February 12
It was after school, and Madran had already gathered everyone in the Metaverse. Philemon was tapping his foot, and Madran and Chicory were playing fetch with balled-up tinfoil. Bubonia was teaching Suga how to direct her around.
"So, you see, directing personas isn't as easy as it may seem."
"Well, Madran makes it look easy!"
"She's a natural. Now, dear, personas can form telepathic bonds with their humans. In these, we can use that to give each other advice, or, more, importantly, direct them."
"Can't you move on your own?"
"Yes, but only in place. You tell me where to go."
"Ok. Um..."
"You've done it before, only subconsciously."
"Ok, ok, gimme a sec."
Suga looked around. Bubonia began to rapidly dance around the room, nodding at Suga.
"Yes, yes! You're doing great!"
Bubonia then stopped, twirling around and halting.
"Um, does this have any affect on us?"
"Well, whenever I get hurt, you feel the same pain. If I get thrown by a different force, then there isn't much control."
"Hey, Madran, how do you do it?"
"Um, I just kinda think, like, 'go over there and use Agilao' or stuff like that."
"Um..."
Bubonia leaped through the air, landing back at Suga and using Garu.
"Like this? Um, do you guys have any freewill?"
"Well, actually, I did kinda lie, I can move by myself, but it's much better if you do stuff. It's like a drill sergeant giving orders, and then telling them to be at ease."
"Right. Well, let's go back to the Safe Room."
The group was transported by Philemon, and they walked out, arriving at the hall with all of the glowing fish.
"Wow. Where does he get all of this?"
"Well, this whole lab is made up of Proctora's distorted desires."
"So, he wants a bunch of tanks of fish?"
"That, and the want to have domination over the medical scene in Japan."
"Oh, right. I kinda forgot that."
Madran giggled, looking around.
"Well, there's an end to the tanks right there."
Madran pointed at a door. It was much like a small door to a closet.
"Gimme a second."
Madran did a scan.
"Ok! It isn't a trap or something."
"There they are!"
Madran looked around to see a bunch of lab assistants running at them. The group then entered the door, locking it behind them. They could hear the shadows pounding on the door, but they were safe for now.
"Ok. That was sudden."
"I might be to blame for this."
"Woah."
Philemon looked around in amazement. The area was now a large, circular pathway, dimly lit with dark blue and green lights on the sides.
"Um..."
Suga summoned Bubonia.
"Let's all summon our personas and go opposite ways. Chicory, watch over Philemon."
Yorick appeared quickly, and Madran and Suga split ways.
Suga's POV
Suga walked down the path, somewhat missing Nightingale's light.
"Hey, Suga!"
Philemon tossed the flashlight to Yorick, who threw it to her. Bubonia caught it and gave it to Suga.
"Thanks!"
"Be safe!"
Suga began to run down the large, curved hallway. The floor and ceiling were filled with grey circles, making it feel like a weird spaceship. She then heard growling.
"Oh my. Um..."
"Quick! Hit it with your weapon!"
Suga noticed a black blob with a blue mask and two large arms scuttling towards her. Suga pulled her oversize scalpel out and whacked it on the face. It turned into another dice.
"Ok! What now?"
"We fight!"
Madran nodded, directing a Garu at the dice. It was knocked back, and replied with an Agi.
"Dodge!"
Bubonia danced around the fire with ease, using another Garu to finish the job.
"If we find something that resists our wind attacks, then we're screwed..."
"You still have your gun and scalpel."
"Yeah, but something tells me that they don't do much."
"Oh well. Let's go."
Suga went along more, finding two splitting paths.
"Uh..."
"Well, pick one. We can't stay here forever."
Suga went down the left one. She eventually ran into a dead end.
"Um..."
"Well, let's go back."
Suga began to walk back, but found that an assistant was standing there. He raised a comm to speak into it.
"We have int-"
Suga nailed him with her syringe gun, bolting past him to take the right route.
"Crap. We better run."
"That would be a good idea, dear!"
Suga and Bubonia began to run along the hall. However, more assistants showed up on both sides.
"Aah! More of them!"
"Suga Camas, stop this insolence and report to Dr. Proctora NOW!"
"Nope!"
Suga directed a Magaru at everyone and shoved past the now shaken assistants.
"Safe Room! Yay!"
Suga went into the newly found Safe Room. Madran was in there, panting profusely.
"Hi!"
"Hi."
"Um, what happened?"
"A bunch of assistants showed up after one was interrupted by a very familiar gun noise."
"Oh. Sorry."
Madran smiled.
"Well, I mean, they all are burning, if you want to check them out."
"I think that wind had a different effect on the ones that were chasing me."
"Oh, well. Um, I passed by a very important door on the way."
"Ok! Let's go there!"
Madran and Suga carefully left the room, seeing that there were no assistants. Madran took her to the room.
"Ok! Here it is!"
"I can hear some stuff. It sounds like Chicory and Yorick saying stuff."
"Let's go in!"
Suga pushed the door open, walking in to see a fight between Chicory and a bunch of blue-masked shadows. Chicory seemed to be winning, with Yorick delivering a good amount of pain.
"Giant Slice! Giant Slice! Hahaha!"
Yorick seemed to be literally chopping the shadows to bits, adding in a few nuclear blasts for more vaporization.
"Hi!"
Yorick didn't notice, still going crazy with his sudden sword. Chicory, saw them, but was keen on directing Yorick around.
"Um, let's help."
Madran's POV
Madran summoned Nightingale, unleashing a Maragi. Everything was set on fire. Suga also fired a Magaru at the shadows, making the flames go higher.
"Oh, you should Dia Chicory."
Suga nodded, directing a Dia at Yorick. He was still busy slicing everything that had a blue mask and rapidly using Mafrei. The shadows were as good as dead by now, and Yorick finally stopped. Philemon came out from the pile of shadows, looking rather beaten up.
"Goodness. Thank you, all three of you."
Yorick nodded, putting the sword away.
"Gee willikers, I never knew that so many shadows could appear!"
Suga directed another Dia at Philemon and used a Media for good measure.
"Sorry... I was a bit useless there..."
Yorick sighed.
"Look, it was my fault that I kinda agitated so many shadows at once. I mean, like, they were there, and..."
Philemon still looked very defeated, so Madran went over to comfort him.
"Um, like, you aren't useless. I mean, who else would've helped me with dad? And, like, I really like hanging out with you, and you're a big help in battle."
Philemon nodded.
"Let's move on."
The now rejoined group walked through the large room, seeing things all around in weird, futuristic cages. They were faced with an electric shock if they dared to get close to the edge of it, and let out long cries of sorrow because of it.
"What the fuck?"
"Is this what dominating the medical world means?"
"This is breaking, like, so many rules!"
"He probably thinks that nobody will care if he's successful enough."
Suga glared.
"Gosh. He disgusts me."
"Amazed? This is the window to my future."
Shadow Proctora stepped forwards from the control panel, dramatically turning his swivel chair around and descending the steps.
"You..."
A Garu was released. It turned out that Shadow Proctora was using holographic fakes.
"Hey! Get back here!"
Shadow Proctora appeared behind them with a cunning grin on his face.
"Oh, I bet that my test subjects are hungry..."
He made a dark chuckle, twirling his mustache.
"Come out, come out, time to eat!"
The cages opened and the creatures all gained blue masks.
"What type of fuckery is this..."
Shadow Proctora chuckled.
"Now, feel my wrath..."
Shadow Proctora seemingly teleported over to the control panel, tapping a few buttons. The newly-made shadows began to writhe around, growing in size until they looked like massive, dog-like creatures with blue masks, black scales, and long, spindly legs.
"What in the..."
Philemon, Madran, Chicory, and Suga all stepped closer to each other as the monsters closed in.
"Bye! Have fun, you four!"
Shadow Proctora made a very believable evil villain-like laugh before vanishing.
"Ok! Time to skew this experiment!"
The group, aside from Philemon, all summoned their personas. Philemon used a Heat Riser on all of them, boosting their overall performance.
"Butterfly, get debuffing! Plague, watch for everyone's health! Clown, attack! As for me..."
Madran activated a scan. Suga and Chicory directed their personas at the shadows, and Philemon activated several Debilitates.
"Ok! All sorts of weaknesses!"
Madran pointed at the biggest one
"This one is weak to wind and repels nuclear!"
Madran pointed around at the smaller ones, all determining their weaknesses. She then directed a Maragi at everything.
"Tear into them!"
Suga hit the biggest shadow with a well-placed Garu, and Yorick began to use Freis all over on the tiny ones. The Maragi seemed to have resounding success, with a bunch of shadows being lit on fire and a few being knocked over. The largest one fell over, falling on a few very small shadows and killing them.
"Nice one, Plague!"
"Yep!"
"Good boy!"
Madran peppered everyone with compliments as she unleashed an Agilao on one getting very close to the very concentrated Philemon, killing it.
"Butterfly! Keep your eyes open, and maybe relocate on a higher area!"
Philemon transformed and found a nice spot to support from above. The shadows that weren't knocked over retaliated, firing many elemental attacks at everyone.
"Guys! Watch out for your weakness!"
Yorick was having trouble, and got hit by a fire attack. He fell to the ground and Chicory followed.
"Yikes! Clown's down! Try to boost his defense and heal him!"
Madran and Nightingale dodged a few Garus, using a Tarukaja on Chicory. Suga directed a Dia at Chicory, and he got back up.
"Oh, you've messed with the wrong jester!"
Yorick utilized Giant Slice, chopping a medium-sized shadow in two. The only shadows that were left were the ones knocked over.
"Ok, team! All-Out Attack!"
The group activated their strongest moves, decimating all but the largest shadow and a few slightly smaller than it. The biggest one then utilized a Media, partially healing the group.
"You know the drill, Plague!"
"Yep!"
The largest shadow was met with yet another Garu. Yorick then fired a Mafrei at everything, and, due to the boost from the Tarukaja, killed all but one of the shadows, which was, of course, the largest one
"Dang! This guy can take a lot."
"All-Out Attack again!"
The shadow still hung on, but Nightingale and Yorick both whacked it with a Headbutt and Giant Slice, killing it.
"That went well."
"Good job, everyone!"
Philemon landed next to Madran.
"That was... thrilling. I haven't had so much fun since..."
Philemon's mask shifted down, and he fixed it.
"...a long time ago."
"Um, Fwoosh, should we get rid of the-"
"Yeah!"
Yorick slashed the control panel in two. The cages deactivated. The comms then came on again.
"HEY! First you enter MY lab, then you kill MY assistants, and then you destroy MY shadow-making facility?! I hate you, you stupid dog!"
Chicory wagged his tail and barked in a goofy manner. Yorick then blew his tongue.
"Proctor, Proctor, is a bad doctor! Proctor, Proctor, is a bad doctor!"
"I CAN HEAR YOU, YA KNOW!"
Yorick repeated his chant more times, getting a frustrated groan from Shadow Proctora and the comms system shutting off.
"Well, let's go..."
Madran scanned around.
"Ooh! Secret door!"
Madran walked up to the wall and kicked it. The wall then opened, showing a more technologically-advanced version of the beginning room.
"Safe Room! Yay!"
Madran ran over to the Safe Room.
"Hey, Madran, look."
Suga pointed towards the next entrance, showing that veiny-like things were coming out of it. Philemon nodded.
"Corruption. We're getting close."
The group congregated in the Safe Room.
"So, should we call it a day?"
"Yes. Definitely. Also, Madran and Suga, your personas have gained more abilities to use."
"Yes?"
"Nightingale now can use Rampage, which deals light physical damage about three times to each enemy. Bubonia learned Patra, which can cure status ailments that aren't horrible."
"What do you mean by not horrible?"
"Sleeping, panic, confusion, stuff like that."
"Cool."
The group chatted for some more time until they all headed back to the real world.
"Hi, mom!"
Madran and Chicory ran out of Madran's room, greeting Elia.
"Hi! It's like, um, 4:30-ish. How did your explorations go?"
"We made great progress! Um, the highlight was that we got into a massive fight, and we won! It was full of scary shadows, and stuff..."
Madran detailed the battle to Elia, spending the rest of her night in peace, knowing that she was helping a friend help someone that they hold dear to them.
END OF CHAPTER 15
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That's all for this chapter! I hope that you all enjoyed. If you have any suggestions for me, please let me know! I'll see you guys next chapter! Bye!