it, this was being blown out of proportion, we do nothing light teen romance stuff, I swear!

"I see, so that's Kazuki. Wow, never knew Shizuka fell in with pervs," the girl said ti herself "Shut it, you boyish-looking girl." "I'm not insulted in the least, you know there are guys out there who're into that sort of thing? It makes it ten times greater when they realize I am a girl; because it shows I'm hiding all my womanly charms." "That doesn't happen to go with your cup size, does it," I ask in the form of a smug remark. She froze, her face flushed red from my question.

"Hmph, I don't need to say anything to the likes of you." "So nothing at all, huh?" "N-no! They're tied back, but they're huge!" "Sure they're not flat!?" I could tell she was getting visibly pissed and I just smirked. But I felt something hit me in the gut. Hana's fist connected with my stomach and I fell to my knees.

"We are so sorry about his behavior," Yukari apologized. "No problem. But I'm still not telling you what happened to Shizu-" The girl had cut herself off.

"She's coming!" She was on alert for some reason. "Who is," "Her...she's... Nah, I'm just kidding!" She was rolling around on the floor laughing. I felt like a complete moron for falling for that one. She went a laughing fit for a straight minute until calming down.

"*Sigh* Okay, I'm good," she said with a satisfied look. "Was that really funny?" "Yep, it was. For a perv, you got a goofy looking face, and you're pretty handsome as well. I think I might gush over you," she weirdly complimented. "What the- Why are you talking about," Yukari demanded an answer from the girl. "Hoo, why are you so flustered? Are you his girlfriend?" "N-no, I'm not!" "Oh, is that so, then maybe you're a..." She was holding the next word she was going to say on the tip of her tongue. "...little sister?"

That was a bizarre ass guess; we don't look anything alike at all. I noticed Yukari sighed to herself in relief. "Yuka-chan, you alright," I asked her. "Huh, yeah, I-I'm just fine!" She was flustered and waving her hands around. I don't know if she's really okay.

"What's the matter, Yuka-tan, feelin' nervous about-" She jabbed Junpei in the stomach. The air left his body on impact.

"A-anyway, we should get going, we shouldn't waste time here anymore." Yukari was right, we should get a move on. "What are we going to do with her," Yuki questioned. "I say we leave her here but it would be useful to have a person from the tower with us. So let's take her with us. Ryota, carry her." "Okay...can't say it's not weird."

Ryota picked up the bandage that ran up from her back. "Hey, what are you doing!?" Put me down!" She was rocking back and forth, trying to break free from her binds.

"Calm down, you'll drop flat on the floor." "As if I care, just let me go!" "Shut it, or I'll cut your tongue out," Hisoka threatened. "Up yours, ya emo assassin wannabe." "What was that you runt," he shot back. I gotta say, that was a nice burn, a bit on the mark as well. We continued down our path with the girl trying to break free and insulting Hisoka. I could tell that this was going to be a handful to deal with but if she can be used to save Shizuka I'll put up with it...

Sup, guy, I'm sorry for the late update. I'm gonna be updating this AN later and put in a special skit when I'm done having Thanksgiving dinner with my family. So until then, see ya in a bit.