It is time to [awakening/open to 2]

[Maria Stark]

So Maria saw her mother going through town. It wasn't really strange but she thought she should let known that she had seen her. She went closer but looked more carefully. Something was off. It was barely noticeable. Someone that didn't know her wouldn't see it, but it certainly was there. She followed her a little and she seemed to be heading to the west part of town. The West Mosaic Ruins. What was she searching there. She really was acting strange. Did she have a persona too? Was she going to fight the shadows here too?

She kept following until she reached an old building. She remembered this. This was the building father worked in when he first came here. They left to the eastern part of the city a long time ago though. She approached her mother. "Hey mom, you have quite the pace on. What are you looking for in here?" Maria asked as she approached her mother. Her mother looked a little like her, only her hair was darker and her face had a little more signs of being older. She still tried hide that away using a lot of strange products though. What was going on here. Her mother was staring like her like... she didn't know what it was like. "Mother?" She asked. "you... You horrid girl!" She shouted while fast walking at Maria. Maria herself couldn't help but walk backwards and she accidentally tripped. What was her mother going to do?

"Take this!" Her mother said as she fired wind at her. Did her mother just attack her? Why? What's going on here? "Aww.. Mom? What's wrong please tell me." She asked after taking that attack. It didn't hurt a lot but it seemed to be a high level wind spell. She never had felt so much pain through a wind spell. She then quickly healed her wounds before trying to reason with her mother.

[Ringo Shiro]

Ringo walked around the ruins of the former business district. So far, nothing of significant note or any particular plans. He was to do his usual business, explore, maybe kill a few shadows, eat something at the gap when he gets back, and head on home. Ringo looked around him to see if there was anything of note. If there was nothing, he might as well try to head to the art gallery...but it looked like art viewing would have to wait. Ringo shuddered as he heard a blast of...something. A spell he was pretty sure. He quickly started to go and investigate what it was.

"Hello?" Ringo looked around to finally see Maria. It seemed that she just recently finished healing herself up. "Maria!" Ringo ran over to her and looked around. "Are you okay? What happened?"

[Sakuya Kyoudou]

Sakuya was strolling casually around the ruins of West Mosaic - she had not changed into her Shadow form yet, since she did not feel the need to. However, she was holding her bolo in plain sight so anyone who saw her knew she could protect herself, probably. As she was patrolling the area for miscreants - human or shadow, she found a curious sight. An old building. A familiar figure - it was Maria. Of course it was someone she knew. She was approaching someone, a woman who looked similar to Maria but with darker hair and had been more susceptible to the fate of time. Sakuya could hear it all - Maria called out for her 'mother.' A very familiar scene.

Deja... vu? Sakuya thought to herself as she remembered Jaelyn facing off against her own mother. Just how many people in this damn city have mother issues? Even Sakuya herself technically had mother issues. Soon, the woman fired a fierce wind spell at Maria, prompting Maria not to fight back but... Weather the attack and attempt to reason with her? Was she mad? Soon, an unfamiliar boy was also walking around, and ran to the same sight. Sakuya wasn't nearby at the time, so she could easily see him approach Maria and ask if she was alright.

Soon, Sakuya strolled into the scene briskly, staring at the woman who had just attacked Maria. As Sakuya spoke, her voice was ever-so-slightly warped, which, if Maria heard, would probably strike her as a little strange. Maria, that woman is just pretending to be your mother. There is no point in trying to reason with her. You must fight it. Or you might die. she said bluntly, completely ignoring the boy's presence.

[Maria Stark]

Maria was so confused. What was going on here. Why was her mother attacking her? Wait a minute... That... wasn't her mother anymore. She didn't look like her mother anymore. It was... A shadow? She heard a familliar voice in the distance coming closer. "R-Ringo?" She asked the voice that came closer as she saw who it was. Ringo was out here too, but this... Person? Persona? Shadow... She didn't know what to call it, but whatever it was it was strong. Without a persona he might die. "Don't come near, you have no persona, right?" Maria said. "I have no quarrel with him, but if he insists..." Maria could hear her mother mutter. Ringo wasn't close enough to hear it though.

"Mother... don't..." Maria begged almost. She could hear another familiar voice "Sakuya... Really? She isn't my mother? but... She wanted to say that she looked so much like her and that it had to be her mother, but what Sakuya said wasn't so unthinkable with all that was happening here. But why would someone impersonate Maria's mother. She had to find it out. Meanwhile her 'fake' mother wasn't so happy. She was especially mad at Sakuya. "How dare you, you stranger! I carried that bitch for nine months!" She shouted at Sakuya.

"If you really like her that much... Then go down with her!" The angry mother shouted and unleashed a strong wind attack that effected a large area. It hit Maria and could also hit Sakuya and Ringo. Since Maria resisted wind it wasn't that bad, but she just hoped Sakuya and Ringo were safe too. "Mother stop!" She fired a wind attack of her own at her mother to warn her, but that wasn't very effective. It didn't do anything at all? Wind attacks weren't working it seemed.

[Ringo Shiro]

"R-Ringo?" Ringo started to run over to Maria. As Ringo got much closer he shuddered as he took notice of a woman like figure. "Don't come near, you have no persona, right?" Ringo looked over at the woman before then turning around as he heard a new voice. His eyes widened when he saw who it belonged to...and the fact that it knew Maria.

"Maria, that woman is just pretending to be your mother. There is no point in trying to reason with her. You must fight it. Or you might die." Ringo didn't have the mind to answer Maria's question. His grip was on his sheathe. He wasn't an Iaido expert so Ringo wasn't confident enough to see if he can draw his sword fast enough.

"Sakuya... Really? She isn't my mother? but..."

"How dare you, you stranger! I carried that bitch for nine months!" Quite frankly though they are more pressing matters. Ringo glared at the woman and placed a hand on his katana. "If you really like her that much... Then go down with her!" He made a charge for her but soon found himself blasted away by a large wind spell.

"Mother stop!" Ringo collapsed on to the ground, himself being separated from his sword for a moment. He quickly got up and his eyes began to glow.

"Tokoyo!" The female samurai seeped form his body. She drew her sword and threw a jolt of electricity towards the woman. This was also more or less Ringo's answer to Maria's earlier question.

[Sakuya Kyoudou]

Sakuya simply watched as the thing Maria called 'mother' addressed her as a 'stranger' and then immediately called Maria a 'bitch.' Not to mention she clearly harboured an intent to kill her. In fact, the 'mother' seemed to respond to Sakuya's intervention with a large wind spell. Sakuya simply stood there and didn't feel anything. Maria looked like she resisted it, but Sakuya finally took notice of the boy who seemed adamant in defending Maria, so she had no choice but to be merely apprehensive about his existence. However, he was blasted away by the wind spell and had to collect his composure before he attacked the strange woman. Sakuya knew she was most likely a Shadow.

However, Sakuya turned to look at her bolo, which had by now become a snake sword. Sakuya covered her mouth as soon she realized her arm was bare, with tattoos on it, but the rest of her body was not. Willing herself back together, only the snake sword remained as a strange energy emanated from Sakuya. What a pathetic spell, she simply said. I bet these two humans could easily dispatch someone like you... A mother would not call her child a 'bitch' if they truly cared for them... she continued, trying to give a message to Maria, too, that all was not as it seemed.

...Maria, don't worry about me. I doubt anything this woman could throw at me will hurt. Perhaps it will cause a scratch at most. Instead, worry about yourself and that kid. she simply said.

[Maria Stark]

Ringo could use a persona? Maybe that was going to help against whatever they were up to here. "pathetic, that lightning bolt is no thread to me." She said catching the lightning bolt as it went through her body. It didn't seem very effective due to it being so low level spell, but it did seem to have done some damage. "Remarkable, I see what you are now..." She said as she was making some plans. "Mother... NO!" She said as she healed herself and Ringo with her persona. What was happening here? Her wind spell didn't have any effect so it would be useless, and she didn't took her Katana here as she didn't knew she was going to need it. Luckily she was wearing her skirt as it looked as plain that she could always wear it. "Stop that! her mother shouted, but this time she wasn't firing wind. She shot light! Maria still wasn't wondering how that was possible but again, it didn't matter at the moment. What mattered was that the light would hurt a lot. It was aimed at Maria, Ringo and Sakuya alike.

[Ringo Shiro]

bet these two humans could easily dispatch someone like you... A mother would not call her child a 'bitch' if they truly cared for them... The female shadow began to say. "...Maria, don't worry about me. I doubt anything this woman could throw at me will hurt. Perhaps it will cause a scratch at most. Instead, worry about yourself and that kid." It looks like they will not be getting help then.

"Pathetic, that lightning bolt is no thread to me." Ringo hissed as he watched the bolt of lighting barely affect her. He didn't want to do this but he was going to have to resort to physical force if he going to dent her at all. "Remarkable, I see what you are now..."

"Mother... NO!" Maria's persona was called out to heal whatever wounds were present on the two. Ringo right away readied Tokoyo for another attack but the "mother" began charging another spell in response to her healing.

"Stop that!"

"Maria!" The lady shot out a blast of light. Ringo right away got in front of the light and endured the blast. It hurt, but not as bad as it could be due to the fact that Tokoyo resisted light based attacks. Ringo turned around to Maria and placed his blade not too far from her and then readied his sheathe. "You can borrow that. I'll hit in the head with this and stun her." Ringo started to charge forward, now wielding his sheathe like a wooden blade and plans on hitting his opponent square in the face in order to daze her.

[Sakuya Kyoudou]

Tch! Sakuya hissed as suddenly the woman threw out a burst of light that burned her clothes and now forcibly revealed a portion of her Shadow form, that is, her beloved pet snake, which now hissed at the evil "Mother" of Maria, who was probably not really her mother. Sakuya quickly stepped back and tried to stay out of the sight of Maria. I'm staying back. You shouldn't see me like this. Sakuya said outright to Maria as she continued to back away, her snake hissing and snake sword now undulating, most likely from rage or fear or some other emotion. She didn't want Maria knowing, but at this point, it looked like she would have to live with it. All she did was warn the young woman! And yet she would be punished for it.

[Maria Stark]

Her mother fired some kind of light at them, but whens he did, Ringo jumped in front of Maria. "Ringo!" She shouted. He didn't have to do that. That woman didn't want him. It wanted her. Sakuya was hit as well it seemed but she wasn't. She just had people protecting her. Ringo gave her his sword. Maybe with this she could do some damage. She wasn't used to swing her sword at the opponent let alone her mother, so she wasn't going to deal that much damage. She heard a snake hissing behind her. She looked back and heard Sakuya to not to just to late. Sakuya was surrounded by a snake. She also looked a litte different. What was wrong with her? Wha?... She said but her mother stopped her questioning with another wind spell. This one just aimed at Maria. Which hurt her a lot. It didn't took long after for Maria to get up and assist Ringo to attack her mother, who was stunned after Ringo's attack hit her, shortly after. It didn't seemed like the sheathe did any real damage though, maybe a blue spot but it wouldn't really be dangerous for mother. "Take this!" Maria said as she neared her mother. She still was thinking about what she saw when looking at Sakuya, but that was for later, now her Mother was a bigger threat.

[Ringo Shiro]

Ringo's attack made contact, but as expected it did not do much, if anything at all. The mother managed to get a wind spell on Maria, much to his own chagrin. However Ringo's opportunity was not wasted. Maria managed to get near her "mother." Due to not wanting to risk getting in the way he started to pack away from the two, watching Maria ready to strike down her mother while Ringo himself only observed. His grip on the sheathe tightened as his eyes started to glow, Tokoyo appearing above him ready to draw her blade. Once Maria finishes her attack and backs off, Ringo will end this...

[Sakuya Kyoudou]

Sakuya covered herself and looked at Maria fight back against her 'mother' and suddenly she felt a little pained at her confused expression upon realizing she had exposed a portion of her shadow form. She kept her snake blade on hand and made sure things were alright, still eyeing the situation. She simply waited and observed the situation, continuing to retreat, leaning weakly against the pillar, charging some sort of spell in her hands, but leaving it unreleased until the pivotal moment. Sakuya was actually keeping a healing spell on hand, but wondered if Maria or the boy thought she was going to attack. It would be a test of trust. Yes.

Trust.

[Maria Stark]

Her mothers Shadow wasn't really getting hurt a lot. She wondered how she was that strong. How long was she like this. She couldn't have been a shadow up till long. "Why... is this happening?"  Maria wondered up loud. She didn't knew what she ever had done wrong to her mother. This fight could most likely take a while. But why was her mother attacking her? "Why?" She shouted at her mother while jumping back. "ugh you..." She said charging another large light attack at both Maria, ringo and Sakuya. She could see Sakuya doing something too? Was she going to attack, or was she going to help them? Well... Sakuya was strange, but... also so friendly. Ugh... Sakuya might attack or help her, but her mother was undoubtedly trying to kill them. Maria saw her as a bigger threat than Sakuya could be now so she just attacked her mother now. She just hoped she didn't doomed herself with this. She sliced Mother again who shouted in pain. This attack seemed to hurt a little. Though she didn't see very large wounds one would expect of a sword slash. After Maria's attack, she almost immediately unleashed her light attack.

[Ringo Shiro]

Maria charged in and managed to give a slash to her mother with Ringo's sword. The wound wasn't very deep but at the very least it was a hit on the shadow that took the shape of his friend's mother. The mother unleashed her blast of light. It hit everyone as like last time, Ringo himself only winced, the pain for him not being that much, however Ringo has now reached his golden opportunity.

"Tokoyo!" The Persona floating behind him soared through the air and drew her sword. The blade now swung with the intent on slamming down on the shadow.

[Sakuya Kyoudou]

Sakuya released the ball of energy welling up in her hand which fell on Maria and herself, healing their wounds. Curiously it did not touch the boy at all. Regardless, even with that move, Sakuya continued to try and keep her distance away from the two Persona users. She knew she would have a lot of things to say to Maria after all this, but for now she had to make sure that she would not be seen as a threat compared to the 'Mother' who seemed to care more about killing Maria than 'caring' for her. The boy attacked the Shadow as well with his sword, but Sakuya didn't care about that.

Soon, another burst of light emanated from the Shadow.

Tch!