Shadows are such Philistines [Mod]

[CJ Jackson (TechChris)]

CJ was already filled with a sense of melancholy when he finally found himself in the Art Gallery. The state of Mosaic City's once-glorious Museum was downright depressing. The exhibits were all covered by a thick layer of dust and grime that would take ages and truckloads of cleaning supplies to make pristine again. Great clumps of plaster had peeled off the walls and dropped on the floor, and some landed on the displays, adding to the dust and grime.

Nothing like the guide pictures... he thought to himself, compounding his melancholy as he traversed the museum, and we've got the shadows to thank for that.

His trusty tablet guided him through the deserted exhibits and hallways. When Phoebe sent him here to dust exhibits and swat any Shadows lurking about, CJ asked her for more information on the Art Gallery. That was two hours and three long nerd-outs of his life he would never get back, the (useful) highlights of which were on his tablet. In addition, Phoebe showed him her museum guide, which she got back when the museum was still working and he photographed with his tablet. Despite the middle-of-the-road quality of the webcam, the guide pictures were sufficiently clear and distinct.

Better be prepared, I always say... Phoebe's gushing gave me more info than I ever needed.

The sight of the Art Gallery lifted his spirits a bit. All the artwork was thankfully covered, as Phoebe had told him, and the place had been dusted recently, but not enough to get rid of all the grime.

Well... no Shadows around. Better get to work.

He slipped the tablet into one of his over-sized inner jacket pockets. pulled out a feather duster from another pocket, and got busy dusting.

They'd better show up at some point, or this is gonna one tedious evening.

[Erithania]

Behold, bad things.

Painter Maya

Skills
Assault Dive
Agi

Resist: Fire
Weakness: Ice

Artist Tiara

Skills
Garu
Skewer

Resist: Wind
Weakness: Lightning

[CJ Jackson (TechChris)]

"Finally!" CJ exclaimed as he spotted the shadows, "Took your sweet time, didn't you?"

He casually walked to the middle of the room, drawing his police club as he went and sizing up the shadows at the entrance. He knew what they were called (Phoebe had given him adequate descriptions of some common Shadows), but he'd never really seen anything like them before. Both looked weirdly colorful, like some impressionist used them for a canvas before they killed him. The slime-like Maya seemed slow and cumbersome. The floating mask Tiara looked like the first to unleash an attack. His strategy was going to be simple: confuse the Tiara and deal with the Maya before getting back to the Tiara, if the confusion didn't wreck it by that time.

"Let's show them what we're made of, Uroboros."

A floating, glowing azure card appeared before him. He smashed it with his police club, and Uroboros Ophis appeared before him.

"First things first... Uroboros! Pulinpa on that Tiara!"

Uroboros cast the spell... but it did nothing. He couldn't even curse his luck before the Tiara's Garu buffeted him and Uroboros. CJ never thought that wind could actually hurt, but it did hurt, and it made him flinch. He recovered just in time to avoid the Tiara's Skewer, which skewered an impressionist statue behind himself and Uroboros.

"Bloody Philistine! Pulinpa!"

This time, the spell worked. The Tiara looked well and truly confused. CJ gave it a whack on the face-mask for good measure.

"Teaches you to-- YOW!" he exclaimed in the middle of his one-liner as the Maya's Agi hit Uroboros.

"Damn... Forgot about him..."

The fire stung a lot. Uroboros looked pretty singed, but CJ didn't feel particularly hurt.

I'm not resistant like Feebs... he thought, But that wasn't much of a flame anyway. Wait... if that shadow can cast fire, then maybe...

"Bufu!" he commanded, and his Persona blasted the Maya with ice.

He grinned when he realized it worked. It looked like the Maya was in pain, and possibly enraged. He followed up the ice blast by running up to the Maya and smacking it with the flimsy police baton.

I gotta be careful swinging this... I don't know if I could afford a new one right now.

He turned to see the Tiara buffeting itself with a backfiring Garu. It looked damaged, but not quite unable to fight, and its confusion was beginning to wear off.

"Hama," he commanded, and a thin pillar of light finished the Tiara off.

"Well, that was fun," he commented as he put away his flimsy baton, "And I finished dusting. Time to go home."

He checked his wounds before leaving. There were a few bruises and a slight singe, but it's nothing he couldn't sleep off. He covered up the artwork and departed the gallery. He shuddered when he thought about Phoebe's reaction to the broken statue.

[Erithania]

Behold. The glory of victory.



And the lack of anything but warm feelings.