Yukiko’s Castle

Author's Note: you know what I love about Persona 4's dungeons? They can be done in one run if you have the right loadout and movesets. What I don't like is that if you don't do it in one run you have to start the whole thing over again the next day, with the layout changing every time.

April 18th: 2011

At school.

Yosuke walked up to Yu and I.

"I wonder how Chie's doing. Too much stuff happened yesterday, I hope she's back to her usual self." Yosuke said

Chie walked into the classroom, and up to the three of us.

"Oh, mornin." She said

"Did you attain an appropriate amount of rest?" Yu asked

"Yep, I was out cold until this morning. Um, thanks for everything yesterday. It's kinda embarrassing, ya know? You three were right there to see my hidden feelings and all." She said

"Don't sweat it." Yosuke said

"The same thing happened to Yosuke and Y/n, right? Soooo, what was it like?" She asked

"Huh? Uhhhh, how should I put this? Oh, I nearly forgot! None of that happened when yours awakened, huh?" Yosuke asked Yu. "Could that be because you've got nothing to hide?"

"Oh, so nothing happened for you?" Chie said. "I gotta agree that you seem like a pretty open guy. There's a funny air about you. I dunno, I guess that's what draws people to you, or something like that."

"Expressing feelings of attraction for me are you?" Yu said

Chie blushed.

"Whoa, maybe you are my type." Chie said

"Gimme a break." Yosuke said

The four of us laughed.

"Anyways, what's most important right now is to rescue Yukiko. I'm dead set on coming, remember you promised." Chie said.

We nodded in agreement. The bell rung

"Oh crap I still haven't gone to the bathroom." Yosuke said

He ran off out of the classroom

"Hey um, thanks for saving me. Yosuke's cool and all, but, there really is something different about you guys, I feel like you won't let me down." She said

A slight bond between the two of us is forming.

Thou art I, and I am Thou

Thou hast established a new Bond

It brings thee closer to the truth

Thou shalt be blessed when using the power of The Chariot

Chariot Social Link: Rank 1

"Could I get your number?" I asked

"Wh-What? Oh right, you'll need this from now on, huh? Ok then." She said. "Feel free to call, whenever."

She gave Yu and I her number.

"We have to be careful of the fog that sets in after it rains, right? Let's save her before that happens!" Chie said

After school.

"Whaddya figure, think we can pull it off today?" I asked him.

"The odds are not in our favour. We hardly know the layout." Yu said

"I know, but according to Teddie it'll change each day. Regardless of when we go, it'll have to be a full on assault all at once." I said

"Agreed, then I shall make the necessary calls and we shall embark to the Junes' place of food service." Yu said.

At the food court.

Yu was able to get his hands on some armour and weapons, nothing that powerful, but enough to help us through it.

"We have to be careful, our best option to conserve energy will be to avoid as many battles as we can." I said. "Now that's there's four of us, it'll make things easier."

"Right, you guys ready?" Yosuke asked

We nodded in agreement, then headed into the TV world, and to Yukiko's Palace.

Author's Note: I'm only gonna be describing the battles and cutscenes. There's nothing special about the dungeon design aside from the aesthetic.

We reached the second floor, where we encountered Chie's shadow. We found the S Yukiko instead.

"Yukiko?" Chie asked

"Yukiko-san! Are you alright?" Yosuke asked

"Yukiko what's wrong?" Chie asked

"*chuckle* heehee, ahahahahaha! Oh my, special guests! I wonder how they'll play into all this! *chuckle* things are really heating up! Okie dokie! I'm going back to hunt for my Prince Charming! Ohhh, where could he be? This place is huge! It's sooo exciting, but it makes it sooo hard to find him!" Yukiko said. "Ooh, maybe he's playing hide and seek out in the fog! Ready or not, here I come! Let's go further in, shall we?"

We heard a crowd cheer in the background.

"Wh-what the hell is this?" Yosuke asked

"You're not Yukiko, who are you?" Chie asked

"*chuckle*, What're you talking about? I'm Yukiko, and Yukiko is me." S Yukiko said

"No! Don't tell me, are you-!? Where's the real Yukiko!?" Chie said

There are more voices in the background.

"What's with these voices!?" Yosuke asked

"The shadows are getting agitated!" Teddie said

"Well, I'm off again!" S Yukiko said. "Heehee, you'd better be waiting for me with bells on, my dear Prince!" She said as she ran off

"Hey, Wait!" Chie said. "That clearly wasn't the real Yukiko. It had to be-"

"I think it was. It must of been the other part of herself." Teddie said

"So it's just like what happened to us." Yosuke said. "But I don't think she was excited for nothing. The real Yukiko wants to show us something, I can feel it. It's hard to explain, it seems like she has a strong connection to this castle. This is a lot more dangerous than I thought."

"Yukiko!" Chie said as she ran off.

"Hey! Not again! Dammit, we told her not to run off on her own!" Yosuke said

We caught up with her and made it to the next floor. There are more voices in the air.

"Teeheeehee. My prince will come for me soon." S Yukiko said. "I'll always be waiting. Forever and ever."

"Hmm, I hear her voice! But all I sense around here are you and shadows. Watch out for the shadows and keep going!" Teddie said

After navigating our way through the maze like area, we made our way to floor 4.

"Welcome. Thank you for coming to the Inn today, your room is this way. If we can help you in any way, please let us know immediately." S Yukiko said

"What's that voice talking about!? This place isn't an Inn, it's totally a castle!

Next floor.

"I can sense her! She must be somewhere on this floor!" Teddie said

After finding our way through the trick hallway, we found her. There's a huge shadow in the shape of a knight on a horse, with a massive lance.

"*chuckle*, my prince wouldn't lose to guards such as this, correct?" S Yukiko asked

"Gyaaa! I've never seen such a strong one before!" Teddie said. "It's attacking us!"

I started the battle off by equipping my new armour.

And began to fill him up with Arrows. Most of them broke off as they struck his armour, not even scratching it.

"That armour's too tough! Does anyone have freezing Magic?" I asked.

"I'll see what I can do!" Chie said as she summoned her Persona.

It spun around the giant spear it was wielding and the spear began to glow a light blue, while releasing a chilling breeze, followed by a barrage of chunks of ice. Most of them shattered on the armour, but a couple of them left several dents in it.

"Sorry!" She said

"Not quite what I was going for but it gives me an idea. Do that again but don't launch the barrage until I give the signal, Yosuke and Yu, keep him busy!"

They charged in with their Personas, Yu was taking constant jabs with Izanagi's Sword, and Yosuke was throwing ninja stars from Jiraya.

"What's the plan here!?" Chie asked as her Persona began charging up its attack.

"A combination attack! Follow after me!" I said as I loaded several Ice charged arrows. I let go of the drawstring and switched to my Sword Armour. "Now!" I said as I threw Chie into the air. I quickly jumped up after her.

"Why didn't you warn me!?" She screamed as she launched the barrage.

I turned my sword on it's flat side and started batting the chunks of ice towards the knight, knocking it off balance. I grabbed Chie while we were still in the air.

"Ready?" I asked as I lifted her overhead, she nodded. I then threw her like a Javelin, Feet First.

"Not again!!!!" She shouted as she kicked off the knight's helmet, and I went in with a decapitation. Then I caught her right before she hit the ground.

"That, was, AWESOME!!!!" Yosuke said

"Yeah? How about next time you can be the javelin?" Chie said. "Although I will admit, that was pretty cool."

Author's Note: first of many of this story's "Showtimes" (super flashy combination attacks).

After defeating the shadow we obtained a key.

"If you really are my prince, we will surely meet again." S Yukiko said. "I am but a trapped soul, I cannot leave the place even if I wanted."

"I don't sense her anymore." Teddie said

We made our way up to floor 6.

"In other words she's a manager who's still in High School. Now that has a nice ring to it. Let's see if we can interview her, excuse me!"

"Shut up!" S Yukiko said

"H-hey Yukiko-san, mind if I ask you something? Is it true that announcer is staying at your family's Inn."

"Shut up! Shut up!"

"Someday though, that aside wow! You're looking gorgeous in that Kimono, you must have a lot of male visitors."

"Leave me alone! I'm sick of it." S Yukiko said

"I don't get what's getting on with all these voices, but I can sense that we're getting closer." Teddie said

This is getting tiring, but we're almost there, I hope. Time for floor 7.

"Hasn't my prince come yet? My dear prince, please hurry and take me away! Somewhere. To a world where no one knows me."

"It's close! She's just beyond here!" Teddie said

We made it to the 8th and final floor. We found Yukiko and her Shadow in some kind of throne room.

"Yukiko!" Chie said

"I knew it! There's two of her!" Yosuke said

"Four princes are here to see me? My my! Are you the surprise guests who came in late? Awww, I wish I'd gotten a better look at you. My it's getting crowded in here, why don't you and I go somewhere else? A land far away, where no one knows me. If you're my prince, you'd take me there, won't you? C'mon, pretty please?" S Yukiko said

"Ooh, is this scoring a hot stud!?" Teddie said

"Four princes? Wait, does she include me too!?" Chie asked

"Duh! The fourth one's gotta be me!" Teddie said

"I seriously doubt that." Yosuke said

"Chie, *chuckle*, yes, she's my prince. She always leads the way, she's a strong prince. Or at least she WAS." S Yukiko said

"Was?" Chie asked

"When it comes down to it, Chie's just not good enough! She can't take me away from here! She can't save me!" S Yukiko said

"Yukiko." Chie said

"S-stop." Yukiko said

The data storm is coming, I can feel it.

"Everyone get ready." I said.

"Historic Inn? Manager training? I'm sick of all these things chaining me down! I never even asked to be born here! Everything's decided for me! From how I live, to where I die! I'm so sick of it, to hell with it all!" S Yukiko said

"That's not true." Yukiko said

"I just want to go somewhere far away, anywhere but here. Someone please take me away, I can't leave here on my own. I'm completely useless!" S Yukiko said

"Stop. Please, stop." Yukiko said

"I have no hope if I stay, and no courage to leave. So I sit on my ass, hoping that someday my prince will come! I don't care where we go, anywhere is fine! As long as it's not here, I don't give a damn! Historical tradition? Pride of the town? What a bunch of Bullshit!" S Yukiko said

"How dare you." Yukiko said

"That's how I really feel." S Yukiko said. "Isn't that right, me?"

"N-no." Yukiko said

"Stop! Don't say it!" Yosuke said

"No! You're not me!" Yukiko said

"Heeheeehee! Ahh, this feels wonderful! It's building up more and more, if this keeps up, I'll, I'll-! *chuckle*, ahaha! Ahahahahahahaha!" She laughed

A giant chandelier floated down, with a monster inside as the data storm tore through the castle.

A frame of S Yukiko appeared on a duel board.

"I'll take it from here guys." I said

My Life Points: 8000

S Yukiko Life Points: 8000

"I'll go first. I'll start off by activating the field spell Ignister AIland! I then use it's effect to special summon @Ignister Achichi! Appear, the circuit that reaches out to the truth! I Link Summon, Linguriboh! Then I use AILand's effect again! I summon Doyon from my hand! I then use it's effect to add Achichi back to my hand, and normal summon it! Appear, the Circuit That Reaches Out To the Truth! I Link Summon, @Ignister Dark Templar!" I said

My field is ready. I have to wait until next turn before I play this.

"I end my turn." I said

"Oh my, you did all that on your first turn? Just for one monster? WOW. Let me show you how a real duelist does it. I draw! I activate the spell Ritual Party! By negating their effects and 500 for each, I can special summon Ritual Monsters from my deck! As much as I can that is, I pay 1500 life points to special summon two Shinobaron Peacocks and one Shinobaroness Peacock! Lookie Lookie! I've got a Threesome on my field!"

S Yukiko's Life Points: 8000 - 6500

"I don't understand this at all. Why would she pay that to do that? Then again I have no idea what's going on here." Yosuke said

"I'll explain after we've saved Yukiko!" I said.

"Appear, the Circuit that Guides the Shadows! I set my Threesome into the Link Markers to Link Summon, Dark Shadow: Caged Shinobird!"

"Ok now I'M confused. You just summoned a monster to the extra Zone that doesn't have arrows pointing towards you." I said

"Because silly, I'm going to use my Skill now! Shinobird Bombardment! By banishing the three Shinobirds from my graveyard, I deal damage to you equal to all of their attack points!" She said. "Bye bye!"

Oh this is gonna hurt.

"I was hoping to avoid this, but I don't have any choice! By banishing Judgement Arrows from hand my I can activate a spell from my deck! AIshield! By lowering my life points to 100 I negate all damage to me and monster destruction on my side of the field until the end of my next turn!"

Three feathery fireballs hurtled towards me, I got hit but managed to stay standing.

"Pooey, you're no fun." She said. "Oh well, guess I'll just have to use this then! Shinobird Rearangement! I can move Caged Shinobird to the main monster Zone, and special summon my banished monsters to zones it's linked to! Shinobird's effect! It's attack points double for every monster it's Co Linked to! Fortunately for you it can't attack directly with this effect in play, but it'll be over on my next turn!"

Shit, 16000 attack points. Gonna need some kind of miracle. Well, then it's time to create one!

"My turn! I draw! This works, I activate my Skill! Once per duel, if my life points are 1000 or less, I can add one monster in the data storm to my extra deck! Storm Access! Next I activate the spell return of the miracle! By halving my life points I can return 1 banished spell to my hand, and then add one monster from my deck to my hand! I add Pikari! Then I special summon it! Dark Templar's effect! Whenever a monster is special summoned to a zone it points to, I can special summon two monsters from the graveyard to the remaining zones! It's time! Appear, the Circuit that Reaches Out to the truth! I set Linguriboh, Achichi, and Pikari in the Link Markers! I Link Summon, @Ignister Fire Phoenix! The stage is set, I set Dark Templar in the Link Markers to Link Summon, @Ignister Arcana Warrior The Fool! Then I activate the spell Judgement Arrows! Once more! Appear, the Circuit that Reaches out to the truth! I set Flame Phoenix in the Link Markers to Link Summon, @Ignister Arcana Warrior The Priestess!" I said

"Game Over! I attack Caged Shinobird with the Priestess! Thanks to the Fool's effect, it and Judgement Arrows' effects are passed to the Priestess! Meaning, it gains your monster's attack points, and they're doubled! Go!" I said

The Priestess' eyes glowed red, as several Purple Fireballs appeared around it, and launched a relentless assault on the Bird, causing it to explode.

I leaped back onto the ground. The shadow began moving again.

"What's the plan?" Yosuke asked.

"It'll probably use that cage as some kind of shield, we need to get it away from there and isolate it, so we can finish it off!" I said as I donned my new armour.

"A grappling hook, I can work with this! Yosuke let's go!" I said as I fired the hook at the bird

"Got it, uh, wait, what are we doing?"

"You'll see! Damn it's really not wanting to go!"

I attempted to reel the cable back, but the bird's grip tightened, then it fired a laser beam from its eyes at us. The others managed to jump out of the way but I took the brunt of the blast. Fortunately in that moment it got it off the cage and into the air.

"Yosuke start creating cyclones around it!" I said as I switched to my green armour, then fired an energy sphere at it, causing it to be paralyzed.

Jiraya spun the ninja stars in it's hands, causing several miniature tornados to form around the monster, effectively trapping it.

Then I switched to Bow Mode, and Yosuke jumped onto my shoulder, the both of us launched an attack of Arrows and Shurikens at the monster until it fell to the ground and disappeared.

The normal shadow Reappeared.

"Nice work." I said.

"Yukiko!" Chie said as we ran over to her. "Yukiko are you hurt!?"

"No, I'm not." She said as we turned to face her shadow.

"We understand, you're not the only one like that, Yukiko-san." Yosuke said. "Everyone has something they can't show to others, or they don't want to admit to themselves."

"Yukiko, I'm sorry." Chie said. "I was so self centred that I, never understood what you were going through. I'm your friend and I still, I'm so sorry."

"Chie..."

"I was always jealous of you Yukiko. You had everything that I didn't. That jealousy was like a wall, and I was so lonely! I wanted you to need me, but it was me that needed you! I can't do anything right on my own, I've already caused so much trouble for Yosuke and the others. If you weren't by my side, I, I wouldn't know what to do." Chie said while crying.

"Chie. I never saw the real you either. I was too busy trying to find an easy way out." Yukiko said. She then turned and walked towards her shadow. "I want to run away. I want someone to save me. You're right, those feelings, they're apart of me, too. I understand now, you're me."

The strength required to face oneself has been made manifest. Yukiko has faced her other self. She has obtained the facade used to overcome life's hardships, the Persona Konohana Sakuya.

"Yukiko!" Chie said as we ran over to her.

"Are you ok!?" Yosuke asked

"Yes, I'm just a little tired. You all came to rescue me?" She asked

"Of course!" Chie said

"Thank you."

"Don't even mention it. I'm just so glad that you're safe." Chie said

"Hehe. Right on." Yosuke said

"So, who threw you in here?" Teddie asked

"Huh? Who are you?" Yukiko asked. "Rather, what are you?"

"I'm Teddie! So, who threw you in?"

"I don't know. I think, someone called my name, but, my memory's a blur, I can't remember who it was, sorry, uh, Teddie." She said

"No new clues." He said

"Not necessarily, now that we know for sure that someone threw Yukiko-san in here." Yosuke said

"Hmm, then it really wasn't you guys."

"Are you satisfied?" Yu asked

"I always believed it wasn't you guys. Especially after that one took off my head..."

"You little. You're one lying sack of honey!" Yosuke said

"Anyways. Let's hurry back home, Yukiko looks exhausted." Chie said. "Thanks again Teddie."

"Huh? What you're leaving me here?"

"Leaving you? What're you talking about you live here!" Yosuke said

"Well yeah, but-"

"I'm sorry Teddie, I promise to come again." Yukiko said. "So be a good boy and wait here until then."

Teddie blushed and roared in embarrassment.

"My it's getting crowded in here. Why don't you and I go somewhere else? C'mon, pretty please?"

"Gah! You're giving me the creeps! That's it you're stuck here for the rest of your life!" Yosuke said

Everyone except Teddie headed back to the real world.