Persona - Chaos Butterfly 3

Chapter 3: Meeting of Persona-users.

While Minato, Shinjiro, Metis and Souji tried to gather information about the former members of SEES' whereabouts, a train had arrived at Yasoinaba Station.

"So this is Inaba, huh? What a charming little place this is." A red-head young woman called Mitsuru Kirijo looked around the station as she boarded the platform from the train, followed by a small yet peculiar group: a young woman with disheveled light blue hair called Fuuka Yamagishi, a taller woman with blonde hair and a large hair band known as Aigis; a brown haired preteen called Ken Amada; a young man with silver hair and a devilishly handsome face named Akihiko Sanada, a young woman with short brown hair and bright, intelligent eyes, called Yukari Takeba, and the last one was easily depicted as a jokester, a young man with a baseball cap and goatee, with a mischievous grin on his face whose name was Junpei Iori. "Yasoinaba Station. What a small station..."

"May be small but some weird stuff happened around here." Junpei said, grinning widely.

"I swear, Junpei, if you hadn't showed us that site, I'd say that was just some silly paranormal rumor." Yukari said.

"Hey, I know ya don't like ghost stories, Yuka-tan, but even you gotta agree that this whole stuff sounds way too similar to what WE experienced back in high school." Junpei shrugged.

"Got a point there." Akihiko stated, looking around. "So, what's the plan now, Mitsuru?"

"After we leave our belongings at the Amagi Inn let's take a look around the town." Mitsuru replied. "I've made arrangements with the Inn's manager and her daughter agreed to be our guide."

"That'll help. Hopefully we'll find some useful information." Fuuka agreed. Suddenly she remembered something. "Oh, shouldn't we release Koro-chan now?"

"Oh, yeah! I'll do that." Ken said before he ran up to a dog carrier on a pile of luggage being pulled along by a trolley. He immediately opened the door of the dog carrier. "Here, Koro, come on out!"

Out bounded a white dog with a red armband on his left front leg. He wore a white sleeveless dog tunic with two small wings sewn onto the back.

"I'm sorry you had to travel in that thing, Koromaru. Forgive me?" Mitsuru asked with a gentle smile.

Koromaru grinned up at Mitsuru and barked, his tail wagging. "Koromaru-san is saying: 'I understand. Don't worry about that.'" Aigis translated.

"Well, if we're all set here, let's get going." Junpei said enthusiastically.

As the group headed out to get a ride for the Inn. Aigis glanced at the sky with a distant look on her face.

"Hey, Aigis." Yukari called. "You okay?"

"Oh, yes… I'm fine, Yukari-san…" Aigis said. "For some reason I've been thinking a lot about him lately… Him and… Her…"

Yukari was silent at first. She and Aigis had become close friends after the whole Abyss of Time thing, so she knew that Aigis every now and then missed not only Minato, but Metis as well, as she was the closest thing to a family she ever had despite the fact she had been born from Aigis' very own emotions. "I know… I miss them too… But don't forget, you're not alone, okay?"

Aigis nodded. "Thank you, Yukari-san."

"Don't mention it." Yukari smiled. "Now, c'mon, the others are waiting."

Aigis nodded and the two left after the group.

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Yukiko headed towards the bus stop, lost in her thoughts. She was supposed to meet with a group of students from Tatsumi Port Island who will be staying in her family's inn to tour them around Inaba. She didn't mind that. They weren't much older than her so a conversation wouldn't be hard to do. Also, Chie and the others had agreed to help her so it wouldn't be too difficult.

'They're from Port Island… The same place Souji-kun is now… I wonder how he is doing?' Yukiko thought, a bit worried. 'It's not like him not to answer my e-mails or anyone else's… Of course, he might've been just busy because of school…Well, my situation isn't any different so…'

"Yo, Senpai!" A rough, yet friendly voice snapped Yukiko out of her thoughts.

Yukiko turned around and smiled as Kanji Tatsumi and Naoto Shirogane walked up to her. "Good day, Yukiko-senpai." Naoto greeted.

"Oh, Kanji-kun…Naoto-kun. Hello." Yukiko smiled. "Thank you for coming."

"S'no big deal." Kanji shrugged. "So, where are Chie-Senpai and the others?"

"Chie went to get Rise-chan since she said she had to help her grandmother over at the tofu shop first. Yosuke-kun said he and Teddie would catch up with us as soon as their work at Junes is over." The raven haired girl replied. "Kirijo-san's group should be arriving soon. So, shall we go ahead?"

"Yes, let's go." The Detective Prince replied while Kanji nodded.

The trio headed for the bus stop. Ten minutes of waiting later, the bus with Mitsuru and her friends arrived.

"Excuse me, are you Amagi-san?" Mitsuru asked as she looked at Yukiko. She was easy to spot since she was the only one wearing a pink kimono.

Yukiko nodded with a confident smile. "I am Yukiko Amagi. Please, just call me Yukiko. You must be Kirijo-san." She motioned to Kanji and Naoto who bowed to greet the group. "These are my friends, Kanji Tatsumi and Naoto Shirogane. I hope you and your friends don't mind, but I asked them to help me with the tour. The others should be arriving soon."

"Heh, the more the merrier." Junpei grinned while Koromaru barked happily.

Kanji couldn't help but smile when he saw Koromaru. "H-hey that's a c-cute dog… C-Can I pet him?"

"Sure. Koro-chan, go say hi to Kanji-kun." Fuuka said.

Koromaru nodded and walked up to Kanji who dropped to one knee to pet him. "Wow, nice fur, so soft and fuzzy..." Kanji said with a smile as he scratched Koromaru behind his ears, a spot he loved to be scratched. "And his doggie shirt is pretty well made too. I mean, the wings were neatly sewn and it's pretty comfy for him to run and play around in and…"

"Wow, Kanji-kun, how do you know so much about clothes?" Yukari said amazed.

"W-Well, my Ma runs a Textile Shop and I kinda help out there..." Kanji admitted, kind of nervous.

"Kanji-kun is really good at sewing, having grown up in that kind of environment. He also teaches others how to make the stuff he does, like dolls." Naoto continued, much to Kanji's surprise. "He's quite good at it, actually."

"N-Naoto!" Kanji nearly shouted, flustered.

"Hey, that's pretty cool, Kanji-san." Ken said smiling. "You can make stuff that no one else has."

Kanji looked at Ken, surprised yet glad. "Hey, thanks, kid. You guys are welcome to drop by Ma's store later. I can show some of my stuff there."

"That would be very pleasant, Kanji-san." Aigis said smiling.

"Well, where would you guys…" Yukiko was cut off by a familiar shout.

"Yukiko!" Chie shouted as she and Rise ran up to them. "Whoa, they're here already?"

"Wow, talk about a cool group." Rise said excitedly. "Hi there, guys! I'm Rise Kujikawa!"

"Rise… No way! You're Risette?!" Junpei said all excited. "Sweet! You're even cuter in person!"

Rise giggled. "Thank you!"

"Heh, you can always count on Rise-chan to get all the attention." Chie said amused. "Oh, by the way, I'm Chie Satonaka. Nice to meet you guys." She looked around. "Hey, where are Yosuke and Teddie? I thought they'd be here already…."

"TED, GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY FACE! I CAN'T SEE WHERE I'M GOING!" Someone suddenly shouted.

"STOP!!!" Another voice yelled. "YOSUKE, STOP THIS THING!"

The group turned around and saw two teens riding a bike heading towards them and it seemed to be out of control. "What in the world…?" Mitsuru was confused.

"It's coming straight at us! Look out!" Akihiko shouted while grabbing Mitsuru's arm to pull her out of harm's way.

Everybody quickly got out of the way of the rouge bike's way as it zipped past them only to crash into some trash cans.

Chie sweatdropped. "Ugh… I had to ask…"

Yukari looked at her. "You know them?"

"That was Yosuke and Teddie." Chie rolled her eyes. "I don't know why he keeps using that bicycle… He always ends up crashing it."

"H-Hey!!!" Yosuke shouted as he was stuck inside a trash can. "Help! Someone!"

"Please, someone save Teddie!" Teddie whined as he was in the same predicament as Yosuke.

"Um… Maybe we should help them?" Fuuka asked.

With Akihiko and Kanji's help Yosuke and Teddie got off the cans. "Phew… That was some crash… Thanks for the help, everyone." Yosuke said with a smile. "Oh, you guys must be the ones Yukiko-san told me about. I'm Yosuke Hanamura and this little troublemaker is Teddie."

"Are you ok, Yosuke-senpai? Teddie?" Naoto asked.

"I'm fine, Nao-chan. Thanks for caring about me." Teddie replied with a smile as he dazzled with sparkles. "Can't say the same about Yosuke though…"

"Shut it, Teddie!" Yosuke growled. "It's your fault we crashed in the first place!"

Teddie whimpered scared. "Hey, take it easy on the little guy." Yukari said. "It was an accident."

Teddie's face lit up as he stared at Yukari. "My, my, what a nice and pretty girl you are… You're bear-y nice with Teddie..."

"Bear-y?" Yukari raised an eyebrow. "Geez… And I thought Junpei's jokes were lame…"

"Right… HEY!!!" Junpei shouted in protest.

Everybody laughed at that, except for Aigis who was glaring at Teddie for some reason.

"Hm? Aigis, is something wrong?" Mitsuru asked noticing her strange behavior.

"Him." Aigis replied pointing at Teddie. "He… He is not a human…"

Everybody stopped laughing when she said that. Aigis continued. "He's not a human, but he is not dangerous either… He is a Shadow... with a Persona…"

The Investigation Team was at a loss at that and so were the other members of SEES. "W-Wha?! H-How did she find out…?! I mean, how do you all know about Shadows or Personas?!" Naoto was at a loss. She wondered how their well-kept secret was discovered so easily.

Junpei grinned. "Like I said, dudes, this place is perfect for our vacation."

"Wait, so you guys are Persona users?" Rise asked, surprised yet really curious.

"You might say so." Akihiko replied. "Look, this is not the best place talk about that. You guys know any place where we can discuss this?"

"How about our special headquarters?" Chie suggested. "It's the only place I can think of."

"That will work just perfectly." Mitsuru decided. "Please lead the way."

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At Junes' Food Court…

"So, THIS is your 'special headquarters'?" Junpei asked as the group was gathered around a few tables.

"Well, what did ya expect?" Chie shrugged. "Some sort of high tech, top-secret facility?"

"Meh… sort of…" Junpei shrugged.

After the older teens introduced themselves, the atmosphere was no longer awkward.

"Alright, let's get this started." Yosuke turned to Mitsuru. "You are Persona users, right?"

Mitsuru shook her head. "Well, that's partially accurate. We can no longer summon ours."

Yukari nodded. "Yeah, when the Shadows disappeared from this world two years ago, we lost the ability to summon our Personas."

Yukiko perked up. "Wait, did you say 'this world'? You guys could summon your Personas in this world?"

Fuuka nodded. "We used our Personas in an altered dimension parallel to this one. Well, kind of. It's…hard to explain."

"Our school was, for one reason or another, 'cursed' several years ago, and transformed into a gigantic tower, Tartarus, whose sole purpose was to usher in the bringer of death, Nyx," Mitsuru explained. "Our Personas could be summoned in our world because we never left our world."

"A giant tower…" Kanji whistled. "Damn… That would have been something to see."

"Shadows in this world?" Teddie demanded. "That's not possible. Shadows can't exist in this world."

"They didn't exist long in this world," Mitsuru replied. "They would only leave the tower every full moon."

Teddie shook his head. "But how? They shouldn't…"

"Their situation was different, Teddie." Naoto interjected. "The Shadows manifested in our world, whereas we enter the Shadows' world." She looked at Mitsuru. "How long was this tower around?"

"The school would only transform into the tower for one hour every night," Mitsuru acknowledged.

"I get it," Akihiko said. "If Shadows really can't stay in our world for long, that explains why Tartarus would go away after the Dark Hour ended."

"Guys, this is all really interesting. But let's hear them out first, yeah?" Rise suggested. "Speculations can wait."

Mitsuru nodded. "For one hour every night, the world would shut down. We called this hour the Dark Hour. Only those with the potential to host a Persona could function during this hour, and electronic equipment would cease functioning. I was the first person in the area to successfully control a Persona in order to fight a Shadow."

Akihiko leaned forward. "Mitsuru and I were the first two people to decide to explore Tartarus. Along with a friend named Shinjiro, we started a group known as SEES – the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad. We were devoted to discovering why Tartarus had appeared, and seeing if we could put a stop to the Dark Hour."

Yukari spoke up next. "Eventually, every full moon brought out a monstrously powerful Shadow that would leave Tartarus and wreak havoc on the outside world. We took it upon ourselves to destroy these Shadows before people were hurt. Unfortunately, some people had already fallen ill to the Shadows, and went comatose. Many rumors started out of these comas, but only we knew the truth. Every time we defeated a large Shadow, the number of comas would dwindle, but they would increase again as the next full moon approached."

Fuuka's arms started moving as she spoke. "Unfortunately, we didn't realize that by destroying the 12 large Shadows, we were actually rejoining them into one entity. Eventually, we defeated all the large Shadows, but another problem presented itself: because of our actions, mankind was going to die."

Aigis stepped forward. "I was originally created to battle Shadows, specifically one large Shadow represented by Death, the 13th Arcana. I was defeated and reconstructed, years ago. After we defeated the last of the large shadows, Death reappeared before us in a false image. We discovered this fallacy and faced him on, but he disappeared before we could defeat him. He claimed that he would return on New Year's Eve with a decision for us: either we could have our memories erased and die with the rest of the world peacefully, or continue to retain our memories and suffer the fear of knowing that the end was coming in thirty days. Either way, the world would end on January 31st."

Junpei's voice was rather sudden, as he didn't make any movements to let anyone know he was speaking. "Problem was, we didn't like those choices. So we fought our way to the top of Tartarus, and on January 31st, we fought the representation of Nyx, the entity formed of mankind's desire to end all suffering through death. Or something like that. In any case, we kicked his ass, but he had one last trick up his sleeve. He summoned, like…the moon or something, and the world was really almost over. But…"

The entire table went silent.

"But what…?" Chie demanded, leaning on the edge of her seat.

Everyone who had spoken turned to look at Aigis, who smiled sadly. "But our squad leader sacrificed his life to seal away Nyx and block out the desires for destruction of mankind. He single-handedly stopped Nyx and saved the world. All he needed was our thoughts of him and our unstoppable wills."

The Inaba group was quiet now. Yukiko couldn't believe her ears. Everything they'd said seemed to line up somehow with their own incident.

"But that wasn't the end of it," Ken voiced, breaking the silence. "We were about to go our separate ways, when the day started repeating itself. Because of our involvement in Nyx's defeat, we'd been tied to the Desert of Time. For some reason, Aigis was given the same special powers as our first squad leader, and we had to dive into the desert and defeat the actual embodiment of mankind's desire to die. You see, when our leader sacrificed himself, he established a physical barrier that our desires were constantly beating against. It was a solid barrier, but it was already beginning to crack, just two months later. We saw a lot about each other in that desert, and when everything was said and done, it was us versus the will of mankind to die, that became a huge monster called Erebus."

"I assume that you guys won, right?" Kanji said. Ken nodded.

"So what's your story?" Akihiko asked.

The Investigation Team exchanged glances. Naoto stepped forward. "I can retell the story."

Yukiko nodded. "That'd probably be the best. We can fill in the parts you missed."

Naoto delved into the story of the Inaba murders, the world inside the television, and the eventual confrontation with mankind's desires to hide the unwanted truth in a dense fog. The embarrassing stories were left out, but the failures in capturing the correct criminals were included. Teddie's origin was also recollected, which got several gasps from the other group.

Finally, Naoto told the story of Izanami, and how their own group leader had squared off against the original goddess of Japan one-on-one, with only the thoughts of those around him to support him. When she spoke of this, everyone in the room became very somber. The connection between the two people was undeniable. Both had been exceptions to the Persona rule, and both had faced off against the will of man and won.

"So what happened to your leader?" Yukari asked.

"He moved back with his parents," Chie said. "He's living at Port Island now."

Yukari looked at the ground. Her face seemed to be…bitter.

"It's been three years, and yet we still wish he'd come back to us," Aigis explained. "When I inherited his power of multiple Personas, we worried that I would die as well. While I didn't, from that day on, I'd promised myself to do whatever I could to ease his burden..."

Yosuke scratched the back of his head nervously. "Well, I hate to say it, but what's done is done. We can't live in the past, right?"

"You're exactly right," Mitsuru admitted. "However… It's just very difficult to let go the death of two of your best friends."

"T-Two?" Chie asked rather shocked.

"Remember Shinjiro, who helped us start SEES?" Akihiko asked looking down. "Yeah…he…"

The table became silent again.

"Well!" Rise stood up quickly with a grin on her face. "That's enough of this mopey stuff! Collectively, we've saved the world how many times? We should go do something happy for a change!"

"What about the TV World?" Chie suggested. "Their reason for using Personas is gone, but ours still exists. Maybe we could show them? And maybe they'd be able to summon theirs again."

Yukiko nodded. "And now, since it's so beautiful there, it'll be a real treat for everybody!"

"Sounds like a plan." Yosuke said with a grin when his cell phone rang. He picked it up. "One minute please. Yosuke speaking. Oh, hi Dojima-san… What? Sure, of course we can do that! That'd be no trouble at all! Okay, we'll be there tomorrow. No problem. See ya." He hung up and looked at the others. "That was Dojima-san, our leader's uncle. He asked us to look after his daughter, Nanako-chan, for him tomorrow. He said he had some business to take care of out of town."

"In that case, let's bring Nana-chan with us tomorrow!" Teddie suggested. "I promised her I'd show her that place and now it's not dangerous for her anymore."

The SEES members glanced at each other and nodded. "Very well, then. We agree." Mitsuru said. "We'll meet up tomorrow and proceed to this place together."

"Okay then. It's a date!" Teddie cried with a laugh, making everybody laugh.

"Wow, time flies…" Rise said looking at the sunset. "I gotta go home. I promised Grandma I'd help her close the tofu shop."

"I must be leaving as well. My grandpa is expecting me." Naoto said, standing up.

"Hey, Naoto… I-If ya don't mind… I'll go with ya…" Kanji offered with a faint blush on his face.

Naoto seemed surprised, but she nodded with a smile. "Thank you, Kanji-kun."

"I'll take Mitsuru-san and the others back to the inn." Yukiko said. "Where we should meet up tomorrow?"

"In front of Daidara's at the Shopping District." Yosuke said. "We probably won't need that, but ya know what they say, better safe than sorry."

Everybody nodded. As the group said their farewells, Yukiko escorted the SEES group back to the Amagi Inn. That had been quite the gathering of people. Each one had a story, and each one had a reason that they had fought. In the morning, they would enter the TV World again, not as people searching for answers, but as people who know the answers, and are merely seeking a good time.

'I wish Souji-kun was here to see this… I'm sure he would've liked to meet Mitsuru-san and the others…' Yukiko thought with a smile. 'Well, as soon as possible I'll tell him everything…'

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The next day, everybody, save from Yosuke and Teddie, stood in front of Daidara's Metalworks.

"Where are Yosuke-kun and Teddie-kun?" Fuuka asked.

"They went pick up Nanako-chan." Yukiko replied. "They should be arriving soon."

"Yo!" They heard Yosuke calling. The headphone wearing teen walked up to them alongside a little girl.

"Um… Are you sure it's a good idea bring her with us?" Ken asked, a bit uneasy.

"Don't worry. If anything comes up, I'll protect Nana-chan!" Teddie exclaimed from behind Yosuke.

As the group glanced at Teddie, everybody laughed a little, surprised to see Teddie suited with his infamous blue bear costume. Adorned in red and white pajamas, the bear was a sight to behold for both groups.

"Nice outfit." Junpei cracked a grin. "Dude, you were right. He looks so fluffy! Hey, Teddie, can I pet you?"

Teddie's glass eyes narrowed dangerously, proving that his 'costume' was more than just a costume. "No."

"Aw," Yukari whined. "What about me?" she asked, striking an innocent pose, placing a hand on her hair.

A faint red flooded the cheeks of Teddie's bear face. "I-If I say yes, will you let me score with you?"

Yukari's eyes flashed and she stood up quickly, the innocence gone from her face and voice. "What? 'Score'? Oh man, that was terrible."

"That's Teddie alright." Yosuke shrugged rolling his eyes.

"He's funny." The girl, Nanako, giggled, before bowing. "Oh hi. I'm Nanako Dojima. You guys are Teddie's new friends?"

"Yeah… Sort of..." Akihiko said. There was something about the little elementary school girl that reminded him of his little sister Miki. He turned to Kanji and Naoto, seeming concerned. "Hey, you guys sure about bringing a kid along?"

"Plenty sure. That's why we came here first." Kanji replied, pointing his thumb to the shop.

"Uh… What's this place again?" Junpei asked.

"A metal shop. The owner here crafts armors and weapons from all different sorts of materials." Naoto explained. "While we don't think it'll be necessary, we thought it'd be safer if everybody was properly equipped before we headed for the other world."

"A metalworks huh? Well, we did bring our Evokers with us, but of course they might not be enough in case we run into something..." Akihiko said.

"What's an Evoker? Some kind of gun?" Kanji asked spontaneously.

The SEES members looked at each other uneasily. "Well, yeah..." Ken started.

"We pointed these Evokers to our heads to summon our Personas," Akihiko added, and with that, he pulled out his Evoker to show the shocked group.

Rise was the first to speak up. "It just seems so...."

"Emo, crazy, demented? Yeah we all figured that, but…" Junpei was cut off by a smack from Yukari. "OW!!"

"Junpei, don't be such an idiot! Don't mind him; he just likes to say whatever's on his mind." Yukari said annoyed.

"It is a wise idea to equip ourselves before our exploration, though." Aigis said.

"Agreed. Let's get inside and see if we can find any suitable weapons." Mitsuru said.

After some browsing and shopping, the group came out with their new weapons.

"So, you guys hide the armors and weapons underneath your school uniforms too?" Chie asked.

"It was the best way not to draw too much attention." Fuuka replied. "Now that we graduated from our former school it feels kinda strange to walk around wearing it, though."

"Maybe, but I don't think a lot of people in this town knows your school." Rise pointed out. "So you won't draw too much attention"

"True, I guess that it wasn't such a bad idea bringing the old uniforms with us after all." Ken said.

"Right, now that we're set, next stop Junes." Yosuke said.

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"So how exactly does this work?" Yukari asked Rise as a party of sixteen moved through Junes' electronics department.

"It's a hugely involved process. Each person has to go through it," Rise said with an air of dignity about her. "Each person stands directly in front of the television, and then we step through."

Yukari raised an eyebrow, amused. "You're not very funny, you know."

Rise smiled with a wink. "Yeah, but hey, gotta make do with what you got."

Yosuke and Teddie were the first to reach the large screen television sitting near the floor in the electronics department. This television was almost a relic to the Inaba investigation group; it was their gateway to saving those who had been thrown into the world within over the past year.

"Up until some months ago, we would follow our leader into this specific TV," Chie told Junpei as they approached Yosuke and Teddie. "He moved back home just six months ago. We all miss him, though."

"Hey, Teddie, did you bring them?" Yosuke asked. Teddie nodded with a grin and revealed a plastic bag from behind his back.

The group was a chaotic mess of conversation as it gathered around the single television screen.

"Okay, then. Everyone should pay attention over here," Yosuke announced. The group quieted down and their eyes all fell on Yosuke, who was standing directly in front of the screen. Teddie stood directly to his left, with a goofy grin on his face. "Teddie, if you would please."

Teddie moved to Nanako, reaching into the plastic bag and pulling out an object, a pair of pink child glasses, which he then handed to her. While Teddie was busy passing the rest of the glasses out, Yosuke began speaking.

"Well, uh, we don't really think the glasses will be necessary, but we wanted to cover all our bases. Kind of a 'just in case' situation. The atmosphere on the other side can be harsh for humans especially due to the fog so you might feel sick or tired. So, pick a pair of glasses with Teddie if necessary."

"That's kinda like exploring Tartarus during the Dark Hour…" Fuuka stated. "The atmosphere made it easier for one to feel sick or fatigued until one becomes adapted to it."

"So we'll probably have no problem there." Akihiko pointed out. "Just in case, we'll wear these glasses if the need arises."

Yosuke nodded. "That's cool, then. Alright, everyone, gather 'round. Time to show you guys how we do things around here."

Attention was returned to Yosuke and the large screen behind him. The third-year student turned around and reached out a hand to hover over the smooth screen of the television. "Those of us who have a Persona can still access this world, but I don't know about any of you guys, so go ahead and pair up as best you can. Now, check it out." Yosuke made a pointed finger and tapped the screen. A series of ripples traveled out from the tip of his finger, as if he'd dropped a pebble into a lake's surface. When he pulled his finger away, the ripples stopped.

There were smiles and gasps of excitement and awe spread throughout the group. Nanako, already donned in her kid's style glasses, clapped and laughed.

"Our TV sure doesn't do that," Junpei remarked with a laugh.

"May I test something?" Mitsuru asked Yosuke. "You say that it's your potential to wield Personas that allows you to traverse the two worlds. Perhaps we can also do so, because we have the potential to carry them as well."

"A logical conclusion," Naoto observed. "Yosuke-senpai, let her touch the television."

Yosuke nodded and stepped away from the screen as Mitsuru sidled her way up next to it. She reached out and gingerly touched the television screen. From the point of contact, a ripple traversed the screen's surface, exactly as it had done under Yosuke's touch. There was a second wave of awe and excitement throughout the crowd.

"Sweet!" Junpei cried. "So we can do it too, because we used to have Personas?"

"It appears that way, anyway," Mitsuru replied with a nod. "I'm satisfied. Everyone, please stay together. We don't know what's going to happen."

Nanako moved forward. "Let's go! Let's go!" She cried with squeals of laughter.

"Nana-chan, Ken and Koromaru can go with me, first." Teddie suggested.

Yosuke motioned to them first, and the four of them moved up to stand abreast in front of the television. Koromaru leapt up into Ken's arms as he stood next to Nanako, who cheered as she held hands with Teddie and Ken. "One," Teddie started, "two, three!" Teddie and Nanako leapt forward, pulling Ken and Koromaru along with them. Both of them let out shouts of excitement as their bodies contacted the screen, swallowing them as if they were sinking through a vertical wall of water. Ripples crashed out from the screen, never leaving the two-dimensional plane, but traversing the screen violently as such a disturbance interrupted its peace. In an instance, Teddie, Nanako, Ken, and Koromaru were gone, much to the amazement of the elder group.

"Next up," Yosuke called.

Rise stepped up and next to her was Yukari. Rise grinned and leapt forward with an excited cry, followed quickly by Yukari, who shouted in surprise as they plummeted through the screen's surface.

Shortly after that, Kanji and Junpei sidled up next to each other, each with cocky grins on their faces. The simply leapt forward, both without a word, and entered the screen simultaneously, leaving the group smaller than before.

"I'll go next," Yukiko proclaimed. Mitsuru decided to go with her, standing confidently next to her with her arms crossed. The two of them looked almost regal in their reflections in the screen, before both let out girlish yells of excitement – not screams, of course, but mere exclamations of adrenaline – as they leapt into the screen as well.

Chie and Fuuka were next, standing quietly in front of the screen. Chie grinned widely and let out a whoop of excitement. She grabbed Fuuka's hand and leapt forward, Chie yelling in excitement and Fuuka screaming in protest. Soon, they were both gone.

Naoto nodded to Yosuke and moved to face the screen next. Aigis stepped up next to her. The two of them, silent as the grave, calmly stepped forward, allowing the rippling screen to envelope them much more delicately than the previous pairs. In just so many seconds, they, too, were gone, leaving only Yosuke and Akihiko.

"This is quite the way to travel," Akihiko remarked as he and Yosuke moved up next to each other.

"It's great. Only thing is, each television is connected to a different location. Also, there's no way out, once you're in. Only Teddie can make an exit," Yosuke said. He saw Akihiko's worried expression and laughed. "Remember, Teddie's on our side. We've gone into this world so many times it'd be impossible to count! Now let's go join the others."

Akihiko nodded and faced the screen as confidently as he knew how. With a push of fear and anticipation, the boxer leapt forward alongside his high school chaperone, and both slipped through the dark screen into a world of white.

Moments later, Yosuke held out his hand, which Akihiko graciously took. Pulling Akihiko to his feet, Yosuke had to laugh a little. "Sorry 'bout that first step, man. It's a bit of a dozy."

"No kidding," Akihiko said with a chuckle himself. "I'm afraid my pride will remember that one for a while." He looked around. "What's this place? A studio?"

"Think of it as an entrance hall." Yosuke looked back to the group, then around at his surroundings.  "Okay, guys, follow me."

As the group followed Yosuke they took their time to soak in the view before them. The world inside the television was nothing less than picturesque. Beautiful mountain ranges cascaded across the horizon; beautiful lakes reflected the perfect blue sky; gigantic fields of gorgeous wildflowers bloomed unnaturally close together, forming a sheer carpet of various colors.

This world no longer even remotely resembled the dreary, fog-filled world that the Investigation Team knew so well. Under their leader's guidance, they had finally rid both worlds of the terrible fog that was threatening to meld all realities together. Now, this world truly reflected that which it was supposed to: the human heart. The heart was a strong entity, shared by all, yet unique to each individual. This world represented that unity, and that individuality, in its absolute splendor.

"There's no fog around… Guess we won't need the glasses." Teddie stated happily.

"Anyway, now that we're here, what do you guys want to do?" Chie asked, looking around.

"You say that like it's not the most beautiful landscape ever," Ken replied, his eyes wide and brimming with excitement. He was looking every which way, trying to take in as much of the scene around him as possible.

"Oh, it's beautiful, but it's not something we haven't seen before," Yukiko told Ken. "Ever been to the mountains in your dreams? Or gone deep lake diving? Or maybe you went frolicking through a field of flowers with a crush? Well, where do you think those images came from, Ken-kun?"

Junpei looked around in astonishment, then back at Yukiko. "Wait, are you kidding me? This place is where our dreams come from?"

"That's not entirely true," Naoto replied with a shake of her head. "More accurately, this place is formed from our dreams. This world reflects the human heart in the majority."

"It's so pretty," Nanako said in awe. "It wasn't like this at all when I was here before."

A slight sting in Yosuke's heart made him laugh. "Well, Nanako-chan, you saw some of the prettiest stuff there was in here before. This is just what your big bro helped make this place become."

There was a tiny gasp from the girl. "Big Bro made this place so pretty?"

Chie nodded. "Yup. And all of us helped. Even you!"

"Even me?" Nanako was in sheer ecstasy now, her eyes alight with wonder.

"Yep, Nana-chan! Thanks to you and everybody's hard work Sensei did this!" Teddie said.

"Sensei?" Junpei raised an eyebrow.

"That's how Teddie calls our leader, Souji-senpai." Naoto explained. "He really admires and looks up to him."

"Your leader seems to be a great person." Aigis said. Her thoughts drifted back to Minato as she placed a hand on her chest and closed her eyes. Without realizing, an eerie blue-black smoke started lifting from the ground around her.

"Aigis?!" Yukari shouted startled, drawing everybody's attention. The group turned at the android and was surprised at the scene.

"She… She's summoning her Persona!" Fuuka gasped.

A sound similar to shattering glass was heard and a silhouette formed above Aigis who turned around and stared, rather surprised: at first it seemed human carrying something that seemed to be a harp, but then it suddenly became taller and gained something round surrounding it. Finally it became a female human figure with a lance, a shield surrounding it and a battle helm.

"Athena…" Aigis whispered.

The Persona glanced at Aigis, seemingly smiling at her before vanishing in thin air. Aigis smiled faintly before sinking to her knees.

"Aigis!" Yukari cried, rushing to her side. "You okay?!"

"Yes… I'm okay, Yukari-san… Just a little fatigued…" Aigis replied as she got up with Yukari's help. "But, my Persona…"

"It changed…" Fuuka concluded for Aigis. "Not only has her original Persona returned, but Aigis doesn't seem to be able to use multiple Personas anymore… I mean… I don't sense them within her..."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Teddie asked confused.

"Remember when we said that Aigis-san had gained the same power as our former leader? When that happened, her Persona, Athena, transformed into the initial Persona of our leader." Ken explained. "But, if her persona changed back to its original self, then that means she no longer has that power. I wonder what that means, though."

"Maybe that power is no longer needed…" Aigis stated looking at the sky. "Things change, for better or for worse. It's part of life."

"Perhaps… At any rate, it does seem we're also able to summon our Personas in this world." Akihiko stated.

"Well, since you guys did something similar a few years back, looks like this place has let you do it again." Yosuke reached into his pocket and pulled out a card containing the image of Susano-O, his Persona. "We're used to having these things appear with us when we enter here."

"Appear? Then, they don't travel to the real world when you leave?" Mitsuru asked.

Naoto shook her head. "No, I'm afraid they do not. We are unable to summon our Personas in the real world."

Rise sighed. "Which is a bummer, 'cause that'd be totally useful sometimes. It'd be awesome if I could sense people's locations in the real world, and telepathically communicate with them."

Fuuka gasped and looked at Rise. "What? You can sense people too, Rise-chan?"

Rise nodded with a smile. "Yep! I'm like Teddie, but more accurate. His Persona is much more battle-oriented than mine, though. So he helped fight off Shadows with the others while I gave analytical support from a distance."

Akihiko laughed. "Wow, Mitsuru, this is sounding really familiar."

Mitsuru nodded with a small smile. "I agree. There are entirely too many correlations between our groups to be mere coincidence. In my experience, I would expect that our groups were formed in the ways that they were for a reason."

"It sure is nice to think that way, that's for sure," Chie agreed. "Without that thought, we might not have been able to save Naoto-kun, Kubo, or Nanako-chan, since Rise-chan was the one who pin-pointed their locations."

"By the way, I remember you guys saying something about using cards to summon your Personas." Yukari observed. "But how do you summon them?"

"Hey, Yukiko, you have your fan on you, right?" Chie asked.

Yukiko nodded and drew a large-framed fan from her waistband. "Are you asking for a demonstration?"

Chie nodded. Yukiko sighed and opened her fan. She threw her card into the air in front of her face and spun around. "Amaterasu!" As she spun, Yukiko extended the arm holding her fan, and turned the fan horizontally. The razor edge of her fan sliced cleanly through her card, which immediately fell into two pieces, then disappeared in a puff of light and smoke. The air above Yukiko shimmered as a physical body appeared over the group's heads. A glowing humanoid body with a large, metal protrusion similar to a cape or large wing appeared. It nodded its indescribable head at the group, then disappeared in a flash of light as quickly as it had appeared. The card reappeared in Yukiko's hand, completely mended.

"Wow!!!" Nanako squealed. "So pretty!"

"Did you say Amaterasu when you summoned it?" Mitsuru asked.

Yukiko nodded. "Yes. Our Personas are named after gods and entities of various myths, legends, fables, and stories. We don't know why, though; they just presented themselves to us as such."

Mitsuru sighed and shook her head, placing one hand on her temple as if she had suddenly become very tired. "Another quality we seem to share. Will the correlations never cease?"

"So, you guys are gonna try summoning your Personas?" Kanji asked.

"Hell, yeah!" Junpei was ecstatic. "I haven't seen Trismegistus in ages! He probably forgot about me by now!"

"Well, it'd be kinda nice to try it out." Akihiko pulled out his Evoker. "Do you think it will work for us?"

"Not if you question if it will or not," Teddie replied simply. "It's your Persona, after all; it's part of you. If you don't believe it will appear, then it unmistakably will fail. That's how it works, after all."

Akihiko nodded and held his Evoker out. "Alright, then. Let's do this. Caesar, show yourself, for old time's sake!"

Akihiko pointed his Evoker to his head and closed his eyes as he pulled the trigger, making a noise similar to shattering glass. He grunted as his face contorted in discomfort, an eerie blue-black smoke lifting from the ground around him. A large, silver knight appeared overhead, a grand sword in one hand and a globe in the other. It lifted its sword high into the air before disappearing in a flash of light. Akihiko fell to one knee, panting.

"Akihiko!" Mitsuru cried, rushing over to help him. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Akihiko replied between gasps.

"That was definitely Caesar," Yukari observed. "Akihiko-senpai summoned his Persona!"

"It feels just like the first time I used my Evoker," Akihiko finished as he got up with Mitsuru's help. "I'm tired just from that tiny summoning."

"Well that's understandable, it's been 2 years since we've last summoned our Personas," Fuuka noted. "I think it'd be only natural that we'd feel a bit of fatigue."

"The same happened with Ai-chan so it kind of makes sense, huh?" Junpei added.

"That was so cool!" Nanako said ecstatically while cuddling Koromaru.

There was a wave of shock as everyone remembered that Nanako was still present. The little girl then yawned and rubbed one eye. Koromaru glanced at her and rubbed his head against her chest. Nanako smiled at him, softly patting his head.

"Nanako-chan's getting tired. It's getting late." Yukiko said. "We should leave now. We can come back tomorrow."

"I say we call it a day, too. We can return tomorrow, and be more prepared to enjoy this place." Mitsuru added. "How does a picnic sound?"

Nanako immediately started jumping up and down, still latched onto Koromaru. "A picnic! A picnic! Yay! We can bring boxed lunches!"

"That's a great idea, Nanako-chan! I'll make a whole bunch of them for everyone," Chie said with a confident grin.

Yosuke's stomach did a somersault. "Er… Chie, that may not be the best idea."

"Hey, I've been practicing! I'll have you know, Yukiko and I have been studying under the Inn's head chef for weeks! I'll show you," she added with a fist raised in defiant vigor.

"Fine, fine, but only make some for yourself." Yosuke said before winking at Chie with a mischievous smile. "I'll just take a bite if it's that important to you."

"Hmph!" Chie turned her back to Yosuke, her face blushing a bit.

"Yukiko-senpai, Naoto-kun, let's make another cake," Rise giggled. Yukiko and Naoto nodded in agreement.

"What about our group, Mitsuru?" Yukari asked. "Mind ordering in some sushi?"

Junpei's ears perked up immediately. "Did I hear someone say 'sushi'? Because I think I heard someone say sushi!"

Koromaru barked and wagged his tail as Nanako, who was holding him and smiling at the scenery, squealing "Yay!!!"

Chie stood up tall and an air of invigoration appeared about her. "All right! So we'll go home and prepare for a grand picnic feast!"

Everyone cheered and the group headed back to the Entrance Hall.

Junpei looked around. "Uh…so how do we get out, exactly?"

Teddie grinned and waved his arm. A large, triple-stacked set of televisions appeared in an almost comedic puff of smoke. "Just go through these! Don't worry, they automatically take you back to where you entered. Oh, and when you get back to the Inn, don't go through the televisions. I dunno where they lead, and I won't be here to let anyone back out."

"C'mon, let's go make some lunches for tomorrow!" Nanako set Koromaru on the ground and, led him over to the television screens.

One by one, everyone left the blissful environment behind in order to properly prepare for the next day's banquet. Being last as always, Teddie looked around and sighed happily at the beautiful scenery that had become his world before leaping through the televisions. Whether it was his own excitement over the concept of a picnic with such a huge group of people, or just absentmindedness, the stack of televisions remained.

Scrtch… scrtch…

The coast was clear, now. It was safe to come out.

Out from behind rocks, trees, and even from inside the lake, dark masses appeared. They oozed and slithered along, their strange, shadow-like matter pulling themselves along. There were only a large handful of them, and they were highly cautious towards the strange stack of televisions standing in their utopia. They knew who the people who had appeared here had been. They were, after all, Shadows – embodiments of the hearts of man. The connection between the hearts of mankind allowed the Shadows to understand the identities of every single human who had just been there. The Shadows weren't crazy enough to confront such powerful humans.

…But this new structure, this triple-stacked television set… It was just as they'd been told…

That was an open invitation.