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Gathering fourteen people, two androids, and one dog in one building was a surefire recipe for chaos no matter how you sliced it. When more than half of them were soulfully exhausted, and the acting adults in this situation weren't up to the task of policing them, well…
If this was a functioning dorm with weapons and everything, the Investigation Team supposed, then the kitchen should also be fully stocked as well, wouldn't it? (Apparently, this kitchen was better stocked than the one in reality, if Junpei's grumbling was to be believed.) Their healing items had run out a while back, and even without speaking to him directly, the others began persuading Yu to cook for them. Yu figured he might as well. He had to eat, too, and with six floors left to go, Mystery Food X was simply not an option. What could it hurt?
Even in a perceived world, that was a loaded question.
It started simply enough. Yu had found enough for a simple stew, and had a pot boiling on the stove while he chopped and prepped. He stepped out thinking everything could take care of itself while he attended to a few needs. This was his mistake.
From all accounts, it began with Fuuka. Ever the helper, she allegedly felt bad that Yu was doing all the work (even though he insisted it should go this way, trust him, this was for the best if everyone wanted to live) and decided to keep an eye on things while he was away. In spite of all the ingredients visibly ready to go on the counter, she felt the stew lacked a certain something. Since she had no idea what that something was, she simply grabbed seasonings at random and threw them in, confident that Yu would be pleased when he returned. If this had been all, perhaps the stew could have been salvaged...but no.
The IT girls had witnessed this event. Angry that Yu'd let Fuuka help when he'd ordered them to stay at least 10 feet from the kitchen at all times, each girl slipped into the kitchen unnoticed and wreaked havoc. Rise may have been more motivated than the rest as she made the meal spicy enough to burn a hole through your chin. While starfish were a completely normal ingredient on Planet Yukiko, the dorm didn't have any...so she made do with some squid jerky. Chie – and here, Yu would have figured the beef in the stew would satisfy her meat quotient – thought she'd take a page out of Akihiko's playbook and add some protein powder. Unfortunately, the powder was meant to dissolve in cold water. By the time Yukari – the only female with a lick of culinary sense – had figured out what was going on, all she could really do at that point was turn off the burner and get out of the way of the Surfing Chili Squid.
Naturally, when Yu returned to an explosion that no one wanted to take credit for, he received five different stories. Only Aigis, who had seen everything and had perfect recall, told an accurate account of the disaster...to the dismay of everyone else involved who had Rashomoned themselves into the heroine.
"I am confident that is what happened," she said.
"Hey! That makes us all sound guilty!" Chie complained.
Yukari just shook her head. "I'm pretty sure you are all guilty as hell."
The girls groaned. "Thanks a lot, robot." Rise muttered as she stomped off, with the others following.
"Sheesh! I'm starting to see why you banned them all from the kitchen!" Yukari griped. Then she noticed that Aigis had gone very still, even for her. "Aigis? You all right?"
"Was I not supposed to report what actually happened?" Aigis could emote fairly well for an android, but she appeared to be confused over which emotion to actually display.
"Well, no, it's not that you told the truth, it's just that you told it so...truthfully?" More confusion. "Look, the girls are just upset because they thought they were helping and you forced them to see that they weren't. We're all human, and sometimes, the truth hurts. They'll get over it, though. I mean, if anything, Yu-kun's the one who should be complaining. They screwed up his whole stew!"
"The truth hurts...when you are human…" muttered Aigis.
"I'm gonna go see if Yu-kun wants competent help putting something together – and if not, I'm not going back into the kitchen. You gonna be okay here?" No answer. "Aigis?"
Aigis snapped to attention as if receiving an order. "Yes! I comprehend." This seemed to placate Yukari, and she left, not noticing that Aigis had decided on an emotion, and it was sadness. "I comprehend...but I do not agree. The truth is that I am not human. I am a robot.
And I think that...it...hurts."
After waiting for what seemed like an eternity for Mitsuru and Akihiko to come downstairs and rejoin them (Naoto had a fairly good idea what was happening, but she did NOT want to dwell on it), the partially-armed party was off to Tartarus 2 once again.
"So, we're a quarter of the way through this tower," Yu addressed the group as they proceeded up the previous floors trying not to look at any of the hard truths they'd already witnessed.
"And a pattern has already started to emerge. Amada's floor earlier has confirmed my suspicions," Mitsuru added. It seemed her earlier despondency had dissolved, allowing her keen mind to return.
Naoto could only smile as she inwardly cursed herself for missing whatever Mitsuru had picked up on. "You've determined the order the Personas are in?"
"Yes. It appears our Personas are...being returned to us in the opposite order of when they were first awakened."
"Great. So who's next?" asked Yu.
"Aigis."
But when they looked towards the blonde android, she appeared to be...spacing out? Brooding? Moping? This was not something they'd noticed her doing before.
"Aigis? Where's ya head at?" Labrys asked her newer model.
"Forgive me, Sister, I…" That was strange. Aigis was always clean and logical, especially when compared to hot-headed, impulsive Labrys. Today, however, she was acting as if there were one too many programs running, and her CPU was lagging while something insisted on updating itself. It was jarring in contrast to her relatively human appearance. "I have had something...on my mind, as they say."
"Ai-chan is a deep thinker," Teddie cooed, though he went ignored.
Labrys did not seem convinced. "If you say so. C'mon, let's get ya a Persona." But she continued to observe Aigis as they moved on, and after locking eyes with her, Naoto did as well.
Aigis' dungeon resembled a stadium. The walls that surrounded them made them feel like cattle being herded to their death, and the eerie silence wasn't helping. Six large, wire towers resembling tree trunks towered above them, their gnarled frames looking like barbed wire. As usual, the location was new to the Investigation Team, but eerily familiar to the Shadow Operatives.
"Look," said Yukiko, pointing. They had just stepped over giant letters painted onto the floor. Naoto's English wasn't the best, but she could tell that they were commonly used as Roman numerals.
"Does this say somethin'? VIXXIVIIVVIV?" Oh, Kanji. "What the hell's that supposta mean?"
Looking over to her left, Naoto could see another X lying by itself, and more letters beyond it. "No, Kanji-kun, these are numbers. The floor is a clock face."
"Great. What time is it?" joked Yosuke.
"Time to admit the truth!" a harsh voice replied.
The door across the room opened, and a robot emerged...but it was not Aigis. Where Aigis' body was white, this robot had a black body – with the exception of one white arm, as if it had been hastily repaired with whatever spare parts were available. They made no effort at all to hide their mechanical nature, as their "face" appeared to be made of intricately carved steel wings, red and gold, like a demonic butterfly.
"Metis?" Yukari addressed them.
Suddenly, the butterfly flipped up to reveal a feminine face, with eyes as red as Mitsuru's and an angry expression.
"Oh! You're like Aigis-san," said Yukiko.
"You again!" the robot – Metis – grumbled. "Why can't you ever leave my sister alone?"
"Sista?" Labrys looked confused and slightly hurt. "Wait, what?"
Teddie, on the other hand, was ecstatic. "More robo-beauties?" He sidled up to the new android. "Hey there, little butterfly. Care to join me in my cocoon of lo-OW! OW! OWOWOWOW!"
Metis had begun beating Teddie with her weapon, some sort of ax with a cross-shaped head. "SHADOW! You're no match for me! Get vanquished!"
"Metis," Aigis tried to redirect her, "I do not understand how you are here. You were the physical embodiment of my emotions...emotions that I tried to reject. But I have accepted them. I no longer regret having felt loss, sadness, or anger."
"Which is stupid!" Metis instead pointed her weapon at Aigis. "What do you need human emotions for? You're a robot, remember? A seventh-generation Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon. Does that sound like a human name to you?"
"Her name's Aigis!" Labrys declared, staring down the intruder. "And if you were really her sista – which yer not, 'cause I ain't never seen ya before in my life – then you'd know that nobody even cares that we're robots! We're no different from any human!"
But Metis wasn't moved. "Oh? Can humans remember everything that happened ten minutes ago and report it back perfectly?" Aigis hung her head. "That's what I thought. Face it: you're a weapon. The only reason you were modeled after a human being was so you could use a Persona. And now you have no Persona. So what does that make you?"
"I…" Aigis had shut down. Her eyes, which once had as much expression as any human, were flat and lifeless. Slowly, she raised an arm and gazed soullessly at the reinforced metal coverings that were her "fingers". Her "feet", upon closer scrutiny, were essentially steel hooves. Unlike Labrys, who preferred to blend in to an extent by wearing the Yasogami uniform, Aigis' framing and joints were completely visible. To an onlooker, she was plainly...a robot.
"A robot," Metis seemed to echo Naoto's thoughts.
"Wh-what's wrong with robots?"
Everyone turned around in surprise. Tiny Fuuka, whose voice could barely be heard from the back of the room, had asked the biggest possible question.
"I think Aigis is incredible. She's capable of independent thought processes and actions just like a human being is. Plus, she's learning and processing information at an astounding rate. Just look at how much she's grown in the past few years!"
"Grown? She's the same size!" Metis insisted.
Yu picked up the conversation. "Humans don't only grow one way," he explained. "You can't see it with eyes or optics, but experiences change a person. Sometimes for the better...and sometimes, for the worse," he laughed ruefully. "No one is the same being they were a year ago. To be human is to change. Change is growth. And Aigis – like the rest of us – has grown."
Naoto couldn't help but notice that while the others were watching Aigis and Metis, Rise had begun staring at Yu as if she'd suddenly seen him in a new light. Eventually, Yukiko and Chie did as well.
For one small moment, it seemed as if Yu's words had truly reached Metis and a battle was unnecessary. Then she turned her ax on him. "I don't buy it!" she snapped. "If humans are so great, why did these idiots let themselves get trapped in a time loop? This whole nonsense started because you decided to take up some human's burden so their stupid sacrifice wouldn't be in vain." As befitting a Shadow, Metis had tossed a live grenade into the room of firecrackers, invoking all of the Shadow Operatives' collective anger. As she swung her ax at the party, however…
...Aigis caught it barehanded. "I will not let you besmirch Makoto-san's memory!" she declared, displaying the very human emotion, anger. "Makoto-san gave his life to save this world, and I shall defend this world in his name!"
"Sister…"
"NO." And Aigis, with human fury and robotic strength, bent back the ax so its blade was pointing directly towards its owner. "I DO NOT acknowledge you as a companion unit. You are merely a manifestation of my negative emotions – a Shadow. As an Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon...and a…" here, Aigis' eyes welled with tears, "friend to humanity...my duty is to eliminate you!"
Metis froze, looking as if she'd been betrayed. It only lasted a moment. "Whatever." Her mask fell back over her face, all traces of imitating humanity gone. The towers along the wall were suddenly aflame, revealing the gaping halls of a coliseum and a monstrous red sky in place of a roof. "So you want to be a human, do you? PREPARE TO DIE LIKE ONE!"
It was a lot to take in all at once. Naoto found herself casing their surroundings out of habit, clocking exits, hazards, and the roiling clouds overhead.
"Heads up!" Yu called to his wayward party members. He pulled Kanji to the front with him, and it seemed like the perfect strategy at first. Aigis was weak to electricity, after all. But they soon realized that Aigis' assessment of Metis was correct: she was not a robot like Aigis. Shocks merely irritated her. She also had the ability to charm her attackers, something Aigis wasn't capable of.
Kanji had leapt back to avoid yet another Sexy Dance. "Okay, this ain't workin'. Nothing we can thr-Yosuke-senpai, get the hell back here." He grabbed a charmed Yosuke and bashed him over the head with his fist. "Nothing we throw at her sticks!"
Yosuke likely suffered no brain damage. "aHahA...tHAnk yOuu FoR ShOpPiNg wITH uS, and hAAaVe a gREat dAy at yOuR jUneEEes…"
Okay, no significant brain damage.
"What sort of weaknesses does this Metis have?" Naoto asked the Operatives.
They just looked at one another. "She...doesn't," Mitsuru explained, "Not that we're aware of. We only managed to subdue her when Aigis overloaded and collapsed."
"We've been collapsin' every five minutes – no dice." Kanji looked back at the active party. Chie was kicking Metis with all of her strength, yet the robot just looked peeved. "Maybe she'll be weak to 'bashed in the face with a freakin' chair'." He tagged himself back in so an exhausted Chie could run and retrieve her shoe. "Hey, Robo-Bitch! EAT ALUMINUM!"
Yu had emerged. "There are times like this I wish I could see life bars over everyone's head," he said, breathing raggedly and clutching his side.
"Like a video game?" Junpei asked excitedly.
"Yeah, but one of the really good ones," replied Yu, "where it, like, changes color to show how much is left." He never failed to surprise Naoto with the random statements that came out of his mouth on a daily basis.
"In lieu of that, I believe we may have to simply overwhelm Metis with sheer manpower until she exhausts herself." Naoto had a gun, but even in the TV World, its bullets were limited. With so many floors left, she'd hoped to conserve more ammunition.
Akihiko's eyes lit up. Here was something he could do. "We could tie her to a chair again."
"Did that work?"
"No." Even that fact didn't dull his enthusiasm. "But it'll be satisfying."
Mitsuru could be heard muttering to herself, something to the effect of: "Honestly thought we'd managed to burn off some of your energy…" that had both Akihiko and Naoto blushing slightly.
Akihiko chose to ignore that statement by quite literally diving into the cartoony combat ball, fist raised. "Hey, remember me?" They heard the clunk! of flesh hitting metal as he connected. Mitsuru merely shook her head with affectionate exasperation.
"Aigis is going to have to be the one to do it," Yu had managed to stand upright, but only barely, "but she can't accept her Shadow if she doesn't accept herself first."
"Now you're speaking in riddles," scoffed Mitsuru.
"No, I think he might be right." Rise had been growing increasingly frustrated trying to analyze Metis to no avail. "We're all going to have to accept her." And she dropped her scanning systems, the metaphysical visor disappearing from her head. "Aigis? I'm sorry for what I said earlier. I wasn't angry at you for being a robot; I was embarrassed about looking stupid in front of Senpai."
"We all were." Yukiko joined the conversation. "We all did the wrong thing, and tried to lie our way out of it. You were the only one who was telling the truth."
"As a robot-" Aigis began to protest.
Chie cut her off. "No, as a good friend," she said. "If anyone had eaten that stew, they'd have ended up in the hospital. We could have killed somebody, just because we were mad at Yu and too proud to admit we can't even boil water." She looked sheepish. They all did. "Humans can be dumb like that."
"Humans make mistakes." Aigis allowed one hint of a smile to appear on her face. "And humans learn from their mistakes. That is how they grow." She looked over at the unwinnable battle still raging. "Negative emotions are just as much a part of being human as positive emotions."
Metis, having barreled over all her opponents, whirled around looking for another target. She settled on Aigis, and tried to raise her bent ax...but the expression on Aigis' face stopped her cold.
"It is true that humanity can be rife with anger, sadness, and pain," Aigis reached out and raised Metis' visor herself, "but they also have forgiveness. Acceptance. Sympathy. Empathy. I understand you, Metis, at last. You came into the world during a time of denial and regret, and misunderstood. You saw the negative feelings I had in the wake of Makoto-san's death, and assumed that this was all that there was. But just like a human, you were wrong, Sister."
"I was...like a human?" Of course that was the part she'd grabbed onto.
"Did you not think that was possible?" Aigis actually sounded amused. She held out her hand. "Do you want to find out more about humanity together?"
Metis took it. "I...I do."
And Aigis had taken back her Shadow.
I don't believe it.
How the hell is a talking toaster better at people shit than I am?
Sho had developed a squint from trying to somehow escape the pain of his throbbing head. It made seeing things hard, but he was pretty sure all the blonde robot did was lecture the black one and then they just sort of hugged it out like some cheesy TV show. Great. Was he supposed to fucking do that, too? Trying to imagine Tsukiyomi and him hugging just gave him an even bigger headache. Then again, the kid stabbed his with a spear, and that just sounded like an invitation to get his ass kicked. UGH! It wasn't fair! If they could get their Personas back, why couldn't he?
Oh, they were moving. Time to get his Sho on the road.
.
.
Puns were really more fun when there was someone around to groan at them.
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I think I've created a logic bomb...
Metis, for those of you who haven't played The Answer (sorry for spoilers!), is what happens to Aigis' emotions and burgeoning humanity after she struggles to come to terms with Makoto's death and inherits the Wild Card. The SMT wiki actually posits that Metis is Aigis' real Shadow.
I would also like to point out that, while Koromaru was found first, he did spend some time in the hospital, during which Ken officially joined SEES. The order flows better my way because it underscores just how different each team is, and how unprepared the IT was for helping them get their Personas back (they never considered how a dog was supposed to say, "You're not me!"). Starting with Aigis, the floors are in more of a canon order.
Aigis' floor is a recreation of the Collosseo Purgatorio, the arena where she and Metis fought the other members of SEES in The Answer.
UGH, Metis, why don't you have the same weaknesses as your sister? (This, I suppose, is our first clue that Metis is not what she seems at all.)