2026-01-30: Don't Fear The Reaper

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<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.

SEES is, presently, exploring Mementos.

They are still in one of the upper layers, where the train stations and subway tunnels look like a particularly eerily lit but normal subway. Without some sort of vehicle (perhaps a bus (a CAT BUS)), the going is slow; walking down the winding tunnels has a way of somehow going much slower. It is not a place meant to be traversed at length on foot.

But traverse it they must.

So far, it has gone well. They haven't found any real answers about what it is -- but they have found some treasure, defeated more than a few Shadows, and traded golden clovers with a strange young man driving a car.

Now, in a tunnel, Minako stops as they reach a Y-intersection. Her lips purse as she looks for a moment. "We've gotten pretty deep in," she says. "How is everyone feeling?"

She has her SEES uniform on -- and the shoulder-covering red arm band. She looks back over her shoulder at the group and smiles, her crimson eyes sparkling.

<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.

"Not bad?" Is Yukari's answer to Minako's question. It is slow going, but they've gotten further than they have before.
 
"Think I'm getting used to this place... not that it still doesn't give me the creeps..." She asides, then uses the moment to check her bow again.
 
Perfect condition.
 
The Metaverse is so weird she thinks.
 
"... don't think I'll ever get used to how those things-" She waves at one of the behemoths of masks far down the tunnel, "-change, as soon as they spot us. Orrrr how they talk."
 
It's mostly because they look like the Shadows in the Dark Hour and Tartarus to her, until... that change happens.
 
"I still wonder why this place is even here... think we'll really find answers further in?"

<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.

Shinjiro is here, taking part of the vanguard as usual, given how he fights. He's met Jose before, gaining a strange ability he never told SEES about, but for now, he's gathering up at the Y-intersection, piggy bank warhammer hefted against his shoulder.

"I can keep going for a bit," he tells Minako. She's not exactly privy to all the... drama about what's happened recently with him and SEES, or about his condition, and he feels bad about that, but everything in due time.

"Maybe an answer or two," he tells Yukari. "I'm wondering why it's trains, really. I've been in here enough times and still have no idea. But the sooner we can get that information, the sooner maybe we can get rid of it." 

<Pose Tracker> Koh Katsuhiro has posed.

Koh hasn't had much cause to explore Mementos, so the long subway tunnels are mostly new to him. Unfortunately they are also either mostly boring or dangerous, with not much in-between.

Which means between the fighting he's just been talking to pass the time. "Trains are supposed to be convenient." He notes, "But all we do here is walk..."

He does, however, give Minako an affirmative smile regardless. "Still good if you are." 

<Pose Tracker> Aigis has posed.

    Despite how Aigis' idiosyncratic way of running resembles how ninjas run, she isn't all that much faster for it. Her understanding of it is that by allowing the force of gravity to pull her upper body down and forward, she can save a total of three percent of her power consumption compared to running upright. She might be slow, but she's in it for the long-haul -- every last bit of charge is precious.

    (Reiya may or may not have a different explanation. Who really knows?)

    Aigis stands upright and at attention when Minako asks the group how they're doing. In her usual mechanical manner, she calmly announces, "Power reserves are at ninety-two percent. All systems are nominal." Case in point: the ninja-running must surely be serving its purpose in power conservation. She nods at Koh. "Likewise."

    As far as the Shadows go, regardless of whatever form they take, they register as Shadows to her. The other details are extraneous for her purposes and summarily discarded.

    She tilts her head at the conversation between Shinjiro and Yukari. "Will we still endeavor to eliminate this phenomenon even after we manage to eliminate the Dark Hour?" A smile breaks out onto her face. There is potentially more work to do!

<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.

Fuuka's focus has, primarily, been analyzing the way forward - helping map the area, track enemies, and identify points of interest, including a few fake walls hiding treasure behind them. It's slow going - they aren't a subway car, so they have to do everything on foot.

"I'm doing alright." Fuuka replies. "I just need a moment to catch my breath..."

She's gotten a bit more athletic since joining SEES, but they've been walking for a while, now.

Yukari mentions how the Shadows change, and how they talk... and Fuuka nods.

"Yes... It's a little unnerving." She admits.

Why is this place here? Will they find answers? Why is it trains?

"...I've been wondering that, too." Fuuka agrees. "Subways are a human invention."

She shakes her head. As Koh says, trains are supposed to be convenient.

"If only the Shadows weren't occupying all of them..." She agrees. Sometimes they can slip on... but being surrounded by Shadows is so uncomfortable.

She looks toward Aigis, then.

"I think it's worth continuing to investigate it." She comments.
Shizuka Kuroki has arrived from Historia: The White Chronicle. 

<Pose Tracker> Shizuka Kuroki has posed.

      Shizuka's feet were beginning to kill her. They were doing about as much walking as a normal trip to Tartarus, but something about the context of train tracks and stations made her feel even wearier than usual. This must be, like... cognitive association stuff, she figured. Train stations were already a pain as is.
 
      "I'm good so far, I suppose... And here I thought the Shinjuku Line was annoying... At least we're not going up any stairs." 

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.

Mementos is still such a weird place to explore... but then again, Tartarus is still weird and that's one of their main responsibilities, so maybe that's not saying that much, in the long run.

She's also in her uniform, katana on her hip, red armband on one shoulder, an armor plate on the other, and gloves and boots with metal bands on them.

Amphion, a giant stone man holding a golden lyre, trudges along behind her. He wears big heavy boots wrapped in golden chains and locks.

Ririka, meanwhile, has Amphion's headphones on, playing her piano as she 'scans' the area. "I'm doing okay, Arisato-san." She's doing her best to support Fuuka, so she doesn't have to do all the analysis by herself.

"At least if they talk they can be negotiated with, right?" Ririka notes to Yukari. To Shinjiro she says, "Wait, you think we should get rid of this place?"

"Yeah, with all these rails here, it'd be nice of we could use them ourselves..." She might be in decent shape because of her skateboarding, but that doesn't entail walking for long stretches, either. 

<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.

"Yeah," Minako says, with a glance at the masks. "Those things are creepy. I--hm." She stops to consider, her brow furrowed for a moment at the question from Yukari. "I'm not sure. I feel like... it's just a gut feeling that something about this place is important. But..."

She laughs, sheepishly. "...I might be rationalizing."

Then she looks at Shinjiro and nods -- though she was sure he could. She looks ahead, then, and considers, before she nods at Koh. "They really should let us on, huh?"

She looks at Aigis, then -- and considers her question. The truth is, she isn't sure. And rather than face that, she turns to look at Fuuka. "Don't worry," she says, with a smile. "Let's take a break. But... yeah. I agree, we should keep checking this place out."

She nods at Shizuka -- stairs would, in fact, make this worse. Then, she looks back at Ririka. "I'm glad, Kawase-san," she says. "Too bad we don't have a train, huh?"

A sound comes from behind them.

It's a rattling of chains, first -- but then there is a low, groaning sound that comes from it. Then, there is a SCRAPE. But it's around the curving corner that the first sight of it comes. A glow of red light, and then, just around the corner, a gleam off a long, long gunbarrel.

Minako stares at that baleful red light. "Y-Yamagishi-san," she says. "What the hell is that?"

<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.

"I'm... not sure really. Why do Shadows need to go anywhere at all?" She replies to Shinjiro and Fuuka, with another question. She doesn't like possible answers to that question.
 
As she echoes Minako's word for it, "'Important?'" She echoes the word, "Well, if your gut says so..."
 
Convenient? "... Yeah." She replies to Koh, "And this is about as inconvenient as it gets. We really need to figure out the stations here one day... just the signs don't tell us anything. We'd be kinda riding blind... packed in with all those Shadows."
 
Aigis asks that question, and Yukari puzzles it out, "I guess it depends on what it is? It's not... as accessible as the Dark Hour, but..."
 
She looks one way, then another, like she's scanning for problems.
 
"... I'm really not sure we know enough to make that call yet but... since people can get in here on accident, probably?"
 
Ririka notes they can be negotiated with, "Yeah but even that's kinda...? I dunno. It feels more straightforward if they can't talk..."
 
Chains rattle, and Yukari- "Now I'm hearing things-" SCRAPE, "-What was that!?" As she looks around in a sudden panic, at a red light coming around the corner and her skin crawls at the sight of it, pupils dilating-
 
'What the hell is that?'
 
"I don't know! And I'm not sure I want to... Minako?" She asks with a sense of panic, darting a look towards her to ask for the order to run. "It's coming at us fast! What do we do!?"
 
Taking a step back as she says it, like she's hoping the order will come any second.

<Pose Tracker> Gandalf has posed.

"Fly, you fools!"

<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.

"Maybe this is how they travel through the supernatural?" Shinjiro says with a shrug to Yukari and Fuuka, before turning to Ririka.

"If we can help it... I'd like to get rid of *all* of this magic shit."

He sighs, though, as they push to take a break. But as the scraping comes, his eyes widen in recognition, turning back to see-

"AH SHIT!"

He knows what this is. And unlike he normally would, he's stepping backwards, looking for a running place.

"Don't try to fight it! It will kill you!" he calls out. "Nearly got me once! Kawase, Yamagishi, where to?!" 

<Pose Tracker> Koh Katsuhiro has posed.

"...Ninety-two!?" Koh asks, "Aigis-san, can you carry me?" He's asking for levity. Mostly.

Any more comments about Memnentos infrastructure are belayed by the scrape of chains. He turns like a rusted door, a slow and creaky motion toward the thing that's wandered down the halls.

He hasn't met it. But he can feel that Shinjiro is right. "We need to go. Like, now, right now." He jerks forward just because his legs say run. His brain says everyone else should run too, so he ends up doing a stutter-stop and waving frantically in the opposite direction. "Like, NOW!"

<Pose Tracker> Aigis has posed.

    Fuuka and Yukari receive an enthusiastic nod from Aigis. "Important or not, I look forward to it, should it occur." Meaning any subsequent investigation into Mementos. Shinjiro receives another nod when he expresses how he'd like to get rid of it.

    "Easily," she replies to Koh, then even stretches out both of her hands to offer. "I am willing to carry you until you recover from exhaustion. Within reason."

    Aigis turns to see what Minako had pointed out. The others' warnings reinforce what she can perceive. For perhaps the first time ever, Aigis experiences the palpable sensation of fear.

    > Odds of survival in the event of a direct confrontation: 0.0%.

    "Agreed!" Immediately, she turns to observe Minako, her utmost priority to protect. What paths are available to them?

    ... She does not have the talents to assist as much as she'd like. Ririka and Fuuka can determine their methods of egress. The best she can do right now is a diversionary tactic.

    "Kawase-chan! Please inform me when you have found an escape route!"

BBS: New BB message (7/13) posted to 'IC News And Rumors' by Maria Sakurai: Disappearance of Maria Sakurai 

<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.

Analysis is easier with two minds on the job. Fuuka and Ririka can compare notes and trade off duties, making things go much quicker.

Minako expresses a gut feeling that something about this place is important.

Yukari asks the important question. Why do Shadows need to go anywhere at all?

"...That's a good question." Fuuka comments. Unfortunately, she doesn't have any answers for her. She looks toward Minako, then.

"No... if you feel that way, then I trust your judgment, Arisato-san." Fuuka assures with a shake of her head. "There must be something to all of this."

Aigis says she'll look forward to it, and Fuuka offers her a smile.

"We're grateful for your continued support, Aigis-san." She offers.

Minako, meanwhile, suggests they take a break, and Fuuka offers her a small smile.

"Thanks... I won't need much." She replies. ...She won't have much time, as it is - because soon enough... something flares across her senses. Fuuka's eyes open wide. That feeling... there's only one way she can describe it.

"Be careful! I sense Death!" Fuuka warns. And then, there's the sound. Horrible, rattling chains, a low groan - and then a scrape.

And then, just around the corner... Minako asks what it is. There's only one way Fuuka can describe it.

"Is that... the Grim Reaper...!?" Panic floods her mind - but she suppresses it, to focus on the situation at hand.

"Aragaki-san is correct - this enemy is too dangerous. We need to keep going! There are some turns ahead we can use to make some distance between us, but some of them are dead ends... Kawase-san, can you direct us?" Fuuka asks. She passes her navigation data over to everyone through the Navigator link, a map of the area forming in their minds. Ririka's music has guided them well before - now is when they need it most. 

<Pose Tracker> Shizuka Kuroki has posed.

      "I agree with Aragaki-san. The sooner I can get back to being normal, the better. I've exploded a lot more than a girl my age should."
 
      She stops when she hears the chains, clearly noticing Shinjiro's alert. If Aragaki-san is worried, then it must be bad...
 
      "Is it a Shadow? We could just... right?"
 
      And now he's retreating. That's... REALLY bad.
 
      "The Grim Reaper?! Like the actual one Death one?!" She makes to run back, stopping herself and stepping in each direction other than towards the Reaper. "Where do we go?!" 

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.

Yukari says them not talking is more straightforward. "Yeah... I'll admit, it's still weird... but then... I guess you can negotiate with the Demons in Sumaru, too? So maybe Dark Hour Shadows are the odd ones out?"

Shinjiro wants to get rid of all the magic stuff. "I don't know... we know the Dark Hour was made by accident, but... what if this has always been here? I guess it couldn't have always been a subway system, though..."

"A train or like... one of those things with the handle you can put on a train track? A mine cart? No, what's the word I'm looking for..." She said with a soft frown. "... mine cart might work too, I guess. But we'd look suspicious bringing it into the station..."

She frowns, though, at the sounds of chains. "Hey, does anybody else hear that? Sounds like chains..."

... No, Ririka. Nobody hears things as well as you do when you're Navigating.

"Hold on..." she mutters. "Trying to isolate it." She presses a hand to the headphone cup on her head--and then startles at the SCRAPE. "Wah--!"

She whirls around to catch that red gleam. "Uhhhh... I don't think we should try to negotiate with that one..." Shinjiro calls for escape routes, as does Aigis. "R-- right!" Fuuka hands over her Nevigation data, and Ririka receives it. "Thanks, Yamagishi-san! Scanning..."

Her hands reach out, and she starts playing at a frantic pace. She keeps the link open, sharing what she gets in real time as she sends music--Resonance--out to flood the tunnels, giving everyone a sort of sonar or echolocation-like impression in real time as the waves bounce back... several dead ends reveal themselves. She mentally marks off those passageways and highlights the most promising one. "This way-- it doesn't dead end yet!"

There is a trail of music leading the way down that path, now. "Let's move!"
BBS: New BB message (8/9) posted to 'Daily Spotlight' by Yukari Takeba: This was a Triumph... 

<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.

Minako nods at Fuuka -- with a smile, and then she glances at the others. There seems to be a general agreement: this place is worth further investigation. It might be part of their duty as SEES, though the Dark Hour comes first. But what about after?

With that thing coming, though, Minako has to focus on being sure there is an after.

Yukari asks what they do. And for a second, Minako freezes. Then, Shinjiro says it's too powerful to fight. Koh seconds that opinion, and with a seriousness that she finds remarkable. She shakes off the dread, the way her insides have turned to jelly, and gives the order: "RUN! This way, Shizuka-senpai!"

She trusts Ririka and Fuuka to find a path. She keeps one ear out on what Fuuka says -- and frowns. Dead ends? But right now, they need to pick a way forward -- and she picks the left-hand route. Minako tears off down it -- with just a glance at Aigis, as she looks at here. "Aigis-san! Make sure no one falls behind, okay?"

When Ririka says to do a specific path, she nods, and she takes off -- the same way that Ririka highlights. "Good work, Kawase-san!"

Minako looks over her shoulder, and she sees the Reaper come into view from 'round the corner. It is a horrifying thing; a figure in a black coat, though stained red with blood. Chains cross its chest -- though they float. And it has a white bag over its head, with one white eye visible, and blood staining half the face.

The Reaper looks up after them. In both hands, it carries revolver-style pistols, though each has an absurdly long barrel. It lifts one of those pistols and takes aim. A gunshot shoots out at the group. The bullet goes just over Koh's shoulder, slashes off a lock of Ririka's hair, and then SMASHES into the wall in front of them. The impact blasts out concrete dust and leaves a massive, cracked crater in the armor.

Minako's eyes widen. "Keep moving--it's still after us!"

And indeed, there is a second gunshot, this one coming straight for Ririka's back with terrible speed.

<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.

Even Shinjiro is backing up running, as she takes another step back, "Minnaaaako?" She says in growing panic, before Fuuka asks if that is the-"What do you mean... GRIM REAPER?" Yukari echoes in swiftly growing fear.
 
'RUN!'
 
Don't need to tell her twice, she's already spinning, and tearing off, "Oh no oh no oh no!" She squeaks like a shriek was smothered into just a mantra of doom and gloom.
 
And then it fires. "Kawase-san!?" That blast came close enough that- that crater behind her. "FASTER! RUN FASTER!" Now she's not even trying to contain her panic. As she pulls out her Evoker as she runs, pointing it at her head as she hears the second gunshot.
 
"HELP!"
 
The trigger is pulled, and Io emerges, to try to preemptively deal with whatever fallout occurs from it.
 
Given the size of that first shot, she can already imagine how bad the second will be, if it lands...
 
... they may not all make it out of this. 

<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.

"As long as people can access it..." is all Shinjiro says, letting the rest speak for itself.

But then, Reaper. Everyone's thankfully taking it seriously, as they move to run down the tunnels. He sees the bullet that almost hits Ririka and Koh, his heart pulsing, his brain firing into overdrive.

As the bullet flies for Ririka again, Shinjiro's already pre-emptively started moving. He might not be fast enough to tackle Ririka out of the way, and that might just trip her up, but he's closing in to attempt to do so anyway...

And whether or not the bullet hits someone, he's positioning himself so that if it *does*, he's the one who takes it. Not only is he the tank, but he's the one who should, right?

Because the same thought Yukari has is pulsing through his brain. 'They may not all make it out of this.' And like hell he'll lose one of his kouhais. 

<Pose Tracker> Koh Katsuhiro has posed.

Koh's assessment of Fuuka's announcement: yep that's the grim reaper.

SEES are lucky they have a pair of navigators who aren't entirely vibes based, because Koh just wants to leave immediately. The puff of the bullet past his shoulder and the subsequent explosion are even more evidence they should.

"Fuuka-san, Kawase-san, move!" Some part of him knows they're doing important work, but he'd rather see them running.

He'd rather see everyone running, and since Minako happens to be the closest person (since Koh got a head start), his solution is to reach out and grab for her wrist to drag her toward the path Ririka's music has offered.

"Come on!" He urges, "After Takeba!" 

<Pose Tracker> Aigis has posed.

    When Ririka muses on how the Dark Hour Shadows may be the 'odd ones out,' Aigis turns to quietly stare at her. That doesn't sound correct to her, but when she tries to compare it against her memory storage, she can't find any data to support that gut feeling. There was the big one from all those years ago, then the ones that show up in the Dark Hour, Tartarus included ... that's it, right? It sounds right, but at the same time, it doesn't.

    Lingering on those thoughts only serves to make her dizzy. There are more important things to focus on.

    As much as her directive compels her to prioritize Minako's safety, she may not be able to follow her. The best she can do is divert the Reaper's attention away from her and gamble on everyone's ability to safely reconvene.

    An opportunity presents itself. She sees the Reaper take aim at Ririka next, then Shinjiro moves to intercede --

    Aigis rushes towards the pair and summons Palladion between Shinjiro and the bullet's trajectory. For a brief moment, Palladion erects a hexagonal blue barrier in front of itself and takes the brunt of the bullet's impact.

    It's not enough to stop it entirely -- Palladion shatters instantly, gone just as soon as it arrived. Aigis' visual sensors fill with interference and momentarily leave her reeling as a result.

    > Remaining power reserves: 17.3%.

    That ... that was just from one shot?! She was at 92% minutes ago!

    As Aigis shakes off the static clouding her sensors, she takes aim at one of the Reaper's guns. She may not be able to deal any real damage, but maybe she can fire off a parting shot as they retreat and disrupt the Reaper, buying them precious seconds of time.

    Minako told her not to let anyone get left behind. She doesn't turn around to Shinjiro and Ririka, but she implores them: "Run."

<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.

"Do you mean a 'handcar'?" Fuuka asks, as Ririka tries to find a word. "Yes, it might be difficult to bring one in..."

Right now, though - they have to flee. Fortunately, Ririka is on the case, highlighting the path with music.

Koh shouts at her to run. Though she was out of breath before, the looming specter of Death has a way of bringing things out of you you didn't know you had. So, Fuuka runs. It's hard to run and scan at the same time, but she does her best.

Still... the Reaper doesn't make it easy. Its aura is... overpowering. A flare of colors that encompasses her entire vision, making it difficult to pick out any single detail as it moves and shifts in response to their actions.

But she sees one thing.

"Kawase-san!" Fuuka gasps, as she's nearly clipped by a bullet - and then another goes straight for her. Shinjiro moves to intercept, but - now they'll have to worry about him. But also -

"Aigis-san!" Fuuka gasps. She has to focus... they're all in danger. They all might... She breathes in. She has to focus.

"Be careful - those guns are dangerous, but they aren't the only threat. I'm sensing all kinds of magic, too - don't let your guard down!" Fuuka warns. What kinds of magic?

'Yes'.

...She doesn't say that - but she's thinking it. 

<Pose Tracker> Shizuka Kuroki has posed.

      Shizuka does not need telling twice, bolting in the direction Ririka points, jumping as she hears gunshots. Sure, she shot herself in the head all the time, but it's different when it's someone else!
 
      She turns back and sees the gun pointed towards Ririka and the Shinjiro also pointed towards Ririka. "Rika-chan! Aragaki-san!" She pulls out her Evoker and fires, Galatea appearing in the air and bringing up scattered pillars of stone behind the group as they proceeded. It probably wouldn't STOP it, but it might HELP. 

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.

"That's the word," Ririka says to Fuuka. "I know it'd be difficult, but if we could bring something in... think we could bring something in during the Dark Hour when nobody's watching, maybe?"

Ririka won't have any clarifications for Aigis. It's all weird, and maybe trying to assign relative levels of weirdness isn't helpful. (It's especially not helpful in the moments that follow--the Grim Reaper kind of puts itself in #1 in bright red blinking letters.)

Ririka is doing her best to keep up with the others. "Thanks!" she shouts to Minako breathlessly to Minako mid-run, trying to conserve her breath for running and additional Navigation.

And a bullet comes out of nowhere to take off a lock of her hair and Ririka jerks herself off to the side-- "Ahh!" And then she trips, scrubbing hard on the ground. "Guh-- ow!" Well that's an injury to her knee that she took pretty hard. She forces herself back up, but she's limping a bit, gritting her teeth through the pain. "C'mon, c'mon..."

She can feel the Reaper's attention on her, and she has to fight to push down the panic and keep moving.

Aigis summons Palladion, Shizuka summons Galetea, and their Personas bring up barriers (or are barriers), but that massive bullet of the Grim Reaper's is just so massive it can't be stopped.

But it can be slowed, and just long enough for Shinrjiro to push Ririka out of the way of the oncoming second bullet. She hits the ground but manages to roll with it this time, grunting with the effort. "Guh--" But she immediately gets back up. "SHINJIRO!"

Her hand trembles (her whole body is shaking) as she fires her Evoker again, blue flames making Amphion surge forth as she shouts, "Diarama!" Healing magic settles over Shinjiro as she does her best to take off running again. 

<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.

Minako turns in a panic when Yukari calls out Ririka's name, ice filling her. Did she lose someone? Did--

She starts to stumble. Looking backward and running is dangerous. But then Koh grabs her wrist. Her feet stumble, then unstumble as she runs. She looks at him and nods, quickly. "But--"

Shinjiro pushes into Ririka; the bullet flies, and it slams into Palladion instead. Aigis's Persona shatters apart, and the robot is left reeling. "R-Right," she says, breathlessly. "Aigis-san, come on! We don't want to lose you, either!"

She looks at Fuuka and nods. "I--I shouldn't be surprised," she says. Then, Shizuka's stone barriers rise, and she looks forward. "Thanks, Koh-san."

Those stone pillars rise up and, for a second, block off the Reaper. Its pistols swing out -- and like blades, they SLASH through the stone pillars. They fall in halves. Galatea's stone only slows it for a second -- but a second is quite a lot, in a moment like this.

They run, towards another of the hallways lit up by Ririka. That provides the way out -- the way free of a dead end. The other way would lead to one.

But Fuuka warned of magic. The Reaper proves it has that magic, as a massive storm of flame explodes in front of the group. Minako stops running terribly fast -- only just not chargung headlong into the flame. The heat of it washes against her skin, her eyes watering with the strength of it.

Then she turns, looking at the others. "We need to do something about the fire!"

The Reaper steps towards them. Each step makes the chains rattle. But then, a terrible white glow begins to grow along it.

<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.

A look over her shoulder, at Shinjiro standing in the way, "Hey-!"
 
He said he was going to die.
Could that mean...
 
"-DON'T! STOP!" Palladion comes forth, and she remembers Aigis telling her what her job is.
 
It doesn't feel right to her. Even if it's her role.
 
Io has already appeared, and the fey girl within her bovine coffin raises a hand. Healing light washes over Aigis of a Diarama spell, trying to mitigate some of the damage to Palladion and through Palladion, her.
 
Stone pillars arise, "Is that gonna stop it?" Yukari says as she briefly slows down.
 
The answer is no. No it will not.
 
She keeps running. And running it. Then a blast of flame explodes in front of them, as Io moves to cover her, like she's in the middle of an incinerator.
 
Then shatters, as she clutches her head in pain.
 
Flames in front. That THING behind... a glow starts building, "What do we do!?" She asks Minako in alarm, terrified. "There's nowhere else to go!"

<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.

Shinjiro manages to tackle Ririka, and Aigis manages to slow the shot, but Shinjiro still takes the brunt of force that it leaves behind, impacting with his left shoulder. He nearly barrels over, kept up only with his strength, but he's definitely injured.

"Kawase! Keep running!" he calls out, and tries to keep pace himself. The Diarama from Ririka is appreciated, as he calls out to Aigis. "...thank you!"

When they reach the flames, pinned, Shinjiro grimaces. There's flames in front, and a glow coming from the Reaper...

"Fuck. Fuck!"

Shinjiro's brain is running through options. Do they all die on a routine expedition of Mementos? That's bullshit. They'll never stop the Dark Hour. They'll never avenge those who have been lost. They'll never-

He's stepping forward, trying to position himself in front of the others. He does *not* want to be left behind, but he's already injured. It's better him than them.

Besides, he's useless at fire management.

"We need a plan!" he does remember to call out, which at least shows he's *thinking* of living, even as he risks himself the most. "I'm not letting any of you die... does anyone have water spells?!" 

<Pose Tracker> Koh Katsuhiro has posed.

Koh is probably a bit slower than Minako, but the Reaper inspires him to keep up pretty well. He's willing to hazard a glance back over his shoulder to check on Shinjiro and Ririka, but his eyes get drawn forward again when the tunnel lights up in flame.

The boy squints, peering left, the right, but he sees no other way.

"I can't get through it," He hisses.

There's a quick glance over his fellow SEES members. "Fuuka-san, Kuroki, Kawase!" He's seen them throwing out the appropriate magic. "Can you do anything!?"

He's already firing his evoker. Not to put out the fire, but to let Zagreus breathe a wave of empowering fumes across his allies. They might need the juice. 

<Pose Tracker> Aigis has posed.

    Magic? It has magic? Fuuka's warning alerts Aigis that she shouldn't overly commit to her original tactic, and she raises her hand again, redoubling her own efforts on retreating in earnest. "I comprehend, Yamagishi-san. Changing course of action."

    Despite Minako's and Yukari's cries, despite Fuuka's concern, she won't stop. She can't stop. She can't ever stop. "I cannot guarantee my own safety, but it is imperative that Arisato-chan survives! Please take care of her!"

    Yukari's Diarama reinvigorates Aigis, quickening her pace once more. Koh's fumes from Zagreus do the same. Already, she can feel her power reserves refilling. "Thank you both, Takeba-san, Katsuhiro-san."

    As she passes by Shinjiro, she grabs him by the coat and shows him the pleading look in her eyes. "Do not waste your breath," she urges, repeating his own words back to him. After all, breath is something that he has which she lacks.

    With that warning, she shoves him in the other direction from herself as she gives chase down the passage which Ririka ran down.

    Her eyes dart around their surroundings. Like Yukari says in alarm, pillars of fire lie one way, and the Reaper himself the other. Aigis lacks any elemental magic of her own, but seeing Shizuka raise earthen pillars gives her an idea. Perhaps it can still be smothered some other way, however --

    "Please step away from the flames for a moment." Aigis points her hand at the ceiling. A canister rolls out from the side of her wrist, and she waits until others have stepped away from her target radius before her launched grenade arcs upward before it explodes. If her gambit's worked, some debris may fall and stifle the fire on the ground below, opening up an escape route, or it might give them some terrain to perilously climb over ... though it could just as easily, say, be incinerated instantly, or perhaps nothing falls from the ceiling at all.

    A gamble is better than nothing in this case -- nonzero odds are better than zero.

<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.

Aigis says she comprehends, and Fuuka nods. It's imperative that Minako survives... Aigis truly seems to believe that wholeheartedly.

Fuuka's eyes open wide as the Reaper's pistols slash right through the stone pillars. They aren't safe even up close... The Reaper truly has all angles covered. What can they do...?

Run, for now. Fuuka keeps running, following Ririka's musical trail - but before they can get too much further, flames erupt in front of them, forming a wall.

They need to do something about the fire - but what? Shinjiro asks if any of them have water spells, and Koh calls out to her directly, and Fuuka shakes her head.

"I don't have that spell anymore, I'm sorry..." She apologises. In truth, she had Aqua until just recently, but she traded the spell card out for something else.

...It figures, that this would happen so soon after. It's like she's being punished.

And on the Reaper, a white glow begins to build.

"Something's coming...!" Fuuka warns. She might not have any water spells, but there's still something she can do. "Kawase-san, let's... look for an opening! Something we can use..."

But where can they possibly go from here? They're well and truly trapped. But they have to try. She focuses, trying to synchronize her senses with Ririka's. Aigis tries to buy them an opportunity, too - the timing may be tight, but will this be enough...? 

<Pose Tracker> Shizuka Kuroki has posed.

      "I didn't think it would work, but anything's better than nothing!" Shizuka tries to look back once more, but in that second, her feet fall out from under her and she stumbles, nearly falling to the ground, but managing to right herself. "Waah!"
 
      And then the flame! Shizuka nearly falls again, desperately running in place as she looks from the wall of flame to the oncoming reaper. She's dripping sweat and nearly ready to keel over from exhaustion, but she just can't stop moving.
 
      "I got nothing! Looks like we're well done!" 

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.

Shinjiro calls to keep running. "R-right! You too!" He's injured. Ririka's banged up her knee. Ririka is making haste as fast as she can, but the limp is more than obvious.

"Thanks you guys!" she shouts to Aigis and Shizuka as she keeps running. But soon--Fire.

She slows to a stop, panting for breath. Aigis is trying to stamp out the fire, and Ririka is ready to sign onto that plan. "Aigis-chan! I'll help you out!" Amphion appears behind her, and Ririka points. "Mamagna and Bufu! As many as you can give me!"

Time to spend all that limit.

Amphion strums, and chunks of stone lift up and start trying to tamp out the fire, while bursts of ice try to cool off the temperature more directly. (It'd be better if it was Aqua but it's the best she's got.)

Koh summons Zagreus to give them energy, and Ririka breathes a little easier. "Thanks, Katsuhiro-san." It'll give her the energy to keep throwing out as many spells as she can to fight back the fire.

Fuuka reaches out to synchronize their efforts, and Ririka nods to her. "Right!" She can keep going, thanks to the energy Koh gave her. She starts to play, searching the surroundings, sharing what she finds with Fuuka in real time. "There's gotta be something..." she mumbles. 

<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.

Minako's eyes blink. She looks, for a second, at Aigis. Why is she more important than any of them? Why--

She can't focus on that. What do they do? Minako's face is white. She looks at Yukari, her eyes wide. "We've got to find a way to break through the fires, or--or--"

She pulls her Evoker up, hand shaking, but puts the barrel to her temple. "I've got a Persona with ice!"

But that takes a moment. Her eyes meet Koh's. She doesn't have answers; but she steps back as Aigis instructs.

She lowers her Evoker, as Aigis's canister hits the flames. The explosion blasts back the fires. It makes a path for a moment -- and then earth and ice, from Amphion, rain down on the fire. The opening is larger. Minako looks at the others. "Kuroki-senpai! Don't--don't give up! Everyone, get through the opening that Aigis-san and Kawase-san made!"

They all start to dash through, and the Reaper roars its defiance. It has no mouth, but there is the outline of a jaw moving under that bag-covered head. Then, white light flies off its body -- and towards the opening in the flames, as SEES flees through it.

One of the last ones through, in the gap between the flames, is Minako Arisato.

She turns to stare, as the orb of white light SLAMS into the ground before her. The floor of Mementos creaks, and then there is a thunder-like CRACK. The floor splits around them. The cracks spiderweb out.

Before she can reach Minako -- for where else would she be -- Aigis finds that a slab of concrete and rebar gives way under her feet. The ground goes at a sudden, sharp angle -- and that sends Ririka shooting right towards her, and then Yukari pitched ahead of them both as if struck by her own Garula spell.

Koh and Shinjiro are lifted off the ground, as a slab of cracked concrete is shot up into the air. It ruptures under Shizuka's feet -- and suddenly she falls off it, with only time to grab onto its edge. Then, Koh and Shinjiro fall back down to the broken slab.

And both of the slabs -- with their clusters of SEES members -- fall back. The last slab starts to slant, but it tilts towards the dome of all-consuming white energy rushing. That pitches Minako Arisato forward. She gasps, her arm coming up to cover her face.

The white light drowns out everything. The terrible red glow of the Reaper, watching dispassionately. The outlines of the SEES members, falling, but whole and alive. She can't see where Fuuka is, but surely...

Surely, she got out too.

Minako covers her eyes. "I'm sorry, Minato-kun," she says, before white light comes so close and obscures all she can see.

<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.

A Persona with Ice, Minako says, "You do!? Quick!" There are no good answers to this situation. Just frantic, split second decisions.
 
Earth and Ice form, and Yukari tries to move towards that path made by Ririka and Shizuka, "HURRY!" She yells. And the White Light shines brighter, as the whole world detonates into that white light.
 
She's bowled over immediately by the shift in the concrete, beginning to shriek. A shriek of someone who knows she's about to die.
 
Hey Dad.
I guess this might be it for me too.
See you soon...?
 
And that's before Ririka is sent at her for a second impact, knocking the wind out of her. Toppling with the slab of concrete they're on...
 
...falling...
 
But for anyone else without a direct visual of Ririka striking her that shriek may sound as if it were swiftly, ominously silenced, as if the Grim Reaper had indeed claimed her.

<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.

Aigis confronts Shinjiro. He just grimaces. If only she knew... "I'm not *trying* to," he says.

But then they're rushing through the cleared flames, and the floor is *shattered*. As he and Koh end up together, floating in the air, he feels a hard *slam* as he hits the slab. His already injured arm is a in pain, alright. As he slowly tries to rise, staggered, he's looking towards Shizuka at the edge. All preservation goes out the window (as usual) as he pushes through using his body's adrenaline.

"Katsuhiro! Help me get Kuroki up!" he calls out, trying to grab her by the hand with his good one, his hammer on a sling. If they can all get standing, that'll be better. 

<Pose Tracker> Koh Katsuhiro has posed.

Koh stumbles backward as Aigis comes to the rescue, wincing as the explosion sends rocks scattering. Amphion helps clear the way, and Koh waits anxiously with evoker clutched in hand.

And when there's an opening in the flames he takes it.

It's as he's turning back to look for the others that the Reaper's blast shatters through the concrete.

He's airborne for a moment. Then not, hard ground knocking the breath from his lungs. "Fuuka! Minako!" They were the last, weren't they? But such ragged call probably couldn't even reach beyond the slab he and the two older SEES members occupy.

Shinjiro at least provides direction, and Koh scrambles in a not-quite crawl to help him.

"Hang on!" He's not really talking to Shizuka. He's pleading, unhelpfully, with what remains of the floor. "Hang on"

Before the slab goes he makes one more request. To god, maybe? His persona? Whoever's listening. "not yet!" 

<Pose Tracker> Aigis has posed.

    Aigis does, indeed, attempt to rush towards Minako. In her haste, she finds that the weight of her frame (upwards of 300kg) causes the ground beneath her to give way. On its own, this would not be ideal, but it would still be salvageable. She begins the process to draw out Palladion from within herself --

    -- but Ririka's body slams into her own at a crucial moment, interrupting the process. No, not the process of summoning her Persona, the process.

    !!! CRITICAL ERROR !!!
    > Performing automatic system recovery.
    > Initiating reboot.
    > .............
    > Kirijo-PM OS v1.19.3-7
    > Current progress: 2% (46s remaining)

    Yukari hurtles in front of both of them. With her own systems immobilized for the time being, and with Ririka coming along for the ride, well. Aigis may have a combat suite capable of solving kinematics equations, but the three-body problem has no closed-form solution.

    Of course Aigis' personality module loads Ikutsuki's addition first. That takes highest priority, that's critical to her function.

    So she goes, tumbling down and down. She'll wake again soon.

<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.

With earth, ice, and an explosion, a path is made. Together, Fuuka and Ririka can chart a path through it. Fuuka starts to race through it, in the mere moments they have left.

...But she is keeping track of everyone. That's part of a Navigator's job, too. An orb of white crashes into the ground, and the ground splinters apart from the sheer force of it.

She's aware of everyone around her. Their positions, as the chaos begins to separate them. And she's aware of... Minako, split from the rest.

There's only seconds to act. If she hesitates, something will be rest. She entreats Lucia quietly - and Lucia guides her steps through the destruction toward Minako.

"Arisato-san!" As the world is consumed by white light, an Evoker is fired near Minako. A globe of protection surrounds her - and Fuuka with her as Lucia appears around them both, endeavoring to shield them both from the Reaper's wrath as everything falls away. 

<Pose Tracker> Shizuka Kuroki has posed.

      "We can always count on you, Nako-ch-"
 
      Well, that's three explosions before you've turned 18, Shizuka Kuroki. How the hell are we gonna explain THIS one to Dad?
 
      How to explain this one to Dad gives way to the more pressing matter that she is about to fall into the cognitive abyss, desperately clawing at the edge of her designated slab of what used to be Mementos.
 
      "Aragaki-san! Kokkun! I can't..." She grabs both of their wrists in a death grip, tears streaming down her cheeks as she manages to use their arms to pull herself onto the slab, though she does not stand up afterwards. It is fine to be as close to anything remotely firma as possible. "What happened?" 

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.

More running. Ririka set off as soon as the path was clear, for several reasons. First, survival, second, she's not running as fast, and third, the sooner she can get ahead, the further she can Navigate, a skill that is desperately critical right now.

And then the ground pitches forward, and she finds herself on a slab that is shifting forward. "Wh-whoa--" She crashes into Yukari and Aigis, reflexively grabbing onto her teammate for stability, not that it's going to last long.

The awful thing is she can hear everything going to pieces. The ground cracking beneath their feet, how the air sizzles as that terrifying light expands outwards. She can only gasp in horror as she hears Minako, right in the way of that light.

Everyone needs help.

She can't help everyone.

She's supposed to be helping everyone.

She can't help everyone. There's no time, they're too split up. She tries to not think about the awful, gaping darkness below, with their yells echoing back out from them. She doesn't know how deep it is.

Her heart pounds.

She has to do something.

The last thing anybody hears Ririka say as the slab she's on starts to slide into the dark is: "Maraku--"

Amphion's last act is to strum, bringing up a shell of protective earth around Ririka, Yukari, and Aigis as they fall into the earth, before he shatters from the explosion of the white light.

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