Part 19: Part Seventeen: God Damn, I Can't Figure This Shit Out

Part Seventeen: God Damn, I Can't Figure This Shit Out

Last time on Persona 2...

The Persona gang went to Club Zodiac, which they had turned into a dungeon by spreading a rumor. There, they met Yung Pao, a Chinese assassin who seemed to have some connection to Baofu and the police. Yung Pao sicced Noriko, who had been turned into a Joker, on them, but they defeated and rescued her; shortly thereafter, Katsuya recieved a call from a mysterious informant named Sneak, who told the team to meet him at Aoba Park.
Before we go over there, however, let's go check out the new area of the Bomb Shelter that just opened!

Here's the door. Ominious, isn't it?

We're not five minutes into Area 2 before we find the map for it, which comes in handy; the Areas get more and more mazelike as we continue through them.

Near the map, we also find a bulletin board, which directs us to a paper that we already read earlier. Handy.



We also find another of Sachiko's letters, though it doesn't give us any information to help solve the Bomb Shelter's big puzzle. That's about all that's in here, time to get goi--

OH GOOD CHRIST WHAT IS THAT Maybe we can talk to it?

Guess not. Shaka here is a Persona-demon; these show up rarely in certain dungeons, can't be contacted, and tend to be significantly more brutal in combat than the stock demons in the area. On the upside, once they're killed, they drop their Material Card so you can summon them back in the Velvet Room.
Of course, that doesn't mean they'll just sit there and let you kill them...




Shaka is Strong Against All, so he eats a Fusion Spell of each element and smiles through it.

He then responds with his signature spell Nirvana, which does Holy damage to the entire party; thankfully, Maya and Baofu are both immune to Holy damage, and Ulala and Katsuya are easily patched up.
We hammer away at Shaka with everything we've got - elements and such don't really matter since he resists everything. Soon after...

...he goes down, and we get his Card, the Yuiga Dokuson. Shaka's an awesome Persona but we don't have much use for him just yet, so I'll give him a proper introduction later on.



It's finally time to upgrade our armor, so we stop by Toa Armory and Rosa Candida and hook ourselves up with the best available options; we also drop by Parabellum to see the new weapons, but none of them are worth dropping the quid to obtain.

There's also a crazy old man spreading rumors about the flowers in Aoba Park; apparently they talk. It's hard when you start losing your hearing. I'd like to talk to the flowers about the old times...

Hey, wait. Spreading rumors? We go over to Kuzunoha and give the guy some help, then head on into Aoba Park.

It's a great place; the sun is shining, the birds are singing, an--

OH GOD NOT AGAIN

Nata here is another Persona-Demon; he's level 39, and the team averages at level 24, so we're in for a nasty fight.

He starts the battle by casting Taru Kaja on himself, doubling his physical attack power, and proceeds to smack Katsuya for nearly three hundred damage; about thirty more than poor Kat's max.

Nata is only weak to Lightning, and we've only got Iris' Zionga for that. Since he doesn't resist anything else, though, we balance reviving characters after his uber-powerful attacks and using our most powerful spells, and eventually he goes down.

We win Nata's Card, the Paopei, for taking him out. Nata's another awesome Persona; this is the norm for the Persona-Demons, sadly however we can't use him until level 34, so we tuck his card away for later use.

With that taken care of, we move on, and meet this guy before long. But, be careful of the purple flower. It starts asking questions, and blows poison at you if you can't answer them. Dragons and affinities, what's that all about? Maybe the other flowers know...Do you have any idea?
Wait...dragons and affinities...you can't mean...

...yes, even the fucking plants are obsessed with Wang Long. Well, let's chat with the rest of them and see what we can come up with.


By the way...I'm...a Red Draogn.

But my sister, one month younger, has good affinity with the Silver Dragon! Well, I have good affinity with the Gold Dragon, so there!


But, I have great affinity with my sister, four months younger. Well, don't think about it too much. How can I STOP thinking about it? Everybody, their Mom, and their houseplants won't shut up about it!
That looks like all the flowers, let's go see what that purple flower wants to know.



Wait, so now I actually have to THINK about this Wang Long crap? Fuck that.

Guess what, guys? It's time to step up to bat. Solve this puzzle for me, and post your answer with spoiler tags so everyone has a chance to try. The next update's going to be a big one, so hold on to your hats, coats, and undergarments!

COMING UP NEXT: We make the single most important decision ever.