"Oh god," croaked Ruruko, voice rising to a hysterical scream. "It's Robo Jackson!"

A random survivor - who hadn't been inside the restaurant when it was attacked - gave her an odd look. "What?"

"Attack!" shouted Sona. "Everyone attack now!"

Water beasts appeared out of thin air and lunged for the man in white. Puck and the assassins sprang into action as green platforms manifested for them to bounce off. The murder bot elegantly kicked with one slim leg, sending glittery shurikens flying towards Sitri's creations. Naturally they did nothing since they were made of water, instead floating harmlessly where the landed.

Small bubbles began to fizz from their surface, until the water creatures were white with froth. With an acrid smell they exploded, sending half dissolved shurikens and hot steam in all directions. Most of the assassins were ripped apart, though Puck avoided the shrapnel by hopping off Nurikabe's platforms. Robo Jackson leapt into the air as he approached, stylishly flinging on arm to the side and knocking out a Hashashin that tried to ambush him as he was airborne.

More shurikens flew out of his sleeve in the direction of Sona's gang, and though they bounced harmlessly off Nurikabe's walls they were soon followed by more; as more of the black clad warriors attacked him he began busting impromptu mid air dance moves to ward them off, flinging out more of the sparkly projectiles each time they did so.

"How is he doing this?" complained Momo, the strain on her Persona's concentration giving her a headache. "There was way more of the other robots and none of them managed to spread their attention this well!"

"Maybe it's a boss?" suggested Ruruko. Robo Jackson fought off the last of the Hundred Faces just as gravity caught up with him, engaging in a free falling kung fu duel with Puck on the way down. "If he's their leader then it makes sense that he'd have a more juiced up mech."

Sona's face went blank. "It's another bird robot, of course!" The sentence came out like a curse, as though she were punishing herself for taking so long to figure it out. "Sitri! Dress Break!"

The leopard spread his wings as his aura flared, and a crackle of electricity went over the murderous celebrity's skin. An electromagnetic pulse straight out of a video game exploded off his body, blasting poor Puck into the upper story of the building where Tsubasa still lay unconscious. There was a crunch as he landed, and though the ground cratered were he hit the earth he looked totally fine, white suit and all.

For a few moments they just stared, wasting precious seconds as he got his bearings. "It didn't work," croaked Sona, and when she spoke again her voice was several octaves higher. "Why didn't it work?"

"Cuz this is Thriller…" He began moving towards them, spinning like a top as he tore through Sitri's water beasts. He finished the move with a dramatic kick, knocking the Goetic Prince away with a yowl. Sona froze as the spotlight eyes locked onto her. "And nothing's gonna save you…" He raised one arm, a gleaming blade sliding out from his sleeve. "From the beast about to-"

"Strike!" roared Puck, crashing feet first into the side of Robo Jackson's face. He flipped end over end until his progress was halted by a parked car. "Your spell worked," explained Puck hurriedly. "But the only thing it dispelled was his forcefield. I felt it while we were fighting."

Sona caught on almost immediately. "If the forcefield is gone, can we eject the pilot?"

"'Fraid not," shrugged the Hobgoblin. "His forcefield is already back up. I felt it when I kicked him just now. Can you shoot one after the other?"

"Not anymore I can't," wheezed Sitri, and for the first time they noticed how hard he was panting. "Taking down his barriers took a lot more energy than I was expecting. I have one more, and that's it."

Sona bit her lip, considering her options. "Can you distract him while Sitri rests?"

The car was torn in half as Robo Jackson pulled himself free, the action taking no more effort than what was needed to rip a piece of tissue paper.

"I'll see what I can do," shrugged Puck, zipping off as Sitri faded out of existence.

Sona half expected him to square up to the murderoid and challenge him to single combat.

She expected wrong.

"Alright metal head!" shouted Puck provocatively. "Let's see who's the TRUE Lord of the Dance!"

He stopped when they were mere feet away. His spotlight eyes considered the Hobgoblin as if assessing his powers of groove. The white hat was carefully removed from his head and tossed to the side; blades sprouted from its rim in mid air, and it embedded in the side of a lamppost with an intimidating thunk.

Presumably, this was the equivalent to throwing down the gauntlet in the funk subculture.

The man in white and the boy in green stared each other down as the lamppost slowly toppled toward them; as the bulb shattered between them they blurred into action. It seemed halfway between dancing and kung fu, the two busting out increasingly ridiculous moves that were clearly intended as violent attacks on their opponent, which they always seemed to dodge at the last second.

"Come on, Puck!" shouted Ruruko encouragingly. "Show that tin can how Robin Goodfellow rolls!"

Momo gave her a look. "Robin who?"

"Robin Goodfellow," Ruruko explained. "It's an alternate name for Puck in Celtic folklore, and was eventually corrupted into the word Hobgoblin, which is basically where all goblin myths come from."

"I… How do you even know that?"

"I've been really into Shakespeare lately," she shrugged. "Fun fact: Shakespeare told the first recorded 'Yo Momma' joke."

The hat suddenly pulled itself from the broken stump, spinning towards the distracted Puck. He somersaulted through the air at the last possible moment, the buzzsaw passing harmlessly beneath him. Robo Jackson took advantage of the distraction, kicking him out of the air and sending him hurtling backward.

One of Nurikabe's walls appeared at the last second, catching him before he could hurt himself. The green material acted like a trampoline, stretching like elastic and bouncing him back as it snapped back into place. Robo Jackson was obviously unprepared for such a recovery, and could only pose with his leg still outstretched as Puck crashed into him; it was like all his dizzying speed was transferred on skin contact, the metal man blasted off his feet as Puck kicked off him, backflipped twice and landed neatly on the ground.

He turned his back as the robot crashed into a building for the second time in as many minutes, this time causing a massive explosion. "Outgrooved," he grinned, catching the bladed hat as it spun back toward him and placing it on his head as the blades retracted. "And outfunked."

"Did that do it?" wondered Momo. Reya mustn't have thought so, since her assassins were flanking her with weapons drawn.

"Well duh," snorted Puck. He adjusted his hat like one of those pretentious actors from old mafia movies, his face once more looking oddly punchable. "I mean, did you see that explosion?"

"It was pretty awesome," Ruruko allowed. "But it still seemed a bit too easy."

"Especially considering it was the most dangerous thing we've seen all day," Sona pointed out. "The big dog thing took more punishment than he did." Puck just rolled his eyes.

"Seriously now," said Ruruko, and her he took seriously. "I like your style and you're one of my favorite characters ever, Shakespeare or no. But if you don't know if he's dead and you're just riding an adrenaline rush or something then I'm warning you now, it will break my heart."

"Don't…" Something began to rise from the wreckage, debris sloughing off as it trudged toward them. "Don't…" Smoke from the burning building began to gather in the sky above, swirling like a huge, dark halo. The immaculate white clothes had been burned away, revealing the gleaming chrome skin beneath. Glowing lines appeared on his face, splitting apart like a character from Sister Location to reveal the wiring beneath. "Don't go around breaking young girls' hearts."

A shrill noise ripped out, stabbing into their eardrums and shattering every window on the street. When the bulbs in the street lights went up they came with accompanying sparks, causing the Persona users to scream and back away. Puck and the Hundred Faces took up defensive positions around their masters, while Sitri appeared at Sona's side and a series of green barriers sprouted around Momo.

He tilted his head back and spread out his arms as gleaming silver armor flashed into existence over his torso, a circular medallion with what looked like a hazard symbol set over his stomach. Light spread like a film over his body, crystallizing as one metal plate after another until everything but his head was covered in a bulky suit evocative of space marines. His spotlight eyes fastened on the Persona users, and as he stepped forward the earth shook.

"Great," muttered Sona. "Just what we need."

Ruruko scowled and clipped Puck over the back of the head. "Double tap, you idiot!"

"Look," said Puck, keeping one hand on his new hat to prevent it from falling off. "I promise this isn't nearly as bad as it seems.

There was another teeth rattling tremor as Mecha Michael took another step.

"How so?" asked Sona sarcastically.

"Look at how slow he's moving," Puck pointed. "Big heavy robots only move that slowly when they work as moving artillery. So long as we stick close, we'll be fine. Here, watch."

He shot off toward the mech before anyone could stop him. The chrome giant reared back one arm, its fist wreathed in lightning. There was a burst of light as the two clashed, the giant remaining steady as Puck was blown backward. As he skidded to a halt the assassins leapt into action, hurling knives, darts and other projectiles at its joints. Panels on its arms and legs began to flip over, revealing glowing red nodes. Over the nodes appeared hexagonal disks of blue light, small force fields protecting it from danger. More appeared on its torso, until the robot was entirely contained in a sphere of blue light.

"Sitri!" barked Sona. "Use a water cutter! Aim for the gaps between panels!" Jets of pressurized liquid that could have cut through metal bounced of the barrier like pennies, deflected in different directions and almost hurting their allies if not for Nurikabe's protection.

Puck lunged back into the fight, bouncing once of a blue panel then unleashing a flurry of blows as he circled rapidly. "Puck!" shouted Ruruko. "Aim for his head! There's no armor there!" The Hobgoblin somersaulted vertically and landed upside down against one of Nurikabe's platforms, jumping off for a crushing blow against the barrier's peak that actually caused it to sink a little into the ground.

They must have been onto something, because the shield flickered briefly before Mecha Michael grabbed Puck by the leg, slamming him into the ground Bam Bam style before hurling him at the closest building. This was more than the structure could take, causing it to tumble to the ground with a massive cloud of debris. Puck must have lived, as Ruruko was still conscious.

"We need to move Tsubasa," said Sona quickly.

"Agreed," nodded Reya, sending a Hashashin to pull her to safety.

More panels began to slide back, revealing rows of small rockets. Puck dodged acrobatically as they fired straight at him, luckily lacking any form of homing system.. Parts of the scenery disappeared into ear ringing explosions as Nurikabe threw up as many barriers as he could. They were protected from the worst of it, but not the heat, the winds laced with rubble nor the ear crippling noise.

The flying chunks of assassin were particularly upsetting.

"Why is this even happening?" screamed Ruruko, crouching behind Momo's Persona as one blast after another sent her hair whipping around her face. "Since when is Michael Jackson a robot?"

"Since Moonwalker!" Momo shouted back, cringing as a missile detonated against her shield. "It was his only leading role besides This Is It! Which really shouldn't count, considering…"

Ruruko gave her a look. "...You're making that up."

The assassin that had helped release their Persona crouched by Reya's side and whispered in her ear. "Its feet!" she shouted suddenly. "Look at its feet!"

Sona looked. A familiar pattern had been melted into the pavement, centred around needles thrown as the other assassins had used themselves as cover. "Sitri! Dress Break, now!"

The array may have mitigated the cost but Sitri still slumped from exhaustion, the mech stumbling as its barrier shattered around it. "Puck!" screamed Ruruko frantically. "Quick, before he…" She trailed off when she saw what he was doing.

The Hobgoblin had grabbed the most expensive kind of car he could find under the chin and was dragging it away. "Booyah!" he roared, swinging it around and sending it spinning through the air toward the disoriented giant. With far more speed than a being of his bulk had any right to, Mecha Michael grabbed it out of the air. As his chrome fingers dug into the hood he used its momentum against it, spinning in a circle before letting go and sending it flying the way it came.

Puck barely had time to widen his eyes before it smacked into him, sending him yet again into the side of a building.

For a moment, Ruruko was speechless with indignation. "Puck… you… DONKEY!"

He turned his spotlight eyes on them, and they all froze. "Any bright ideas?" whispered Reya.

A huge figure fell out of the sky, slamming into the ground opposite. Its red and purple skin throbbed angrily, and its spiked fists clawed at the ground as if in anticipation. Sona glanced at Tsubaki; she was now awake and upright, her Persona standing next to her. "I don't know about you," she said dryly. "But I think 'summon the invincible killing machine' is generally a sound plan."

The Jabberwock gave an eerie, echoing roar before punching the chrome giant in the face, the impact making an incredibly satisfying noise. He evidently wasn't expecting to be slugged by a multi coloured monster, as Alice's monster managed a punishing combo while it was off guard; the mech staggered back as his armour dented with each punch, before finally punching its fist out of the way.

What followed resembled a super sized boxing match, as Mecha Michael and the Jabberwock jabbed and blocked with as much speed as their bulk would allow. As the earth began to rupture beneath their feet the mech attempted to charge his arm with electricity the way he had with Puck; the Jabberwock responded with the exact same move, purple lightning wreathing his fist as they clashed. There was an explosion of light as the two attacks met, sending both colossi skidding back.

The Jabberwock recovered first, dashing forward and grabbing him by his face. Mecha Michael found himself slammed into the side of an office building, carving a huge rent in the wall as he was dragged upward. When the Jabberwock reached the top (apparently capable of flight) it flung him forward before rearing back. One of Nurikabe's platforms appeared beneath its feet, allowing it to jump forward faster than the robot could fly.

When a second platform appeared in the mech's flight path the Jabberwock seized its chance, flying over his head and springing off it to land a punishing blow to the back of his head. Mecha Michael was jerked in the opposite direction and slammed into the ground, carving out a huge trench in the concrete.

When he hauled himself to his feet he was standing between the Jabberwock and the student council, the Persona users drawing back so as not to be caught in the mayhem. The giants charged one another and met in the middle, arms once more lighting up as they grappled.

The difference was when the expected flash happened it was the Jabberwock who looked disoriented.

"Oh crap," croaked Alice. Tsubaki gave her a sharp look.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"That charge broke his horns. Now Jabberwock won't receive anything I transmit."

"Does that mean you can't control it?"

"No. It means he can't regenerate."

The Jabberwock lunged forward, but found its fist stopped dead by the blue barrier. "Since when was that there?" demanded Ruruko.

"Since the first hit he landed on the purple guy," responded Sitri tiredly. "It's like the shield equivalent of a cockroach."

The Jabberwock grasped the bubble in its hands and squeezed it like a lemon. When all it did was burn its hands it began lashing out, striking furiously over and over in impotent fury. "Help him out!" barked Sona. "Everyone attack!"

Sitri, Puck (who had at last emerged from the rubble) and the remaining assassins threw everything they had at the barrier, trying to bring it down before the Jabberwock ran out of juice. Just as it started to falter it let out an almighty roar, bringing both fists crashing onto the weak spot at its peak. The whole thing shattered like glass, the huddling survivors cheering as Mecha Michael stumbled in shock. The Jabberwock still seemed out of sorts, but that didn't stop it from rearing back its fist to finish the job.

His back still to the humans, the robot glared with his spotlight eyes. Just before the spiked fist hit, he screamed.

The sound ripped through the air and made the fragile human listeners clutch their ears, falling to their knees as their eardrums screamed in agony. As they clutched their ears the Persona closest reacted by falling to the ground and coughing up blood, though this was nothing compared to what happened to the street in front of it. Glass shattered, the road shivered and spat chunks of itself into the air and anything metal started to melt.

The Jabberwock got the worst of it. Its skin bubbled and popped, gouts of rainbow colored blood shooting off in all directions. The poor creature clutched its head and roared, its only real eye exploding as its face started to literally sweat blood. It fell on its back and started to thrash and writhe, pieces of it breaking off in the violence. When the noise stopped it slumped in relief, a multicolored puddle forming around it. Slowly, torturously, it rose to its knees.

The chest of the murderoid slid open, revealing an ominous twin barreled cannon. With sound effects straight out of Star Trek blue plasma blasts fired at the Jabberwock, so hot the weapon had melted closed after only three shots. The Jabberwock staggered backward, remaining upright for a brief moment before tipping slowly onto its back. It whined pitifully, reaching weakly for the smoking wounds on its chest.

Contemptuously the mech stepped forward, earning a groan of pain as its right knee crunched beneath his foot. With his second step the Jabberwock's chest almost caved in, and with his third its head was pulverised to nothing. Slowly, almost apologetically, the creature dissolved into dust.

Alice swooned against Tsubaki's leg. "Alice?" she hissed. "Are you alright?"

"I… Yeah…" Alice watched sadly as the last motes of the Jabberwock's existence were blown away by the wind. "But I'm afraid it'll be awhile before I can bring him back."

They all froze as the chrome giant turned around. "Well," sighed Puck. "We're screwed."

"Maybe not," said Sona suddenly. "The Jabberwock dented him a few times while his shield was down, remember?"

Indeed, as Mecha Michael arduously turned himself around they could see an incredible amount of damage had been done to his abdominal plating. In fact, most of the slots he had fired rockets out of looked like they been bent shut.

"We can beat him," Sona insisted. "We just need a decisive blow while his guard is down."

"It's too late now," remarked Momo. "Not to be negative, but it's already back up."

"Urgh," groaned Tomoe, making everyone jump. "What… Ow… What happened?"

"Fantastic!" grinned Sona, gripping the younger girl by her shoulders. "And in our hour of need!"

"What?" blinked Tomoe, still half asleep. "What's going- Oh holy crap!" She pointed at the mech and backpedalled, almost pulling Sona over. "Is that the robot from Moonwalker?"

Momo shot a smug look at Ruruko, who just scoffed and said it proved nothing.

Sona ignored them. "Can you summon your Persona?"

Tomoe blinked, and Musashi phased back into existence. "Yo."

"Perfect," nodded Sona, and turned her attention to Reya. "Can you bring out the woman who made that array?"

"No, sorry," winced Reya. "One of the missiles got her as she was setting up the last one."

Sona took a moment to process this. "Then where is the last one?"

Reya pointed. The array of melted lines remained set into the ground a few feet beyond where the mech was standing.

"Musashi?" said Sona. "Can you fire off your trump card on command?"

"If I start charging it now it'll be even stronger," she nodded. "Why?"

"Start charging now," Sona ordered. "Sitri, get ready to use Dress Break."

Tsubaki, Tomoe, Alice and Musashi all gave her odd looks. "Dress what?"

"Never mind," she said hurriedly. "Everyone else, we need to push that thing back until it's in that circle."

"Do we have a plan?" asked Tsubaki.

"Yes," hedged Sona. "But it's one of those all or nothing last resort type plans."

"Awesome," grinned Ruruko. "Let's do it."

Musashi and Sitri began gathering magic as Alice summoned her Trump Men; the playing card soldiers marched on the giant with suicidal determination, Puck leading the charge as Nurikabe and the Hundred Faces offered support from the rear. Mecha Michael put up a great fight but had no permanent solution to the immortal legion. Any attempt he made to finish them off was thwarted by the interfering support fighters, while Puck focused on attacking his point of balance.

Slowly but surely the transformed musician was being forced backward, the array coming ever closer. One foot landed inside the circle.

The whole group held its breath.

Slowly, painfully slowly, the second foot joined it.

Sona gave Tomoe a curt nod. "Musashi!" she grinned. "Do your worst!"

"Namu," growled the samurai. "Come hither, my roaring sword." Within moments the four armed Asura was there, massive swords at the ready. "Ishana, Daitenshou!"

Sona tensed as the elemental swords crashed uselessly against the glowing shield. She counted the elements down as Sitri crouched next to her, wings spread as he gathered every scrap of magic he had. At last the Asura disappeared, replaced by the colossal white beam sword.

"Now!" barked Sona. "Dress Break now!"

The array glowed beneath Mecha Michael's feet, his face warping in shock as his barrier shattered. His face shone in the light of Musashi's sword.

"Six Realms Five Planes," she snarled. "Divine Figure of Kurikara, bitch!"

In a tremendous feat of guts the giant tried to catch the attack, but all that accomplished was ensuring his hands were the first thing to be vaporised. He was blown away like a leaf as it hit, disappearing under the surge of light and noise.

When the storm passed all they saw was a puddle of liquid metal, a skeletally thin figure lying in the centre.

Sona let out an explosive sigh and flopped tiredly to the ground. When Sitri slumped next to her she buried her face in his soft fur. "I need a nap."

"Should you really be doing that?" dithered Momo. Nurikabe let his walls down, and she immediately made him put them back up again. "This isn't the first time we thought we'd taken him down."

"He melted," Puck pointed out. For some reason, he was still wearing the white hat. "That usually equates to death."

"Oh really?" The biting sarcasm in her voice wasn't something they heard from her often. "Then why have all the other monsters we killed disappeared?"

The whole group went still. "Oh," croaked Ruruko. "That's… bad."

"Who's…"

All eyes turned to the pool of metal.

"Who's…"

The skeletal figure rose to its feet, the liquid metal floating in streams and bubbles around it. The pilot's feathers could be seen poking out in places where the inner exoskeleton had been breached.

"Who's bad?"

The figure began to float into the air, the liquid metal swirling around it like a cloak. By the time it was completely hidden the odd substance had begun to reshape itself. It had managed wings, a nose and spotlights before they realised what it was.

"A spaceship?" said Ruruko flatly. "The homicidal robot musician turns into a spaceship?"

"It did in Moonwalker," said Momo reasonably. "It makes sense."

"No! No it does not!"

"Don't worry," said the little girl, who she had actually forgotten about until that point. "I haven't seen it either."

Before Ruruko could mention that wasn't actually what she was annoyed about, Puck had tucked her under one arm and the child under the other before taking off at top speeds. Musashi had thrown Tomoe over her shoulder while Sitri had grabbed Sona by the scruff of her neck. Everyone else was being ferried away by assassins and Trump Men, the Persona fleeing in all directions.

The Moonwalker's engines thrummed as it turned in the air, light gathering at its tip. A blaze of light exploded from the ship's nose, melting a huge rent in the ground that would have annihilated them had their Persona not dragged them to safety.

"Holy crap!" screamed Tomoe, after they had taken cover behind a sturdy looking heap of rubble. "What was that? What the HELL was that? Is it supposed to do that?"

"Yes, actually," admitted Momo. "It's how he killed the main villain."

Sona ignored them, frowning thoughtfully. "Are we forgetting something?" Next to her, Tsubaki's face went pale.

"Could that be it?"

Saji was lying in the middle of the road; by some miracle, the Moonwalker had missed him in its first attack. He slowly blinked awake, sitting up and rubbing his face where Sona had punched him.

"Ugh… What… the…"

The ship had turned to face him and was already charging another blast. At the last possible second Puck zipped past, the beam missing Saji by inches as he was pulled away.

"Ow!" complained Saji, head cracking against something hard as he was shoved under cover. "What was…" He trailed off as he noticed Puck standing over him. "Are you a Persona?"

"Why yes I am," grinned Puck, gearing up for a flamboyant bow. "I am the magnificent-"

"Puck, right?" The Hobgoblin blinked, caught slightly off guard. "From A Midsummer Night's Dream?"

"I… Yes. How did you…"

"I am such a fan!" gushed Saji, clutching his hand and shaking it excitedly. "I love your play! Shakespeare in general, but yours in particular!"

"Ah," nodded Reya sagely. "So that's why you got into it."

Ruruko turned pink, but didn't grace her with an answer.

"So why're we hiding- Whoa!" Saji ducked as a beam of energy shot overhead, annihilating what was left of their favourite restaurant. "Was that a spaceship?"

"Yep," nodded Tomoe gravely. "Robo Jackson was a Transformer, apparently."

"Like in Moonwalker?"

"Oh come on!"

"We're pinned down," said Sona, trying desperately to keep the discussion on track. "He has too much firepower for us to get past, at least without the Jabberwock."

"I see," Saji murmured, glancing between Puck and Nurikabe. "So does everyone have a Persona now?"

"Everyone but you, yes."

"Seriously?" sighed Saji. "How long was I asleep? What knocked me out anyway?"

"A piece of rubble," said Sona quickly. "It was sent flying by… by the monsters. It was an accident. Just… an accident."

"Unlucky," he sighed regretfully. "How did you bring your Persona out anyway? Any tips?"

"I don't know about the others," said Ruruko. "But ours were brought out by the boss."

Saji immediately perked up. "Really? How?"

"It's called Dress Break."

"Why call it that?"

"No reason," said Sona quickly. "We can't use it now anyway. The arrays were destroyed and we have no way to make more."

Saji noticed the random noun. "What's an array?"

"It's a magic circle that enhances spells," supplied Reya. "One of the Hundred Faces made them, but she was killed by the giant robot."

"So we could make them ourselves?" At their confused looks, Saji elaborated. "If we knew the pattern, I mean. Couldn't we just make them ourselves?"

Sona blinked. Despite herself, she liked the idea. "We… could, I suppose. But they're very complicated. It would be impossible to pull off if we couldn't remember exactly."

"I remember."

Everyone jumped, and not because of the plasma cannon still randomly blowing up bits of scenery. "Nurikabe?" hissed Momo. "You can talk?"

"Language is the vehicle of despair," he droned miserably. "To speak is to invite pain unto oneself, and unto others, and unto all who understand the spoken word."

"Kickass!" grinned Puck. "Now we just need to copy it down and we have a new fighter fresh and ready!"

"Bear in mind," said Tsubaki. "That he has no hands. He's going to have to dictate for us."

A green wall appeared out of nowhere, a perfect reproduction of the Dress Break array marked on its side.

"Wow," marvelled Sona. She looked at her Persona curiously. "Will that work?"

"Maybe," Sitri shrugged. "I don't know if you have to stand on it or not."

The wall tipped backward with a depressing thunk, array facing upward. Puck gave Saji a friendly pat on the back. "All you buddy."

Saji nervously inched into the circle, remaining crouched so the Moonwalker didn't catch sight of him. Sona gave her Persona a curt nod, and the leopard spread his wings. "Dress Break."

(I am thou.)

Like a geyser going off, each individual line of the array erupted with black miasma. The student council was blown back as the cloud filled the street, and even the Moonwalker lost its bearings in the blast. Saji closed his eyes as they started to sting, a noxious smell spilling up around him; some of the smoke wrapped around his right wrist, taking the shape of a black, lizard like bracelet with purple jewels for eyes.

(Thou art I.)

The bracelet disappeared, the jewels floating into the air and glowing like demonic eyes. The miasma that had scattered around the street was sucked back in, enveloping them like a cocoon. The Moonwalker regained control of itself, slowly rotating in the direction of the new challenger.

(From the sea of thy soul, I cometh.)

The smog began to twist into a serpentine new shape, the jewels remaining where the head should be. Tendrils of light sprang from its back like wings and its skin morphed from smoke into black scales, its body surrounded by purple light. The jewels had changed entirely into reptilian eyes, with a third sprouting from the flesh between them.

(I am Vritra, the Black Dragon King.)

As the Moonwalker finally faced the dragon its tip began to glow, the plasma cannon firing at his head. A dome of translucent black light stopped it in its tracks, sparks skittering inches from the dragon's face. Vritra glared contemptuously.

(Delete Field.)

Vritra shifted his coils, the dome expanding around him and pushing the beam back; when the spaceship itself was within the barrier the cannon puttered out and died. The Moonwalker's lights flickered, as if communicating its confusion. The tendrils on the dragon's back withdrew for a moment before suddenly flashing out like a frog's tongue.

(Absorption Line.)

The tentacles burrowed into the Moonwalker's hull and began to pulsate, as though sucking something from its insides. As the lights started to shut down and its chrome plating started to lose its shine, the ship began accelerating for the sky. The tentacles strained to keep it in place, but one by one they were starting to snap and come away. Some of them spilled an oily substance from their severed ends, while others simply gushed blinding light.

"It's escaping!" barked Sona. "Kill it now! Don't let it bring back reinforcements!"

"Vritra!" screamed Saji. "Bring it down!" The Dragon King's eyes glowed as his tentacles regenerated, their tips burrowing in the ground.

(Shadow Prison.)

Pillars of black fire erupted from the concrete, the tendrils pulsing as they visibly pumped the stuff into the ground. The flames wrapped around the Moonwalker like a blanket, dragging it slowly to the ground. A wailing noise emanated from its engines, resembling the noise that had crippled the Jabberwock. Vritra floated higher into the air, looked down at it coldly and opened his mouth.

(Blaze Black Flare.)

The screaming became noticeably high pitched as the ship was engulfed in the flame. The black fire that poured from Vritra's mouth was noticeably more violent than the one produced by his last technique; it resembled napalm, sticking to the hull like glue and eating away at it like termites on wood. Part of the outer plating reverted to liquid and began swirling about as though trying to put them out, but whatever it did the flames stuck to it like it was cursed.

Slowly, deliciously, it started to fall.

"Yes!" cheered Saji, hopping in place and punching the air. "Booyah!" Ruruko had seized the opportunity to hug him, while Momo was looking between him and the crashing ship with her jaw working in silent disbelief.

"We won!" squealed Reya, high fiving a likewise squealing Tomoe. "We won!"

Sona and Tsubaki exchanged a look. With a quiet smile, they relaxed.

(I wouldn't be so sure,) growled Vritra, his eyes on the defeated Moonwalker. His remaining tentacles were pulling away with their tips burnt, while the ship core was slowly starting to glow. (The machine is preparing to self destruct.)

"What?" blinked Ruruko, shock quickly giving way to panic. "That's… What do we do? What do we do!"

"Nurikabe!" commanded Momo. "Block the-"

(I'm afraid it'll take more than a depressed brick wall to stop this.)

"Alas, I have failed before I have even begun. Unable to attack, and now unable to defend."

(That's going to get annoying quickly.)

"There has to be something we can do," panicked Sona. "We just need to think and-"

(Oh relax,) snorted Vritra. (We are in no danger. That right there? Not worth worrying about.)

Saji gave his Persona a confused look. "What do you mean?" With a sound like someone drinking a slushie through a straw, Vritra disappeared into his shadow. A single sentence was left in his wake.

(Just ask Mister Perfect over there.)

Sona turned away from the falling warhead and stared at Saji as if he was the cryptic one. "What?"

A familiar voice echoed out through the air.

"Galahad!"

A figure in black armour leapt over their heads, the road cratering beneath his feet as he landed; in his hand was his massive, cross shaped shield, placed firmly between them and the Moonwalker.

"Lord Camelot!" He barked.

A glowing blue wheel appeared in front of his shield, the sort that was used to steer a ship. Immense stone walls sprang from the ground, towering around them and hiding what meagre sunlight was left. Behind them appeared a gleaming castle, a sight so magnificent it couldn't be anything but the seat of King Arthur himself.

Speaking of which, by this point he was already up and kicking. But that's a story for another time.

They felt and heard the explosion before they saw it. The ground trembled, there was an incredible noise and a gout of blue flame could be seen over the castle wall, but that was it.

The castle disappeared as Galahad turned to face them. "That's Sir Perfect, thank you."

A derisive snort came from Saji's shadow in response. (Whatever you say, snow cone. Come back when you've hit puberty.)

Galahad's eyes flashed. "How about you say that to my face, lizard?"

(How about you suck my scaly dragon balls?)

"Vritra, shush!" hissed Saji. He gave Tsubasa an apologetic look as she came over, fully conscious at last. "I'm sorry about him. There's really no excuse."

"It's cool," she grinned, hugging and fistbumping the other members. "So, turns out I wasn't imagining things. You have no idea how good it feels to know you're sane."

"There's a monster apocalypse going on," Tsubaki pointed out. "Is that really a good thing?"

"For me it is. I may start panicking later, but for now… I…" She looked at Puck and cocked her head. "Are you… wearing Michael Jackson's hat?"

"I am!" he grinned, tipping it at a rakish angle. It was odd for a man in a leaf tunic, but it suited him. In an avant-garde sort of way, but still.

Tsubasa shook her head and turned to Sona. "So, does everyone have a Persona now?"

"Everyone," nodded Sona. "Saji got his just before you woke up."

"And it was the coolest yet!" gushed Ruruko. Next to her, Saji turned an amusing shade of pink.

(You can actually hear his ego swelling.)

"Be quiet," said Saji. "Don't ruin this for me."

"I hate to be a killjoy," Tsubaki interjected. "But should we really be celebrating? Everytime we thought we'd won so far something new showed up."

"So?" snorted Puck, suddenly looking very punchable again. "We've thrashed everything that came at us and now we have the Black Dragon King and the Perfect Knight in our corner. Seriously, just look at them!"

"Yeah," grinned Musashi dreamily. "Look at him." Galahad shivered under her gaze and edged behind Nurikabe, who made a forlorn comment about not having a penis.

"But seriously now," Puck continued, and Ruruko suddenly realised what he was about to say. He either ignored or didn't notice her frantic gestures to shut up. "What could possibly go wrong?"

An upper floor of a nearby building exploded, sending bits of rubble flying across the street.

"Jesus christ!" cursed Tsubasa, backpedalling desperately as Galahad took up position in front of her.

"Dammit Puck!" shouted Ruruko angrily. "Everytime!"

Black miasma was creeping up Saji's arms as a dark figure jumped down from the crater in the wall, a shorter figure stepping away and coughing through the haze of dust.

Saji's Persona froze mid summon as he processed what he was seeing.

"Don't I know you?"

The young man was about his age, but shorter and skinnier with brown hair and glasses. His name was Motohama, and he was one of the Three Idiots of their school. "Who's asking?" He squinted at them for a moment before reacting with the same expression Saji had when he recognised him. "Wait, aren't you the student council?" He looked over Galahad, Musashi and particularly Alice thoughtfully. "So all of you are…"

The tall man that carried him on the way down was good looking and wearing odd clothes; he was almost certainly Motohama's Persona. Over his shoulder was slung an unconscious young man with a fit physique and a shaved head, who Saji recognised as Motohama's closest friend Matsuda.

"We should run," Motohama said quietly. "All of us. Right now."

"Why?" frowned Sona. "Is something chasing you?"

"Yes, now can we please-"

"There's eight of us," remarked Tsubasa, who was evidently feeling cocky. "Nine including you and ten with sleepy head over there. We should just flatten the thing!"

(Seconded!)

"No!" hissed Motohama. "You don't under-"

The pavement ruptured as something hit the ground behind him, sending up a second annoying dust cloud. Motohama froze, then slumped his shoulders in defeat.

"Ah, crap."

The figure that stepped from the smog was ridiculously tall and buff, with arms thicker than some torsos and a chest that could block bullets. His short hair and square jaw immediately reminded them of a movie they had all seen, and his black leather jacket was clearly taken from the same film.

His eyes glowed red.

"Uh oh," croaked Saji.

The man took a pair of sunglasses from his pocket. Slowly, calmly, he placed them on his face.

"I'm back."