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James stared at Victoria, "Whoa." He held up his hands, "I didn't understand any of that, but it sounds pretty important... and also pretty cool. If I've got some superpower or whatever, I want to use it. So sure, I'll help stop the dream monster."

Rising from his chair, he walked straight through the lefthand door after the others.

"Whoah, there's a big ice rink down there." Keira said to Maria.
"Everyone else is down there...not doing much by the looks."

Her eyes lingered upon shadow Brendan.
"Is it just me, or has that guy got red smoke coming off him?"
She asked, puzzled.

Kieran frowned. "No I see it too." He stated in response to Keira. "Two guys.. I.. Guess if we're in a dream.. it's the desires vs the overall.. conciousness?" He queried, to no one in particular. "Man.. This is weird."

The Lonely Ice Rink

As everyone departed the Velvet Room and descended the glowing stairs, the door closed behind them softly. As they touched down onto the ice, the staircase disappeared as well, leaving them on the dimly-lit, inescapable hockey rink. To their surprise, the ice had rather good traction, almost like a rubber floor.

Shadow Brendan was now visibly stressed by the arrival of the others. "No... he was... This isn't...!" he managed to heave out in between pained gasps for air. Suddenly he shrieked and the red smoke began to billow outwards violently. A strong force knocked the occupants of the rink backwards, all about ten feet away, as the smoke engulfed Shadow Brendan entirely.

In his place, after the smoke cleared, stood a massive , nearly 25 feet in height, with Brendan's jersey number emblazoned on its chest. The creature let out a roar, billowing more red smoke in every direction, before it spoke.

"I am a shadow; the true self!" bellowed the creature. "Know me as I am; the manifestation of envy and broken inhibition! Surrender yourselves to the will of the void!"

From beneath the creature, small black tendrils snaked over the ice towards the seven students other than Brendan, pooling into circles from whence rose an effigy of a person, unique to each of them, from their own lives. These inky-black effigies spoke to them, trying to unnerve the unwelcome visitors...

Jukebox: Yuki Kaijura & Shinji Hosoe - Xenosaga 2 Minor Boss Fight (Shadow Boss Fight)

"Gotta say, you look more dumb than you--" Max's smarm was cut off by a noiseless gasp, as he stared wide eyed at the emerging shadowy figure of his father.

"I should never have left you alone, Maxie." quoth the shadow, with a sympathetic tone which was quickly contrasted. "Figures you couldn't take care of your mom, much less yourself. You let her die, alone and in agony!"

"No!" Max cried, tears in his eyes. He closed the distance between himself and the shadow of his father, and his fist struck the monster's nose.

"Still such a child," the shadow mocked, completely unfazed by the attack, "when will you ever learn? You're no good for anything, never going to amount to anything."

Brendan scrambled back, trying to get out of the way of the giant abomination. He wanted to do something to help his would-be rescuers, but for the time being he was just happy that the thing's attention was not directly on him any more.

Before Keira finally decided to descend the stairs to the rink, she looked back at Igor with a stern expression.
"If this is a trick I'm gonna cut that impy nose right off your face."

Curiosity was the main force that drove her decision to join the others. At the moment she didn't put much stock into the whole 'saving people from darkness' claim.

"So. What's happening down here then?"
It wasn't long before she got an answer to her question. Bad things. Bad things were happening down here.

She quickly got to her feet after being knocked backwards by the invisible blast, distinctly alarmed by the serpent creature that now stood before them.
Crap, I knew I shouldn't have gone through that door.

As the tendrils moved forwards, she took several quick steps backwards, then stared in both intrigue and fear as the figure of a person began to rise from the icy ground.

Keira stared uneasily at the figure now standing in front of her.

"Nicholas?"

"Hey, Keira. Yeah, it's me." Shadow Nick smiled.

She looked at the inky-black effigy apprehensively.
"Are you real? You look weird."

"Yes, I'm real, but I'm caught in the dreamworld. I need your help." Nick reached out a shadowy hand.
She moved closer to him in concern, casting a fearful eye to the serpent still standing a distance away.
"What can I do? Do you know what's going on? Have you see that guy with the long nose?"

Nick let out a small derisive laugh.
"God, always with the questions, Keira! You're always talking, it's like I can't hear myself think!"

Keira's expression changed from one of concern, to one of bemused offence.

"Well, sorry, I'm just trying to figure things out! How else am I supposed to find out what's going on?"

Nicholas sighed.
"I'm just sick of your whole attitude. Your voice grates in my ear, your always jabbering on about crap that's so boring, but I listen like a good boyfriend because that's what you like me to do."

Keira stared.
"What? You like my stories. You said you find them funny."

Nick straightened his glasses and smirked sympathetically.
"Are you serious? Do you really think I'd find stories like that funny? I mean, come on! I'm the Captain of the Debate Club, Keira. That's the sort of discussion I'm into."

Keira stood, mouth agape, not fully processing all the words being said to her.
"Umm, well...why have you never told me this before?"

Nick shrugged.
"I didn't want to offend you. You're fun to fool around with, so... I just go along with the things that keep you happy. I mean, don't get me wrong, you're good enough to hang around with until someone better comes along."

Keira's face was a picture of disbelief.
"Are you kidding me? Are you [&@%!] serious right now?"
Her heart was beating fast in her chest as her ears listened to his acrid words.

Makoto watched as the tendrils slowly writhed and took shape, naturally taking the shape of her Mom. She grimaced. None of this was quite right... If this was a dream, it was about to take a very sour turn. Her mother had a wicked smile on her face, looking over at Makoto. Though this seemed a bit cliche, Makoto was already starting to feel a lot more angry than sad. The twisted woman started to speak...

"Oh look, you're finally able to make friends. I guess you aren't as much of a layabout as your useless father was anyway." Makoto grit her teeth, feeling herself get irrationally angry. She really did hate her mother...

The woman then spoke once more. "Trying to justify feeling upset after what I just said... Wow. You barely know your own mother." After another evil grin, Makoto felt that comment sting pretty bad...

Kieran frowned. This certainly was weird, and it was weirder still when the tendrils complied and shifted, bubbling into a form that Kieran knows only from photos. The form of his father. Even now in this light, that cap of his covered his eyes in shadow. "God, no wonder I won't show up. Not if this is what you get up to." His voice sounded wrong and Kieran knew it but it was hard to tlel what exactly. The youth gritted his teeth, clenching his fist.

"Not like you're anything important, especially not since you came out of that.. woman." A glare from Kieran at that comment. "And what's wrong with my mother? Or me for that matter? Just shut your face! You don't know me." He retorted, aggravated by the words falling out of the photo's mouth.

"I must do, why do you think I've stayed away for all this time?"

Maria descended onto the ice rink and watched the shadow being warily for a few moments, before being knocked back by the blast. As she rose to her feet, she saw a figure approaching her. At first nothing but smoke, the form began to take shape. Maria could tell who it was instantly, even before the face was in clear view.

"N-nonna?" Maria's eyes widened at the sight of her grandmother, dead for 6 years. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

The being's eyes gleamed cruelly as it stared at the girl. "Oh, Maria, Maria, Maria. What are we going to do about you? Such a stupid, lazy girl."

"Wha...?"

"Your poor siblings, with no mother and only you to take care of them. I'm surprised that they haven't all died of neglect."

Tears sprung to Maria's eyes as she thought of something to say in return. Unfortunately, her mind was too muddled to think of any persuasive argument. "But I-I work so hard."

"You? Work hard? Don't make me laugh. Your father works hard. You're just a disgrace to our family." The being smirked.

"I try to do everything you taught me when I was little... You said that I was good at it..."

"People lie. And don't involve me in this sad excuse for effort. I don't want people thinking that I had any part in the way you live your life... I was always so disappointed with how you turned out. Knowing that you were the one tasked with taking care of your family? I bet everyone wishes that you had died in that car crash instead of me."

Maria was full-on sobbing at this point.

Caught off guard by the sudden blast, James lay stunned on the ice while, unbeknownst to him, the black tendrils snaked over and transformed into the shape of his older brother, Robert. As he sat up, James grinned and extended a hand, "Hey, bro. You're here too?" The Shadow-Robert made no response and did not offer his hand, so James had to pick himself up, though he wasn't perturbed by this lack of courtesy.

"Dude, there some weird stuff going on." James laughed nervously as he sat up, looking around him, "There was an old guy with a big nose and his weirdly hot secretary saying something about dreams or something, but I didn't really understand most of..."

The Shadow-Robert interrupted him with a derisive snort, "That's just like you, isn't it?"

James raised an eyebrow, "Sure, whatever. Listen, I've gotta keep going past the Violet Room or whatever its called. There's something I have to see before I can wake up, I guess."

"Why bother?" The Shadow-Robert scoffed, "It's not like there's any point. If you never woke up, the world wouldn't care. In fact, it'd be better off."

James grew quiet, confused and angry. Why was Robert lecturing him now?! Hadn't he seen that dragon? And what right did Robert have to lecture him, anyway?

"You're such a drain." The Shadow Robert drawled, "A parasite. Nobody can stand you. You talk like a stoner six year old and think half as fast. All you've ever 'accomplished' is because of your dad's influence. The teachers were all too afraid to fail you, so they settled for C's. You're not as good and an athlete as you think you are, and you've never had a girlfriend for longer than a month. God, you're pathetic."

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" James roared. But even as he balled his fists, he felt the crushing truth of Robert's words as the insults piled up. He was now so upset that he'd failed to notice the shadow creature's slip up: he'd called Mr. Cothram James' dad, not their dad.

Oscar

The shadows crept along the ice and formed into a shape before Oscar's very eyes, and before long he saw the shadowy visage of his father. Unlike the others encountering shadows of their past, Oscar's shade did not speak. Instead he loomed over his estranged son, seemingly growing larger and more imposing, and Oscar was certain that he could see more outlines of figures behind him... uncannily accurate outlines of his siblings. He swore that he heard a mocking laughter, and it was all that was required to light the spark of anger...

WITHIN THE SHADOWS OF THE MIND

With the shades of doubt, anger, and hopelessness firmly taking root in the seven guests of the Velvet Room, they seemed lost in the growing darkness before them. The massive creature that stood where Brendan's shadow once did cackled as all seemed to drift farther and farther away...

Suddenly a flash of light, an unparalleled sense of mental clarity unlike any they had ever felt before. They each heard a voice calling to them within their minds, a voice unfamiliar yet one they had known all their lives.

Within mere seconds, torrents of blue fire erupted from each of them, fanning out in vast waves that burned away the shadows confronting each of them. Despite the unfamiliarity of the crisis, they somehow knew just what was happening.

From an outside viewer's perspective, specifically Brendan's, it seemed like the same thing was happening to each of the seven students standing before him. In truth, the experience was deeply personal, each occurring within their own psyches...

Jukebox: Hiroshi Yamaguchi - Bayonetta - Battle for the Umbra Throne (Persona Awakening)

Max Delaney

Keira Swanson

Makoto Adiev

Kieran Ikeda

Maria Parazza

James Cothran

Oscar Tarinson


The awakenings were complete, and Brendan saw that the seven students before him now had company; distinct glowing figures bearing the visage of mythological figures, wreathed in torrents of blue flame. He heard the names of each as their summoners had called them... Satyr, Iris, Kitsune, Pleiades, Vesta, Phaeton, Ares.

In addition, the seven students each felt a foreign object appear in their dominant hand. A weapon, befitting their tastes whether or not they knew how to fight, giving them a means of defense in addition to their Persona.

Shadow-Brendan, despite its massive size, recoiled in fear. "No... it will not be! Feel the wrath of Leviathan!" it shouted. From its outstretched wings flew forth several black orbs of energy, some of them homing in on each of the newly-awakened Persona users. This time, however, they were prepared.

Oscar Nigel Tarinson

"Get lost, creature." Oscar Nigel Tarinson remarked before it formed into figures from his past and caused a surge of bad memories to form. The mocking laughter pushed him over the edge and caused the redhead to let out a yell of pure unrestrained rage. He was about to throw himself at the figures to unleash his fists upon them but something stopped him. A voice. It told him he was better then this. He responded in thought without realising it and found himself speaking out of instinct.

He felt something manifest in his right hand and looked down. "Huh?" It was a katana. The blade was a mixture of dark red and black as the night. It had a purple crushed skull engraved along the face of the blade. The hilt was wrapped in 3 layers of steel chain and would allow him to swing it at a long distance. "FUUUUCK YOOOOOU!" He yelled whilst pointing the Katana in the direction of the creature. Ares stood in front of him and a large tower shield formed in front of him in an attempt to block the incoming orbs or take the damage directly instead of his summoner. Ares would begin to manifiest several small swords around him and would respond with a volley of it. They were made out of fire and no bigger then a dagger.

Brendan was having trouble comprehending what took place before his eyes, but he was increasingly glad that he seemed to no longer be directly involved in... whatever the hell this was. He currently occupied himself with getting as far away from the fight as he could, as well as looking for either a way to escape or a way to help out his strange rescuers. Without getting too close to them, of course.

The cruel shadow version of Nick, now banished by the light of a winged woman, allowed Keira's fear and anger to wash away and be replaced by an innate feeling of warm familiarity.

The new arrival was strange and sudden, and yet, Iris, floating before her, felt like an old friend, an extension of herself.

As Keira uttered words with newfound strength, her palm felt flutters of something taking shape beneath it.
She looked down to see the object grasped in her hand; a slim, grey rectangle with a bright red silk tassel dangling at the bottom.
Upon closer inspection, the rectangle slid sideways to reveal more of the same, slowly spreading into an arc to reveal a glossy, metallic fan.

Suddenly, the serpent shouted, and black orbs began to descend upon the group.
With some kind of instinctual power, Keira called out to her persona.
"Iris! Wind!"
In a second, Iris delicately, but forcefully, flapped her soft, white wings, sending forth a powerful gust of air at the oncoming sphere.
With luck it would return to its sender.

Makoto watched as the twisted version of her mother transformed into a beautiful fox woman. She seemed almost as familiar, but Makoto had no clue what was going on. Something about the being was extremely reassuring, as well as the strange stick that seemed to be in her hand. She turned to look at it, seeing a tall halberd in her hand, the bottom touching the floor, the large axe-like blade being about a head taller than her. She was a bit worried that she wouldn't be very proficient with it, but she didn't have much time to think about it once she started looking forward...

As an orb flew in her direction, Kitsune gracefully lifted her arm, pointing out her index finger as a tiny blue beam suddenly shot towards the sphere, suddenly freezing and growing into a large star shaped piece of ice, before violently shattering in the hope of stopping or destroying the orb. Makoto clenched her teeth and gripped her halberd tighter, realising she would probably have to put this thing in both of her hands very soon. "Thanks, Kitsune..."

It was very weird being so familiar with something she had never seen before. It looked like almost everyone was having a very similar experience.

Max grinned mischievously with the knowledge of his newfound abilities. In his right hand was an ornate parrying dagger--a silvery blade atop a large crossguard, with its grip made of polished goat horn.

He looked up at Satyr, and the goat-man grinned down at him. "I like how you think!" he exclaimed, as the two locked hands, and engaged in a brief square dance, twirling about like a pair of drunks. The two rapidly picked up speed, however, before Satyr hurled Max into the air, towards the vile serpent.

"Hoooooooo lyyyyyyyyyy craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap...!"

Sailing towards his foe, Max would try to slam the dagger into the serpent with both hands grasped around it--the intent largely being to have a handhold to stop him from falling at such a height.

Maria regained her composure, all traces of her tears now burned away by Vesta's radiating heat.

A feeling of warmth and boldness enveloped her, and she looked down in surprise as a weight grew in her hand. The longbow - pale wood with golden tips and a red leather grip - felt comfortable in her hand, as if she had years of experience with it. A quiver of arrows could be felt against her back. She looked up at the sound of the serpent's shout, but with Vesta at her side, felt no fear.

"Come now, let's show this thing that we're not to be trifled with. Vesta, your flame!"

Maria readied her bow, but didn't release an arrow just yet. Vesta pulled spheres of flame from her lamp and flung them at each of the approaching orbs.

Kieran looked forward, Pleiades's toga shimmering in light as he felt a heft suddenly in his hand, loops of chains leading to a blunt heavy oblong head at both ends. "Oh.. I've.. heard of this. It's a Meteor hammer.. right?" The swimmer asked, moving it slightly to get used to the weight. "Ah, anyway. Pleiades, we should-!" And she was already ahead of him, her toga shimmered brightly before she plucked a star and aimed, flicking it towards the orbs, scattering it into destructive light.

James shielded his eyes from the bright blue flame, crying out in surprise. When he lifted his hand, in the place of the shadow of his brother, was Phaeton. At first glance, he cut an impressive figure: an otherwordly demigod perched upon a winged charger, an insolent smirk etched into a face of metal. But looking more closely, James could see the imperfections. Phaeton's once-beautiful bronze skin had been marred by flames and his smile, for all its easy confidence, was pained. This realization slightly unnerved James, but his doubts were erased by the thrill of battle, and he opened his mouth to speak a command.

However, his Persona needed no instruction beyond those James had unconsciously shouted during his manifestation. Phaeton charged forward, ignoring the orb of darkness, his horse flying directly towards the great enemy, a spear of fire readied to pierce the head of the serpent. The fire spread to cover his entire body, and only his mount was spared from the embrace of the blaze. Phateon was intent to strike the first blow, disregarding safety or tactics in favor of pure instinct and raw power.

James was just wondering how he was expected to survive alone when his weapon appeared to him: a six-shot, double-action revolver. It was larger than life and gold-plated, but its gaudy and ostentatious appearance only convinced James of its power. He pointed it confidently at the orb, laughing lightly.

Oscar

Oscar felt a noticeable pull when he flew off the handle; the opposite of Ares' advice to temper himself. Though the feeling of controlling his Persona came with a natural intuition, he was not fully in control just yet; thus, he was able to coax the conjuring of the tower shield, but was unable to bring forth the flying swords in such quick succession.

The shield was sufficient, however, and the black orbs destined for Oscar washed over on the shield. Oscar felt the push of the dark energies just as Ares might have, leading him to understand that the sense of touch was shared between Persona and summoner.

Brendan, Keira

Luckily, it seemed that Leviathan's attention was focused on the seven Persona-users in front of it. That didn't stop a number of the indiscriminately-loosed black orbs from nearing Brendan as he neared the edge of the closed-off rink.

Under Keira's direction, Iris produced the desired gust of wind. The gale propelled the oncoming black orbs heading for Keira to the side, causing them to collide with the orbs heading for Brendan. The orbs exploded into sickly purple fire and dissipated a few short meters away from Brendan, just in time.

Makoto

The large, single dark orb heading towards Makoto began to lose momentum, and then froze in mid-air as Kitsune channeled freezing energy into it. With the explosion of the ice-star came the simultaneous destruction of the orb and a reprieve for Makoto.

Max, Maria

Max, in his newfound power's infancy, slightly mis-judged the amount of force necessary to fling him into a good position. He was flung far further than he had anticipated, and seemed to be on course to be intercepted by some of the myriad orbs emanating from the creature on the far side of the rink.

Vesta, spurred forth by Maria's determination, unleashed a fan of flames from her lantern. Several of the orbs in the air were burned away, particularly the ones set to stop Max; allowing him to continue his egress towards Leviathan.

Barely reaching his target, Max managed to dig his dagger into the shadow's shoulder just before he sailed over it completely, stopping his momentum and giving him a grip on the creature. Leviathan began to thrash, but without arms it was unable to flick away the pest on its right shoulder. Instead it began to beat its metallic wings, trying to generate force to both spur on its orbs and to pry Max loose. Max was able to hang on, for now.

Kieran, James

James loosed a shot from his revolver at the oncoming orb, and though the sphere seemed to take damage from the attack, it wasn't quite sufficient to destroy it or stop it in its tracks.

To his benefit, Kieran's Persona Pleiades threw out a shower of starlight which eliminated the remaining orbs in the air, including the one bound for James, in a brilliant show of light. Kieran noted that even with the bright display from Pleiades, the dark abyss beyond the glass of the hockey rink remained completely black.

Phaeton sailed forth in its summoner's stead, hefting a spear of flame aimed at the serpent's head. Leviathan, in its effort to shake off Max from its shoulder, barely noticed in time and threw up one of its wings as a sort of shield. The flaming spear struck the wing with a deafening, high pitched screech; when the blaze subsided, Leviathan's right wing hung limp and scorched, unusable. Max's grip on his knife became much more stable now that the shadow was unable to buffet him with wing flaps.

Brendan noticed that each time Leviathan was struck, he felt a slight twinge of pain. Something was calling to him, but it was muffled, like a person shouting from behind glass...
________

With its primary means of attack shoved aside, Leviathan stumbled forward on the ice towards the summoners (save for Max, still dangling on its right side), managing to maintain its foothold. The red visor that served as its sole eye flashed and emitted a laser beam fanned wide enough for the six summoners before it, but not quite large enough to reach Brendan.

The laser swept the ice, striking the summoners with a heat wave of pure energy. What would have been a lethal attack if it were possible to manifest in reality was instead something of a punch to the gut, harming and perhaps stunning the summoners but not killing them outright. The blue fire coming forth from them as they wielded their Personas, or perhaps the presence of the Personas themselves, protected them from annihilation.

Once they managed to steady themselves, they had the opportunity to counterattack the creature before them.

"AHHHHHhahahahahaaaaaa!" Max deliriously shrieked, halfway between terror and thrill as he clung to the creature's shoulder.

Releasing his left hand from his already precarious grip, Max placed his forefinger and thumb into his mouth, and blew. Spit flecked onto his hand, as he tried and utterly failed to whistle to Satyr. "Can't even whistle right in my dreams!"

Fortunately, it was unnecessary to do so. Satyr began bounding towards the serpent, stopped a short distance ahead of it, and wheeled about to deliver a roundhouse kick to its face.

The young man on the serpent's shoulder continued to hold onto his precarious position, though it was likely not going to last under the recoil of attacks to the monster.

Oscar Nigel Tarinson - Battle of the Velvet Room

Oscar Nigel Tarinson felt something strange as the orbs made contact with Ares's towershield and filled him with curiosity. It also began to drive the anger from him but he was still pretty miffed. He saw a laser emerge from the creature and was thrown onto his back as it connected. He groaned as he instinctly clutched his stomach and was heavily reminded of his 10th birthday. The last interaction with his brothers and recalled how an argument about something to do with the family fortune resulted in him being punched. He also recalled his declaration of wanting to earn his living instead of contributing to the family's fortune. To his brothers, that seemed to be an insult about how they were living the easy life. They loved to 'educate' him to force him to become what they viewed as a Tarinson. Memories of being punched various times, having his items stolen and being told the lower class servant was stealing them came to his mind.

Sorrow began to fill him and merged with his repressed anger but was starting to calm down.

He let out a small chuckle at the small irony or so he felt, of his new found status. He could fight back against them and win but the figure wasn't them so that would have to do for now. Ares's shield disappeared and in it's hands, was a large greatsword. It was darker then the night and was just over half the size of the persona. Ares charged towards the Leviathan and just before getting in range, he leapt forward to bring the full weight of the sword down. Oscar Nigel Tarinson began to run towards the others to see if they were ok or run as well as he could, having gotten hit by a laser. Though he did count himself lucky that he was a bit winded.