Persona 4 RP Story/Dungeon

"Enough. We're obviously not going to get any straight answers out of him...So then what should we do with you?" He glared at Shinta.

"Which is why we need to learn how to utilize this power for the best. If we just jump in and save someone who's been thrown in then what's stopping someone else from being throw in? Or for the Shadows themselves to abduct someone? We're not stopping the problem only delaying it," Shinta hung his head an held it in his hand, "This is exactly what I wanted to avoid. You've all lost yourself to this world's power, but I haven't. I refuse to become a plaything for this place." Lucifer appeared next to Shinta and nodded. In response Shinta raised his head and gave a determined look. Most perplexing of all was that his face was now clear of any blood. "That simple-minded attitude may have served you well in the past, but if you knew exactly what it meant for everyone..." Shinta stepped on a nearby mine, "I doubt you'd be as optimistic. What would you say if I told you I know why Kishin and Sakuraba were thrown in? Not only that, but I can predict who the next victim may be? Interested?"

"If you could do all of that, then why didn't you just bring it up EARLIER. Before we were so-called "Lost to this world's power". Then the apparent problem could have been solved earlier without involving as many people." Yomiko said crossing her arms

"...The police are still tracking down the murderer. We're just keeping people from getting killed themselves. Once we have enough people with us, we can start looking for this murderer ourselves."

"Why, because Sakuraba was the final piece," Shinta replied, "before him all I had was mere conjecture. Now I'm absolutely certain. And Stefan, what can the police do? There have been no murders to investigate, just a few missing persons who return within days. Although I like the way you think in regards to boosting our numbers."

Karin lowered her weapon, "So what do you know?"

Shinta pointed to the arcade building, "Mind if we talk inside? I can better explain there."

"...I'll go first, if you don't mind. I don't want you bailing out on us." Stefan started to walk, keeping an eye on Shinta.

"And i'll go in last. To make sure he doesn't try to turn and hightail it outta here going "BWAHAHAHA YOU IDIOTS THIS WAS ANOTHER TRAP" or some annoying ass bullshit." Masuyo said

"That seems fair," Shinta said as he made his way inside, "When my Shadow approached me again he took me here. It's my own little sanctum when I need to get away and think. Have a seat. Unfortunately Yoichi can't get us drinks this time." Shinta chuckled. Karin sat in the chair closest to Shinta who remained standing as if he were a teacher.

".........who?" Masuyo said

"One of my past selves. It's...kind of a long story," Shinta said. Once he saw everyone seated he began his explanation, "Do you recall last year? When the murders and kidnappings started?"

"Yeah what about them?" Karin raised an eyebrow.

"Any of you try watchin' the Midnight Channel then?"

"I didn't." Stefan said a bit bitterly.

"Nope." Masuyo said.

Shinta shrugged, "I wasn't interested at first but there's somethin' about those rumors that make you wanna try them at least once. Saw that announcer and a brown haired girl. Had no friggin' idea what it meant 'til this year, though."

"Wait, you mean..."

"Bingo," Shinta replied, "the murder victims appeared on the Midnight Channel before dying. What's more, when that politician Namatame got arrested, he admitted to kidnapping people from the school, and from what I heard, all of them appeared on the Midnight Channel beforehand."

"But they're alive." Masuyo stated. "I didn't watch the channel but the only people who died were the announcer and that Konishi girl from Junes. And I only know that because of the fuss the media made about it."

Shinta continued, "Hence why I used the term 'kidnapped.' Like I said I didn't understand it at the time, but because of recent experiences I've started to piece things together. People were thrown in and saved before like how we are now. At first I thought this was a copycat criminal who stumbled upon the power to enter the TV like Natsuyama did, so I tried to figure out what similarities Kishin, Asakura and Sakuraba had." Shinta began to pace around in front of the group, "The obvious one was that we were all high school or would be high school students, discounting the announcer of course, but with such a broad range, I wondered why it was always people we knew. From this I made the following conclusions:
1. Our enemy is merely copying the method of the murders and not the styles.
2. While our enemy only targets people in our age range, it is still possible for older people to be thrown in, meaning that each target was picked for a specific reason.
3. Our enemy has made no move against us after throwing someone in a TV. This leads me to conclude that the enemy either has low fighting skill or has a motive beyond killing."

"Okay, I don't really get it," Karin interjected, "but where's the part where you tell us who's gonna be targeted and why?"

"Just figured I'd share all my findings," Shinta started up an arcade behind him and spoke louder as not to be drowned out by the retro sounds of, "now after I went through what was the same I started thinking about what was different. The timing was the one that stuck out the most. Last year, two people were killed before rescue began. In our case, no one went into the TV until Masu and Natsuyama did. Consider this:
1. No one was abducted until after Natsuyama and Masu awakened their Personas.
2. Every time someone was abducted they had come into close contact with either Natsuyama or Masu prior to said abduction.
Now tell me: What can you infer about the targets?"

"They're people that associate with us!" Masuyo shouted. "Wait this means that Nene and Tsubasa are in danger!"

"Heck, if he saw us even that fisher girl and Kitao are too." Yomiko added. "Hopefully whoever it is didn't see our little meeting with that girl. At least we all were friends before this. If anything this would just strenghten her whole "I hate people they're worthless!" thing she has goin on."

"...Why just people in our age group though? We associate with other people, Karin's Grandma, that nurse lady, etc, what is it about high school age kids?"

"Unfortunately I don't have an answer for that," Shinta said putting his name on the Hi-Score board, "anyway if I am right then we would be able to preempt the next kidnappings. Well not like it matters anyway."

"Why's that?" Karin asked.

"If we do fail to prevent a kidnapping then it only means we save someone and increase our own fighting capabilities. On the other hand if the victim lies outside of my theoretical range than it will provide more clues on the kidnapper. On the other other hand," Shinta pressed a button on the arcade and the room was flooded in light, "you're all gonna die here."

Karin awoke to find herself in what looked like a funhouse full of mirrors. She looked around and saw everyone around her unconscious. "Guys, wake up! Are you all okay?"

"Ngh...What the hell happened?" Stefan rubbed his head, struggling to get to his feet. "...Did that bastard betray us again?"

"You have got to be fucking kidding me." Masuyo said coming to.

"So yeah. never trusting him again. Ever." Yomiko said rubbing her head

Laughter echoed through the halls and an image of Shinta appeared in one of the mirrors, "Another from Machiavelli: 'For every deciever there are those willing to ne decieved.' Or to put it in a way Masu over there can understand, "BWAHAHAHA YOU FOOLS THIS WAS ANOTHER TRAP!' You guys seriously make this way too easy."

"Raiha..." Karin growled.

"Oh, shut up already. I was fine playing with you before but now you're just pissing me off."

"We're pissing YOU off?" Stefan snapped. "When I get my hands on you, I'm cutting off your fucking legs and leaving you here to the shadows!"

"Thats it. You've sealed the deal. You're fucking DEAD!" Masuyo shouted.

"Everyone be careful! Since all this asshole does is deceive im sure theres a trick behind these mirrors."

"Probably make us hit each other or they're gonna mimic us or some gay shit." Masuyo said.

"Who knows?" Shinta shrugged, "you'll just have to find out for yourselves, won't you? I mean I could explain, but I wonder if you'd believe me. I'd hope you aren't that retarded but...well here we are."

"It was all a lie then," Karin said trembling with rage, "All that stuff about 'ending the cycle' and your theory was all just bullshit wasn't it?"

"Finally got it. I figured I'd go with the 'for the good of the team' approach. I did have others in mind, though. Like the Battle crazed psycho type." A wild an unkempt Shinta appeared on another mirror and spoke, "Our fights with the Shadows is the only thong that made us special, made our lives interesting. Think about it, if we bring the Shadows out there we can fight them anytime anywhere! Won't that be so much fun?"

"There was also a more sympathetic version I had in mind" A more solemn looking Shinta appeared on another mirror and spoke in a sullen tone, "I made a deal with the Shadows, that if I can help get them all into the real world...that they would leave this place to me. A world consisting of me and me alone. No one else for me to betray again."

"Personally I like the middle ground I settled on. You?"

"Then why are you doing this?" Karin yelled, "What's the point of jerking us around?"

"Should we even ask for an honest answer?" Stefan grumbled.