I started working on this story in early march of 2024 and having a blast doing it. All canon characters that will appear belong to Atlus of course.
Toyama Japan, Seaside Park March 19th, 2021 9PM
A young fourteen year old light brown skinned middle school girl named Leiko Mizaki stands in front of a jagged looking structure on a sandy beach with a dark brown glowing entrance. The teenager is wearing gray jeans, blue hightops and a purple windbreaker with an orange blouse under it.
Her pink hair with forest green tips is styled into a high ponytail reaching to her mid back is gently blown by the wind, her bangs that would fall onto the bridge of her nose and down past her left ear are obstructing her view for a moment.
As the breeze dies, wonder and a bit of fear shine in her lilac colored eyes as a black inky creature with red glowing eyes crawls from the maw of that structure.
She had just barely arrived at the beach at the behest of two of her friends who wished to say goodbye because of her impending move to Vancouver Canada being a few hours away, only to find this outcropping and that creature in their place.
"W…what do you want?" She shakily asks, slowly taking a step back. A blue butterfly flits behind her as the wind gusts once more.
This creature laughs and its form changes into a bipedal red horse. "Why I've come to help you find your way. I know how much you doubt the future, especially with leaving this country."
"I'm fine with my future, I know what I want to do!" She retorts, crossing her arms. The fear in her eyes grows, unsure what she should even do. Where were her friends? What was this thing?
The creature chortles as it swiftly steps behind her to whisper in her ear in a sing-song tone, "Oh is that so? Do you think you can really be a mangaka? You who can't draw or even write a simple short story? Do you even know why they do what they do? I don't think so. And what about school? Can you even get into a good school like how you are? The way you are going, you'll end up in the worst one."
"They…they do it because…." She begins to say as dread and fear eat away at her. Why did they do it again? She gulps and clutches the collar of her windbreaker trying to think of what to say about school, "I…can't end up in a bad school. I just can't."
"That's right you don't know what they do. You aren't that great as a person, you're not compassionate, you don't even understand the meaning of hope. You're a coward who can't even help a single friend in need, like yesterday for instance. Couldn't even help them out of a tree without fearing you'd get hurt. You have nothing going for yourself but your intelligence, but that isn't much of anything since your abilities will send you to a bad school. You're a weak little abrasive girl who will never change." The shadow chides, loving every second of the dread it is feeding into her, it was almost time to change her path.
"I…I don't want to be any of those things." Leiko squeaks as she falls into the ground, pulling her legs close to her body, gripping the side of her head, her eyes open wide with fear. "How…how do I fix these things about me?"
"You just need to let me help you decide, I'll take care of it all with just a tiny bit of influence so you have a nice safe future like that for your parents." The dread being produced from this girl is delectable. The shadow licks its lip in knowing it's time for the final push.
"You…you'll decide and influence?" The girl whimpers, anger slowly sparks in her eyes, its words sparking a realization in her, "Why should you decide or influence my future! That's not fixing anything you fucking pile of crud!" The girl shouts at the creature, rising to her feet, holding her head in slight pain.
"I art thou and thou art I. You who would secure your future from influence, say the words that are your hope." A voice enters Leiko's head spurring her on.
"My future is my own, I won't let you fill me with fear and dread! I will stand as a mangaka, no matter how hard I have to work through my own shortcomings and weaknesses. You will not steal my agency or my resolve from me and you won't do it to anyone else! I decide the path I will take from here on out! I will learn the meaning of hope that the mangaka and Featherman give to people through their works!" Blue energy in the shape of butterflies swirls around her as her eyes shut tight, yellow light seen behind the eyelids. "PER…SONA!"
A slender woman in long orange robes with a hood of jade shaped like a crow, gray piercing eyes and silver hair materializes from this energy. "I am Badb the battle crow; now see my child, see what others can not!"
In her mind's eye, images of not just the nearby Shadow appear, but a small legion of other Shadows closeby. "There…there are so many of them." Leiko cries in shock as her eyes snap open.
The horse-like shadow roars in anger, "No! I will not be denied my plan or dread by some fool girl!" It raises its claw to strike, only for said claw and creature to disappear as a gunshot rings out.
"Hey kid, where are those other Shadows? Direct us to them!" A nineteen year old brown haired teen boy shouts to her, dressed in a black shirt and jeans.
A green haired boy wearing a striped mauve shirt and cargo pants rushes to her side, striking down a small hand-like Shadow with tonfas that had appeared out of nowhere, "Leiko, just do your thing, Usato will deal with the Dread Burrow, Neko and I will deal with the Shadows up here."
"O..okay Kenji." Leiko utters, closing her eyes. Badb draws behind her and rests a hand on her shoulder as Leiko points in the direction of the Shadows to the west of her friends.
Twenty minutes later, the Shadows have been dealt with and that funky structure has vanished. Usato smirks at his two young teammates as they gather around Leiko.
"So are you going to tell me what those things and that outcropping were?" Leiko questions, really liking an explanation. It had better be good.
"That outcropping was a Dread Burrow. It's a place where Shadows, like that Orobas or those hand Shadows you saw usually gather in small groups. As far as we know, the lead Shadow feeds off of people dreading the future so they can exert a tiny bit of influence. These lead Shadows also tend to create objects to anchor their power so they can operate outside the Burrows, be it on their own, when they've manipulated a person to work with or for them to better influence other people which is rare or like what happened just now." Usato explains candidly, waving his arms around like a teacher at school.
"So what exactly are Shadows?"
Kenji waves his hand, "I got this one. They're part of the collective unconscious that have become sentient, but embody the negative emotions everyone has. Most of the time you'll see them as weird things with masks, but they do take the forms of figures from lore or a lot of other different things like those when they lack masks. Personas are the same kind of deal, but just our own Shadows that we accept I guess. That's what Usato said at least."
Usato nods at the explanation, digging out a clipboard from his bag. "So I have to ask you, Leiko. We want to solve the ills of this world because of our own insecurities of the future. The three of us feel that beating back these Shadows and wiping out the Burrows will do all that. We want to make sure many can have one. We want you to join us."
"No!" Leiko answers flatly. She had no interest in joining a group with such limited defined goals. What did solving the ills of the world have to do with the insecurities of the future?
"Come on! Just say yes. We need you." Kenji shouts, pulling out a pen and handing it off to Usato.
Leiko shakes her head, "These insecurities belong to you three right? You can beat back Shadows, but more will generate due to human emotions, right? It's just a fucking pipe dream you got here. I don't know what you mean about the ills of the world, but I'll pass thanks."
"Some people just can't figure out their futures and Shadows do have some of the blame there. If we deal with the Shadows and the Burrows, we can solve this particular illness that the world has." Usato insists, pushing the clipboard towards her.
Leiko scrunches up her face in anger and steps forward, "I doubt everything can be blamed on the Shadow." Her anger continues to rise as she glares daggers at her two friends. She'll deal with them in a moment. "The answer is still no." She tries to take a few more steps to move past the trio, but Usato steps in front of her.
"You really should help us! Think about all that good you can do. You can help us make everyone have more secure futures and that will help put our minds at ease." The nineteen year old remarks, not wanting to take no for an answer.
"I've told you three times now. I won't join whatever this is." Leiko shouts angrily at this Usato person. " And you two!" She rounds on Kenji and Neko. "You two are no better than he is by tricking me into coming down here on the pretext to say goodbye."
The Dread Burrow explanation nor the one on Shadows had fallen on deaf ears, Leiko is just livid at the audacity of her friends using her like bait to draw out that Orobas and to activate her Persona. "It sounds more like you want to control the futures of people than actually help guide or inspire people to a future they want."
Kenji looks at Neko, who has herself covered head to toe in a dark yellow jumpsuit and has on a motorcycle helmet, but Kenji decides to speak, "We just wanted someone else we knew in this fight with us. So join us."
"Leiko Mizaki, we told you to join us. We will not hear any other answer from you." Usato answers, his brown hair dancing in the wind. "You have a wonderful Persona that can allow you to sense Shadows. I bet it can see deep into Dread Burrows, with practice you can speak through your Persona directly to us and do so much more than just that. We need someone like you with that talent. Please sign the agreement. You can't go to Canada. We can pull a few strings so you can stay." He holds out a clipboard, trying to force it upon her once again.
Leiko eyes harden at the man with suspicion, backhanding the clipboard away, it hitting the sand with a soft crunch, "STOP HARASSING ME! I'm not giving up my agency to a blowhard and two former friends saying they are fighting these…these Shadows or invading Dread Burrows, thinking that will solve all the world's ills because you are insecure about the future. It is so vague and disingenuous. I found my resolve to push forward for my future and in a way I hope it will result in helping others. So take your clipboard and stuff it, Usato. You will not deny me my agency."
The girl storms past the teen and her now ex-friends. The three people just look at each other, wondering what they would do now.
A/N: I know this is a rather slow start, but I hope you've enjoyed this thus far and stick it out for other chapters.