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Post by mugenginga on Nov 1, 2009 11:49:45 GMT -5
(OOC: Knowledge of Persona 3+4 needed to partipate. 3 especially. Permission from me and FF needed.
Also, this starts at the Apartments but is being placed here for posterity. This is where the main part of the event will take place.)
Atem looked outside, grateful it wasn't raining. The encounter was going to be hard enough, if Minato's descriptions were any indication, without having blood rained down upon them. The moon was full, as the calendar had indicated. Yuugi had been having trouble over the last few days and had withdrawn a bit. Every other time something like this had happened, they'd been able to fight.
It wasn't out of any misguided respect they hadn't gone after Belphegor, respect that Keiichi had to be the one to defeat the demon from what they'd heard. Belphegor reminded Atem of Zorc. He wasn't sure if the power levels were quite the same, but it had taken about 3,000 years to truly defeat Zorc, and it had only been because of the bonds he had formed with Yuugi's friends. Their power had united with the power of the Pendant/Puzzle. They weren't there. And Atem wasn't sure if it was even possible to summon Horakty again.
He walked over to where his partner was at. Yuugi was staring at the clock. The shorter teen stood up, grabbing the sefet off the table, "We should go..."
"Partner, this isn't like you."
Yuugi turned, "I know... but doing nothing isn't like you. You're always talking about fighting until the very end, even if its hopeless. Jounouchi-kun became the Duelist he is today because of that. So why aren't we trying to fight Belphegor?"
".....we don't know where he is, for one. The Island is the size of a small country. It would be throwing our lives away, for another thing. You're right, I do say one should fight until an outcome is reached, but we can't go looking for a hopeless fight. Himitsu, as much as I dislike her, says Keiichi is the only one even capable of defeating the demon. Maybe its the same way only the true power of the Pendant could defeat Zorc."
"I'm sorry... you're right. We need to go. Like you said, the island is large. What are the odds we'll even find the Shadow?"
"I don't know. Minato-kun is who you need to ask for that. Maybe he has some method we don't know of."
Yuugi attached the sword to the sheath at his side and pocketed his COMP. It would be fairly useless during the Dark Hour, but he didn't want to leave any potential weapon behind. Atem made sure he had his deck. It was thirty minutes until midnight when the two teenagers left their apartment.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Nov 1, 2009 12:12:54 GMT -5
Upon Souji returning home to the apartments that day, Naoto and Kanji were understandably PO'ed. Especially once they found out what had happened while they had been left at the apartments without a clue of what the rest of the group was up to.
But as the days passed, Naoto had to admit that Souji had been right. This Belphegor demon was strong. Even if she and Kanji had come along, they still wouldn't have won. And Kaini being kidnapped was probably the best possible outcome they could have hoped for.
Now that today was the full moon, Naoto and Kanji were standing down at the apartments' entrance. Souji and Minato had gone ahead, probably to scout out where the shadow could possibly be. Without Fuuka or Rise, they'd have to look for it by themselves.
Souji had spent the time between the fight with Belphegor and today with Minato, most likely trying to lead him off the path to his death. All that seemed to do was make Minato more depressed as time went by, though.
Kanji turned as he saw Yuugi and Atem approach. "Hey. You guys ready?"
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Post by mugenginga on Nov 1, 2009 12:20:48 GMT -5
The two spiky headed teens had actually tried a few apartments. Namely Souji's and Minato's. They'd come to the same conclusion that the two had already left and headed outside because of it. Yuugi looked depressed, Atem looked somber. Yuugi looked up as Kanji addressed him and nodded.
"Did Minato-kun and Souji go off to try and find the Shadow? I didn't think they could before the Dark Hour hit," this would be the first time Naoto or Kanji would hear Atem using an honorific. Probably wouldn't make Kanji happy what with who got the honorific. Yuugi remained quiet.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Nov 1, 2009 12:32:27 GMT -5
"Hey! Why does Minato get an honorific and Sempai not?!" Kanji asked, but Naoto held up a hand to tell Kanji to shut up for once.
"Sempai said that he was going to try to use Izanagi-no-Okami to scope out the area. According to Minato-san, all Persona can sense shadows, but some are better than it than others. While I don't know how true that is, it must have some truth in it, as they ran off running somewhere soon after Sempai summoned his Persona," Naoto explained. "Obviously they picked up on something."
She pulled out her cellphone and checked the clock. "We should get going. They said they'd meet us in the Plaza when the Dark Hour started."
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Post by mugenginga on Nov 1, 2009 12:35:44 GMT -5
Atem glanced at Kanji as he mildly freaked, but showed no problem shifting his focus to Naoto. To being with, Atem was clearly not Japanese. Honorifics from him were earned, and it was a little surprising to the former Pharaoh Kanji hadn't picked up on that. Or maybe he had, and was just annoyed that Atem didn't feel Souji had earned one.
"I didn't realize that.... You're right, let's go," said Yuugi. He made a point to have Nefertum's card at ready. Which was interesting because he did so before Atem did. Atem smiled softly and pulled out Temu's card. The group began towards the Plaza. Twenty minutes to go.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Nov 1, 2009 12:53:02 GMT -5
Souji checked the time on his phone.
"Ten minutes. Where are they?" Souji asked, looking off toward the apartments.
"Maybe they forgot." Minato said. He was stirring his coffee. He'd also had about five cups of that stuff since they'd sat down at the Plaza, as he often did when he was nervous. It was why he'd become that one Cafe's best customer; going there before every Full Moon did that to you.
The two of them had managed to figure out where the next Shadow was going to show up. The presence had been faint, but Souji had been able to sense the next shadow. It appeared to be that same weird Arcana that both Yuugi and Atem used. It looked like Minato's predictions had been right.
Finally, Souji saw what looked like Naoto, Kanji, Atem, and Yuugi approaching. He stood up, and waited for the group to get to him and Minato.
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Post by mugenginga on Nov 1, 2009 12:59:21 GMT -5
Yuugi seemd to perk up just a bit as he saw Souji and Minato. Souji looked a bit annoyed on top of his stress and Minato seemed to be fascinated by something in the bottom of his cup. Atem lifted a hand to let Souji and Minato know they saw them.
Atem spoke as he got within hearing range of Souji, "I didn't get the chance to say this before. You said that the Arcanas followed a theme. We're probably dealing with a Shadow whose focus will be lowering our abilities. Temu has attack and stat lowering skills," he glanced at Yuugi, who got the hint.
"And Nefertum focuses almost exclusively on support and healing. It kind of reminds me of Duel Monsters. A way of fighting and skills to support it. I'm just surprised you could sense it outside of the Dark Hour... I guess maybe its Izanagi's skill level?" Yuugi used the shortened version of Souji's Persona's name. It was rather the mouthful to run around saying "Izanagi-no-Okami" all the time.
"Minato-kun, I wanted to ask you. You seem on edge about this. Not in general, but whenever the Arcana shadows full defeat comes up. Is something going to happen if we defeat Arcana shadows?"
Yuugi looked at Atem, confused. He hadn't picked up on that at all.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Nov 1, 2009 13:13:56 GMT -5
Minato continued staring at whatever was at the bottom of his cup.
"When Arcana Shadows are defeated, they return to their Mother, Nyx, who had been split up into the various Arcana before. When she appeared here, I guess somehow she let off two new Arcana Shadow... probably a concequence of a new Arcana being formed..." He seemed to be thinking out loud. "When Arcana Shadows return to Nyx, they make her more powerful. And with the defeat of this coming Shadow, she'll be whole once more. It won't be long until the Fall once that happens." He stopped stirring his coffee.
"If we don't, though, all of those people who got Apathy Syndrome will stay like that," Minato said. "That means K1, Naoya... everyone."
"I checked the latest counts today. It's around 400 people in Void City alone. I guess all of the people with powers here means more people active during the Dark Hour, and more people during the Dark Hour who can't summon Personae means... Well, you do the math," Souji said. "Anyways, we figured out where the shadow will appear. It's going to show up at the ITS."
"That's not good," Naoto said. She was sure the rest of the group was thinking the same thing. There were a LOT of people who came through the ITS. Especially people with powers. Which meant lots of fuel for the Shadow. And if the Shadow wrecked the ITS' systems, it could cause problems across the whole multiverse.
Souji nodded. "We should hurry."
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Post by mugenginga on Nov 1, 2009 13:22:25 GMT -5
Atem's eyes widened. That wasn't good. It meant that by saving people they were merely aiding this Fall Minato kept talking about. Basically it meant the only ones that would survive if things were left alone were Persona users. He looked at Minato. The teenager really was rather strong. Atem was beginning to understand why he felt the only option was to sacrifice himself. He doubted that if Nyx could be defeated by normal means Minato would be thinking about this, after all.
He looked at Souji, "Right. We don't have much time."
Yuugi had opened his COMP at some point, "Just under eight minutes... I don't think we'll get there before the Hour hits... Let's go."
(OOC: Let me handle the description for the Shadow, I have it in mind.)
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Nov 1, 2009 15:36:01 GMT -5
Souji nodded, and led the way to the ITS.
Minato, who had gotten up as well, wasn't lagging behind the rest of the group for once. In fact, he was standing up front with Souji. It was more that he was feeling the rush of the Arcana Shadow battles (and coffee) than it was less depression. Caffiene did wonderful things to the teenage mind, after all.
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Post by mugenginga on Nov 1, 2009 15:50:07 GMT -5
Yuugi's prediction came true, not that anyone had doubted it would. They were about two thirds of the way to the ITS when the power went out. Considering the size of Void City, this meant it got very dark very fast. Yuugi had made a point of checking the area above Minato's head before they had walked off. The number had gone up one after the encounter at Himitsu's, and had remained that way since. It was still going down, but still at the rate of one a day. Yuugi wondered what shift had occurred in things.
When the lights went out, Yuugi jumped. It was probably a good thing the moon was full, as despite its green tint, it was still casting a fair amount of light. It only took a few seconds for the group to change to the light level. But with the veil over the Hour lifted, the first person to summon a Persona would realize something... the signature that read as the Arcana shadow was distributed across four points at the ITS. Opposite ends, forming a cross of sorts over the area.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Nov 1, 2009 16:08:21 GMT -5
When the Dark Hour started, Souji went ahead and summoned Izanagi-no-Okami, and started searching for the shadow once they arrived at the ITS. About five minutes later, he groaned.
"The shadow's spread its presence out in four different points of the ITS," Souji explained. "The ITS is pretty large too... I don't think we'll be able to hit them all if we go to them one by one."
Minato caught what Souji was getting at. "Uh-uh. No. No way."
"What's wrong, Minato-san?" Naoto asked.
"They've pulled this before. They split us up, and then hit us while we're seperated. Some of the stronger ones can get into your head too, and..." He shuddered. "It's not pleasant, okay?"
"I don't think we have much of a choice, Minato-san," Naoto said. Souji nodded.
"It'll take us the rest of the hour just to get around to where the shadow's spread itself. There won't be time to fight it," Souji said.
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Post by mugenginga on Nov 1, 2009 16:14:22 GMT -5
"There isn't enough of us to go in groups of two each," Atem said, "And Souji and Naoto are right. We can't hit them one by one. I'm going with Yuugi, and we definently shouldn't go in groups of more than two. It would adversely effect the rest too much."
Yuugi looked relieved that Atem had so flatly stated he would be going with him. Atem didn't like this, though, and you could see it on his face. If the Arcana was based around balance for its purpose in a fight, and the Arcana Shadows tended to represent the whole of an Arcana as was implied... Minato was right. This was very deliberate on the part of the shadow. He glanced at Minato. He and Souji should probably go on their own, they were the strongest of those who had experience with shadows. Which would leave Naoto and Kanji to make up a group.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Nov 1, 2009 16:36:04 GMT -5
Souji grinned at how it looked the groups were going to split up. Kanji's face went rather red, and he turned around so that he wasn't facing Naoto.
"I can go by myself, then," Kanji said. "I don't need no stinkin' group."
"Uh-huh." Minato said.
"Is that fine with you, Naoto?" Souji asked Naoto.
"I suppose," Naoto said. She pulled out her card and summoned her Persona. "...You're right. It's faint, but I can feel the Shadow's presence."
Souji nodded. "Let's go then. And everyone... please be careful. This Arcana's unknown to me, so I don't know what its plan is."
Minato nodded before the two of them proceeded off toward the first point.
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Post by mugenginga on Nov 1, 2009 16:42:36 GMT -5
Atem was not in support of this plan, but he knew Kanji didn't like him much. He sighed and nodded as the plans were made. He pointed in the opposite direction Minato and Naoto had gone, "Yuugi and I will take that direction."
"Good luck, everyone..." Yuugi said. He was worried about splitting up. He'd never seen Kanji fight, and he had to trust that if Souji wasn't objecting to the plan than it was okay. Atem glanced at him and the shorter teen nodded before they headed in the indicated direction. They both summoned their Persona within a few steps. Right next to each other, it was even more obvious how much Temu and Nefertum resembled each other.
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