Part 31: Part Twenty-Nine: Revelations

Part Twenty-Nine: Revelations

Last time on Persona 2...

Despite finally defeating Guido Kandori and Wang Long Chizuru, the Persona 2 team is still left without a way of stopping Tatsuzou Sudou, or really any idea of what's actually going on. After getting Tatsuya to stop and talk to them, the team convinces him to let them know what the deal is; he tells them to accompany him to the Araya Shrine.


First off, though, let's drop off the prize we got for killing the Blue Cape on the cruise ship earlier.
It is! It's the cape of the rumored specter! Can you give it to me? Really?! Thank you very much. Please take this.

We earn the Woman Powered armor for trading in the Cape; this is one of the best pieces of equipment for Maya, Ulala, and Ellen.


We head over to Rengedai to take Tatsuya to the shrine, but we stop by the Time Castle to register our new spell cards as well. While we're there, the Count says some pretty mysterious stuff.

Nothing special seems to be happening at the shrine...



...until Maya collapses to her knees in an episode of deja vu.

Schoolgirl: Tatsuya, can you hear me? Please...answer me! Tatsuya!


We fade to black, with the sound of fire in the background.



Ulala: Ma-ya, what did you see?
(She tells the party about the fire)
Katsuya: that can't possibly be...This shrine hasn't been set on fire...I used to bring Tatsuya here when we were little. No doubt about it.



Well, pretty easy to tell where we're headed next. Tatsuya stalks off.

Before we follow him, we head to Narumi to turn in the map of the ship, which earns us a bunch of spell cards, most of which we won't really be putting to use. We also take his request for a map of Mt. Iwato.

Mt. Iwato is basically a straight line with forks here and there, along with "secret rooms" hidden behind planks. Every so often, we run into a Spring of Mirrors, where a story scene takes place.
Baofu: Showing people's pasts...You've gotta be kiddin' me...
Ellen: Mt. Iwato of Araya...Like in Lunarvale...I've never been in it though...
Ulala: What should we do, Ma-ya? I kinda have a feeling...it might be better if we didn't go.
Katsuya: Ms. Amano...are we trying to find out what we do not need to know? Is that the case with Tatsuya...?

As we step into the first Spring of Mirrors, we fade to white, then to a sepia image of a school gate.

There, we see Naota, the main character of the first Persona game and a dear friend of Ellen and Mary's. He's leaving.
Mary: Ehh?!
Ellen: I see...
Mary: Y, you know! Did you know, Ellen made it through the modeling audition?! She's one step closer to her dream! Isn't that great?! Come on, Ellen...
Ellen: U, um...I'll do my best. So you do yours...Next...Next time we meet...I'll be a woman you won't even recognize...


Naota takes her hand, and they make their promise to each other.

Ellen: I-I had been hiding my true feelings...I really didn't want you to go...I wanted to be by your side...From that time on, I had forgotten about my dream of being a woman who's true to herself...I was afraid of rejection. The reason why I can't come close to my dream and my smile is so cold...It's all because of my cowardly heart...

Tatsuya proceeds further into the cave after Ellen's epiphany.
Ellen: I feel the clouds in my heart have parted. I will change so I can keep my promise to him...

Oh Baofu, you big softy.

As we continue through the cave after Tatsuya, we come across the first of the secret rooms. Inside, we find the Ancient Sun material card. We'll find three more in here, and I'll display what they produce after we're done with Mt. Iwato.

There's a few demons in here, but they're not a big deal, thanks to fusion spells like Meltdown here - Fire, Earth, Maha Agidyne.

We're sent into a sepia scene of the inside of a school within the second Spring of Mirrors. Eikichi is there, with Lisa and Tatsuya.
Lisa: It's your fault for wearing Kasu High's emblem to Seven Sisters High School!
Eikichi: What?! It's your fault since you're the one who called out the Joker! Well why don't YOU do something about it?!
Lisa: That's it! Now I'm really pissed off! You can't blame me for what happened! I didn't think it was going to turn out like this!


Well, now we know where Eikichi got his nickname...



...and where Lisa got hers. They're so nice to each other.

Tatsuya's Voice: We used the Master Joker, who was said to make dreams come true, and became targets of revenge by the Joker...While we were looking for the Principal who was said to be connected to the Joker, Maya appeared before us...We decided to go after the Joker together.

Katsuya: The Principal's murder was what actually happened in his office.

:dramabomb:
Katsuya: A different reality?!

Ulala: What the heck is going on?! I just don't get it!
Baofu: Hey...you gotta be kidding me...
Ellen: He's from a parallel world...? Well, I don't think he's lying...
Katsuya: This is nonsense! This isn't the 'Twilight Zone'!
Tatsuya heads in further; we follow after him.

We find the second of the four Material Cards here...

...along with an SP Incense.

In the next Spring of Mirrors, we recieve a vision of Tatsuya, Maya, Eikichi, Lisa, and Yuki standing victorious in battle over Tatsuya Sudou.
Tatsuya Sudou: Bastards! You! All of you! And my father who kept me isolated! I'm going to kill you all! Kill you all!

Tatsuya's Voice: They collected people's hopes and dreams as energy...planning to fulfill the Oracle of Maya, the fall of humanity. We found that out through fighting key members of Masquerade...Sudou, Anna Yoshizaka, and Ginji Sasaki...

Katsuya: Are you saying that Ms. Amano and Tatsuya Sudou came from the same reality as you?!
Tatsuya: That's not really true...Sudou was truly a person of "This Side"...He was just told by "him" of the existence of the "Other Side" and was only being used...
Ulala: So what do you mean? it's not like Ma-ya came from that world either, right? Why does Ma-ya only have the memory of this "Other Side"? None of us have it!
Tatsuya: There are many reasons...I don't think you should know any more.
Katsuya: Idiot! As if we could back out after all this!
Tatsuya: If you continue, something bad may happen!


Maya is firm, and so we keep going deeper into the cave.
Ulala: Okay, so Ma-ya is still Ma-ya, right?! We've known each other since high school!
Baofu: The Joker was in another world as well...What exactly happened on the "Other Side"...
Katsuya: "Him"...? Who could he be talking about...?
Ellen: It's the same as Mary? That can't be...

The Silver Bow is the third material card from Iwato; we grab it and keep going...

...where we find the Ortyx, the last of the materials.

In the next Spring of Mirrors, we view a scene of Jun collapsed near some stairs.
Ginko: Thank goodness...he's alright...
Eikichi: Dammit...Making us worry...

Tatsuya displays the ligher he recieved from Jun; it's the same on both Sides.
Tatsuya: Of course...

Jun displays his watch, which had stopped ever since a certain traumatic event that had occured years before. It's ticking again.
Jun: Ahh...even though I promised...we will always protect Maya together...I...I!



Suddenly, a massive wave of resonance awakens all of the Personas.


A strangely gleeful man stands atop the stairs, mocking Jun.
Tatsuya's Voice: The Joker...was my former best friend Jun, who was being manipulated by false memories. No...It wasn't only Jun...Eikichi, Lisa, Maya and me...All of us...We were all friends "playing Masquerade"...Seperated by Sudou's arson 10 years ago...Maya taught us the importance of dreams. Forever, the five of us all together...We all believed that...But Maya had to leave town for family reasons. We couldn't bear that, so we locked Maya in the shrine. And then Sudou set it aflame...We thought Maya had died, so we were scared. And each of us supressed the memory...Jun remembered it and became a Joker. Controlled by "him", he tried to end the world in exchange for the ideal evolution...

Katsuya: Who is that "him" that controlled Jun?

Some of you fans may recognize the name. Yes, it's the same Nyarlathotep.
Tatsuya: He is the being that stands opposite to Philemon...The shadow that lurks deep within Man's heart, toying with destiny. He wants to bring the same chaos to This Side as the Other Side. The New World Order is just one of his pawns.
Baofu: Hey, what do you mean by causing the same thing to happen?
Tatsuya: ...you'll find out.
Ulala: There's a boss behind the New World Order...and that guy's in each and every one of us?
Baofu: The ideal-collecting Masquerade, and the Kegare-collecting New World Order...Serizawa's right, the situations are similar...
Ellen: Nyarlathotep...Crawling Chaos...the Faceless God...He is not just a Persona? (Guido's Persona was also known as Nyarlathotep)
Katsuya: The being that stands opposite to Philemon...? The archetype of existential destruction...? If such a thing exists, it is well beyond our comprehension...The shadow of mankind...

We continue on, and finish the map of Mt. Iwato as we reach the final Spring of Mirrors.

The final scene takes place in a shrine much like the one we met Philemon in around three months ago.
Nyarlathotep: Ha...It may be true that these people can give us good results for our research...
Ginko: What are you saying, Philemon?!
Philemon: We are the origin of people's hearts...The Collective Unconsciousness is just one side of that coin...We've watched the affairs of man from here. I direct the strong of will, and he, the Crawling Chaos, drags the weak to Hell. It is all in order to determine if people's hearts, which are in conflict, can arise as something complete. You have all displayed that possibility. If there are more humans like you, humans can one day become a perfect existence...




Nyarlathotep calls upon Maya Okimura, who stabs Amano with a strange spear. Amano collapses to her knees.

Eikichi: Dammit! Ginko! Use your powers!
Ginko: I'm trying! But...but...the blood won't stop! Why...? Why won't my spell work?! Philemon?!
Philemon: Nyarlathotep...You spread the legend of the Sacred Spear...for this?


Yes, he's talking about the Lance of Longinus, the weapon which was said to have pierced the side of Christ.

Maya whispers something to Tatsuya...

...she's insistent...

...but nothing can be done.

The wound from the Spear of Destiny won't stop bleeding, and she dies of blood loss.
Nyarlathotep: Ha ha...should people be able to realize their dreams?! Forsaking one of the same name, lost in illusion...This is this woman's dream. I will make the human's dream of destruction come true!


Yes, yes she does.
Katsuya: What happened after that?
Tatsuya: Maya, with the name of Maya Okimura, died...the prophecy fulfilled...the world destroyed...leaving only Sumaru behind...In the world of Collective Unconsciousness, where we fought him, strong beliefs become reality...

Baofu: So that's this reality...
Tatsuya: Maya told us to forget about her...to accept everything and move on...But...we couldn't stand it...That's why we made this reality, to trade for our memories, and we escaped here. Hanging on to a faint hope...to remember...
Ulala: ...

Baofu: So that's why Amano and that Jun kid don't remember about the "Other Side"...
Ellen: We don't have a memory of the "Other Side" because we are natives of "This Side"...
Tatsuya: But...that could change. "He" said that I was the "Paradox"...This reality exists on the concept of the resetting the memories of us five...If we all regain our memories, the distortion between the two worlds will grow...and this world will cease to exist. I don't want Maya to be involved anymore. I'm sure you understand now. Please stay out of this.
Baofu: What were we talking about, Serizawa?
Ulala: I don't know...Shouldn't the adults be the one fooling the kids?
Katsuya: No...it's about adults taking responsibility for children's actions...
Tatsuya: ...you tricked me.


Maya reassures Tatsuya with a hug. Everything's going to be okay now.




Not much else needs to be said.

Ellen: Tatsuya, now, it's a fight for you and all...Take really good care of Ms. Amano.
Ulala: What are you going to do, Ellen?
Ellen: With Nate, I'll help the people in the city. I will keep my promise. For myself.
Ulala: Your smile looks better! You'll be just fine. Good luck!

Ellen leaves and Tatsuya joins, basically meaning I need to clean out some room for Tatsuya's Persona.

I do so.

Baofu: Kandori and that woman said that bastard headed for Torifune...how can we find it?
Tatsuya: They created Torifune with a rumor, so if you follow the rumor about the underground, you should find it.
Our next destination is set; time to find the Torifune and stop Tatsuzou. First, though, let's take a look at those material cards we found in Iwato.

Hyperion...

...Prometheus...

...Astria...

...and Artemis are the "Ultimate" Personae for Katsuya, Baofu, Ulala, and Maya respectively. They're not necessarily the "best", but they're pretty solid, and they have a unique special Fusion that can only be used by all of them together at Rank 8.



We also have Tatsuya in our party, and he'll stay there for the rest of the game. He's already equipped with his "Ultimate" Persona, Apollo; his initial Persona when he was the main character of Innocent Sin was Hephastus.

COMING UP NEXT: A recap of Innocent Sin if you guys are still in the dark about what's going on here, plus we'll be heading after Tatsuzou!