Persona: Frozen IC (Open)

[purgatory]

Everything seemed to play to a certain tune. As the door to the ambulance closed, the entire area was rattled by a sudden earthquake. There was a jagged string of icicles that butted from the ground, and rose at an alarming rate. This then proceeded to completely encompass and engulf the dojo where the rumors initially led me. To my surprise, the woman that summoned that strange presence from before, ejected the policemen my superior had stationed to watch the door. It seemed...at least in my opinion like there was something she knew, all I could summate and deduce was that woman, "Pepper" that male, "Cures" called her that.

I paused for a moment, the earthquake was short lived, but I was ever on edge with those other highschoolers that I made visual contact with one by one as they entered the dojo. Within the past forty-minutes. My eyes squinted and shifted from the ice covered dojo and they then rest on phoenix, the boy that was only a half an hour ago, maimed by a moving vehicle. By some miracle imposed by that woman, his fractures were healed, his wounds appearances were sealed and suppressed from visage...this was one of the most irrational things I'd ever witnessed. The need for the EMT involvement as they examined him inside the ambulance was proving less and less an incentive to take him to the actual hospital.

"Tch...what are they?" I muttered beneath my breath, nigh inaudible to all of them in the ambulance.

I watched, the door was then opened by one of the rookie police, my name was ringing in from his mouth. "Detective Lane! Detective Lane! Change of plans, the boss wants you to stay put, that phoenix boy is also to go nowhere!"

I nodded, things were beginning to make even less sense anyhow. The policeman returned to my superior and closed the door behind him. I thought about something interesting though...I thought about my ESP. Maybe it could tell me something about the future that I'm just not understanding. My stomach began to curl inward into a knot and my head shifted looking over my shoulder. There lay phoenix completely unconscious, the EMTs had moved to the front of the ambulance, while the others were outside looking at the now iced over Dojo. This was my chance to look into his future, or by pure coincidence "deja vu" at a later time.

I reached for his head, recalling familiar words, "Deja vu...huh...ugh, not again." I said to myself, recognizing how familiar this was. Placing my hand on Phoenix's head, I'd instantly connected with him. I could see a faint images, but it looked like we were looking up at something? The bottom of the lake? What could this mean, all questions that were going through my head before I removed my hand. As I had adjusted my hat, I opened the door and stepped outside, I was...not expecting what was happening to happen now.

"Boss, it's snowing even harder now. We should-"

"Like hell are we going to abandon the scene!"

"But sir!"

"He's right detective. The only thing we'll achieve if we wait through this blizzard is your men getting pneumonia and having to explain to the prefectoral police how you wasted man-power in the middle of a blizzard."

Upon saying that, I could feel the heat off the detectives glare. He raised his hand and dismissed the officers, luckily forensics came in 15 minutes ago to collect the remains of those two high schoolers. I would hate to be their parents...how they'll be grieving over the loss of their lives very shortly. As for the highschoolers trapped inside of the dojo, I had the strangest feeling I would be seeing them again, alive, and that they had to have some involvement with the high school being effected in the same exact way. The cars had all pulled out and the scene was lifted, as I rode to the station in the ambulance with Phoenix he was in no shape to be responding to questions, the Chief had a change of heart and decided to let us go to the hospital. The woman involved in the accident came with us to the hospital.

One Short Car Ride Later

​

Room 307. In the injury ward, I sat in phoenix's room, where Detective Cam, and the Chief sat outside. I was admittedly impressed by it all, this was the first time I'd been to this wing in this hospital. I couldn't stop thinking about everything that I'd seen, I was even more eager to capture the true meaning behind it all instead of this grasping at straws bullshit. Talking to me the way she did, that woman, given my incredible deductive skills and even with my neutral liberation there was still a lot I did not understand. I was strangely angered by this, but it would be short lived as I turned my attention to Phoenix's hospital bed. He'd wake soon, I had questions undoubtedly, but it's hardly a question of whether or not he had the answers.

 

[Peace]

All too quickly, police officers poured into the dojo to investigate and gather testimonies. Saito and cops never really saw eye to eye. Back at home, the police in the city almost always had a reason to gave him crap. The bandage on his forehead wasn't helping his case today. So much so in fact that they asked him at least three times where he got the mark on his head. Every time he calmly stated he fell down some stairs. As many times he told them that, the lad noted the skeptical looks on their faces. They eventually concluded their questions, giving Saito the opportunity to sit back down where he was.

Since he rested and started moving around a bit (also getting annoyed at the civil servants), the ponytailed student was feeling a little better. All of a sudden the ground started to shake violently. Almost as violently, Pepper decked a cop and threw him outside. The electricity emanating from her arm did not go unnoticed by the college student.

Dammit! I wanted to do that, Saito almost yelled.

Before he had the chance to ask what was going on, a quickly growing icicle burst from the ground. Luckily he was able to avoid it and retreated to the front door like the others. The last thing Saito saw of this scene was Sarah summoning Gaia before everything went white.

( ( ( ) ) )​

When Saito came to, his immediate thought was Again with the tingles! while the short-lived sensation spread throughout his body. As soon as he noticed that he wasn't where he was before, the waiter looked around and concluded that he and his acquaintances were in the icy pond world.

Releasing a breath because of this change of plans, he thought To be honest, I was kinda hopin' to spar with these guys.

"Another chance to prove your 'strength,' perhaps?"

Saito's eyes widened then darted all over the place to search for the source of the voice only he's able to hear. When he found nothing, he threw his coat back on. The red-eyed half-Irishman walked up to the green clad girl and inquired "How in the hell did you know that was goin' to happen?"

As soon as he thought it, he additionally asked "Has this happened before?"

 

[Kazem]

John probably spent all of the wishes he had on the police not looking inside the the instrument case. They asked questions about it, sure, but he gave them a story of going to the local music store for some assistance with tuning due to the weather, throwing in some specific part names to try and solidify the story. This was all told with much effort on John's side, his inability to fluently speak just deemed to be due to the awful smell. After everyone had their turn for interrogation, John sat himself down in the dojo, hugging the case close to his chest and rubbing the shoulder strap between his pointer and thumb. He tried looking at the walls for inspiration, but the texture was just too faint to get anything solid or fun out of the patterns.

The shaking took a second to register for the teen, but Pepper's Flawless Victory against the policeman standing guard was instantly paid attention to. After the Total K.O. and disposal of the body, John hurried over to the door with the others on her orders and waited for Pepper to tell them her plan.

What they got was a belly.

Voice caught in his throat now, just after he'd manage to clear it by guzzling down some of the water Crystal had brought over, John just floated around until everything went from white to black. Waking up to the familiar sight of the under-pond space, John found himself suddenly grateful for bringing his weapon along. Going for the latches on the case, John fumbled for a few seconds before pausing and holding a hand in front of him. Though they were perfectly warm with blood flowing just fine through the veins, his fingers were shaking relentlessly and uncontrollably. The metal tag identifying John as the owner of the case began to jingle in its key-ring, telling John it wasn't just the one hand. Staring at the case for a moment, he quickly slung the strap over his shoulder and shoved his hands inside of the jacket's pockets, trying to hide the signs of his distress.

No. No, I can do this. We have Pepper with us if we need to escape, and we have plenty of...of personas to beat the shadows back if we need to. We'll be fine. I 'll just...just.... I don't know. What can I do? Am I just dead weight? Or is my job just to freak out like last time, being that one guy screaming about the end and how we're all screwed? I mean, aren't we? That first hellbeast is probably still here, and it didn't take very long for him to find us before anyways. Pepper just protected us from the ice, so who knows if she can protect us again so soon? And what about when we get back? Our parents can't just ignore us missing every single time a new ice castle bursts out of the ground or when blizzard blows in. We're dead if we stay in here, and we're 'dead' and probably jail-bound if we get out. There's no winning, it's game over. We lost, backed into a corner, there's just no hop-

John promptly hurled, hurrying over a short distance away from the group just in time to double over. Retching, coughing, sputtering, John pulled out all of the tricks in the book trying to get whatever was stuck in his throat out of there. There wasn't any actually bile coming out, through phlegm was certainly building up within his mouth. Odd enough, the sounds all seemed to start with an n-sound, John trying to understand what the hell was happening and finding this little tidbit out during a three-second break before resuming the routine. He went on and on, getting more violent until finally something came out.

It was small, pale, and wiggling around like nobody's business. John just stared at it for a moment before realizing he said something when the thing finally came out. Wiping the corners of his mouth and breathing heavily, the teen watched as it grew bigger, both in height and length. It stopped around the size of a tiger and the length of about two of them, sporting a multitude of legs up until a head through the second tiger-length, there narrowing out until a tail was formed. Its veins popped out on the top of its body, the underside red and layered. The face-end was void of anything until a few more seconds when a line appeared in the middle of the non-face. A second later it split open to reveal huge teeth that stretched into the wickedest smile John had ever seen, this smile directed straight for him. One last second led to it fading away, leaving John on the floor and against the wall.

Looking over to the persona-users, John rose a pointed finger to where the creature had just been and asked a question he sincerely hoped would be answered before the thing showed up again: "Was that my persona, or should I be seriously freaking out about having that thing inside of me for a few days?"

 

[Max]

I moved away from the entrance and leaned against one of the dojo walls. I kept my arms crossed to try and keep from shivering, but it was no use. It didn't matter how cold I was, all I wanted to be sure of was that none of those cops outside got a good look at me. If they did, I was probably going to be hauled off for fleeing from the cop at my apartment, as well as for being a murder suspect. My heart stopped when I saw somebody enter the dojo entrance, but after a second I was relieved to find it wasn't a cop. It was the yellow-eyed girl, Crystal. She set down a bag of drinks and greeted me with a quick wave before moving on over to her friend Saito. Her eyes... they were just like Maxwell's. Is she like Maxwell? If so, why could everyone see her, and where was her other half?...

I zoned out for moment. I continued to think on about everything that has happened. We had all been through a lot, with the shadows and the personas. I felt like these people were all I had right now. Even if we were basically strangers, at least I wasn't alone. I was brought back to reality when I heard that gentle voice in my ears.

"Come with me." Valerie said as she grabbed my hand. Her voice sounded so kind and inviting, and her hand was warm and soft... It didn't seem right. Could this really be the same girl who threw me against a wall yesterday and ripped me a new one?

"You'll get sick, if you stay in those wet clothes." I was speechless, so without responding I let myself get pulled across the dojo by her hand. Her hand holding mine... It was the same hand that smacked me right across the face yesterday. If it wasn't for shadows having those signature yellow eyes, I'd swear that I'd seen two different halves of her.

As I continued pondering about this girl, we made a momentary stop at the counter. While she was fiddling around behind it, I reached two potential conclusions regarding all of this: 1. She is very protective of her friends and I was just as suspicious as absolutely possible yesterday, or 2. She is completely normal and I just have no understanding of women. Either one could be true, or it could be a mixture of both.

I hadn't even realized that she had stuffed some clothes into my arms and dragged me to the bathroom. "I'm sorry there isn't a shower here. These will have to do until we figure out how to prove you're innocent to the police. I don't know what you did to gain their attention, and I want to believe you're a nice person. I know you have a tough history -- and everyone here is willing to give you a chance. So, don't give them a reason to doubt you, after taking a chance to believe in you." Valerie gave me the most sincere smile as she spoke. This girl knew nothing more about me than my darkest secrets, yet she was giving me a chance. She was reaching out to help me and putting her trust in me. I felt the same happiness I felt when Cures shook my hand and welcomed me into the group the day before; I was surrounded by some truly extraordinary people.

I smiled back at her, letting her see how truly happy I was despite everything that has happened. "Thank you so much," was all I managed to mutter out to her.

"I know things appear scary now, but it'll get better if you give it time." Valerie said to me, the smile still on her face. She then placed her hand on me and guided me into the bathroom. "And don't think about not changing into those clothes! I won't let you out, if you do. Plus, they're free of charge and I'll take care of the money. If you're hungry, I think there's a shop next to the dojo, where Crystal must of gotten those drinks. It'll be my treat. We can invite the others, if you still think I'm going to roughen you up like a kick boxer."

I still had that smile on my face as I stripped off my wet clothes and dried off with the towel. "Don't worry, I won't turn down dry clothes," I said to her through the door, "Thanks again... I really appreciate all of this." I pulled the black pants that she gave me up to my waist. They were a little baggy, but had a string around the waist I could tighten and tie off so that they'd stay on. I wrapped up my wet jeans, shirt, and slippers into my robe and set them on the sink. After I pulled the shirt with the dojo's logo over my head, I opened the bathroom door to look at her. I felt like I may have actually made my first friend after a very long time. Still standing in the bathroom, I gave a quiet laugh before telling her "I think I'll take you up on that food, I'm starving."

My smile slowly faded when I looked past her to see officers entering the dojo. Without even thinking, I quickly but quietly shut the bathroom door in Valerie's face. "Sorry!..." I whispered through the door, unsure of if she could even hear me. I tried to remain calm. I have had way too many freak-outs lately, and I needed to stay level headed through this. The cops could not find me, or my time in this dojo was going to be short lived, and I'd be damned if I was going that easily after coming this far, and finally making a friend.

I pressed my ear against the door to see if I could hear what the cops were saying. I couldn't make out much, but I heard them questioning Saito about his injuries, and John about his... instrument case? Oh man, they were questing everybody. The last thing I needed was to be found at the scene of another crime. I just hoped nobody would bring up my name, especially Valerie who was standing right outside the bathroom...

Then I heard a cop say it. He had to take a leak. Why, why now, why did he have to pee now?! I grabbed the wet towel and my old wet clothes and stuffed them in the cabinet under the sink. Then I turned to the window by the toilet and stared for a moment at my only chance. Man how I hoped that window opened. I ran over and pushed out on it, and it opened just far enough for my body to squeeze through. I lifted myself up despite my aching shoulder and fell face first into the snow. The window was about six or seven feet off the ground at the back of the dojo, and I jumped up to push it ever so slightly closed. I looked around me quickly to make sure there were no cops around back, and then I stacked some nearby cinder blocks under the window and climbed up on them. While they were freezing on my bare feet, it was much better than standing in that snow.

I stood on my tippy toes and peeked in the window to see the cop had finished his business and was washing his hands. I couldn't decide whether I should run or not, these back alleys may be my one chance. But then I thought of Valerie and what she said... I can't give everybody a reason to doubt me after they've come to believe in me. I couldn't ditch them, I had to stay strong.

After the cop finished he left the bathroom and shut the door behind him. I pulled back on the window and struggled my way back into the bathroom. I did my best to quietly fall on my face again and then shut the window behind me. I rubbed on my freezing cold red feet to warm them up and then grabbed at my shoulder. I couldn't tear it up any more climbing in and out of windows or else Cures might get a little upset after he took the time to fix it up. I listened at the door again and it sounded like the cops were heading out.

After waiting a moment, I went ahead and opened the bathroom door so that I could go and look for Valerie and explain to her what happened. That's when I made eye contact with a lone cop standing at the dojo entrance. As my heart rate began to pick up, I started shaking. After a second I realized the shaking wasn't me though, it was the ground, the entire dojo! At that moment the one they call Peppers punched the cop into submission and chucked him out of the dojo. Ice began to surround us and violently started shooting out of the floor and the walls. It started in the back of the dojo right behind me and I rushed toward the front with the others as it followed close behind.

Cures and Peppers were quickly exchanging words, but I was too absorbed in the fact that Peppers wouldn't let us out of the dojo to listen. Just as I turned toward the ice to face my fate, I was consumed by the stomach of a creature. After being absorbed by it, I knew it had to be a persona. My body became engulfed by the same sensation I got in my chest when Maxwell became my Persona. I felt calm, more calm than I had been in a very long time. I tried to look around to see if I could see any of the club members, but to my dismay I couldn't see much of anything. I just allowed myself to float and not worry about what was happening until I eventually fell asleep.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When I opened my eyes again, I felt so good, refreshed even. I stretched out and noticed I was wearing strange clothes. Oh yeah, the clothes Valerie gave me. So everything at the dojo really happened... I sat up and looked around to find that we were in a circular room filled with many doors. Then I heard... that noise. Directly to my right, I saw a sight I could never un-see.

John was beside me heaving, ready to blow chunks all over the place. "D-dude, are you okay?" I tried to mutter as I slowly crab-walked backwards away from him. He kept at it until he threw up a white... thing. I was at a loss for words. What I just witnessed almost made me want to throw up. The thing grew and it grew, and it eventually formed a tail and teeth, the whole nine yards.

The creature disappeared, and I began to wonder if what I had just seen was actually there. I determined that it was in fact there when I saw the look on John's face. He pointed in the direction that his spew once stood in and asked us all a question that I honestly didn't know the answer to. "Was that my persona, or should I be seriously freaking out about having that thing inside of me for a few days?"

If I were him, I'd be freaking out regardless.

 

[KingdomKey]

It was like a weight had lifted itself off of Valerie's shoulders, when Max accepted the clothes willingly and thanked her for them. A part of her wanted to laugh at how crazy all of this was. Twice she wasn't nice to the guy. So she really didn't deserve the smile he had given her or any word of thanks. Except he had. Maybe I have that effect on people? Where I'm easily forgiven? Or does that make me sound too conceited? I don't know. Hearing the bathroom door creak open, Val felt more genuinely surprised when Max gave a soft laugh and accepted her offer of a free meal somewhere. It wasn't till his eyes looked away, she wondered what had made him frown till she spotted a few police officers filing into the dojo and heard the click of the bathroom door shut behind her; hearing something like 'sorry' through the door. Val went to open her mouth but thought better on it, since she knew it'd be suspicious to be talking to a bathroom door. This isn't good. Val silently prayed Max wouldn't get caught in the bathroom by the officer or things would escalate fast. Worse, one of the officers was looking right at her and heading straight for her, while his buddy walked past her and heading straight for the bathroom. Val felt herself break out into a cold sweat as she debated on stopping him and grabbing the officer by the wrist to prevent him from going in; only it was too late for she missed her chance. I should of came up with a lie. I'm sorry Max.

"Problem?"

Valerie shook her head and reluctantly followed the officer back over to her friends. As the officer started to ask questions, like why she was here, she tuned him out and nearly glared at the man. "I'm sorry. I don't believe you asked my name." When the officer returned her glare, she threw her shoulders back and stated with as much venom as she could, "The name is Valerie Mason. Cam's little sister. I don't appreciate being asked questions, since I haven't done a single damn thing wrong. I'm on personal business of my own." The officer looked taken aback by this, then went to reach for his walkie-talkie to probably call his commanding officer. Only sh#t hit the fan. The ground started to shake beneath her feet that Valerie felt herself stumble forward and look over at everyone else, their faces were a mirror of her own except for Pepper that she couldn't believe her eyes as Pepper took out the officer standing by the door and threw him out. Things just keep on getting better and better. Really? Is this the time to argue? Valerie went to open her mouth to get a word edge wise in to Pepper and Cures, except Pepper was already summoning her persona and pulling her into the globe. Out of the corner of her eye, did Val see a spike of ice jut out right from where she was standing only moments before. That was too close for comfort. I'd have been a pin cushion. Valerie felt a burning sensation in her chest as it grew harder to breathe inside of Pepper's persona and she tried to fight the sensation of being pulled under by a heavy weight. To no avail did it work as Valerie felt her consciousness begin to fade and her body become weightless. At the back of her mind, she wondered if everyone she cared about was inside of this globe too. Or if they'd all meet in the same exact place. Or what she'd tell Cam, if she ever made it back to their world. Then the small light she had seen vanished before her eyes, and she was pulled under into the depths of darkness.

~*~*~*~​

Have you ever felt like you were falling inside of a dream? Yeah. That's what it feels like. Valerie jolted awake the moment she felt something solid hit beneath her body and rolled over as the adrenaline of fear made her heart race. It wasn't till she looked up and saw the familiar light blub swinging above her and the checkered pattern floor, did she finally groan. "Perfect. Absolutely perfect. This is exactly where I want to be right now." If anyone nearby had heard her, they'd know her tone of voice was full of sarcasm. The only thing out of place was the doors. There were a lot of them. Valerie stood up and glanced around, she could see John, Max, Saito and Pepper down the hall and several feet away from her. I guess this isn't the worst way to transport here. Nothing is broken and I'm not that far away from everyone. I still rather jump through a pool of water than be pulled into a globe again. While John and Max were conversing with each other, Valerie decided to examine the doors in the dim lit hallway or presumably room. At the back of her mind did Valerie pause and glance their way. I guess John has become more talkative now?

Walking up to a door, she placed her hand on the door knob and gazed thoughtfully up at the door. A strange sensation was radiating off the door that she felt it beckoning for her to open it. What's behind door number one? It was almost comical that she'd make a joke in a place like this. Another part of Valerie hesitated, because she knew her friends were the higher priority here and opening random doors wasn't a good idea. Why can't I make my hand move away? A part of Valerie trembled, except she wasn't sure if it was fear or excitement or perhaps both. The logical thing to do would be to call her friends over and help her pull away from it. Yet she frowned at the thought. I'd look weak and all because of a door knob...how silly is that? No. I won't do it. Then without trying to draw attention did Valerie grab ahold of herself by the her other arm and start to pull her hand away that was still clutching the door knob.

 

[Cassette-Disk]

"No." Crystal said defiantly at the police officer. "I don't know who the Milkman is and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you." When the cop switched to asking about the car accident, the girl only stayed silent. "I don't know anything." She told him. "And even if I did, I'm pretty sure the best thing for me to do would be to keep my mouth shut." During normal circumstances, the musician would be more than happy to cooperate. But this was far from normal circumstances, and she found herself more than a little agitated at everything happening around them. When asked about her eye color, Crystal only sighed. "Contacts," She said simply before adding "are we done yet?" Thankfully, they were and the officer left her alone.

The girl finished her bottle of water, which was totally normal. Then the dojo started violently shaking, which was totally not normal. Crystal nearly lost her footing as Pepper pretty much punted the officer guarding the door out of the dojo. In the back of Crystal's mind, she imagined the cop falling down the all of the stairs leading up to the dojo.

Little Thoughts.

It didn't take long for the area around the group to freeze over as danger quickly took over the calmness that the dojo had provided. Though she had at first been filled with panic, Crystal was quickly enveloped into Gaia's inner stomach as her consciousness slipped away.

Gross.

---​

Hey. You know what's fun? Darkness. Yep, I'm still here. Talking to myself. With my dogpiano. I decided to name him Beethoven. Like the dog. Well, like the composer too, but there was a famous dog named Beethoven, I think. Most of my time here has been playing with Beethoveen. He doesn't know fetch. He can't roll over. He also can't sit. And his bite really is worse than his bark. But overall I think I'm starting to lose my mind. I'm just so bored. A girl can only play the piano for so long before getting tired of playing Moonlight Sonata for the 30th time. At the very least I can say I won't be getting rusty while I'm trapped here. On the plus side, there were some blank pieces of sheet music and some pencils sitting on Beethoven's fall stand so I can pretend to know how to write music. I didn't know where to begin. I mean, what would be the tempo? Would it really have mattered? I was probably going to be discouraged a few minutes in. To my surprise, I had managed to write about three solid pages of notes that don't sound terrible. I mean, it wasn't amazing, but that's okay.

Hey, a door!
Aw crap, a door.
It looked just like the door leading to my room. I walked up to it and kicked it, which led to someone--namely me--yelping out from the other side. I saw the door handle start to jiggle, but the door didn't open.
"Crystal!" My voice rang out from the other side. "Open the door!"
"Do you know how to give me my body back?" I asked. When the other me didn't answer, I went on. "I didn't think so. I don't want to see your face until I get to see it through a mirror." I didn't bother to mention that the piano in here was so shiny I actually could see my reflection on it. It wasn't important.
"Please open the door." My other self said.
"No!" I nearly yelled at the door. "I don't want to build a god damn snowman!"
"It doesn't have to be a freaking snowman!" came the response. Heh. Maybe she really was me after all.
"Go away." I said as I kicked the door again before turning back to Beethoven. You'd never steer me wrong, would you boy?

---​

Crystal felt like crap. At the very least, she knew her other self was safe. Safe enough to make bad jokes, anyway. As she stood, she made out her surroundings.
"Back to the start." She whispered to herself. Strangely, she felt perfectly fine. No headaches, no losing control, no bloodlust, none of that stuff. Hope it stays that way, She told herself. Val had decided to check out a door. Crystal was sick of doors, so she turned the other way just in time to see John hurl his persona. She walked towards him as Max walked away from him. "You'll be fine." Crystal told him as she offered him her hand to help him up. "Probably."

--- ​

Is this what the back uve' an ice cream truck looks like?

I stuck a thumb at Val as the police started asking me questions. "I'm with her. And her brother." Then I pointed at Sulpher who was sitting on my shoulder. "And so is he." After I finished, Sulpher looked at me, then at the cop, and said "Meow." After the police left, the ground started shaking and Pepper ran up to the officer guarding the door and combo'd him out uve' the building. Jeez, Ryu ain't got nothing on her. After that, she had her persona swallow us as the dojo became a popsicle.

I looked around as everyone started to get their bearings. We were back at the hall of doorways we had started off from when we first jumped into the wacky pool. At least I'm not soaking wet this time. As Val walked to a door, I couldn't help imagining us running in and out uve' the doors like a cartoon. I would go in through the door on the far left and come out through the door in the middle. Then through the middle and out the far right. I shook my head as I walked to Val, Sulpher following behind me. "You alright?" I asked her as Sulpher walked ahead uve' me and sat himself down on the icy floor. Wait, don't cats hate water?

 

[Piercing Light]

We had made it past the frozen door, the one Pepper called the Second Seal. She wasn't sure what was being 'sealed,' but she knew that this place was connected to the rapid freezing of the town above. Pepper was a mysterious person for sure, but this other world was even more of a mess. I traced a finger across the wall as I walked, it was covered in ice, just like everything else. However, I could feel the ice evening out from it's jagged surface near the entrance. I glanced back at Pepper, who was going over the basics of our Personas again to the rest of the group. She warned us that anything could happen here, combat was something we should prepare for, not hope to avoid. The ice along my fingers stopped, what felt like rough stone replace it. I looked ahead, and saw what looked like the corridor of a medieval castle. I could rant about how this didn't make any sense, but it would be redundant at this point. Pepper stopped talking, and walked forward.

"What's the matter?" I asked. She was looking down the hall with an intense expression.
"Something's coming." She said.
"What's coming?"
"Something, if I had more information I wouldn't be so vague."
I strained my eyes down the hall, but the light was just dim enough that it faded to blackness eventually. I guess she had thermal vision, lucky. A strange figure no taller than four feet appeared, it rolled towards us like a wheel, but it wasn't a wheel. See it in the light, I had to take a step back. This was a shadow, no doubt, but nothing like the others. This thing looked like two creatures stitched together. One was black with a completely white eye, and the other had an alabaster body with a single black eye.

"I'll shoot it."

"Shoot it twice!" I looked to Pepper, who already had her index finger pointed at it. Lightning flooded her body and shot from her, slamming into the shadow. It didn't even look fazed. Pepper shot another bolt at it, which also did nothing.

"It appears shooting it twice had no effect." She said passively, lowing her hand.
"I-I can see that, what's going on?"
"It must be immune to magic, employing a more physical attack may work."
"Got it!" I quickly took out my spear, and charged the shadow. I slashed downwards, intending to slice it in half. My blade was met with little resistance, it felt as if I were cleaving through sheets of paper. I jumped back instinctively, fearing danger. The shadow had in fact been split in two, but the different colored halves were just fine. Their bodies bubbled at their 'wounds' like hot tar, and they grew into two symmetrical beings. And then there was a bright light, a light so bright I had to cover my eyes before I was stricken blind. When the light was gone and I lowered my arm, and saw that the white shadow was gone. The black shadow rolled away, and I turned to see if everyone was okay. "...Huh?" Half of the club was gone. Only Valerie, Saito, and Max were here.

~~~~​

"Hmm, this is quite the predicament." Pepper pondered to herself as she watched the white shadow roll away. She turned to Crystal, Noel, and John. It appears that shadow has separated us from the rest of the group. Looking for them is likely pointless, this seems to be a mirrored dimension of some sort. Our best chance at reaching the others is hunting down that shadow and defeating it... If my theory is correct, that is."

 

[Peace]

Saito was stretching his legs when the sound of someone retching grabbed his attention. When he turned his head, he was greeted with the sight of John throwing up, which made his stomach's queasiness from before act up again. What resulted from John's upchuck wasn't foul-smelling vomit, but a white... thing that quickly dissipated. As the sick feeling in the waiter's stomach slowly faded away, Saito joked "That's the most serious case of worms I've ever seen. You should probably see a doctor after this."

It was shortly after that comment that they started to move. As they strolled through the icy then stone hallway, Pepper explained what she knew about the the spiritual guardians she called Pesonae. "I'm still callin' them Stands," Saito remarked aloud. He also thought And again, this green-haired chick ignored my questions. Following a beat, he commented Now that I think about it, it's more like she playing catch up. Great, now I'm the jerk.

After a while of walking, the group encountered a stitched up Shadow that was split in half color-wise. Following a quick scuffle consisting of following rule number two of Zombieland and bisection via a naginata, a blindingly bright flash of light erupted from the monster that made Saito cover his eyes with an arm. When it cleared, the college student didn't feel like anything happened. That was until he looked around and saw only half the group was around him.

Oh. Crap! was his immediate thought when he figured out that the possessed musician wasn't there. I hope Crystal can keep her head, Saito wished, heeding the Shadow's warnings from before. Speaking of, proceeding from bringing his focus back to the situation at hand, the Irishman saw the Shadow retreating.

"Hey! Get back here!" Saito shouted as he ran after it. As soon as he got ahead of it, he stopped and swung a sweep kick at its legs. Using its quicker reflexes, the beast jumped over it and proceeded to bounce off the walls. After a few leaps, the culmination of subconscious feelings fired a green wind at the black and white haired fighter who defended himself with his right arm. Then the Shadow's head glowed with a pale yellow energy before it crashed into Saito's torso with enhanced strength behind its attack, plowing him into the wall behind him.

The sheer power behind this tackle along with the shove into the wall, caused the scarred up youth to black out and fall on the floor. Done with him, the Shadow continued its rolling retreat. As it went away, Saito groggily got up and gave chase as best as he can.

 

[nightmarezeroX9]

The last thing Jack knew, he was walking down a long hallway with the rest of the group, and now, he was alone, laying on the cold hard ground. After that shadow had attacked the group and Cures went on the offensive, it emitted a bright light, blinding everyone that was in its radius. The strange part of all of it is how everyone managed to become separated. This strange world that Jack was plunged in seemed to have a few tricks of its own. The worlds very existence was still quite a shock to Jack. He stumbled a bit to stand on his feet, and once he was up and stable, he took a look at his surroundings. It was pretty much the same. The big difference was that there seemed to be no doors in sight, just a straight hallway. And when he turned around, all he found was just a wall. It seemed his only way was forward. Picking up the katana he 'borrowed' from Crystal, Jack steeled his nerves, and pressed forward into the unknown.

As he got a little farther in the corridor, pictures began to appear on the wall. The nice, well framed kinds that you would see in a museum. The only problem with them was that they were blank. There wasn't anything painted on the canvas. It seemed the further he went on, the creepier that this place became. As he kept walking, there were more blank paintings. Something in the back of Jack's head was telling him to nope the hell out, but escaping was seemingly impossible, what with this being the only path. He stopped momentarily, thinking about the rest of the group and their safety. Were they all individually separated like he was? Or were they lucky and with someone else? Ultimately, he decided that they would be alright. The group handled themselves fine when they battled Max's shadow or whatever it was, and everyone walked out of that one alive. His train of thought was interrupted by a noise. It sounded like a voice. However, the voice was extremely distorted, and near impossible to understand what was being said. The only thing that Jack could tell was that it was coming from ahead. His curiosity demanded that he pressed forward to discover what the voice was. After his brief pause, he kept moving, not slowing down one bit.

Getting further along, the voice slowly started to become more audible, but not by much. Jack could make out that the voice sounded like it was... crying? If this was a shadows doing, were they able to mimic things such as crying? He knew nothing about these creatures, so whatever they were capable of wouldn't come as a surprise. His grip on the katana tightened, as he expected shadows to attack at any minute. His expression on his face never changed as he kept walking, eyes forward, occasionally glancing at the blank paintings that he always passed. There was still no door in sight. It was obvious that this world was controlling where Jack went. Whatever the plan was, Jack would be ready. He had to be, or the consequence would be his death.

 

[KingdomKey]

Valerie jolted at the sound of Noel's voice. Automatically she let go of the door like she was caught red handed doing something she wasn't suppose to. A flash back of when she had actually done something bad flashed through her mind, that she winced at the memory of Cam catching her in the act. Remembering Noel had asked her a question, she smiled and reassured him she was alright. Silly Val, the door knob was simply a door knob. Gave it power over you. Kind of like in that episode of Doctor Who- Valerie picked up her pace to keep up with the others, nearly stopping short when there wasn't any ice ahead of her.

Almost like a cartoon, Valerie looked back and forth between the icy hallway behind her and the medieval one in front of her. Then as if in disbelief, Valerie ran her hand over the rocky surface and pulled her hand back like it had burned her. "Can you believe this?" Valerie asked, twisting around to face Noel a disbelief look on her face. The sound of Pepper's voice followed by the sound of shots made her attention divert from the situation at hand. Only to get a face full of light, thanks to the Yin Yang shadow. Instinctively Valerie threw her hands up and cried out in shock, hastily rubbing the palms of her hands into her eyes. A mantra of "no's" went off inside of her head as everything slowly became clearer for her to see. "Noel, how close is the shadow-" Val said aloud, turning to see he was gone. Jerking her head around, she realize there were only the three of them. "Well...fudge!" Val said in exasperation. A blush worked its way across her cheeks at the sound of herself nearly swearing and opting for something less foul at the last minute.

Jeez! Talk about getting ahead of yourself! Valerie couldn't sit back and watch Saito give chase to the shadow on his own; especially after seeing him smack into the wall. Probably has a concussion. Shooting forward like a rocket, she let the adrenaline and the rush carry her forward and leave logic behind. "We have to corner it!" Valerie shouted, catching up to Saito and nearly bouncing on the heels of her feet to propel her forward. Except it was making it harder to breath for her and she could feel herself slowing down. Not Yet! Can't slow down...! A trickle of sweat went down the side of Valerie's face as she threw herself forward in desperation with her arms out stretched and tackled the beast and rolled with it across the floor. Oh sh*t! The shadow had other ideas as it bucked her off of itself and reared up; glowing a vibrant yellow and slammed into her with its head.

Valerie let out a startle cry as pain shot through her chest and into her shoulder. "Can you keep going, Saito?" Valerie asked, warily standing in the shadow's way. "If we act together, we could blow through this popsicle stand. I could act as the medic of the group, if you, Max and Cures are willing to keep me covered." Valerie could sense the shadow was getting ready to make its move, making her itch to call out her persona and seal the hallway with a ice; only that would trap them from going further. I doubt it'd be strong enough to keep the shadow from breaking through. Not with its immense strength. I hope the others have a brilliant plan, or I'll throw caution to the wind.

 

[Kazem]

John tried chuckling at the waiter's comment, but only a very nervous string of noises and an unsavory strand of what John hoped was just drool came out of his mouth. Quickly wiping the substance off with a sleeve, John stared at the spot that...thing had just been as he reached over and pulled his case into his lap, unlatching it and fiddling around with the sword's parts. Making sure the fit was as tight as possible, John completed the weapon and used it to hoist himself up before wrapping the instrument case's strap around him and giving it a good tightening so that it would hug his back. Prepared to swing as soon as he saw the smile again with the zweihander resting on his shoulder, John followed behind the others as the group made its way, not wanting to take off a head by accident.

Pepper's passable confirmation that it was probably John's Persona that had just appeared didn't quite help as much as he would've liked, but it helped stopping him from wanting a swing at it the next time it popped out. The warning came not too long before the shadow rolled up and Pepper took a shot at it. Seeing the two bolts fail to accomplish their goal didn't do much for John’s confidence in the group’s ability, but Cures’s lovely bisection of the thing restored a bit.

But then, of course, stuff happens.

After a bright flash of light, John found himself with only about half of the group, Pepper already examining and giving her best guess on the situation. John, despite shaking a bit at the knees from the earlier surprise pseudo-birth, was trying to think of a way to handle the shadow. So we apparently need physical attacks on it, but I’m not sure if that splitting was really a one-time deal. I have the big freaking sword, so if it come down to physical attacks I’m probably going to do the best, but if slashing at it just makes it split again…

John looked behind him and discovered that the zweihander’s tip was pointing a non-fun distance away from someone’s face. Getting a bit of a jolt, he rested the bade’s tip on the ground and bowed his body in apology, muttering “sorry, sorry” a few times before straightening back up and looking over to where the shadow was rolling away. “I don’t have a better theory, so I’m game for tracking it down. I think a good thwack from this thing (sorry about that again) would do a pretty good amount of damage to it, my only real problem being catching up to it, since running with this is just a wee bit more dangerous than with scissors. That and it’s kinda heavy.”

And please, please, please don’t make me summon that…thing again. I know it’s probably my Persona and it represents my true inner self, which is a bit of a concern by itself with it looking all slimy, pale, unnatural and…yeah. But I just need a bit longer away from that smile. I didn't even think it would be able to, but there it went and…

John had a good full-body shiver travel up and down as he waited for more input from the group.

 

[Cassette-Disk]

Another shadow, another trick. That's just life, though. Probably. All things considered, Crystal wasn't really one to talk rudely about shadows but she still found herself cursing the monster. After Cures had followed up on Pepper's pot shots, things went a little haywire and the golden-eyed girl found herself split from half of her cast. To make matters worse, she found herself missing a waiter. Hopefully things wouldn't get too rough. If she had managed to keep a lid on it so far, there was a good chance she'd be able to do so for the rest of the duration. Hopefully. To make matters even more worse was the fact that she was stuck with Pepper. This girl gave her the creeps for a number of reasons, one of them being the silly idea that Pepper would try to exorcise Crystal from this body. Could she even know how to do that? Anything was possible, and Crystal quickly found herself wishing she had brought along another pair of sunglasses. Speaking of sunglasses, giant swords are not good replacement for eye-wear.

"Don't worry about it." Crystal said, waving away the new nose piercing she nearly got. "Anyway, we just need to catch that thing and beat it up, right? If that's the case I might have an issue. As much fun as it was going all Muhammad Ali yesterday, I'd rather not break my hands punching things and I don't think sharing fighting gloves with Noel is going to work." Thankfully, the aforementioned green-haired girl had a solution and gave Crystal a new pair of protective gloves. The pianist didn't know where Pepper got them from but she also didn't want to ask. The less she knew, the better off she'd be. "Okay," Crystal said as she strapped on the protective gear, "I'm good. John, forget safety for now. I don't think the shadow is going to slow down for us. Just try not to cut off anyone's limbs and do your best to keep up. You're our heavy hitter here, so we'll try to slow it down." The girl turned to face the direction the shadow went. Does killing a shadow make her a murderer? 'one of us. one of us.' She shook away the little thoughts and started jogging down the halls, trying to make out any signs of the rolly-polly white shadow.

 

[Piercing Light]

The moment Saito began running after the black shadow, I chased after him. I called out to him to stop, as did Valerie, but at this point we were all running anyway. Saito attempted to attack the shadow, but was knocked away easily. For such a short creature, it packed a serious punch. Valerie chimed in, suggesting we corner it. A fine idea, but likely easier said than done. Valerie also attempted to tackle the shadow, but failed. With that sudden failure in mind, she decided to change up the plan, with me and Saito attacking while she healed us. I'd have been inclined to agree, but I wasn't sure if Saito could do any damage to the shadow. We weren't given much time to plan, as the shadow attacked again, jumping upwards and coming down like a buzz saw. Gripping my naginata, I swung it like a baseball bat, likely causing professional martial artists the world over to feel an unsavory disturbance in the force. The blade contacted the shadow, and sparks began to fly as it grinding into my weapon. Somehow, it was keeping it's forward momentum, pushing me back as it spun in the air. I just knew that if I let up for even a moment this thing was going to cleave me in half. My arms were beginning to strain, it had only been two seconds, but it felt like a lifetime. I had to think of something quick, Valerie and Saito wouldn't be able to help me in time. I gritted my teeth, and pushed as hard as I could before yelling. "Jack Frost!" My persona appeared instantly, and a blast of ice erupted from the tip of my spear. I was shot backwards, tumbling across the ground, my weapon flew from my hands and stuck into the ground right beside me. I grabbed the handle and forced myself up. Surprisingly, the shadow had also been knocked back, and seemed to have been hurt by the ice attack. I couldn't help but smirk. "I've got a better idea."

I hoisted the spear like an Olympian ready for a javelin toss, and launched it right at the shadow as hard as I could. The shadow was already back on it's feet and ready however, it leaped to the side to avoid the spear. At the same moment another bufu spell went off, launching the spear straight into the shadow. It seemed the shadow was immune to physical attacks, however the first bufu spell I used had coated my naginata in ice, giving it magical properties. This allowed it to pierce the shadow, and pin it to a wall. honestly, I wasn't sure it was going to work. "Alright! Now, hit it with magic!" I yelled, knowing I couldn't preform another spell without passing out again.

~~~

"Hold, Crystal, there is no need to chase after it recklessly." Pepper placed a hand on Crystal's shoulder, stopping her. She lowered her voice, so only Crystal could hear. "I know you are masquerading as Crystal, but if you want to remain useful you should consider using some of your natural gifts. Just because you are inhabiting that body does not necessarily mean you have lost your powers as a shadow..." Pepper stopped talking, as her ears picked up on the sound of the shadow running about. She looked back to John and motioned for him to come towards her. "In about ten seconds that shadow will reach the hall ahead of us. I will attempt to stop it, while you two finish it off." She walked forward silently, standing on the very edge of the cross shaped intersection of halls. Hearing the shadow approaching, she stepped in front of it and grabbed it. As soon as she did, the shadow stabbed her in the abdomen with one of it's knife like hands. Pepper yanked the arm out of her, and crushed it in her hand. "Now... Would be a good time." She said to Crystal and John.

 

[Max]

After I was done cringing at the... thing- that John had just threw up, the group all gathered together and began making our way through this icy area. I followed along and crossed my arms trying to keep warm as Peppers gave an explanation about Personas. I probably should have been more awestruck, but I was just too damn cold. I was still wearing that dojo t-shirt and those pants, and I didn't get time to put my shoes on before the dojo went up in ice. I don't think I was built to walk barefoot, much less in a cold environment.

Before I knew it, we were faced with a shadow. This was the first shadow I'd seen other than Maxwell, and I've gotta say I was a little freaked out. This place was so weird too, we had finally made it out of the icy area, but the change was so sudden. Pepper gave the shadow a couple of shots and Cures followed up with a quick slash down the middle of the shadow that resulted in a bright light being emitted.

When the light finally faded, we were presented with one half of the previous shadow, a strange black looking thing. It began to roll away as if it was making a retreat to look for its other half.

"Wh-what the hell?" I asked the group as I turned to face them. But only three of them were here with me. "Where'd Peppers and the rest of them go?"

Before anyone answered me, Saito called out to the shadow and began chasing it down. As he chased the shadow, Cures chased him. Valerie started an amazing sprint towards the shadow as well. These people were all just diving in head first, and I didn't even have the slightest clue what to do. I didn't even have a weapon, I felt useless. I watched as Saito attempted to attack the shadow, but it just swiftly countered and gave him a hard hitting. Valerie was next. She ran right into it with a tackle and it simply brushed her off like it was nothing. It hit her in the head pretty good and she let out a scream of pain.

Valerie didn't let the blow to her head keep her from blocking off the shadow's escape route. "If we act together, we could blow through this popsicle stand. I could act as the medic of the group, if you, Max and Cures are willing to keep me covered." She said to Saito. Keep her covered? Saito and Cures sure, but what was I supposed to do? I wish there was some kind of hands on training course ahead of time, I didn't have the slightest clue what to do in this situation.

Before we knew it, the shadow had decided to make a strike at Cures. He managed to block it with his naginata in an... interesting way. The shadow pushed on at him, and then he let out a call to his companion. "Jack Frost!" Almost instantly his Persona appeared and triggered an ice attack from Cures' spear, blasting both himself and the shadow away. Cures smiled as he gathered himslef and chucked the spear at the shadow. While the shadow attempted to evade, ice launched the spear forward through the air again, and the ice covered spear stuck the shadow into the wall. "Alright! Now, hit it with magic!" Cures yelled. He seemed pretty exhausted. Peppers mentioned us not being able to overuse our Personas, and it seemed to be showing.

Valerie and Saito had both been hit hard already, and Cures was worn down from using his Persona... Valerie hadn't had a chance to heal anybody yet, and here I was just standing here. I had barely moved since the fight began, unsure of what to do. But was everyone else even sure of what to do? If everyone just stood here like me, then the shadow would have gotten away already. And what if it wasn't a shadow so keen on running... Yeah, we'd all be dead. I needed to man up. I couldn't fear death. If I didn't help, I'd die anyway. If I didn't fear death, what would be left to be afraid of?

"I'm not afraid of death..." I muttered to myself as I clenched my fist. I repeated it a few times, trying to fool myself into thinking I really wasn't afraid. "I'm not afraid of death." I said more bluntly this time. My feet started moving. Where was I going? God I was moving towards that shadow. I was running. I ran past Cures and was sprinting barefoot and head-first towards this enemy. I hoped to God it stayed pinned to the wall. "I'M NOT AFRAID OF DEATH!" I screamed at the shadow as I continued towards it. "PALE RIDER!" I felt like I was overcome with a sudden surge of energy as I heard the galloping horse rip through the space beside me. I stopped running as it began to press forward in my place. The Pale Rider on the horse carried a scythe and pushed on towards the enemy. I felt like I was in total control. I felt like I was on the horse. This power was so strange, everything just began to flow naturally through my brain. Here I was worried about not knowing what to do, yet it seemed as easy as speaking my native language, like it had been here forever.

"Pale Rider... MAMUDO!" With a wave of his scythe, darkness launched at the shadow stuck to the wall, and upon impact it began squirming and writhing in pain... The same thing that had happened to me during the fight with Maxwell. If it felt a fraction of what I did back then, then it should be stunned for a few while the group picks themselves up.

Not heeding Peppers' warning, I let myself be taken over by my new power. "MAMUDO! GARULA!!!" I shouted it and Pale Rider did it. The shadow took each blow, but it still wasn't defeated. I wanted to tear it apart. It's like I had all of this pent up rage that I was taking out on it. As Pale Rider dealt out each spell, I waved my arms as if I was orchestrating each attack in a beautiful manner.

Then, it stopped. Pale Rider disappeared and it was as if my soul had been sucked right out of me. I dropped to my knees and my head began to pound. I tried to stand up, but fell back down to all fours. "P-Pale Rider..." I tried to get out as I started crawling forward. But he didn't come. It felt like he was locked up inside me, and I started feeling almost sick to my stomach. Peppers was right, of course. Why did I have to be such an idiot?

 

[KingdomKey]

Valerie watched in awe and horror as Max hit the ground on all fours from overusing his persona. The attacks didn't work. Only icicle ones did. What the hell happened to physical attacks? Can it switch powers with its over half? Val adjusted her stance as the throbbing sensation atop of her head made her mind numb. I could really use some ibuprofen right about now. Think about something else. Don't think about the pain. What do I do? The shadow withered in pain, obviously pissed off that Cures had pinned it into the wall with his spear and was attacked multiple times by Pale Rider. Hit it with magic! Those four words were a direct order from Cures. Why am I hesitating? Her blue eyes looked over to Max whom was on the verge of blacking out, Cures was smiling but, obviously worn down from throwing everything he had at the shadow. And Saito wasn't faring any better than she was. Do I heal them or kill this shadow off...only to run into another one? The invisible clock was ticking against her that she knew she couldn't linger waiting any longer. The time to make a decision was now!

"That's enough Max. You did good." Valerie stated calmly. For a brief moment did Val let herself feel sympathy for her friends who were suffering thanks to these shadows. Each one had an agenda of their own. Gently did Valerie place a hand on Max's back and rub soothing circles into his back. "Just breathe. It'll keep you conscious." Then she moved onward with precise footsteps as she neared the shadow that had its glowing eyes fixated on her as she drew closer. "Crona." Valerie whispered, snapping her fingers and standing there with her back straight. "Media." Crona manifested above her person, twirling in midair and gracefully extended her arm out; palm facing up as she casted a green healing glow onto Cures, Max and Saito. I can withstand my own pain and I'll deal with it later. Hopefully that heals their fatigue and pain. Hopefully this wasn't a mistake and will keep us going in the long run. There's no telling if we'll run into its other half or what we'll be facing around the corner. I hope Cures forgives me for not obeying his direct order.

Val kept herself from turning around and checking on her friends. Instead she took ahold of the spear keeping the squirming shadow in place. "This will hurt you more than it will me." Valerie said softly, pushing as hard as she could on the blunt end of the spear. Immediately the shadow let out a pitiful shriek, eyes glowering in hatred as she moved the spear around and around inflicting more pain on the shadow. "Want me to stop?" Val suggested mockingly sweet. Without warning did she pull the spear out to its tip, making the shadow cringe in pain before nearly falling free from the wall. "That's what I thought." Then she slammed the spear back into the wall harder and inflicting unimaginable pain into the shadow before it even had the chance to escape. "You're nothing more than a spider."

"Anyone want to take it from here?" Valerie questioned, stepping back and beckoning Crona to her side. "It should be reasonably more weaker after so many blows..." The toll of using magic and brute force to harm the shadow was enough to make her fuzzy on her feet. Pent up anger and frustration was her only excuse for trying to weaken the shadow by inflicting pain onto its miserable excuse of a form. Valerie reasoned there was a tiny bit left in her for one more shot of magic before she'd be all used up...unless by some miracle they find another chest in this maze to use an item on each other to heal their soul sucking magic to kill these things. Crona was beginning to fade in and out like static. Time was ticking. Will the others abandon me after such a display? Or will they write it off? Val wrapped her arms around herself.

 

[Peace]

Runnin' was not my greatest of ideas...

Saito thought this as the throbbing at the back of his head increased with every step he took. In correlation with the beating he received, he was quickly running out of breath and everything in his sight was fuzzy. He has a general idea of what's going on, but finer details are a bit sketchy. As long as I'm not swallowin' colors of the sounds I hear, I should be alright.

It was then Valerie asked of his status after she took a whack at the monster. "I've taken harder hits than that!" the JoJo fan answered defiantly. A lot of them from Mom, he added in his head before briefly recalling his street fighting days as well. He narrowly avoided the buzzsaw-like attack of the monster.

Is there anything I can do? he thought with clenched fists and teeth as he watched his acquaintances defend themselves against and attack the creature. His first attempt at the monster was still ringing out in the front of his mind. He wanted at least one hit on the Shadow to prove he wasn't entirely useless.

A pale green light snapped him out of his doldrums. This light somehow cleared his vision as well as well as made his cells regenerate rapidly. He could feel the cuts on his forehead and leg heal up.

"Anyone want to take it from here?"

That was Saito's cue to act. The student rushed past the Persona-users and towards the Shadow. As soon as he got there, he unscrewed the end of Cures' naginata and savagely beat the Shadow with the pommel of the weapon. With each attack landed, a crazed smile grew, growing bigger than the last. On the final blow, his left eye turned sky blue while his right tinged gold. Also, blue lightning danced down the length of the bludgeon before it brutally came down on the beast's face, electrocuting its entire body. After this shocking attack, the shadow lost its ability to keep its form and fell to the floor in a goopy heap before evaporating.

Saito stood there panting from fatigue from both unleashing the rain of strikes and something else entirely. The change in his eyes faded away with the electricity that went unnoticed by him. He turned to the group with that almost psychotic smile on his face. The black ichor also present wasn't exactly helping his image either. It took the Irishman a second to realize what was going on before his features took on a neutral look, as if someone toggled a switch in his head. The waiter put the slashing weapon back together after he pulled it out of the wall. He then gave it back to Cures before he started walking down the hall.

 

[Kazem]

Once the plan was set, it didn't take long for Pepper to find the group's mark. Suddenly stepping out to stop the rolling shadow, Pepper stopped the monster at the cost of being impaled. John didn't know which was worse, the seemingly major severity of her injury or her lack of observable concern,but he kept in sync with the plan and did his best to dash up to the shadow and swing the zweihander downward. With an odd sensation of resistance combined with fluidity, the shadow retained its form despite being cleaved in half. White substance covering John's weapon kept him from losing any hope of defeating the shadow, decidedly a sign of some sort of damage being done.

Not yet done with the beast, John pulled back the sword only to thrust it right into the shadow's center. A stomach-turning noise came out from the wound on entry and exit of the zwei, though the sound of the final upward slash is what really got to John, white gel-like matter splattering on the walls and ceiling behind the shadow as it was pushed backward, suggesting a CRITICAL hit was scored. A heartbeat was skipped when the shadow quickly started moving again, fearing that it was escaping despite Pepper's sacrifice. However, John realized that the shadow was only trying to get upright, somehow being overturned when being pushed back.

ONE MORE!

Seeing a chance for more damage, but without a means to reach the shadow in time before it got back up, John entered a panic and tried to voice for Crystal to stop it. Sounded indeed left John's mouth, and in a panicked tone, but instead of calling for a welcome sight, he unwittingly requested the exact thing he didn't want.

"Nidhoggr!"

The slimy beast launched forward from nothingness towards the shadow and landed slightly behind it. Rearing its head, it let out a sickening breath as it opened its jaws and let an elongated tongue begin to swing freely. John's mouth shut tight as soon as he finished calling the arguably worse monster's name, though it didn't stop him from thinking a command from instinct: Rampage.

Nidhoggr started to violently squirm every part of its long body, filling up the shadow's escape route. A curled tail swept the white being into range of Nidhoggr's other limbs, allowing them to pummel the thing senselessly and seemingly without end. John's breathing became heavy and his limbs started to sore until he dropped down onto a knee. The longer pale beast curled up into a ball before untwisting and launching the white shadow straight into a wall with its tail, but after that it stood still in the hallway. Looking at Crystal, John pointed down the hall at the trapped shadow, Nidhoggr still being manifested in its escape path, and swirled his hand to signal that something needed to hurry up and happen. It'd take a good minute after his persona was dismissed for his legs to stop feeling like jelly, leaving the job of finishing up the shadow to someone else.

 

[purgatory]

I could find myself feverishly growing impatient. From the hospital window we were fairly high up, it was incredibly hard to miss the ice-fortress like structure that had now taken over the dojo. Unable to bring my eyes away, all I had in my mind currently were just questions. I could feel it, there was no mistaking that I should have heeded to the words of that woman named "Pepper".

From the right corner of the room visible from the hospital door I sat on the window cil looking out at the fortress. My gloved hand hit the window, and I soon found myself retreating to the recesses of my mind for answers. The child that dangled atop the street light, it's finger raising in hostility and then I saw something else.

As I remember catching a gust of air from the "explosion" I faintly saw something raise a trumpet-like instrument of brass and blew it my way. Smoldering with the ashes of the child's mundane altercation. You ever have one of those strange sensations, like someone is just watching out for you? In the fleeting seconds as I remembered that, the exact feeling seemed to generate in my head. I could see it clear as day, it was a bit of a blurry albeit distorted image of something, looking similar in appearance to me. Hazy, but overflowing in the very recesses of my mind.

What came next, I could recall a strong gust of wind throwing me back into the hospital room. Suddenly the sounds of Phoenix's life support where what I could hear next. I'd been sitting in the chair just to the right of his bedside in the corner beside the window. As if entranced, the image I caught a brief wind of only steadily rose my curiosity ever still. That however wasn't the weird part, when I lifted my head I caught a brief glimpse of the something that was hazy in my mind, before it dissipated within seconds. I could feel my eyes dilate, and heart race as if I'd seen an apparition, such nonsense could terrify me?

"What exactly...are we dealing with here..."

It only continued to get stranger as window suddenly opened and a gust of air entered the room. I covered my head keeping my hat in place and firmly planted my rear end in the chair. The child from before was now sitting in the window, holding a red ball and tossing it up and down in his hands.

"Want to play??"

 

[Cassette-Disk]

Pepper stopped Crystal in her tracks before she got too far and whispered at her.
"I know you are masquerading as Crystal," Cold sweat ran down the girl's neck at this. Of course she knew. How could Pepper, of all people, not know? Crystal swallowed quietly, preparing herself for an unwinnable fight against the green haired mystery. What she got instead blew her away. "but if you want to remain useful you should consider using some of your natural gifts. Just because you are inhabiting that body does not necessarily mean you have lost your powers as a shadow..." Crystal was about to ask more about this, but Pepper suddenly grew quiet and motioned for John to catch up with the pair. As she explained the plan, the pianist looked at her palms. She already knew that she drew her power from her shadow's body, but could she really exert that same power through her human half? Humans needed their personas to gain access to those powers, but that was out of the question for her. This was probably something she'd have to find out for herself down the line.

Pepper dashed away from the two, catching Crystal off guard. The android easily caught the renegade shadow at a small sacrifice to herself and held it down for the pair to attack. John ran ahead, slashing fiercely at the white shadow before following it up with another attack.
"Damn dude," Crystal said while catching up, "good one!" The white puke he had hurled earlier appeared again at once, attacking the shadow without mercy. It was impressive, but it was obvious this was taking its toil on John who was now pale. The shadow was flung against a wall as John pointed at it while looking at the girl. Words weren't needed; not in this situation.

The musician sprinted towards the wheel-shadow as it struggled to upright itself. To be honest, Crystal was surprised it was still alive after the punishment John had dished out. Before she got close enough, the shadow managed to stand.
"No you don't!" Crystal roared as she jumped at it, hitting it with a jumping punch which knocked the shadow back to the floor. As she skidded back to the ground, the girl pivoted so that she would keep her momentum before falling fist first to the ground, striking the monster again. She crawled on top of the wheel, locking herself on top of it before punching it again. And again. And again. Left, right, left, right, her arms flew in front her of her in a blind rage as they brutally bounced against the shadow's body. Crystal held the shadow's head down with her left hand as she brought her right fist high above herself and slammed it down with a quick cry, and she was momentarily covered in a dark mist as her victim ceased to exist.

Crystal stayed there for a few seconds after the dark mist evaporated, breathing heavily. This felt good. Too good. Despite the gloves provided, her fists still stung after the beatdown, and she felt herself enjoy each pulse of pain. She slowly stood and pressed a fist against the nearby wall as she turned around and addressed Pepper.
"I might...I might have some," she paused to look at John before staring back at Pepper, "some uh, 'anger' issues to deal with." She told her.

 

[Piercing Light]

I hesitantly took back my Naginata from Saito, failing to hide the dumbfounded look on my face. This thing wasn't cursed, was it? The moment Valerie and Saito got a hold of it they seemed to turn into violent sociopaths. "Uhh, thanks." I said, absentminded. Maybe the pressure was getting to them, and they were simply letting off some steam. Maybe.

Valerie seemed to be troubled by something, now that I thought about it her Persona was acting strange before, as if she were having trouble materializing it. I looked at the spot in which the shadow was killed, maybe everything hadn't truly set in yet, because for a moment I couldn't believe it had happened. Whatever these things were, they were likely going to be getting stronger the further we went in. Well, I couldn't stop now.

I placed a hand on Valerie's shoulder, and looked her in the eyes. "Val, relax, you did fine. As for your persona, from what I can tell, you should gain some of your energy back, just so long as you don't use it all at once." I couldn't call myself much of a leader, but the least I could do was try to keep everyone fair in mind and moving forward.

I turned to Max, who looked far worse than Valerie. "Like a certain someone..." I sighed, walking over to him. "You're lucky you're even conscious right now man." I knelled down to his level and helped him get up. "Come on, we've still got work to do."

~~~​

Pepper took a deep breath, focusing on the pain in her gut. Lifting up her sweater she could see a round puncture, white blood had seeped out, but quickly coagulated. As she expected the wound wasn't serious, and would heal on it's own. She didn't bother turning on her pain inhibitors, as it would only use up more energy.

"The enemy has been terminated." She said, addressing those around her. "If Cures and the others have also defeated the enemy on their side, we should be going back soon." She stated. Crystal seemed to take her outburst lightly, Pepper did not. She got close to her, so close the circuits in her neon eyes could be seen. "Learn to control yourself, do not forget what you are. By your very nature you are destructive." Pepper backed away, and waited in silence.

~~~​

There was another flash of light, this one just as eye searing as the last. When I opened my eyes, I saw that I was back in the castle again, albeit farther in this time. I turned around, and was glad to see that Pepper and the others that had vanished were back. "Thank goodness..." I sighed, leaning my back against a wall.