Persona F

Shadow Ai's paradise Pt. 1

Hiro presses a button on the frame and the painting flips, dragging the three through. Before them are some of the Atlantean shadows who have their weapons ready. "You are not to disturb Queen Maebara! You will be dealt with!" Shouts one shadow. They each morph into a knight shaped shadow with a frowning mask, along with a sword and shield. "Let's go, Ugly Duckling!" Rikiya exclaims, summoning the Ugly Duckling, striking them with Aqua. One of the knights swing his sword at Rikiya who blocks with his fire axe. "Wow, these things are oddly durable for something so wooden!" Rikiya comments. He pushes the shadow away and strikes his head with the axe, splitting it in two and defeating the shadow. "Wow! This is great!" Rikiya exclaims. Another of the knights looks similar to the first one but it has a long pole instead, swinging it at Kap who parries with his shovel and twirls it around, being able to gain some room. Kap does a back flip and throws the shovel at the shadow, smacking him in the face and making it stumble. "You are going to die here!" The final knight says to Hirozaku, with a golden armor, and a golden sword, plus a mighty shield with a cross on it like in the medieval days. "Forneus!" Hiro summons a stingray shaped fish with teeth as sharp as a tiger's and looks like the devil has fused into its back. The golden knight swings its blade at Forneus who just glares at the knight, hypnotizing it. "Marin Karin." Hiro says. "I feel like that skill doesn't work as well as it does here." Rikiya comments. "Bufu!" Hiro has Forneus encase the knight in ice before having it knocked down. Now is the time for the all out attack. The three go straight to the knights, the screen goes black, and suddenly, fists fly everywhere with the "Brakka brakka" sound effect being heard loudly. Hiro stands before a black screen, having his arms spread outwards before jerking his left hand downwards with a motion, having the background suddenly shine with the words "That's a homerun!" being read behind Hirozaku.

The battle is done and then the torso levitates downwards before them, to which Hiro grabs it. They get out of the trap and see Yoshinaga with the doll's body parts. "Yo. We got the thing." Hiro says as he hands her the torso. "T-thank you." Ai thanks. She puts the doll parts together and it looks exactly like Monika Roar. Monika Roar, at least in her casual version, is a blonde woman with some hair that reaches to her shoulder blades. Her outfit is a short sleeved pink shirt and a nice skirt with some turquoise color. Once that doll is put together, it glows and suddenly, a platform rises under the stairs as if it is a secret lair. "Wow! That is awesome! We gotta go through there!" Rikiya exclaims. "Yes... we should..." Ai responds. Hiro and Kap look at each other before they go to the stairs. They enter the elevator and it goes down, showing a lot more things going on under the sea. They go very deep in the ocean, to the point where they see blue whales and emperor penguins, going at the deepest. "Holy shit!" Hiro exclaims. Suddenly, after 500 meters deep, the elevator stops. "Why'd we stop?" Rikiya asks. The elevator doors open and they walk out to the deeper part of the palace which has a sign on top that reads "Sunlight Zone". A location in the ocean where the sun above has difficulty but succeeds in reaching the ocean.

This floor is about as large as a story on Gastro High if one were to remove all the walls of the classrooms. "Woah! Goddamn!" Rikiya exclaims as the four look all around. "That previous floor is most likely a home that Ai remembers from childhood." Kap theorizes. "The hell are you on about?" Hiro asks. "Think about it! It looks nice, several hallways, you could consider that home to be one lived by kings by modern day standards. That has to be Ai's memory of Megumi's home. And now here, we are looking at Gastro High." Kap explains. "I'm sorry... I feel as if I unknowingly dragged you all into something that I should be going against on my own." Ai apologizes. "Hey, we came this far, we sure as hell ain't gonna back out now." Hiro says. "Are you sure? I don't think we will all like what's happening." Ai replies. "The way I see it, you will need to face your demons. I know it's hard for you, but that is why we are here. To help you face your past." Kap says, trying to comfort her. "I... I suppose." Ai responds. "But seriously! Look at all of this! This is amazing!" Rikiya says as he looks out the window to see several fish swimming by. However, Rikiya takes a closer look at one of them. It has the same hairstyle as his younger sister with a bigger fish having the same hairstyle as his mother. "Yo, Hiro. You gotta check this out!" Rikiya tells Hiro who comes to Rikiya, not expecting much. "Rikiya, this shit ain't a tour, we gotta help- yo, what in the actual hell?" Hiro sees a fish that has the police uniform that looks exactly like Unsho, and with him is a fish in complete red that cuddles up to him, just like how his mother would do. "This most likely references how Ai is forced to go into your data." Kap says. "Wait, so Megumi knows everything about our family life?!" Rikiya asks. Ai says nothing and looks away, as if guilt is eating her alive, when suddenly, some voices are heard. "Don't get near her, she will just look into your private life." "What the hell does she even see in that Maebara? Trying to be all nice and shit." "I swear to god, her own innocence will be her undoing, give it time, Maebara-senpai may deal with her next." Ai gets onto her knees as she hears these. "Please... I'm sorry... I have no choice..." Ai begs. "What in the hell is all this?" Hiro asks. "It's definitely some anxiety. Maebara forces her to go through every student so much, that despite her kindness, it isn't returned." Kap says. "Dude... that is messed up. Maebara forces her to do all this, but doesn't realize what she is doing." Rikiya comments. "That ice queen thinks that she can do whatever the hell she wants, only to get this whole thing to bite her vice president in the ass! Makes me damn sick." Hiro growls. He approaches Ai who flinches, expecting a punch but, he places a hand on her shoulder. "Listen, we will help you deal with this bullshit. You can trust us, dammit. If you have your personal demons, we will help you deal with them." Hiro tells Ai. "Y-you're not mad?" Ai asks. "Nah. I would just be another voice in this whole palace. Now let's get this shit over with." Hiro says. They proceed onwards but hide away when an Atlantean guard is walking by, but something is different about him. He is completely red in terms of armor. "Kap. What's with that one?" Hiro whispers. "That is most likely a stronger opponent. One that we aren't really used to. It's best if we stay out of that one's way." Kap answers. The Atlantean guards walks off. "Christ, this'll be a pain in the ass." Hiro comments. "Hey, Hiro, think you can find something of use here?" Rikiya asks. "I'll try." Hiro replies. He looks around him with his eyes glowing blue. He suddenly finds something. Farther away, there is a music sheet and a piece of paper that reads "We are best friends, yes we are" but the paper titled Lyrics is rather blank while the music sheet is in the same tune as "twinkle, twinkle little star", however that room is right after another door, one that also shows parts of Ai's past. "Follow me." Hiro says to the group. They follow Hiro until he gets to the door. He opens it and yet another scene plays out. There is Ai, at 4th Grade, wearing the glasses she has on today. She is sitting at a desk while reading a book, but she occasionally glances to her side at an empty seat. "Megumi. I miss you." Middle school Ai says as she proceeds to read her book. It also shows that she is very intelligent, helping other students with their work, but she hides it all because she misses her friend. Every night, she would lie in her bed and start doing a soft singing in the tune of "twinkle, twinkle little star", however, the lyrics are so vague, one can't make out any of it. "What was that? Did you guys manage to make any of that out?" Kap asks. "Absolutely not." Rikiya replies. "Not I." Hiro adds. "I remember that tune. I used to sing it with Maebara-san whenever we had to say goodbye for the day and go home." Ai remembers. "You remember the lyrics?" Rikiya asks. "No... She had to move away for her parents' job." Ai replies. "Damn, I think we can find a good chunk of the lyrics here." Hiro says. "Come on, let's go." The group goes to the next door and see the lyrics and the music sheet. "We are best friends, yes we are." Hiro reads the title. "Looks like this would be something interesting for us." Hiro says. "How do we find forgotten lyrics in what is probably an underwater kingdom?" Rikiya asks. "Well, let's do some narrowing down, Ai, do you know if you've done or said anything stupid? Like intellectually stupid? You were a kid when you wrote this, you are sure to have some dumbass moments as a five year old." Hiro asks. "Not that I know of." Ai responds. "Even if I did, it was a long time ago, I don't think I remember anything from that long ago." "She's got a point. Let's explore this place." Kap says. Hiro leads the group and they sneak around the place. They don't want to run into that strong Atlantean again. They proceed down the hall until they find a piano. Hiro uses his foresight to find out something about the piano and then approaches it. He has two options. Play "twinkle, twinkle little star" or play "Believe me, if all those endearing young charms". He ultimately decides the latter and presses the keys to play, only to screw up the last two keys on purpose. He keeps at this two more times, exactly like Looney Tunes. "Are you trying to piss us off into playing an explosion?" Kap asks annoyed. "Maybe." Hiro responds. "Hey! Who's there!" Shouts a voice. The group then hides away and the red Atlantean guard comes by. He looks around and sees the piano there. He approaches the piano, looks around to make sure nobody is watching, and then sits on the chair of the piano. He then presses the keys to the same tune as "We are best friends, yes we are" but also does some singing. "We are best friends, yes we are. We will play together tomorrow." He stops and ponders a bit. "Damn... What else was there? Were those even the right lyrics?" The knight thinks. "There was more to this song, I just know it..." The Atlantean knights ponders as he sits on the chair. "Ah screw it." He then just plays "Believe me, if all those endearing young charms" but screws up the last note. "Ah dammit. One more time." The knight plays the tune again but screws it up the second time. "Okay, this is so stupid!" Rikiya comes out of his hiding spot and pushes the Atlantean knight out of his seat. "You do it like this!" Rikiya then does the tune and has it correct. "There! That wasn't so difficult, was it?!" Rikiya asks.