The Shadows We Bear [Part IX / ???]
Basic premise for those who do not know: this fic is set the the world of theskytides, an AU panfandom RPG set in a steampunk line in which it is totally a fandom of its own. Miles Edgeworth (from the Ace Attorney series) and Hijikata Toshirou (from Gintama) happen to be the first mate / boatswain respectively in of one of the ships in the game. In this story, Hijikata has something of a... crush towards Edgeworth that he has never told anyone, though he is aware. Which of course, will only lead to nothing but trouble...
Parts: Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII | Part IX | Part X | Part XI
THE SHADOWS WE BEAR
TST!Shadowverse fic : Part IX
Hijikata could only look from where he was towards the newly-transformed Shadow, Edgeworth unconscious in his arms. As far as he could tell, the man was only down and out for the count... possibly because of the Shadow, maybe. Seta did mention something like that briefly to him before, though he couldn’t really remember it. Regardless though, if the first mate was now like this then it was going to be vital that he was to be protected-the sense of dread that seeped through him was strong enough for his own senses to ring in alarm. For all his experience, he knew that this battle was going to be a rough one.
Tightening his hold on the other man, the boatswain remained silent as he looked up and bit on his bottom lip, dark blue eyes glancing towards where the battle was about to begin. The teenagers readied themselves, summoning out the glowing shards of energy that condensed into a card shape in front of each of them. Both Seta and Hanamura prepared themselves, and then they destroyed the shards (the silver-haired kid by crushing it in his hand, the brunette by leaping and twirling sideways to slice it into half) in order to begin the sequence.
“Izanagi!”
“Let’s do this, Jiraiya!”
The two Personas came out with the accompanied sound shattering of glass that signalled their entrance, materializing into existence as they were drawn out and called forth from the minds of their respective users. The air had ripped when they had appeared, and they by the time they had completely materialized fully they were already flying halfway towards where the Shadow was, their own weapons at the ready for the attack.
There was only a cackle from the Shadow as it raised its blade, golden eyes narrowing. “So eager to see how futile your efforts are? Well I’ve always never liked waiting!” Saying that, it swung its blade in a wide arc in front of it, the mighty force of the swing causing a blast of wind to head towards them. Both Persona and Persona-users went on guard in order to defend themselves from the blow, but Izanagi was blown back when the attack hit them both. Jiraiya on the other hand was only forced back by a few steps. Yosuke turned around to look back just as Souji hit against the wall hard by the force of the blow, letting out a short yelp as he landed painfully to the ground.
“Souji!” the brunette shouted out as he started to run towards the silver-haired teen, but the voice of the Shadow got his attention as he was about to make a dash for the other.
“Trying to group back? I don’t think so!”
Crap! Yosuke thought, having a good idea what was going to happen now. Instinctively, the teenager made a leap to roll onto the floor just as the swing of that long blade could manage to reach him. Jiraiya had been temporarily dismissed for now, so he didn’t have to worry about getting damage through his spectral attacker thing. Or whatever a Persona could really be classified as here, anyway.
Once he managed to get his legs back in line after the dodge roll, the teen hurried over to where his partner was, shaking him lightly by the shoulders as he spoke. “You alright there, Souji?”
The silver-haired teen blinked and shook his head, eyelids fluttered as he regained back his senses after losing them from the impact of that blow. It only took about a moment before the other was nodding in response to his friend’s question. “I’m fine.”
“Good to hear that-” Yosuke started, stopping when the Shadow started to make its move again and swung its blade to send another burst of wind towards them.
Souji was the one who moved first, dark grey eyes narrowing as he exclaimed out the name of his Persona. “Izanagi!”
With billowy robes and a fine sword unlike any other, the Persona responded to its user’s call and will, bringing forth its blade in front of it as the weapon started to glow a dark blue. There was a pulse right before the attack hit them, and then the burst of wind simply swept through them like a breeze instead.
The Shadow made a hissing sound, clearly displeased with the results of the last attack. It started to shift, ready to strike again, but Yosuke acted quickly before their opponent could try and get its attacks to land on them again. “Jiraiya!” he shouted as he started to break into a run (at a speed no teenager should possess) towards the other, a command for its reappearance yet again.
It was only a matter of seconds before the Persona appeared once more, flying alongside its user as they both charge towards the Shadow. Yosuke brought out his knives and gripped them tight before he made a leap to avoid the blade that was going towards him. He twisted around in mid air with inhuman grace in order to avoid the other’s attack before diving down to the things and slashed at its chest. The Shadow made a shriek as it was hit; stumbling back while the brunette leaped backwards-against the dim lighting now, everyone else could now see how the teen was also having a light green tint around him besides the blue one from earlier.
Yosuke landed onto the floor with a small thud on his feet, straightening himself once he had landed and quickly getting into a ready position once again, eyes narrowing as he brought up his knives in front of him. Behind him, Souji had managed to get himself back up, glasses shining despite the lights as his Persona floated above him, blade gleaming with an unnatural light as it got into an attacking position.
There was a grunt as the Shadow got itself back to position. “It’ll take more than this!”
“I expected as much,” was the only response that Souji murmured out before he made a dash forward for another attempt to attack, Izanagi following swiftly alongside him. Yosuke quickly followed behind, quickly catching up and overtaking his partner due to the boost of agility he had endowed on himself earlier.
“Persona!” the brunette exclaimed as Jiraiya materialized into the world once again, twisting about almost gracefully ahead of its user before charging towards the Shadow and headbutted it by the stomach. The thing made another cry of pain as the force of the blow caused it to stumble and take a step back-and that was all that was needed for the silver-haired teen to make his move next. Eyes flashing, Souji made a bound towards his opponent, blade in his hand flashing as he sent out a command to his Persona. Izanagi responded immediately, bursting forward in a blast of speed before it abruptly stopped to turn around and then the next thing anyone in that room there and then would be only be aware of was the flash of light jagging in their vision as the Persona summoned down a bolt of white-hot lightning upon the Shadow.
There was a loud, ear-piercing shriek as the electrical attack hit the Shadow directly, the pain going into the very core of his being as gigawatts of electricity coarsed through and fried the thing from within. The air around the Shadow itself crackled with the raw power that the Zionga spell possessed, only fading away once the attack had done its work. There was a pause in the silence as the Shadow remained still when the spell faded before it toppled over and down to the ground.
The two teenagers quickly took this chance in order to go all-out on the Shadow and finish it for good. Without wasting another second, the both of them immediately burst forth and lunged towards the downed Shadow, their weapons up and out for the ready as they neared their foe-
-then yelped as in invisible force bounced on them the moment they tried to lower their weapons on him, the power enough to send the two flying backwards and tumbling down onto the ground.
At the sidelines, Hijikata could only grit his teeth as he held the unconscious man in his arms tighter as the Shadow pushed itself back up, noting how there was steam trailing out from the long blade that the thing was using. There was a hiss that echoed in the air as the hazy smoke dissipated into area and the fog that surrounded this whole battlefield, then a laugh as the Shadow raised its blade and its golden eyes flared yet again as it glanced at the two downed kids. “And with this power, you think you’re capable of anything at all? Ha!”
Yosuke only muttered a few curses under his breath as he got himself up after that attack, looking over to see that Souji had done the same before turning to the Shadow and gritted his teeth as he growled out to the thing. “You’re being too annoying! Jiraiya!”
Heeding his command, the Persona appeared in a ripple of air, flying towards the Shadow once more in another attempt of an attack. However, said Shadow only grinned and with a flourish, brought out the red cape that had been with him. It then flapped the cloth once just as Jiraiya drew close and-to Yosuke’s great horror-it ended up charging into the cloth instead, which snapped free from the Shadow’s arm and tangled the Persona up with it. The brunette quickly made an attempt to withdraw back his Persona, but it was too late-he let out a cry of pain that seared across his back as the Shadow slashed its blade across the back of the trapped Persona. While the Persona and its user were indeed different entities, they were in the end still connected by one mind-and thus whatever the Persona would get, the possessor would receive it likewise.
Souji’s eyes only widened in surprise as he watched his friend being attacked from behind, quickly turning to the Shadow and commanded Izanagi to perform another Zionga spell once again. The Persona obeyed, scrunching up and bringing its limbs together as it channelled the power necessary to perform the spell-which only really took all but a moment before the aspect jerked back violently and just like before, another bolt of lightning descended from above and down towards the Shadow.
Unlike before however, the attack this time had no effect on the Shadow had all, and it only cackled as the attack brushed him very much like a spark of something insignificant. “Useless, useless, useless! If you can’t even save yourselves, then how can you save him?!” Saying that, it then lunged forward towards the stunned silver-haired teenager, blade out and at the ready to strike him down-
“Garula!”
The Shadow shrieked again as a blast of wind got it unexpectedly from the side, the force causing it to fly over to the other end of the room and have it crash violently against the wall.
Yosuke appeared before him with a hand extended towards him, looking somewhat worse for the wear but otherwise as good as he had always been. “You alright there, partner?”
Souji only smiled and grabbed the offered hand that helped him back up. “Of course, thanks to you.”
Once the silver-haired teen was properly up, both of them glanced at each other for a moment before they turned towards the Shadow that was still recovering from the blow.
The brunette raised his weapons. “Is it just me, or did it shift its elemental properties?”
There was only a shrug from the other in response as he got into position. “I think it did.”
A distressed sort of look crossed Yosuke’s face there and then. “Ugh, that’s the last thing I need to know.”
Souji opened his mouth, about to respond, but was cut short as the Shadow snarled from where it was. “What’s the point of doing this? You’re not going to get anywhere at all no matter how much you struggle and try!”
“That’s not for something like you to decide!” Hanamura shouted back, his words mimicking exactly what Hijikata himself had been thinking. The boatswain could feel the urge within him to join the battle, to go and put the asshole in its place-but he didn’t. He couldn’t, since that would mean putting Edgeworth at risk. And that was the last thing he wanted to do. It was only up to the two teenagers to beat it down to a pulp-and after seeing what they were capable of, the man could place his trust in them.
And it was with that trust with them as well did the two teenagers fight with. Both Souji and Yosuke hardened their expressions and faces as they dashed forward simultaneously towards the Shadow which was in turn charging towards them as well, and the silver-haired teen took the lead this time as there was the ring of a chime in the air and then a roar of words, its tone pulsing with power. “Inugami!”
The sound of shattered glass echoed, heralding the arrival of the new Persona as it burst forth from the ripple of air that was the portal that formed between its user’s subconscious and reality itself. The long-shaped canine howled as it materialized into the world, swirling around rapidly as it charged forth, its eyes glowing with power as it paused in its forward charge and only turned around swiftly before a burst of flames erupted right where the Shadow was. The shriek that came from it when the attack hit only indicated that they had managed to it its new weakness.
Before the Shadow could even begin to recover when the Agilao spell faded, Yosuke quickly took the imitative for the next attack, darting forward with the sound of shattering glass as Jiraiya burst forth from within him once more. The Persona followed along its user as the brunette dive bombed at the Shadow from above (he had leaped into the air earlier when Souji summoned out Inugami) with a huge crash as the Persona suit-only that its attack was far more deadly than what the human had done.
There was another grunt of pain coming from the Shadow as it stumbled back from the force of the blow, golden eyes flaring in a burst of anger. “You’re just wasting your time here! Why try to change what’s already impossible to change? It’s only a futile effort!”
“You’re only starting to sound like Yukiko!” came back the retort from the brunette as he dashed in once more in another attack, Jiraiya following behind. Both Persona and user worked in unison as they lunged towards their foe for a strike, twirling as blades flashed and the Shadow made a cry of pain as the metal dug through its clothes and cracked through bone. There was a howl coming from it after that before the Shadow swung its blade and it struck at the brunette, who only managed to let out a grunt of pain as he was struck down to the side.
Not wasting his friend’s effort, Souji quickly stepped up to the next part of the attack from behind as soon as Yosuke had been attacked, the card-like shard of power glowing brightly in his hand. The shine reflected from his glasses, the light whitening out the lenses as he crushed the shard with a grunt. Once again, the ring of shattering glass could be heard as Inugami took the stage, howling as it summoned up the power it had from within and lunged forward, its whole body twisting around to strike at the Shadow in its dead centre with a vicious headbutt. It only made another pained noise as it was forced another step back, but still the teenager did not pause in his assault. With a wordless shout from its user, the canine did a twirl backwards, head raised into the air as it howled aloud to summon up another burst of flames. Just as he suspected, it didn’t have much of an effect on the Shadow at all, but it was enough to stun the thing momentarily-which was all that he needed.
“Yosuke Strike! Take that!” the brunette exclaimed out as he followed up from Souji’s assault with his own follow-up attack, eyes flashing as he twirled around rapidly, knives out in order to deal a row of consecutive damage towards the Shadow, one of them managing to slice off the red cape that had been on its arm. A shriek of pain came from that unexpected blow, and Yosuke quickly too the chance to deal a major blow by ending off it a vicious strike with the help of Jiraiya which sent their opponent flying over and crashing at the opposite end of the room they were at, a good distance away from where Hijikata and the unconscious Edgeworth were.
The two teenagers were panting heavily by now, their Personas floating behind them as they watched the Shadow growling and getting back up once more, its eyes blazing with what seemed a lot like desperation. “That’s it! To hell with all of you and everything else-I’m just going to destroy everything worthless in my eyes! Starting with all of you here!” The dark-haired man noted faintly that the blade it was holding had been holding had been starting to smoke while it was speaking, and at the last exclamation it had raised it up and waved it to the side, where the metal had abruptly burst into a stream of crackling lightning.
The man flinched when he saw that display, lips pursed together as he shifted to look at Seta and Hanamura. Even from where he was, Hijikata could see that the two teenagers couldn’t hold up their offence for much longer-they were planning to finish this battle as soon as they could before their strength did them in. The man could only grit his teeth at that realization as he watched the two battle against the thing. If only he had more power...
There was a chime in the air as Seta switched Personas once more, and his glasses flashed as the silver-haired teenager cried out the name of the aspect he had just brought forth. “Jack Frost!”
The fairy-cum-snowman-like creature burst forth from a shower of shards, that eternal smile plastered on its face as it did a flip in mid-air and brought a hand up, finger pointing upwards as if to call something down on the Shadow. No sooner had it did that did the air in the atmosphere suddenly start to get chilly. The boatswain did his best to shift around as much as he could with the knocked out Edgeworth in tow, though his eyes continued to stay focused on the battle ground as cold air abruptly started to condense around the Shadow and in a mere moment, burst from below it in a wave of freezing-cold icicles.
Another pained cry came from the Shadow as the Bufula spell hit it, but rather instead of having fallen down from the pain it instead only seemed strengthened by it. The Shadow looked up and forward, the gold burning within the darkness of his eye sockets and snarled before it lunged forth towards the silver-haired teenager, swinging its blade to send out a bolt of lightning towards him. Souji flinched for a moment as the attack came from him, taking a step back as instinct took over and he did the first thing that came to mind. A chime, and then the cry of ‘Izanagi’!
The echo of billowing robes rang in the air as Izanagi appeared to the world once more, its own eyes flaring from behind its mask as it held up its hand and took the attack without so much as even flinching. Once it had managed to block the blow, the Persona only charged forth with its blade, glowing with a red aura as it twisted around and dealt a powerful slash down upon it. Yosuke followed up from behind yet again, dashing forth as Jiraiya twirled in mid-air and let the Shadow taste the brunt of a particularly vicious Garula spell. The brunette finished it up with another attack, blades glinting as it sliced through the Shadow and forced it back by a few feet.
“We’d better... finish it soon,” Yosuke said as Jiraiya started to flicker above him-his concentration was starting to get shot with all the attacks he had to deal and the ones he took from the Shadow.
“Agreed,” Souji murmured his response while he eyed the Shadow which was getting up still after the series of blows they both had dealt onto him. The thing had all but lost itself to its rage right now, evident by the constant flaring and blazing of its yellow eyes. From his experience, he knew that this usually meant that the Shadow was on the edge-that it was about to be defeated, and its basic primal instincts were the ones at work now rather than whatever it had as its ‘will’. It was a two-edged sword-on one hand, they knew they were getting close; but on the other, it meant that the Shadow was much stronger and vicious and thus a lot harder to confront. One blow from it and they might be struck unconscious immediately.
The silver-haired teenager sent a glance towards where the two men were before turning back to the Shadow, raising his weapon. “Cover me, Yosuke.”
Despite himself, the brunette could only grin and ready himself likewise. “You got it, partner.”
The Shadow got up and glared at the two teenagers, letting out a roar of fury before it made a charge head-on towards them. Souji made a similar cry before he dashed forward as well, teeth gritted together as he ran with Izanagi flying beside him.
With the longer reach, the Shadow was the one who struck first-snarling as it swung its blade forth towards the other. While by all circumstances and accounts, the attack should have hit, instead it didn’t and the blade only went through air as the teenager vanished abruptly from existence. The Shadow’s eyes widened, and before it could even begin to feel its own surprise as something cold and metallic pierced right through where its heart was supposed to be.
There was a beat of silence, a momentary pause of time as everything just seemed to hang-and then a squelching noise bought everything back into reality as Souji yanked his blade out from the Shadow, causing a strange black-like tar substance to fly out from the gaping wound. The silver-haired teen took a few stumbles back, the light green aura around him fading just as the Shadow fell to its knees, the light from its eyes dying out as it fell to the floor with a thud, the clank of its katana following alongside it. Another pause as the two teenagers (and Hijikata from the sidelines) held their breath as they watched the motionless figure for a moment before darkness rushed out from within the Shadow, engulfing it in its shape as it dissolved into the shadows that swallowed it and with a rush of wind, dissipated entirely into the air.
Yosuke let out a loud sigh of relief right after that, Jiraiya pulsing once before vanishing back into its user’s mind as the brunette pretty much crumpled down to the ground, feeling as if all his strength had been drawn away from him. “...let’s try not to do this anytime again soon, partner.”
Souji only relaxed from his position, lowering down his blade and trying not to show how tired he was even as the adrenaline rush faded from his senses. There was a quiet howl as Izanagi retreated back into his mind as well, and the teenager tried his best to look not very exasperated at his companion’s comment. “We’ll see about that,” he responded with a small laugh despite himself.
Hijikata could only look with some awe as the two teenagers did what he had thought to be almost impossible but still... they did it. They had really did it.
Parts: Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII | Part IX | Part X | Part XI
THE SHADOWS WE BEAR
TST!Shadowverse fic : Part IX
Hijikata could only look from where he was towards the newly-transformed Shadow, Edgeworth unconscious in his arms. As far as he could tell, the man was only down and out for the count... possibly because of the Shadow, maybe. Seta did mention something like that briefly to him before, though he couldn’t really remember it. Regardless though, if the first mate was now like this then it was going to be vital that he was to be protected-the sense of dread that seeped through him was strong enough for his own senses to ring in alarm. For all his experience, he knew that this battle was going to be a rough one.
Tightening his hold on the other man, the boatswain remained silent as he looked up and bit on his bottom lip, dark blue eyes glancing towards where the battle was about to begin. The teenagers readied themselves, summoning out the glowing shards of energy that condensed into a card shape in front of each of them. Both Seta and Hanamura prepared themselves, and then they destroyed the shards (the silver-haired kid by crushing it in his hand, the brunette by leaping and twirling sideways to slice it into half) in order to begin the sequence.
“Izanagi!”
“Let’s do this, Jiraiya!”
The two Personas came out with the accompanied sound shattering of glass that signalled their entrance, materializing into existence as they were drawn out and called forth from the minds of their respective users. The air had ripped when they had appeared, and they by the time they had completely materialized fully they were already flying halfway towards where the Shadow was, their own weapons at the ready for the attack.
There was only a cackle from the Shadow as it raised its blade, golden eyes narrowing. “So eager to see how futile your efforts are? Well I’ve always never liked waiting!” Saying that, it swung its blade in a wide arc in front of it, the mighty force of the swing causing a blast of wind to head towards them. Both Persona and Persona-users went on guard in order to defend themselves from the blow, but Izanagi was blown back when the attack hit them both. Jiraiya on the other hand was only forced back by a few steps. Yosuke turned around to look back just as Souji hit against the wall hard by the force of the blow, letting out a short yelp as he landed painfully to the ground.
“Souji!” the brunette shouted out as he started to run towards the silver-haired teen, but the voice of the Shadow got his attention as he was about to make a dash for the other.
“Trying to group back? I don’t think so!”
Crap! Yosuke thought, having a good idea what was going to happen now. Instinctively, the teenager made a leap to roll onto the floor just as the swing of that long blade could manage to reach him. Jiraiya had been temporarily dismissed for now, so he didn’t have to worry about getting damage through his spectral attacker thing. Or whatever a Persona could really be classified as here, anyway.
Once he managed to get his legs back in line after the dodge roll, the teen hurried over to where his partner was, shaking him lightly by the shoulders as he spoke. “You alright there, Souji?”
The silver-haired teen blinked and shook his head, eyelids fluttered as he regained back his senses after losing them from the impact of that blow. It only took about a moment before the other was nodding in response to his friend’s question. “I’m fine.”
“Good to hear that-” Yosuke started, stopping when the Shadow started to make its move again and swung its blade to send another burst of wind towards them.
Souji was the one who moved first, dark grey eyes narrowing as he exclaimed out the name of his Persona. “Izanagi!”
With billowy robes and a fine sword unlike any other, the Persona responded to its user’s call and will, bringing forth its blade in front of it as the weapon started to glow a dark blue. There was a pulse right before the attack hit them, and then the burst of wind simply swept through them like a breeze instead.
The Shadow made a hissing sound, clearly displeased with the results of the last attack. It started to shift, ready to strike again, but Yosuke acted quickly before their opponent could try and get its attacks to land on them again. “Jiraiya!” he shouted as he started to break into a run (at a speed no teenager should possess) towards the other, a command for its reappearance yet again.
It was only a matter of seconds before the Persona appeared once more, flying alongside its user as they both charge towards the Shadow. Yosuke brought out his knives and gripped them tight before he made a leap to avoid the blade that was going towards him. He twisted around in mid air with inhuman grace in order to avoid the other’s attack before diving down to the things and slashed at its chest. The Shadow made a shriek as it was hit; stumbling back while the brunette leaped backwards-against the dim lighting now, everyone else could now see how the teen was also having a light green tint around him besides the blue one from earlier.
Yosuke landed onto the floor with a small thud on his feet, straightening himself once he had landed and quickly getting into a ready position once again, eyes narrowing as he brought up his knives in front of him. Behind him, Souji had managed to get himself back up, glasses shining despite the lights as his Persona floated above him, blade gleaming with an unnatural light as it got into an attacking position.
There was a grunt as the Shadow got itself back to position. “It’ll take more than this!”
“I expected as much,” was the only response that Souji murmured out before he made a dash forward for another attempt to attack, Izanagi following swiftly alongside him. Yosuke quickly followed behind, quickly catching up and overtaking his partner due to the boost of agility he had endowed on himself earlier.
“Persona!” the brunette exclaimed as Jiraiya materialized into the world once again, twisting about almost gracefully ahead of its user before charging towards the Shadow and headbutted it by the stomach. The thing made another cry of pain as the force of the blow caused it to stumble and take a step back-and that was all that was needed for the silver-haired teen to make his move next. Eyes flashing, Souji made a bound towards his opponent, blade in his hand flashing as he sent out a command to his Persona. Izanagi responded immediately, bursting forward in a blast of speed before it abruptly stopped to turn around and then the next thing anyone in that room there and then would be only be aware of was the flash of light jagging in their vision as the Persona summoned down a bolt of white-hot lightning upon the Shadow.
There was a loud, ear-piercing shriek as the electrical attack hit the Shadow directly, the pain going into the very core of his being as gigawatts of electricity coarsed through and fried the thing from within. The air around the Shadow itself crackled with the raw power that the Zionga spell possessed, only fading away once the attack had done its work. There was a pause in the silence as the Shadow remained still when the spell faded before it toppled over and down to the ground.
The two teenagers quickly took this chance in order to go all-out on the Shadow and finish it for good. Without wasting another second, the both of them immediately burst forth and lunged towards the downed Shadow, their weapons up and out for the ready as they neared their foe-
-then yelped as in invisible force bounced on them the moment they tried to lower their weapons on him, the power enough to send the two flying backwards and tumbling down onto the ground.
At the sidelines, Hijikata could only grit his teeth as he held the unconscious man in his arms tighter as the Shadow pushed itself back up, noting how there was steam trailing out from the long blade that the thing was using. There was a hiss that echoed in the air as the hazy smoke dissipated into area and the fog that surrounded this whole battlefield, then a laugh as the Shadow raised its blade and its golden eyes flared yet again as it glanced at the two downed kids. “And with this power, you think you’re capable of anything at all? Ha!”
Yosuke only muttered a few curses under his breath as he got himself up after that attack, looking over to see that Souji had done the same before turning to the Shadow and gritted his teeth as he growled out to the thing. “You’re being too annoying! Jiraiya!”
Heeding his command, the Persona appeared in a ripple of air, flying towards the Shadow once more in another attempt of an attack. However, said Shadow only grinned and with a flourish, brought out the red cape that had been with him. It then flapped the cloth once just as Jiraiya drew close and-to Yosuke’s great horror-it ended up charging into the cloth instead, which snapped free from the Shadow’s arm and tangled the Persona up with it. The brunette quickly made an attempt to withdraw back his Persona, but it was too late-he let out a cry of pain that seared across his back as the Shadow slashed its blade across the back of the trapped Persona. While the Persona and its user were indeed different entities, they were in the end still connected by one mind-and thus whatever the Persona would get, the possessor would receive it likewise.
Souji’s eyes only widened in surprise as he watched his friend being attacked from behind, quickly turning to the Shadow and commanded Izanagi to perform another Zionga spell once again. The Persona obeyed, scrunching up and bringing its limbs together as it channelled the power necessary to perform the spell-which only really took all but a moment before the aspect jerked back violently and just like before, another bolt of lightning descended from above and down towards the Shadow.
Unlike before however, the attack this time had no effect on the Shadow had all, and it only cackled as the attack brushed him very much like a spark of something insignificant. “Useless, useless, useless! If you can’t even save yourselves, then how can you save him?!” Saying that, it then lunged forward towards the stunned silver-haired teenager, blade out and at the ready to strike him down-
“Garula!”
The Shadow shrieked again as a blast of wind got it unexpectedly from the side, the force causing it to fly over to the other end of the room and have it crash violently against the wall.
Yosuke appeared before him with a hand extended towards him, looking somewhat worse for the wear but otherwise as good as he had always been. “You alright there, partner?”
Souji only smiled and grabbed the offered hand that helped him back up. “Of course, thanks to you.”
Once the silver-haired teen was properly up, both of them glanced at each other for a moment before they turned towards the Shadow that was still recovering from the blow.
The brunette raised his weapons. “Is it just me, or did it shift its elemental properties?”
There was only a shrug from the other in response as he got into position. “I think it did.”
A distressed sort of look crossed Yosuke’s face there and then. “Ugh, that’s the last thing I need to know.”
Souji opened his mouth, about to respond, but was cut short as the Shadow snarled from where it was. “What’s the point of doing this? You’re not going to get anywhere at all no matter how much you struggle and try!”
“That’s not for something like you to decide!” Hanamura shouted back, his words mimicking exactly what Hijikata himself had been thinking. The boatswain could feel the urge within him to join the battle, to go and put the asshole in its place-but he didn’t. He couldn’t, since that would mean putting Edgeworth at risk. And that was the last thing he wanted to do. It was only up to the two teenagers to beat it down to a pulp-and after seeing what they were capable of, the man could place his trust in them.
And it was with that trust with them as well did the two teenagers fight with. Both Souji and Yosuke hardened their expressions and faces as they dashed forward simultaneously towards the Shadow which was in turn charging towards them as well, and the silver-haired teen took the lead this time as there was the ring of a chime in the air and then a roar of words, its tone pulsing with power. “Inugami!”
The sound of shattered glass echoed, heralding the arrival of the new Persona as it burst forth from the ripple of air that was the portal that formed between its user’s subconscious and reality itself. The long-shaped canine howled as it materialized into the world, swirling around rapidly as it charged forth, its eyes glowing with power as it paused in its forward charge and only turned around swiftly before a burst of flames erupted right where the Shadow was. The shriek that came from it when the attack hit only indicated that they had managed to it its new weakness.
Before the Shadow could even begin to recover when the Agilao spell faded, Yosuke quickly took the imitative for the next attack, darting forward with the sound of shattering glass as Jiraiya burst forth from within him once more. The Persona followed along its user as the brunette dive bombed at the Shadow from above (he had leaped into the air earlier when Souji summoned out Inugami) with a huge crash as the Persona suit-only that its attack was far more deadly than what the human had done.
There was another grunt of pain coming from the Shadow as it stumbled back from the force of the blow, golden eyes flaring in a burst of anger. “You’re just wasting your time here! Why try to change what’s already impossible to change? It’s only a futile effort!”
“You’re only starting to sound like Yukiko!” came back the retort from the brunette as he dashed in once more in another attack, Jiraiya following behind. Both Persona and user worked in unison as they lunged towards their foe for a strike, twirling as blades flashed and the Shadow made a cry of pain as the metal dug through its clothes and cracked through bone. There was a howl coming from it after that before the Shadow swung its blade and it struck at the brunette, who only managed to let out a grunt of pain as he was struck down to the side.
Not wasting his friend’s effort, Souji quickly stepped up to the next part of the attack from behind as soon as Yosuke had been attacked, the card-like shard of power glowing brightly in his hand. The shine reflected from his glasses, the light whitening out the lenses as he crushed the shard with a grunt. Once again, the ring of shattering glass could be heard as Inugami took the stage, howling as it summoned up the power it had from within and lunged forward, its whole body twisting around to strike at the Shadow in its dead centre with a vicious headbutt. It only made another pained noise as it was forced another step back, but still the teenager did not pause in his assault. With a wordless shout from its user, the canine did a twirl backwards, head raised into the air as it howled aloud to summon up another burst of flames. Just as he suspected, it didn’t have much of an effect on the Shadow at all, but it was enough to stun the thing momentarily-which was all that he needed.
“Yosuke Strike! Take that!” the brunette exclaimed out as he followed up from Souji’s assault with his own follow-up attack, eyes flashing as he twirled around rapidly, knives out in order to deal a row of consecutive damage towards the Shadow, one of them managing to slice off the red cape that had been on its arm. A shriek of pain came from that unexpected blow, and Yosuke quickly too the chance to deal a major blow by ending off it a vicious strike with the help of Jiraiya which sent their opponent flying over and crashing at the opposite end of the room they were at, a good distance away from where Hijikata and the unconscious Edgeworth were.
The two teenagers were panting heavily by now, their Personas floating behind them as they watched the Shadow growling and getting back up once more, its eyes blazing with what seemed a lot like desperation. “That’s it! To hell with all of you and everything else-I’m just going to destroy everything worthless in my eyes! Starting with all of you here!” The dark-haired man noted faintly that the blade it was holding had been holding had been starting to smoke while it was speaking, and at the last exclamation it had raised it up and waved it to the side, where the metal had abruptly burst into a stream of crackling lightning.
The man flinched when he saw that display, lips pursed together as he shifted to look at Seta and Hanamura. Even from where he was, Hijikata could see that the two teenagers couldn’t hold up their offence for much longer-they were planning to finish this battle as soon as they could before their strength did them in. The man could only grit his teeth at that realization as he watched the two battle against the thing. If only he had more power...
There was a chime in the air as Seta switched Personas once more, and his glasses flashed as the silver-haired teenager cried out the name of the aspect he had just brought forth. “Jack Frost!”
The fairy-cum-snowman-like creature burst forth from a shower of shards, that eternal smile plastered on its face as it did a flip in mid-air and brought a hand up, finger pointing upwards as if to call something down on the Shadow. No sooner had it did that did the air in the atmosphere suddenly start to get chilly. The boatswain did his best to shift around as much as he could with the knocked out Edgeworth in tow, though his eyes continued to stay focused on the battle ground as cold air abruptly started to condense around the Shadow and in a mere moment, burst from below it in a wave of freezing-cold icicles.
Another pained cry came from the Shadow as the Bufula spell hit it, but rather instead of having fallen down from the pain it instead only seemed strengthened by it. The Shadow looked up and forward, the gold burning within the darkness of his eye sockets and snarled before it lunged forth towards the silver-haired teenager, swinging its blade to send out a bolt of lightning towards him. Souji flinched for a moment as the attack came from him, taking a step back as instinct took over and he did the first thing that came to mind. A chime, and then the cry of ‘Izanagi’!
The echo of billowing robes rang in the air as Izanagi appeared to the world once more, its own eyes flaring from behind its mask as it held up its hand and took the attack without so much as even flinching. Once it had managed to block the blow, the Persona only charged forth with its blade, glowing with a red aura as it twisted around and dealt a powerful slash down upon it. Yosuke followed up from behind yet again, dashing forth as Jiraiya twirled in mid-air and let the Shadow taste the brunt of a particularly vicious Garula spell. The brunette finished it up with another attack, blades glinting as it sliced through the Shadow and forced it back by a few feet.
“We’d better... finish it soon,” Yosuke said as Jiraiya started to flicker above him-his concentration was starting to get shot with all the attacks he had to deal and the ones he took from the Shadow.
“Agreed,” Souji murmured his response while he eyed the Shadow which was getting up still after the series of blows they both had dealt onto him. The thing had all but lost itself to its rage right now, evident by the constant flaring and blazing of its yellow eyes. From his experience, he knew that this usually meant that the Shadow was on the edge-that it was about to be defeated, and its basic primal instincts were the ones at work now rather than whatever it had as its ‘will’. It was a two-edged sword-on one hand, they knew they were getting close; but on the other, it meant that the Shadow was much stronger and vicious and thus a lot harder to confront. One blow from it and they might be struck unconscious immediately.
The silver-haired teenager sent a glance towards where the two men were before turning back to the Shadow, raising his weapon. “Cover me, Yosuke.”
Despite himself, the brunette could only grin and ready himself likewise. “You got it, partner.”
The Shadow got up and glared at the two teenagers, letting out a roar of fury before it made a charge head-on towards them. Souji made a similar cry before he dashed forward as well, teeth gritted together as he ran with Izanagi flying beside him.
With the longer reach, the Shadow was the one who struck first-snarling as it swung its blade forth towards the other. While by all circumstances and accounts, the attack should have hit, instead it didn’t and the blade only went through air as the teenager vanished abruptly from existence. The Shadow’s eyes widened, and before it could even begin to feel its own surprise as something cold and metallic pierced right through where its heart was supposed to be.
There was a beat of silence, a momentary pause of time as everything just seemed to hang-and then a squelching noise bought everything back into reality as Souji yanked his blade out from the Shadow, causing a strange black-like tar substance to fly out from the gaping wound. The silver-haired teen took a few stumbles back, the light green aura around him fading just as the Shadow fell to its knees, the light from its eyes dying out as it fell to the floor with a thud, the clank of its katana following alongside it. Another pause as the two teenagers (and Hijikata from the sidelines) held their breath as they watched the motionless figure for a moment before darkness rushed out from within the Shadow, engulfing it in its shape as it dissolved into the shadows that swallowed it and with a rush of wind, dissipated entirely into the air.
Yosuke let out a loud sigh of relief right after that, Jiraiya pulsing once before vanishing back into its user’s mind as the brunette pretty much crumpled down to the ground, feeling as if all his strength had been drawn away from him. “...let’s try not to do this anytime again soon, partner.”
Souji only relaxed from his position, lowering down his blade and trying not to show how tired he was even as the adrenaline rush faded from his senses. There was a quiet howl as Izanagi retreated back into his mind as well, and the teenager tried his best to look not very exasperated at his companion’s comment. “We’ll see about that,” he responded with a small laugh despite himself.
Hijikata could only look with some awe as the two teenagers did what he had thought to be almost impossible but still... they did it. They had really did it.