Persona REM Story

Yuko blushed fiercely, not expecting such an appreciation for cooking, "Thank you." She smiled kindly as she ate her more than modest portions herself, "I'm happy that I gauged my portions on my own appetite, we have some big eaters this year."

Daisuke nodded in agreement, scooting slightly away from Abel who had sat near him, "I agree, Nishiwaki-sensei."

-Dorm Mates Link, Fool Arcana, Rank 1-

While no one felt it, they were all slightly closer now.

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After dinner was finished and the dishes were cleared away, Yuko said good night to her students and reminded them that curfew was in a few hours.

Daisuke looked at the group that was gathered there, "You heard Nishiwaki-sensei. We should all be in our rooms by curfew so we can start our investigation."

Abel crossed his arms, debating whether to say something. Who the hell's he think he is, tellin' me what to do? Still, getting to bed sooner meant an earlier charge into battle. The "Investigation" and "Curfew" didn't mean a thing, but it'd be good exercise...actually, would it? If it was all in a dream, it shouldn't matter. But then, Igor had said it was real...bah. None of it made sense to him. All he knew was he was about to literally fight in his sleep, a thought that gave him back his smirk.

"A'right, I'm out," he eventually said. "Just don't let me miss out on the fun." As he turned up the stairs, he pulled out his cell, dialing a very specific number.

Shin stretched and sighed, giving his stomach a solid smack. "Yeah, I think that'll give me just about enough time for homework tonight, and then a little exercise afterwards. Anyone else want to do a study group or something? I don't care either way, but you know what they say, two heads are better than one." Shin's eyes flicked from person to person.

"I, uh... I actually really think we should do that." Yoshiya interjected. "There's no way I can just go to sleep now; I'm a bundle of nerves just thinking about what we're going to do. And there's no way I can just goof around with something this heavy hanging over our heads, so why not make a study group?"

Daisuke rubbed the back of his head, "Well, that kind of is our cover for meetings with Nishiwaki-sensei. That's how we got her to organize the meeting room. I don't think we should disappoint her. Plus, she might cook like that for us again if we do well on exams." The young man smiled, looking at Yumiko thinking that the idea might sway her reluctance.

The young man stretched languidly, "At the very least, we could organize our classes into what's what for the semester. Yumiko-san, some of our kouhai might appreciate a warning about our crazy faculty. Some of them are new transfers after all."

"I'm gonna be there whether everyone shows up or not." Yoshiya asserted. "The food thing just kind of seals the deal. Besides, if we're going to be working together to save Voice-san, we should at least get to know each other a little. I don't want to get into a life-or-death situation and find out that we're terrible at cooperating..."

"Oh, so you've made some friends?"

"No, Uncle, they're not friends." Abel sighed, trying to explain the situation. "We live in the same dorm, that's all. I just talked with 'em more than normal."

"But you make it sound like you're going to continue to talk, aren't you?"

"I guess so. I don't exactly have a whole bunch of choice. They're not really the type I'd get along with."

Abel could practically feel his uncle's frown through the phone. "You're not getting involved in anything violent with them, are you?"

"No," replied Abel with no hesitation. "Getting in fights at the dorm is just asking for trouble. I told you I'm gonna try to at least get along this time, so I'm gonna try."

"Promise me."

Abel blinked. "Promise you what?"

"Promise me you won't fight with your dorm-mates."

"I already did, before I left. I said I'd try to get along."

A sigh from the other end. "I suppose you did. So, any other news?"

"Eh, there was some other stuff. Gym teacher can cook, too, apparently."

"...Did you even taste it?"

"Well, I tasted the first one or two bites of it. And then the plate was empty."

"Abel-kun, how many times have I told you to chew your food?"

"At least a dozen, and please don't call me that."

"At least a dozen dozens. In any case, I should let you get to bed, it seems to be getting late. Good night, Abel-kun."

"Uncle..." Abel sighed. "...Yeah, good night." Abel hung up, thanking his lucky stars that nobody had followed him up to his room.

Daisuke nodded and smiled, "Alright, then let's get together and get it done."

>Everyone gained knowledge about their teachers<

Daisuke smiled, "That's the down-low on the faculty. Let's all get some sleep. We're going into the dream and we're going to search for Voice-san."

He walked to the door, "Everyone, best of luck tonight."

<Sorry for this shortness, it's just the easy way to get everyone asleep at the same time. The students now all have the OOC information posted about their teachers. Now, after everyone posts as asleep, I'll transition us into the dream.>

Exhausted, Yoshiya flopped into bed. I can't believe I waited until so late to bring my stuff to my room... that sucked. I'd have left it where it was, but I need my stuff for tomorrow, and Nishiwaki-sensei might not be too happy with it either...

>Sighing, he let his eyes drift shut...

Abel shook his head. "Man, Uncle, talking to you can be tiring sometimes..." He followed up with his typical smirk. "Good thing I'm goin' to sleep now anyway, so." He tossed his cell phone carelessly onto the desk beside his bed before jumping straight onto it, kicking his feet up into the air to land on his back. He put his hands behind his head as he closed his eyes. "This is gonna be fun, I can taste it."

Shin stepped out of the shower covered in a towel, and headed off to his room to prepare for the night ahead. Choosing warmer sleepwear, he dressed himself in loose sweatshirt and sweatpants pajamas, and then curled up in his bed. He tried thinking about anything but what was going on tonight, and could not. He smiled to himself and wondered about his blue night blindfold, whatever it was called. He shrugged it off and laid back, planning to talk to Daisuke and see if he had any ideas about it... assuming he didn't fall asleep first. That would be embarrassing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS4fXhiVEQM

The calming sound of water lapping against the shore in a gentle rhythm met their ears first. The feeling of the ground beneath their feet as it pulsed with a gentle power came next.

This... was not the Velvet Room.

The teenagers who had gone to sleep moments ago found their eyes opening to a surreal surrounding, the ground below them was a thick platform of flat gray stone that stretched outwards in points symmetrically in every direction. The platform floated above what appeared to be water except it was a sickly gray hue. It was immediately apparent that the sound of water was coming from sea of gray liquid hitting the platform they stood on as it ebbed and flowed slowly.

"Only a select few can have their place
in the sun. Great effort,
energy and persistence are all factors
in striving for this brilliance."

An unknown voice spoke to the group, they turned to meet the owner of the voice and caught a glimpse of a figure in a sapphire robe. Immediately behind the figure, the roman numeral XIX floated for a moment and vanished as the door it appeared in front of gave way to a white rectangle of light, a doorway.

In the midst of the group, the door to the Velvet Room appeared, the group moves towards it but are warded away.

"Search for thine own answers. The truth is what you seek."

Daisuke nodded calmly, understanding,

"Everyone, we're going through that door. I can sense a malicious presence on the other side. Let's be careful."

This is not what I was expecting, Abel thought to himself as he looked around. It sure as hell didn't look like a dream world. It looked more like a void. The idea of falling into the sea below made his skin crawl, mostly in horror, but also partially in excitement. He cracked his knuckles.

"If whatever this thing is wants to mess with us, I got no reason to restrain myself. I think this is gonna be a blast, for both my Persona, and me."

"I'm excited to tussle with my Persona in tow, too. I don't remember much of what he can do except the sumo thing, but that's gotta count for something, right? Good physical strength... something I know how to work with." He proffered a fist to Abel before turning to Yumiko and Daisuke. "Sorry, senapai, but you both are going to have to work to keep pace with us youngsters. I don't plan on being slow today since I missed my workout."

Yoshiya looked around, noticing the shape of the platform and doing his best to ignore the idea of falling off. "Yeah, our odds might look good, but shouldn't we keep both eyes open? We don't know exactly what we're up against, and you can't ace a test when you've been studying the wrong material."

He crossed his arms, looking at where the Velvet Room's door was. "And we can't ask Igor for a heads-up, either. Daisuke-san, we'll be relying on your ability a lot, alright?"

The sound of glass shattering greeted the group as Daisuke summoned Kusi Mitama for the second time, "Analyze."

A hearty chuckle echoed from Daisuke's persona as it swirled around the group, "Sun Arcana entities ahead. Malevolent Intent. Low Threat. Three Total."

The persona turned into a holographic projection like it had before showing a Maya-type shadow with a detailed chart in gibberish alongside it. The shadow mass wore a bright orange sun-shaped mask emblazoned with the roman numeral for 19 just like the door had shown before.

Daisuke nodded as Kusi Mitama vanished, "They're something called a Coronal Maya. There's categories for skills and health and 'weaknesses', but this language is hard to read, something to do with my ability... I think I need to be closer." The young man's brow furrowed in concern, "Well, is everyone ready? Whatever we're fighting in here... It isn't human. Hell, not even humanoid."

The young man lead the group forward and stepped through the doorway cautiously.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6nyIPRRuH4
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The group stepped out onto the Sunset Terrace. A brick paved street lay out before them with buildings tightly packed along the street keeping them from diverging from the main street itself. In the windows, silhouettes of people went about ordinary activities. Cooking, cleaning, and inaudible conversation were among the activities that could be viewed from street level. The shadows that Daisuke had detected were nowhere to be seen, "We should continue."

Daisuke focused for a moment as he willed the chain for summoning into his hands. With a loud crack, the chain shattered and Kusi Mitama appeared, swirling around Daisuke before turning into a projection of the hallway in front of them. At the far end, a red dot slowly moved towards an arrow, indicating Daisuke which was surrounded by blue dots, indicating his fellow persona users.

As the image faded, Daisuke frowned, "I can't make a complete map, there's a powerful presence on the floor below us."

Daisuke's own words perplexed him, "Floor?" There are multiple layers to this place. Strange. It's hard to see into the lower layers..."

The young man summoned his chain again, wrapping it around his forearm for ease of access, "The enemy I sense before is approaching, get ready everyone!"

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vISW7Ie5r_U
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From further down on the street, a mass of shadow slunk slowly towards the group. Daisuke unfurled the chain from his arm in a flourish and snapped it taut and summoned Kusi Mitama again, "Cleave!"

The mitama spun forward and struck the shadow mass with enough force to separate it into multiple Mayas. The four shadow blobs crawled forward with their claws.

Daisuke summoned his chain again, "Buy me time while I scan the enemy! There are four of them!"

As Kusi Mitama appeared for a third time, makeshift weapons appeared in their owner's hands.

"It is careless to go into battle without a weapon. Best of luck." The sapphire robed figure's voice echoed in their minds.

Daisuke, however wasn't pleased by what he received, flexing his now bandaged hands, "Um... I can't wrestle a blob." He scanned the scenery as his persona scanned the enemy, looking for something that might make for a half-decent weapon.

<Figured I'd change Daisuke's weapon since we've got three glove/claw users, he'll work with improvised weapons. Grappling with gloves will be his second choice for fighting shadows, especially non-humanoid ones.>

"Now this is what I'm here for!" said Abel. He tore his own chain from his pocket, allowing it to wind around his other hand, and broke it. "Here we go, Pazuzu!"

His beastly Persona appeared before him, three wings spreading to either side. Mostly humanoid, it had the head of a lion, spewing unnatural growls and snarls even as its scorpion tail lashed out in several directions.

Abel glared at the nearest Shadow. "Tarukaja!" A golden light flashed around Abel, and he charged, his fist slamming into the nearest Shadow, followed within moments by the instep of his foot, then wheeled around and slammed his other heel across its mask. "How d'ya like that?!"

With his focus set on the second-closest blob, Yoshiya brought his left arm over his right, his own chain leaping from out of his sleeve to catch his wrist. Grabbing it with his left hand, he snapped the chain with a shattering noise. "Jack Frost! Bufu!"

A tiny snowman-thing with tiny arms and legs, and a head bigger than its midsection sporting a blue antennae cap and goofy grin emerges, bouncing into the air and raining down ice on the Shadow. His embarrassment at his Persona's silly appearance quickly turned into pride. "This is easier than I thought! And here I was worried about running into something we couldn't handle right off the bat!"

Shin, grinning from ear to ear, darted forward and willing his own chain into his hands. Breaking it after charging at a shadow blob, he yelled, "To my side, Take-Mikazuchi!" With a shattering of the chain and a hard metal sound, a large man in white clothes appeared, with long bright red hair and glowing white eyes. His hot pinkish skin steamed as the god roared and swung his sword, held in his left hand, down at the Shadow. "Cleave!" Shin cried at the moment of impact, and a burst of power surged through Take-Mikazuchi, and into the Shadow, making a cut mark in the surface of its hide.