Shadows of Guilt (Rei no Kaado)

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Minato's eyes widened as the door closed on Yuugi's small body. He'd attempted to stand up, but the pain from when he hit the wall was stopping him. He was pretty sure he'd at least sprained something there. That force had been strong. But Yuugi...

He didn't look any less concerned as Yuugi summoned Nefertum and used Diarama on himself. With the kind of injury he'd taken, that wouldn't be enough to fully heal him. He winced and pulled himself up a little bit as Teddie asked if he and Souji needed healing.

"...I'll handle it, Teddie," Minato said. He held out his hand, showing the blue tarot card for a moment before smashing it, summoning Messiah. Souji looked over at the shining white Persona for a moment before Minato gave it an order.

"Messiah, Salvation," Minato ordered. The Persona glowed with a white light and lifted its lower pair of arms up. The light moved from Messiah's body to around the room before settling on the forms of Yuugi, Anzu, Souji, Teddie, and Minato. Souji blinked as the pain from the hit faded, and he was able to get to his feet again.

"Everyone should be healed now," Minato said as he stood up. He looked toward the bedroom. "Dammit... now what do we do?!"

"Find some other way in, if we have to," Souji said. To be honest, he wasn't sure himself. He hadn't had to deal with a Shadow like this before.

[mugenginga]

Yuugi blinked as the pain pretty much stopped. He heard a crack that didn't sound pleasant, but the pain from it was purely psychological. He was still in the doorway. He tried to find a good place to stand up, and found a feminine hand in his face. He looked over to Anzu, who was smiling. He returned it in the most honest smile he'd given to her yet and grabbed it. Together they managed to get him to his feet. It was a bit of a task as Yuugi didn't seem inclined to leave the doorway.

"Anzu, tell Souji-kun-tachi to get over here. I think we need to pull this door off," Yuugi said.

Anzu hesitated for a moment, but nodded and quickly advanced to where the others were. Teddie had somehow managed to get even wider eyes than usual as Messiah had used his move. That really was a powerful Persona. It... it rivalled Ryoji's Shadow form, now that he thought about it. Souji and Minato seemed alright enough, so he turned his full attention to Anzu as she came into the room.

"Yuugi says he thinks we need to pull the door off," Anzu said. She looked at the two a few times, "Do you need help getting up? And... what are those things? They don't look like any Duel Monster I know..."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Souji looked up at Anzu as she asked if they needed any help getting up, and shook his head. He stood up and brushed himself off as Anzu asked what those things they had summoned were.

Minato stood up as well, and tightened the scarf around his neck. "That's because they're not Duel Monsters."

"They're called Persona," Souji explained. "They're manifestations of your suppressed self; your Shadow. They're basically what your Shadow becomes if you can accept it. Just about all of my friends can use Personas." He held up Izanagi-no-Okami's blue tarot card. "I've got one too."

He looked back into the hallway. "You said Yuugi said we should pull the door off? I don't know how well that will work, but it's worth a try." As Souji walked back into the hallway, he once again wished Kanji was here. Kanji was better at these kind of brute force things than he was.

Minato looked around for a moment before seeing what they needed on a small table. He picked up a yellow screwdriver and headed into the hallway before handing it to Souji.

"Here, this might work," Minato said. Souji took it, nodded, and then got to work unscrewing the hinges on the door. After a few minutes, he managed to get the first one undone.

[mugenginga]

Anzu just kind of stood there after Souji gave his response. Not Duel Monsters... but Shadows. Those things that made this world dangerous, and Souji could summon one of them? Anzu turned her head towards Yuugi. He could summon them? Souji mentioned if one could accept their Shadow... which meant... her eyes widened. Which meant something like what had blown them backwards? Yuugi had faced something like that!?

"Anzu-chan?"

Anzu blinked and looked over towards Teddie. She wasn't sure when, but he had moved over and was looking her in the face. She gave a reassuring smile and walked over to where Souji was already working on the door. She didn't say anything, and neither did anyone else, as Souji got the first hinge undone. Yuugi was keeping his position in the door. That was a good sign, and an indication that Bakura's Shadow really didn't want to hurt anyone. The door had opened as soon as it had impacted him, and hadn't tried to shut again. His guess had gone well, and Yuugi found himself letting out a sigh of relief over it.

As Souji dropped the pieces of the first of two hinges, Yuugi looked inside the bedroom. Of note was the Monster World table set up. He was pretty sure Bakura had gotten rid of it after that first incident, saving only what he needed for that sculpture he'd made. He looked at the set up and his eyes widened. Egypt? It was quite different from the pseudo-medieval world they'd played on. He wasn't seeing any paths to anywhere else, though...

"Yuugi, did you... did you have a Shadow too?"

Yuugi looked up. His expression was rather serious, and he nodded.

"What was it like?"

Yuugi averted his gaze. He was clearly uncomfortable as he spoke, "It... I wanted to hurt people..."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Souji frowned as the door opened up. That had been easy. Things usually weren't this easy, which means that things were probably going to get a lot more difficult soon. He looked into the bedroom and frowned at the scene. Still rather tame, other than that odd game board in the middle of the room.

He paused as he was about to go into the room at Anzu's question to Yuugi. He sighed and put a hand on Yuugi's head as he spoke to Anzu, and he wasn't looking directly at her as he spoke.

"Shadows represent our suppressed desires," Souji said. "Doesn't mean that we're all proud of them."

And with that, he headed into the room. Minato gave a nervous laugh and followed after him. Souji seemed to be in a serious mood today. Probably because of Bakura being put in the TV. No, that was definitely it. He walked over to the board and examined it.

"It looks like Monster World, but..." Minato said. He scratched his head.

"Monster World?" Souji asked.

"It's a board game/RPG thing. Bakura used to play it, but the spirit in the Ring used it to steal his friends' souls," Minato explained. "This is a different setup than I remember, though... Ancient Egypt, huh..."

Souji shrugged. He'd never really played all that many video games, much less tabletop RPGs.

[mugenginga]

Yuugi got a rather annoyed expression as Souji put his hand on his head. Anzu's soulders shook, and anyone that looked at her would see a screwy expression on her face. Fact was, she was trying not to laugh. Yuugi's expression got a bit grumpier at that and he ducked down and headed into the room before the rest of them. Anzu covered her face with her hand and took a deep breath, heading in after Souji but before Minato. Teddie's size meant he had to side step into the room. It was pretty crowded with four humans and a stuffed bear.

Yuugi had been looking more closely at the board when Minato spoke up. He looked up for a moment, but went back to looking at the board when he realized nothing of particular import was being said. There was definently something about this board, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Anzu had been watching him when Minato spoke up, and she looked up towards the two other teenagers. She blinked a few times when Minato replayed the events of the first encounter with Dark Bakura. She might have passed it off, but then Minato mentioned the layout.

"Wait, how would you know the layout...?"

Teddie was looking around, and he paused when his eyes fell on the board. He scooted towards it with more sidestepping. He had to work a bit at it due to the way the group was laid out in the room. Yuugi hadn't said anything during this, but suddenly his hand reached towards an area of the board and flipped it open in a way Minato would remember the board capable of due to the manga. What was revealed seemed to be a market place, although it wasn't... it seemed to be created by someone who'd only seen them in some movies.

"Yuugi-kun, wait!" Teddie said.

Yuugi paused with his hand hovering over the market place. He blinked and looked at the bear as he ran over and peered at the layout.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Minato blinked as he realized what he'd said. It wasn't like he'd exactly told Anzu how he knew about everything that had gone on in Yuugi's world. He looked a little nervous as he spoke.

"Eh... it's a little hard to explain," Minato said. He looked over at the game board, and decided that there was something oh-so-interesting going on there. Something that wasn't related to this current conversation with Anzu. By this point, he'd figured out that it was a bit awkward for people to realize that their worlds were video games and things like that in other worlds. Minato hadn't yet had the misfortune of discovering his world was a game called "Persona 3" in another similar world.

He looked back over at the board as Yuugi flipped open part of the board to reveal a marketplace area. He was about to comment on it when Teddie suddenly spoke up.

"What's up, Teddie?" Souji asked.

[mugenginga]

Anzu opened her mouth to ask what he meant when the conversation was abrubtly cut off by Minato's distraction. It had seemed a little fabricated, but Anzu chose not to push it. She quickly turned to Teddie as he told Yuugi to stop. Yuugi had done so without hesitation, but his hand was hovering over the market. Teddie seemed to be giving a rather hard look (which came across as rather humorous. His construct didn't do focusing in a serious manner) at the market place before rocking forward a bit in a sort of nod. He straightened up.

"That's a portal! I think it's one way, too..." He looked towards Souji, "I could get us out of the TV World, but I don't think we'll be able to retrace our steps if you go through it."

"Why would Bakura-kun have a one way world like that...?" Anzu wondered out loud.

"It's probably how he feels about the Ring," Yuugi said. There was a definite attitude difference from the teenager than usual. He seemed more serious. It was one of those cases where the line between Atem and Yuugi seemed to blur, "He probably thinks its useless to get away from it. It does keep coming back to him..."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Souji frowned as Teddie explained what the marketplace really was. A world inside a world, huh? He didn't like the sound of that very much. Plus, the portal was one way. He nodded solemnly as Yuugi spoke. That definitely seemed to be why it was there.

"If we're going in, we need to be careful. Something about this stinks," Souji said.

Minato looked back at the marketplace and frowned. "No use in sitting around and talking about it, then. Leap before you think, right?"

He stuck his hand into the marketplace... and suddenly Minato wasn't there anymore. Souji blinked, and then facepalmed.

"First of all, it's think before you leap. Second... Minato, you idiot," Souji said. "I guess he just made the decision for us."

[mugenginga]

"Minato-kun, wait you-!"

Of course, there wasn't a chance to do much. Teddie had heard Minato, and had looked like he was even going to go as far as grabbing Minato's hand. He looked concerned enough, but for a moment there was an expression of something like annoyance on his face. His paw passed through where Minato's just was and Souji made his comment on Minato's little stunt. His hand continued and hit the market place, and he vanished as well.

"Teddie!" Yuugi said.

The short teenager had hopped back in surprise. That had all been very sudden. He frowned and his eyebrows angled to show his concern once he regained his footing. He looked at Souji and nodded about his comment from before and put his hand in the same place Teddie and Souji had gone. Anzu smiled towards Souji.

"It'll be okay. Yuugi's really good about helping people. Oh, but you already know that," she gave a weak smile and turned away, putting her hand where the others had, leaving Souji to follow.

---------

Where they appeared was fairly problematic. Because it looked like the hallway from before. The doors to either side with no nameplate. The door ahead with various blockages. However, there were differences. The blockages on the door seemed a bit better placed. Looked like the rope was actually tied rather than hung all over the place. The nameplate with the Bakura surname on it had a bit more blood, and a close look would reveal a very faint crack in it. The door to the observant would also seem just a touch older.

Minato had appeared first. Teddie came next, and there was something that happened before Yuugi showed up. He turned around quickly as soon as he appeared and took a few steps forward, sensing Minato's presence as much as anything else. He looked just a bit angry, there was a slight glare.

"Minato-kun, you should have gotten everyone's opinion! This place is dangerous, you can't just go charging places!" He sounded a bit angry too.

Yuugi appeared just as Teddie was finishing up yelling. He looked rather concerned. Teddie hadn't really struck him as the type with a temper problem. Maybe there were sides to him he hadn't seen. He took a step to the side from where he had appeared, giving a worried look to the surroundings. Anzu would appear during Minato's response.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Minato blinked as he appeared in what quite frankly looked like the same hallway from before. The main difference was in the blockages on the door at the end of the hallway. It seemed slightly different. As he got closer, he was able to see just what all was so different. The door was blocked differently and the nameplate had quite a bit more blood on it.

"Huh," Minato said. He jumped and turned as Teddie started to chew him out. He groaned. Okay, that had been a bit of a stupid move. "...Sorry. But what's with the door?"

Souji dropped down after Anzu did. He blinked at the hallway, and then started heading down the hallway toward the door to Bakura's room. He frowned as he saw the bloodied and cracked nameplate, and then looked at the ropes.

"Did anyone bring a knife?" Souji asked. He could use a Persona to get it open... or he could just cut the ropes off, which would be easier.

[mugenginga]

Teddie scowled rather deeply at Minato's apology, but said nothing more. Yuugi turned as Anzu and then Souji came back down. Teddie stood with his arms cross and looking a little sulky as the two of them worked their way past them. He moved only for Souji, and at this point really did seem to be sulking.

Yuugi grabbed the sword he was wearing when Souji spoke, undoing the set-up Atem had helped him make to give it a slight sheath. He held it out to Souji, "Will this work?"

"Teddie-kun, are you okay...?" Anzu asked.

Teddie turned to Anzu and undid his arms as he shouted, "I never said you could call me that!"

His scowl deepened as he quickly turned away from Anzu. She blinked. That had seemed... over the top. He was right, of course... was he in a bad mood? Yuugi had turned his head at the shout as well, but was still holding up the sefet.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Souji nodded as Yuugi held out the sefet, though before he could take it, Teddie had a slight outburst. He raised an eyebrow at Teddie's reaction. That was a tad bit overblown, especially for Teddie.

"Teddie, are you okay?" Souji asked, motioning for Yuugi to put the sefet down for now.

"You didn't have to yell at Anzu like that, Teddie," Minato said.

[mugenginga]

"I'm fine..." Teddie said, his voice a little quieter than usual. He didn't seem very fine.

Yuugi had lowered the sword at Souji's gesture. Anzu had looked up as Minato scolded the bear. She gave a weak smile and shook her head to indicate it was alright. If he was stressed it was understandable. However, everyone seemed to be reacting like this was unusual for him. Teddie noticed everyone was looking at him now and gave a nervous expression.

"Really, I'm okay! Bear-y okay!" He smiled a bit at that, and the expected snirk was there. He shook his head, "We should go rescue Bakura-kun! We don't have much time, right? I don't know why we haven't run into any, but I'm telling you the Shadows are really agitated!"

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Minato gave a small smile as Teddie made a bear pun, and Souji found himself facepalming. But there was definitely something wrong with the bear; that much was obvious from how he was speaking. He was trying to smooth things over, but Minato could tell there was something wrong just from how quickly Teddie was speaking.

Something seemed to click for Souji as Teddie said the Shadows were getting very agitated. Teddie was a Shadow after all... "Teddie... are you're sure you're not feeling agitated because of the rain and fog too?"

It would make sense. They'd never pressed things so close that they were in the TV World when the fog came before, so they wouldn't know how Teddie was affected by the receding fog.