To the striptease dungeon for an unexpected reunion.

(Chapter originally by faith on writing.com)

Rise slowly came awake. Her head was pounding like a hangover and she felt strangely drained. For a moment all she knew was confusion and a hazy sense of unease. As her memories came back to her she sat upright in alarm. The shadows had been dragging her away, and then...she must have passed out. She was lucky to be alive. But where had...

"Oh no..." Rise said, her unease increasing tenfold. That strange purplish haze in the air, that gaudy combination of purple and lavender, the projected lights of kissing lips and naked silhouettes, the thundering bump and grind music in the background...and that horrible smell of perform that couldn't quite overpower the distinctive odor of sweat and sex. Oh yes, Rise Kujikawa knew this place all too well. This was her world, the realm spawned by her heart when she was first tossed into the TV world. The fact that it resembled a strip bar was just one of many reasons why she hated to come here.

"Why? Of all the places they had to take me, why HERE? Do those pervy little monsters want me to put on a show or something?" Rise muttered to herself.

"Oh come on. No need to be so melodramatic." A voice came from somewhere in the smoke filled darkness. "They were just being good little boys and doing what mommy asked for."

Rise rose to her feet, despite a tremor that was running up her spine. Like this place, that voice sounded horribly familiar. It had a tone and resonance almost like her own, and yet there was something alien and distorted about it. Rissette knew well before the figure emerged from the smoke what she would see...a near perfect clone of herself, dressed in a tiny golden bikini, a fashion that complimented the demented yellow gleam of her eyes. Rise's shadow, the inner manifestation of her hidden thoughts and desires. But knowing what to expect made seeing it no less terrible. Rise stood in stunned silence as her nearly naked counterpart sauntered up to her and plucked the glasses from her face.

"I love the new look." Her doppleganger said with a smile, putting the glasses on and giving a little twirl. "We're like a sexy librarian now!"

"H-how...Why...WHY ARE YOU BACK?" Rise screamed.

"Where else would I be? After all...you're here now...and I am you."

"That's a lie! You can't-wha!" Rise stopped abruptly as she found two fingers pressed against her lips.

"Look, me. We've been through this part. And it was a lot of fun, being denied and going berserk and nearly killing all your friends before getting messed up by a giant teddie bear. But it was pretty much a once in a lifetime kind of performance. So let's make a deal. I won't try to provoke you, and you don't say something stupid you'll instantly regret. Okayyyy?"

Rise stared at her double. The shadow was right, of course. By deny the connection between them, Rise would have inspired a hideous transformation in her Shadow. But why had the SHADOW been the one to stop her?

"R-right. What I meant was...aren't you Himiko? Why...are you back to being...this?" Rise said at last.

The shadow shrugged. "Same reason as before, me. You've been having some slippery little thoughts running through your head recently that you don't want to admit to yourself, and thanks to the way this world works its now my job to spell it out for you."

"But...I thought we settled this already! Rise and Rissette are the same person! I was looking for the 'real me' everywhere when the reality was that I was always me! Rise is Rise...your me and I'm you. That's...all we need to do, right? I just need to accept that you're a part of me! I do! Please be my Persona again!" Rise said in desperation.

The shadow smiled in what Rise almost thought was honest affection. But then her face turned impish once again. "So I'm the real you? Are you sure? What about them?"

A series of spotlights clicked on around them, and in each stood another clone of Rissette dressed in different costumes from various commercials and concerts and the occasional movie cameo from her career. Each of them cooed and waved at the pair in the center.

"Sigh. Those are ALL me, okay?" Rise said in exasperation. "Or maybe none of them are. There is no such thing as the 'real me'. Every part I've played, every song I've sung...I put something of myself into all of it. I was wrong for feeling that I was being fake or losing myself before. We've been over all of this! None of the props or the roles matter. Take them away and its always just been me."

"You heeeeeaaaaaaard her!" The shadow said with excitement.

A dumbstruck Rise watched as her laughing clones happily stripped off their costumes and slowly approached the two girls in the center. Soon Rise found herself surrounded by dozens of naked versions of herself, posing in various embarrassing ways that emphasized her private places in extravagant ways. Despite herself, Rise was blushing like a tomato.

"Aww...she's embarrassed. Don't be embarrassed." The shadow said, hugging her counterpart. "It means a lot that you want to accept me all over again. It seriously does. Believe it or not, that's what I want too. The first time we met I was furious at being ignored for so many years. But then you accepted me, and you've been acknowledging me ever since. It felt really good nice helping to track down killers and save the other dopes that fell into the TV. So I'm gonna be a little more patient with you this time. We'll get through this together, and I'll help every step of the way. But this time things are a little trickier..."

"W-why..." Rise asked as she gaped at the naked antics of her other selves.

"Hmmmm....I wonder...." The Shadow said with a smirk as it disengaged from her.

Rise stared at her in confusion. Her other selves tittered. Her primary shadow smiled, and made a show of walking around her. As she began to pass behind Rise's apron, the girl self consciously moved with her shadow to hide her exposed backside. The shadow smiled and continued to try and look behind the illusion of modest Rise had created for herself, forcing Rise to move around in a little circle. The titter from the other girls grew louder, and Rise suddenly realized she had been tricked into mooning all of her assembled spectators by twirling around as she had. She blushed furiously, and that moment was all her shadow needed to skip behind her and grab a handful of orange panty and yank sharply upward.

"EEEEK!" Rise cried as she was given a sudden wedgie.

"Rise, Rise, Rise...." Her shadow said softly, swatting her exposed cheeks as she pulled on her underwear. "Exposing yourself in public? Minding a store with your half naked body barely hidden by an apron? Giving all the customers at Junes such a great look at our firm little butt? How embarrassing! How mortifying! Who knew the famous Rissette was really just a slut that loves to expose her body to an audience??"

"That's...that's not-OWWW!" Rise screamed as she received another spanking.

"Look around, me. The stripper poles, the setting, all of those threats I made to take it off last time we were here. Did you think that was a joke?" The shadow whispered as she dropped poor befuddled Rise to the floor.

"I wanted to be done with showbiz! I thought Rissette was fake! I wanted to be seen for who I really was, not what was pretending to be! You were just exaggerating all of that! B-being naked was just a metaphor!" Rise said.

"And if I said it wasn't?" The shadow asked gently as it knelt next to her.

"I'm not a pervert!" Rise wailed.

"Oooooh? Sooo....you've never stood out on a stage, feeling that little bite of dread and excitement as all those faces turn towards you, staring and clapping, all there to see you. You've never wondered just how much MORE intense the terror and the excitement would be without your clothes? You've never come home after a long day of exercise and eaten a pitiful little salad because of your diet, and then looked in the mirror at the gorgeous creature you've worked so hard to become..." The shadow ran a hand down Rise's exposed stomach and hip. "...and let out a little sigh thinking its such a waste your fans can't see more of it?"

"Sh-shut up." Rise said softly.

"It happens all the time. Some believed childhood icon ruins their image by doing little nude scene in a movie or maybe making a questionable music video. People get scandalized, the news calls it a tragedy. But that's what their business forces on them. They spend so many years being molded into this picture of sweatness and innocence, and have to spend so many more years breaking out of that image to reclaim some semblance of a career. Happens all the time. But I'm not sure anyone has dreaded and yearned for that moment as much as little Rise Kujikawa!"

"S-STOP IT!" Rise snapped.

The Shadow smiled and fell silent.

"I...get it! I get a thrill out of dressing like this! And I'm ashamed of doing it too. So...you came back because of that conflict, right? F-Fine! I'll..I accept that. I hate hearing it, but I'll accept it as the truth! Can we please just END this now?"

The Shadow sighed. "Wish it was that simple."