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Kotone Shiomi The trip from the Monorail station to Gekkoukan High is brief, and the timing is such that by the time Kotone gets the people to the front of the closed gates of her high school, only a few minutes remain. It's an impressive complex, with a small forest and large park along the wide entrance path, a circular auditorium and sizable sports facilities can be gleaned in the back. This is not your typical school, money was poured into this.

Kotone has a hockey stick bag on her back, ready for action. "Mitsuru is at the dormitory, keeping an eye on the surveillance kit in case something else comes up." The girl explains, looking at the time on her watch, "Two more minutes until the dark hour starts. Any questions?"
Yuna Kagurazaka Yuna doesn't *look* like she's geared up for a fight; she's in civilian clothing and decidedly unarmed, although she does have a certain little robo-faerie hovering next to her. "Only thing I can think of to ask is, 'Are all the Shadows we'll run into going to be like that one at the mall?'"
August Kohler "Question number one," a redheaded German in a hoodie asks, a mirrored bracelet around his wrist. August seems all business. "What's the shift going to be like? Overly disorienting? Should I hold onto something?" He then takes a pause to let her answer, before asking again. "Question number two, what's the most dangerous thing you've seen in there, and how high up was it?"
Kotone Shiomi "It's going to be a little weird, but not too bad, I don't think. It's just creepy." Of course, Kotone walked to her dorm the first time she encountered the Dark Hour and barely asked any questions, she might be an atypical example of how people respond to it. "A group of eagle shadows on floor five. There's a lot of floors, so that's barely any height, but we had to go back because we were running out of time."

Then she answers Yuna, "No. Most shadows in Tartarus are fairly weak, there's just a lot of them." The girl then goes back to looking at her watch.

Tick. Tick. TICK.

Out of nowhere, the sky turns green as a toxic green glow overtakes the half-full moon, the clouds part around it, and the few bystanders in the area have their bodies encased in coffins at the blink of an eye.

And then the ground shakes, and the school buildings shift and move, parts that weren't there before grow out of the buildings, creating a massive skyscraper of malformed concrete, steel and glass, looking almost more like a stack of bones held together by flesh than the manmade objects it's nominally composed of.

"This is Tartarus. A labyrinth that appears only during the Dark Hour." Kotone Shiomi explains, and she pushes open the front gate, heading into the building. "Be on your guard."
Yuna Kagurazaka "Welcome to the Dark Hour," Yuna muses as the clock ticks to midnight and the world changes around them, sending an all-too-familiar shiver down the blonde's spine. "Okay then ... Elner?"

"Initiating transformation," the robo-faerie states, a swirl of wind and light rising around Yuna's form and replacing her civilian clothes with the Light Suit itself. "My sensors are up and running as well," Elner adds, "although I'm not certain whether they'll be much good with these distortions."

"Way to make me feel confident," Yuna asides quietly to Elner as she heads into Tartarus behind Kotone. The Matrix Divider appears in Yuna's hands, as well - largely for the comfort of knowing her weapon will be ready if they get pounced by Shadows.
August Kohler August blinks repeatedly as the Dark Hour comes over, shaking his head as he attempts to orient himself. "Well, alright, that's different." He begins to pace around in a small area, checking out the coffins and the different shape of the skyscraper, before returning to the group and standing behind Shiomi. "Alright. I'll call my Persona once the fighting starts. Mine uses fire and can provide buffs. Yours?"
Kotone Shiomi Once inside, the hockey bag opens and out comes a Naginata and a metal object that looks like a gun. Kotone Shiomi immediately heads up the stairs at the center, "It depends a little. Alp uses Wind and Darkness, and can heal some, so I think I'll summon Alp." She answers August, the phrasing is off though, does she have more than one Persona?

Once up the stairs, the first few floors go quickly, Kotone taking advantage of what seems to be some kind of markers to quickly head up higher, the shadow density for this part is particularly light, and they avoid the group. At the seventh floor, this changes, the Shadows while still somewhat weak now show aggression, and Kotone tightens her grip on her weapon. "Miss Kagurazaka, could you try to look around for any people or powerful shadows with your sensors?"

The sensors would reveal both a powerful shadow and a human life sign on the tenth floor.
Yuna Kagurazaka "Technically, they're more Elner's sensors than mine," Yuna states, but she looks to the robo-faerie; Elner just hovers there for a moment, scanning and sifting through the data.

"Detecting two signatures further up," Elner says after the moment has expired. "One of them is giving off what appear to be human life signs, so that may be the person we're looking to rescue. I can't quantify the other signature directly, but what I can pick up looks generally similar to the Shadows I've analyzed thus far ... but to detect it from this distance, it's probably *very* strong. Between Yuna, August, and yourself," Elner says to Kotone, "you could probably defeat it, but it wouldn't come easily."

Yuna tries not to wince at Elner's projection.
August Kohler As they begin their pursuit up the tower, August boggles at Shiomi's reply. "Wait. What do you mean it depends? You couldn't mean..." He doesn't finish his statement, the idea strange to him. Instead, he brings his bracelet up to eye level and keeps it there as he walks, staring into his own reflection. When Elner reveals that there's a strong Shadow and a person at the top, he replies again. "We have an hour, I assume, so time's of the essence. This is your operation, Shiomi, how do you want to handle this?"
Kotone Shiomi "I have the special power of the Wild Card, it means I can have more than one Persona. Not more than one summoned at once, though. If I use anything other than Orpheus that's not going to come quite as natural, but Orpheus is fire, too." Kotone explains the basic idea behind being the Wild Card, not really seeming to be too comfortable talking about anything that seems like it may be showing off. "The others just have the one."

Yuna shares intel, and August asks for what to do, and Kotone puts the gun-like object to her temple, and then takes a few deep breaths. "PERSONA!" She pulls the trigger, and psychic energies flow out that coalesce into a strange succubus-like lady, who floats in the air behind her. "We try to get into as few fights as possible and hurry there." She suggests for a plan, "And then we'll see."

Fortunately, this low in Tartarus, the shadows remain fairly weak, rushing won't be too hard. Should the others follow her suggestion, the Shadows that cross their paths initially don't pose too much of a threat.
Yuna Kagurazaka "Wait, what are you -- !?"

Yuna hadn't seen Kotone summon her Persona at the mall; she gets to see the process up close and personal this time, though, which more than makes up for it. Thankfully she *isn't* in a position to try and push or pull the Evoker away from Kotone's head before the trigger gets pulled ... and afterwards?

Well, now she knows why it's just as well she didn't get to try to. ".... uh. Okay," Yuna says after a moment's baffled staring at Kotone, and at Alp. She's clearly still more than a little discomfited ... but not so discomfited that she can't help blow away attacking Shadows.

She may not leave a whole lot for August or Kotone to deal with, honestly. It depends in large part how weak the local Shadows are against Light/Holy type attacks - which seem to be Yuna's native 'element,' particularly given that the blasts from the Matrix Divider are effectively weapons-grade bolts of hard light. If either of her companions complain, Yuna will gladly defer and let them do the heavy lifting - but she remains entirely ready to protect both Kotone and August against Shadow-inflicted injuries.
August Kohler As Shiomi explains the Wild Card, she just gets a "huh", August attempting to grasp the thought. But he puts that aside as Shiomi then proceeds tp /put a gun to her head and pull the trigger/. His eyes widen, but he doesn't move to intercept, and actually gives a sigh of relief when it's just her Persona summoning method. "Jesus /christ/, that's intense. Alright. PERSONA!" Staring into his reflection in the bracelet, the same psychic energies let off around him, before a burn-scarred robotic soldier with a gun for a leg appears. The Tin Soldier is an utterly silent creature, its body rigid and moving like a machine, almost. It's facial expression is anger, and as the group goes up the Tower, it shoots fire out of the gun-leg (or bullets, if the fire is ineffective), hoping to immolate the Shadows. It seems to be frustrated at this job, despite being a Persona (and also a robot). "Alright, let's go!"
Kotone Shiomi "It's called an Evoker. Apparently making it look like a gun is optimal, I don't really know why." Kotone explains why this looks so weird, seeming to be sufficiently aware that this invokes a certain image. "I assume that's why miss Liberi called me Suicide Girl." And then the group cuts a swathe through the next few floors. As promised, the shadows are fairly weak and easily dispatched. Kotone is more than willing to let the veterans do the heavy lifting, she's still new at this.

As they get closer and closer to the tenth floor, Elmer will be able to tell that whatever is on the tenth floor is different, it's much stronger. By the time they get there, there's no shadows in immediate sight, but the presence is just around the corner.

Once they pass it, they can see a middle aged salaryman cowering in a corner on the other side of three man-sized pink gloves, they're decorated and wearing rings, and for each of them, where the arm would be is instead a blobby bit of black with a mask attached to one end.

As soon as the group gets close enough, the three of them start casting magic, waving like they are a big fan and sending strong, forceful waves of air towards the Persona Users and Company.
Yuna Kagurazaka And right when the trio encounters the 'glove' monsters, the Matrix Divider disappears from Yuna's hands ... ?

"SHUGOSEIHEKI!!" the blonde girl calls out, bringing her left forearm up in front of her and stepping forward - and a kite shield flares into existence, strapped to her forearm from the instant it appears, ready to take the brunt of the Shadows' magical assault. Yuna lets out a faint grunt of effort, digging her heels in, and glances over her shoulder. "You two okay?"
August Kohler "Well, atleast it works. Freaky as hell, you might want to tell the rest of the group about that instead of introducing them by doing?" August seems mostly okay with the idea of Evokers, but it certainly gave him a shock. As they reach the bosses, though, he takes a breath, the Tin Soldier moving in front of him. He's expecting to use his Persona to resist the sudden forces of wind (which would be easier in general, due to his Wind Resistance), but instead, Yuna moves in front, taking the blow for them. August frowns briefly, before forcing it away, speaking up. "Thanks, Yuna. Defensive buffs, going up!"

The Tin Soldier will point its gun at each member of the group, firing. But all that fires is energy, which will make Shiomi and Yuna much more durable.
Kotone Shiomi "I assumed you guys knew, you have Persona too, after all." Kotone answers August, "Sorry, I shouldn't have." That's enough of that, because it's time to fight. Yuna manages to provide protection from most of the shadow's power, but it still manages to force the local girl to defend herself somewhat. August's magic helps further with that.

"Let's go." Shiomi recommends, and then she moves, running up towards one of the three shadows to hit it with her Naginata. She lands a blow alright, and it does seem to hurt them somewhat, but they respond in kind, each of them forming fire in their palms and throwing it towards the girl, who seems to be hurt bad by the hit to her current Persona's elemental weakness.
Yuna Kagurazaka The downside to using a shield on one arm is that it tends to rule out two-handed weapons; Yuna's been known to get around that, but at the moment, being ready to defend herself and her allies *and* move around seems more important than planting Shugoseiheki in the ground. And then Shiomi runs out into melee range, further than Yuna can protect her ....

And the Shadows promptly throw fire at Kotone. "Be careful!!" Yuna calls out, somewhat uselessly, followed (belatedly) by a nod of thanks to August and *his* Persona.

Frustration still prominent on Yuna's face, she resorts to materializing her pistol - sleek yet bulky, the same white as most of her armor - and levels it at the Shadow closest to Shiomi, firing off a quickly-focused blast.
August Kohler As Shiomi makes the call to go in, August joins her, but begins to move around tactically as he notices they also have fire abilities. The Tin Soldier's gunleg ignites like a flamethrower, and bursts out, moving to attempt to immolate one of the ones Shiomi didn't strike at. "Damn it! Wish we had a scanner!" August shouts, over the sounds of copious fire.
Kotone Shiomi Now aware of the fact these things have fire, Kotone Shiomi takes a step back to be more careful. She points her Naginata at the group of shadows, and Alp brings forth ice and cold upon the one that had just been attacked by her and Yuna, it's pretty hurt by now. She takes a moment to steady herself after, and allow herself some respite.

The hands themselves aren't stopping the fight, they have not failed to notice how effective fire was on Kotone, so one of them flings fire her way, while the others throw fire towards August and Yuna, trying to probe if that's a common weakness of these humans invading their home turf.
Yuna Kagurazaka Yuna makes another face as the fire is flung at her and August, and immediately moves to interpose herself in front of August. Never mind if *she* gets toasted by the unblocked fire spell (is it even a spell?); she trusts her Light Suit to protect her against serious injury. August, however, has no such protection - and in fact, despite his Persona using fire, she's seen in the past that he's extra-vulnerable to other peoples' fire-based attacks.

Really, though, she'd move to protect August even if she *didn't* know fire was a weakness for him. She doesn't like her friends getting hurt - that's *HER* weakness, or one of them - and her next shot at the hand-thingies packs even more of a punch than the previous shot, laced with a stronger dose of her own Light/Holy-aspected power.
August Kohler As he strikes the Shadow, August notices that the enemies both have multiple elements, and are also probing the group for weaknesses. This means he's going to get immolated with a burst of fire; he puts the Tin Soldier in front of him to weaken the blow, but instead, Yuna comes in to tank it. This actually causes another frown from him, but he sighs, and instead moves the Tin Soldier to dash forward at the Shadows, attempting to again torch them, fire strikes going out. "Don't get yourself hurt for my sake. Focus on the enemy!"
Kotone Shiomi The pain induced by more fire makes Kotone really regret her choice of Persona, and thus hurt as she is, she takes the choice she feels like she has to make. Once more, the Evoker is put to her Temple. "Orpheus!" She calls out, and August's mechanical man throwing fire is accompanied by a mechanical woman holding a harp while Alp vanishes into component energy. This new Persona sets flame to one of the Shadows, finishing it off.

At the same time, Yuna and August's combined efforts take out another, making it so there's only one left. This fight is nearing its end, and this time, the Shadow starts throwing more wind about frantically, trying desparately to blow the intruders back so it can survive.
Yuna Kagurazaka Yuna doesn't even give the last Shadow-hand time to 'wind up,' so to speak; as soon as the first and second Shadows are eliminated, the battlesuited blonde simply starts raining beam shots upon the remaining hand-thing, literally shooting it in the face if she's got the right angle to do so. Otherwise, well, center of mass works as well as anything, right?

Her experiences in the Mirror Forest at least give her one advantage: as far as she's concerned, Shadows don't know how to suffer. Not that she *wants* them to suffer - she just wants to protect her friends, and the innocent as well. She has no qualms about fighting Shadows like she might about taking on living beings.

She's also too focused on fighting to see Kotone 'shoot herself in the head' again for the Persona swap-over. That's probably just as well.
August Kohler As the last Shadow starts throwing around wind, August and the Tin Soldier are knocked back and damaged slightly, but are able to resist it enough to not be knocked off their feet. "Alright, guys, between the three of us, we should be able to take it straight out. Let's do this!"

The Tin Soldier dashes forward, riddling the Shadow with bullets. Just a complete storm of them, allowing Shiomi to get in the final blow.
Kotone Shiomi Between Yuna's shots and August's hits, the shadow is nearly done for. It takes just a little more, and Kotone finishes it off by hitting it with her Naginata. Then she takes some deep breaths, she looks pretty beaten up on, before looking over towards the salaryman, and heading over his way. "Hey, it's alright now." She says with a soft, gentle voice. "Just come with us, and we'll get you out of here."
Yuna Kagurazaka Yuna lowers her weapon, starting to work at catching her breath, the ache of a strenuous fight finally catching up with her now that the fighting is over and the adrenaline is subsiding.

.... She hadn't even realized how much of a toll it was taking on her. Maybe the fire did more damage than she thought it did. Oh well, at least it *is* over now --

It *is* over, right? "Elner, is there anything else on this floor that isn't human?" she asks her robo-faerie companion, who has now reappeared from wherever Elner blipped off to during the battle.

Elner scans the area thoroughly before answering ... whatever the answer may be. Hopefully it's just the life signs of Yuna, August, Kotone, and the salaryman.
August Kohler As the Shadow dies, August takes a moment to rub his eyes, sighing. "I hope that's that. Are we going to have to trek all the way back down there? We're going to need to circle him to make sure none of the Shadows we avoided come straight for him."
Kotone Shiomi "For some reason they mostly leave us alone when we leave. It's when we try to go further that they make it a pain." Kotone answers August, and at the same time Elner can tell there are no other shadows on this floor, and the Salaryman in his dazed state does take up a position in the middle of the group, looking very dazed and confused along with terrified.

Odds are he won't remember anything concrete, if he remembers anything at all.