For the Hell of It
   
  

/==================( - Inaba - Central Commercial Dist. - )==================\ 
|                                                                              |
|  Years ago, this was a bustling center of commerce and communal activity, a  |
| bright spot in a small and happy town, with each store telling stories       |
| spanning generations of the highs and lows of Inaba. Many of these stories   |
| are now at an end, as family-owned stores have been closing down left and    |
| right since the Junes department store opened close by.                      |
|  The long street where these stores reside still has a couple shops that     |
| are fighting to the bitter end. Daidara Metalworks and the Shiroku grocery   |
| store both stand strong before seemingly inevitable disaster, with Chinese   |
| Diner Aiya, Marukyu Tofu, and the Souzai Daigaku beef skewer stand           |
| continuing to attract hungry stomachs. Tatsumi Textiles largely survives on  |
| patronage from the Amagi Inn, and sometimes it seems only one young man's    |
| obsessive reading hobby is actually keeping Yomenaido Bookstore from         |
| falling apart. Konishi Liquors up at the northern end may be the next to     |
| go, following failing business and family tragedy. A small gas station does  |
| service for the few automobiles to come by here, more often servicing the    |
| buses that swing by the stop at the southern end.                            |
|  The outlook is grim, the street populated largely by bitter elderly folks   |
| and teenage bullies looking for an easy mark. Even the local, once proud     |
| Tatsuhime Shrine is falling apart, already said to be taken over by wild     |
| animals. The whole district faces a losing battle against Junes for          |
| commerce, but this nostalgic district held dearly by previous generations    |
| will go down fighting.                                                       |
|===============================( - Players - )================================|
| Tohru Adachi [NWO] <Kuukai>                                                  |
|===============================( - Objects - )================================|
| Fortune Teller's Shop                                                        |
|================================( - Exits - )=================================|
| Metalworks <M>:          CCD - Daidara Metalworks                            |
| Diner <D>:               CCD - Chinese Diner Aiya                            |
| Out <O>:                 Inaba                                               |
 \============================================================================/
It's pouring in Inaba, as it has for the past several days. It's due to clear up tomorrow, but--as usually happens after a heavy successive rain like this--it'll be followed up by the fog. What a drag... The town's really dead when it rains, too. Of course, for people who like to get out when no one else is around, or for people who're just frigging nuts, or for people who aren't frigging nuts but have things to do and damn the rain, they might be out anyway.

Have you ever heard of a rainy devil?

Somewhere of the vicinity of the bus stop in the commercial district, not far from the gas station, someone is there. Perhaps two someones, but the only one visible via either sight or resonance is a very, very tall man in red and black. He doesn't seem all that bothered by the rain, for some reason, and in fact is rather obscured by it. It's difficult to tell whom it might be from a distance. Of course, once you get too close...


A rainy devil? That'd be a pretty interesting thing to hear about.

Itsuka is one of those people who actually sort of has something to do in the rain--she's not long off the train from Port Island, having come out here with a ~friend~ to enjoy some of the great things to do here in the sleepy town of Inaba. She used to dislike it, but she's come around a lot since here last chance to be here, and she kind of wants to try that diner she saw that time she was out here. ...Before Yosuke was a /jerk/ to her--wait, long time ago, don't sweat it Itsuka.

But first, there's a cool store that Thora works out that she wants to go to. So, Itsuka is walking up to the district by way of the bus stop, chatting amiably with her umbrella held up. (She was even super-smart, and put Lorelei in the back of her mind so the rain would bother her less.) "...So, Saitou-senpai, isn't it a nice little place? I mean, it's pretty quiet, and half the stores are closed, but....it has a certain charm, don't you think?" Chatter chatter.


It's Friday, this town is getting increasingly shitty, and she hasn't gone to visit her mother in nearly a month.

This is why there is a large umbrella periodically producing smoke at the bus station. Michiru is drawing on the sassy little (well, not that little - it's large enough to be used as a one-handed club) kiseru she has periodically affected smoking, sort of like all those sophisticated ladies in kimonos in the comics.

It does not look terribly sophisticated in this humidity, however. Her head turns at the sound of people actually, like, /talking/ out in this weather, which unfortunately is in the opposite direction from looming menace.


Rain? A drag? You bet it is!

A teenager, coming from the direction of the direction of the northern commercial district, heads down towards the bus stop carrying a bright pink umbrella. Truth be told Fumiya was trying to tone back his... neon-ness a little, but he just doesn't own another umbrella and like hell he's getting his threads wet. He eyes Daidara as he passes, slows for a bit, but keeps going. No point in dropping in for no reason, even if he and Thora did kinda sorta mend things.

He doesn't notice the ominous figures at first, by sight nor resonance. He's still far too unused to having a Persona, let along sensing others. His mind's eye for this sort of thing is effectively blind until he can try and train it. The thought of training his Persona is currently on his mind, in fact. He's been gung-ho about helping Thora and her team out, but somewhere in the back of his mind he's still a little nervous. Well, no, nervous isn't the right word. Anxious? Pensive?

...

Non-radical.

While getting lost in this introspective thing, he continues on the path down to the bus stop.


It's been on-and-off rainy across Sumaru, too. There seems to some kind of storm system moving through.

Itsuka's invitation to go off somewhere together had been a welcome one. Miwa, in a much better mood due to /actually getting some sleep/ the previous night, has gone off with the Gekkoukan first year to Inaba, a country town that she herself has only visited once before, on what could only be described as 'a whim'. She hadn't actually poked around in Inaba all that much before heading back. But things were different with a friend, right?

A lot of the stores in the shopping district are closed. What a shame. But it seems like it's not just because of the rain, there. Toting a dark blue umbrella, she walks alongside Itsuka as they wander down the street. "Oh yes, it's quite peaceful, isn't it? It's even sort of pretty, in the rain like this..." It's a shame there's not much to do in terms of shopping, but, so it goes.


Aigis has an umbrella and, of course, is engaged in stalking. But shockingly (shockingly) the person she is stalking is actually Itsuka Mizuhara! And she's not really stalking so much as following her because she also wants to pay a visit to Thora. Even though it's raining. But that's why she has an umbrella. Because she doesn't want to get drenched again. She seems fine with incidental rainwater hitting her.

She looks at her feet, mumbling something about hoping she's okay.


Rain? That meant discounts in the Inaba shopping district for some odd reason, at least in the stores that were actually open.. Souji was out, umbrella in one hand, bag of purchased items in the other, heading down the street towards the bus stop and gas station, glancing passively at the shops he passes. Indeed most -were- closed. With Junes around, most couldn't afford to be open on days where there wouldn't be many customers.

As Souji draws nearer to the bus stop, it doesn't take him long to not to spot the strange figure in red and black. He couldn't help but feel something forebodingly familiar about it. Reluctantly and cautiously, he draws nearer to the figure, keeping his eyes upon it the entire time.


It's raining in Inaba, but it was merely cloudy before in Lunarvale when Arisa left. Now, irritable and wet, Arisa tugs the light blue poncho around her, letting it protectively trail over the large duffle bag hanging down behind her. Damn it, she wanted to take photos of the KNOWS facility, but in this horrid weather, all she can hope to get is, well, rain.

She hates rain.

Dark gold eyes peer through the rain, her senses catching upon some unfamiliar resonances- especially Miwa's, shining out to her like a beacon. Souji's resonance is one Arisa feels acutely as well- something fresh, and new. Inside the ocean of Arisa's unconscious, Olrun becomes interested momentairely, before shrinking immediately away at the presence of the strange.... man. That resonance... Arisa sneaks out her cheaper click and shoot camera, lining the sights right to click a picture. She needs to see what comes up, later.


Just talk to him again, Itsuka, and Yosuke will probably be a jerk to you again soon enough.

The figure in the rain lifts his head when he hears talking--/girls/ talking, haha, wouldn't it figure? But there's a bunch of other figures in the rain, all of them vaguely approaching in his direction. Including--hahahaha*ha*, oh, isn't *that* a bitch. This ought to be an interesting night. He holds up a hand and clicks his claws together, regarding it with the utmost interest.

Occasionally he likes to hurt things. Things have been stressful lately, and tomorrow's the fog. It'll be fun to just cut loose for tonight. There's some other person with a camera, too, and he tilts his head over that way.

But first things first.

"You *again*, Fukase?" he drawls, striding forward into the street. That's kind of dangerous, actually! "You've just got no luck at all."

That'll be Michiru's only warning--the only warning anyone near Kyrie gets--before suddenly a violent gust of wind rises up and slashes into those approaching the bus stop. Including those two bitches out shopping and their robot friend, the loser with the pink umbrella, the prostitute, and good ol' Souji. Michiru, since she's a returning guest, gets the added love of an Agi to the face.

COMBAT: Tohru Adachi misses Aigis with his Magarula attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits Souji Seta with his Magarula attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi misses Michiru Fukase with his Magarula attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits you with his Magarula attack.
COMBAT: You have taken 39 points of Wind damage.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi misses Itsuka Mizuhara with his Magarula attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits Miwa Saitou with his Magarula attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits Arisa Shiratori with his Magarula attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits Michiru Fukase with his Agi attack.


"I think so, too. I don't really like the rain, but..." Itsuka shrugs to Miwa, smiling a little in obvious agreement with the overall sentiment. She hasn't actually noticed Aigis yet, which is a pity, since Aigis is one of her favorite people, but it's nice to have a friend around anyway. "This isn't the place I told you about, but I have a friend who works up here, and I kind of um. Needed to go there anyway." It was so weird to get a message on her phone from the Velvet Room. That...never happens, does it? Anyway, she /knew/ the people there liked her. All those warnings they'd given her showed that! Even if they didn't really get her situation.

"Oh um, right, right up here." The first-year shakes off her thoughts, focusing on Miwa and not on all the other people around that she doesn't care about--the tall man included. Except...

He starts talking, and Itsuka blinks over his way. That's weird, is he...? The wind comes, and Itsuka hurls herself to the ground, rolling out of the way before she's even sure what's happening. "W-what the--?" Claws? What the hell /is/ this guy? Itsuka stares for a minute, before realizing that Miwa /didn't/ seem to be out of the way, and that...that's not alright. So it doesn't matter who this guy is. The short girl is already digging into her purse, letting it drop as she pulls out the Evoker she probably shouldn't be carrying. Just one glance around...well whatever.

"I don't know who you are...but you picked the wrong girl to mess with." She closes her eyes, taking cover around the corner where she'd ended up, and brings forth another self. ...and then pulls her Evoker's trigger.

A tiny winged figure pops up right over her shoulder, dressed in red and leather--quite a lot of it. She points towards the tall man, and /winks/ as a blue glow starts to rise below his feet.

COMBAT: Itsuka Mizuhara has activated Pixie.
COMBAT: Itsuka Mizuhara hits Tohru Adachi with her Rakunda attack.


Michiru has a poor idea of resonance, and not great vision in this rain. She does see a semi-familiar head of light hair moving not far away, and so she considers calling out to him even as she puts the stem of the pipe at her lips again. Then someone -

- calls -

- her -

Oh God!! The wind rush is somewhat blocked by her reflexive lowering of the umbrella, which means that it strikes the presented object. There is a skeletal series of snaps and then a wissshh as it's born away, soaking Michiru for a moment in the driving rain shortly before a burst of flame smashes into her.

She staggers back against the sign, letting out a gasp. The singing pain on her body is eased, fractionally, by the fact that she is rapidly becoming soaked. And then she can finally understand what's happened. That creature, she thinks with a moment of gut-clenching cold terror in her bowels, is here, and she's al-

No, she thinks: she isn't, Seta's right there, that other girl's doing something (who the hell is she and why is she also here???), the world starts becoming fractionally less terrifying, and Michiru breathes in.

"FUCK OFF!" she shrieks into the rain, before stabbing the drenched bowl of the pipe forwards into the small speck of glittering blue-white in front of her. "Xipe Totec!"

The golden figure shimmers in the rain for a moment, his man-skin cape drenched down by the rain's impact. He looks at Kyrie with an expression best described as pre-columbian disdain, and then vanishes, even as the pavement beneath the entity's feet arches upwards in a spontaneous pothole of sorts, the soil beneath raking upwards, /thirsty for his blood/.

Or blood-equivalent.

COMBAT: Michiru Fukase hits Tohru Adachi with her The Thirsty Soil attack.


"Gah!" Souji grunts as he's struck by the gale, knocked down with ease to his knees. Not only did he feel that, but clearly Izanagi within him didn't respond well at all. There was no doubt, however, that the figure across from him was who he thought it was.

"You again, huh?" he shouts to Kyrie against the fierce rain as he rises back to his feet. He extends out his hand, a crystalline card manifesting as he channels another side of himself. This one embodied a sense of wisdom.

Looking over as another one of the being's victims draws an evoker and a familiar blue circle rises under the feet of the other, he knew it was already too late to minimize witnesses. It was show time. Crushing the card in his own hand, he says an oh-so familiar word, "Persona!"

COMBAT: Souji Seta hits Tohru Adachi with his Soul Break attack.


/Loser/??? It's a good thing Fumiya can't read internal monologues, bub. He's probably just hating because he's not secure enough to walk around in pink anyway.

Fumiya glances up as Kyrie steps out on to the road. Up until now he didn't give the figure a second thought, but doing something odd like walking out onto the street, while addressing someone no less, gets his attention. With a shrug, he turns his attention back towards the bus stop, not hearing what was being said, before the wind suddenly SMACKS him square in the face like a right hook.

And he remembers what that feels like, having being given one from the Oni a few days ago.

Fumiya recoils, staggaring back a few steps as if really hit, and his umbrella is blown clear away. It's only now that it dawns on him that the wind looked rather green, and had this unnatural feel to it. "What the /hell/ was that?!" He asks as coherently as he can manage.

Luckily it only takes him a few moments to get his head straight and realize that something bad is going down. "Aw crap... I thought this stuff would be limited to the other world and, like, surprise attacks in back alleys. Who the hell is doing this out in the open?" He mutters to himself, looking towards the obvious candidate, Kyrie. His eyes narrow as he weighs his options, which basically come down to 'Fight' or 'Run'.

Like hell he's telling Thora that he ran from his first battle, so that makes the decision easy. Seeing Itsuka and others unload on the guy makes him feel a bit more confident about using his new powers here, he cracks his knuckles and prepares himself. "Man, you picked the wrong dude to mess with!" Fumiya proclaims, feigning bravery over his battle unready nerves. Taking a deep breath he focuses himself, this would be the first time he's used this power for real. Time to make it count. "Kick his ass, Murugan!"

Fumiya snaps his fingers, shattering a translucent tarot card in the process, and his four-armed lance-wielding peacock-riding Persona appears and charges Kyrie, thrusting his twin lances forward.

COMBAT: You have missed Tohru Adachi with your Cruel Attack attack.


ITSUKA AND AIGIS
FREELANCE STALKERS?

But of course Aigis seems to have the better handle on stalking this time around because Itsuka hasn't noticed her. Even if she wasn't actually trying to be sneaky all that hard. /Oh well/. As the violent gust of wind suddenly sheers up, Aigis drops down into a crouch, allowing the wind to buffet against her arms rather than actually throw her off her feet.

Of course everyone else is tossing the debuffs. Normally Aigis would support this with a buff of her own but she can't actually get a good feel for where people are--making it difficult. She straightens up, staggers, and then brings an arm forward towards the fog. She tries to use her cameras to track down the target--but it's not particularly effective. It isn't until Kyrie finally strides forward that she has the chance--and unleashes a quick swath of tiny metal slivers for the individual going on a rampage. Why now, Aigis wonders.

COMBAT: Aigis hits Tohru Adachi with her Pierce Attack - Inbuilt Gun attack.


"Well, the rain's nice sometimes, right?" Miwa replies, slightly shrugging her shoulders. "I mean, it's not that great all the time, but it's necessary for plants..." Miwa, too, is in her own world, not noticing any other familiar faces quite yet. At Itsuka, she nods. "Oh, that's all right. I don't need 'that' right now. I can wait a little longer." She doesn't plan to head back into the Tartarus quite yet, so it's not like there's any pressing need for her to pick up a 'real weapon' as Shinjiro put it.

You know, Miwa thinks to herself, as she takes a look ahead, squinting through the rain, that is the tallest person I've ever seen.

This is followed by a moment of confusion, as he proceeds to call someone out. It doesn't last for very long.

For Miwa, there's no time for much of a reaction at all, not when the violently sharp gust of wind rises up, whipping at her hard enough to bend and flip her umbrella inside out. And that's not even counting the damage it actually inflicts on the young woman: fine lacerations, mainly across her arms which she's raised to feebly attempt to shield herself from the worst of it. She screams, too, and not just from the sudden pain. What the--what in the world is happening?!

Itsuka's quick action helps snap her back to reality, though, and leveling the mangled umbrella in front of her like a makeshift shield, she takes a breath, steadying herself against the threatening panic. This also means she's getting drenched in the rain, but maybe /that/ isn't so important, right now. "Mom!" she calls out, rather abruptly, "Please, help me!" A faint hum of blue around her is the only warning for what comes next, the appearance of the masked woman clad in black, a cape of starry eyes trailing from her arms. A cloud of darkness congeals around the tall man, threatening to drag at him with its clammy touch.

COMBAT: Miwa Saitou hits Tohru Adachi with her Mudo attack.


*click* The picture is taken. Arisa frowns as the man(?) notices her; she doesn't react back, instead pressing the camera back into the windbreak underneath her poncho. Strange town. No wonder there's been murders and super-secret organizations here and. Well, there's just a large amount of persona-users here.

How odd.

When violence begins to erupt, Olrun presses at Arisa's psyche, demanding to be let out. Arisa grits her teeth, holding her head with one hand. Not *here*. Not... *damn it* Olrun. Ol-

Then the violent gust of wind hits, painful, but shielded somewhat by the swan maiden's influence. "If you're just going to attack people unsolicited... I guess there's no helping it... Olrun, come out!" Arisa expels a sigh of relief as a humanoid figure appears, white and black, with feathers adorning parts of her face and uniform. Energy expends itself to the 'warriors' around her; Arisa's side has been chosen.

COMBAT: Arisa Shiratori hits Aigis with her Revolution attack.
COMBAT: Arisa Shiratori hits Souji Seta with her Revolution attack.
COMBAT: Arisa Shiratori hits Michiru Fukase with her Revolution attack.
COMBAT: Arisa Shiratori hits you with her Revolution attack.
COMBAT: Arisa Shiratori hits Itsuka Mizuhara with her Revolution attack.
COMBAT: Arisa Shiratori hits Miwa Saitou with her Revolution attack.


First Itsuka--oh hey, /Itsuka/--sics frigging Pixie on him (Kyrie is well aware of its abilities, though that doesn't mean he can avoid its spell), and Michiru is freaking out, which gives the Shadow man a deep sense of satisfaction even as she calls for her Persona and slaps him with earth seeking to suck out his Shadow substance. Souji swaps out Izanagi of his soul for something less easily blown away and crushes at Kyrie's soul, while Aigis shoots at him with her fingers, Miwa strikes at him with darkness (while calling to her mother, of all things), and Arisa (who is marked as his next target for taking that photograph; he doesn't think it'll develop but it's the principle of the matter) who bolsters everyone else with her own Persona.

He just strides through the attacks--right past Fumiya's. Poor Fumiya.

"Didja miss me, me?" Kyrie drawls over at Souji. "Sorry I left you all *lonely*, but it serves you right."

He laughs in that warped, malevolent voice of his when multiple people tell him he picked the wrong people to mess with. He, yes, wasn't quite counting on this big a crowd, and he can feel the additional affects of their attacks on his being, but they're having a good time right now, right? No need to let that drag the party down. "Oh, I don't? Sure. Let's say that."

The massive jackknife sword that Souji would recognize as his own Izanagi's weapon appears in his hand then, and in a crimson flash, that blade rips into everyone, particularly as they get closer to the malevolent being. More murderously scarlet light surrounds him, and a moment later, a block of ice smashes into Arisa. It may or may not smash her camera in the process.

COMBAT: Tohru Adachi misses Aigis with his Vorpal Blade attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits Souji Seta with his Vorpal Blade attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits Michiru Fukase with his Vorpal Blade attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits you with his Vorpal Blade attack. COMBAT: You have taken 8 points of Slash damage.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits Itsuka Mizuhara with his Vorpal Blade attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits Miwa Saitou with his Vorpal Blade attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi misses Arisa Shiratori with his Vorpal Blade attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits Arisa Shiratori with his Bufula attack.


There is perhaps a certain amount of gravity in this situation that Itsuka has completely failed to grasp, despite the sudden /glut/ of Persona-users all out here at once. Perhaps she's upset, however, that her nice conversation with Miwa has been interrupted, and she didn't get a chance to think about how plants need the rain and such. She doesn't sense all the resonance; similar to the reason she missed Aigis, she has to think really hard to consider other people at times. Speaking of, though, that familiar gun action catches the SEES member's attention, and she whips her attention that way. "Aigis-san!" Amidst all the pain (well /she/ isn't hit yet) she finds a second to beam over at her robot friend.

It's the pattern, though--Itsuka isn't going to worry about it as anything more than a chance to show her friends her power until she actually gets hurt. ...Which happens right about /now/, actually, as Itsuka has a moment to be confused by the monster talking to that weird white-haired kid (he seems so familiar!) about how he's 'me' and then pain. The sword cuts into her, moving right through Pixie's admittedly feeble defenses, and she stumbles back, stabbing her umbrella into the ground to try to keep her balance. "O-ow...You jerk! Who the hell are you!?" She closes her eyes, and focuses again. It's really /hard/ to keep switching like this, and she just can't muster the concentration to do it yet. So, she looks up again.

Strategy, that's what senpai taught her. "Saitou-senpai, can you cover me?" She zips out into Kyrie's path, trying to draw his attention as she fires again, Pixie letting loose a bolt of lightning straight for this nice tall man.

COMBAT: Itsuka Mizuhara hits Tohru Adachi with her Zio attack.


Some kind of positive vibes impinge on Michiru even as she sees Souji cut loose, as well as - other people? is that a gun? That probably means either police officers or Aigis, and since nobody's screaming... probably Aigis! Of course, she is distracted when that sword breaks the laws of superimposition, sliding through the Correspondence Point to slash into her own tender body.

She staggers again, one shoe sliding on the wet pavement for a moment. She manages to avoid overbalancing, even as she feels the hot red line of pain running from her shoulder and down towards her navel - her clothes undamaged, perhaps, but the pain none the less present. She doesn't even want to look. She breathes quickly, twice, and then steps forwards.

"So," she shouts, "why do you keep coming here?! Why not go to some other town where you'd have a fresh god damn audience!!" The reflexive manipulator in the back of her head is a little rusty, but maybe this will work. What may also help is "Persona!" and another smashing slam into a flittering card that appears, butterfly like, in the rainy air:

Xipe Totec continues to seem unamused with this shit. However, he may in fact be a statue made out of gold, and thus not liable to many changes in expression. One of his arms shifts slightly, pointing index and ring finger towards Kyrie. There is a momentary sense of /something/ flowing, followed (hopefully) by an intense, delibitating feverish sweat breaking out in the metaphorical space of the entity's body.

COMBAT: Michiru Fukase misses Tohru Adachi with her Wrenching Fever attack.


Fumiya feels elated for the moment Murugan charges Kyrie. Finally, finally after all this time he gets to fight these monsters himself. He gets to strut his stuff and prove he can handle all this. And most importantly, he gets to beat some joker down!

And then Murugan misses.

His expression is frozen for a moment, before he angrily stomps his foot and nearly throws a tantrum at his own Persona. "Oh WHAT THE HELL!" He doesn't get time to fume for long, though, as he is pulled back to reality by Kyrie's chilling laugh. For the first time Fumiya really feels the weight of this fight. He has next to no experience fighting these things. So far he's seen Azusa, someone possessed by Surt, a zombie at Paulownia, his own Shadow, and now this guy. But despite his inexperience, even Fumiya feels something creep up the back of his spine when he looks at him.

Maybe it's just the rain.

"Ok, fine." He gasps, and takes in his surroundings. Finally he spots two familiar faces, Aigis and Souji, and feels a little better. At least this isn't all on him and some guys he doesn't know. Shaking his right hand to loosen it up, Fumiya decides to fall back on something that just feels a bit more familiar to him. Before he can make a move to attack, though, he spots Kyrie's giant sword and instinctively jumps out of the way. It does little good as he's not quick enough, though, and he couldn't even see the attack anyway. He winces, but it was thankfully fairly shallow.

Hitting the ground from his leap, he rolls, and springs back to his feet not too far from Kyrie. Shaking his right hand to loosen it up a bit, Fumiya just dives into melee range and swings his fist at Kyrie's face, letting the metal knuckles that accent his glove speak for themselves.

COMBAT: You hit Tohru Adachi with your Strike Attack - Gloves attack.


Aigis tries to take a photograph with HER EYES but it comes out so blurry that she just discards it anyway. It's not useful and if he's going to go on a rampage, it'd be easier to take him down here and THEN question him. And to think she just intended to visit Thora-Chan today.

Nobody calls Arisa for help, not at this moment, something about the fog--

Nevertheless, Aigis bobs her head to Itsuka and tells her, "Be careful. This is a dangerous opponent." Aned she leaps away from that 'just a jackknife (sword') and hand springs away from it, the blade just barely rippling underneath her back as she lands in a small crouch again.

Her eyes narrow briefly and says, "Palladion!"

The Persona flickers above Aigis's head, swooping down in a swooping, slashing motion for Adachi's body.

"What is the purpose of this? Why now?" Aigis asks.

COMBAT: Aigis hits Tohru Adachi with her Brave Blade attack.


Oh, that's Aigis, isn't it? Now that she spares the girl (?) a look, she... is pretty sure that she /does/ have a gun as part of her body. Or something.

The tall man, meanwhile, earns an expression that's a good one part fear, and one part disbelief. "Who are you? Why are you doing this?" Not that Miwa really expects an answer, but...

The umbrella provides poor defense against a sword. The blade slices through the mangled thing handily, leaving a deep core across Miwa's right forearm in the process. She gasps, barely biting back a full-on scream, as her blood drips from her arm, diluted by the unceasing rain. She huffs a breath, and takes backs up, once, the skeletal umbrella gripped tight in her hands.

This guy... this thing! It's not human, is it? Is it a Shadow? But Ratri can't see a thing in the daytime. Her green-eyed gaze slides over to Itsuka. "Itsuka-chan... I... I can do that. Please, trust me!" The roles are a little reversed; before, it was Itsuka providing cover while Miwa stood back and cast spells.

Just like in the Dark Hour, Ratri takes one step back in her mind. This time, Fir Bolg, that giant that Elizabeth had named as being of the Emperor Arcana comes to the fore. It's... different from Ratri, and even Yaksa. It makes her feel strong, like she could take on a whole group of people with her bare hands, and maybe even win. "In your name..." she intones, dragging the massive, red-bearded giant out into the open, "I invoke you! Fir Bolg!" The giant lunges foward, seeking to strike at the tall man with a mighty fist.

COMBAT: Miwa Saitou hits Tohru Adachi with her Sonic Punch attack.


Souji felt that one, too, and hard! That took quite a cut into him, standing so close. He staggers to his feet once more, another card appearing before him as he manifests another aspect of himself. He glares down the being intently, almost losing himself in thought. Could this guy really be his Shadow? Perhaps, but then why was his shadow walking around Inaba attacking people at random? Even the darkest corners of his soul have no desire for such a bloodbath, he thought.

Then, the silver-haired boy looks around to the others. As hard as it was to see, he could tell he wasn't the only one wounded. Crushing the card in front of him, an ethereal spirit of peace and tranquility appears, bathing the area in a rejuvenating aura.

He looks back to the bloodied, wartorn version of his own Persona. Hatred, rage, spite. He was far from pure, and if he did have another self he was still denying, he's pretty sure it wouldn't have a desire to do this. "You're not me," he says as stoutheartedly as he can manage, "you psychopathic bastard!". Did he forget the concequences if he was wrong, or did he want to see what happened? Either way, he was taking a gamble.

COMBAT: Souji Seta hits Aigis with his Mediamai attack.
COMBAT: Souji Seta hits Souji Seta with his Mediamai attack.
COMBAT: Souji Seta hits Michiru Fukase with his Mediamai attack.
COMBAT: Souji Seta hits you with his Mediamai attack.
COMBAT: You have been healed for 8 points of damage.
COMBAT: Souji Seta hits Itsuka Mizuhara with his Mediamai attack.
COMBAT: Souji Seta hits Miwa Saitou with his Mediamai attack.
COMBAT: Souji Seta hits Arisa Shiratori with his Mediamai attack.


This isn't good. Arisa can't move like this. Depositing the heavy duffle bag in some bushes as the strange tall man taunts the young man with the likeable resonance, the dusky skinned girl takes out the two parts of her naginata, connecting them together with a practiced movement before moving back towards the fray. Perhaps she's being reckless, but with with purpose at her side, Arisa feels charged. These people need her help. The poncho obscures Arisa's movements, but the hood flies off, exposing a crop of short dark hair, cut close to her scalp. She should be scared, but Olrun's presence reminds her:

'Protect these brave warriors against the foe. Crush the fear in your hand, and let it drip onto the blade that you stab at your enemies.'

Olrun provides the push needed to aside that crimson weapon, Arisa's sneakers sliding on the wet pavement. Then- Ice. Why did it have to be ice. Arisa cries out as it crashes over her, the impact knocking her away off her feet. "...." She breathes, wiping her mouth. "... Olrun... come to me!" Olrun appears again, holy energy shooting towards Kyrie from the humanoid's fingertips.

COMBAT: Arisa Shiratori misses Tohru Adachi with her Hamaon attack.


Lightning strikes, (disco) fever is passe, swords slash, lights glitter off into the darkness to his back, and giants and former neon freaks punch. Though Kyrie continues to soak a lot of damage and avoid some more, he's still in pretty good shape. Just what *is* this guy made of...? Michiru in particular implies that he should piss the hell off, and Kyrie rolls his head in her direction. "Why shouldn't I stick around?" he retorts. "Not my fault the universe hates this town. And not my fault you just happened to be here. Like I said: you've got godawful luck."

Another laugh when Aigis asks him why here, why now. "Why? Because I felt like it. Because I can. What other reason do I need?" Itsuka's yelling, as well as Miwa's questions, get them a spread of one arm. "Ask around. I'm sure you'll hear the good word," Kyrie drawls. No need to talk about his reasons; he basically just said, after all. Then he turns a sharp look over at Arisa. "What the hell are *you* even doing here, anyway?" ...Fumiya just... gets ignored?? Well at least he isn't saying anything to Souji, eithe--

oh wait

Kyrie palms his forehead in one steel-clawed palm, just *giggling* eerily as he crouches over before throwing his head back. "Souji," he purrs, "you should know better than that."

The storm breaks for a split-second for lightning--but not a natural one; the bolt called down is Kyrie's mask, and it shoots straight for the silver-haired teen.

"Isn't this town really boring?" he then grates over Souji's way, whether lightning has struck true or not. Behind his mask, a wicked smile unfurls--and though no one would be able to see it, they'll be able to sense its effects on them, crushing at their spirits. "If it weren't for the murders, nothing would've ever happened here, and I'd be going through another however long I'd be stuck here of walking through life like walking through a closed mall. It doesn't even matter if the killer gets caught, either, 'cuz as long as people get thrown in and then get rescued, we can keep at this game forever. Even if the killer *does* get caught, there's plenty of other twisted Users who'll be happy to take up the slack. And I'm at the center of it all.

"I'm *glad* the murders happened."
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits Souji Seta with his Ziodyne attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi misses Aigis with his Evil Smile attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits Souji Seta with his Evil Smile attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits Michiru Fukase with his Evil Smile attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits you with his Evil Smile attack.
COMBAT: You have taken 0 points of Mystic damage.
COMBAT: You take less damage due to your Mystic resistance.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits Itsuka Mizuhara with his Evil Smile attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits Miwa Saitou with his Evil Smile attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits Arisa Shiratori with his Evil Smile attack.


Be careful, Aigis said. Well, if she knows something Itsuka doesn't, then Itsuka will do her best to /seem/ careful. "Got it!" ...Though actually, there /is/ that really cool guy in all the bright colors she doesn't recognize. It's easier to stay brave when they're all working as a team.

Speaking of teamwork, though, Itsuka gives a firm nod Miwa's way, eyes on Kyrie. "I trust you!" It's so weird, the way Miwa summons her Personas...honestly, Itsuka is jealous. She thought the Evoker was special, a symbol, but everyone else can go without one. ...Why can't she?

It kind of pisses her off. It might even look like it's his speech that does it, but honestly...'because he can?' that just doesn't get up her outrage. He says he uses the TV...? He's kind of got a point. Anybody'd do it, and it's fruitless to think that stopping just one person would solve their problem.

But she feels.../wrong/, now, even worse than she did before. Itsuka stumbles back, closing her eyes, trying to figure out what it /is/ but--no, it's got to be him. It's his fault. And now, she has a name for him and the white-haired boy name. ...Wait. No, no, he /doesn't/ have a point, how could she even think that? Itsuka's expression hardens, and she takes a step forward. "Blah, blah, blah. You're just another psycho who gets off on his power. It's pretty pathetic, don't you think?" She's nothing like this guy. She'll prove it, too, shifting the presences in her mind again--she suddenly feels so much clearer. She can count on Miwa to keep her safe, so she just opens up, the music flooding her mind. Another flash of blue sparks, and this time, a blue-dressed woman appears, red lines flashing along her limbs for an instant. "LORELEI!" Kill. The rain pools, and crashes toward Kyrie.

COMBAT: Itsuka Mizuhara hits Tohru Adachi with her Maraques attack.


Ah, the warm glow of healing. "Thanks!" Michiru declares in a sort of generic sense, the pain in her personal torso starting to fade away. Then of course a new shade of cold comes to her, even as she hears those strange words and sees the creature moving towards -

Michiru has a complex reaction in several levels in an instant. On one level there is the momentary terror that this thing is going to kill their 'leader' - even if she hasn't seen his leadership as closely as others, maybe, Souji is not a bad person: he doesn't deserve any of this. On another level, there's a momentary fillip of something...

... which is rapidly overwhelmed by outrage. He's happy about MURDERS. Because they're not BORING. Not for some religious reason, or some secret occult menace that can only be fed with blood (for some reason that seems quite logical to her), but because he's BORED.

She finds herself running at the thing, into the street without regard for any traffic (thankfully the bus is still a long time away), fumbling something out of her blouse and gripping it between middle and ring finger: "Get away from him!"

This didn't work so well last time.

But Michiru hit her head and so she didn't learn anything!! She swipes her hand upwards as if jabbing an uppercut at the side of Kyrie, but really, it's leading with a razor blade partially wrapped with safety tape -- only partially, of course.

COMBAT: Michiru Fukase misses Tohru Adachi with her Bodice Razor attack.


Aigis's eyes widen faintly and she looks towards Souji for a moment, an eyebrow raised. Is she buying this Souji's Shadow business? Perhaps--but she seems to be handling Adachi's own waves of evil energy rather well. She wasn't expecting a battle--her repairs are still settling in. She holds swipes her umbrella in front of her body before swinging it over her head again. SHe doesn't seem to be particularly affected by the soul crushing as much either.

Clearly, she doesn't have one!

"This is all because of boredom?" Aigis asks, frowning. "You..." She shakes her head, "You are the worst." He may not be destroying the world like Strega, but to think that someone is gushing over the murderer taking people out like that, for no other reason beyond 'it's a thing to do'. Even Strega has an ethos behind their work, however ridiculous it may be to the robot.

"If you find this town so boring. You should leave."

Her Persona rolls forward as it is summoned once more, wordlessly, as it aims to literally just ram intself into Kyrie's body the old fashioned way. After the summoning, Aigis drops down into a crouch breathing out black billowy steam.

COMBAT: Aigis critically hits Tohru Adachi with her Vicious Strike attack.


Ask around? What sort of answer's...? "Itsuka-chan...?" Miwa ventures, taking a solid step forward as she moves in front of the Gekkoukan first year. Briefly, she glances back over her shoulder. "Do you... know who he is?" She gets the feeling the answer's probably 'no, not really' but the younger girl's more knowledgeable about this sort of thing than she is. Maybe...

What is that feeling? It's almost like someone's trampling over her soul. Despite her somewhat aggressive--okay, protective, since she's playing tank for Itsuka--posture, she cringes back, flinching. The skeletal umbrella in her hands sags slightly, the exhaustion that's started to creep into her limbs suddenly seeming just that much overwhelming. But she can't let Itsuka down. She's vulnerable, unless Miwa does something. And the presence of Fir Bolg allows her to come up with only one good idea.

Brandishing the wrecked thing, Miwa suddenly charges at the tall man, the bolstering courage of Fir Bolg the only thing that keeps her going. She'd never think of Swinging overhead, she brings the metal umbrella frame down upon him.

COMBAT: Miwa Saitou hits Tohru Adachi with her Strike Attack - Bludgeon attack.


Souji struggles as he's struck by the strange being. Was this thing for real? What sort of twisted, demented side of him could possibly think these things? He truly felt a sense of immeasurable dread in seeing the face of Kyrie. If this thing wasn't him, then what -was- it? He couldn't be thinking these thoughts. Not now, not ever.

Nevertheless, he conjures the spirit he did before to help keep his body able to stand. "Me or not," he says to boost his own resolve as much as anything else, "I'm not about to let you do this."

COMBAT: Souji Seta hits Souji Seta with his Diarama attack.


Hah-ha! Fumiya connects with his punch and, despite the usual painful impact that comes with smacking something, feels pretty damn good about it. There's just something exhilirating about smacking someone with your bare hands, especially now that his body feels somehow stronger with his Persona.

"Take that!" He exclaims, leaping back a few steps to get out of arm's reach just in case Kyrie decides to retaliate. Though, he doesn't. He doesn't even so much as look at him or say anything. As if he knows this would really get under Fumiya's skin. And it does.

The 80s Kid shakes his head, immediately stopping himself from dwelling on that and letting himself get distracted. He has this power now and he has a job to do, dammit. Rubbing his offensive hand as he tries to focus on his next move, he's taken entirely off guard by the odd sensation of Kyrie's Evil Smile. He spends a moment looking back and forth across the battlefield, as if he was supposed to spot something, as if there was something he just missed.

The chaos of his first fight has made the conversations between Kyrie and all the others pretty much go over his head. He knows he's saying stuff, and he does manage to pick up on his 'because I'm bored' excuse, which pisses Fumiya off quite a bit, but otherwise the other exchanges go unheard. It's clear it's Fumiya's first Persona fight, he spends far too long thinking about what to do next, it still doesn't quite come natural to him yet. Most of his own abilities are still rather new to him.

"Ok punk, lemme try this on for size." He says, summoning Murugan once more. The Persona waves its lower two arms around, causing a blast of fire to erupt all around Kyrie's current location. Seeing himself cast magic for the first time, Fumiya just blinks.

"Hot."

COMBAT: You hit Tohru Adachi with your Agilao attack.
COMBAT: You are healed 15 points of damage from your ongoing Heal Over Time effect.


"... You attacked me." Arisa makes her answer simple. She points her finger towards the dark figure, even as her insides shake- "You're attacking people randomly. If you had a complaint to air, there are much better ways of airing it. And you are being violent in a public space- had people not decided to keep out of the rain, there'd be a lot more innocent people hurt. Thankfully, everyone here has a persona." The tall man's unrepentive nature irks Arisa even more, especially as he taunts that grey-haired boy. "Thrown in? What do you mean by thrown in? Are you the murderer behind the Inaba incidents?"

Like some sort of answer, something hits Arisa squarely in the gut, nearly causing her to double over. "....?!" Gritting her teeth, she straightens, shakily pointing a finger at the man, her voice cracking. "A-are you connected to SEBEC at all?" Surely, there's room for a connection. A town with murders in it. Strong.... *things* moving around. The mysterious KNOWS center. There *has* to be a connection, in Arisa's mind.

..... Too bad there really isn't. "No one here shall not be bullied by you!" Olrun appears once more. "I'll slow your exploits down!"

COMBAT: Arisa Shiratori hits Tohru Adachi with her Arm Chopper attack.


Souji heals again, Fumiya sets him on fire, Aigis crushes him (/ow/), Miwa hits him with an umbrella, Itsuka splashes him some more (well it *is* raining), Arisa cuts him so bad he wishes she didn't cut him so bad (he is even starting to show signs of being injured; his form has taken a beating and there is dark "blood" dripping from his various and sundry wounds), and Michiru takes a running leap at him with a razor, which he steps backwards once to avoid. Kyrie watches her stumble past and possibly even fall with interest. "And who's gonna stop me? You?" he sneers, before he looks over at the others.

"Maybe," the Shadow man says agreeably enough over Itsuka's way. "But what do you think's more pathetic--someone who has fun going on a rampage with his *own* power, or someone who has to mess with the fabric of reality itself to get what she wants?"

He cocks his head over at Souji. "You should know it's not about whether or not you'll LET me," he drawls his way, perhaps rather cryptically. At Arisa, he snorts. "Now why would your mind go immediately to SEBEC?" He peers at her again. Hmmm. There's something vaguely familiar about her. Has he seen her before somewhere? He doesn't think so, but then, he goes a lot of places. He eventually pinned Reid down. Maybe he'll pin this girl down too. She's got the look of a mutt to her, so she'll be easy to recognize, anyway--even with this rain obscuring everything.

Whether he's the murderer or not goes unanswered. And Miwa doesn't say anything worth responding to, so she gets no response--and Kyrie's *still* ignoring Fumiya!? What a jerk! One would think that he knew Fumiya has a thing where he dislikes not getting attention or something.

Crimson light surges around him as he throws his head back and arms out and *keens*. The sound of it, if it gets past the spiritual defenses of the listener's Persona, should not only chill them to the bone but actually do /damage/. That light doesn't fade just yet, though, as he calls forth another ripping torrent of wind to sear into everyone. It's a cruel move, sure--but Kyrie never claimed to be nice (and besides which, they're hitting harder and faster than he expected, and even *he's* starting to get worn down).

"*You*," he snaps then over at Aigis, "are *especially* getting on my fucking nerves. Go back to the scrapyard, blender girl!" And down comes the lightning, yet again, to crush the robot--as a super-special extra boss attack. Stop dodging so much and you won't get punished like this, Aigis!!

COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits Aigis with his Ghastly Wail attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits Souji Seta with his Ghastly Wail attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits Michiru Fukase with his Ghastly Wail attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits you with his Ghastly Wail attack.
COMBAT: You have taken 7 points of Mystic damage.
COMBAT: You take less damage due to your Mystic resistance.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits Itsuka Mizuhara with his Ghastly Wail attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits Miwa Saitou with his Ghastly Wail attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi misses Arisa Shiratori with his Ghastly Wail attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits Aigis with his Magarula attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi misses Souji Seta with his Magarula attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi misses Michiru Fukase with his Magarula attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits you with his Magarula attack.
COMBAT: You have taken 60 points of Wind damage.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits Itsuka Mizuhara with his Magarula attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits Miwa Saitou with his Magarula attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi misses Arisa Shiratori with his Magarula attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits Aigis with his Ziodyne attack.


"How do you--" Aigis begins.

The ghastly wail just doesn't really affect Aigis too much, but she isn't expecting a second assault--namely the huge winds which send her slamming up into the air like a boss from an overly cinematic one road only game with excessive cutscenes! But that's not the worst of it, even though she is momentarily suspended in midair, Tohru Adachi decides to make matters even worse by slamming down upon her the power of ZEUS ITSELf.

The lightning slams Aigis into the ground and sends her bouncing across it even as little screws and bolts trail around the ground as she skids across the floor. She doesn't get up.

Even for a robot, some things hurt.


Fumiya grins, as it appears that the fire does a little more to Kyrie than his previous efforts. He's even starting to get the hang of this! "How'd ya like that?!" He exclaims. And waits. And recieves no response. Again.

>B(

Fumiya doesn't get time to become angry over Kyrie's continued rudeness, as he falls victim to his chilling wail. His hands dart up to his ears, as he suddenly feels a flash of illness wash over him. It subsides nearly as quickly as it came, and the dizzy youth shakes his head in an attempt to re-focus. He doesn't get a reprieve, though, as another blast of wind slams into him. This time it hits him much harder, and he's knock back against a wall. Miraculously he keeps his balance, but the wind coupled with the impact leaves Fumiya hurting. The Wail from a few seconds before exacerbates it all. "You dirty..." He mumbles, taking a few steps forward, before his attention is darts to one of the two people he really knows at this brawl. He watches as Aigis is blasted by lightning and sent scattering across the ground. "Aigis-babe!" He reflexively calls out. The little bolts and screws, miniscule though they might be, especially disturb Fumiya and he's forced to remind himself that Aigis is a robot. Grinding his teeth, he turns to face Kyrie again.

"She risked her life to save my ass." He growls, taking a step forward. "I ain't gonna let a prick like you do that again!" Clenching his fist, he points at Kyrie, his spiritual tarot shattering again. "Bring him down, Murugan!" His Persona reappears in a flash, and charges Kyrie attempting to impale him with a single lance.

COMBAT: You hit Tohru Adachi with your Primal Force attack.

COMBAT: You are healed 15 points of damage from your ongoing Heal Over Time effect.


And indeed, Michiru skids - she doesn't fall flat in a hilarious way but she does trip, skinning her knee and ripping her skirt's undue length as she does so, feeling her face burn at those words from the creature. It's screaming; her ears hurt, her body trembling, the rain driving her downwards.

Just like last time, part of her thinks, with another of that peculiar twinge of feeling-she-can't-quite-place at what the being, this Kyrie, had said before hand. What he'd said...

That it was making it not boring. That all of this was entertainment. Her face starts reddening despite the driving rain running down it. "Xipe Totec," she mutters to herself, eyes squeezing shut.

She lets her voice arc upwards. "KILL IT!" And the golden statue man appears again, as if on cue (and indeed, a cue it was) as it looks downwards, one hand extending now, palm turned upwards. Raindrops start pivoting at odd angles around it -- because in this environment, the speck of gathering intense darkness and its inevitable gravity oddities is impossible to see directly. There is a faint glimmer of a blue halo around it.

Then it shoots out, aimed right at Kyrie's back arc.

COMBAT: Michiru Fukase hits Tohru Adachi with her Black Hole attack.


"I don't know who he is!" Itsuka calls it out to Miwa, even as she steps up in front of her. It's harder to keep up the cheer, though, when she feels like this. There's that other girl, too, the stranger, who's talking about how 'no one will be bullied'. Itsuka looks over Arisa, getting a feel for her, the way she talks, and--

He's talking. Itsuka is already smirking, ready for a quick comeback, since they seem to be chatting so amiably. It's just that what he says--what he knows--stops her cold in her tracks. Itsuka just /stares/, the color draining out of her face. "I..."

The sudden /noise/ cuts through her, and she blinks back to awareness. Other than that, it barely fazes her, considering how attuned she is to the mystic--but the sudden burst of wind does, hitting hard. She holds up her arms, the umbrella ruined and tattered by the force of the attack, even as she hears Aigis falling over there. This guy...he's hurting her friends, and...

He knows. He's going to tell everyone.

Afraid, Itsuka holsters her Evoker, unsure that she can control her Persona feeling like this. "...You hurt my friend." The short girl glances toward the fallen robot, and back to Kyrie. "I...Aaaah!" Ituska just /charges/, shifting her grip on the umbrella to hold it with both hands, swinging it straight for Kyrie's heart.

COMBAT: Itsuka Mizuhara misses Tohru Adachi with her Slash Attack - Axe attack.


Souji staggers back as the bloodcurdling sound enters his mind. He struggles to resist, clasping a hand to his head, but it easily overpowers him for some time. Once he's regained some sense of composure, he sets his eyes back on the menacing possibly alter-self.

Taking a deep breath, or maybe ten, he draws his katana from a sheath hidden under the jacket of his uniform and shouts to Kyrie, "You're right, it's not about me letting you. You just won't! Izanagi, come!" With that, a crystalline card appears before him, which he promptly smashes in his hand with a fury! In a blaze of light, a purer reflection of Kyrie appears for all to see.

He smiles as the others Looking to the most distant of the others, he raises that same hand out and shouts, "Alright, everybody, while he's overpowered!" He then charges in himself, delivering a fluid flourish of slashes. His Persona leaps in from behind, granting Souji cover with his massive polearm, striking in almost perfect harmony.

COMBAT: Souji Seta hits Tohru Adachi with his All-Out Attack attack.


Not just any umbrella, but a /broken/ umbrella! It's got a lot of pokey bits.

There's a glance back at Itsuka then. "Itsuka-chan...?" It was Shadow-lies, right? It had to be. What he was saying didn't sound like her friend at all.

Breathing hard, her hair plastered to her face by the rain, the Sevens senior takes a cautious step back, a sudden pulse of fear echoing within her at the realization of how close she is to this guy, this thing with a sword and so much power--what was she thinking? What would he do to her?! Fir Bolg's answer almost feels like a disapproving shake of the head, as if he's sad to see how cowardly the one who has summoned him really is.

At any rate, her attack's answered: a shock of supernatural fear that rattles her badly enough that Miwa gasps, drops the broken umbrella, and even with Fir Bolg's presence still heavy and powerful inside her, turns to run in terror. A poor choice; wind rips into her next, sending her sprawling hard onto the asphalt, skidding and scraping across the rough wet surface. "Ah..." she gasps, pain resounding from what feels like every part of her body. Slowly, she picks herself up, wincing as she turns over her hands, staring at the bleeding scrapes across her palms and arms. "It..." she mumbles, turning slowly then to face the tall man once again. And Itsuka's desperate assault.

"Itsuka-chan!" She'll get hurt!

Fir Bolg's gone from within her mind. Yaksa's calm presence comes forth, the sari-clad spirit spring forth at Miwa's call. "Yaksa! I call upon you!" With a graceful wave of one long-fingered hand, the yaksini spreads her comforting aura wide, across all those standing against Kyrie.

COMBAT: Miwa Saitou critically hits Souji Seta with her Media attack.
COMBAT: Miwa Saitou hits Michiru Fukase with her Media attack.
COMBAT: Miwa Saitou hits you with her Media attack. COMBAT: You have been healed for 14 points of damage.
COMBAT: Miwa Saitou hits Itsuka Mizuhara with her Media attack.
COMBAT: Miwa Saitou hits Miwa Saitou with her Media attack.
COMBAT: Miwa Saitou critically hits Arisa Shiratori with her Media attack.


"KNOWS is here. You're here. Persona-users are here. There has to be a connection. If there isn't, well. It's okay to make a mistake of judgement. I was here to investigate KNOWS." Indeed, Arisa should be very easy to find- even as the poncho obscures her body, her head is readily visible, displaying the characteristics of someone.... who can't be wholly Japanese. A long, defined nose, dusky skin a tone that can't be from a tan, dark gold eyes that, while possible among many here, just seem to set off the entire 'mutt' package.

It's easy to cast doubt in Arisa's eyes however, as he seems to insinuate that some of the people gathered aren't as innocent as they might seem. Mess with the fabric of reality? Blender girl? Arisa seems confused, until she hears Souji call out.

Looking to Souji, his resonance seeming to shine with confidence- or, maybe, she's just getting that from his voice, his resonance still the same hue and feel as before. Olrun responds well to it, as to the combined resonances of everyone else. She almost overlooks the resemblance of his persona to Kyrie- they look extremely similar, though the young man's seems whole.

Hope.

She feels the energy of Miwa's persona flow into her- Arisa closes her eyes, then opens them, sharp. "HAAAAAAAH!" Arisa darts forward, naginata in both hands, twisting it as she closes in on Kyrie, the long weapon twisting in a fast revolution, both sharp and blunt ends directed towards the tall shadow man.

COMBAT: Arisa Shiratori misses Tohru Adachi with her Take My Revolution attack.


Souji calls for an all-out attack, slicing into his cracked mirror with his own, purer Persona. Fumiya sends out Murugan to pierce the Shadow man with his spear, Michiru attempts to crush him with darkness, Itsuka tries and fails to hit him with her axe, Arisa's spinning spear assault gets soaked with no problem, Miwa heals the group, and Aigis falls. When the smoke settles... Kyrie is still there. His form is leaking everywhere, he's taken some massive damage, but he's still here, clawed fingers curled in, golden eyes glaring out from beneath his mask.

Not far away, but far enough that he can't be seen, Adachi is clutching his head and swaying on his feet, panting as he manages to hold his umbrella over his head. Fuck. /Fuck/. This *has* been fun, but they've pushed him pretty far, and he actually has to meet some people tomorrow and not look like hell froze over. He has two options, as he figures: he can stick it out out of sheer spite, or he can make a run for it.

Making a run for it at this point seems like a good idea after that girl healed the group just now. He did this to blow off some steam, not to actually kill someone; even compared to the first time he did this, he isn't really *angry*, just bored and irritated. On the other hand, a big crowd like this, are they *really* just going to let him run? Of course not. So his option here seems pretty clear--oh and look at Souji, with Izanagi synced back onto his soul.

"Oh. Yeah. It's /totally/ your FRIEND you're worked up over," Kyrie hisses at Itsuka in the midst of a nasty chuckle. He turns a baleful eye over Arisa's way--to investigate KNOWS, huh? He'll probably see her again at some point, then. The rest are blown off (ESPECIALLY you, Fumiya! HA HA HA HA HA), except for Souji, who gets another nasty chuckle. "Except for one thing.

"I did this for fun.

"And I've just about had my fill. So, actually, I did exactly what I wanted to do, and you didn't stop me at all. Actually, you just gave me exactly what I wanted. It's not like I attacked *normal* people. Think about that some, me."

He draws himself up then, crimson light surging around him. "See ya," he adds flippantly to the crowd, before another gale of razor winds whips up to slash into the group, add violence to the storm, and make visibility just plain hell.

By the time anyone can see again, Kyrie is gone. Adachi pants where he stands, some distance away, for a while longer.

Then he turns and casually starts to walk away.

COMBAT: Tohru Adachi misses Souji Seta with his Magarula attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits Michiru Fukase with his Magarula attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits you with his Magarula attack.
COMBAT: You have taken 48 points of Wind damage.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits Itsuka Mizuhara with his Magarula attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi hits Miwa Saitou with his Magarula attack.
COMBAT: Tohru Adachi misses Arisa Shiratori with his Magarula attack.


Michiru doesn't get up immediately, half sprawled on the side of the road, soaked with rain and feeling immensely sore and pummeled; the last bruising onslaught of wind really more a saucier's glaze of insult added to already pre-existing injury.

Then she pushes off the ground, straightening up slowly, hair sticking in her face as she sways, pushing it back finally and then looking around, tentatively. Mostly to see - did anyone die?!


Seeing Murugan ram and impale Kyrie felt good. Damn good. But Fumiya's good times don't last as it becomes apparent he's still not going down. Fumiya tenses, and doesn't move from his spot, kind of hoping he can at least keep between Kyrie and Aigis.

By this point Fumiya was too hurt and tired to keep himself from showing irritation and anger at being ignored. Not even so much as a glance is offered him by Kyrie, and Fumiya certainly notices it. "Dammit..." He mutters. "Say something you bastard!" The monster may be speaking, but none of it is directly to him. Finally, one final blast of wind ravages the area, slamming Fumiya again and knocking him back. The recovery spell that was casted on him earlier, though, has done well to keep his stamina up. The fatigue he feels is mostly due to his inexperience with fighting something like that. Hopefully it will get better. He doesn't get time to prepare a counterattack, though, as Kyrie flees with a few more aggravating words.

"Oh hell no, get back here you cowardly piece of crap!" Fumiya calls out, though secretly not really wanting him to return. It's all false bravado. Once Kyrie is gone he spends a few moments in a daze, breathing heavily, before his mind starts prodding him. "Oh crap..." He spins around to make sure Aigis wasn't further hurt by Kyrie's final wind blast, and once he sees she's safe he turns back to the others. For a few moments he really doesn't know what to say to them all. He's just starting to break into this world. So he settles on his most direct question.

"Anyone know how to fix a robot?"


Of course it isn't true! Itsuka doesn't look at Miwa when she asks, hoping that her friend will just believe in her. But then, it'd be obvious to someone who's been with Itsuka in the television that the Shadows seem to affect her more heavily than most, even if she has proven a capable combatant.

Kyrie lashes out at her again with words, and Itsuka flinches under the assault. "I...of course that's..." Her breathing speeds up again. She feels the old familiar panic coming on, like before, like she's just some stupid, boring girl nobody cares about. Like she used to be. She barely registers the rest of what he says, and she's knocked backward and to the ground by his parting shot.

it hurts

As Michiru looks around, there might be the worry that Itsuka actually did. She still hasn't gotten up, but a closer look will reveal that she's breathing, anyway. The first-year is talking, too, whispering something to herself. "it's not true..." He's wrong. That's not how she is at all. She's a good person. She's just doing what she has to do. She...

Fixing a robot. Itsuka closes her eyes, saying more loudly, "...Don't...bother her. She's my friend."


It's okay. Miwa believes in you, Itsuka. Itsuka's such a nice, dedicated young girl. And this guy's--he's a liar. That's all.

More wind. The Kyrie's parting attack is once again strong enough to knock the senior back. Her feet slip on the rain-slick asphalt and she tumbles, falling once again hard upon the road. She doesn't move for a moment, as sore as it is, and as uncertain as she is that popping back up won't catch another attack. But when she does move, she realizes that the man hadn't been kidding.

He's gone.

"Itsuka!" Miwa calls out next, dropping the honorific for the moment, rushing then to the fallen girl. She'd attacked Kyrie head on, and--well, she doesn't look so good. "Are you all right?" She kneels, a frowning worriedly. The same concern's turned next to the lot of them, as she glances around. "Is... is anyone else badly hurt?" Miwa herself has a myriad of gashes and scrapes, some of them a little bad, if not quite serious.

It's not as bad as Itsuka's wounds, though. Summoning Yaksa forth, she channels the spirit's healing powers into the Gekkoukan freshman.


Souji's Persona spots the oncoming gale and evades out of the way before demanifesting. Souji himself similarly is able to get out of the radius in time. He looks to his sword, ready to swipe it clean when he notices that the blood upon it is no more. Shocked, he stands there looking at for a moment before he sheathes his blade once more, then looks to the others worriedly.

"Is everyone alright?" he calls out. Ironic, really, because between all the cuts, bruises, and other wear and tear he's probably amongst the worst off between them. He staggers over to where the others were gathering. "That could have gone really bad. Thanks for the help," he manages to force a smile.


Oh shit, Michiru thinks a little weakly. "Look, take - care of her, alright?" she says to Itsuka, perhaps assuming she knows... how to fix robots. She has no idea, and damn, she thinks, dimly: if Aigis just got killed... /could/ she get killed? She's... a robot.

She doesn't answer Souji right away, even as she drifts marginally nearer to him mostly to be easily heard over the rain. "... Lousy way to spend a Friday afternoon, isn't it..."


The attack, despite taking up most of her energy, does not hit Kyrie. Pulling back as she pants, she runs in an attempt to prepare for the tall man's possible counterattack. Wind flows from him- while she gets out of the radius of lasting damage it could create, the resulting whipping of water in the air produces an effective smokescreen, disallowing Arisa, or really, anybody else from pursuing.

"Well, I suppose he has a point," Arisa says with a sigh. ".... but it's still wrong..." Deconstructing her naginata, she looks around. "It might be a good idea to not go after that persona, in my view," she says generally to everyone. "I have a healing kit in my duffel bag..." Her eyes drift over to Souji. ".... You okay? Couldn't see how hard he was attacking everyone but he seemed to be focusing on you a bit..."

Suddenling reminded, Arisa takes out her point and snap camera out of her poncho and frowns. Fiddling it with one hand, the camera gives her only some disappointing whirrs and clicks. ".... Smashed. *Damn it*. It's a good thing I didn't bring my main camera..." She walks over to the hidden duffel bag, shifting supplies around. "... Uh... hope no one minds Satomi Tadashi brand... I get them on clearance..." She looks around, a little lost now that the initial battle is over. Robots? And what about what was talked about earlier? ".... I have some energy bars too," she offers.


"Yeah, she's mine too." Fumiya replies to Itsuka, but decides to leave well enough alone for now. He wouldn't know where to begin anyway. As long as he sees that she'll be taken care of one way or another, that'll be fine for him.

Fumiya glances at Souji, the only other person here he's more acquainted with, though not by much, and nods. "Yeah, I'll live, bro." Fumiya stretches for a moment, to feel out where his body is hurting; turns out it's in a few places. He settles for rubbing the left side of his neck for now. So his first real fight didn't amount to much, was against some jerkwad who just wanted to screw around for the hell of it, he got away in the end anyway, and he didn't even say a WORD to him.

He tries not to let that last part get to him too much. Instead he turns back to Aigis, and glances at Itsuka again. "So, you got her covered?"


Alright. If Miwa believes in her, then Itsuka might be okay. ...It's not like Itsuka's given anybody any reason to think badly of her, right? She's always helpful, and does her best.

She hears her name called out, and groggily turns to try to face Miwa. Itsuka is generally just pretty torn up, though in reality, the bigger wounds are mental. The black-haired girl forces a smile. "I'm fine, senpai." When the healing energy washes through her, though, she exhales, feeling a lot better able to actually stand up. "T-thanks. I'm sorry to have put you through so much trouble...I guess coming out here today was a bad idea."

She sits up, glancing over to Michiru, and then to Souji. "O-oh don't worry, I can take care of her." She thinks. She's dragged a robot back to the dorm before, though Itsuka mostly just plans to try to make her comfortable right now. Bringing herself to her feet, she walks over to Aigis, smiling softly at Souji. "Ha, yeah...Anytime. It's what I do, you know?"

As she kneels down next to Aigis, looking her over, the SEES member gives Arisa a look. "It's no problem. So um...who are you, anyway? Not that I'm not grateful. I uh, I'll have to pass on the energy bars. I don't think I could eat."


Itsuka's offered a hand up, as Miwa herself stands. "Here, are you going to be all right now?" She still looks worried. "I can help walk you back to the dorms, if you need me to." Miwa herself is looking forward to getting out of the rain. She's soaked to the skin, her clothes clinging wetly to herself in the chill of late October. Good thing after all, she thinks, that she bought all those cold medicines the other day.

Michiru earns a weak smile. "I'd have preferred anything else, yes..." Stepping away from Itsuka for a moment, venturing closer to the girl and Aigis, who lies still upon the road, she asks then, "...Is she going to be all right?" She kneels then, feeling for a pulse on the robot's throat, and not being terribly surprised that there isn't one. Glancing up and over at Michiru, then, Miwa asks, "...Um, do you know who that was? That thing that attacked us."


"I'll be," Souji has to cut himself off as he grunts, "who am I kidding? I'm busted up pretty good." He rubs his arm a bit before gesturing back to his now waterlogged drugstore bag, "there should be some ointments and whatnot in there. Help yourselves. It should all be alright to use still."

"Yeah," he says with a grim nod to Arisa, "you could say we have a bit of a history."

"I'm Souji Seta, by the way," he introduces himself to those who may not know him, "wish we could have met under...ugh...better circumstances."