Persona- Overpowering Past

[Jason-Kun]

Clarise Stone
Bellow High Stadium
Court of Miracles

Clarise turned the Evoker over in her hands, inspecting the gun as she thought over the events of the previous night. The running. The refusal of the call when given the choice to live or die. The pitiful attempts at using the scythe. As she mulled over the events, the sounds of Ciara's footsteps reached her and her words cut through her thoughts. "Fine. Whatever. If these numbskulls are so frightened of a little toy gun, then I'll happily go first. I would have thought you all had some faith in yourselves." As Ciara's footsteps clattered across the floor, Clarise settled her face into a frown. Said frown quickly turned into a grimace of shock and pain as Ciara puled the trigger of her own Evoker.

At that a fox appeared, its whitened gold tails spread out as if they were a fan. At that Ciara flicked her hair back before being replaced by Russel. He produced what appeared to be an angel. Clarise frowned as this didn't seem like it would fit him. She'd have to try and figure it out later. Next up was Halberd, who kneeled as his Persona appeared. It was a women, one who was probably royalty at that. As the two shook hands, she disappeared as Halberd took his place.

Breathing hard, Clarise walked slowly towards the front. Hands shaking, she placed the trigger to her head pulling it as she worried that it would fail. A moment later her worried faded away. In her mind she saw a spark of white which quickly faded into what appeared to be an empty beach. From there a figure came, the burst of blue exploding as her eyes flew open. Eyes opening, she took in the sight of her Persona. The woman before her had wavy brown hair that seemed to be pulled into a ponytail, a blue rose shaped barrette holding it together. Silver eyes turned upon her a frown meeting Clarise's face. Clarise flinched sightly, taking in the golden fans in the form of flowers. Finally she took in the clothing. Moving from her lower to upper body she took in white tennis shoes with gold rim. Over black leggins sat a short white skirt which was held together by a golden belt. The belt itself met together with a cheerleading shirt, mostly a light blue except for the sleeves, stripes, and lower and middle areas which appeared to be white instead.

Wiping her face with her arm in order to hold back tears, Clarise heard the sound of her Persona in her head, a sensual voice speaking to her.

"I am Konohana Sakuya, daughter of Ouyamatsumi. I shall freeze the disloyal and dishonest where they stand and bless those who fight in my name. With my fans of glory I will tear those who curse me and build up those who serve me. Do not fear me for I shall make you a Queen.''

With that said the temperature seemed to drop as Konohana disappeared in a flash of light blue, leaving small snowflakes floating where she once stood. Still shivering from pulling the trigger, Clarise stumbled her way back to her spot, nearly tripping as she sat down.

 

[Vivian_Bloom]

Lace Condor
Coffee Shop
Nearing Midnight

Lace Condor was sitting down, staring at a messy chessboard. Rooks, pawns, and the other pieces were lying all around the table. She'd played the last three games with Margaret and lost badly. Lace crossed her arms and glared at the board as the woman laughed and got up. It was getting late and apparently adults have to work tomorrow. Margaret took her things and left leaving Lace two cans of soda.

No one was around and Lace was drumming her fingers on the table when she remembered the meeting up at the gym. She took both cans in her hand and rocked back and forth in the chair. Rocking on one leg, she moved the cans like rumba shakers. Leaning too far back, she lost balance and fell, smacking her head hard on the floor.

Court of Miracles
Bellow High Stadium

The sky turned a sickly green and red goo leaked out the streets. Lace was lying on her back with just her jacket off to the side. With her t-shirt still on she used the jacket to pad her head. There was a light cut on the side of her head and a trail of blood trickled down. Lace tapped and licked it a bit. She shrugged, "nothing serious." The floor was pretty clean, maybe marble. Lace stuffed the cans of soda in her pants pockets and got stood up.

"Nope, not a soul." Walking back up the hill to the campus, Lace held up the jacket and rung it out. Pepsi waterfall.

Coming through the campus gates back to the stadium she took turns glancing to the trippy light show her classmates put on, and the still bleeding cut on her face just beside her right eye. She listened to Wulfgard's speech again. Everyone was already there and she heard Ciara going at them again as Lace snuck her way behind the group. Not able to keep still, Lace shook out her jacket and tied it around her waist. Stuffing her hands in her back pockets, Lace turned and watched the sky thinking where she'd get a some band-aids.

The air warmed up for a second and Lace turned back around to see Clarise make her way back to the group. She had a little trouble getting back so Lace took a couple steps to her. As the girl sat down, Lace pulled out an unopened can of Pepsi, kneeled down and placed it at Clarise's feet and smiled. Lace looked directly at her and changed her expression to a grumpy frown. She used her pissed off old man voice, frowned, and squinted.

"'Now before you go and say I shook it. Well, I didn't." Lace patted the can. "Good stuff in here there is. Uh huh, that real tasty junk." Lace mumbled something else as she stood back up and turned. Turning right around before she left, Lace nodded to the can looking confused. "I think." Looking over the group Lace took out her evoker and walked to the center. Spinning the gun around her fingers Lace broke out a smile.

"I'm gonna dip you in paint tomorrow," she told herself noticing the gun. Looking down the hole she couldn't see any bullets. Patting her legs Lace realized she hadn't bought any ammo back at the mall. Lace eyed the gun and put a finger to her mouth. "I got a little change left. These don't really need bullets just something that'll put a hole in something," she muttered. Tapping her foot she'd handle that problem later. In her backpocket she still had two pieces of candy left. Taking a pink Skittle, smirked and dropped it in place where the bullets come out. Lace spread her legs and raised the gun with her right arm aimed under her chin and pulled the trigger.

For a second she couldn't feel anything. Just as she relaxed her arms she heard the sound of breaking glass and the floor around her started to heat up. The floor grew white hot and she shivered a bit seeing flames rise from the ground. Lace was in the middle of a slow-turning tornado of fire and noticed a large shadowed figure coming up directly behind her. She couldn't see the school or the sky anymore, it was like being in a furnace. Then the figure spoke out to her.

"I am Saturnus, son of Gaia and Uranus. Cronus, leader of the Titans, and he who rules over time."

Lace peeked up through the fire and made out a tall wide figure. He was at least two and a half feet taller than her, but with no arms or legs. His body was strong, striped red and white with endless streams of fire pouring from his limbs. The demon's face had blank white eyes and he let out small gusts of flame each time he breathed. In the center of his chest was a hole in which a floating ball of rock constantly gathered heat. The top of his head was completely engulfed in flame, like a crown of fire burning over his face.

"I who ruled the universe, born from thee, arise from your soul. Your spirit is strong, and with my power our enemies will see no mercy. The world will acknowledge our str-"

"Guess who's got no arms?!" Lace was drooling and shook her head. Wiping off her mouth she tilted her head to the side and pointed up at him. He stared down as the girl ran up to him. Lace started to laugh and beat him up. Either he didn't feel it or he didn't care. Saturnus observed.
"This guy!" Smack. "Red Sharpie!" Punch. "Cheeto Neptune!" Kick. She stood up with a determined look on her face and puffed out her chest. Saturnus looked directly at Lace and calmly exhaled a gust of fire in her face. It felt surprisingly warm. Looking on as Lace coughed and tried to breath it in he transformed into a wave of fire who then swirled around her.

As Saturnus descended and Lace could see the world past the flames. Finally able to see her classmates again, she felt her jacket and was surprised to see the heat didn't affect her at all. Walking back to the newbies circles Lace made out a small layer of smoke rising from her shirt. "I'm gonna like this," she said taking her position beside the others.

 

[niedude]

<//JP- Lovers Arcana//3
<//Del Monico Residence//3
<//Preparing to kill himself//3


Terri had taken him to her room. To her bed. They were both in it… inside those smooth, warm sheets, with their back on the oh so comfortable mattress. These luxury materials are surely made from materials the lower classes are forbidden from even knowing they exist. Stuff like unicorn skin, or Capricorn wool…

Why do all the fantastic animals the kid thinks of have horns?

Hmm.

Regardless, this stuff was comfortable. Like… heavenly comfortable. JP could feel every muscle on his body lose all tension and release all the pain and discomfort as they were absorbed by the mattress of the GODS. He could swear he felt little fingertips running through his spine, though both of Terri’s hands were in plain sight… Was this bed so fantastic it managed to make him high? WHAT WAS THIS EVEN MADE OF? If simply lying inside these magical sheets feels like this, then just imagine what it would be like drifting off to sleep in them… Perfect pleasure would surely not be enough, but he would soon find out. The old teen’s fatigue caught up with him and he started feeling his eyelids growing heavier by the second, until, finally, he was not able to keep them open.

‘Wait. Nononononono! Terri, right there, next to ya. Humming something. Waiting for you to make a move! Don’t you dare fall asleep. Don’t you dare. No!’ he screamed to himself, inside the closed palace that was his slowly blackening head, where his thoughts began to fade and the image his eyes showed him began to tunnel until it was gone.

Theresa would surely be pissed. She brought him here, to her bed, out of her own will and enthusiasm. SURELY not for him to fall asleep before anything could be said or done. He needed to do something… He wanted to reach up, touch her face and do something romantic (what was it about drowsiness that brought out the romance?) but he was simply out cold before he could even move a finger.

The kid was just too tired. He slept for two hours straight… and God knows he needed it.

-----------------------------------
<//JP- Lovers Arcana//3
<//Bellow High - Court of Miracles//3
<//Feeling oddly nostalgic//3



As soon as he woke up, he felt odd. Two nearly opposite sensations washed over him: he felt relaxed and completely refreshed, thanks to those magnificent sheets, but he also felt… nervous? No, something like that, but stronger. There was some… fear, mixed in too. Why he was not sure, especially since last night’s onslaught of Shadows most likely meant this night would be low populated by humanity’s living sins. But even this rational mind-state failed to quell his uneasiness.

The newbies and their Personas’ first appearance, at least, took his mind of the butterflies in his stomach. Ciara’s, in particular, seemed like a perfect fit. Her true self was an ugly beast that took the form of a fox: a monster that, in the old fables he faintly remembered being read, represented slyness, a sharp, opportunistic mind that often felt no remorse in doing things she deemed beneficial for herself, regardless of whom she stepped on or made suffer. An isolationist, too; and that seemed to fit with Ciara’s earlier scene during training.

“Brings me memories, doesn’t it?” he said, turning to Terri but speaking loud enough for the other “veterans” near him to hear. “Hardly feels like we’ve been doing this for a week. I feel like I’m about to pass the torch to someone. Like I’m a granddad or something, know what I mean?”

 

[Niihyl]

Mana Shizuko
Bellow High - Hyperdimensional Training Zone

Mana grunted and stood, trying to push his heart rate from holyshitbladedobjectflyingtowardsmyface to the far healthier and more manageable mortal peril level. He rubbed the side of his head ruefully, almost expecting to be half-bald. How did JP, Sigmund, Randy and the other melee people - pretty much everyone, really - do it? Raining supernatural death and precisely planting arrows in blobs was one thing, but having deadly objects flying towards your face on a nightly basis didn't seem quite so… safe.

Maybe this was why no one else seemed to enjoy the Courts quite so much? Exciting danger has to cross into mortal terror at some point.

A little jingle alerted Mana to a text message incoming. He flipped out his phone and glanced at the images he'd received, and put the phone back in his pocket.

Then he pulled it back out.

"Th-the hell?" he coughed, looking through the various photos. Most were just mildly humiliating images of him being beaten down by the diminutive knife-nut girl - including one where she was… standing on him. That explained the footprints. And the back pain.

One or two looked a bit… risqué. The kind that would need a rapid and unconvincingly stammered explanation to anyone in earshot.

"Oi, JP! One day, I'm just going to…" Mana pointed the knife threateningly. Well, it might have been threatening if he hadn't just dropped it. "Shirt… just try it, and your sprained ankle will progress to an arrow. in. the. knee."

Mana shook his head and decided to get going. Everyone else seemed to be ready to pack up, so he began to walk to his parents' house. Didn't want to be too tired for the newbies' orientation night. Sure, they'd probably just face some Mayas, Hablerie, maybe a Hand or two, but you never did know.

Mana Shizuko
Shizuko Residence

"Okaeri!" Mana's mother called when she saw Mana walking in the door.

"Hi, mom," Mana said. His father glanced at him awkwardly, but managed to greet him as well.

"You haven't visited in a while. And you don't really call or text, either," his mother reproached him, trying to spark a conversation.

"Sorry. Schoolwork's been pretty tough. Bellow's surprisingly tough for a free school."

"Mm-hm. You look tired, and your… er… hair is fading."

Mana smiled wanly. "Well, I guess I've been too busy to worry about silly little things like that."

Both of his parents looked at him carefully. His father spoke for the first time since the stilted greeting he had given earlier. "I hope so. I liked your old look better."

"When I looked like a child? No thanks," Mana joked warily.

"Mana… do you want to talk? Ever since… ever since you changed. Just… remember that you can still be a child," his father murmured. "And… Lana and Ari will always be with us. But… we have to move on."

Mana thought he heard a little girl giggle at that. An image of Alice sprang to mind, and he let out a sharp bark of laughter. "Oh, they're with me. And I don't think they'll let me move on. But… let's not talk about this, please, Dad. Some other time. I'm just here to… eat dinner with my family."

His parents somewhat mollified, the three prepared for their meal.

Mana Shizuko
Bellow High
~Court of Miracles~

The newbies were preparing for their Persona-summoning. As Wulfgard tossed them their evokers, Mana hefted his own. The false weapon felt cool and had a reassuring heft to it. The weapon wasn't a tool of fear anymore. It was like a lifeline. Without it, he felt cold, naked, and unarmed, so much so that he went nowhere without it.

Couldn't be without me? Alice asked.

Hah. Been missing you all day, Mana replied easily.

Poor boy. You can't even talk to yourself. You need more friends.

Oi! Sarcastic digs are my territory. You play the part of the demonic little girl-shadow that eats away at my soul.

Mana shook his head, drawing himself back to the present. Ciara fired, with that trademark crackle of broken glass. And from her soul was born a massive creature, decidedly vulpine. When it unfurled nine tails, Mana burst into laughter. "Kitsune? Oh, of course. Couldn't have made a more perfect match."

Russell went next, surprisingly enough. He seemed far more uncomfortable than Ciara had been. Yet he managed to pull the trigger, drawing forth a tall, handsome, Greco-Roman deity. The wings gave it away, it was cupid with his arrows - Eros. "A love god? Perhaps you're a secret ladykiller, my friend?" Mana remarked as Russell rejoined the group, giving him a grin.

Halberd was next, summoning forth a shadowy warrior, Amazonesque in her form. Halberd greeted her formally, before letting the warrior queen fade away. Mana gave Halberd a friendly nod.

And then was Clarise, a girl that Mana hadn't noticed much. But then again, with people like the brawny, Scottish Halberd, psychopathic Lace, and evil queen Ciara, more normal human beings fell out of notice. Her Persona was a woman, seemingly ancient, yet dressed in anachronistic cheerleader's attire. The girl tripped her way back to her seat, looking a little unsteady.

And then Lace. And… candy. R-right. She summoned up a massive, demonic looking being. "Holy crap," Mana said, raising an eyebrow. Then… she started attacking it.

"Um, guys… I'm not quite certain how stable that girl is. Uh… psychiatry might be in order."

“Brings me memories, doesn’t it?” JP said, turning to Terri but loud enough for Mana to hear. “Hardly feels like we’ve been doing this for a week. I feel like I’m about to pass the torch to someone. Like I’m a granddad or something, know what I mean?”

"No! Bad JP. Dude, if you talk like that, we'll all end up dying so that the next generation can be heroes. Don't jinx it. Instead of passing the torch, we need to show these amateurs who's boss, don'tcha think?" Mana grinned lightly.

The red-haired boy stood and stretched, stringing his bow as he did so. He checked the hooked blade at his belt. Hopefully, he wouldn't have to use that. Evoker - check. He considered firing right then and there. It might be a waste of energy, but if another Shadow could take his evoker… well, that would be troublesome.

 

[Zincspider]

Start this loading, and play it when you get to the Stadium part of the post

Izzy Simone
Izzy's Workshop
Court of Miracles

Lifting his goggles off of his head, Izzy looked at his finished piece. A rough looking music box he'd been working on, made from scraps of iron from around the shop. It had taken a bit of studying on how to make the tiny mechanisms, but it was done now. Now he'd probably play it once, put it on the shelf, and get to work on something else to waste his time on.

Reaching down, he grabbed the tiny key and began to twist it several times. After it had been wound to it's max, Izzy released it, allowing the little wheel inside to start turning. A slightly slow, metallic version of “Fur Elise” began to play throughout his room.

Allowing his eyes to close and relax, Izzy didn't even notice that the Court had started. His lights were low enough to mask the slow liquid leaking down the walls and he didn't bother to look out and see the large sickly moon.

'I-it had to be done...' Izzy mused. He had pushed what he had said to Randy to the back of his mind. Working had distracted him for a while but now... he reached down and grabbed his jacket by his feet. He had thrown it there after throwing Randy out. 'Right? I can't just follow blindly anymore... he doesn't really care anyway... trying to get me to do stuff like this note down here.'

Picking up the jacket, Izzy dug around in the pocket until he reached the note. It was slightly heaver than he expected... and kinda squishy. “What the...?” Slowly, Izzy unfolded the mess... something white had been mostly squished in it. Luckily the text was readable... and a bit shocking.

I'm really sorry about what happened today. I don't think it was anyone's fault, but I did sort of overreact...

So I wanted to apologize, okay? If you have time tomorrow can you meet me under the big oak tree on campus?

Miyuki

P.S. I hope you like Divinity

Blushing and picking the rest of the divinity out of the note, he placed it near the slowly quieting music box. He wasn't used to sweets... he lived mostly on saltines and bottled water. But this note... it obviously wasn't Randy's doing.

“My God, what have I done?” Izzy lamented, crumpling the note in his hand. It wasn't Randy's fault. He was the one trying to show off... he hurt himself. He'd just used Randy as an excuse. “I am just a kid after all.”

Randy Clopin and Liza Monroe
Running through Quarterman
Court of Miracles

“Are you sure, it's headed that way?” Liza yelled, at least six feet behind Randy with the gap growing ever larger. She wasn't as built for running as Randy was, having to try to take two steps for each of his. And he wasn't showing any sign of slowing down for her to catch up. Of course, she wouldn't either given the circumstances.

“Positive!” Randy shouted, pumping his arms, palms open. “Wulfgard said that Shadows are attracted to people trapped in the Court, right? And if this one is headed in Izzy's direction, I can't risk it!”

Soon after taking a small stop at Randy's dorm to allow him to grab his jacket, shovel, and goggles, he and Liza were met with a horrifying sight. The body of a large golden lion with a green mane, supported on a gigantic granite wheel. The sound of it's rocky components grinding as it slowly inched out of the Court had caused both of them to stand in fear... but their trance was broken by the mighty metallic roar of the beast as it began to peel out and head into the city.

Now they were chasing it, Randy convinced it was heading after Izzy. It wasn't as fast as a car, but it was still faster than them, and like how Liza was getting further from Randy, he was beginning to mot be able to find it as it turned corners as well.

“I... Need... to... be... FASTER!” He shouted, trying to force himself to speed up. But it was futile as his burst of speed lasted maybe a second as he and Liza turned a corner, leading to yet another darkened street. Liza noticed a few smaller shadows on the side of their path as well, all heading in the same direction. None of them lashed out as they passed, instead focused on their destination. Randy didn't seem to give two clicks about them either. He was focused.

“Well... if you're... sure... then it'll be... there when we get there...” Liza gasped, losing her breath. 'Crap' she thought ', I really am out of shape.'

“NO! I can't risk it...” Randy shot back looking at the back of the wheel. He'd long ditched his shovel... so he was unarmed so he had no real way of even fighting it. But. But he had to get there before it got to Izzy. The kid didn't even know how to summon his Persona yet. Or at least had no experience doing so.

Randy's mind was racing faster than he was. He needed to catch up. He couldn't lose to this fugging wheel. “NO WAY, NO HOW!”

A great flash of red mixed with the sound of roaring thunder and a small stab of pain in his head caused Randy to stop in his tracks. 'What is this? Why is this so familiar?'

Thou art I. And I art thou. From the sea of your soul I emerge!​

Another roar met Randy's ears, this one, clearly... different. This was the roar of an engine.

In front of him was a gleaming machine, chrome with silver flames. Short bursts of fire shot out of it's exhaust pipes as the rider continued to twist the ignition. A large silver 'VII' could be seen on the side of the gas tank... but that's not what really caught Randy's eye.

The rider himself was a familiar figure, Randy's Persona Vigilante... or he appeared to be at first glance. No longer stoic, the man in front of him had certainly more... flair than it's counterpart. His hair alone had him stand apart, the bangs died completely red and hanging over his blank eye-line. The strange brown coat from before was now a long grey trench coat, adorned with several patches that showed the silhouette of an organe fire-bird.
Chains were wrapped around his wrists, but hung only a few inches from each cuff as if they had recently been separated from each other. They didn't seem to bother him however, as his hands were clenched tightly onto the bars of his chopper.

HAHAHAHA! I am Hellion, Terror of the Streets. Together, we shall travel towards glory! May nothing stand in out path, and what does shall burn before us! Our life is full of uncertainty, BUT WHO GIVES A DAMN? LET US RIDE!​

Finishing his speech the figure reached out his hand, and gestured to the back of his seat... which had room for one more person to sit.

Well... that was certainly... encouraging? Was that what he sounded like last week? Kinda loud wasn't it? But, he did offer something that Randy needed. And he'd lost enough time on the introduction already. Without answering, he reached up and grabbed Hellion's hand. It was warm... but not a pleasant kind of warm. It was almost burning. In one swift motion, Randy was swept of the ground and set behind the rider. At least he didn't have to control the thing... he was starting to get dizzy.

“Hey! What about me!” Liza shouted having finally caught up.

Hellion shook his head and held up his index finger. “Only room for one, doll.”

Without another word, the chopper's engine roared once more and the bike peeled out. Liza watched as it got further and further away... they'd not only catch up to that wheel thing, but possibly even pass it up in no time.

“Oh... okay... I guess I'll just... wait right here than.” Liza whispered. Taking the chance to catch her breath, Liza began to sit down. But she had forgotten about the multitudes of shadows patrolling the streets at the moment.

**GrrrRRrrack...gurgle**

“On second thought... WAIT UP!”

???
Stadium
Court of Miracles

“Oh, I think it's too late for that, Mana!”

The players in this little game were surprised to hear his voice. Nothing unexpected there. He was coming on a different date than his predecessors, but he didn't need any orders. His own were much better.

Snapping his fingers, he allowed the Stadium to transform into it's true visage. The grassy floors hardened, replaced with tiles flashing different shades of neon green, pink, yellow, and blue. The retractable roof slid to a close faster than it should have been able to, and when reaching it's destination, several long silver poles stretched from the heavens and met the ground. Following suit, no less than a dozen large reflector balls soon followed, perching themselves not ten feet above the heads of his new customers.

“Ya see, I don't think any of yous is gonna make it the night, dig?”

Strobe lights dropped in and positioned themselves between the reflector balls, and soon the whole stadium was nothing but a multitude of flashing lights (mostly pink, so it was quite bright), and what sounded like some odd techno beat.

"EVERYBODY CLAP YO HANDS!"

Finally a spotlight lit up the far end of the stadium where he was waiting upon a large white marble platform, lounging in a large golden throne, sideways so that his legs were resting on one arm and his torso was propped on the other.
Underneath the pink fur coat, lined with zebra print ermine, the large magenta feathered musketeer cap, and black and white tiger print leather pants, the man was unmistakeably-

“JP?” Wulfgard shouted, squinting past all of the lights.

“Dats right! Welcome to my world! Ya like? Took some dedication to get it just the way I wanted.”

This 'JP' jumped up out of the throne with amazing agility, especially considering his long coat. Reaching to the side of his throne, he drew up a large silver cane topped with an absurdly large diamond.

“But don't get all excited yet, 'aight? You ain't even met my girls yet!”

As if on cue, fifteen tall, shapely shadows slid down the large silver poles positioned throughout the stadium. Within seconds, one was positioned in front of each of them, save for Wulfgard who was staring down two.
While all of them were jet black with no features and had impossible looking hourglass figures, they all wore what seemed to be a miniskirt fashioned from sequins of some vibrant color and a similar bra that barely covered their... assets.
Standing in front of each of them, they began to twist and sway seductively allowing their jet black hair to wave around They seemed ready to fight, yet not overtly hostile.

“Don't worry as long as ya leave me and my boy to our business, dey won't bite... too much!”

The group looked around to find JP in the chaos, only to see him up on the stage ten feet away from his counterpart. As if to confirm their suspicions on how he was brought there, a high-pitched chuckled echoed over the booming music.

“Now let's get this started, bitch!” The richly clothed JP shouted, snapping his fingers once more. Large steel bars rose around the stage and up into the ceiling, effectively cutting both of them off from the rest of the group. “We gonna go one-on-one. Can ya dig it?”

 

[Ysavvryl]

Snow
evening

Snow had managed to get up in good time for the Court. He made sure his school bag was empty save for the boomerang, rethought that, then added a small notebook and pen. Honestly, it could be tricky to write a melody as it was being played, but it would be less distorted by time if he took it down as soon as he could. He got the snack box open and put that in the bag, then went downstairs and cut the lemonades out of the plastic connectors. It was quite a bit to carry, but he was pretty sure no one would insist that he be directly in the fight.

He then headed out for the stadium, where they were meeting tonight.

School Stadium
Court of Miracles

Wulfgard seemed tired, which was worrisome. Although he did tend to have a worn look; this night just seemed extra heavy on that. They’d all been tired like that at one time or another, or they would be.

Snow paid attention to the new members of their group. There was Russell and Halberd who he already knew, although he didn’t know the girls too well. A quiet question to Joshua got him the name of the girl who was acting all bold and queenly, Ciara. The other two he had overheard during practice earlier, Clarise who seemed to be the most normal girl of their group (although rather pretty), and Lace, who was best described as a hyperactive sugar fiend. She already had a soda (which she gave to Clarise) and some candy.

Once he’d seen their Personas, he opened up his bag and pulled out his boomerang. He glanced down at the bag, wondering if this would work as he hoped. Well, tonight would probably be a good night to see, as it shouldn’t be anything that tough.

“Oh, I think it's too late for that, Mana!”

Or maybe it would. On hearing that weird purple-toned voice (Snow wasn’t sure how to describe it otherwise, or why it made him think of an awful sort of purple), Snow looked to find who was speaking, but then the stadium transformed, becoming filled with bright lights, colors, and disco balls. It was weird, as most of the nights he had been in the Court preferred to be dark and bloody. But it was garish to match the moon.

And then there were strobe lights and techno music. Techno wasn’t unfamiliar ground, but this song definitely wasn’t one he could recognize. The purple voice kept talking, using weird slang and a boisterous tone. Once his eyes had adjusted to the bizarre mostly pink lights, it seemed to be JP’s Shadow Self. Although calling him a Shadow almost seemed like an oxymoron given those clothes he was wearing.

Then the Shadow JP called up his ‘girls’. They might be called that, if one excepted the anatomical impossibility and the really scanty sparkly clothing. Although they were, erm, kind of… uh… bosomy. And bouncy. And they had no face, only sunken eye sockets and a petite pointy nose. They might have been attractive if not for that freakish face.

But by the time Snow managed to get spooked by that face, the one nearest to him had already slapped him across the face with a clawed hand. He took a few steps back, now wary. The dancer shadow was quick and graceful, shifting her position too to judge his reaction. One thing was immediately apparent: she was too close. His boomerang wouldn’t do much good at this range. And she had claws on those long hands.

So Snow did what seemed to be the most reasonable thing to him. He ran off.

 

[Niihyl]

Mana Shizuko
"Tonight we club in hell!"

JP answered Mana's remark quickly.

In purple.

“Oh, I think it's too late for that, Mana!”

And then the world was a nightclub. The grass changed into flashing neon tiles, the roof parted, and silver poles rose from the ground. Disco balls began to appear in the air, seemingly coming from invisible compartments, floating above their heads.

"Alright, whose inner demon is a disco-pimp?" Mana said with a sigh.

“Ya see, I don't think any of yous is gonna make it the night, dig?”

And then the strobe lights began. Bright, blinding laser arrays, which seemed to be mostly pink. A techno beat burst from nowhere, sending vibrations through the ground and air. Mana felt as if his very bones were vibrating from the intensity.

"EVERYBODY CLAP YO HANDS!"

Mana clapped, just to humor whoever it was. The music… the disco… Snow, maybe? Lace? Sofiya?

A spotlight suddenly flicked on, revealing a tall, muscular figure. He was dressed in a garish pink fur coat lined with zebra print ermine. Perched upon his head was a feathered musketeer cap - also pink. He wore white tiger-print leather pants, which were remarkably tight. And then Mana saw his face.

"JP?" Wulfgard roared, saying what everyone was thinking.

"AAAAGH, It's Shadow David Bowie!" Mana mock-screamed, holding back laughter. "Ohohoh… oh, god. This is priceless. It makes up for the t-shirt thing, bro- bro? Hey, where'd JP go?"

Shadow JP was still talking, and summoned up a pantheon of sexualized shadows - scantily clad women, faceless, with jet-black skin and equally dark hair.

And then JP was on stage. Apparently, the two were planning to duel. "Oi!" Mana shouted at JP. "You'd better survive this, ya bastard! You will live, and I will mock you for this forever!" After a moment, he added; "Also, we need to talk about your taste in women. These things are just overblown tits and ass - not particularly hot at all."

The Shad-ho in front of him moaned, squeezing herself against the pole with a rather disturbing squelch. She leaned backwards, revealing that there was nothing under her skirt but Satan's ugly, warty mug.

Mana clenched his eyes shut as a blinding pain rushed through his skull. He tried in vain to excise the image from his mind, when he was suddenly backhanded, causing him to lose his balance. Still blinded, he shoved his evoker to his jaw and cried, "Alice!"

The little girl coalesced from the smoke, and glanced at the Shad-ho disapprovingly. "We need to talk about the company you're keeping, mister."

Mana gritted his teeth. "Goddammit, enough back talk, just slow the bloody things down. Evil Smile!"

"No need to ask," Alice said, already grinning. And her smile grew, and grew, and grew. Soon, she looked more like the Cheshire Cat than Alice in Wonderland.

There seemed to be hundreds of teeth in her mouth, all thin and needle-sharp. Then her smile tore itself right off her face, and continued to grow wider and wider, seeming to fill the entire world. Then the mouth opened, and laughter pealed through the stadium, mingling with the music to form a terrible cacophony.

The laughter was high-pitched, a young girl's laugh, tinged with equal parts insanity, hate, and fear. It sent a chill down Mana's spine. Even the Shad-ho seemed to be a bit taken aback, so he took the chance to rush away from the range of those fatal looking claws. Still half-blind, he rushed in a random direction, hoping he didn't run straight into another one.

 

[InnerFlame]

Russell Wilton
Court of Miracle...Strip Club?

After summon his Persona Sigmund looked at Russell and gave him a nod. The boy assumed it was an approval of some kind; it did make him feel better about it. Mana followed it up by commenting: “A love god? Perhaps you're a secret ladykiller, my friend?” Russell couldn’t agree on that one. He was surprisingly likable but girls more thought of him as cute because of his blasted built and height. It made him wonder if that would change when he got his growth spurt.

The remaining three summon their Persona: Halberd, who was dressed… different than normal this midnight, had some warrior chick; Clarise had some golden cheerleader lady with a helmet and Lace had some armless man that she preceded to attack. Him and the red-haired older teen where in agreement here: Lace was a frighteningly off. There was a voice of a person he didn’t care about, he still pretty angry about the threat last night and it was still far too soon to let go of his grudge. Then the alarming voice arose that just scream trouble.

Before he had the chance to find the source the grass turned into flickering panels, there were disc balls and poles... and strangely catchy techno music. He managed to see that will all the blinking and blinding lights. Then some shadowy girls came down some poles wearing a bra, a short skirt and nothing else from what he could tell...... Was this a strip club? The evil JP wherever he was in the mass of lights had brought them to a strip club and the now they had to fight some... dancers.

This was a bit of problem with seizure-inducing flashes and that he didn’t a weapon since the axe was a bit too heavy for him to carry about and he returned Halberd’s sword so that meant he had to depend on his Persona or learn how to fistfight in the next few seconds. Being used to being partly blind he put the evoker to his head unfortunately he hesitated again with the whole putting a gun to his head. And the shadow lady came in gracefully and kicked Russell; he was thrown to the ground. That was painful especially when added to the soreness he already had. But he already decided he wasn’t going to die; so his will to live got him back to his feet and he again put the silver device to his head and this time pulled the trigger.

“Eros,” Russell summoned Eros again and he appeared bow ready. He fired an arrow that hit the... dancer’s shoulder; and she shrieked like she violated: must to the redhead discomfort. Eros aim was actually fairly good despite coming from the bad vision mostly blue-eyed boy. If she hadn’t move to dodge it would have hit her square on her cleavage... area... “Whoa, I need to properly concentrate.” Then came the freshman new dilemma... Eros was a long range attacker and he had no close range attacking abilities... The dancer quickly seemed to figure that out as she rushed to get in close. There seemed to be no other choice... Russell went running to keep his distance from his attacker.

 

[Vivian_Bloom]

Lace Condor
Bellow High Stadium
Nearing Midnight

Mana and JP were going on about how they should act around of the new group. Lace unfastened her jacket and tied it tighter around her waist. After cracking her neck she produced a Snickers bar from her front pants pocket. Just as Lace brought it up to her face and admire it, the world went dark.

Striptease Club
Court of Miracles

"Oh, I think it's too late for that, Mana!”
Lace was chewing half the bar and froze for a second. It was pitch dark for a second and she couldn't make out where the voice came from. Someone snapped and the area burst into light. The floor everyone was standing on blinked a multitude of colors and a large stage was ahead of them. Lace's eyes were wide as clocks as she slowly bit of another piece of the Snickers.

Wulfgard had spotted whoever it was in the chair calling him JP.
"JP?" He asked. Lace turned from him, to the peacock man up on stage, to Wulfgard, and then her shoes. This was just like before in the dungeon last week. Lace tilted her head and shouted up to the man on stage.

"How come your up there?" She pointed to him and jabbed her thumb back at her, "And we're down here?" Maybe he didn't hear her because just then disco balls came down and positioned themselves by each of her team. The Shadow man spoke up.

“Ya see, I don't think any of yous is gonna make it the night, dig?”
Lace was about to open her mouth when she heard music start in the background. She cupped her ears for a second but since it wasn't an attack Lace relaxed and started jumping up and down. Finally! "Someone's up for a little pre-game party before the smackdown!" She said.

All through her excitment strobe lights came in and Lace heard something open from the ceiling. Long poles came planting themselves before everyone. Giving it a short glance Lace turned sideways and practiced her moonwalk circling around the pole.
"Doo bee doo bee doo!" She said making her arms wave as she made her second trip around the pole. The sound of hard boots hit the floor behind and Lace turned around to recieve a direct kick in the chest from some long black legs. She turned her shoes up slide back a bit and touched the floor to stop herself from falling over.

"You are a girl...right?" Lace asked the shadow. It was a good foot taller than herself and seemed to be made out of latex, or black leather. It wore a little bikini and Lace whistled when she saw those sharp claws. Lace flexed her shoulders and started tapping her feet and bobbing her head to the beat. Drawing out her daggers she threw aside the jacket and started to circle the shadow. No matter where Lace was the shadow always managed to shift its position to face her. Tightening her grip Lace charged towards her enemy.

Lace was on her pretty fast. She jumped up to slash its throat but caught nothing but air. The shadow was more athletic than she thought and vaulted right over Lace using her head as a footstool then planted a kick to her back from behind. Lace whipped back around to see it dancing around again trying to read her moves. Lace heard a voice ring out in her head. Saturnus.

"Your wasting too much energy. How can you gain more speed?"

Lace grinned, took out her evoker and shot it underneath her chin after calling him out. "Saturnus!" The red and white striped god rose from behind and Lace shouted to him. "Sukukaja!" A wave of flames erupted around her as Lace felt lighter and faster. She gripped the daggers and sprinted back to the shadow. Not running back, the shad-ho swiped at her with its claws but Lace didn't have much trouble meeting it with her dagger. The strikes and blocks went for a minute when the shadow back-flipped away. Lace smirked.

"Staring isn't going to help!" She shouted but the shadow stood up completely straight and slowed down. It ran right up to Lace's face and leaped up just as the girl missed her swipe.
"H-How?" The enemy was coming back down and bringing its leg to squash her.
Lace fumbled her daggers and barely caught the end of its leg struggling to hold it up. The shadow was on one leg now and was able to lean forward to where its face was directly infront of hers seeing the child struggle holding her up. Lace wasn't that strong and the shadow withdrew its leg, bounced back, and sweep kicked the girl off her feet.

In a flash as Lace realized she was on her back and gripping her evoker again, the shadow was standing directly on top of her with Lace between its legs blocking her view. "Saturnus!" She shouted and he erupted from the floor beside her facing the shadow. It drew its claws back facing Lace and glanced at Saturnus breathing fire on her shoulder.

The shadow turned back to Lace and lunged its nails down to Lace's chest. She had to use both daggers to block it and her hands were getting sweaty. Saturnus looked down as Lace gave him the order. "Agi!" A fireball launched from his core and hit the shadow. Smoke was all around Lace and she heard the shadow step off.

Crawling out the smoke, Lace stumbled getting up and noticed a cut going down her face. Gripping both daggers Lace took a couple deep breaths as she backed up and waited for her enemy to come out the smoke. Lace called out.

"I know your in there! But...If you could just give me a sec?"
Lace had her hands on her knees taking a moment when she heard sharp footsteps in the direction of the smoke. Peeking up she made out a tall leggy figure dashing out and that familiar black leg stepped out the smoke. It stood up completely straight and Lace could see smoke floating off its body.

"Burnt rubber?" Lace sniffed the air and winked at it. The shadow jerked its head in confusion for a moment and stared before sprinting towards her. "Ok, cool it!" The shadow launched towards her and Lace raised a dagger to meet its claws.

 

[Kiruria]

OOC: ...Wow, that Techno Disco song is actually pretty neat! For some reason, the silhouette in the picture in that video looks a lot like the "Shad-ho's" that just appeared.
IC:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bryan "Halberd" Donneley
Court Rave of Miracles

One moment, Halberd was raising his eyebrows at Lace's behaviour with her unexpectedly-fiery-looking Persona. The next, he felt as if Warren had taken him along on a trip to the magical Mushroomland. (Which is not to be confused with the Mushroom Kingdom, by the way.) Flashing lights, disco balls, and catchy techno music, it made it impossible for Halberd to just stand still in this place. As he admired all the poles and the golden throne that appeared on one end, he kept bouncing in place, shuffling his feet around a slight bit. True, techno wasn't his favourite genre of music, but out of all the electronica out there, this type of tune was his favourite. Catchy, uplifting, and upbeat without being cheesy like most Eurodance, it had an interesting sort of appeal. Whatever it was, Halberd certainly liked it. And he knew that his little brother Warren did too, hence the reference to him earlier.

He had to admit, JP had a really interesting style to him. In fact, he liked this JP more than the normal one so far. It just seemed totally in his nature for him to be a pimp like that. And that coat looked really good on him. Halberd looked at him and gave him a smile, but Shadow JP didn't seem to care about him for the time being. Instead he brought out his harem: a group of girls who looked more like moving mannequins than anything else. Halberd's jaw dropped a little when he saw them dancing on the poles and such. For a while he just stood there, giving the "Shad-ho" closest to him an awkward look. Were those things supposed to be seductive? They kind of had a nice body (though a little over the top), but he was already not that fond of black girls, and the fact that they had unusual faces turned him off even more.

Before Halberd could do anything about this weird go-go-dancer-mannequin-thingy, he felt a sharp pain inbetween his legs. Immediately he dropped to a squatting position, wincing, slowly moving his handle to the handle of his rapier. Meanwhile, the girl stood there right in front of him, shaking her booty in his face. As his eyes accidentally wandered to what was underneath the skirt, the names "Pandora" and "Giygas" briefly flashed across his mind, before he turned away. The next sight his eyes met was JP, who had set up some sort of wall separating himself from the rest of the group. Looking briefly around as he stayed curled up in pain, he could see that a few of the others had already summoned their Personae. But then he looked back at JP.

Hmm, JP's watching everything we're doing, he thought. I dunno if he's the type to do so, but he could theoretically be watching us, figuring out how we fight, and working on a strategy against that. Therefore... I dunno if summoning our Personas just yet is a good idea.

Feeling the pain between his legs ease up just a little bit, he sprang to his feet, facing the naughty dancer-shadow-person. Looking beyond her, he saw Russell running away from another of the dancers, Eros not too far away. Snow was doing the same thing. But for a moment, he had an idea.

First he drew out his rapier, taking a graceful step backwards, away from the creepy stripper. While keeping the sword pointed at her, he edged in an arc around her, glancing behind occasionally to see where Russell was. When the shad-ho pursuing Russell grew close to him, he slid his left leg backward, right in front of the pursuer, causing her to trip and fall over. At the same time, the shad-ho who had initially kicked him did another kick, this time knocking his rapier right out of his hand. Halberd caught it by the base of the blade in hs left hand. As if predicting this move, the shad-ho grabbed the end of the blade, pushing it towards Halberd. Halberd let go and re-caught the sword by the handle this time, but by the time he did so, he could already feel his left hand sting from the cuts the blade had left in it.

It was a good thing he was right-handed. Transferring the sword to his right hand, he slid its tip out of the shad-ho's grasp. She tried to disarm him with another kick again, but he moved his hand out of the way, and the kick instead went right into the side of the blade. Halberd smirked--there was a disadvantage to having bare legs at times like this. He advanced towards her, ready to stab her right in the chest. But at that moment, one of the lights flashed right in his eyes, distracting him as the shad-ho moved to the side to dodge. Apparently she delivered a kick to his back at that point, for he couldn't quite see what she did. But this kick knocked him forward a slight bit.

Damn, I wish I had brought sunglasses, Halberd thought. Fighting these things with a sword seemed simple enough, but the flashing lights were definitely a complication. Maybe if I just keep my eyes on the target, and focus on only one at a time... He took a brief glance at Russell to check on how he was handling his pursuer. Yes, that seems logical.

He stood up and immediately slashed his blade across her chest. Unfortunately, he only cut across her boobs, slicing right through her bra. He was surprised the bra was still intact after that. She fired another kick; he retreated. She moved backward, right up against one of the lights... Halberd moved around to the side, avoiding its glare and making another cut, this one on the underside of her right arm, in the process. She moved into the light again, he moved around, she tried a slap this time but just barely missed, Halberd's blade grazed her right flank... He was making good progress, so he thought. The style of fencing he was used to relied on just this: making a series of cuts until the opponent bled out and couldn't fight anymore. Only problem was, he wasn't checking to see if she was bleeding any.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OOC: Do these things bleed at all? Since they're not quite human, I'm not quite sure... Yeah, Halberd's not planning on evoking his Persona anytime soon. And why not, I figured I'd help Russell out a bit...

 

[Son_of_Shadows]

Joshua Sands - Tower Arcana - Court of Miracles

First item on the agenda was teaching the newbies to summon their Personas, and it turned out to be an interesting group - Ciara had Kitsune, the famous Japanese fox, Clarise had Konohana Sakuya, the Japanese nature spirit as Joshua recalled, Russell had the Greek God Eros, and the boy in the kilt, who asked to be called Halberd had a Warrior Queen, Scathach. Privately, Joshua resolved never to say her name out loud for fear of butchering it. Probably would get him slaughtered. And then there was Lace, who pretty much embraced the fire demon she'd summoned. Hoo boy. She seemed unstable. Still, the newbies all seemed to take to summoning, though some, particularly Russell looked a little dazed. Joshua had felt the same way... Had it only been a week since he first summoned Shiva, the Destroyer? How time flew. It felt like closer to eight or nine months. But maybe that was natural, given what they'd all been through over the last week.

The Court however, was not planning on going easy on them, despite all that. As Joshua was wondering to himself where Randy, Liza and Izzy were, a techno beat started up, in addition to a familiar sounding-voice.

“Oh, I think it's too late for that, Mana!” Oh no. Another Shadow Self? So soon? Joshua bit his lip, and looked around. Where was it? Whose was it? He placed one hand on his saber, and the other on his evoker, ready to defend himself and support the party. But unbelievably, the stadium transformed their eyes, into what essentially looked like a cheesy pole-dancing bar... But without the drink, rather unfortunately. Joshua suspected he might need one after all this.

“Ya see, I don't think any of yous is gonna make it the night, dig? EVERYBODY CLAP YO HANDS!" Unsurprisingly, nobody applauded. Except Mana. But Mana was Mana. That pounding techno beat, though infectious, was starting to irritate Joshua though, and when he saw its source, his jaw hit the floor.

"You MUST be joking me..." he mumbled.

“JP?” Wulfgard shouted, clearly as surprised as the rest of them. The Shadow couldn't be anyone but JP's, lounging in the throne like it was a hammock, and the luxurious fur coat and tiger pants... And the sheer arrogance emanating from it? Definitely Joaquim. Oh dear God, this is going to SUCK.

“Dats right! Welcome to my world! Ya like? Took some dedication to get it just the way I wanted.” Evidently, he liked it tacky. But this was the first time a Shadow had changed the environment around the group, so Joshua was on guard. What traps could lie in store? Shadow JP wasn't done yet though, and as he stood, he pulled out a silver cane with the most ostentatious diamond had ever seen. The Hope Diamond by comparison looked like something on a cheap engagement ring.

“But don't get all excited yet, 'aight? You ain't even met my girls yet!” Of course. So the pimp appearance wasn't just for show. Unfortunate. The creatures, that could really only be described as "shad-hos" descended the silver poles, with one for each student, and two for Wulfgard. Fantastic. Though ready for a fight, they didn't seem overly... Evil. Perhaps it was the looks distracting him. Still, they were completely surrounded.

“Don't worry as long as ya leave me and my boy to our business, dey won't bite... too much! Now let's get this started, bitch! We gonna go one-on-one. Can ya dig it?” In a flash, JP was transported up to his Shadow's stage, and a cage formed up around them - nobody could interfere. And that was seriously bad news for JP, considering how he'd been injured today in training. The way forward was obvious - take out the shad-hos, and try to help JP. Could Joshua use a Bracing Breeze? Would it even affect him in that cage? No - he didn't even have time to cast it, as one of the women lunged for him. But his reflexes had sharpened over the past week, and he lashed out with his saber in defence, causing her to draw back instead. No way was he going down to a flunky tonight. And he intended to make sure JP lived - for goodness sake, it was only 24 hours ago Joshua had mutilated himself to save his life. He quickly glanced around to see what others were doing - Snow was fleeing in terror, Mana and Russell were trying to keep their distance to effectively use their Personas and bows, and Lace had engaged one head-on. She didn't seem to be doing too badly either, for a kid. No bright ideas came to mind.

Joshua's shad-ho however, had plenty of bright ideas. One very bright one indeed. Impressively, she bent over backwards into an arch, lifting up her skirt as she did so to reveal... A blinding flash of light! Joshua tried to shield his eyes, but it was no good - for a few moments, all he would be seeing was white everywhere. What could he do? Probably the stupidest thing he could, he slashed blindly, trying to prevent her from getting close, but she'd snuck around to his back, and punched him with great force in the small of his back. Joshua yelped in pain, and fell on to his knees from the shock. Still basically blind, and he quickly found himself reeling from a kick in the face. And now he'd dropped his saber because of it. This wasn't going well. He had only one hope, and as the shad-ho approached, he took his chances. He drew his evoker to his temple, and cried "Persona! Shiva, Diamond Dust!" The Destroyer materialised, and blew a cold wind in the shad-ho's direction, freezing her joints and blowing her back a little. This bought Joshua the time he needed for the rod cells in his eyes to recover. Now that he could see, and his opponent was slowed, he had a fighting chance.

His saber was on the ground to his right, and the pole-dancer tried to dive for it. Joshua had other ideas though, and crashed into her with considerable momentum, sending her sprawling and allowing him to pick it up. "Ice Blade!" he called, and Shiva flash-froze his blade, increasing its power, and giving it an elemental sting. He pointed it at her. "Ready for another round?"

 

[*Jean Grey*]

Theresa Del Monico - Empress Arcana
Bellow High Stadium

JP had insisted that he was alright, to which Theresa reluctantly agreed, driving him back to school. Thankfully, her mother was fast asleep when they left. She did not want to deal with the tendencies of a 50-year-old Ashkenazic Jew cougar.

When they arrived at the stadium, it was already close to midnight. By that time the five new to the Court were beginning to summon their Personae.

“Brings me memories, doesn’t it? Hardly feels like we’ve been doing this for a week. I feel like I’m about to pass the torch to someone. Like I’m a granddad or something, know what I mean?” JP said as Theresa watched the redheaded Lace attack her own Persona.

"No! Bad JP. Dude, if you talk like that, we'll all end up dying so that the next generation can be heroes. Don't jinx it. Instead of passing the torch, we need to show these amateurs who's boss, don'tcha think?" Mana replied, to which Theresa had to laugh.

"JP, we're all doing this together. I get what you mean, but a week is hardly long...they're more like latecomers to the party...knock on wood, JP. Knock on wood, I don't want any of us biting the dust." She replied, however as she faced him, she noticed that he wasn't there.


Court of Miracles

“Oh, I think it's too late for that, Mana!” A voice said.

"JP! Where are..." She whispered, before looking up to see that everything had changed in front of her very eyes. The stadium had transformed into something like a disco, the floor changing into colored tiles, disco balls and silver poles descending from above.

“Ya see, I don't think any of yous is gonna make it the night, dig?” Pink-colored lights then started to flash, making Theresa rather nauseous. She really disliked the color pink after all. What kind of Court was this anyway? It wasn't something she expected, not at all.

OK, who's Shadow is this now? Sofiya's? Lace's? This is too pink to be a dude's...

"EVERYBODY CLAP YO HANDS!" The voice ordered. No, it definitely was a guy's voice, contrary to Theresa's suspicions. It was a voice that had a quality so familiar to her, except more twisted and sadistic. A spotlight went on, revealing who it was. A tall, familiar-looking young man, dressed in a pink fur coat, a pink pimp hat and zebra-striped leather pants, sitting on a throne. The Italian squinted under the bright light. What she saw confirmed her latter suspicions.

JP? Il mio Dio...

“JP?” Wulfgard shouted, evidently surprised.

“Dats right! Welcome to my world! Ya like? Took some dedication to get it just the way I wanted. But don't get all excited yet, 'aight? You ain't even met my girls yet!” Shadow JP replied, taking out a cane that was topped by a diamond far larger than the Cullinan. Right after that, several figures started sliding down the silver poles. From what Theresa could see, they were dark and shadowy women with perfect figures, dressed in glittery bras and minis. One of the "Shad-hos" slid down the pole right in front of her.

“Don't worry as long as ya leave me and my boy to our business, dey won't bite... too much! Now let's get this started, *****! We gonna go one-on-one. Can ya dig it?” Theresa then noticed the real JP up on the platform, a cage forming around him and his Shadow, cutting him off from the rest of them...and their help. He was already injured, now this? Theresa regretted her decision to allow him to come, before stopping herself. What if he did not come? He might have been killed in his sleep, or worse.

There's no time to think, I better get rid of this betch.

Theresa faced the Shad-ho in front of her, scythe in hand. No, she wasn't going to faint tonight, now that she knew what she had to do. Demeter wasn't a natural healer like Melpomene and Shiva. Healing was bound to be more taxing if that was the case. Theresa had to either attack by herself or take advantage of her Persona's strength in magic offense.

The Shad-ho twisted and danced on the pole, raising her legs as she did. She looked around, trying to see how the others were faring. Snow had resorted to running away, Russell and Mana summoned their Personae before doing the same, while Lace, Halberd and Josh seemed to be holding their own. She noticed that a flash of light came from the behinds of the Shad-hos, seeing how some of them were blinded.

She turned back to the Shad-ho, who reached out at her chest with her long nails, clearly thretening to tear her corset open. Theresa took a step back, nearly stumbling backwards as she trembled from the suddenness. The Shad-ho however, took this moment of weakness and twisted back, before bending backwards, just as the other ones did.

No...no...

"Fuck! Flash someone else you creep! Your behind is probably uglier than Vittoria's wrinkled ass!" Theresa instinctively cursed, before twisting her scythe and gripping it horizontally so that blade faced up. She then swung it with a quick upward motion, plunging it inside her, if she even had insides. The Shad-ho froze, before flinging her arms behind herself, clawing at Theresa. The scratches landed on her shoulders, neck upper arms, more painful than she expected. She winced, but kept her scythe steady. That could prevent her from flashing for the time being.

The clawing grew worse and worse, and Theresa knew that she had to do something. Releasing her left hand from the scythe's pole, she grabbed her Evoker from the pocket of her minishorts. Now less shaky, she pulled the trigger.

"Demeter, Briar!" She called as the golden goddess materialized. Demeter then proceeded to conjure thorny briars aroud the Shad-ho, forcing the dark woman to stop clawing. Theresa allowed herself a moment's reprieve, assessing her wounds. Several scratch marks marred her neck, shoulders and upper arms, bleeding bright red. They were however, rather shallow, nothing too complicated to be fixed. Catching her breath, she then looked at Demeter, who nodded at her. The nineteen-year-old then faced the Shad-ho defiantly, pulling her scythe and releasing it from under the Shad-ho.

"You're not going to break me." She whispered, aiming her scythe as she slashed, just as the Shad-ho's initial shock wore off and raised her claws yet again, resuming the fight.

 

[Blivsey]

Sigmund Okonkwo
Bellow High [Court of Miracles]

Sigmund gave a bit of a chuckle along with the others. It was a bit early for them to be "passing down the torch," but it was admittedly kind of a cool thought nonetheless.

“Oh, I think it's too late for that, Mana!”

Sigmund raised an eyebrow - it was a bit of an odd outburst, made all the stranger by the fact that JP had apparently learned both ventriloquism and voice-throwing. Now didn't seem like the right place to be showing off his new-found talent, though. Either that, or it had just been somebody with a very... similar...

"Aw, hel/ no."

By the time Sigmund had swung around to find the source of the noise, the stadium around them was practically unrecognizable. The turf floor had become an array of flashing neon tiles, the ceiling shut itself in an instant, and what seemed to be metal poles and disco balls descended on them from some unknown distance above.

“Ya see, I don't think any of yous is gonna make it the night, dig?”

The room began to flash various colors, only serving to be more confusing. Whatever clone was showing up now, it definitely was a lot flashier than the others. He was perfectly fine with that, though - strobe lights won out over horror movie death traps for him every time. Keeping in with the showmanship, he saw a white stage and throne appear from nowhere, highlighted by a spotlight from nowhere, and occupied by a very flashily-dressed figure who had come from apparently nowhere.

JP. Sigmund raised right fist in front of himself and let his left hover over the evoker tucked into the waist of his pants. No point in bothering to argue with it - he was almost certain by this point that the doppelgangers couldn't be reasoned with. Instead, he kept sweeping the room for some sort of attack while keeping one eye on the self-proclaimed main event. He didn't have to wait long - in moments, over a dozen shadows came down the poles and started heading straight for the students gathered, one apiece. Sigmund had steeled himself somewhat, but their appearance was... a bit...

...what?

They were masses of black something-or-other, just like the others, but these were distinctively humanoid, and very feminine, from their body shape and less-than-modest apparel down to their odd, swaying movements. It was hard to even tell if he was supposed to find this attractive in some surreal way or just plain disturbing, but somehow Sigmund was getting a bit of both. Even more curiously, they seemed on-guard but hardly hostile at all. JP's doppelganger seemed to have caged itself in, as well - Sigmund had really expected this one to be a lot more direct, somehow.

Well, shadows are shadows, he reasoned. Better yet, they weren't even attacking, giving him plenty of time to fumble for his evoker. Fitting his armored finger in the proper spot, he lifted the mock pistol up and stuck the barrel to the underside of his chin. His finger froze up for a second, unable to move even as he told it to. Pushing past the base instinct not to pull, he squeezed the trigger...

"Hua Po!"

All at once, Sigmund's vision was slightly clouded with a faint light, he heard the sound of smashing glass, and felt himself becoming slightly faint. Dropping his hand slightly, he found himself face-to-face with his Persona for the second time since the court had begun. A girl hardly his own age was before him, with soft red skin and insect-like wings, barely a foot tall and dressed in the very stereotype of a Chinese woman. The faerie gave him a kind glance and turned to face the shadow, raising her hands toward it. As she did, a word came to Sigmund's mind. It wasn't spoken in any particular voice, but simply came into his thoughts as a word he was intrinsically familiar with. A word of power, one for bringing forth heat and flame.

"Agi!"

As the word reverberated in his mind, something ignited itself just in front of Hua Po, giving the effect of a miniature fire-bomb. It streaked forward, hitting the shadow-seductress square in the torso and knocking it backwards. Still silent, the faerie disappeared into thin air, leaving the shadow to slump backwards, clutching its faintly-burning chest. Seeing this, Sigmund's mind jumped on its own to images of his first night at the court, seeing a person burned alive. Dizzy at the thought, he dropped to one knee to recover. He could see it all - the man's body wriggling helplessly, his skin charring over.... That was his power now.

Sigmund put one hand to his head, trying to clear his mind. He didn't get the opportunity, but found himself thrown completely to the ground as the shaductress pounced at him, pinning his arms down and crouching prone uncomfortably close over him. Still dizzy, he tried to slide his hands away, but couldn't. The shadow leaned its head closer in, staring him down with its complete lack of a face. All of a sudden, this shadow was nothing less than utterly creepy.

"Back... off!" Sigmund shouted, bringing his knee up to hit the shadow square between the legs. It yelped in pain and fell to one side, allowing Sigmund to roll away in the other direction and get to his feet. Raising his fists again, he watched the shadow closely, waiting for it to make a move. Its next one was completely unanticipated - from what was practically a sitting position, it swung its legs backward and over its own head in an impossible contortion, causing a strong light to shine in his eyes. Sigmund snapped his view away and threw his arms up in front of himself. Was he just...?

The light subsided, bringing Sig's attention back in front of himself. He saw the thing pouncing at him again, its nails bared to claws. Thinking fast, he threw his hands up to meet the shadow's, catching the claws in a dead lock. Still caught, the shadow landed surprisingly gracefully and started pushing at Sigmund, causing him to nearly stumble back before finding his footing. He pushed at the shadow, and it pushed back - neither of them was liable to move. It was like a child's game-imitation of wrestling, each of them with their hands locked and trying to throw the other to the ground. Christopher had always seemed really good at that game, too - how did he do it?

Oh, yeah. Sigmund twisted his wrists down, forcing the shadow's fingers to bend backwards on themselves. He grinned, expecting the shaductress to back down, but it didn't react at all. Its fingers were apparently as flexible as the rest of its body, letting it keep on pushing forward at him. Stuck in a grapple, Sigmund could only groan, "Oh, come on!" and try to throw it off-balance, to no avail. At least as long as he was trapped in a stalemate, so was the shadow.

 

[niedude]

<//JP- Lovers Arcana//3
<//Centre Stage//3

This was it. This was his night. After a week of being trialed and given a chance to grow stronger, it was his turn. And things turned out just the way he both wanted and feared.

The stadium shifted and isolated him and his shadow inside a cage flooded by strobe lights. Nothing but the music could penetrate their stage meaning he was safe from back-attacks and ambushes; likewise, nothing could save him if things went wrong.

And that scared him like sh|t! But he had to overcome it: he was the one always posing as their big, brave and badass leader on the battlefield (though he knew no one looked at him as such) and he was one of the oldest. It was time to become a role-model!

But he was still scared like sh!t. He could barely grasp the handle of his sword.

‘Pathetic,’ rung a voice from deep inside.

Pedro was there. He had forgotten about that for a second. JP could feel the disapproval stemming from the king, and if he was part of himself… that means he was disappointing himself. But what was he supposed to do? This crap was scary; he could die! Anyone would be scared shitless.

‘It is not the amount of fear we don’t feel that makes us brave; it is in how we overcome it.’

And there it was, a fact JP knew all too well (after all, this was essentially him telling himself that) but chose to ignore most of the time. Why? Simple: he doubted he was strong enough to do that.

‘You strengthen your body to hide your weak spirit, but fear not, for I am here.’

JP was suddenly someplace else: a white room with nothing in it but himself and his Persona both sitting on a throne.

‘I am your strong spirit. With combined domains there is nothing that can stand in our path; not injury, curse nor mourning.’

“Let’s get this going then!” he screamed, rupturing his hallucination. He then dramatically threw an accusatory finger at his Shadow and began shouting bravado in hopes it would throw him into a battle-focused state-of-mind.

“You wanna do this One-on-one? Man to man? Well LET’S DO THIS!”
And he violently threw his sword and his dagger away from him. He would have done the same to his jacket, but that crap was expensive, so he just unzipped it in one much more controlled but still sharp movement and threw it away. He was now shirtless and with no weapons (other than the Evoker strapped to his waist; he’d hoped he needn’t use it, but a lifeline is always welcome.)

As the boy felt Pedro’s presence begin to invade his body, taking command of his injured feet and blocking him from feeling pain, he shouted at the Shadow:

“No magic. No flashy powers. MAN TO MAN, FIST TO FIST!”

 

[Zincspider]

Shadow JP
Court of Miracles

“No magic, no flashy powers. MAN TO MAN, FIST TO FIST!” JP shouted, throwing his weapons to the ground. Any continuation, however, was interrupted by a boot to the face. Courtesy of Shadow JP of course. The real JP staggered back a couple of feet from the blow, but it really hadn't done to much damage. It was more of a 'shut the hell up' kick than anything. Lights flashed over both the fighters, lilluminating Shadow JP's face with enough colors to give some poor kid a seizure. Reaching into his coat pocket, he pulled out a large white rimmed pair of sunglasses and perched them on his nose, smiling.

“Says tha guy who thinks he gets 'possessed' by his Persona, eh? Dat sounds plenty flashy ta me. And I know flashy.” Shadow JP announced, putting emphasis on the final word. “Besides, I ain't really got no magic or powers. Just tha brains not to throw my weapons away.” As if to emphasis his point, he pointed his cane out in front of him, pointing at JP's heart.

“Ya still don't get it do you? You can be as brave as ya want, dat ain't yo problem.”

In one swift motion, JP reached up and grabbed the large diamond on the end of his cane. Charging forward, he pulled on it and revealed a hidden blade inside of the pimp stick. In tune with his unsheathing of the weapon, he had it continue into a large slash too quick and dangerous for an unarmed man to try and block. For the second time in two nights, JP's chest had been sliced open.

As quickly as he had unsheathed the weapon, Shadow JP jumped backward and slid it back in his scabbard. He didn't stand in place though, he took a strong sideways stance and began to hop to the music, keeping on his toes.

“Ya think you in charge, boy!” Shadow JP yelled. “And da truth is dat ya ain't!”

Once again, Shadow JP charged forward, this time, when JP raised his arms to defend his chest, he aimed for the legs instead slicing along the knees, and quickly sheathed his weapon again. From here, JP began to wail on Shadow JP with everything he had. The Shadow's metal cane proved to be a defensive weapon as well, as he used it to block any major blow, letting the minor ones slide of his body, causing minimal damage. Boring. “Ya try ta do everything. So ya ain't mastered squat!”

Landing back in his starting position, Shadow JP looked at his counterpart. He was bleeding badly. It really made him kinda... disappointed. Frowning, he raised his arm to the back of his head and scratched, causing his hat to shift a little.

“Now, I ain't a cruel man. So I'll give you one more shot.”

The shadow used his cane to gesture at JP's weapons off in the corner. “If we keep going like this, you'd be dead in a few seconds. So I'll you can take those back... under one condition of course."
Smiling madly, Shadow JP threw his thumb up and pointed at one of JP's allies.

“Your girl there. The one you known for less than two weeks. Now she just insulted my girls. Dat ain't gonna fly. If you pick up ya doodads, I'll just have to have to give her a harder time, ya dig? I've got a couple extra girls who ain't exactly on the clock who'd love to give her a piece of their mind.”

Shadow JP looking in his counterpart's face, and could see his rage at the mere mention of the suggestion. Raising his hands, Shadow JP offered an explanation... that was oddly devoid of his unique slang.

“Come now, you really expect me to believe you love her? Do you even know how real love works? It takes time. Especially at your age. You haven't even gotten past sexual desire and puppy love yet. Anything you feel right now is nothing but your desire to have someone to hold onto. It could be anyone, and you'd feel the same. Don't even try to tell me otherwise. Anything you try to say will be nothing but lies to yourself and the world. You're relationship is a farce, and a bad one at that.

Now, will you pick up your weapons and have a chance to live another day and find real love? Or will you throw your life away to defend her? Your choice.”

Liza Monroe
Quarterman Streets (Nearing Izzy's house)
Court of Miracles

“Jerk.” Liza said for what had to be the fifth time in less than five minutes. It wasn't really Randy's fault that he'd left her alone, but she was alone none the less... and it was nice to have someone to blame for how scared she was. Well... she could be more terrified. It wasn't as bad as she thought it was going to be. No shadow stronger than she could handle hand come within more than fifteen feet of her. They all seemed to be focused on one direction.

It was actually easier to find Izzy's place than she thought it would be. Large black skid marks showed her which way to turn at every corner, courtesy of Hellion... which still confused her. She had seen Randy's Persona before. And here he was with a different one. Even Wulfgard didn't seem to be able to do something like that. What was so special about him?

She'd have to ask him when she caught up to him.

“I... need to take a break...”

If she caught up to him.

 

[Wordy]

Ciara H. Wright, Foxy Woman
Bellow High (geographically) Glamorous Disco Brothel (reality)
Court of 'Miracles'

Ciara just watched, as the creature swayed around in its dance.

"So, what are you, exactly? I mean, do you come as a package with him, or are you your own being? I think that you should pick up a leaflet from the therapist's office about the patriarchal paradigm, and the fact that you don't need to be dressed like that. You should not submit to the ideas of men, you know what I'm saying? Actually, that skirt is also way too short, perhaps-"

Deciding that Ciara had clearly chatted enough, or perhaps just tired of the psychobabble, the dancer began moving more quickly to the beat, and it appeared to be ready to get their two-woman show under-way.

"Oh, you're moving now, are you?" she smiled, "I've been waiting for this for a long time now... the time is finally here!" Ciara pulled her Evoker out with a dramatic flourish and began moving it up to her head- time to see what the Kitsune could do. She hoped it involved biting- cracking heads open with those powerful jaws.

At the same time, the Shadow suddenly dropped to the ground, as it raised its legs in an impossible gymnastic move. Ciara began, "Darling, I think that that isn't going to help your case because I'm not-" She was unable to finish that sentence, as she found no words to comprehend the shining light that began emitting from the creature's... skirt folds. Given that her eyes had been wide open, Ciara clamped them shut, even as she desperately scrabbled around, trying to hit the creature. The blinding light was still searing through her eyeballs, and because of this she charged for the same spot as before.

Of course, it had moved from its earlier position, and Ciara found herself frantically clawing around, trying to find something, anything to use as a marker; she felt a sudden impact to her right hand and it reflexively snapped open. As she regained her sight she saw her Evoker sail off in front of her, over the Shadow's head, before colliding with a nearby wall, where it bounced off and slid across the floor, in the midst of somebody else's fight.

Ciara let out a sharp hiss of pain as she clutched onto her injured hand, only just finding the spatial awareness to quickly stand out of the way as the creature went in for a two-footed kick at her stomach; Ciara was certain that just for a second that the nails on its feet resembled claws, but they seemed to retract back into the monster's skin. After a few moments of shaking the hand out, and fully aware of how sore it felt, Ciara leant downwards into a fighting stance, ready to move. No use crying over spilt milk, and in this analogy milk could easily be replaced with 'Evokers gone walkabout'.

"Now I'm really mad!" she said, with a smile that would have induced fear in all but the most foolhardy.

With agility that she didn't know she had, Ciara drew one of her butterfly swords from its strapping on her left leg, before darting forward and, in a ferocious uppercut motion, stabbing it straight through the creature's miniskirt. With a sadistic giggle, Ciara took several steps backward, satisfied at having revenged herself for the injustice done earlier. The sword was so beautiful and sharp...

Then, the dancer just withdrew the blade casually from its privates, holding the sword up to examine it in the strobe lighting. Then, with sharp aim, it threw it right at Ciara's head, forcing the girl to quickly duck. "Damn it!" she hissed as she hit the ground slightly harder than she would have liked, before calling over her shoulder, "Heads down!" Still, given how the weapon had made a whistling sound as it whooshed overhead, she doubted that anyone would have the time to heed her warning. No Evoker, only one butterfly sword left... she would have to work quickly and fast to take care of this. Perhaps she was being too reliant on weapons. Time to go back to basics.

The adrenaline impulse running through her accelerated her thoughts, and made everything else seem to move achingly slowly. With a complete plan and in control of her every move, Ciara decided to act immediately. Taking advantage of the creature's still outstretched throwing arm, Ciara grabbed it and, with an arabesque twirl, twisted it behind the monster's back, as she pulled on it hard. It was strange, how she could feel it struggling, but she seemed to retain control- she felt so much stronger than she had earlier. Perhaps Kitsune's power had awakened something more physical in herself as well.

Then, she cackled as she forced her other palm flatly into the small of the monster's back, pushing herself away to give extra momentum as it staggered uneasily backwards, eventually hitting itself on the front into the wall.

As it recovered, Ciara taunted her opponent.

"So, do you do anything other than look like a complete tart and flash your assets at passers-by? Because you're not that good at fighting, sweetie, and if I wanted to see a tart all I need to do is observe their ancient, saggy Queen over thattaway."

 

[InnerFlame]

Russell Wilton
In the Blinding Lights of a Strip Club

Surprisingly despite his normal bad coordination, Russell was doing a good job running away from his opponent. Occasionally he had Eros take a shot though the agile dancer managed to dodge it just barely. It seemed the closeness of her as well as the distracting lights was messing with his aim a bit. After a lap or so around, the dancer was tripped by none other than Halberd... he thinks. That was pretty good distance judgment that in this place. As she was on the ground Eros made two quick shots that pierce straight through her chest. For a normal person that would have been the end of them but since this being was clearly not human; she just stood up leaving the arrows that went through her on the flickering ground. Russell couldn’t tell if she was getting any weaker or even if his attack were doing any good damage.

Though he somehow knew that Eros’s attack were not as effective as they should be. The redhead just had a feeling about it was all; or maybe it was because this was his persona. He prepared run again when in the distracting light he saw a small pink fairy looking creature. And the closest person to it was definitely Sigmund. It was a bit of a surprised to see it, it seemed a bit unfitting for him but maybe it represented him in a different way than it appeared. Like his persona didn’t really seem to fit him. His opponent was lit on fire... it seem effective.

Russell! A voice called out to him snapping him back to reality and his own current situation. The shadow woman had gotten in close again. Russell cursed letting himself get diverted by something else when he was in trouble. From what he could tell the foe was too close for the freshman to try to escape. Knowing an attack was coming he covered his face and got down... That was more useful during a tornado drill but it was the only thing he could think of to defend himself. The dancer screamed in pain again and was repelled back. Eros stood in front of him though he obviously didn’t do anything. This is a battle; thou must not let your mind wandered. This was a lucky chance that thou cannot depend on it.

“I know,” Russell mumbled back to the god... So technically he was talking to himself if he understood this whole Persona thing. He clenched the gun tightly and his hand kind of tremble; this alone was quite tiring and nerve-wrecking but he still stood strong. At least he had a chance this time around unlike last time... The young teen wish he hadn’t brought that up it made him sick just thinking about it. He fired the evoker again and Eros flew high as he drew his bow back far. “Eros' Arrow!”

The arrow when zooming and went right through the center of her forehead, her head was thrown and it looked like it would fall but it stood back up; it seem enraged. This made Russell wondered what he had to do to get rid of these things. But to be fair arrows probably weren’t very damage inducing weapons. So it was time to make some distance again as turned a something went passed his head. It made him pause.

“What in the-” He wanted to see what exactly it was but, he remember what happened last time. So decide to say concentrated on his target for now before anything else... But he realized he also had to watch out for other unidentified object from other fights.

 

[niedude]

<//JP- Lovers Arcana//3
<//Centre Stage//3


“Says da guy who thinks he gets 'possessed' by his Persona, eh? Dat sounds plenty flashy ta me. And I know flashy. Besides, I ain't really got no magic or powers. Just da brains not to throw my weapons away.”

Well, he got him there. But cmon, he was handicapped at the moment. What kind of sadistic soul wouldn’t allow him a little help? And maybe throwing the weapons away wasn’t the best idea, but godamit he was making a stand!

But JP’s stupidity was soon made clear. His Shadow produced a hidden weapon and dashed forward with far too much speed for him to block or dodge. He fought off the impulse to guard with his arms, but that would just get his hands chopped off, and he needed those to *****slap a pimp. As a result he got a nice new scar he could show off – though it did hurt like a SUNOVA*****!

The pain lasted quite a bit, but it was eventually replaced with a numbing warmth. Pedro’s influence was spreading and shutting off contact between the kid’s nerve endings and his own psyche, redirecting them to his subconscious which took the form of his Persona.

“Ya think you in charge, boy!” taunted his dark self. “And da truth is dat ya ain't!"

“Shut u-” JP was interrupted before he could make a stand. His opponent was relentless and incredibly fast. Against these moves, JP could not withstand the urge to guard, but it was meaningless; the shadow just slashed his knees. But he was vulnerable and within range, this was his best shot.

And he erupted. Like an enraged wolf he assaulted the Shadow; unlike all the previous times he’s entered “berserk mode” on the court, it gave absolutely no result other than leave JP’s hands sore. That walking stick made one hell of a defensive weapon.

Could he himself learn to use his sword and scabbard like that? It was definitely something to give a though - if he survived. Which was starting to seem unlikely, considering how badly he was bleeding. If Pedro wasn’t taking control of his body, he’d most likely be writhing on the ground in pain, much like yesterday after that Hama spell from hell. But even in this possessed state, he still felt tired and panted heavily. He needed to finish this up in the next few minutes, or he might not make it to the end of the Court, regardless of whether or not he beat his Shadow.

And then came his choice. The monster showed just how much in control it was, and how strongly he wanted things to go like he wanted. He wanted JP to fight with his entire arsenal, apparently, most likely so he could humiliate him even further, but… if JP wanted to pick up his swords back, Disco-Pimp would send even more Shad-hos Terri’s way…

Under normal circumstances, he’d refuse it outright: he’d spill out some fake bravado and assault his enemy like an hungry bear. But this situation was far from normal. He was standing, alone, against what may very well be the most powerful creature he’s ever fought (he dared not think how powerful his Shadow could get if it transformed into something big and hideous, like in Diego’s and Miyuki’s cases) and he’d foolishly cast aside his weapons.

He looked through the bars and tried to find Terri. Things seemed to be going well for most; other than Mana and Russel running around with their asses on fire, the guys seemed to be taking the fight to the shadows relatively well. Terri in particular seemed to be doing well in a more physical environment, which was reassuring. Not to mention her scythe slashed on a long angle and had a wide range, meaning it could probably handle more than one enemy at once, right?

Oh, who was he kidding!? He didn’t care about that! He didn’t care about any of them, did he? He was just looking at them to make himself feel better about pretty much backstabbing his team. Screw everyone else, he wanted to live! That was what he believed in now, as he bled out severely. His Shadow’s speeches might have implanted this thought and this selfishness on him, or they might not, but right now this was how it was.

“I’ll… Choose the weapons.”
The overgrown kid walked to his dagger first and to his sword second. Each step was slow and somewhat shameful, though at least it bought some time – even if mere seconds – for his teammates to slaughter their own shadows before they were dumped more.

Though watching the Shadow had given him an idea: he’d try and emulate his counterpart’s fighting style. He sheathed the dagger on his back, should he need it he could still whip it out on an emergency but, for now, he’d try to use quick slash-and-retreat attacks (he remembered his karate sensei telling him about a Japanese technique that worked like this; maybe he should start reading some sword-technique books after this) and the occasional punch to the face to complement his arsenal. After he re-equipped himself, he turned to his living nightmare and leered.

“But you have a lot of nerve, you know that?”

He waited for some reaction, something he could explore and insult but he ended up interrupting Disco-Pimp-Himself before he could even speak two words.

“You come here, trap us all in a disco-strip club, isolate us and make us fight for our lives, alone. Even though you have an army of deformed shadow prostitutes at your disposal. What is it then? Why did you separate us? Are you afraid of what we could do, together? Are our “bonds” something you actually fear?”

JP – the real one – smirked. He did so fully knowing it may have been the last time he ever smiled, but it was memorable. He rejoiced, for a minute, as he thought he finally understood what dark corner of his mind his Shadow had spawn from.

“You are my Shadow- my personal sins and failures given form. And you chose to isolate me in a crowd. Is this your stand? Is this what you are trying to make me see, that I am alone? Well, you’re wrong. I am not, and today was the first time I’d seen it too. Those guys over there-” he pointed past the bars, to where his teammates – no, his friends – where fighting for their lives. Plural, not for themselves.

“Those guys are my salvation. They are the only ones who were capable of opening my eyes and making me realize how superficial my life has been, and how alone I was all this time. But not anymore, because while I am in here, I fight for them; and while they’re out there, THEY FIGHT FOR ME!”

He bent forward and looked the clone in the eye; they were a few feet away from each other, but both could surely tell they were within the other’s reach. JP wanted to be patient and observe the Shadow’s technique a bit more, but at the same time he was too scared to risk being cut open again, so he decided to take the first blow. He jumped forward and in one swift movement whipped out his sword and slashed. It hit the copy’s large diamond dead-on, but JP was too inexperienced with this technique to pull the sword back and sheath it, so he was met with a cane to the face.

The boy managed to take two hops back and escape his enemies reach before something serious could happen. ‘Let this serve as a lesson,’ he thought. At least now he wouldn’t forget to pull his blade back.

 

[Kiruria]

OOC: Well gee, Halberd's the only one (besides JP of course) who hasn't evoked his Persona yet. I wonder how long that will last...
IC:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bryan "Halberd Rapier" Donneley
Discoteque of Miracles

WARNING: The following post is rated J-Pimp Worthy for violence and sexual content. Combined.

He must have cut the Shad-ho in at least ten different places. Including the insides of her arms, which should have rendered her unable to use them, especially with the ferocity she was slashing at him with. Halberd had to keep his rapier extended towards her in order to ensure he was a safe distance away from those slashes. Always return to the point. That was good advice indeed.

The good news was that Halberd's sight was beginning to return to normal, after making eye contact with her special parts blinded him for a while. How did that make any sense anyway? Here he was fighting a stripper who must have been immortal for all he knew, with a very flashy puss-in-skirt. Perhaps she recently had sex with a sun god? The second the thought crossed Halberd's mind, he got an idea...

Time to put the "rape" in "rapier", he thought.

He felt so wrong for thinking that.

With a target in mind, he edged around the Shad-ho, watching her movements, looking for an opportunity to strike. While doing so, just for the heck of it, he swayed back and forth to the beat of the music. At one point, he advanced with the blade, but pulled back before he got too far. The Shad-ho responded by slashing at his face with the claws of her right hand, but she missed, having fallen for the feint. Satisfied, Halberd advanced again, this time for real. But the Shad-ho outsmarted him, kicking the sword right out of Halberd's grasp.

This didn't stop Halberd. He continued his attack, jabbing his elbow right into the underside of her jaw. Taking advantage of the fact that he outweighed her, he pushed her backward with his hip, causing her to stumble backward. As he did so, he trapped one of her feet with his own. And then he charged at her, driving her right into the dazzling floor with all his weight. As a final blow, he drove a fist right into the centre of her chest, his knuckles jabbing right into her sternum. Such a move would have paralyzed a normal person, but by now Halberd figured she wasn't a normal person. What else could he do, hm?

For the next few moments Halberd was just doing random things to the Shad-ho, wondering how much it would take for her to die or have an orgasm. He pushed her head back, jabbed his toes into her bare legs (this missed on the first few tries), trying to choke her... all the while keeping his body close to hers so that he was out of scratching range. One or twice she did scratch at his back, but once she realised a tough coat was in the way, she stopped. For this part, Halberd was immensely thankful he was wearing long sleeves. At one point her bra slipped, revealing what was underneath. Knowing these were sensitive, he grabbed the tip of one and twisted it as hard as he could. The Shad-ho did cry out at that point, but he wasn't sure whether it was a cry of pain or pleasure.

What does it take to defeat these things? Halberd thought. Doesn't she get tired after a while? Here I am thinking this was over ages ago...

If it wasn't pain that defeated her, then maybe... Suddenly Halberd had another weird idea. That place where he had rammed his fist into her earlier?

"Sorry, J-Pimp, this one's mine," he muttered. He lowered his head towards the Shad-ho's chest... and touched the aforementioned place with his lips.

Okay, that was too awkward for him to bear. Immediately he jumped up and ran away from her, picking up his dropped rapier along the way. He used his free arm to wipe his mouth, determined not to think about what just happened. In fact, he was so pre-occupied with trying to forget it that he bumped right into Theresa, just as she was readying her scythe.

"Whoa whoa whoa," Halberd apologised as he stepped away from her. "I'm sorry... I wasn't..."

Before he could finish his sentence, he extended his rapier at the Shad-ho that was now about to slash at her. "No no, no cheap shots allowed."

As he backed away to let Theresa finish the fight, he muttered, "Nice scythe by the way..." though she probably couldn't hear him over the music.

 

[Vivian_Bloom]

Lace Condor
Striptease Club
Court of Miracles

The cut going down Lace's face was bleeding pretty bad. Her t-shirt had a large burnt hole on the right shoulder and the shadow was finally off her. The two of them had been striking each other going on minutes. This thing isn't struggling.

The Shad-Ho was a couple feet away from her and flexing its claws as it circled around Lace. Whipping out the evoker, Lace summoned Saturnus and launched a volley of 'Agi' spells at the Shad-Ho. One after the other.
"Cook her!" Lace shouted at her enemy. Saturnus started to glow behind her and the fireballs erupted.

Each attack was dodged closely by the shadow. Lace egged Saturnus on who was positioned infront of her. She kept smacking him on the back and stomped her feet as her stare never left the shadow. Each attack she'd flip, jump, roll, or cartwheel her way out of the fire sending flames sparking around the shadow. A minute later.

"Stop!" Lace tightened her fist at Saturnus commanding him to halt. The Shadow was in a crouched position and the smoke around them started to clear out. It looked to it's sides at the smoke and patted the floor as if trying to kill the fire. It turned back to the girl slowly standing up when Lace got a crazy idea.
Saturnus looked down at Lace and she gave him a quick nod as she tightened her dagger and inched back to her jacket. Not taking her eyes off the shadow, Lace kneeled down grabbing it from the floor. The Shad-Ho gave Lace a confused look as it tilted it's head to the side. It's back bent as a blinding light poured from somewhere around the thing's legs.

"The hell? What is that?!" Lace shielded her eyes and raised her evoker. Saturnus at her side she pointed to at the shadow. "We are going to smoke her out!" She told him. Lace was on one knee as she shouted out Agi spell one after another with Saturnus again just missing the target. As the Shadow danced around the fireballs smoke grew and grew around the area.

"We're not trying to hit you!" Lace shouted at the shadow who was now working hard not to get scorched. "I just want to poke you with these!" She raised up her daggers as the shadow started to fade from view in the smoke. Lace shouted out a couple more 'Agi' when she peeked ahead at the big ball of smoke where the shadow had been. She could it's legs dancing around the floor.

"Oh, your in there alright," Lace squinted. Rising off the floor, "Saturnus! Sukukaja!" Lace held a dagger in her mouth, and with the other still gripped she charged into the smoke cloud with her jacket. Just before entering the smoke she drew out her evoker bringing Saturnus behind her. "Agi!" She pointed directly infront of her inside the smoke as the cloud grew larger. Saturnus evaporated as she sprinted inside with increased speed.

Lace was running directly for the dark silhouette of the Shad-Ho shifting it's position trying to find its way around the smoke. It took no time at all making her way behind it as Lace jumped and wrapped her jacket around it's face. The Shad-Ho didn't know where she was and started flailing its claws around as Lace tried to tie a knot. Coming out with some new cuts on her arms, Lace bit her lip and hopped back looking at its now wrapped up face. Whatever it was let out a yell that didn't sound human. Turning around in all directions it's moves looked panicked as Lace slowly drew out her other dagger. The smoke had now cleared as she jumped to grab the shadow's arms.

"Come on! We're just a couple a goofs!" Lace said. Bringing out Saturnus, Lace took both the shadow's arms and twisted them behind its back. The shadow shook wildly as Lace fought to maintain balance. She shouted at Saturnus infront of them.

"Fire Boost!" His body started to glow again and the shadow shook even more violently. Lace didn't have long and twisted its arms closer inside its back and held them as Lace had her cheek right against its skin. To Saturnus, "Agi!" The girl couldn't see it clearly but looking at the ground she tracked a gold light hurtle towards them. The fireball knocked both of them to the floor. The damage wasn't that effective to Lace as she made sure her enemy took the brunt of it. Not wasting any time Lace turned over and sprinted over to the shadow. She scooped up her daggers on her way.

It was clawing the jacket still wrapped around its face when Lace dropped on one knee and jammed one of the long daggers into its hand. It let out another screech as Lace pushed down, burying the dagger deeper into the ground. It leaned up and blindly scratched across the face making Lace slightly light-headed. Quickly leaping over its body, she planted her knee on its arm and jammed her other dagger into its hand. After leaning into it Lace saw that only the black handle of them were visible as the rest of the blade was underground. Lace was tired as she rolled herself over its writhing body to its legs.

Drawing her evoker Lace summoned Saturnus and she scooped up the Shad-Ho's legs in her arms and leaned back on the floor. As Saturnus floated over to them Lace was getting out of breath and gave a quick nod to her prisoner. "Fire Boost...", she muttered to him. Saturnus began to glow again and floated directly above the Shad-Ho's face. It's arms staked in the ground, kicking it's legs, Lace tilted her head back unfortunately looking right up the creatures legs.

"It won't hurt..." Lace whispered to herself and looked up to Saturnus. "Will it?" Looking up to her persona, his voice rang out in her head. "Are you afraid?" Lace averted his gaze and frowned. Lace was staring at the ground ahead of her and grew a faint smile.

"Hit 'em twice! Agi!" A fireball grew from Saturnus's body as it launched right on top of the shadow. Lace watched as all three of them, for a moment, were enveloped in the fire. "It's so warm in here...", she whispered, closing her eyes. The shadow let out a cry and died down. It wasn't moving. Lace peeked back checking the now smoking creature as the fire around them lite up from her last spell. She tapped it on the leg with her fist and waited. "Not a peep," she said in relief. The fire dissapated and Lace wiped off her forehead before drifting off to sleep. Nap time.