Chapter 2: A New World Fool

Wake up…

A large floating silhouette with yellow eyes appears, looking down at Yu, both surrounded by intense fog. The figure seemed to be wielding a large blade. Yu felt… strange.

“Seek out the truth…”

Wake up…

The figure drew closer, looking around at the foggy void.

“Do not be deterred by the fog in thy path…”

Wake up…

The figure looked at the young… man(?) again, putting an oversized hand on his white-furred shoulder.

“Thou art not alone in this journey. I am thou, thou art I. Together, even if our power has weakened, we shall dispel the thickest of fogs, so we shall walk the path of truth!”

PLEASE, WAKE UP!

Yu’s eyes stirred, from a split second to another, the foggy void was replaced with blurry darkness. Eventually, strength returned to his body, and he managed to open his eyes after a wave of dizziness hit him when he awoke from unconsciousness. “Ngh…”

After his eyes managed to adjust and his surroundings made clear, he noticed he wasn’t in a familiar environment. He was in a forest, surrounded by trees and bushes, a greenery that wasn’t present in the last location he remembered. Wait… where was he before waking up here…?

Wait, Junes!

He was at Junes with his friends until… something happened. Something about the TV he couldn’t remember… he just remembered seeing the strange video game Yosuke talked about with all of his friends and then something happened… there was static and something yellow and white…

Why couldn’t he remember?

Narukami sat up and scratched his head with his hand while he thought. ‘Why can’t I remember? Where even am I anyway-’ His thoughts were interrupted when he felt that his nails were sharper than usual. He remembered chipping his nails before going to bed so something was off.

He looked at his hand-… where was his hand?

Instead of seeing his usual hand, he saw a white-furred paw with yellow skin as his pawpad, sharp claws coming out of each finger. For a moment, he thought that it was some kind of glove from a suit, but his thought process quickly disappeared when he flexed his fingers… there were no human fingers inside the suit, that furred paw was his hand. ‘What the-’

He looked at the rest of his body, seeing major changes he hadn’t expected. White and teal fur coated his entire body, his arms and legs having a black zig-zag pattern fur, and his chest having a bit of yellow fur. Now noticing something was coming from his upper back, he looked at the strange extension, noticing that it was a white-furred tail. 

Yu’s eyes widened in shock as he took it all in. He then went back to analyzing his new paws, flexing them as he thought. ‘What happened to me…?’ He then ran his paw over his face, looking for some differences, and, of course, there were. He felt that fur covered his entire face, he grew a short muzzle with pointy whiskers and even pointy ears as well. ‘So this is how being a furry feels like…’

However, fully realizing that his entire body had changed, a sudden thought struck him so he had to check. He put one of his paws between his legs before sighing in relief. “Still there, although a bit changed. But still, I’m kinda naked now, aren’t I…?”

He crossed his arms and grimaced, thinking about the situation at the moment. ‘What’s going on… this feels like a dream…’ He looked at his surroundings for a moment, crossing his weird new legs as he tried to come up with something to do in his scenario. So, to reaccess the situation… he suddenly woke up in a forest with no memories of who or what brought him here, not only that, he was transformed into some weird furry monster creature that, for some reason, he knew was a zeraora. ‘How do I know what this is…? Actually, never mind that, if I was with my friends before waking up here… where are they?’

Suddenly, his ear flickered as he heard a small noise of leaves rustling coming from a bush that was a bit of a distance from him.

Yu hummed in thought before he got up, getting a bit out of balance at first because of his new legs. He almost fell but managed to keep standing upright. He opened his arms a bit, balancing himself as he took slow steps. He was starting to get a feel for his new furry leg. “This feels so weird…”

Once the zeraora got the gist of walking, he lowered his arms and brushed past the bush, causing the leaves to rustle even more. Once he got past the bush, his eyes widened a bit as his body completely froze when realizing that he was about to step on something blue, or rather… someone blue.

Below him, there seemed to be a blue and white frog creature who seemed to be called a froakie. There was even a set of bubble-like substances wrapped around its neck, they were shaped a bit like headphones or something similar. ‘What the…’ Yu took a step back before noticing more unconscious creatures lying on the ground around the area. 

Six other creatures were lying on the grass. There was a mienfoo, a red and black oricorio, a pangoro, a teddiursa with a yellow star pattern on its head, a braixen, and a female meowstic. Yu had absolutely no idea why they were all just lying on the ground or why he knew the name of all of those species, however, something about them just felt… familiar in a weird way. 

His attention snapped back to the blue frog once he heard grunting from it. The froakie’s eyes slowly opened, slowly waking up with a groan. “Ngh… what just…” Its eyes focused on Narukami, the zeraora being the first thing it saw. After a small moment of staring at each other, the froakie screamed and backed away rapidly. “What the hell!?”

Wait a second, that croaking but familiar voice… “Yosuke…?”

The froakie, assuming to be Yosuke, blinked and did a double take once it heard Yu’s voice. He blinked rapidly before tilting his head. “Y-Yu? Is that you…?”

The zeraora rubbed the back of his head a bit concerned. “Same can be asked about you…”

“What do you mean!? I’m still-” The frog looked down at his body and, once the realization hit, his face morphed into horror. “W-what… what in the effing hell is this!?” He passed his wet frog hand on his arm, realizing that he was feeling the touches like it was his own skin. “What the hell happened to my body!?”

Narukami walked towards Yosuke, realizing that he towered over the frog. He opened his arms. “It wasn’t just you, you know.”

“Still though! What happened!? We were on Junes last I remember and now… we’re here in some…” He looked around, realizing the location he was in. “In some random forest with weird bodies…” He groaned in frustration, rubbing his head rapidly. “Ugh! Just what did we become?”

“Well, you look like a frog…”

Yosuke looked towards the zeraora, a grimace entering his face as he lowered his hands. “And you look like a freakin’ monster cat that can stand up on two legs… and geez, you’re tall…”

The feline scratched his cheek. “You’re the small one here compared to the others…”

“Wait, others?” Yosuke asked before he looked to the side. He saw the other creatures lying unconscious on the ground, making him flinch a little. “What the!? Who are they!?”

Before Narukami had the chance to answer with uncertainty, the mienfoo woke up with a groan, looking at them rather annoyedly. “Geez, you guys are so loud! I’m trying to sleep… here…” Judging by the voice and the attitude, that was definitely Chie. The mienfoo blinked a bit, trying to wake up from the dream that she had never been dreaming once she saw Yu and Yosuke. It was then that she blurted out loud. “Huh!? What the hell!?”

It was then that a chain reaction of awakenings happened one by one. The oricorio awakened next, followed by the pangoro, the teddiursa, the braixen, and last but not least, the meowstic. Once their awareness fully returned to all of them, they all stared at each other, blinking a lot before they blurted out at the same time. “WHAT THE!?”

By then, everything could be described by simply one word: chaos.

“Who are you all!?” Yukiko questioned before moving to look at her own body, raising her new wings. “What happened to arms!?”

Rise screamed loudly once she looked down at her own body, covering her chest with her new white paws (even though there was nothing to hide there). “Why the heck am I covered in fur AND naked!? What’s going on!? N-no one look!”

Naoto scowled as she backed away. “This seriously cannot be happening…!” Her ears then unfolded revealing a pair of red eyes in them as her pupils traveled from the yellow eyes to the red. “Why do my eyes feel weird…!?”

Chie curled up on herself, getting overwhelmed by the situation and her new bodily senses. “This has to be some kind of weird nightmare, there’s no other way!”

Teddie looked at his brown paws and, instead of being scared of the situation, he just enjoyed the changes. “Oh, wowie! I have claws now! That’s so cool!”

Kanji, despite being the menacing panda creature that he was now, blushed once he saw the others’ bodies. “D-damn… why they’re all so cute…”

To be honest with himself, Yu expected something like this would be the outcome if his friends were in the same situation as him. Panic ran through (most) of their faces, analyzing their new bodies in horror and some in wonder. He would’ve let them be until they calmed down enough to realize they weren’t in a life-or-death situation, however, since they were in a forest, there would probably be some animals that would be disturbed by the fact they entered their territory. He had to intervene.

The zeraora looked down at Yosuke. “Hey, can you help me calm them down?”

“Dude, I’m just as freaked out as they are! How am I supposed to calm them down even though I’m super stressed?”

“Will hitting you fix that, just like last time?” Yu asked jokingly while raising a paw.

“What? No, dude!” Yosuke responded a bit annoyed. “Actually, how the hell are you even this calm in a situation like this!?” The froakie asked a bit surprised.

“I mean, if the events of last year were anything to come by, I don’t think I should be that panicked, to be honest.” Yu argued with a shoulder shrug. 

“Man, sometimes it feels like nothing phases you…” Yosuke commented before looking at the rest of the group, seeing that the group was still panicking, a bit more calmer than before. “But well, guess we gotta do something…”

Yu nodded and started walking to the center of the area, seeing their despair and panic up close. He cleared his throat before shouting. “Everyone, calm down!”

With that, all the creatures that were his friends turned to him, scared faces on most of them, but the rest were definitely tense. Still, silence returned to the woods for a few seconds before the teddiursa, who was definitely Teddie, spoke up, recognizing the slightly changed voice. “S-Sensei, is that you?”

While the others looked at the bear in surprise, finally realizing that he was one of their friends, Yu nodded and put a paw on his side. “Yes, it’s me. Just like you all, my body was also changed. We’re all in this together.”

“W-wait!” The mienfoo, or perhaps Chie, pointed at the zeraora. “If you’re Narukami and…” She then pointed at Teddie. “And that’s Teddie… then that means everyone here is…”

Everyone blinked, mostly in surprise before they muttered a single ”WHAAAAT!?” in unison.

“Hold on! You’re saying my senpai has turned into some sort of cat creature and everyone has turned into weird animals as well?” Rise asked while her vulpine face shifted to shock as she put her paws on her head. “This can’t be happening… it’s definitely some weird lucid dream or something…”

Naoto, after managing to fold her pointed ears, ran her paws along her new body, feeling the fur of her new body along her new facial features. She grimaced all the while. “This feels too real to be just a lucid dream… besides, we’re right here with you…”

The fox clenched her paws and shouted at the meowstic. “D-don’t say that! I don’t want any of this to be real!”

Yukiko looked at her new red and black striped wings, a bird-like frown on her face as she spoke in a manner like she was attempting to calm herself down. “Well… this… this could be way worse… we could’ve just ended up separated or without any memory, or even… just turn into mindless wild-”

Chie raised her arms and flailed them a bit. “Stop saying that, Yukiko! You’re just putting scenarios in my head that just makes this situation even worse-” The mienfoo then paused before realizing who the bird was. “Yukiko…”

“Chie…”

The mustelid-like creature and the bird stared at each other for a moment before they ran into each other in a flash and hugged each other, crying in a very comical way. “I’m so glad you’re in this stupid nightmare with me even though you look like you’re representing your shadow!” Chie said while sobbing loudly.

Yukiko sobbed as well before squawking. “I don’t know what your shadow looks like and all but I’m so glad you’re here to support me in this stupid nightmareeee!” 

The pangoro on the side scratched the side of his head as he looked at the respective creature. “So… that’s Teddie, that’s Senpai, that’s Rise, the two crybabies are Yukiko and Chie… so…” He looked at the meowstic beside him, a blush appearing behind his fur. “So you’re… you’re Naoto!?”

The white and blue cat’s eyes widened before asking. “Huh!? Something wrong with me!? Did I-… did I transform into some sort of chimera!?”

Kanji stuttered for a bit before he waved his hands a bit panicked. “N-no! C-’course not! It’s just uh… um…” He then crossed his arms and looked away embarrassedly. “Just sayin’ ya look cute, okay!?  Nothin’ to stress over!”

Naoto didn’t know what to say to that, making her look away slightly flustered. On instinct, she tried tipping the brim of her hat, only to find that it wasn’t with her.

Yu, after seeing them all calm down (by a little bit), decided to call their attention again. “Alright guys, let’s take a deep breath. Our bodies may have changed but our mind hasn’t, everyone’s the same and we’re all in this together.” 

The zeraora took a deep breath, prompting the others to take one as well. It was then that silence returned to the forest once again. With their new sharp senses, they could hear the chitter of some bugs in the distance, the twitter of birds in the foliage of faraway trees, and the wind rustling leaves. The forest quietness felt way different than the rural town of Inaba or the big city Yu lives in.

Once Yu exhaled the final breath, he glanced at everyone again, seemingly calmer after a few minutes. However, he asked just to be sure. “Is everyone alright now?”

“I’m… I’m a bit better now.” Rise said before smiling. “Thanks to you, Senpai- WOAH!” The braixen tried to run towards Narukami, however, because of the different legs, she fell to the ground. She groaned as she slowly sat up again. “Stupid new legs…”

Unlike Rise, Teddie walked over to the zeraora with ease, already looking like he was used to it. “That’s the Sensei I’m beary proud of! Calming down the team in moments like these!”

Yosuke crawled a bit forward. “Yeah, like you needed to be calmed down. You looked like you enjoyed the new body.”

“That’s because I do! I know for sure this body is of a bear and it reflects my cuteness and ferociousness!” Teddie argued with the froakie before turning to Yu. “Do I look cute and ferocious, Sensei?”

“You just look cute. Would look good as a marketable stuffed animal.” The white-furred feline answered honestly.

Teddie stared for a bit, but instead of being sad, he looked posed cutely. “At least I’m cute enough to score with the girls!” He made a baby face while looking at Chie, Yukiko, and Rise. “Right, m’ladies?”

The mienfoo responded unamused. “Yeah, not a chance…”

Yukiko folded her wings like she was crossing her arms. “At least I’ll say that you look cute. Not in a love sort of way but more like… as a cute pet.”

The teddiursa deflated a bit. “Aww man…”

Yosuke crossed his arms and looked aside. “What even is there to like anymore? They lost the good stuff…”

Chie looked annoyedly at Yosuke before managing to run at him with her short legs and then launch him into a tree comically with a powerful kick. “What was that, you pervert!?”

The froakie stood stuck on the back of the tree before slumping down, a bit of his soul leaving his body. “Geez, why did that kick feel much more powerful than usual…”

Yu sighed and put his paw on his side. “We’re escaping from the main topic. Since everyone has calmed down, I want you guys to try and remember. What’s the last thing you guys remember before waking up here?”

Everyone stopped to think about it before Kanji spoke first. “Weren’t we all at Junes or somethin’? Like, I remember goin’ there and seein’ everyone.”

Yukiko added as well. “Yeah, weren’t we all at Junes checking out Yosuke’s haunted video game?”

Yosuke shouted back a bit annoyed. “How many times do I have to tell you guys that the game isn’t haunted!? It doesn’t even have to do with any of this besides the creature I chose for the game looks familiar to Rise’s new body!” Everyone blinked and stared at the froakie before he realized what he said. “Wait a minute…”

Rise tilted her head, her ears dropping a little. “What? What were the similarities?”

“Well, I think it was called Fennekin or something, same colors, also a fox but was on four legs instead of two…” Yosuke explained while analyzing Rise a bit deeper. “Yeah, it does sorta look like you but younger and smaller…”

Naoto stood up and hummed in thought. “Now that you mention it… do you guys remember when Teddie played it back at Junes? One of the creatures available to control was a teddy bear-like creature with a crescent moon on its forehead…” The meowstic looked at the teddiursa. “The exact same creature he is right now but with a star and more realistic…”

Yosuke glanced at Teddie for a moment before he realized. “That’s right! He chose the same creature he looks like right now!”

“Wait, so you’re saying we’re on a video game right now?” Chie asked, prompting everyone to look at her with her eyes widened. She flinched a bit. “H-huh!? Did I say something out of character…?”

Yukiko put a wing on her chin. “You might be right… what if we are in a video game? Does that mean our bodies changed in a way to fit the world?”

“If this is a video game, where’s the typical video game UI in front of eyes?” Yosuke asked as he walked back to the group. “I remember certain anime having those whenever the protagonist entered the video game.”

Yu hummed in thought before looking at the sky. It seemed that it was afternoon from the way the sky was becoming orange. “In any case, let’s find a town or a city. It’d be dangerous to stay in the forest at night, even with our new bodies.”

“Let the animals come at me!” Teddie exclaimed as he tried to do an intimidating pose, failing to do so as he growled cutely. “I’ll show them that this bear ain’t messing around!”

Kanji, being the menacing panda that he was, approached Teddie a bit slowly, making him flinch and squeak a bit in fear. However, he broke the menacing persona once he nervously asked the teddiursa, rubbing the back of his head. “Um… c-can I pet you? You lookin’ real cute right now…”

The bear blinked a bit before his face morphed into annoyance. “Can’t you see I was trying to be beary intimidating and not cute!?”

Yosuke said unamused. “You failed miserably.”

Naoto walked (even though almost stumbling a bit) towards Yu, crossing her arms. “Narukami is right, we need to find somewhere to rest for the night. It’s clear that some animals inhabit this forest due to some odors here and there. We must find a safe place to reassess our situation.”

With that, the team of friends nodded and started walking in an aimless direction, trusting nothing but their gut instinct to guide them through the canopy of the woods. Along their way, things have been pretty quiet on their walk. Some of them had some difficulties walking in their new bodies, mainly Yosuke, Yukiko, and Rise because of their new respective animal legs. Eventually, Rise managed to get the hang of her backward legs, Yukiko decided to hop as actual birds do, and Yosuke decided to just walk bipedally since his body allowed him to.

While walking, Yosuke asked while flexing his hands. “Teddie’s case was kinda obvious but like… why did we end up in these specific bodies anyway? They don’t feel…” He turned his head up and gave Yukiko a quick glance before glancing at Kanji as well. “Random…”

Chie followed the froakie’s gaze and frowned a bit. “Yeah… some of them feel a bit fitting… way too fitting.”

Yukiko looked at her wings. “Hm… yeah… the red and the fact I turned into a bird does remind me a bit of my shadow, doesn’t it?”

Yosuke scratched the side of his head. “If that’s the case… what do I have to do with a frog of all animals? I thought my spirit animal would be some kind of cool wolf or something like that!”

“Wasn’t your first Persona a ninja frog or something similar before it evolved?” Rise questioned as her tail swished a bit. “Jiraiya, right? Isn’t that guy from a legend about frogs?”

Narukami nodded. “Yeah, he was a man that rode on frogs in the legends.” He then looked back at Yosuke. “Not to mention, your shadow was very frog-like.”

Yosuke limped and sighed disappointedly. “So I was destined to be a frog then… what a pain in the ass…”

Teddie pointed a claw to himself proudly and declared. “Well, I always knew I’d be destined to be the most charming and ferocious bear ever!” 

Kanji asked while crossing his arms. “What ‘bout me, though? Why am I a giant-ass panda?” The others looked away, a bit nervous to admit something, making the pangoro tilt his head. “What, somethin’ wrong?”

“Sorry if this comes off as rude but…” Naoto hesitated, her tails lowering a little. “You should see your face in this new body… it kind of matches with your normal menacing demeanor for others.”

Kanji frowned a little. “What? Am I that scary now?” Everyone nodded silently and the panda looked aside. “Tch, well, guess ain’t nobody gonna mess with me in this place then.”

Chie then looked at Naoto with a puzzling look. “I get most of the others, but why are you a cat of all things? Neither your shadow nor your Persona had any cat features, and you don’t seem like the cat person…”

“Might be because of her calm and collected demeanor?” Yu theorized, scratching his chin a bit uncertain. “Cats are awfully calm animals when not hunting nor threatened.”

“Yeah, that also might explain why you’re also a cat here.” Yosuke added with a slight smirk. “Hopefully you’ll stay like that even when some delicious-looking squirrel appears out of nowhere and-”

Suddenly, the foliage of a certain tree shook a bit, drawing the attention of the entire group. Rise took a step back, a bit concerned. Yu noticed and looked at her a bit concerned. “Something wrong?”

“I-I don’t know why but… I can sense two creatures coming from that tree, and… they both have an electric affinity.” She looked at the zeraora. “Just like you have but to a lesser degree…”

Yosuke blurted out. “What!? How come you haven’t told us that before!? And what do you mean you can sense them!?”

“You can use your Persona here!?” Chie asked a bit baffled.

“I-I don’t know!” Rise said before raising a paw to her chest and looking away. “I could feel affinities coming from you all, but… it felt weaker than what I could normally do…”

“We’ll discuss this topic later.” Naoto said before taking a defensive stance as she looked back at the tree. “For now, we need to see what these things are…”

The group tensed as they looked back at the trees, most of them getting into a battle stance, even though they didn’t know how to fight with these bodies. After some tense seconds, two strange white-furred squirrels with spiky tails came out of the tree, each other having different fur patterns contrasting with the white. One was pink and the other was blue, both having yellow cheeks. 

The squirrels, Yu for some reason knowing they were called pachirisu, descended the tree after spotting the group and looked at them. After a small sniff of the air, the zeraora realized that the pink squirrel was male and the blue one was female. The team blinked in confusion before Teddie asked. “Um… Rise-chan, are you sure these are the creatures you sensed? They don’t smell like Shadows…”

To the surprise of everyone, the white and blue pachirisu spoke first. “What do you mean, Shadows?”

The team was taken aback by the absurdity of what they just heard. Yukiko was the first one to speak up. “Did that squirrel just speak!?”

Naoto took a step back. “Those are not normal squirrels for sure…” 

“What do you guys mean by a squirrel?” The white and pink pachirisu spoke next, quite annoyed by the comparison. “We’re pachirisu, Pokémon just like you guys are! Just because we don’t live in towns, doesn’t mean it’s fair to compare us to… whatever those words are!”

The team blinked for a moment, staring at the pachirisu silently before they grouped up and formed a wheel. Yosuke whispered first. “Yep, we’re definitely not in our world. We’re definitely in a video game…”

“We don’t know that yet, dork!” Chie whispered with venom directed at Yosuke. “Besides, I don’t want to think we’re trapped in a video game like those horror stories…”

Kanji reassured with a theory. “I mean, if we found a way in, maybe there’s some kinda way out…”

“Let’s think about that later, right now, we have some info we need to go over.” Naoto stated with a low voice. “So, it’s very clear that we’re definitely in another world where these Pokémon creatures rule it.”

Yu added to Naoto’s statement. “Not to mention, because of Rise’s ability, we found out they have natural powers inside them, and apparently we gained them as well by turning into some of them.”

“But wait, what about our Personas?” Yukiko questioned, glancing specifically at Rise. “Can we use them?”

“I… think we can.” Rise said uncertainly. “I can feel the type of affinity each of you can have but… I dunno, it doesn’t feel like Kanzeon anymore…”

Chie tilted her head. “Should we try, like, summoning them if worst comes to worst? At least we have something to defend ourselves with since we don’t know how to use these bodies’ abilities.”

“I agree with Chie here. I dunno what I can do with a frog’s body…” Yosuke whined a bit.

The zeraora hummed in thought. “If the worst comes to worst, we’ll use them to defend ourselves.”

Before they could nod in agreement, one of the squirrels, the blue one who had gotten closer to the group, called them. “Sorry to interrupt you guys, but um… you’re all weird. We’re curious, what do you guys mean by squirrel and Shadows? Is it a city ‘mon thing?”

The team looked at each other before Yu took a step towards them and spoke. “It’s nothing to worry about.” He then crouched next to the two, trying to appear less intimidating to them if they saw him as a predator. After all, he was some kind of cat and they were squirrels, even if they could speak and were smart… “I have a question. Can any of you two tell me if there’s a town nearby? We’re not from around here and we’re looking for a place to spend the night.”

The pair of pachirisu looked at themselves, Yu noticing that they looked more expressive than normal squirrels. For some reason, they wore concerned expressions on their faces. The male and pink one looked back at the zeraora with a grimace. “Well… there’s one close by, but… that’s if you cross the mystery dungeon…”

As Narukami tilted his head in confusion, Teddie took a step forward and asked with that innocent bear face. “Mystery dungeon? What’s that?”

The female pachirisu looked at the teddiursa and tilted her head. “You don’t know what mystery dungeons are? Those are, like, everywhere! How do you guys not know?”

Kanji rubbed the back of his head. “Uh… ‘cause we… lived under a rock?”

The two squirrel Pokémon stayed silent, staring at the group, before Yosuke facepalmed, muttering to himself. “Kanji…”

The pink pachirisu sighed. “If you guys came from nowhere town or something, you’re about to learn why they’re so feared among Pokémon. Be careful, they used to be calmer, however, because of the new monsters that flooded them and that weird fog that appeared along with them, it’s gotten more dangerous to traverse them.”

The group looked among themselves before Naoto crossed her arms and questioned the squirrels. “Monsters and… fog?”

“From what I heard, they were creepy…” The blue pachirisu said with a grimace. “They came in various shapes, but what all of them had in common is that they wore masks on certain parts of their bodies…”

The team’s eyes widened for a moment, realization dawning on them. Yukiko was the first one to break the silence caused by shock. “They… they aren’t talking about…”

Before the oricorio could finish her sentence, the pink pachirisu spoke to the other. “Don’t bother scaring them, Sis, they look capable enough. They could definitely handle those monsters by themselves. Come, we need to get these berries to Mom.”

As the pink pachirisu left the scene quickly, his sister followed him. “Wait up, bro!”

The team of friends was just left in silence, trying to process what they just heard about the mystery dungeon. Rise clasped her paws behind her back with a grimace. “So… are there really Shadows in this world as well?”

Teddie tilted his head, putting a claw on his chin. “If we’re in a video game world, we shouldn’t be that surprised. Isn’t the TV world the cousin of the video game world?”

Yosuke looked at the teddiursa with his arms crossed. “Why are you asking? Didn’t you come from the TV world anyway?”

Teddie shrugged. “I dunno because I didn’t create it!”

The froakie deadpanned. “You dumb bear…”

“Well, if there are Shadows in this world, we’ll just do what we do best.” Kanji then cracked his knuckles. “Beat the shit outta them if any of ‘em tries to stand in our way!”

Chie pumped a fisted paw in the air. “Yeah! Let them come, I’ll kick them square in the face if they desperately want to!”

Yu nodded before speaking. “Let’s see if those monsters they talked about are really Shadows or not. After all, we’re going through that mystery dungeon anyway.” He then looked at the braixen. “Rise, once we’re in it, can you try and summon your Persona to see if it works?”

The fox nodded and smiled. “I’ll try just for you, Senpai!” 

With that all set, the team resumed their trek through the forest, finding no other Pokémon who saw the team as a threat. However, some could catch glimpses of weedles, taillow, nimble, and even a small shaymin wandering around (of course, none of them knew the rarity of such species in the world). 

However, as they were walking, the team suddenly passed by a certain set of trees that were perfectly lined with each other. Once they passed by them, they felt the atmosphere shift tremendously from where they were walking. Suddenly, the area started getting covered by a thick fog, the air turning a bit cold as well.

However, it seemed that the fog was staying a couple of meters away from them, letting them see their surroundings clearly.

Yu tensed a little bit, noticing they had arrived at the obstacle towards their destination. “We’re here.”

Chie looked around. “Wait, why can we see through the fog? We aren’t even using our glasses for it.”

“Could it be that our bodies can see through it just fine unlike other Pokémon? It might be different from the fog from the TV world so maybe it doesn’t count towards us?” Yukiko questioned, already unfolding her wings, preparing herself for any surprise.

Yosuke sighed. “Let’s just be glad we don’t need those glasses anymore to see through this dumb fog.”

Teddie gasped, looking at Yosuke. “Does that mean you didn’t like my craft from the beginning!? This makes me such a beary sad bear…”

The froakie crossed his arms. “Not what I said, bear.”

“At any case.” Naoto then glanced at Rise. “Rise? Can you do it?”

The braixen clenched her paws in determination. “I’ll try my best!” She walked in front of the group before stopping and clasping her paws. A blue aura started to surround the bipedal fox before a card suddenly manifested into the air and slowly fell in front of Rise’s face. The card was the Lovers tarot card. “Persona!”

The card suddenly broke and, behind the braixen, a giant woman with a pale white dress and the face of a satellite appeared, holding some kind of visor around the fox’s eyes. The team’s eyes widened before Yukiko said. “Woah, so we can use our Personas here!”

“Wait a second…” Chie put her paws on her side and tilted her head. “Isn’t that Himiko? What happened to Kanzeon?”

“I… think I know what’s going on.” Rise spoke from the visor. “Now that I have Himiko out, I can detect your readings. It seems… it seems that everyone had their powers weakened…”

Kanji scowled. “Hold on, so you’re sayin’ all of our Personas got weak? How?”

“I don’t know… but I can see like some sort of restrainer in our bodies… but it’s blurry to make it out what it is.” The braixen explained.

Naoto stroked her chin as she looked aside. “So… not only our bodies have changed but our powers have been restrained…” She hummed, coming up with theories in her head. However, she decided to put that away for now and then focus on another thing. “Anyway, can you detect anything in this mystery dungeon?”

“Yes. I can detect multiple Shadows spread throughout the dungeon.” Rise dissipated her Persona and turned to the others. “We can sneak past some of them, but we’ll have to fight some of them since they’re blocking certain paths. It was too hazy to make it out where those routes led, but probably the exit.”

Yu put a paw on his side and said. “Thanks, Rise. Now we know what we’re dealing with.”

The braixen blushed behind her fur and smiled. “Hehe, it was nothing, Senpai.”

Yosuke walked to Yu, putting a slimy hand on his leg, and said. “So, it’s business just like last year. Ain’t that right, partner?”

The zeraora nodded with a smile. “Indeed. Let’s do our best to find a way home, together.”

The team nodded in determination as Teddie said. “That’s our Sensei! Let’s roar and go at ‘em!”

With that, the group started their trek through the mystery dungeon, not letting the fog that stood in their path stop them. 

The first few minutes of walking were quiet and uneventful. Across their path, they hadn’t found anything interesting, it was just the same old sight of trees and bushes, perfectly lined with each other, sometimes offering some kinds of interesting and alien fruits the team had never seen before. Teddie wanted to try some of them out, but of course, was stopped by the others since they didn’t want to accidentally poison themselves.

Another thing that they found interesting is that sometimes they found some interesting items on the floor, even some gold coins that caught their attention. Yukiko picked one with a wing and inspected it. “Is this some sort of coin?”

Rise approached the oricorio and inspected the object as well, a bit enchanted by its shine. “Wow, it’s so shiny and pretty. How much do you think it’s worth?”

Chie grabbed another coin as well, turning it around and noticing a P on the back of it. “Maybe we should keep them somewhere. Could be valuable and sell for a pretty penny back home!”

Yosuke tilted his head. “You really think it’s a good idea to hoard gold coins? We don’t even have any bags for that!”

“Um…” Chie looked around for a moment before perking up with an idea. She pointed at Rise. “Rise’s tail seems like the perfect vault! After all, I don’t think she noticed the stick on it yet.”

“Huh!?” The braixen looked at her back, finally noticing the stick coming out of her fluffy tail that had been there since her awakening. She took it out of her furry tail and examined the stick. Although it looked like an ordinary small but thick tree branch, the tip of it was shaped like a heart. “This feels… important.”

Yukiko analyzed the stick and spoke. “Well… if you think that’s important, you better keep it. Might be useful to defend yourself later.”

“I guess so…” She then turned to the mienfoo with an annoyed face. “But no stuffing things in my tail, you hear!?”

Chie sighed. “Got it…”

While the girls were discussing hoarding gold, Kanji and Naoto were discussing other things with each other. “So erm… remember when we first woke up ‘n all that?” Kanji asked.

“Yes?” The meowstic asked while raising her tails a bit subconsciously.

The menacing panda rubbed the back of his head. “So um… while ya were busy panickin’, I noticed that uh… ya might have two eyes in your ears…”

Naoto blinked for a moment before asking with her head tilted. “What?”

“Yeah. Your ears open or somethin’ and then reveal like… actually, can you unfold your ears while closing your eyes?” Kanji asked before noticing how weird that question sounded. He then turned his head aside and blushed. “‘Course, if ya want to.”

The white cat’s ears tilted a bit, testing their movement. “I feel like I can do it.” With that, Naoto unfolded her ears, revealing two blank red eyes on it. However, two red irises came from below and stopped in the center of the eyes before looking around. The meowstic detective felt a shiver on her spine as she flinched a bit. “Huh!?” Her second pair of eyes darted around a bit hastily, Kanji taking a small step back. “B-but I just closed my eyes…”

The pangoro blinked before muttering. “Holy shit, you do have four eyes…”

Naoto quickly folded her ears and opened her primary eyes, shaking a little in fear and concern. “Wha-… why do I have this? I mean, it must be a species thing, but… that’s…”

“Creepy and weird as shit?” Kanji finished for her, making the meowstic nod with a grimace. 

“Yeah… that.”

“Eh, don’t mind it too much.” Kanji reassured, putting a big hand on Naoto’s shoulders. “With time you’ll get used to it and tough it up, ‘aight?”

The white cat stared at the pangoro for a small moment before snickering a bit and smiling. “You’re treating me like a 10-year-old now.”

The panda flinched a bit before retreating a bit and blushing in embarrassment. “Y-ya know, I’m just used to dealin’ with kids so erm… it slipped, don’t make a fuss about it!”

“I would never.” The meowstic smiled, suppressing a chuckle.

Meanwhile, Teddie was talking to Yu about something else a bit farther ahead, but still visible to the others. “Sensei, do you like your new body so far? I didn’t see you complain like the others have.”

Yu looked at the teddiursa and responded with his own question. “Isn’t it a bit too early to be asking that?”

“Well, I know it’s been probably more than two hours or so… but so far I like this new body! It suits my charming and bearrifying personality! I can’t wait to test out these claws on those pesky shadows!” The bear said while brandishing his claws. 

Yu smiled. “Well, I’m glad you’re liking it. I’m sure you’d be the talk of a lot of girls if you were back with this body.” The zeraora said jokingly, knowing full well why he’d be the talk of a lot of girls.

Teddie didn’t seem to get it and agreed. “Yeah! Maybe this time my bearomones will finally work on beautiful-looking girls!” He then glanced at Yu a bit skeptical. “Hopefully they’re not too strong as last time…”

A cheeky grin appeared on Yu’s face as he winked at Teddie. “Would you like to test that theory out again?”

“Eek!” The bear clasped his claws behind his back and looked aside. “Y-you know, I don’t think I need to test them out! I already know they’re gonna work for sure this time!”

The white and teal feline chuckled before saying. “Whatever you say, Teddie.”

Suddenly, as the team was about to turn a corner in the room-like forest, Rise called out. “Wait, guys!” Everyone looked at her confused before she continued. “I’m detecting some hazy enemy readings down that path… and it’s the only way to move forward…”

Yu nodded before asking the team. “Are you ready, guys?” The team nodded in agreement. “Got it, let’s go.”

With that, the group turned the corner and walked into a narrow hallway-like path, surrounded by thick trees and getting poked by some leaves and branches. Before Yosuke had a chance to complain, the area expanded, making a wide rectangle of space. At the end of the area, there they were… Shadows.

Twenty or so of them were black tar-like blobs sporting colorful masks of different shapes and the only thing that signified that was their face, with black hands coming out of their slimy bodies. “Geez, that’s a lot of them…” Chie said while putting her paws on her side with a frown.

“Who cares!?” Kanji said before taking a step forward in determination. “Let’s just smash ‘em all before they get the chance!”

At the pangoro’s booming voice, the Shadows noticed the group and started heading in their direction like a hungry mob wanting to quell their hunger. Yu took a few steps forward as a blue aura began surrounding him. He stopped as the Fool tarot card appeared out of nowhere and descended, stopping in front of Yu’s face. The zeraora shouted as he crushed the card with a single claw. “Persona!”

Behind Narukami, a tall figure with yellow eyes, a white helmet with a large white headband, a black jacket, and black pants appeared, sporting a large blade in their hand. Izanagi brandished his blade and flew forward. Once close enough to the mob, the Persona spun his blade on his hand before cleaving through some of the blobs with a vertical slash followed by a horizontal one. Some Shadows dissipated into black smoke.

“Nice one, Senpai!” Rise complimented before summoning Himiko again. “I’ll help with what I can on the back, you guys go support him!”

“Alright!” Yosuke said before running towards the zeraora, a blue aura appearing around him as the Magician tarot card appeared in front of him. “Don’t leave me behind, partner!”

Chie did the same as the Chariot tarot card appeared in front of her. “I’m with you too!”

“Persona!”

The two Pokémon shouted as they shattered their respective cards, both of their Personas appearing behind them. As some of the blobs closed in on them, Jiraiya made a ninjutsu motion with his hands and suddenly, a gust of wind combined with sharp leaves brushed over the Shadows, their masks and semi-liquid bodies getting cut until they all dissipated into smoke. Meanwhile, Tomoe flew in with their two-sided spear and skewered multiple enemies before swinging the spear around and slashing some more Shadows, all dissipating into smoke afterwards.

Yu ordered his Persona to help Tomoe but Izanagi was grabbed from behind by some Shadows, the zeraora feeling the pain like the blobs had grabbed him as well. That was the right opportunity for Yukiko to hop in as a blue glow surrounded the bird, her Priestess tarot card appearing in front of her. “I am thou…” She then broke the card with a flaming wing strike. “There!”

In front of the oricorio, Konohana Sakuya appeared, her cherry blossom feathers shining in blazing glory. The Persona went towards Izanagi, extending her hands forward and shooting fireballs at the Shadows that held the grip on him. Izanagi freed himself from the Shadow’s hold before blasting them with a Zio skill. Yu turned to Yukiko and nodded. “Appreciated.”

“No problem!” Yukiko replied.

“I’m gonna help too!” Teddie exclaimed as the blue aura surrounded him, the card of the Star Arcana appearing in front of him. “Bearsona!” 

Teddie slashed the card with his claws, shattering it completely. Above the teddiursa, Kintoki-Douji appeared, his rotund shape manifesting while holding a giant tomahawk missile above him. The robot-like Persona extended a hand to the remaining Shadows and shot ice shards at the enemy that, once in contact, froze them solid. He then flew towards the enemies angling his body just enough before tilting it so that the missile touched the ice crystals.

KABOOM

Even though it seemed that the area was clear after the explosion, the smoke and dust lowering slowly,  Rise called. “Kanji! I’m detecting enemy readings near you!”

The pangoro tensed and looked around. He looked up and noticed that the enemies came from above. He noticed that they were basically just rocks with shadowy hands and masks.  Kanji, instead of stepping away, punched the enemies away, inflicting a bit of damage in their shells. But once a lot came, trying to overwhelm the strong panda, he was forced to jump away from them.

A glow started to manifest around Kanji, the Emperor tarot card appearing in front of him. “Come, Take-Mikazuchi!” He struck the card with the back of his bare hand, shattering and summoning his Persona in front of him. A tall and menacing black robot with skull markings appeared holding a lightning-shaped weapon.

Take-Mikazuchi put the weapon on the ground and smashed it to pieces with his fists, suddenly lightning struck the basalt-made Shadows, making them dissipate in one blow. Before Kanji had the time to take a breather, some beastly-looking Shadows tried lunging at the Pangoro.

“Persona!” Naoto shouted before destroying the Fortune tarot card with an imaginary bullet by making a finger gun motion. In the blink of an eye, a slashing motion could be seen happening by a flying blur, cutting the Shadows into multiple pieces by the blink of an eye. Once all the enemies had been dissipated into black smoke, the blur revealed herself to be Sukuna-Hikona, the meowstic’s small Persona. Naoto rushed to Kanji and asked. “Are you hurt?”

“Nah, they couldn’t even manage to get even a scratch on me!” Kanji replied with a grin as his Persona summoned another lightning bolt weapon.

“That’s good to know.” Naoto sighed in relief.

Yu turned to the braixen and asked. “Any more of them coming?”

Himiko disappeared as Rise smiled. “Nope, you defeated all the close ones so far.”

Yosuke grinned. “Sweet! It feels great returning to battles like this-” The froakie got interrupted by an unexpected croak coming from him. The mystery dungeon fell into silence before the rest of the group laughed, Yukiko laughing the most of them. The blue frog’s face went red. “It’d be way better if it weren’t for these stupid bodies though!”

“Whaddya mean?” Kanji said before cracking his black knuckles. “It’s nice bein’ able to punch those assholes directly! And I punched straight through the rock ones with no issue!”

“Says the guy who probably got the best body here…” Yosuke complained, as usual.

Chie started hopping with her small feet, getting a bit agitated. “This left me fired up a bit! Come on, let’s go! I don’t wanna waste this energy!”

Yu nodded, motioning with a paw. “Let’s go gang, we still need to find the exit to this place.”

The team nodded, pumped up by the aftermath of the battle. With that, they continued through their exploration of the forest maze, their Personas following closely behind them. It wasn’t long until they ran a bit into more enemies, but to save the energy for a potential roadblock along the way, they decided to avoid some of these encounters, to the dismay of some in the group. 

Along the way, they found some more interesting items, be it some bottles of some strange liquid, more weird-looking fruits, and even a very shiny and round orb that, of course, Teddie picked up.

“What is this thing?” The teddiursa asked before sniffing the blue sphere with a lightning bolt marking on it.

“Looks like some kind of crystal ball that those fortune tellers use if you ask me.” Yukiko responded as she approached Teddie, brushing her wing against the sphere. “Seems in pretty good condition too.”

“Maybe we could take it with us!” Chie suggested, taking a small glance at Rise. “If only we could store it somewhere…”

The fox noticed the sign and pouted annoyedly. “I already told you we’re not-!” Rise interrupted herself once she noticed something on the tree branch above the oricorio and the teddiursa. She pointed at it and shouted. “Teddie, Yukiko-senpai, above you!”

The bear and the bird looked above and saw a wolf-like Shadow with a crown mask on its face already descending towards them. Teddie screamed. “Yowie!!!” He knew that his Persona’s ice attack wouldn’t reach the Shadow fast enough, so he lowered his head and braced for impact. However, the orb on his claw started glowing brightly, blinding the shadow and making it miss its target. Once Teddie noticed he wasn’t getting mauled, he looked up again and saw the wolf Shadow on the ground, struggling to get up and shaking, like it was paralyzed. The orb then disappeared out of the bear’s claw. “Wha…?”

“Teddie, that sphere… did it paralyze the enemy?” Naoto asked a bit surprised.

“I dunno!” The teddiursa said while looking back at Naoto, his Persona body-slamming the Shadow meanwhile. “I just tried to protect myself and then the enemy was just… beartrified!” 

Chie scratched her head as she thought. “Could it be that the sphere activated out of Teddie’s desperation and did something to the Shadow?”

Yosuke put a hand on his side. “Could be. If that’s the case, better be on the lookout for more of those to use against other enemies!”

Naoto nodded her head. “Yeah, they could prove useful in later battles.”

The rest of the team nodded before they continued on their trek through the mystery dungeon. It had grown silent, eerily silent to the point that it seemed that they were in some sort of horror movie. Inside a forest that seemed like a maze, with nothing but fog and trees surrounding a group of people, with nothing but silence as their only source of noise…

“Um… isn’t it a bit… quiet around here?” Chie said as she looked around a bit nervously. If she was still a human, a bead of sweat would surely be seen rolling down her face.

Yosuke crossed his arms. “I mean, ‘s supposed to be silent around here. Nothing but us and the Shadows in this… something dungeon, whatever those squirrels called it.”

“Yeah, I know, but, like…” The mienfoo scanned her surroundings a bit more thoroughly, mostly on the bushes of the leaves. “Usually they make those growling sounds around the place, they’re not this quiet.”

Yukiko looked at Chie. “Do you think they are using some new tactics in this world? After all, you saw how that Shadow from before was hiding in the tree for an ambush…”

“I… guess so… but still, this is kinda…” Chie hesitated to finish it.

Yosuke grinned at her teasingly. “What, creepy? Don’t tell me you’re scared, are ya?”

The mienfoo bore her fangs angrily at the frog. “Shut it, frog! I’m not scared! It’s just that the atmosphere here is just a bit eerie, that’s all!”

“SOMEBODY HELP MEEEEEE!!!”

A sudden scream alerted everyone on the team, even making Chie scream startled and making her fur stand up. She then jumped into Yosuke’s arms, hugging him intensively as her Persona stood in front of both of them. Kanji glanced around while asking. “The hell was that?”

“I dunno what it was but all I know is that Chie’s new body is really damn heavy!” Yosuke said as he tried his best not to crumble under the mienfoo’s weight.

Chie’s fear was then replaced with anger. “What did you just say!?” She then jumped out of the froakie’s embrace and kicked him between his legs. He might not have balls anymore, but Chie’s kick did leave a mark, making Yosuke cover between his legs.

“ACK! The hell was that for!?”

Chie replied angrily. “If you think I’m heavy, then it just means your new body is weak!”

“Now it’s not the time for banter, you two.” Naoto called, making the two Pokémon look at her. “That scream we just heard sounded like a cry for help…”

“Seems like someone else is in this mystery dungeon beside us…” Rise commented with a grimace. “We gotta help them before the Shadows get to them!”

Yu nodded. “Yes, let’s find them!” 

The team nodded before they rushed towards the sound (after the pain in Yosuke’s legs receded). Not much after, they reached a wide area. Remains of trees bushes and other miscellaneous items were scattered around the floor, looking like some kind of tornado had passed by the area. In the corner of the rectangular room, there seemed to be a group of black beast-like Shadows with hands coming out of random parts of their bodies (those seemed like the common type in the dungeon), ganging up on what seemed to be a green snake-like Pokémon with arms and legs. Yu recognized that Pokémon to be a snivy. 

The rest of the team noticed that the little snake was in danger, so they called the Shadows’ attention. “Hey! Leave the little guy alone, you bullies!” Chie shouted, making the masked and distorted beasts turn to them and even the little snake.

Yosuke took a step forward. “Yeah, how about you mess with someone of your own size-…” He then whimpered, putting his hands between his legs. “Goddammit, it still hurts…!”

The group of Shadows roared and went after them. The group’s Personas brandished their weapons before flying after the enemies. Izanagi was the first to attack, sticking out a hand and having a thunderbolt be aimed at one of the beasts. However, once the thunderbolt struck, the lightning did no damage.

Rise clasped her paws again and shouted. “Persona!” Himiko appeared and Rise started to read the enemy’s hazy status. “Senpai, those guys are immune to electricity! Try something else!”

“Heard ya loud and clear!” Kanji said before ordering Take-Mikazuchi to strike the enemies with his weapon, beating them up with rapid strikes until some of them dissipated into black dust and smoke. 

While whimpering a bit, the pain receding a little more, Yosuke ordered while pointing. “Blow ‘em away, Jiraiya!” The Persona flew towards the enemy Shadows, throwing his two yellow shurikens at the enemy. As they spun, a small green tornado appeared around the stars, sucking the Shadows and launching them into trees nearby… one of them almost hitting the snake Pokémon. Thankfully, they ducked just in time as the masked chimera beast impacted the tree and dissipated into dust.

The braixen noticed that and warned. “Somebody needs to get that snake guy out of there. It’s too dangerous for him!”

“I’ll help them!” Teddie offered before his Persona flew to the tree the snivy was lying against. Kintoki-Douji extended a hand to the snivy, the green snake looking at in panic and concern. “Don’t worry, little guy! Your knight in shining armor has come to save-”

Suddenly, two vines emerged from the Pokémon’s back and slapped away the round Persona’s hand with one of them. “Get away from me, you monsters!”

The teddiursa felt the pain on his own claw, rubbing it while his Persona mirrored his movements. “Yeowch! The princess is aggressive!”

“I’m not a female! Get your monster away from me-” The snivy then shrieked when a fireball coming from Konohana Sakuya impacted one of the Shadows behind the robot-like Persona. He was then quick to change his mind, extending his small arms up. “Fine, take me, take me!” 

Kintoki-Douji stopped his rubbing hand before scooping the grassy reptile, picking him up like he was picking up a small cat. He then flew back to Teddie, dodging the Agi and Garu attacks from the Shadows and placing the snivy beside the teddiursa upon arrival. The snivy looked at Teddie with a nervous frown, the bear just waving innocently at him. Upon closer inspection, the green snake had suffered various wounds, bleeding red from his face, arms, and sides, with a few burn marks as well. “Oh boy, you don’t look very good, here, let me…” 

As Teddie healed the snivy with his Persona, Naoto glanced at the action before looking back at the fight. “Alright, he’s secured, we can go all out now!”

Yu shouted. “Everyone, together now!”

“Alright!” 

The rest of the team shouted before all of their Personas got into position. They all extended their hands as they released their magic attacks in an all-out attack at the remaining group of Shadows. Izanagi with his electricity, Jiraiya with his wind, Tomoe with her ice, Konohana Sakuya with her fire, Take-Mikazuchi with his electricity, and Sukuna-Hikona with her almighty. The attacks struck everyone at once, covering the immunities some of the Shadows had so that every attack hit equally, it all resulted in an explosion that could be noticed within the dungeon’s confinements.

The snivy looked at the explosion and blinked in awe his mouth agape, showing a small fang from it. “Woah…”

“All Shadows defeated!” Rise announced cheerfully, Himiko dissipating behind her. “Nice going, everyone!”

“Seems like we haven’t lost our touch, eh?” Yosuke said as he pumped a fist in the air, everyone’s Personas disappearing as well. “We’re on a roll!”

The meowstic put a hand on her side. “I’ll admit, I wished that I didn’t want to have all these battles again, but honestly, it does feel enthralling to fight like this.”

The snivy butted in on the conversation, standing up after being healed a bit, with a bit of blood still present. Now being a bit closer they could see, among his scales, there seemed to be a bit of fur covering one of his big eyes, kinda like a fringe. He was also wearing a leather bag around his body. “Sorry to interrupt but, who are you guys? What were those floating monsters guys you used to take the masked monsters down and heal me?”

Kanji stared at the grassy snake for a moment before looking aside, muttering to himself. “Damn, why’s every creature in this world so damn cute…?”

Yu approached the green snake and answered. “Those masked monsters you saw were called Shadows. They’re the dark parts of a person’s heart manifested into those masked creatures you saw.”

Teddie then added. “And those awesome floating guys you saw were called Personas! The form of the suppressed Shadow of a person takes when they face themselves and come to terms with it!”

The snivy blinked for a moment before rubbing his arm a bit confused. “I… see…”

“It took a while for us to understand all of this, so we get your confusion.” Yukiko said while folding her wings.

“Just… who are you guys? How do you know all of this?” The green snake asked suspiciously.

“It’s a very long story that I rather not talk about here.” Naoto said before looking at the burn mark that the explosion left. “That all-out attack might attract more Shadows to our location.”

“Then what are we waiting for, let’s get out of here!” Chie exclaimed before turning to the snivy. “Hey, you, do you know the way out of this place?”

“Um… yeah, I think I remember.” The snivy said before walking a couple of steps forward, his leafy tail swishing from side to side. “Follow me, if I don’t get lost in this stupid fog, then I’ll probably be able to guide you out.”

Yu tilted his head in confusion before following the little snake along with the rest of the group.