One Step Closer (Chidori, Twin Awakenings)

[Ayakura Alisa]

I had filed for a meeting out in by the ruins, I wanted to go on an outer level exploration with Chidori this day. Well, it was an opportunity to see if she had gotten over her traumatic experience, and it was an opportunity to see if after all these days and weeks, I had gotten better and stronger. I had sent Chidori a message with the express intent of having an exploration with her. I made sure to let her know we would be out on the surface so this meant we could be more susceptible to Shadow attacks, but we also had more room to navigate. I had already set out ahead of time, passing through the terminal and making way back to some of the ruins, this was somewhat close to the car factory and a ways away from the executive building and the hospital.

Thinking about this a little, I realized that while I hoped that the trip would be smooth and uneventful, something about the air that permeated throughout the area made me feel rather uneasy. I hoped that nothing bad would happen in the near future. Or perhaps, this was a feeling of dread and that I should have Chidori turn back... No, no, that wouldn't do. Perhaps this was a necessary trip to make.

[Chidori Tsukino]

Things had been going...well, decently enough, anyway, given the circumstances. After the incident with the Musha in the sewers, she'd been very much shaky, but with Alisa's help, she'd pulled together slowly; she was back to living out of her own apartment normally, and even felt somewhat confident about exploration - though she had no real intent to rush back into the sewers again any time soon. They'd already explored the hospital, the abandoned factory and the mines, but come up with nothing other than groups of shadows that they managed to dispatch without too much difficulty. It was probably a good thing she could heal them both after each exploration though.

Having been working with her sketchpad and pencil when the message tone sounded from her phone, Chidori looked over it after finishing some flourishes of the lineart she'd put down already. Her chocolate brown eyes scanned the text that appeared, and the mute pondered over the request for a brief moment before she replied affirmatively, putting her phone down as she took one last look at her work - it was a large, surrealistic landscape currently, working in little elements that her powers had exposed her too, such as the magic of personae.

Nevertheless, it was a work-in-progress, which she could easily resume later and so she grabbed together her gear and set off for the outer circle, not far from the abandoned factory. Waving at her friend as she approached, Chidori smiled, even as a perturbing feeling lanced through her; she shrugged it off as paranoid anxiety. 'Where to?'

[Ayakura Alisa]

I pointed ahead to the nearby ruins which I was waiting beside. "I wanted to check out this place," I shrugged, eyeing the open air locale as I began to lead Chidori within. I kept her close to me in case something was up. I pointed her ahead to a bunch of rubble which seemed to have lots of fallen papers and the like. However, as I led her further on, a strange feeling of uneasiness began to fall on my head. I'm sure Chidori must have felt the same thing. A cold wind. A chill breeze. Something was up. I didn't like it very much. I turned around and froze in place as I saw a large, imposing figure nearby. It turned around, and just like that, it pulled out a large katana and charged forward. Gasping, I quickly moved Chidori out of the way and met its attack by pulling out my own knife and forcefully deflecting the attack of what appeared to be a demonic shadow samurai, yet my knife was only just a knife and it seemed to only displace its attack a little.

Yet, the shadow, in all its simplistic thinking, continued to bring its blade down against my knife Izayoi, and because it was very long, I could see it slowly going down on my right shoulder. I growled in place, shaking and wondering what Chidori must be feeling. "Chidori, g-get back! I will stop this thing from attacking! But I can only stop it for so long!" I called out to her, knowing that from all costs, I have to protect her. She's terrified of such a thing. I'll show her that we can break through that fear. She has to.

Even if I end up dying because of it. I know it.

[Chidori Tsukino]

Nodding in understanding, the mute followed her friend closely as the explored the more open ruins, investigating what seemed to be a lot of fallen papers and the like - perhaps there would be some information to glean from them. Most likely not, but it was worth a look, especially if they could find some valuable junk to re-purpose later. Normally, Chidori would imagine such an open-aired surface exploration to be comfortable, or as comfortable as one could be in the outer circle, and yet the purple sky just seemed even more ominous, as if something was haunting the air.

When they got closer to the stacks of papers, she bobbed down to take a better look, completely unaware of the approaching figure. In fact, she only knew something was up when she felt Alisa's hand on her arm, pushing her to the side in order to keep her from being attacked. Stumbling a little as she recovered herself, Chidori forze instantly upon seeing just what the issue was - a giant bloody Musha. Of course it would be! Didn't matter that they were on the surface, or that larger shadows were a rarer occurrence; lady luck just seemed to like throwing curveballs at them. Rooted to the spot by utter terror as the flashbacks started, she was forced to watch on helplessly, accompanied by the mental image of her own encounter with the first Musha, her entire body shaky whilst she bore an expression of pure, unabated horror. She was a sitting duck, unable to run away, nor able to help, her heart aching as she realised that the Musha was overpowering Alisa, the only outcome being the blade tearing through her only real friend here. Move damnit, move! The tiny bell-like voice of Lucia, of her confident battle-ready self, futilely tried to break through the apprehension and fear. If she didn't, then this could very well be the end of both of them here...

[Ayakura Alisa]

Goddamnit! I inwardly cursed as I could feel my hands shake, struggling to keep the Shadow's weapon away from my shoulder. I was one-hundred-percent sure if that thing made contact with my shoulder he would cleanly lop off my right arm. And I don't know if there's anyone in the city who could give me a prosthetic limb. That would verily suck. The sword was strong, made of a material I could not comprehend, something otherwordly. My boots started digging backwards into the gravel as I tried my hardest to stave off the attack, to no avail. Soon, metal began to cut through my jacket, it soon made contact with my shoulder, yet, amidst the searing pain... "Gyaargh...!! F--ff...!!" I held my ground. The blade sunk into my skin. Cutting through it like butter. The inner recesses of my mind, started to go into overdrive...

絶望しないで。

俺の力をあげて。

Even as my shoulder began to bleed profusely, my wavering arms faltering, I could feel something incredibly strange welling up inside me. A voice invaded my thoughts as I began thinking I would perish. Though, I was grateful that if I could save Chidori with my sacrifice, it would be alright. I had to let go. Let go... Let go. ...I am a Great Marquis of Hell, Shax. Are you my other self? Very well... you may rise! A strange, booming voice resonated in my head. Shax? Great Marquis of Hell? Regardless, I felt an unusual burst of energy surge within me. Soon, I could sense a green light envelop my figure even as the samurai cut into my shoulder. An unholy visage of a tall man with a crow's head with unusually long beak for a head and unusually large black wings for arms towered over the Shadow, it seemed like an extension of my being.

消えろ！

A cleaving strike seemed to arise from the air waves, knocking the Shadow off balance and releasing its blade from my shoulder, causing me to gasp and kneel. My right arm was shivering madly, I placed my left hand on my shoulder where I could feel an intense throbbing pain where it attempted to eviscerate my right arm off cleanly. Shivering, I felt the visage enter me again. Rise...! To move forward is to let go! To become stronger is to resign! Sometimes, you must let fate control the tempo. I steeled my resolve and hobbled upright, straight-laced as the Shadow which had been knocked back stood up, leering at me. My right shoulder, bleeding madly as it was, started to crackle with electricity. Weakly raising it, stabilizing it with my left hand, I pointed my knife at the Shadow samurai as I somehow, I was able to command a bolt of electricity to strike the foe. Yet, it seemed tougher than any basic Shadow I had ever faced.

Was this the power of... Persona? Hobbling back, the Samurai charged once more at me. I changed my hand, using my left hand to deflect the strike. My movements were more fluid, more graceful, were they guided by the one whom called himself "Shax"? I deflected the attack, but it sent me staggering a little. A card materialized in my right hand. I looked at it, before looking back at the Shadow. I crushed the card in my hand and the birdman appeared once more, looming over, and swiped at it with its oddly sword-like wings, causing it to feel pain. Yet, it continued to attack. I stumbled and staggered, trying hard to duel with it.

"Chidori...! Chidori, please! You must snap out of it!" I called out to her, observing her poor, emotionally wrecked self once more. "I want to save you, but I almost lost my arm! My attacks are growing weaker!" Amidst this, I found myself calling upon the power of Shax to hurt the samurai with electric bolts, and using what was left of the energy in my left arm to engage in a swordfight. But I don't know how much longer I could hold out, even with this newfound power.

[Chidori Tsukino]

She stood by, unable to do anything as she watched the blades edge closer and closer to Alisa's shoulder. The base instincts within her whirled in conflict - the instinct to flee, the instinct to fight, the instinct to help; they were all a part of her thought process, which unfortunately rendered her in shock and immobile. There was nothing she could bring herself to do as the Musha pressed its advantage, the edge closing in until it finally made contact...and then the unthinkable occurred - Alisa awakened.

Watching from the outside in with her own experiences, it wasn't hard to ascertain that that was what was going on here, but even so, it was intriguing to watch, despite the fear that coursed through her veins. A brief wave of warming relief washed over her - her friend wasn't permanently harmed and now had even more power at her disposal, combined with her own battle wariness from fighting as a civilian. Perhaps she could do this on her own?

Unfortunately, in the brief moment following this idea, Chidori witnessed Alisa's ensuing battle, the weakening in her powers becoming more and more apparent. She called for the mute's help, making her panic eve more - it felt like her nerves were on fire, and in that pain, she was released from her immobility. Chidori surged forward, Lucia appearing around her as she summoned her persona with practised ease, though the princess-like apparition seemed fainter, flickering as if somewhat unstable. Her mind was still a chaotic mess, and she barely managed the focus needed to blast the Musha with her magic, only to see it barely recoil from the blows - either it was incredibly powerful....or she was much, much weaker. The helplessness crashed back in, making her go rigid whilst Lucia faded into nothingness again, leaving her as powerful as a 6-year-old child.

[Ayakura Alisa]

I weakly eyed Chidori as she made a valiant attempt to help, calling forth her Persona, yet... It was unusually faint, almost as if she couldn't do it. I saw her freeze up in abject fear and helplessness, and I wondered... what would it take for her to try and overcome her fear? I sighed as I deflected yet another one of the samurai's strikes. However, I found myself becoming increasingly tired and exhausted from tapping into Shax's power. Fool! If you keep doing this, you will exhaust yourself and you will perish! As if I didn't need reminding, the voice told me how foolish I was to push myself. Yet... What could I do? Weakly standing my ground, my right arm continuously spasming, and my own senses dulled from how much blood I lost, the samurai sliced at me once more, causing me to strike back, letting our blades clash, but the force of the clash sent me stumbling back, where I hit a wall and slumped to the ground. "Crap! My body is too weak! I can't move much longer like this...! I'm losing too much blood...!" I weakly tried to kneel, but my knees couldn't move. I clutched my right shoulder with my left hand, and then I noticed just how much blood flowed out. I felt a little light-headed upon the sight, but that was from the blood loss.

The samurai itself lumbered towards me, ignoring Chidori as it began to raise its blade, to bring it down on me, all I could do was give it one last ditch attempt to block the strike with my blade... Please, Chidori...!

[Chidori Tsukino]

Her body shook whilst chocolate brown eyes stayed glued to the gruesome scene, watching as the Musha continued pressing its advantage. When Alisa fell to the ground, her arm spasming, Chidori knew there was no miraculous comeback on the horizon - if the shadow attacked her, it would end the battle, for good. It began moving in again, and the heart-clenching fear was overpowered by a singular, utterly compelling feeling of protectiveness. No. No, no 'NO!' Her body was engulfed in a pillar of light, blazing upwards as Lucia appeared, somewhat obscured from the blinding phenomena.

The princess persona began to shift in appearance, a peacock-like plumage fanning out behind her shoulders whilst the bodice of her dress darkened into a crimson red. Her hair glimmered into a silvery-white tone, bounded in a red headband. A protective bubble still encapsulated Chidori, whose gaze was filled with the kind of fury that takes years of bottled of up anger to fuel. The Musha seemed somewhat stunned by the display, halting its advance on Alisa whilst Chidori's persona transformed into something much stronger. It wasn't just a transformation for Lucia though - the confidence that had been slowly building up over the last few days was strengthened and fortified by the emboldening light, fixing her resolve despite the large blade threatening them.

Begone, Shadow. Raising a hand in unison with her new persona Juno, the mute directed the pillar of light into a virtual spear, flinging it at the shadow and impaling it with a strong blast of light magic. Already weakened by Alisa's assault, the Musha stumbled and fell flat from the blow, unable to recover as Chidori advanced towards it slowly, delivering the final blow up close, with one last burst of Light. Once it dissipated into nothingness, her fury settled again, and Chidori turned back towards Alisa, tears flooding her eyes as she hurriedly knelt beside her, turning that warm Light into a wave of strong healing magic.

[Ayakura Alisa]

As I sat there, expecting my death, my vision fading, I saw Chidori suddenly glow, and as her Persona appeared, it started to change, becoming more elegant somehow, if that were even possible, and I saw Chidori's expression change, into one of some sort of anger... Her outburst seemed to distract the Samurai shadow, which was visibly startled by the display of emotion, a transformation had just taken place, and soon Chidori had released a strong burst of light, shooting it at the Shadow and completely destroying it, probably finishing it off due to my series of weak attacks. I panted and gasped, trying to tend to my wound, but I saw Chidori go to me, kneeling beside me, crying, and tending to me.

All I could do was weakly wrap my good arm around her. You let yourself go alright, buddy. The voice entered my head again. You could've died. But... I guess all's well that end's well, huh~? I sighed and leaned against Chidori softly. "You... you saved me..." I winced as my wound began to close up slowly, though it was very painful and it stung a bit, the healing magic worked its... well, magic. "I'm sorry, Chidori... I'm sorry. I didn't know such a thing would appear."

[Chidori Tsukino]

The tears still streamed down her cheeks, though she seemed a little happy that Alisa was at least alive. Her shoulder would be a painful wound for sure, but her new healing magic was much stronger than before, and she could manage more of it too - she wasn't sure how she knew that exactly, but there was a gentle prodding in her mind to suggest it anyway. Carefully, she held the offered embrace, smiling through the tears, though her expression was still concerned and a little saddened. 'It was my fault for not noticing it coming. We helped each other...and you awakened, too. We just have to keep getting stronger. And pay more attention.' Chuckling faintly, the mute continued to heal her friend, her new resolve allowing her to keep her focus, including keeping an eye on their surroundings.

Still, once Alisa was stable enough to move, Chidori would help her out of the outer circle - they probably didn't want to risk another battle.