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"Akademeia," Sice responded curtly as they were walking. "I can tell by your tone that you think I'm talking shit, but it's all true. The Dominion of Rubrum are at war with the Milites Empire, and I and my classmates of Class Zero are soldiers in this war."

The tale she spun sounded weird to someone like Yukari, but the conviction she had in her tale. "I'm not going to waste any time trying to defend what's real or not. Either you believe me or you don't. To be honest the fact that you don't know about the war is way more crazy. Too many people close to you dead so that you even forgot about the war?"

As they talked and walked it didn't take long for them to reach the outskirts of the town. Weirdly on the Welcome to city sign the name of the city was totally omitted. That however was the lesser of stranger things in the area. The road and ensuing sides were all covered by a thick fog blocking the path. Considering how it was spread out it wouldn't be surprising if the entire permitter of the city had this fog around it.

This didn't seem to deter Sice who weapon in hand traveled right into the fog. It took a few minutes before Yukari saw her emerging back from the fog. "What the f-" Another attempt and once again Sice was back at the entrance. "There's something about this fog...makes you walk around in circles. Seems like we're stuck in here so...that's great."

@Ver
 
"Akademeia? Your school's literally just called Academia?" Yukari questioned, seeming to misunderstand Sice's initial answer, letting out little more than an exasperated sigh. As Sice made a crack about people close to her dying, she visibly cringed a little, as though just remembering whom she'd lost in the past was enough to change her mood, but before she could speak up about it, it seemed that they were stopped by an unknown force; a mysterious fog.

"H-Hey, don't wander off like that! This place gives me the creeps enough as it is," the girl said warily, gripping her bow tightly as though using it to comfort herself, "Anyway, looks like that's the case. Any idea what to do next then?"

@Jeremi
 
"If one of us doesn't take initiative then we'd still be sitting in the school with a thumb up our ass." Her tone was harsh, ut Yukari could tell that there was a lot of frustration, rather than anger bubbling inside her. Sice looked back to the way they came from. "We fall back and retrace our steps. There has to be something in this damn city that will give us a clue."

She sounded firm in her voice. Failure was clearly not an option for her. Heading back the road they came the school soon came into view. The way back was uneventful except again they could see those thorny vines with the red flowers they saw when they were in the school courtyard. While peculiar maybe they were just part of the local flora of the area?

Sice stopped at the gate and looked down the road they hadn't taken yet. "Not much choice where to go." Seemed like she wasn't very keen on returning into the school and was ready to head into the city. Taking point Sice started down the path. As far as cities went this place didn't seem to be of the smaller side with nothing standing out. Just a typical small city, there seemed to even be a supermarket if the signs of sales were any indication. The Golden Bazar, what a weird name.

Then Yukari spotted something down the road, something that shouldn't exist in the real world. Shadows, three of them. How could there be shadows in a place like this? Sice had also noticed them and seemed ready to engage unless Yukari quickly stepped in to stop her.

@Ver
 
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"Wha--?!"

Yukari let out a perturbed gasp as soon as she saw them. The banes of her existence, the monsters of the night that she'd hoped had been put to bed for good along with her fears all that time ago. It was like being assaulted by the appearance of an old acquaintance, the very sight of them cutting deep in Yukari's heart as she remembered who she'd lost to them.

Once she had managed to recover her bearings, her logical thinking broke through as she quickly caught on; this was surely no Dark Hour, so how were there Shadows running amok? It didn't add up at all, but she had other things to worry about. Sice was about to dive in, but Yukari decided to step in front; as she was, she was about to go way in over her head.

"Wait... Let me handle them. I don't suppose you know anything about the Shadows, but if they're here, especially like this, something's definitely off," Yukari spoke in a significantly more serious manner than she ever did before. With a resolute expression, she called for her Persona.

"Isis!"

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And lo and behold, Yukari's Persona materialized into the air. She had surpassed the need to use an Evoker shortly after the incident with the Abyss of Time, ever since she had not only conquered her fear of death but also the fear of connecting with others again, which was especially convenient if the only thing she had on her was her bow and arrows.

"Magarula!" She cried, pointing at the Shadows in the distance, using her Persona to cast a powerful Wind spell to rip apart the creatures!

@Jeremi
 
"They look like monsters so that's good enough for me." Sice was still ready to charge but held back to see what the other girl was capable of. Yukari didn't probably expect what came out of her mouth though as Isis made her presence felt. "Oh shit, I didn't know you were a summoner." And magic to boot, seemed like Yukari had been holding out on her.

The Shadows in turn took the hit and caught by surprise were quite devastated by the wind spell. While those three were cut to ribbons more emerged. Changing form from one mass to another.

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Three slime like creatures were making their way towards the two girls. Sice readied her scythe. "These are mine, that bug earlier was just a warm up so I mean it when I say don't get in my way."


Not waiting on Yukari the scythe wielding girl charged the three creatures. It didn't take long for her to rain down on them with a slash towards the nearest slime. Another one tried to come close to pounce but Sice deflected with her weapon. It was like she was gliding on the battlefield. Even with a large weapon like that she was handling it with finesse.

Finally she got a lucky shot in on one of the shadows slicing it clean in two causing it to melt away. As she killed it though Yukari could see a dark aura start to form around Sice the more so got into the fight. She slammed the scythe hilt to the ground sending a dark shockwave to hit the two still living slime before she finished off her dazed opponents with a 360 degree slash around her. The dark aura seemed to have grown in intensity after they were killed. "Seems like you have some secrets." Sice nodded towards Isis as she got closer. "Never seen an Eidolon like that before. Cause that's not something just anyone can do."

@Ver
 
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"Summoner? I'm not... Huh?"
Yukari began to utter, but before she knew it, Sice had dashed off to take on the Shadows by herself. Watching her wield the scythe so skillfully, Yukari was admittedly at a bit of a loss for words. Sure, there was Ken who knew his way around a spear, Mitsuru with her old rapier, and so on, but this felt like a whole different level. However, awe turned to apprehension as soon as she noticed the dark aura surround Sice, and by pure instinct, the girl drew an arrow from her quiver and pressed it against her bow.

When Sice gestured toward her Persona and drew closer, Yukari suddenly stepped back and began to pull at the string of her bow with her arrow now, but kept it pointed at the ground, keeping a wary but serious expression.

"Alright, what's the big deal?! I have no idea what you're talking about! I've never heard anyone call a Persona that before... but more than that, what's the deal with that dark aura around you?! Don't tell me you were a Shadow all this time too?!"

@Jeremi
 
Yukari tense up and string up her bow made Sice give her a really? look. "First of all. Don't know what the fuck a Persona is, we call things like that Eidolon's. Second of all, the only 'shadow' I have is at my feet, and thirdly, " She motioned around herself. "Monsters and things I kill have hate for me when I kill them, this is their hate. I call it Malice. I basically use their deaths to give their friends more death."

She looked down at the bow. "Can you put that thing away now? You're embarrassing yourself."

@Ver
 
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"Not until I figure out just what's really going on around here," Yukari said with a furrowed brow, still clutching her bow tightly. "You keep saying these... these things that don't make sense to me! Weird chuunibyou names of some war and places I've never heard of, but you're more than just a normal human if you can swing that thing around so seamlessly, if you're so used to fighting monsters like you've been doing it for a while... Hell, you don't even find my Persona weird, but then you can't even call it what it is! What's next, you don't even know what Japan is?!" The girl ranted aimlessly, as though the growing frustrations of her helpless situation had finally caught up to her.

With a sharp breath, she raised her other hand to hold her own face, as though attempting to compose herself, the girl eventually lowering her bow and letting out a shaky breath. "God... What would he do? What would you do...?" Yukari suddenly began mumbling to herself, just barely audible to Sice as the girl looked away, her eyes growing distant as though she were suddenly talking to someone else.

With a deep breath, she looked toward Sice again, summoning Isis once again and letting it float beside her aimlessly. "Okay... Fine, fine. Let's try to meet somewhere along the road. I'll start," Yukari said, gesturing toward Isis, "This is my Persona. It's... like a reflection of who I am, and it's what's helped me fight the Shadows of the Dark Hour ever since over a year ago. But... that being said, they aren't supposed to exist anymore..."

@Jeremi
 
In fact she had no clue what Japan was. Arms folded and with a cocked eyebrow Sice listened to Yukari explaining her situation. It all sounded a bit, safe? Sice wasn't quite sure what to make of it. Certainly wasn't any incident she'd heard about from where she was from. Military spies were everywhere and something like this would have reached their ears at some point.

"Well I've told you my story multiple times now so I'm not going to bother with that,"
She started as Yukari finished talking. "Either one of us is full of shit, or, maybe we're both telling the truth. I have to admit this city too...it's I don't know it feels weird. It's modern but at the same time...it just feels off okay?"

Frustrated, Sice seemed to have a hard time with this too. "So alright, let's assume both of us are telling the truth. What does that mean? Where does that leave us? You're obviously not a l'Cie, you're far too approachable for that." Was that a compliment? From Sice it probably was. "Again, I ask. If we're both telling the truth what do we do with that information?"

@Ver
 
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"Well... All things considered, I guess I have to believe some of the weird stuff you're saying,"
Yukari sighed, pursing her lips, "I get what you mean about this city. This is definitely not normal if Shadows are out and about. Not when... someone I knew made sure they'd never be able to show up again."

"In any case, if we're both telling the truth... then we just need to put those pieces on the table, like it's a puzzle," the girl said, putting a finger to her chin, "Both of us don't know anything about the other, but... There's stuff we both recognize in this place, like it's been Frankenstein'd together to fit with what we'd know. It's almost like... I'd say, we're from different worlds entirely, but then... That still leaves the question, how did this place come to be?"

"Well, I guess just standing around isn't gonna help us, no matter how much we can think up. Any idea where to go next then?"

@Jeremi
 
"It's crazy, but if it's the only thing left..." Other worlds huh? That's certainly something that she imagined she'd have to figure out. Being part of a world spanning an entire world wasn't crazy enough?

Regardless when Yukari asked what their next step was Sice pointed to one of the signs. "What about food? I figure that's a market of some sort so there has to be something to eat. I'd want to figure this shit out, but seeing as the only living things in this place seem to be monsters and your...Shadows? I think we need to find clues of our own."

@Ver
 
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"Personally, I'm not really as enthused to potentially rob a store for food... but I guess you'd say it's not really robbing because there's no one here or there," the girl sighed. Still, Sice brought up a good point; who knew how long they'd be stuck here? May as well make the most they could and get what they can out of this during their stay here in this bizarre place.

With that, Yukari gingerly began to make her way forward, glancing at the other girl as she did so. "I guess in any case, we may as well learn more about each other then. What's the deal with those bug things you fight? Anything particularly weird about them you haven't told me about?"

@Jeremi
 
"They're just bugs," Sice responded as they continued along the road towards the super market. "We have a lot of those things where I'm from. Monsters too. Like I said haven't seen bugs exactly like that, same goes fo you 'Shadows' too. We have slime creatures like that too. Real pain in the ass."

Continuing on the duo soon found themselves face to face with the super market and its name the 'Golden Bazar' became quite evident. The entire building was dipped from head to toe in what looked like actual gold with a sign in bright neon colors blaring its name for everyone to see. "This is one of the shadiest places I've ever seen. Do all of your 'super markets' look like this?"

@Ver
 
"Looks more like a casino or something more than anything. Uh, if you don't know what that is, it's a place where people gamble their money away or make it big. More often the former," Yukari commented as she observed the strange building, imagining that Sice didn't have the same familiarity with certain... concepts that Yukari did. She really did not expect to wake up talking to someone who carried herself like she was from a fantasy world, but here she was.

"Anyway, no, doesn't look like a normal market to me at all, but at this point, that probably just means it'd be a good idea to check out what's inside," she sighed tiredly, as though resigned to the motions by now. She didn't particularly want to, but it wasn't like she had any other viable course of action, so here went nothing.

Gripping her bow tightly, the archer began to march forward, wary of what might be waiting inside for the two of them.

@Jeremi
 
Sice gave Yukari a glare. "Don't patronize me, I know what a fucking casino is." Harsh words aside for once she let Yukari take point and be the first to step into the store.

*ding!*


The door slid open revealing rows and rows of shelves stacked with different products and much like the exterior the interior was lined with gold too. Even here though there didn't seem to be any people, the only sound they could hear was bland muzak playing through the store speakers.

"...This place is still as gross as it was on the outside." Sice didn't seem to quite know what to make of this place. The entrance led directly to the vegetables that all seemed to be fresh and from the check out area you could see the shelves stacked up with different products, edible and otherwise. There were also signs hanging from the ceiling that would make it easy to find anything specific you were looking for.​

@Ver
 
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"Jeez, sorry. I just really can't tell how much you might know and not know about things from my... uh, neck of the woods," Yukari said, wanting to avoid using the word "world" like that was definitely the case here.

As the two of them entered the store, met with a great abundance of nothing, the pink-clad girl could only purse her lips uneasily. "No kidding. Super creepy," she agreed with Sice, swallowing her apprehension for now as she reluctantly marched inside, deciding to pick up some of the food items to make doubly sure they were edible... and to see if there was a price tag available, specifically wondering if the accepted currency was displayed in yen or... whatever she imagined Sice would be familiar with.

@Jeremi
 
Reaching for a chocolate bar and unwrapping it, for all intense and purposes it seemed edible. As far as currency however she found no numbers only sale written with big letters everywhere. "Not really a way to run a store," Sice quipped as she looked over the produce.

A bit further in among the shelves she spotted a peculiar looking barrel.

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It seemed quite ornate and out of place, even inside this place. It had a sign above it that read 'free pickles'.​

@Ver
 
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"... Huh? Free pickles? Seems like everything's free, what's so special about these that warrants putting them in such a weird barrel?" Yukari said aloud as she took notice of the bizarre looking container. Out of morbid curiosity, she decided to go check it out, still clutching her bow tightly, knowing just how easy it would be to get jumped in a place like this, between those weird bugs and the Shadows.

"I don't suppose you recognize the patterns or however this thing is carved?"


@Jeremi
 
"Can't say that I do," Sice replied off hand as she looked over another nearby shelf with what seemed to be baby food.

As Yukari came closer to the ornate barrel it suddenly began to stir.

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With out any warning the barrel had suddenly changed for into that of a mechanical bug like creature that took a swipe at Yukari with its sharp blade like appendage.​

@Ver
 
"Whoa!"

As soon as the barrel shifted into an almost grotesque looking creature (good thing it didn't look all that organic), Yukari dashed backward, swiftly drawing an arrow and pulling on it with her bow in one deft movement. Getting down on one knee and aiming her arrow at it, she closed one eye to focus her shot, right in the center of its core.

"Take this!" She cried out, before finally letting go of the arrow, letting luck dictate where it'd shoot.

@Jeremi
 
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