The stage in the center sank into a gaping black hole. Teddie's Shadow rose out of it, having increased in size. The soft fur had turned leathery, with the face cracked like a plastic doll. Inside were a pair of purple and blue eyes, floating in the darkness.

"I am a shadow… the true self…" The shadow boomed. "I shall give you the "truth" you claim to hold so dear. The inescapable fact of your death here!"

"Was that creepy thing really inside Teddie…?" Chie asked.

"I guess he was a lot more troubled than he looked." Yosuke realized. "We have to save him!"

"Foolish beings! Accept your end with dignity and grace!"

"Not gonna happen, freak-o." Sayaka said. "What's the plan, Kyoko?"

"Stay on guard, everyone." Kyoko ordered. "Preserve your energy and strike sparingly until we know what it can do."

"I'll work on analyzing it!" Rise called. "Don't worry about a thing!"

"Alright, let's clean this creep's clock!" Kanji shouted.

"Bufu!" Chie shouted.

Her Persona unleashed a burst of ice, but it was absorbed by the Shadow without much issue.

"Wha-?! Ah, he can absorb my ice attacks?!" Chie complained.

"How about a little light?" Sayaka suggested. "Hama!"

Benzaiten shot out a beam of light from her staff, but it had the same effect as the ice.

"Are you kidding me?!" Sayaka yelled. "That stupid thing shrugs off ice and light attacks?! It's like he personally hates me or something!"

"Your actions are ultimately meaningless. Give in to despair and perish!"

"Zip it, pal!" Rise shouted, as her Persona scanned him. "Guys, it's not immune to everything! Keep hitting it with everything you got!"

"Chie, focus on physical strikes! Sayaka, stay back and support us!" Kyoko commanded. "Everyone else, use your elemental attacks!"

"Maragi!"

"Garula!"

"Zionga!"

Flames, wind and electricity all blasted Shadow Teddie, all dealing damage to him.

"Good, he's not immune to either of those three!" Kyoko said. "Everyone, keep up the assault! Sayaka, can you keep us all in healthy states?"

"You got it, Kyoko!" Sayaka gave her a thumbs-up, while Benzaiten stood on standby.

Shadow Teddie tried impaling them with ice spires and slashing at them with its claws. Yukiko was melting the ice with her flames, while Kanji and Chie had their Personas deflect the claws with physical strikes.

"Heh, I think we're getting the hang of this jerk now!" Yosuke said. "Jiraiya, Garula!"

He shot another gust of wind that blindsided the Shadow, turning up the wind. Kyoko had Izanagi shoot a bolt of lightning through the wind, zapping the Shadow head on. In spite of the onslaught of attacks, it appeared that the Shadow was still staying strong.

"Stop this futile struggling. Even if you resist, it will all come to naught."

The Shadow slunk into the hole it was in, before slipping back up and holding up its hand, charging up a ball of energy.

"What…? I have a bad feeling about this!" Rise said. "Everyone, shield yourselves!"

Everyone nodded and held up their arms to block, but oddly enough, the Shadow didn't use the opportunity to strike. It was still charging up the energy, but had venom in its eyes as it stared at the team.

"It's… not attacking?" Sayaka said.

"Everyone, keep on the defensive!" Kyoko ordered.

"Yeah! It's about to strike!" Rise shouted.

The team kept up their defenses as the Shadow swiped its claw at them with the energy in its palm. They all managed to avoid harm, with their Personas blocking the strike.

"What gives with that attack?" Yukiko asked. "It seems to have a long startup time…"

"That's it!" Yosuke said. "The weakness there is the long startup! When he's charging up, he can't do squat!"

"Then we pound the shit outta him when he's gathering energy!" Kanji concluded, punching a fist into his hand.

"Even with your knowledge, you will not be able to achieve victory." The Shadow boomed.

It raised its hands and let ice fall from above, but both Tomoe and Benzaiten managed to shield the team from the ice shards.

"If he can block ice attacks, then we can do the same!" Sayaka said.

"We'll cover you guys from his attacks! You all just let him have it!" Chie called.

"Right." Kyoko nodded. "Positions, everyone!"

Resolve reinvigorating, the Investigation team began to excel. Kyoko and Kanji were hammering the Shadow with lightning, while Yosuke used the wind to push back the Shadow's attacks and keep him and the others on the move. Yukiko was healing the team as well as melting through the Shadow's ice and lighting the battlefield around them on fire. Chie and Sayaka took their support role and blocked any stray ice shards, as well as strengthening the team with skills. And Rise was keeping a keen eye on the battlefield, calling out any observations from the back, letting the team stay one step ahead.

"What?! How can you summon such strength for such a futile endeavor?!" The Shadow demanded as it raised its palm again to charge even more energy to wipe them out.

"We'll let you in on a little secret then, monster." Yosuke said. "It's because we're human!"

"Human?!"

"Some might call it survival instinct, and that may be the truth." Kanji shouted. "But it's also us wanting to beat the snot outta creeps like you!"

"We won't fall here, not while we can still stand!" Yukiko declared.

"And if you don't understand that, maybe you don't really know what your "one truth" is!" Chie added.

"But why do you resist?! Even should you win, nothing but suffering awaits!"

"We just spelled it out for you already, and you still don't get it?" Rise asked. "Because that's just how humans are!

"Because we're human we can seek the truth, and find something further beyond our true selves. So…" Sayaka smiled. "Finish things off, Kyoko!"

"Right." Kyoko gripped her knife tightly. "Izanagi!"

Her Persona nodded, before holding out a hand towards her. Kyoko ran towards it, as she jumped onto the hand, which launched her skyward. Teddie's Shadow looked up and tried to aim at her, but had taken its eyes off the rest of the team.

"Now!" Yosuke shouted.

The team attacked the Shadow from every angle, breaking its focus and causing the energy in its hand to disperse. It was stunned, but managed to look up to see Kyoko and Izanagi diving at it with full force. The two had their weapons outstretched, before they stabbed straight into the head, the blades sinking in straight to the hilt. The lights in the Shadow's eyes faded out, as it raised a paw. It tried to swipe at Kyoko one last time, but Yosuke had the wind push her out of the way, as the Shadow fell over, dispersing back into its original form.

Kyoko landed safely back on the ground, which had turned back into the stage-like area. She was ready to collapse, but their job wasn't finished yet. Teddie had managed to stand back up, but was a bit floppy with how flat his body had become.

"Was that… part of you, Teddie?" Yukiko asked as the others gathered around.

"Even Teddie had a hidden side…" Chie said.

The Shadow had reformed, now back in its normal state. It was silent, seemingly staring off into space as Teddie looked at it.

"I… I don't know who I am." Teddie said.

The Shadow said nothing.

"I've thought a number of times… that maybe there is no answer. But I'm here… I live here…" Teddie mumbled.

"You're not alone." Kyoko promised him.

"Then… I don't have to do this all on my own...?" He asked.

"Dude, we'll help you figure it out." Yosuke said.

"I'm sure we'll find out about you, as we continue investigating this world." Yukiko added.

"I only just joined, but you can bet I'll be going full power, full throttle!" Sayaka promised.

"Y-You guys...!" Teddie started wiping at his eyes. "I'm… I'm one lucky bear! Waaaah…"

As Teddie emotionally cried, his Shadow had begun to glow blue and turn translucent.

"Is that...?" Chie realized.

"A Persona?" Yosuke finished.

The Shadow faded away, and transformed into what resembled a boiler with animated traits, colored like a familiar superhero dressed in red and blue, complete with a cape. In its stubby hands was a tomahawk missile, ready to toss. It transformed into a tarot card, which fell into Teddie's hands.

"Is this my Persona?" Teddie said in awe.

"I can sense strong power from it." Rise said. "It's awesome, Teddie…"

She fell to her knees, but Sayaka quickly caught her.

"Easy there." Sayaka said. "I gotcha."

"Oh yeah, her Persona just awakened too!" Chie realized. "She must be worn out."

"Yeah, let's hurry outside!" Yosuke said.

The team quickly made their escape from the dungeon, though Kyoko noticed Sayaka didn't seem to be that worn out, despite awakening to her power. What was different…?

The team had made it towards the main exit location without much effort. Shadow activity had died down after they dealt with the dungeon.

"Are you feeling okay, Rise-chan?" Yukiko asked out of concern. "We're almost outside."

"I'm alright." Rise reassured them. "I'm more worried about Teddie…"

"Yeah. He's still pancake-like." Sayaka noted, seeing the flattened bear.

"You gonna be okay there?" Kanji asked. "Cause we gotta go back for now."

"It's okay. I wanna be alone for a while." Teddie said.

"H-Hey…" Yosuke said.

"My beautiful fur is all rough and coarse…" Teddie slightly whined. "And my nose hasn't been working too well either…"

He laid down on the ground and started doing sit-ups, while still relatively flat.

"So while I wait for my fur to grow back, I'm gonna train hard! Nobody can stop moi! Here goes! Huh! Huh!"

"Wh-What's gotten into you...?" Yosuke asked.

"Don't, talk, to me, please!" Teddie said between sit-ups. "One more set! Huh! Huh! Another one! Huh! Huh!"

"Leave the dude be…" Kanji told the others. "Comes a time when a man's gotta stand on his own two feet."

"Uh, I'm not sure this is really one of those times…" Chie stated, watching Teddie.

"I really hope he becomes super fluffy soon again. I didn't get a lot of time to hug him." Sayaka said. "Anyways, I'll take Rise back to her place. I can help dismiss her disappearance as an "idol trade secret" or something."

"Yeah, she'll need a lot of rest. We can talk after she regains her strength." Yosuke said.

"Well, um…" Chie looked back at the flat bear still doing sit-ups. "Good luck, Teddie!"

"Just kick back and wait for my wonderful comeback! Peace out!" Teddie said.

"Good luck." Kyoko wished.

The others all went on ahead, but Kyoko stayed back a bit, since it looked like Teddie wanted to tell her something in private.

"I said this before, but… I can sense something special about you, Sensei." Teddie said.

"Special." Kyoko repeated, remembering the last time Teddie had said it.

"There must be something that only I can do…" Teddie said. "That's how I feel when I'm with Sensei. That's why I'm gonna get stronger! To find my special thing! Raaaawr!"

Kyoko nodded as she felt her bond with Teddie grow. "We'll be counting on you."

"Here goes! Huh! Huh!" Teddie went back to doing sit-ups.

"Just don't rip a seam." Kyoko told him, as she left to join the others.

Sayaka was walking Rise back to her place, having lent her a hoodie to keep her hidden from passerby that could recognize her. Eventually, they stopped outside the tofu shop.

"Okay, we're here. So if anyone asks what happened, you just say it was "an idol secret" or something, okay?"

"Got it. Thanks for helping me, Sayaka." Rise said.

"Hey, from one idol to another, you know?" Sayaka smiled. "Though maybe you don't want to be called one for now."

"Yeah, my head's still spinning a bit." Rise admitted.

"Now, head on in. I bet your grandma is worried sick." Sayaka said.

Rise was about to go in, but turned back to Sayaka. "Can I ask something first?"

"Shoot."

"I can tell that you helping me isn't just because." Rise said. "You have another reason, right?"

"Huh, guess you read right through me." Sayaka noted. "Am I that much of an open book?"

"With how you offered to take me home, and what you said back there against my Shadow thing…" Rise noted. "It feels like things are a bit more personal."

"Well, I guess you're that reason." Sayaka admitted.

"Me?"

"Yeah. Back when you debuted, you exploded in popularity way faster than I did and I was doing the idol business longer. I was actually a bit jealous at first." Sayaka admitted.

"Jealous of me?"

"Yeah. I worked my butt off, did some… things I'm not too proud of. But here comes a new face out of nowhere. I thought you were gonna knock me off the radar, push all my hard work down the drain." Sayaka admitted. "But when I actually met you, during our first collab concert… that all changed."

Rise was silent, surprised at hearing this from Sayaka, and gestured for the girl to go on.

"When I met you, I saw a spark in your eyes. One of passion and love for what you did." Sayaka said. "It made me realize you didn't care about the popularity or showbiz or anything like that, you did it because you liked it. Just like me, and one that did it all through honesty and always on their own two feet."

"Oh…"

"But every time I met you afterwards, that spark was fading. When I saw you again here, I could feel it was almost out, but it was slowly regaining all that lost light." Sayaka said. "With all that… there was no way I was gonna sit out from helping you."

"Sayaka…"

"Man, I'm glad I finally got that off my chest." Sayaka breathed out. "You can blow your gasket at me for how I used to think or anything. I got some time."

"Get mad at you? After you helped save my life?" Rise said with a small laugh. "Besides, you said how you used to think, right? You're not that person anymore."

"Maybe so, but I feel like you should hit me or something." Sayaka admitted.

"Not my style." Rise said. "How about we go from idol colleagues to friends instead? Though I always did think we were."

"Yeah, I can totally work with that." Sayaka gave her a thumbs-up.

"Thanks again for helping save me." Rise smiled. "I'll see you later, Sayaka."

"Seeya." Sayaka waved, as she turned and started to walk away. Rise… she really is something else, huh?

Rise watched her friend for a bit, before heading on in. After reassuring her grandmother, she was ready to just collapse on her bed.

And something told her that this sleep would be stress free.

Having made a successful rescue, and calling Sayaka to double check that Rise made it back home, Kyoko had returned back to the Dojima residence. She and Nanako were having dinner, waiting for Dojima to come back. They were watching television when they heard the door.

"He's back!" Nanako smiled.

"Whoa, there! Careful now, Dojima-san." Adachi's voice came.

"Ow!" Dojima shouted. "Dammit...! Who built a shtep here!?"

"That'd be the carpenters, Sir." Adachi said. "C'mon, don't take your anger out on the house. That won't solve anything."

Kyoko already managed to piece things together, almost instinctively standing up to see Adachi helping carry her Uncle into the house.

"Whooo… I'm hooome, Nanako, Kyoko! I'm baaaack!" He yelled, clearly drunk.

"W-Welcome back…" Nanako slightly stuttered.

"Oh, hey you two." Adachi said. "Sorry, but could you… uh… Kyoko…?"

Kyoko was staring at her drunk uncle with a very disapproving look. In fact, Nanako and Adachi were quite surprised with her expression considering how neutral she normally tends to be.

"Um, Big Sis?" Nanako asked. "Are you alright?"

"No human language can describe the disappointment I'm feeling right now." Kyoko flatly stated.

"Sorry about this." Adachi apologized. "He was only gonna have only one drink, but I kinda a blind eye at a bad moment and this happened. Erm, Nanako, could you get Dojima-san's futon out? And Kyoko, help me get him to the couch…"

Nanako nodded, going out of the room to help set things up while Kyoko took her Uncle's other arm and walked him over to the couch, assisting Adachi in sitting him down.

"Phew! He normally doesn't drink this much." Adachi wiped his brow. "Guess it really got to him, haha…"

"How else… hic… am I supposed to deal with this crap!?" Dojima mumbled. "Friggin' fancy-talkin' kid… I've… I've been in this line'a work… since you were all learnin' yer times tables! Kyoko, you outghtaa go down there and… teach that brat some manners…!"

"Would you… care to explain why my uncle is quite inebriated?" Kyoko asked Adachi.

"Ah yeah, that. Well, the prefectural police sent in special investigational support." Adachi explained. "'Cause you know, we haven't really made any progress on the serial murders since they started in April… Haha. So this "special support" is supposedly a hot-shot detective from a well-known private agency But you shoulda seen the look on my face when I met him! He's only a kid your age! I hear he's a pretty sharp cookie, though."

"Another detective my age?" Kyoko said, admittedly a bit surprised.

"Awww, he's a brat like any other. Ain't nothin' he can do to help." Dojima said, slurring his words. "He goes on and on about deductions and… deductions… Heh. Ace or no ace, the prefeckshure oughtta be more careful about giving us brats to babysit… Condes-Condescendin' bashtards… hic."

"The kid said, as long as he can be of assistance in solving a difficult case, he won't require a reward." Adachi added. "Well, you can imagine the shine the higher-ups took to him after that. So we can't exactly turn him down…"

"The higher-ups had to… accept that special support when… we had her here the whole time…!" Dojima rambled, looking at Kyoko.

"Hm?" Kyoko raised a brow. "What does he mean?"

"Oh, right, I should probably tell you this since Dojima-san can't right now. Well, the higher-ups were actually gonna bring you onto the case, but there were some small issues." Adachi explained. "Something about nepotism, I think it was? Dojima-san was really mad about it since he knows you're really good at your job. He's still allowed to give you info about the case since you are a certified detective, but you're not allowed to directly involve yourself in the investigations or something like that. Though, since you do come from a pretty famous line of folk and all that, they probably couldn't stop you if they tried."

"It's all bullshit… Kyoko could run circles around all of those bashtards… solve the case in a few hours I bet…!" Dojima ranted. "She ain't… the Ultimate Detective for nothin'!"

"Sir, I recommend not saying something like that…" Adachi said with a bit of a chuckle.

Nanako walked back into the room. "His futon's ready."

"Thanks, Nanako-chan." Adachi said, before helping pick up Dojima again. "Alright, Dojima-san, up and at 'em. Nanako-chan got your futon all ready for you!"

Dojima mumbled something incoherent as Adachi helped carry him to his room. Kyoko watched them. At first she was a bit disappointed with her uncle, but… hearing what he said, vehemently defending her ability to his bosses and vouching for her… she couldn't help but feel a bit thankful towards him, feeling a bit of pride as a detective.

"It sure does stink like sake in here…" Nanako said, holding her nose.

Kyoko simply nodded at that, trying to hide her smile.

Kyoko's Social Links:

Magician (Yosuke Hanamura): Rank 8

Chariot (Chie Satonaka): Rank 7

Priestess (Yukiko Amagi): Rank 7

Emperor (Kanji Tatsumi): Rank 2

Star (Teddie): Rank 2

Hanged Man (Sayaka Maizono): Rank 2

Justice (Nanako Dojima): Rank 3

Hierophant (Ryotaro Dojima): Rank 3

Fool (The Investigation Team): Rank 4

Hope (Hope's Peak Academy Students): Rank 3

A/N: So is anyone else concerned for that poor intern at ATLUS that accidentally uploaded the trailers for the Persona 3 Reloaded and Persona 5 Tactics?

Anyways, we've finally wrapped up the Rise arc (aside from the last bit of plot elements), so I don't have much to say at the moment. I'm still genuinely surprised I've gotten this far.

Oh, and I did mention it, but I'll be going on vacation for the next two months. I won't be uploading anything in that time; for this fic, and any of my others. I need a break from the constant monthly uploads.

Feel free to leave a review. See you all next time.