In the bustling city of Lexington, set in modern day USA, a strange occurence causes even stranger things unknown to most of the population. Stranger than that are the random people being struck with Apathy Syndrome, a condition best described as the victim simply losing all will to do anything but sit there, moaning the same unintelligible things over and over until their body eventually shuts down.

However, a group of people know what the true reason is.

Shadows, mysterious beings that appear alongside the Dark Hour. The existence of the Dark Hour and the Shadows are still a large mystery. What is known though, is that Shadows feed on the minds of their victims while leaving them a mindless shell. The Dark Hour is a time between dusk and dawn that very few experience. Within the Dark Hour, normal people transform into stone in the shape of a coffin. The coffins itself is unmoveable and indestructable.

The only people that can exist within the Dark Hour are people who have the ability to use Persona. A mysterious ability, unknown to those who wield it. They come within time of need and are later summoned through a gun-like device known as an Evoker. This is done by pointing it at your head and pulling the trigger. This act destroys the mental barriers that naturally exist and allow your Persona to come alive, though for a breif moment. The act of summoning a Persona deals no harm to you however, although physical/spiritual strength is sometimes drained from the owner to the Persona to coax it to preform it's own deadly attack.

Within the Dark Hour, certain technologies don't work, and certain others do. Survelliance devices are inoperable during the Dark Hour, while special radios are useable.

Strangely enough, all of the known Persona users attend Exeter High School, which is strangely enough, the only High School in Lexington. During the Dark Hour, Exeter becomes a giant tower only known by the nickname of Tartarus.

Taking this into consideration, there are two sides of Persona users. One side doesn't care for their power and only uses it to keep themselves alive, while the other side uses their power to actively kill Shadows and explore Tartarus.

This is both their stories. This is your story.

This is Persona: The Alternate Universe

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And you were expecting a sparta joke?

Also; awesome intro posts plx

P.P.S: For any of you that have played Persona 3, post spoilers and I will kill your post and warn you. 4srsly.

P.P.P.S: For those of you who don't know anything about Persona 3, don't worry. No prior knowledge of Persona 3 is needed to participate in this.

The beginning of the new school term meant a lot of things to a lot of people. The transition of unbearably moist summer afternoons to cooler, dry fall evenings. The scramble of freshmen, the return of sophomores, newly blessed with confidence to a fault. The upperclassmen, knowing full well that sophomores were really just as dumb (if not dumber) as freshmen. The sprouting of old and new cliques, the inevitable creation of outsiders and misfits, and reunions of varying levels of welcome.

Gale Silvestre simply noted that nights were getting longer.

A junior now, and Gale's second year at Exeter after transferring, the school's first day followed its usual turn of events. A mass meeting in the auditorium (most ignored the suspicious lack of seniors; this was also very usual) with drifting roars, laughs, and quiet introductions as they waited for the faculty speech.

Gale was one of the ones that were hard to miss. He was tall with black hair cut messily against a tanned face, joined by an infectious grin spread to his eyes, a mixed "hazel" of mostly pale green and some amber, rimmed with dark, thick lashes that made them all the more sharp. He wore a simple black turtleneck and jeans, accompanied by a few studs in his twice-pierced ears. He was probably best known as clean-up batter for the school's baseball team, and was expected to be one of the "nice upperclassmen" figures.

What most people didn't consider was that Gale was part of a shadier group, and mildly self-destructive in the sense he shot himself in the head quite a bit. He was part of that crowd, after all.

Michael Fergusen thought school was boring. Which was the norm for teenagers his age. But unlike other teenagers his age, he had a talent. Not just any talent, mind you. A special talent.

But enough about that. I suppose it's high time we told you what Michael looked like. He wore jeans, a black blazer, and a white dress shirt to go with it. His eyes were forest green, with pretty standard blonde hair. He blended in quite easily with everyone else and for the most part, was just average, and at best, slightly above average, which made his ability stand out all the more to people who knew of it.

Well, to the very few who knew of it, anyways. Mike was a part of a group of people who were able to use an ability called a Persona. Or at least that's what he thought. Even among the people there wasn't much knowledge of it.

At least...he was different. He guessed.

Jack Lotz sat in the auditorium, waiting for the speech. He sat with a few loud friends, as they talked about the card games they'd play tonight. Of course, it was going to be poker but played with favors and pride, instead of money. After all, gambling was prohibited.

He ran his hand through his shoulder length black hair, and sighed. He had piercing blue eyes, and he wore a grin on his face. He was twirling his black beanie in his right hand. It wasn't really the time of year to wear it, or even have it out. But he just liked it, so he didn't give a damn. To top it off he wore a blue shirt with a black vest, and blue jeans.

Jack pressed his hand over a spot on his head, and rubbed it. He almost never got used to the sensation of shooting himself in the head. He was one of them; one who could use the power of Persona.

A girl sat next to Jack, though she wasn't paying attention to him. The rest of her friends had filled up the end of a row of seats and she was thus forced to find a seat elsewhere. She remembered that the same thing had happened last year, her freshman year. At the time, she hadn't given any thought to the friend that had been excluded, but now she wished that she had gone with her. To be lonely is a horrible thing...just like every night during the Dark Hour.

Linnea Berkely sat with her arms folded and feet crossed, drumming her fingers against her exposed elbow impatiently. This meeting was highly likely to be as mundane as last year's. The weather was right for the light red blouse and black skirt she was wearing, but the auditorium was a bit chilly; goosebumps were already beginning to form along her arms. Her legs would have suffered a similar fate if not for the dark blue leggings that came up just past her knees. Linnea's dark green eyes drifted over to her friends as she tucked a strand of equally dark brown hair behind her ear.

At the very least, the meeting couldn't be as bad as the Dark Hour.

Michael leaned his head back and sighed. Dear god the principal was boring. He was going on and on about responsibility, taking charge, and whatnot. Finally, after a long time, the principal stopped talking and the ceremony that kicked off the school year wound down to a close.

Finally, with everything done, school started. Michael, being a junior, looked at his schedule quickly before heading to his first period class. He didn't know about anyone else, but for him school dragged by sluggishly. While school was important as his parents told him, it was still dull. In fact, the only interesting thing in his day was that he shared a class with Gale, a fellow Persona-user. Gale and Michael both explored the impossibly high tower that took the school's place during the Dark Hour, nicknamed Tartarus.

Eventually, school ended and Mike left for home.

Gale's eyes closed as he blocked out the speech and whispered conversations around him, sinking into the seat as he drowned out the Principal and his chit-chatting friends with a white noise of thought. He wasn't sleepy, but there was a lot to think about. Tartarus and Personas echoed more frequently than anything else.

When his friends "woke him up," he merely played it off with a laugh and headed off to first period.

Classes held nothing surprising. He recognized a few fellow baseball players, social friends, the rare Persona user, and some new acquaintances. His last class, an Advanced Math course with students of varying years, was a challenge; not the subject, but the lack of recognizable people. He knew one of them as Michael, but not much else besides the fact he also had a Persona.

There that thought was again, Persona. His hand twitched slightly as he put another book away as he put on a nervous smile. He hoped the summer hadn't put him out of shape.

Jack yawned, and ignored the entire speech. Soon, it was over and he stood up to go to his first class. He paid attention in each class, regardless of the fact that he didn't care at all about his grades.

He just couldn't wait to explore the Tartarus, and he felt a little insecure leaving his special... gun at home. Soon, the last period of the day arrived, Advanced Math, and he saw some people he recognized. That one dude Michael, and that other dude Gale. He chuckled, as he knew that they also had Personas, like himself. He hoped this year would be interesting, as other Persona users were finally in the same class he was. Maybe he could strike up some conversations with them about the Tartarus later on.

The bell rang, and Jack went home.

The meeting was over sooner than Linnea expected and she was quickly reunited with her friends. After figuring out that none of them shared their first hour with her, she waved goodbye and headed to her class. Linnea had always enjoyed school. Not necessarily the people she attended with - save a few - but the learning aspect. Ever since she started in kindergarten, learning brought to her a certain satisfaction that nothing else did. Her interest waned somewhat when it came to Social Studies and English, but she excelled at Science and Math. Linnea had been placed into advanced math courses since middle school, and the trend had continued into high school.

The rest of the day passed as quickly as the meeting did. After arriving home, Linnea dropped her backpack beside her bed, went over to her dresser, and rummaged through it before extracting what looked like a handgun. She hoped that she wouldn't have to use it again tonight, but her mind was already made up: tonight she would enter the tower that appeared in place of the school during the Dark Hour.

Homework came easily. Fall conditioning was over before he knew it, and suddenly the grueling number of push-ups the team had to manage was behind him, the only reminder that there had even been the rest of the day the fact that he'd be sore the next morning. Gale knew that technically, if he stretched before sleeping he'd be fine; he was also certain from experience that he'd crash the moment he got home.

The brief nap was just that. Brief. His eyelids opened slowly to a small group of club members, a slight pause before he snapped up, eyes regaining a spark of life. He clenched his fists as his gloves curled with them, assuring himself privately from the worn patches of fabric that he'd done this before.

"Look lively, everyone!" Gale smiled, stretching out his shoulders. Arms. Wrists. A pouch with a familiar Evoker rustled at his waist from the movement. The sun was long gone.

The "Club" had only six people, including Gale who was the unofficial leader of them all.

Before the festivities started, however, three people spoke one after another.

"Sorry, I've got a load of stuff to do at home."

"I'm really tired, so I'm skipping out on today."

"I'm kinda sick..."

And with that, the group six strong was whittled down to three people. One, was Michael himself. Of course, Gale, the guy who played baseball was there. And Jack, who Mike knew very little about, not having talked to him before.

"All right guys, let's get outside of the school before it starts growing. I have no idea what it's like to be inside when it does, but I don't wanna find out."

Jogging to get out of the school, the three of them waited outside of the school for a few minutes for the Dark Hour to come. Said minutes passed by and the time came...

The sky turned green, and the moon a sickly sort of yellowish green. They didn't see it, but the people Transmorgified into coffins, or at least the people that didn't have a Persona. The school itself expended itself and grew and twisted itself into the ominous Tartarus that they've grown somewhat accustomed to.

Wordlessly walking in, they came to what looked like a very large atrium with linoleum tiles and large decorative pillars. In the middle of the room, there was a marble staircase, supported by nothing under it, leading to a large golden clock, gate, dias, thing that nobody knew what it was exactly. But it was the door to Tartarus' first floor and they used it plenty of times before. In a corner of the room was a broken machine that they didn't know what exactly it was used for, so in the meantime, they left it there alone.

The thing that caught their eyes, was the rack of weapons that was next to the staircase. Instead of lugging the things everywhere and risk looking stupid, or getting arrested, they decided to keep the weapons in Tartarus, that way storage was fairly easy, unless they were to disappear.

Next to the rack of weapons was a table that held the special communicators that each of them took. For reasons unknown, each one was able to operate in the Dark Hour, and all six of them could talk to each other at any distance, even from between floors.

Michael walked to the table and picked up a communicator, then he grabbed his usual weapon, a large one sided battle axe and sat on the steps, waiting for the other two to "gear up".

Standing at the threshold to her home, Linnea peered at the Dark Hour through a window on her door. Her heart was racing, though you couldn't tell it from the calm look on her face. Her left hand rested on a black canvas messenger bag that hung at her side. With a great amount of effort she forced herself to open the door and step outside.

Although Linnea was no stranger to the Dark Hour, its presence still gave her chills. Maybe it was the eerie hue that the sky took on, or maybe it was the preternatural stillness that overtook the city. She turned her sights on the mysterious tower that replaced the school and sighed, a subtle look of disgust crossing her face. Cursing herself silently, the girl set out on what was normally the route she took to school. Within a few minutes, she stood upon a different threshold: the entrance to Tartarus.

As night came, Jack left his house and walked back toward the school, which transformed into the dungeon known as Tartarus. He discovered Gale and Michael there, stocking up on weapons as it was soon time to delve into the dungeon.

Along with his Evoker, Jack took a pair of Tonfas, along with one of those communicators.

"Is there anyone else coming along with us tonight?"

If they didn't know better, most people would think that Gale enjoyed exploring the Tartarus. Admittedly, there was a rush and the adrenaline was unmatched, but that wasn't exactly the case. This was his second year as a Persona-user, and there were still bad memories from his first night.

Two people had graduated from Exeter the year before, and they were the two that taught Gale everything he knew to pass along the reins as they went on with their lives. And now it was his job to keep everyone alive.

Or die trying, anyway.

"I'm pretty sure it's just us and the Shadows tonight," he replied mock-solemnly. He failed to mention the chill he felt, almost a sixth sense, that told him to be extra careful that night. His fingers drummed on the two-handed sword he chose for the day.

"Alright. Now that we're all ready to go, let's do this thing!" Michael jumped up and pumped his fist into the air.

"By the way, I call leader for today."

Michael approached the massive dias/door thing that marked the entrance into Tartarus' labrynth and it opened of it's own accord, moving to the sides. Michael entered and stepped into a new world.

The floor was alternating tiles of black and white, blood occasionally pooling on the floor or walls. The halls went straight, and then turned, or had multiple paths. Overall, Tartarus was a giant maze. And the group was only on the first floor of the thing.

The group advanced through the strangely empty halls until...

Michael peered around the corner and saw a small group of six shadows. The creatures were humanoid and pitch black, around two and a half feet tall. For the most part, they looked as if you shrunk a human to two and a half feet, gave it oval, yellow eyes, and bug antennae.

They were the weakest kind of shadow, but also the one that was most expected to show up in semi large groups.

Michael held up his left hand in a "Stop" gesture. "This is perfect. Six of them, two of us. I say on the count of three, we all charge them and kick some ass!"

"One..."

The shadows continued to mill about, unaware of what was going on.

"Two..."

Still nothing.

"THREE!"

Immediately, all of the shadows looked in the direction of the noise only to find things running at it while holding things...

Michael was the first to get there. With a mighty downward swing, Michael started the brawl by cleaving one of them in two. The halves slowed dramatically for a split second before exploding into who knew what. The second shadow nearest the Axe-wielding Persona-user jumped at him, only to get punched out of the air, then cleaved in twain. Mike backed away a bit and watched the other two go about their business. Luckily, the hallway was wide enough to avoid embarassing friendly fire situations.

Linnea slowly pushed open the door to Tartarus, not entirely sure what to expect. Once she identified that there was no immediate danger, she opened the door completely and stepped inside. To her surprise, the interior appeared very...normal. It didn't seem hostile, at least. Relaxing ever so slightly, Linnea walked further into the room, surveying her surroundings. What exactly was this tower? Despite its otherworldly exterior, its contents didn't seem too strange...

Her thoughts were interrupted by a shout from behind the large door on the other side of the room. Commotion ensued, and Linnea wasn't sure if she wanted to know what was going on behind the door. Anticipating anything, she reached into her bag and extracted a pair of black fabric gloves. After putting them on, she reached into the bag again, pulled out a handful of knives, and carefully placed them into clips on the backs of the gloves with the blades facing outwards. There were six knives in total, one for each of her inner knuckles.

With a determined look in her eyes, Linnea strode towards the door.

Although Jack was mainly a spellcaster, he decided not to waste any of it on these lower-shadows. He was right behind Michael, holding both his Tonfas, spinning them around expertly. He reached the first shadow by leaping toward it.

As he came down on the small shadow, he delivered a spinning blow with his left Tonfa, and followed up with an upward kick. He quickly stomped back down, and moved forward with a powerful right-handed punch with the long side of the tonfa pointing outwards, destroying that Shadow.

As for the other shadow, it jumped toward him from behind and he sensed it. He quickly spun around it, now facing its back, and delivered a hook with the tonfa sending it spinning into the wall. He followed that by smashing the shadow's head into the wall, killing that one too.

Gale covered a faint smirk, but was unable to restrain himself from looking amused. It was nice to have... enthusiastic teammates. Plus, he wasn't in charge today-- always a good thing. Though Gale would never admit it, he much preferred being free to focus on beating the crap out of Shadows than formations. He wasn't bad at either, but the latter had much more on the line.

The last two shadows charged, eerie yellow eyes wide open. With a flash, the amusement drained away from Gale's face, snapping outwards and grabbing the first one by its head before easily maneuvering the proposed two-handed sword straight down through its back. As it stiffened in surprise, he swung used both hands to swing outwards and leaving the Shadow nearly bisected and deteriorating.

The other he gave equally harsh treatment, sidestepping a crazed lunge before smashing down his foot onto the creature's neck. --Cockroach. Just a cockroach.-- He finished with a slash, the sword carving the creature in half without remorse.

"Looks like we're not too out-of-shape..."

Michael chuckled at Gale's comment and made a hand signal to follow. As the three Persona-users navigated the maze, they oddly encountered no other Shadows. Minutes passed by without any signs of activity until they reached a fork in the road. One path lead straight ahead while one branched off to the right. Motioning for Gale and Jack to stay still for a second, the leader peeked his head around the corner. Strange, one there still wasn't any Shadows. Second, the road forked to the left.

Returning to the group, Michael quickly deduced a simple plan. "Okay, since we've already covered this floor and we know that there isn't some giant nasty running around, Gale and Jack, you two go down that way." Michael motioned towards the right fork. "Jack, you go down the left fork, and Gale, you go straight. Meanwhile I'll head down this hallway. If any of you find the stairs, find anything interesting, or get into trouble, just radio and we'll be there as fast as we can. Alright guys, let's go."

Resting his axe on his shoulder, Michael began walking down the hallway leading straight, leaving the other two to go down their assigned paths. Michael wanted to reach the fifth floor today instead of having to go back because of his teammates, or himself.

Michael felt good about today.

Jack nodded. "Sure thing, 'leader.'" He walked down the directed path, keeping his nunchucks at the ready. He didn't pay attention to Gale or anything, and silently went off the left fork of their path.

The sounds from behind the door ceased just before Linnea triggered its opening mechanism. She hesitated for a second, and then heard brief conversation and the sound of footsteps moving away from her. After she could hear no more, she took a step forward and the door slid open to reveal the hallway where the others had just done battle. Moving forward slowly, Linnea's stomach lurched when she saw the blood stains on the floor and wall. Silently, she wondered if it was human blood or the blood of something else...

Determined to find out exactly what lurked in this tower, however, she pressed forward and soon found herself at the same fork where the others had split up. After a brief moment of indecision, Linnea arbitrarily took the path that continued to go straight.

Gale yawned. "Got it. Don't die without me." He gave a lighthearted wave before running down his appropriate corridor. It was the second floor of Tartarus, and basically a safe-zone. He himself had been past the 20th floor last year. They'd be fine.

But Gale couldn't shake his sixth sense, quietly unnerving him.

Michael softly whistled a tune to himself. Finding the stairs in each floor was so tedious. Nobody knew if it was going to be right next to the entrance, or if it was going to be in some vacant corner. It didn't help that Tartarus had the habit of making you more tired than you ought to have been. At least he felt good today.

One turn, left turn, right turn, another right, pretty soon, Michael found himself at another fork in the road. Sighing to himself, he took two coins from his pocket and dropped one on the ground. Michael chose the left path and dropped another coin as a marker. Soon, he reached a dead end with a green machine everyone had taken to calling "The Warper". Backtracking and taking the path he didn't take before, Michael went down the path a fair bit before he found his blood running cold and his whistling silent.

Floor three of Tartarus had these Shadows that looked like gloves walking on their index, middle, and ring fingers. About an inch or so under the mouth of the glove, it was tied off around who knew what. On top of the glove, was a black ball of something and a white mask that either showed surprise, a poker, an annoyed, or neutral face. They usually attacked by floating off the group and either slapping, jabbing, or occasionally some sort of magic. They were never found on the second floor and they weren't.....

Ten feet tall.

"Holy...shit." Michael said out loud. Unluckily for the Persona-user, it was looking directly at him. It began to move raise itself off the ground, presumably to cast some sort of magic...

Michael drew his Evoker, pointed it at the side of his head, and pulled the trigger as fast as he could. Instead of brains and blood, glass flew out of the other end of the supposed wound and quickly disappeared. A silhouette of a large man with a large kite shield and sword appeared smashed the Shadow with it's weapon before disappearing. Arenaline took over and he charged the Shadow, smashing the axe deep into it's middle finger. Startled, it righted itself and attempted to swat him, however he managed to duck around it. Raising his axe again, he drove the axe into the back of it's head, dropping it to the floor. From there, Michael kept smashing it with the axe until it dissolved in a pool of well...shadows.

Wiping his brow, Michael hefted his axe on his shoulder and turned around to continue exploring, the thought of contacting both of his teammated forgotten. Until well...he found two more of those hand things, staring at him. Before he could do much of anything, both raised themselves off the floor, snapped their fingers, then pointed at the Persona-user. Two simultaneous concussive blasts of fire hit him and sent him flying back, back to the T fork in the path. He landed first on his back, bounced, and landed on his front. Struggling to get up, he grabbed the communications device and started half running half walking back to the fork where everyone split up.

"Guys, Michael here. I've run into a problem...You know those glove things on the third floor? Well, they're here and about... ten... feet tall. There's three of them. I took out one before getting ambushed by the other two. God...This seriously hurts like a bitch. Over, and out." The pain in his voice was apparent. Hell, anyone would sound like that after getting blasted through the air.

Linnea ignored the faint sounds of battle from further down the passageway. She had decided to find out what demons lurked in this tower and wasn't just going to get scared and run away. Clenching her fists tighter, she was about to turn a corner when suddenly...

"...about... ten...feet tall. There's three of them. I took out one before getting ambushed by the other two. God...This seriously hurts like a bitch. Over, and out."

Linnea's stomach tied itself in a knot when she heard the boy's words. She wanted to do something - run, go fight, anything - but found herself rooted to the spot. However, when she saw the owner of the voice jogging around the corner, she had no choice but to follow.

Jack heard the plea over the communicator and swore. "Shit, what are they doing down here?" He spoke through the communicator.

"Jack here. I'm on my way, hold out as long as you can. I'll be there as soon as possible. Over and out." Jack turned around and dashed back down his path as fast as he could. He could only hope that Gale would also have known what was going on, so he called down his fork as he passed it just in case.

"Gale! Get back here Mike's in trouble! NOW!"

Gale knelt by the silver suitcase he had found, unfastening the locks with a satisfied expression. His road had been a dead end, and he had to deal with another weak Shadow, but at least he had found some treasure. He had never really asked questions about why there were randomly strewn about items in Tartarus, and as he pulled out a few oddly-shaped jewels thoughtlessly. Topaz, sapphire, sapphire.

Over the past two years, Gale's Persona developed a quiet ability of which he paid little mind. He found himself finding enemies easier, catching them off-guard more and more often and attributing it to his training. Suddenly, his hand froze, dropping the last jewel as a freeze ran up his spine.

There was a Shadow, no... at least two nearby. The ominous worry materialized.

Like a bad dream, the communicator rang off. "Guys, Michael here. I've run into a problem...You know those glove things on the third floor? Well, they're here and about... ten... feet tall. There's three of them...."

Gale snapped around immediately, catching Jack's voice and drawing out his Evoker. There were more strange coincidences now; he could have sworn he felt the other two (three?) humans around as well. "Jack! Mike! I can't find the stairs... we might have to fight them head-on!" he yelled into the communicator.

He stopped for a second to breathe. In. Out. After a few seconds, Michael began running as fast as he could, only to end up barreling into someone immediately after he turned the corner. Both Michael and the other person went down like a sack of potatoes. Getting up as quick as he could, he grabbed the other person's arm, hoisted them up, and began running towards the fork where the three Persona-users split up.

"Sorry! But I'm not gonna leave someone to a pair of overgrown gloves!"

The hallway seemed to stretch into forever as Michael ran, dragging the other person along. What felt like hours to him was in reality a few minutes. Eventually he reached the fork and let go of the person's arm and dropped down to his knees in exhaustion. Plus, he hurt all over from being blasted around like a punching bag.

It caught Linnea off guard when the boy grabbed her hand and started dragging her along, but she didn't complain. Whatever was down the hall, it was more than the boy could handle. Conflicting emotions brewed in her head as the two of them ran back towards the fork. On one hand, she wanted to get as far away from the monster as possible for fear of what it might do to her. On the other hand, however, part of her had a strong desire to, find out what monstrosities resided here, stare danger in the face, and risk her life in trying to defeat it. After all, she had come here in order to confront the darkness that dwelled in the tower and attempt to put an end to the Dark Hour.

"What are we running from, exactly?" asked Linnea once they reached the fork, trying to catch her breath from the sudden sprint. "And more importantly, what are we going to do about it?"

Jack kept running as he turned around the corner of the fork and saw Michael and Linnea. "Yo, you ok? And where'd you pick up the girl? Bah, whatever! Get to safety, I'll hold them off with magic until Gale gets here! Go!" He ran right past them, and saw the two giant gloves.

"What in hell!? I don't recall seeing gloves these big... I think they're still weak against Fire." Jack took out his Evoker, and pointed it at his head.

"Let's go, Odin!" He pulled the trigger, causing the mental barrier to break, and allowing his Persona to materialize.

"Agi!" Jack commanded his Persona to send a few fireballs down the hall to strike the gloves. The gloves stumbled a bit, but they recovered really quickly.

"Fuck..."

Gale skid into the corridor, spotting Michael and Linnea. Of course the appearance of a new human was startling but his ally's wounds were more dire. The presence Shadows far too strong for any one of them too handle lingered as well.

"What the hell?" Gale growled, a strange ripple curling over his palm as he focused. "Dia!"

Green sparks collided around Mike, targeting his wounds. It was one of the few spells Gale could use without his Evoker, though that only came with hours of practice in Tartarus. But he couldn't expect Mike to rush into battle again so quickly, so he turned his attention to Linnea with some hesitance.

"You... You've got a Persona, right?" He could sense that too, expression immediately darkening. "Can you fight? I don't want to take any chances with these things."

"Those are Shadows. Well...none of us know what Shadows are. All we know is that they live in this tower. As for what we're gonna do about it. We're gonna kill them."

Michael stood up, took out his Evoker, and handed it to Linnea butt first. "Here, you take this. It'd do you more good than it'd do me for now. I can't really fight without a weapon, so..."

"Oh, right. Thanks a ton, Gale."

Linnea respectfully declined the offered Evoker as she drew her own out of her bag. Her gaze lingered briefly on the faux-handgun before raising its barrel to her temple. She had hoped that it wouldn't come to this, but there were no other options. Inhaling deeply, Linnea pulled the trigger. As was the norm for Persona evocation, shards of glass spewed out from the opposite side of her head.

A large figure appeared in front of Linnea: her Persona, Hercules. It's body was a dark gray and had, for the most part, a slender build; however it exuded an aura of strength. A ragged black cape covered most of its torso and three yellow eyes occupied its spherical head. It carried a gnarled club in its right hand and a triangular shield in its left.

"Erymanthian Entrapment!"

Hercules slammed its club on the ground, which created a fissure in the tile floor. Inky black tendrils poured out from the ravine and formed a tight lattice around the two remaining gloves. The Persona dematerialized soon after.

"That should hold them for a bit...hit them with what you can before they break out."

Jack grinned. "Hercules huh? Hahaha! Interesting! But let's not get shown up by the newbie! GO, ODIN!" Jack raised his Evoker again and broke the mental barrier of his Persona.

Odin wielded his staff and shot several fireballs down the path, striking the now trapped hands with their weakness. Odin faded, and Jack panted.

"Here comes the big one! Agilao!" He summoned his Persona once again, and Odin spun his staff in circles before sending a gigantic flaming ball of death towards the flaming hands. It made contact and the hands took massive damage.

Gale watched the others intently, allowing a bemused smile. They knew how to handle themselves pretty nicely. Maybe, with this group, they could travel even farther up the seemingly-endless tower.

He replaced his Evoker with his katana; the hands didn't seem like they could handle much more. Not that he could afford to let his guard down.

Grip tightening, he rushed forward, drawing his blade across the "knuckles" of the left-most hand, careful not to let up as he sidestepped a thrashing protest with a follow-up slash. Before the sword had even disconnected the Shadow deteriorated into a black mass, fading almost instantly.

The girl refused his Evoker. Why?

Oh. By some twist of fate, she had her own Evoker. Oh well, this way he could help fight too.

Mike reached for his axe which he thought he had strapped to his back, or was he holding onto it? He didn't quite remember, but it wasn't here, that's for sure. Flipping up the gun, he caught it in his right hand and stylishly pointed it at his own head, summoning his Persona in the usual fashion. This time, instead of a vague silhouette, a more defined form appeared. The man was tall, and had an air of royalty. Dressed in royal clothing with a beautiful sword in his right hand was King Arthur, ancient king of Britan. At his left hip hung an empty scabbard. On his right, was another scabbard occupied with it's own sword. Slung over his back was yet another scabbard, yet this one held a large broadsword that seemed like an anachronism when compared to who was wieling it.

"Let's do something fancy! Excalibur!"

King Arthur gripped his sword and charged the enemy, flying towards the large hand at a running speed. The King made a slashing motion as he passed the hand and disappeared when the sword finished it's path, past the hand. A scant moment passed before it was neatly bisected at the middle, it's fingers and thumbs falling to the ground before dissolving into a pool of shadows.

Michael wanted to pump his fist into the air and do a victory whoop, maybe even a dance, like they did in games, or T.V shows. Except, he felt even more tired. He dropped backwards like a sack of potatos and resigned himself to just saying

"That was pretty badass, wasn't it?"

Linnea breathed a sigh of relief as the enemy disappeared. Heart still racing, she put her Evoker back in the bag at her side. She looked around at the other people for a few seconds before suddenly realizing that she was completely unacquainted with them.

"Oh, um...hi. My name's Linnea. Would you mind if I joined you?"

Jack laughed. "That was a thrilling fight I guess. I'm a bit rusty, and I really need to practice using the rest of my skills." He turned to Linnea and the others, as he rested against the wall.

"The name's Jack of the Magician Arcana... It's nice to meet you. You can join if you want. It's your choice, and yours alone. It'd be nice to have another party member here though..." He slid to the ground and gave a restful sigh.

"That wasn't so bad..." Gale exhaled, letting his sword grip slacken, resting the dull edge against his shoulder. He almost seemed disappointed, but turned his attention to the rest of the "party" instead.

"You go to Exeter, right? I'd say it's about time for us to head back but... you're welcome to come with us to Tartarus whenever." He paused, relaxing slightly and letting a sheepish grin on his face. "Oh, name's Gale. I'm a junior myself."

--Wonder where she got her Evoker though...-- Gale didn't want to frighten away whatever help they could get, but it was still a bit confounding.

After Gale finished his introduction, Michael stood with ease and cracked his neck a bit. Michael holstered his Evoker and then sighed when he realized that he'd have to jog (or something) for his dropped axe. However, this did have a bright side. There was another member to the team and more people was always great.

"Sup Linnea. My name's Michael... You can call me Mike if you want, though. I don't really mind either. Oh, and I'm a junior, like Gale here."

Out of habit, he cracked his knuckles. "Well, I suppose we're done for today, so let's get outta here before the whole thing turns back into Exeter."

Michael turned around and started walking back to the first floor of Tartarus where he'd drop off his crap (but he kept his Evoker) and then head home to sleep. He was dead tired from today.

"It was nice meeting you all," said Linnea with a somewhat forced smile on her face. Although she appeared calm, her heart was racing. It wasn't that she didn't like the other members - heck, she had only just met them - but she wondered what she was really getting herself into. She looked warily at the blood stains on the wall on the way back to the lobby, hoping that she wouldn't be reduced to them by getting involved in this. Once she had reached the lobby, she saw Mike drop off his things before leaving.

"Oh, um...is it okay to leave stuff here? Like, it won't disappear or anything, will it?"