Chapter 19 - Shadow of the Dominating Self
Chie’s mind went almost completely blank. She had practically rehearsed her acceptance speech, tried to take a hard look at herself in order to endure whatever the Shadow dug up, and she still couldn’t stop herself from denying it. Now her Shadow was going to kill her, as if to mock her understanding of her shortcomings.
She felt empty now, like the knowledge of her own helplessness had taken all of the life out of her.
With an explosion of dark power, Shadow Chie revealed itself in full: she had taken the form of a towering woman with charcoal-grey skin. She was clad in high-heeled boots, short shorts, corset and long gloves. The Shadow’s face (save for her malevolent eyes) was completely covered by a tall hood like that of an executioner. Her entire outfit was a bright yellow and lined with metal studs aside from the hood, which had a smiling face doodled in red ink over the forehead. From beneath the hood, a veritable wave of black hair fell and pooled along the ground for over a dozen feet. Her tendrils rose upward like snakes, clumps twisting and melding together to form large cleaver blades at the tips. In one hand the Shadow held a coiled whip as thick as a telephone cable while it rested its chin on the other. The latter hand also clutched onto a set of chains-like reigns.
Even seated, the Shadow was over six feet tall on its own, which is to say nothing for the “throne” she reclined on that lifted her higher: three life-sized marionettes clad in the distinct girl’s uniform of Yasogami High were stacked on top of each other. They were barely able to support the weight of those on top of them, the Shadow atop them with the haughty posture of a queen. The chains in the Shadow’s hand were connected to metal collars on their neck, completing the image of a dominating tyrant.
“I am a Shadow: the true self. Now, I’ve got things to do and people to leash, so let’s make this part quick!” the Shadow declared as it let the whip in its hand uncurl and raised it overhead.
Even with the looming threat of imminent death, Chie couldn’t find it in herself to run. The world seemed… diminished and almost hazy. She felt no fear at what was likely her last moments, merely a growing sense of apathy. It felt like she was missing a key part of herself. Thus she made no effort to run when the whip curled up on her body and dragged her in towards the Shadow and the mannequin tower… and the sudden dark vastness within.
She thought she heard people call out her name, but couldn’t tell for sure. Was it at least from Emiya? Why was his concern important again? It had to be something if it made her chest hurt. The only voice she heard was what sounded like herself:
“Enjoy the confines of your new ‘home’, me!"
Her eyes stared vacantly into the darkness. There were so many people, and they all looked similar. All in the same school uniform, all with small slip-on shoes, all with short white hair, and all having blank faces with upside down crescents where the eyes should be. They looked like frowns or dreary eyes, but Chie wasn’t sure. She couldn’t count how many of them were dangling in the darkness, or how close they were to her, brushing against her arms and legs, but she felt muted in what should be… fear? Disgust? All Chie could be sure of was that they reminded her of someone. Someone she felt close to, and felt something towards. And they looked like they wanted to claw at her and tear her apart. Why else would their hands scratch away her skin and clothes? It hurt and she thought about screaming, but the darkness was just so numbing.
Her increasingly hazy thoughts were shaken by loud noises of metal and lightning. Then a light broke into the darkness from behind her. She felt something large scooping her up and carrying her out of the cold darkness and into the warm light. Chie slightly turned as the protector hugged her close, eyes stinging from the sudden brightness.
She couldn’t tell who it was, but she felt she knew him, or it. She didn’t know why either, but she felt safe enough to trust this being. So after a minute of staring into the metal face and glowing eyes, she felt herself lose awareness of everything around her.
<><><>
Shirou breathed a sigh of relief before setting his stance as well as he remembered from Taiga’s “lessons” in kendo. He had failed to stop Satonaka’s Shadow from snatching her into her own abyss, but Izanagi had managed to rescue her back through a tenacious and furious assault through upon the “throne”. Zio spells were cast viciously between sword strikes, and Izanagi had come out of it with only the edge of his coat clipped by the Shadow’s last whip strike. Thankfully the attack hadn’t damaged him with any feedback.
The Shadow’s whip had enough force behind it to leave a gouge in the floor the size of a beach ball, and a thin line extended from the hole from where the whip had managed to slice into the floor after the initial impact. He was just lucky she didn’t decide to end Chie that way, all things considered.
“That cut it a little too close, partner. Is Satonaka-san alright?” Yosuke asked as he spun the knives in his hands into a reverse grip.
Izanagi looked down at the girl in his arms and Shirou replied, “Her clothes and skin are a little scraped up from inside, but nothing too serious. Aside from the strain knocking her out, she’s fine.”
“Dude, you aren’t even looking at- whoa, this is trippy.” Yosuke seemed to just now notice the seamless sense-sharing he had with Jiraiya judging by the way the ninja was glancing around. Shaking himself to refocus, the teen watched the Shadow as its tower of slaves strained to bring the Shadow to face her enemies. “…And I thought I had issues. You ready for this?”
Shirou sharply nodded as Izanagi brought Satonaka to their side and set her down gently. “Teddie, stay close to Satonaka and keep us informed of anything useful you find on the Shadow.”
“Got it, Shirou-sensei! Be careful though: this one’s even stronger than Yosuke’s because it was able to absorb more roaming Shadows.” The bear tried to keep his fear down, but his fur was still bristling and his paws were only steady from holding onto Chie’s body as he ducked behind the nearest pillar.
Shadow Chie narrowed her eyes behind the mask, a disdainful sneer undoubtedly on her face. “So you two want to save the ‘real me?’ Go ahead and try! I’ll put you both in your place before long!”
Before any planning could be done, the Shadow snapped her whip against the ground, and only heightened reflexes allowed the two humans and their Personas to dodge the sudden eruption of icy shards beneath their feet.
“Shit! Shirou, you alright?” Yosuke called as the crackling subsided. He and Jiraiya had landed on the upper benches of the chamber, and he winced at the sight of the veritable wall of ice that had sprung up at the Shadow’s call. The chamber was starting to mist over from the rapidly crumbling glacier and he couldn’t see anything aside from the Shadow slowly advancing on where Satonaka and Teddie were hiding.
His answer came in the form of a lightning bolt striking the Shadow squarely on the forehead, leaving it to stagger in pain. Just to the right of a pillar across the room from Yosuke, Izanagi emerged, its massive polearm sweeping away the mist as it held a hand towards the Shadow-Chie. Shirou followed a moment later, his sword held at his side with his face in a stoic frown. “I’m fine, don’t worry about me. We have to protect Satonaka.” Izanagi brandished his blade and charged, Shirou close behind.
Despite the danger before them, Yosuke couldn’t stop himself from smiling, knowing that Shirou had his back. “Good answer!” In response to his will, Jiraiya flipped forward and brought a leg up for a crushing axe kick aimed for the Shadow’s smiling mask.
Both attacks were met by long tendrils of black: Izanagi’s curved blade clanged harshly against the cleaver at the end of one long mass of hair, while Jiraiya barely managed to avoid severing his own leg against another by bringing his armored hands underneath his falling leg.
“Don’t you dare look down on me!” the Shadow howled as its slaves steadied themselves. With another crack of the whip, more ice exploded into being around her, forcing the two Personas to dodge and backpedal frantically. Shirou barely managed to stagger to a halt at the edge of the ice blast, leaving him exposed for when the Shadow smashed the wall with a lazy-looking kick, peppering him with razor-sharp shards. Her hair blades lashed out in a wide circle, keeping the Personas at bay. She focused her luminescent gaze on Shirou who had flattened himself against the ground to avoid the attack. “That’s better… That’s where you should be: on your knees before me!” Her whip came up and seemed to move of its own accord in her hand.
Yosuke’s eyes widened at the sight. The hair blades continued to chase after Izanagi and Jiraiya to keep them from interfering, but he was apparently too far away to be considered a threat.
It was hard to tell if he was meant to feel insulted by that or not.
Either way, he had noticed something that might turn this whole thing around. Jiraiya flipped around another tendril and landed at his side out of reach, lifting its hands out at its sides. The shuriken attached to its palms began to spin with a building howl. Yosuke kicked forward off the bench at the instant Jiraiya flung its arms forward, firing the shuriken as nothing less than razor disks. “Heads-up, banana head!”
The Shadow bristled at the insult and briefly turned her attention away from Shirou. She scoffed at the blades heading her way and once more brought her whip up for another ice wall. Turning away from Shirou cost her.
“Zio!” The lightning bolt crashed against the Shadow’s arm this time, disrupting its spell just long enough for Jiraiya’s blades to slam hard into the legs of the bottommost slave with an explosive bang before they vanished back to Jiraiya’s palms.
“Now! Bring it down!” Yosuke shouted as he lunged and drove both knives into the same spot, causing the slave tower to falter, Shadow Chie squawking in pain and the tendrils of hair stilling.
Shirou didn’t need to be told twice. Izanagi snapped its fingers again, swathing Yosuke in golden light. “Tarukaja!” Yosuke’s instantly enhanced strength drove the knives deeper while Shirou threw his Reinforced and already enhanced body into the Shadow’s legs. The stunned Shadow toppled but did not fall completely, its curtain of hair stiffening to keep it from hitting the ground, but rather than push herself upright, she snarled and snapped her whip several times. The slaves strained to get back to their feet, all but ignoring the two teens.
There was no need to coordinate their actions. The four immediately dogpiled the Shadow, the Personas hovering above to tear into the Shadow’s main body while their summoners attempted to hack the slaves out from under it. The mannequin-like bodies were tougher than they looked, but every strike seemed to send ripples of pain through the entire creature. Izanagi stabbed downward trying to pierce the Shadow’s armored hide, and Jiraiya laid into it with punches and kicks strong enough to pulverize concrete.
Even while mobbed so relentlessly, Shadow Chie still managed to strike back unlike the lesser Shadows from before. It managed to land a clean kick to Izanagi’s chest, the feedback sending both him and Shirou away and skidding across the chamber. Jiraiya and Yosuke were forced back by a stabbing hair tendril. “Damn it, I thought we had her! You all right Shirou?”
Pulling himself upright while Izanagi floated back to his side, Shirou winced but nodded. “I’m fine! Don’t lose focus!” The Shadow had managed to force its slaves to their feet again. That look of utter disdain she had worn was replaced by something darker and more deliberate.
“That was a bad idea, boys. Kid gloves are officially off.” With her whip striking the ground harder, her slaves staggered forward.
Shirou said nothing, willing Izanagi to renew his earlier spell on Yosuke. “Tarukaja.” The remaining pool of energy he felt for the Persona’s magecraft was starting to feel dangerously low, but Chie’s Shadow was too powerful to hold anything back. After all that, the Shadow barely looked scuffed, let alone hurt.
When it attacked this time, the bladed tendrils of hair moved with greater purpose, each of the four cleavers chasing after a different target.
Jiraiya bounded out of the way, moving with an agility that was completely beyond humans while the tendril twisted on itself trying to head off the frog-ninja as it weaved and bounced off the walls and ceiling. Yosuke simply settled for ducking low and then trying to scissor the tentacle with his knives to limited success.
Shirou and Izanagi however refused to move. The blades clashed harshly against both of their weapons, driving them back but ultimately grinding to a halt. Izanagi shoved the blade down and charged in, grinding the blade along the length of the hair tendril to keep it down. The Persona almost made it to the Shadow before she lashed out with her whip hard enough to cut into Izanagi’s shoulder, nearly collapsing Shirou’s stance from the feedback in spite of his armor somehow taking some of the brunt forcce for him. He’d think more on it later.
With a roar, Shirou reset his stance and pushed against the blade harder, his twice-enhanced body barely able to keep the blade at bay as it increased the pressure on his katana. He would rather die than give an inch of ground.
After all, he was the last obstacle between the Shadow and his friends.
The Shadow ambled forward several more feet, and Shirou was pushed back very slightly. “Out of the way, Shirou!” Her eyes focused on a panicking Teddie and the other Chie resting by a pillar next to him. “That grubby bitch is dead!”
“No! I’m not letting you hurt her!” he roared back as he advanced a single step before Shadow Chie’s strength redoubled.
While Shirou weaved around the still striking blades, Jiraiya and Yosuke tried to find an opening for another attack of their own. So far they couldn’t get close or even line up a shot. He wracked his brain for anything he could use, but even throwing some of the rubble they were making was doing nothing to even catch the Shadow’s attention.
There had to be something he could do. He wasn’t some side character! Somehow Shirou was able to fling lightning around, and he had the same power, right? There had to be a way to do something similar: drop something that went right by those defenses. As it was, Shadow Chie was still slowly making its way to its goal in spite of their dogged resistance.
As another blade smashed into the space he had been occupying a second ago, Yosuke felt something tug at his mind as the dust and fog stirred around the tendrils chasing him and his Persona. It was like he could see the way the air moved around even in the clearer spaces, like he could follow the currents to their source… He could feel them dance around his fingers, each twist of his knives stirring them… and then a word formed in his mind.
“Garu!” his voice came from both his and Jiraiya’s mouth, and a blast of green vapor howled forward from the ninja’s hands, winding around the tendrils easily and slamming into the Shadow before seeming to explode into a miniature tornado. It wasn’t in Yosuke’s nature to take joy in seeing someone in pain, but the Shadow’s shocked scream, the slaves dropping into a heap and the tendrils all going limp was so damn satisfying.
Wasting no time, Izanagi stomped the blade of his geta on the now-limp tendril, severing it from its hair blade while Shirou did the same with the other in front of him. Jiraiya’s shuriken spun like buzzsaws in his palms as he severed the last two. The four converged on the Shadow unimpeded, again hammering away at the giant Shadow with their full strength. They could see their attacks doing damage, but unlike before, there was a delay before their cuts were healed by the black shadow-stuff that formed the thing’s innards. They could only hope that they were wearing it down.
Shadow Chie finally screamed in frustration and pain. She unleashed her ice blast again, forcing them all back long enough for her slaves to push her upright on their shoulders. Shirou and Yosuke were dusted with frost but had dodged the worst of it, and their Personas settled at their backs.
Behind them, Teddie’s high voice caught their ears. “That’s it! The Shadow’s weak to wind! You can beat it!”
The news was heartening for the fighters. Shirou was still moving well enough through the pain of his numerous small cuts, but inside he felt exhausted. His prana reserves were running on empty and his Persona had almost nothing left to give, maybe two or three more lightning bolts. “Yosuke, that last attack… can you do it again?”
“Yeah. Ready to finish this, partner?” Yosuke replied. He was in better condition than Shirou, having only just started tapping into his Persona’s powers. “Here we go! Garu!”
“Zio!”
The maelstrom erupting from the Persona’s hands once more slammed into the Shadow, followed immediately by a bolt of lightning that left her limp with pain. “Had enough yet? We can keep going if you like!” Yosuke taunted when the Shadow twitched but made no move to stand.
If anything, those words were far more effective than they should have been. Shadow Chie almost exploded in rage. “Don’t you DARE LOOK DOWN ON ME!” she shrieked as she finally forced herself upright, her mannequins cracked and flaking in places, but still holding her on their shoulders. She had lost her haughty posture and now actively focused on them as enemies rather than mere obstacles. “Don’t think you understand a damn thing about me!”
The Shadow snapped its whip, and this time a massive crackling ball of lightning exploded in front of her, sending arcs shrieking all across the room. “Kneel before me! Mazio!”
“Oh, that’s such bullshi-IAAH!” Yosuke managed to deadpan before being electrocuted, failing to dive away in time. The scream that was torn from his mouth when he was still clipped by the blast was surprisingly short despite the agony sending him to the ground motionless. Jiraiya dropped like a puppet with its strings cut at the same time.
“Here it comes! Bottomless Envy!” Without letting up, new tendrils rose from within her hair and struck at the grounded Yosuke, piercing him like a pincushion. His second scream was a voiceless gasp of air, gouged from his arms and legs and body that all but gushed blood out of him. Yosuke found himself unable to do anything but take shallow breaths as his increasing dizziness led him towards unconsciousness and death.
The remaining sparks from the area attack reach Shirou as well, but he managed to simply endure the pain. Izanagi’s resistance to electrical energy turned crippling pain into a more manageable burn. It was a secondary concern compared to his friend’s critical condition. “Yosuke!” Without thinking, Shirou moved in front of his downed friend while Izanagi braced himself if the Shadow moved towards Satonaka again. For Shirou, the fact that his Persona functionally let him be in two places at once here in the TV was worthwhile in itself.
But Yosuke wasn’t moving. It might be paralysis, but he was also very weak right now, with his Persona on the verge of fading out like his Shadow before. Satonaka and Teddie had the medicine, and the gargantuan Shadow was menacingly marching on her “throne”, wanting to personally end the fight by her heel. Acting on instinct, the magus willed his Persona forward to strike the Shadow, and then solely focus on blocking its advance like last time.
Shirou wasn’t sure what to do: none of their attacks were slowing her down, and he felt the effects of Tarukaja already wearing off. Even if he held it off long enough for Teddie and Satonaka to run away, that still left Yosuke at risk. And getting them close enough to pick him up would endanger them too. If only Yosuke could stand back up-!
“Hey! Listen!”
Shirou looked behind his shoulder, but saw no one. He could have sworn the voice sounded like-
“You wanna save your friend, right? I know two ways to do it!”
He then recognized the voice that belonged to Pixie, and quickly asked, “What can I do?”
“Well, the best way would be to take that golden sheath out of your body and put it in your friend!”
The magus blinked in confusion. “What golden sheath?”
“The one inside you, along with that Izanagi guy! The thing that has subtly kept you healthy, as well as pouring energy into your nerves for what seems to be, like, years?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Pixie,” he said as sternly as possible, still staring at the Shadow as it dueled against Izanagi.
Silence was all he got back from his head, so he assumed Pixie tuned him off out of annoyance. As it turned out, she was merely shocked, as her next words conveyed it clearly. “Oh my gosh.”
“So, about the-”
“OH, my gosh!”
“P-pixie?”
“OhmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshO HMYGOOOOOOOOSH!” The fey screeched, much akin to an overexcited school girl. “You have the greatest gift of all of the fey and you DIDN’T EVEN KNOW THAT IT’S BEEN INSIDE YOU THIS WHOLE TIME?! Granted, this is a good thing since humans have been known to exploit stuff, and as the fairy godmother once told me: ‘Humans are the reason we can’t have nice things.’ Because they’re greedy jerks and lose our stuff, like this sheath here, but still! Of course, what would I know, I’m just a figment of some-”
“Pixie. Yosuke?” he said quickly, feeling nervous as the Shadow cracked its whip.
“Oh. OH! Right. Well, the first option’s a bust, so you’ll just have to summon me. You remember how, right?”
Shirou would have smacked himself if not for the timely, risk-ridden battle, so instead he held out his hand for her card. “Pixie!”
In an instant, Izanagi vanished and a new Tarot card hovered in Shirou’s grasp. Guess I can only summon one Persona at a time, he thought before crushing the card and revealing the fey.
He managed to analyze the card as it surfaced out of his subconscious. In almost every way, Pixie was Izanagi’s inferior with even lower stats and no battle skills. However, the fey possessed two supportive spells: Patra to clear one’s mind of several mental ailments, and Dia, which was akin to light healing.
“Rise and shine, handsome!” Pixie winked, before raising and cupping both hands together. “Dia!” A ball of purplish light surrounded the downed teen, shining briefly a shade brighter. Before their eyes, the gashes from Shadow Chie’s tendrils vanished, and he looked less pale now.
“Green Shield!” Shadow Chie used the pause in fighting to gather her magical energy before her, weaving it into a translucent green barrier that rapidly faded from sight. “What has she ever done for you to deserve this, anyway? She’ll just toy with you like does Yukiko!”
“He’s still not getting up,” Shirou said to the fey, pointing his sword at the towering Shadow. “Is your healing working?”
“Of course it is, but not with his dizziness!” Pixie snapped. “The healing stabilized him but he’s on his own in getting mentally better. Man, this would be so much easier if I had Re Patra instead of regular Patra, then I could do it instantly.”
“Make do with what you got then. Another healing should do.” Shirou said, narrowly dodging a tendril swipe at his legs.
“Good plan. Here’s one on me. Dia!” This time the circle light enveloped Shirou, and he felt his wounds close and heal quicker. He was still tired, but much less so and felt amazed at how similar and different the feeling was from Reinforcement and his enhancement spells.
Yosuke blinked the spots from his eyes and gradually roused himself back up. That last attack had reallyhurt. Apparently Jiraiya and lightning did not mix, like how Izanagi and wind didn’t. He looked up to see Pixie smiling down before fluttering away. Then he saw Shirou’s hand come into view, the magus himself standing at the side with his sword angled at the Shadow like a fencer. “Can you stand? If you have to, grab Satonaka and run.”
“Thanks, partner,” Yosuke replied as he let himself be pulled to his feet. “But you don’t need to pull the heroic sacrifice thing this time. I can keep going.” To emphasize his words, Jiraiya kipped up to its feet and readied itself in a martial arts stance that Yosuke had seen in one of Satonaka’s movies.
Shirou’s brow furrowed uncomprehendingly for a moment (which only Pixie from near his shoulder noticed) before he shook his head with a smile. “All right, but be careful: I saw her set some sort of Bounded Field around itself while we were recovering.”
“Dude, I have no idea what any of that means,” Yosuke muttered before both Persona users dove for the benches to avoid the cracking whip seeking them out and tearing the ground wherever it touched. “So save the Magecraft 101 lessons after I blow this fruit tyrant to smithereens!”
Seeing what he was planning to do, Teddie quickly cupped both hands to warn him. “Wait! Yosuke! Green Shield-!”
“Garu!” Yosuke invoked again, his Persona blasting another green whirlwind into the Shadow…
…Only for the winds to gutter out almost completely on contact with a crystalline wall. The Shadow winced a bit, but the confident sneer was back as it forced its bearers towards Yosuke and Shirou, who stared back slack-jawed and wide-eyed respectively.
“-protects the user from wind attacks,” the bear finished weakly, looking just as squeamish.
Shirou simply couldn’t believe it. Even without the hair blades, this thing was a veritable tank that could use both ice and lightning. And apparently it could toss up Bounded Fields to shore up weaknesses even if it couldn’t completely protect itself from harm.
“Um,” the fey Persona nervously spoke up, turning the magus to her. “Not that I’m scared or anything, (especially since you’re still clueless about the whole ‘sheath-in-your-body’ thing) but I really think you should rely on the guy with the pole-thingy to handle the rest of this fight. I’ll be cheering you on in spirit in the safety of your mind, though! Kay-thanks-bye!” At the rushed string of her last sentence, Pixie waved and poofed back to his subconscious.
The red-haired student sighed, but figured it was better this way. Her healing helped Yosuke and himself to a second wind, so he could focus back to fighting the Shadow. “Izanagi!”
The God Persona appeared once more with the ninja Persona, holding its naginata like a katana poised to strike. At once, they charged together and attacked the tendrils with renewed gusto; Izanagi with slow but heavy strikes and Jiraiya in a constant barrage of jabs and kicks.
Shadow Chie angrily lashed her whip out to toss Izanagi aside before focusing her attention solely on Jiraiya. “I don’t get why you idiots bother. It’s all going to end the same anyway. So do yourselves a favor and kneel, then I might consider letting you live as my lackeys.”
Izanagi took advantage of having the Shadow’s back to him and prepared to cleave its head from its shoulders with a wide sweeping slash. The blade met the coils of the whip in her hand, but it still managed to bite into her shoulder despite her best efforts. “I! Said! KNEEL! Magaru!”
Add wind to that list… Shirou mentally sighed right before impact.
Pain exploded against Shirou, the feedback sending him flying back when the spell slammed into Izanagi point-blank. Jiraiya leapt behind him and caught the teen before he hit the wall. “We’re getting nowhere fast! Any ideas?” Yosuke growled as he ducked behind a pillar just in time to dodge another bolt of lightning. Instinctively, he put a hand over his racing heart and let some of his Persona’s power calm him down.
Shirou and Izanagi forced themselves upright from their respective heaps. “Just one at this point: Rakunda!” Shirou could feel blood making part of his shirt sticky and the chainmail was scratching at the cuts even through the padding beneath, but his Persona moved quickly at his order, gathering the last of its magical energies and releasing the spell. For a second, it looked like a ball of purple light constricted the Shadow before fading, but there was no other visible effect. Rakunda did bite though, weakening the Shadow’s hide and magical defenses almost like a botched Reinforcement.
There was no time to hesitate. The curse would only last a short time before it burned out. Shirou roared and charged the Shadow, Izanagi attempting to catch the Shadow between them both. “Hit it with everything you’ve got!”
Yosuke smirked as he hit play on his MP3. “Ready or not, here we come!”
That got Shadow Chie’s attention, and Shirou found himself all but stymied by wild blasts of wind as the Shadow tried to keep him and his Persona away. Yosuke simply acted, trusting Shirou to keep the Shadow’s attention. Jiraiya leaped as high as he could, planted his feet into the ceiling and rocketed down on the distracted Shadow’s head with a full-body tackle. It happened so fast that the Shadow didn’t even realize that she was under attack until Jiraiya’s shuriken bit into her collarbone. Yosuke drove both knives into the slaves nearest him, further disorienting the Shadow.
“NO! STOP IT! I CAN’T LOSE!” The Shadow screamed as she gathered her magic again, temporarily disregarding the redhead and his Persona. The lightning bolt she summoned to dislodge the frog-ninja met Izanagi’s back, staggering Shirou but doing nothing to stop him for long now that he was free to attack. “ALL I WANT IS-!” Shirou impaled the Shadow’s leg and wrenched as hard as he could, ruining the limb. There was no finesse to the assault; the Shadow was almost literally being torn limb from limb with everything the two teens could bring to bear.
Shadow Chie screamed and lashed out wildly with her whip in clear desperation. Jiraiya bent his body at a nearly impossible angle to dodge, leaving Izanagi free to grab the outstretched weapon and he hauled it over his shoulder with all of his strength. The Shadow was pulled upwards and met Jiraiya’s spinning shuriken, cleaving it down the middle. That finally overwhelmed the Shadow’s regeneration completely, the body rapidly losing color before seeming to collapse into a mound of black and red muck at their feet.
The substance rapidly dispersed, leaving the human form of Chie’s Shadow behind. She laid on her stomach, arms and legs outstretched, and didn’t move. Her golden eyes stared vacantly across the room on her side. The dark aura she had once exuded was muted to little more than a hazy outline. The tension all but evaporated with the darkness around her, leaving the castle almost oppressively silent in its place.
Yosuke unconsciously dispelled Jiraiya and let himself fall on his backside, a heavy exhaustion catching up to him. “I think we got her…” he wheezed tiredly. “How are you holding up, Shirou?”
Shirou let himself down to one knee but refused to drop his sword. “I’ve had worse, but this is still pretty high on the list.” With Yosuke helping him and having proper weapons and armor, this battle hadn’t turned out quite as bad for him as fighting Yosuke’s Shadow. But his body still ached, his prana reserves were basically empty from the constant Reinforcements, and he doubted be could conjure another Zio at this point.
“That’s good,” The fawn haired teen nodded, before sighing in exasperation. “Though since when could you do that Rakunda thing?”
“Learned after the fight with your Shadow, I guess.”
“Then do me a huge favor,” Yosuke regarded seriously. “The next time we fight a Shadow Someone? Start with that spell.”
“It would have only lasted for a minute and a half,” his friend noted. “And it’s no different of lowering an enemy’s defense than it is raising our own offense.”
“That would still be one less minute and a half to fight and even less time if you used them both at once. Use your head once in a while, idiot.”
Despite himself, Shirou laughed. A part of him felt so thrilled and exhausted fighting alongside a friend towards a common goal of helping others, but it seemed oddly nostalgic to be reprimanded by someone who could pass as a more polite Shinji.
Although a critical tongue seemed to be the only similarity between Yosuke and Shinji, as Yosuke started to laugh too, if only at the simple fact that they were alive. All of them were; including Teddie and Satonaka. And Yukiko was still around too somewhere, even if they hadn’t found her yet. The only silver lining to that was that her Shadow didn’t either.
“You did it!” Teddie cheered, squeaking over as he carried Chie. “You guys defeated Shadow Chie-chan!”
“Was there any doubt?” Yosuke smiled, pained slightly as he pushed himself up to greet the bear-
And nearly froze enough to slip and fall back to his rear. Teddie held Chie parallel to the ground, with his paws under her and spaced out like she was a box. But his paws happened to be supporting her chest and crotch respectively. It was at that moment that Yosuke felt jealous, amazed, shocked, and pissed off all at once. It was an amazing feeling, really.
“Uh… Teddie?” Shirou ventured, feeling just as awkward. “Why are you holding Satonaka like that?”
“W-well, I’ve been here for a long time so I don’t really know how to hold someone. Shadows tend to be the types to ‘Eat first, ask questions never’, not that I usually talk to them. So, I figured the best way to hold someone is to hold where your paws are most comfortable.”
Yosuke grimaced. “Yeah, if you want to come across as a pervert. That’s like the number one way not to get into someone’s pants.”
Teddie gave an innocent blink. “I have to search her pants while holding her? Well, they're torn up a bit anyway, so…”
Both boys paled considerably, but the bear ignored them as he moved his paw to reach for her skirt. That promptly snapped Shirou out of his stupor to scold him. “Teddie, no!”
Chie’s tattered skirt was tossed aside, revealing a pair of long, strong legs with thin scratches and black biker shorts relatively untouched. “Huh, I guess she does wear pants under this. They look short though.”
Shirou and Yosuke felt a great surge of relief (and subconscious disappointment) to see that she wore black shorts under her skirt. She was smarter than most schoolgirls in that regard to avoid the indignity of a panty shot. It made sense to them though, given that she’s the most physically active girl of her year.
A thought seemed to occur to Teddie as his eyes widened. “Oooooh! Is this scoring a hot stud?”
Frankly, Shirou felt he knew too much about her already than he felt necessary to even look, and stared awkwardly at a pillar next to him. But Yosuke found a new appreciation seeing her legs without being aimed at him. “More like scoring a hot chick. Say, Teddie, how soft is her rear end?” he asked with a lecherous grin.
“Teddie, don’t answer that,” the magus sternly cut him off, disappointed that the bear went ahead and groped her. “In fact, put her down before-”
“AAAAAAAAAH!” SMACK! POW! THNK-THNK-THNK!
“-that happens,” he finished. Not that he felt Teddie could hear him with a ringing headache from her punch and kick combo.
As the bear wailed on the ground nursing the multiple bumps on its head, Chie quickly reached for her skirt and slipped it back on. Then, with an angry flushed face, she marched over to the boys and held a threatening clutched fist to Yosuke’s scared face. It was almost amusing to Shirou in ways he didn’t understand. “If you ever take advantage of me like that again-!” she started, but never got to finish.
“Please…”
The students and bear suddenly forgot themselves and turned to the source of the voice. They saw the once haughty Shadow of Chie Satonaka sprawled on the floor like a ragdoll, sounded so weak it was almost hard not to feel pity.
Chie felt relieved in a way. Hanamura and Emiya defeated her Shadow. She knew it was still her, and she felt ashamed she got them in trouble like this. But she was still wary; the last time she tried talking calmly to her Shadow, it still found a means to belittle her. “What’s the matter? Got nothing to say anymore?”
“Please,” The Shadow said again, and shook slightly. “Don’t leave me… Yukiko.”
Again Chie was taken aback. In fact, she felt her own eyes sting and water a bit. Was she crying? But, it was her Shadow crying, right?
“All I wanted was to feel needed,” cried the other Chie. “To feel like I belonged with someone, somewhere. If you’re gone… what will happen to me? All the years together, all the laughs we shared, doesn’t it matter Yukiko? Why do you want to leave me? Yukiko…”
A somber silence filled the room, with only the silent cries of a Shadow. What came across as a dominating, oppressive being was just a sad girl crushed with the prospect of losing her friend one way or another. If not by the killer kidnapper, then by her own subconscious decision to “elope” with a Prince, and neither of them sounded promising.
“Chie,” Yosuke called softly, surprising the girl at his casual use of her first name. “I’m not going to ask what happened before Teddie and I got here-”
“I won’t either,” the bear chimed in, looking apologetic to her.
“But I can assure you I know exactly what you’re going through,” the student continued. It surprised his classmates at the level of maturity he held. “When my Shadow came out, I felt like a piece of me was missing. My courage, maybe, because I just wanted to bail at the first chance and silently wish for my friend to fail. I’m not proud of it either, but you guys saved me. Not just Shirou with his Persona or Teddie and his nose, but you specifically jumped in and pushed me out of the way. None of you had any obligation to risk your neck out for me on my little adventure, but you did anyway.”
Chie was surprised. She did jump in for him, didn’t she? That day had been so chaotic that all she remembered was Shirou’s fighting and how Yosuke’s adventuring nearly got them killed twice. In a way, he knew that she had forgiven him despite her bitterness.
“I can’t promise what will happen after we rescue Amagi-san, other than that we will,” he assured, and gave a warm smile. “And that you guys are the best friends I could ever ask for. I’m not going to leave any one of you hanging because of some skeleton in your closet. We all have our bad sides.”
“Yeah, it’s like what Shirou-sensei said!” Teddie added. “You’re better than what you think you are!”
Shirou, unsure how she would take his words after last time, just smiled and nodded. If anything, he empathized with her struggles and didn’t think of her any different than before.
Chie looked around, having almost expecting to see repulsion or pity or even self-righteous “I told you so” expressions in light of her Shadow. But they were all supportive and forgiving. They were such good… friends? Yes, it was appropriate to call them that, even Teddie.
“You know what to do,” Yosuke said, head tilting to the Shadow. Indeed she did.
The brown haired girl rubbed her eyes clean and then took a deep breath, slowly exhaling all the tension in her like a sigh. “For the longest time I thought Yukiko to be my best friend,” she started, walking slowly to her double. “I guess somewhere along the line I grew desperate to keep it stable.”
Then I met Shirou Emiya. The meeting seemed simple enough, but through him I grew to know more about Yosuke and learned about Teddie’s world. I wasn’t a dominating force in this odd circle of friendship yet it was refreshing. Not that she would admit that out loud to the others, especially anything about her budding crush on Emiya.
“This last week had some of the scariest yet exciting days of my life, especially when Yukiko herself got dragged into this. In a way, I wanted to keep her at a distance from the adventures that were happening because I… liked them. I liked keeping close to Yukiko as she’s my friend, but I enjoyed being myself and getting noticed by other people just as much.”
She was right beside her Shadow now, kneeling down and helping her sit up. Her yellow eyes were puffy and tear rimmed, but they were beautiful with no malice.
“Hearing Yukiko’s Shadow talk like that really hurt us,” Chie told her Shadow, like a mother would a child. “Not just because we felt obliged, but because she really was our friend deep down. You only wanted to make sure she didn’t leave us.”
The Shadow nodded sadly, having long lost the will to speak.
“We’re going have to face her next time. She might deny going back again. But things will be different. When the time comes, we’ll be standing together.” Chie then pulled her Shadow into a warm hug, smiling. “You won’t mind, right? You’re still me.”
Chie didn’t know how her other self was reacting to this, but given the returned hug, she knew she had done the right thing.
Indeed, it further came apparent when she was blinded by a blue light and her Shadow vanished from her arms. Chie was almost worried and frantic at the thought of losing her, standing up to try and find her. Almost immediately she saw her Shadow, transfigured as a Persona, standing gallantly in front of her. There was no tower of carbon slaves under her, and she stood tall and proud with thigh-high string boots. There was no whip or reins in her gloved hand, but a long, glowing, double-bladed naginata. Her body was covered in a yellow body suit with black lines trailing along her arms and chest to her groin, covered by her six-part chainmail skirt. Her arms, legs and abs showed considerable muscle under her suit, as did her modest-sized bosom. Her smooth black hair was now down to her mid-back without sentient tendrils, growing under her white horned mask with yellow eyes and full red lips seen through the visor. Above the visor were two small holes dotted on both sides, and the sides of the horn that topped her face sported tomoe symbols.
The image was fitting enough because that was her name: Tomoe Gouzen.
An instant later, the warrior Persona was whisked out of view and a floating card was in her place. Chie cupped her hands together to catch it, but it melded inside her upon contact. She felt a warm presence envelop her, almost as if her other self was hugging her again. The moment passed, and Chie felt the world spinning under her legs.
She would have slipped and fallen too, if not for Shirou and Yosuke catching her on either side. “Upsidaisy,” the latter grinned, lifting her arm to drape on his shoulder. Shirou mimicked the action and helped her stand. She couldn’t really feel her legs, and her head was splitting worse than when they all first fell into the TV days ago. But for the first time since that incident, she was content.
She turned to either of the guys, as well as Teddie who waddled over, and gave just as tired a smile. “Well, that wasn’t so hard, eh?”
<><><>
-TV Gate-
It wasn’t easy for anyone, but Yosuke convinced the group to fall back for the day. The last Shadow battle took a major toll on them, and no one was confident that they’d be able to take on Shadow Yukiko should the fight come to pass. It was disheartening though, that they had failed to make it past the first floor due to an untimely meeting with a trapdoor, and almost died a third time in a Shadow encounter.
Not that the journey wasn’t fruitful; Teddie was able to guide them to the location. Shirou found a new Persona capable of healing. Yosuke made clumsy yet vital discoveries on his own abilities and the connection between Shadow hosts. And Chie finally had her own Persona to fight alongside the boys. In a way, they accomplished a lot, and it was enough for Yosuke to convince his stubborn classmates that Yukiko could be saved at a later date; mostly due to verified facts and backing from Teddie that she would be safe as long as it didn’t rain too in Inaba. The fact that Yamano and Konishi both disappeared and died within relatively small windows and a very rainy week was something none of the students wanted to dwell on.
“Okay, so we’re all in agreement then?” Yosuke asked, just as the group arrived back at the TV stand. “We work together, no one goes in alone, and we come back as often as we’re all open after school. Oh, and days off, too.”
“Got it,” said Shirou, supporting Chie on his own. The chestnut haired girl nodded as well, too drained from her Shadow to do much else. “
“So I guess you guys will be heading back now?” Teddie asked softly. The tone and body language made clear he wasn’t looking forward to their departure again.
“Just about,” said Yosuke. “There’s one more thing I want to address.”
With all attention on Yosuke, he exhaled a deep breath. He considered clicking through his MP3 for a song to calm his nerves, or at least fit the mood, but stopped himself from the reflex. “I like to think that we’re getting the hang of this, but we only escaped death a few times through some magecraft stuff and no small amount of dumb luck. When you get down to it, we’re just a couple of kids in way over our heads in another world with a talking bear. We’re not going to half-ass this or try to blitz through on our own; that much we agreed on. But if we’re going to solve this case, let alone save Amagi-san, we’re going to need a leader to keep our heads in the game.”
Letting the words sink in, he turned to the red-haired magus, and stared intently through his orange framed glasses. “Shirou, I want you to be our leader.”
Yellow-gold eyes widened behind white framed glasses, disbelieving. “Me? But, we wouldn’t even be back here if you hadn’t figured out the connection between the TV and the murders. Shouldn’t you be the leader?”
Yosuke shook his head. “Hey, just because I put two-and-two together the other day doesn’t make me a leader. You’re the brave, fearless fighter, and I’m the idea-making advisor guy. It’s cool though; I don’t mind playing second banana.” He immediately winced, and noticed that Satonaka had twitched over Shirou’s shoulder. “Erm…wrong choice of words.”
Ignoring the all-too-soon reference to Shadow Chie, Shirou pursued the issue. “You’re still better suited to this than I am. I’m just-“
“Where the hell have you been the last few days?” his friend cut in. He held out his hand, ready to raise a finger for each point he was about to make. “You’re the one who took charge when the three of us tumbled into this weird world. You’re the one who knows how to fight worth a damn. You’re the one who gave orders and directions immediately after our Shadows broke off. You’re the one who awakened your power first, and most of all, the only one who can make heads or tails of this magecraft stuff involved in the case. Plus the fact that you got your Persona without a Shadow, on top of that little fairy too, I say you’re more than qualified.”
More so than me, Yosuke bitterly thought, feeling a slight pang of jealously grow from his friend’s heroism. He had to put it aside though and realize that they had to do this right, as they only had one shot. Not just for Amagi-san, but for everyone in Inaba, so that there would never be another Saki-senpai.
Chie, who had been quiet since leaving the castle, stirred herself out from Shirou’s shoulder. A few moments of her relaxing in a standing position, she turned to him and smiled. “I think Hanamura’s got the right idea,” she said. “A leader is sort of like a hero, you know? You saved me… and Hanamura-”
“And me too!” Teddie chimed.
“-from ourselves, as corny as it sounds. I don’t know, you just have this air around you that draws us in and trust you. I’d feel better about this case knowing that you’re the one calling the shots.”
“And my pillow will be a lot more comfortable too!”
The trio of students stared dubiously at the bear. It never occurred to them that Teddie needed to sleep before. “You have a pillow?” Shirou asked.
“Of course I do,” Teddie explained. “I use it to help sleep every night, along with my blankey.”
In Shirou’s mind’s eye, he saw Teddie sleeping on a pillow larger than him, tugging a blanket to his body in one paw, and sucking his thumb(?). He almost broke out into laughter of the ridiculousness of the mental image, and judging from the stifled giggles from his classmates, they thought along the same lines. As it was, he just smiled, but it was still a nice small relief from today’s events. Still, a hero…
The pause in debate gave the magus time to think. He really wanted to argue against this position of leader, if only that he saw everyone in the group as equals. And again, there was the wary feeling of getting too personal with people around him. Just because he would allow Yosuke (and now Satonaka) to fight with him didn’t mean he would exploit their feelings through Social Links.
But for each of their reasons, they were counting on him to make the decision. They trusted him enough to be their leader. It was an odd feeling, knowing their unconditional support in him in such a position. It was almost like being thanked for helping others. It gave the magus a thrilling sense of accomplishment.
So, looking between each of his comrade’s glances, he shrugged in admission. If they were that willing, he couldn’t say no. “Well… guess that makes me the leader.”
Yosuke and Satonaka smiled, and Teddie could barely contain himself in a cheer and dance.
“All right, with that said,” Yosuke started. “I hereby christen us the Investigation Team!”
“Whoopee!” the bear cheered.
Chie clutched her ears on reflex, cringing. “Teddie, could you lower your voice? My migraine’s still killing me.” Teddie frowned, but whether it was from being scolded or bothering her it wasn’t clear.
Shirou himself didn’t ponder much on it, for he started to feel the same sensation from yesterday, almost expecting it really. This time, there was a familiar card image that represented his Arcana.
Thou art thou, and thou art I.
Thou hast established a new bond.
It shall bring thee closer to the truth.
Thou shalt be blessed by Personae of the Fool Arcana.
Shirou could already feel a stirring connection through this new trust between his classmates and the bear. This social link was entwined with not just him but each other, making a mutual web with the group. It was a peculiar link in that it was between friends instead of one on one, and he could tell everyone else felt a sense of camaraderie over the last week.
With everyone’s help, I just might be able to save the world, after all.
<><><>
-Samegawa Flood Plain - Evening-
Once again, Emiya and Chie walked the road down to their houses, but without the bitter drizzle of rain to damper the already tense mood. It was a small blessing to them; both relieved to be alive and that Yukiko should be fine as well. Of course, they were both glad that their clothes returned to their normal state when passing through the TV (especially Chie), but not even Teddie knew the answer why.
The tension was not unlike the first time they walked together. Chie was more than willing to break the silence to try and get her friends to talk. But Yukiko wasn’t here, and her crush on the new student was all but blabbed about in front of him. He had saved her, true, but there was a lingering doubt in her, almost like her Shadow was still haunting her.
But does he even like me?
Her brooding must have caught the magus’ attention, for he addressed to her, “Are you alright, Satonaka?”
Hearing him call her by her family name just complicated things. While relieved to hear him still call her that, it only seemed to mock her. Chie wanted to pretend that none of this happened and that it didn’t bother her, but wasn’t that what had almost gotten her killed in the first place? What would happen if Tomoe reverted to that “dominatrix banana-head” Shadow again because she couldn’t even make eye contact with Shirou Emiya? Part of the reason it flailed out was because she was afraid of losing Yukiko out of her own terms. What if she failed the chance with Emiya as well because of the unintentional confession?
One thing was for certain: Chie would never look at bananas the same way again.
“Sh-…Emiya,” she said, not emotionally ready to cross the same border as Hanamura yet. “You heard my Shadow talk about my… feelings. Mostly about Yukiko and then, well, maybe, just a tiny bit of admission that made it sound like I mighta, sorta, kinda… like you.”
The embarrassment was so much that her cheeks started to burn and her voice gradually broke down to a whisper. At least Emiya heard her, if his cheek-scratching finger was any indication. “Yeah.”
“I realized that I, uh… that is, in the confusion of the fighting and how she almost k-ki-ki“
Emiya needed a moment to recall what she meant. “Kissed me?”
“That. Definitely that,” she confirmed quickly, her face glowing a shade darker. He didn’t have to put it so bluntly though… “S-so, what do you think?”
“About what?”
Chie stopped and stared at him like he had grown a second head. Great; she had to like the slow, oblivious type. She didn’t know whether to be thankful or pissed, but she was leaning towards the latter if he was just ignoring what was obviously a traumatizing confession on her part. She almost considered dropping the topic, but she had to know something before moving on and focus on saving Yukiko.
So she stopped and turned fully towards him with a serious look in her eye. Emiya had stopped with her, curiosity and concern on his face. After several tense minutes, Chie murmured, “About… me.” A pause, and then she forcibly added, “About me… lllllllikingyou.”
The red haired magus blinked. Then his eyes widened and cheeks colored slightly. “Oh.”
“Oh” was a start. Not a good one, but not a bad one either. Perhaps he wasn’t entirely clueless about the fairer sex after all. Though shameful as it was, she couldn’t help agree with her inner voice as it cried, “Oh thank god.”
“Well,” he started, sounding just as awkward as she felt. “I was surprised, to be honest. I mean, I heard all the reasons, but I still find it odd to warrant a crush. This has never actually happened to me before.”
“A girl liking you?” Chie asked, sounding a little too hopeful.
“Not intimately, anyway,” he nodded. “I know two people back at Fuyuki I see as the sisters I never had before. I would have assumed that it would take a bit longer for platonic affection to happen, or that I had done something to earn that admission consciously.”
“But you’re amazing!” she cut in. “You saved me-us-multiple times all week! You’re a hero, and now our leader, and… and I’m just so confused. This isn’t how I wanted to let you know at all.” She then blushed and quickly added,“Not that I planned on revealing it so soon, if ever.”
Another awkward moment passed, before he suggested, “Maybe we can start over?”
Chie tilted her head in confusion. “Huh?”
“Well, if I recall,” Emiya explained. “It was your Shadow that made the confession. She was a part of you, true, and you were able to accept and come to terms with why she attacked you. But you weren’t in consensus with what she said. That’s why it mutated and tried to kill you. I think the fact that she became a Persona is the first step in making a change and addressing your problems.”
Awed by his insight, Chie nodded.
“So, until you’re ever ready to address your crush again,” he shrugged nonchalantly. “I’ll just act like it never happened. Or at the very least, keep it to myself and not tell Yosuke or Teddie. I’d like for us to still be friends, though, and see where it goes from there.”
Chie blinked and thought over what he said. Technically he brushed around the question and made an excuse. Shirou didn’t say what he thought of her, but he acknowledged her unwillingness of the reveal. She was right; he didn’t judge her before, and he wasn’t now, not even with her crush.
Maybe he was just as unsure of his feelings right now as she was? If so, she could very much relate. Having more time to sort everything out was a generous gift in itself, and he wasn’t letting down her trust in him. She couldn’t but help to feel grateful for that.
“Thanks,” she smiled warmly. “I’d really appreciate that, Emiya-kun.”
Shirou nodded back, and the two of them resumed their walk back. As they parted ways to their house, he watched her walk back with a skip in her step, despite fatigue. He could only guess that, even though Amagi was still in captivity, she had a great deal of relief from both her Persona and their talk. The proof came to him in the form of a card forming through her budding trust in him, representing the Roman number “VII”.
This card showed a red-armored Roman-esque knight in center, sitting above and between two black and yellow lions of similar design but opposite coloring. Other points of note were the yellow room in the black box with curtains behind or surrounding the knight, the red seat he was on, and the wheels behind each lion on either side. The more Shirou saw it, the more he realized it was a chariot rider facing the face of the card, and in turn, facing him. Almost ironic this happened when he was facing Satonaka’s back as she was walking away.
Thou art thou, and thou art I.
Thou hast established a new bond.
It shall bring thee closer to the truth.
Thou shalt be blessed by Personae of the Chariot Arcana.
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Originally Posted by mAc Chaos
