Fool Upright 2

“Ok, I want you guys to look over your personas and skills. I plan to split us up into two groups. One group will investigate the inside of the Inn and the other will investigate the outside. Our basic goals are short term exploration, see what the local environment is like,if there are any enemies and to find an exit.” Yu talked to the group. “Let me know if there are any differences in your skills and abilities.”

Yu went through his own mental checklist of his allies' skills. He figured he wouldn’t remember the specific skills each had but could design teams based off their general combat styles.

Yosuke was an all-rounder with wind spells, some physical attack skills, some support spells and some healing spells.

Chie was mostly geared towards dealing massive physical damage with some ice spells for the occasions she couldn’t.

Yukiko was focused on healing with some fire spells for attack.

Teddie had healing, ice spells and some support spells.

Kanji was physically focused with some electric spells for backup. Though Yu felt he was forgetting something about Kanji’s skills.

Naoto was magic-focused, having spells of a variety of elements, a light spell and a dark spell as well as a personal buff spell and a major defensive spell.

Rise was their support, analysing the area, providing defensive or healing spells in battle, but she wouldn’t go with either party.

And Marie… Yu had never seen Marie fight and had no idea what she was capable of in terms of combat. She was undeniably powerful, her ability to manipulate the weather was by itself a significant power.

And as for Yu himself, normally he would have a dozen or so personas at his disposal, each with different spells allowing him to adapt to any situation and circumstance. In this case, however, he only had Izanagi-no-Okami, which meant a variety of elemental spells, megidolaon and some passive skills which boosted his combat abilities. With no apparent way to access the Velvet Room, he couldn’t acquire any of the personas he had previously used.

“Rise, you’ll be able to keep an eye on both groups and offer support?” Yu asked Rise.

“Of course! If anything happens, I've got you covered!" Rise declared confidently.

"Uh... Naoto, will you have any trouble moving around?" Yu asked trying not to directly refer to the kimono Naoto was wearing.

"It should not prove a hinderance." Naoto shifted the obi and grimaced.

"I offered some of my clothes, but..." Yukiko said apologetically.

"We are not of the same body type, to put it simply." Naoto looked away in embarrassment. "This may simply be more of my current misfortune."

"I gues that would just leave..." Yu looked around.

"Me, right? What's the phrase? Put me in, coach!" Marie stated happily.

"Are you sure? You can't use your Kusumi-No-Okami powers, can you?" Yu asked in concern.

"I may be cut-off from the real world, but I can still use Kaguya's powers." She said as she produced a white spell card. "I can use hama skills, high-grade healing and support skills."

"Ok, Yosuke, Yukiko, Chie and myself will form one team and investigate the interior of the inn. Marie you'll be with Kanji, Naoto and Teddie and investigate the outside. Naoto will be the second team leader." Yu decided.

Naoto nodded silently.

"Wait, hold on, I want to be on your team!" Marie pouted.

"Marie, Yukiko is our only dedicated healer; if you have healing skills then we can't have you on the same team. You are also... sensitive to the supernatural and if there's an exit, it'll be outside. I need you and Teddie to focus your efforts out there looking for one." Yu put a hand on her shoulder. "Can I count on you?"

"F-fine! Sure! Since you obviously need me, how can I refuse." Marie couldn't help but sound smug.

Rise rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Okay, time for a sound check." Rise summoned her persona. <Testing, check, check one, can you hear me?> Rise's voice echoed soundlessly in their minds.

"Loud and clear, Rise." Yu nodded. "Okay, guys, I want you to be careful out there. Avoid fighting if you can and if you run into any trouble, come back here."

Everyone nodded.

The investigation team split up and headed towards different exits.

***

Yu's group walked down a hallway, so far it looked just like any part of the Amagi inn, but they hadn't reached one of the unknown areas yet.

"So are we just going to go through the first door we find or what?" Yosuke asked.

"Might as well. I don't see any other way of doing this."

"That door should be a good choice then." Yukiko pointed to a large pair of sliding doors.

It looked like an ordinary sliding door, the same as any in the inn. Yu laid his hands on the doors and glanced back to his friends; they nodded, taking up battle ready stances. Yu pulled the door open to reveal... another hallway. The walls of this new hallway were different; while the Amagi inn's walls were simple and mostly unadorned, the walls of this hallway had vivid artwork of misty landscapes painted across them in an ukiyo-e style.

"Whoa! This is beautiful." Chie murmured in awe. "You should do this kind of thing for the real inn."

"It is nice, but a bit too expensive, I think." Yukiko ran her fingers across the walls, feeling the artwork.

Yu looked at the walls too, but it was because he had the impression that something was watching them. It felt as though something moved in the artwork whenever he took his eyes off it. He would have sworn that group of foxes looking at them from within the artwork hadn't been there a second ago. Yu shuddered, glancing around nervously before continuing along the hallway.

At the end of it, they entered a large room. The walls were decorated with the same mist-filled landscape paintings. The room was empty save for a group of creatures in the middle who huddled over something. They were shadowy things, vaguely humanoid in shape. The brief seconds the group had entered the room was enough time for the creatures to notice them. They had no faces beyond two points of red light where their eyes would be. They moved soundlessly, charging at Yu's group. Immediately the group unleashed their attacks, Yu striking out with Ziodyne and Yukiko with Agidyne.

Their spells struck true, causing the creatures to flicker and die. But despite the damage done by the attack, more shadow creatures appeared behind them, surrounding the group.

Yosuke used mazandyne to blast away the enemy, giving the group space. Chie went up close and personal with one, pummeling it with a flurry of punches and kicks. Though it seemed to take damage from Chie's direct attacks those didn't appear as effective as the Persona skills.

"Come on, Haraedo-no-Okami!" Chie cried out, causing her persona to materialize.

The phantasmal being descended before Chie, bringing its double bladed sword down on the creature, blasting it away with a strike of God's Hand. She glanced around herself and gave out a battle cry, spinning around. Haraedo-no-Okami followed her movements, spinning her weapon using Agneyastra on the remaining enemies.

The group remained tense moments after the shadow-creatures dissipated, waiting, preparing for another wave.

"Ok, so there are monsters, but they didn't look like Shadows." Yosuke said finally, breaking the tension.

Though they relaxed, they still kept their guard up. Yukiko offered healing to Chie, but Chie waved it off, telling Yukiko to save it.

"Oh, how horrible!" Yukiko gasped seeing the thing in the middle of the room the creatures had been huddled over.

In the middle of the room was the mangled corpse of a fox. Yu knelt down and examined it. It had orange fur, but he didn't see anything like an apron with hearts nor could he tell if the fox had any scars. Yu could only hope that this wasn't the fox that had helped the team years ago.

"Rise, did you get a scan of those creatures?"

Yu's inquiry was met by silence.

"Rise, can you hear me?" Yu called out again.

There was no answer.