Part 22: 5/23/11

5/23/11

It was raining earlier today, which really gave us a scare at first.



Looks like the rain'll stop in the afternoon.
The forecast was saying it'll be a while before any fog shows up.

When we saw it would end before the afternoon, we were less worried.



Yeah. I'm countin' on ya, Leader.

Morooka was shooting his mouth off again.



The first-years are slacking off because you guys are slacking off! Kanji Tatsumi is a perfect example!
That lazy punk is always ditching! I'd expel his ass from school if I were his homeroom teacher!
You may not think it's any of your business, but it is! You could all be expelled just as easily!
Cause any problems, and you earn a one-way ticket out of this place! You best keep that in mind!

What an asshole. Before we headed into the TV, I decided to see if the fox had another wish for me. Sure enough he did.



I think I've seen a dog around town, maybe that's the one. Before we returned to the Sauna, I headed for the Velvet Room. There was a… conspicuous absence.

VIDEO- "The Empress"

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> Igor is nowhere to be found…
Oh…
Excuse me. Do you have any business here?
Mmm… As you can see, my master is currently away.
If your errand isn't urgent, I regret to ask that you come back lat-
No, that won't do.
This room is bound tightly too your fate. Nothing here happens without a reason…
There must be meaning in our meeting here alone.
Welcome to the Velvet Room.
I am Margaret.
I am the one who rules over power, invited here after my predecessor's sudden disappearance.
You may be the first person who has ever been welcomed her by someone other than my master.
The Velvet Room is inseparable from the heart of its invited guest…
The shape of the room and its residents are selected by my master, based on the number of guests and their destiny…
Shall we chat?
I feel that is what I am called to do.
> A faint smile appeared on Margaret's face.
> Her eyes have a hint of gentleness in them, unlike her normal gaze…
> You feel a faint bond forming between your and Margaret…

I don't know which is stranger, a link with a fox or a link with a supernatural lady from a room that may or may not be real. Also I'm kind of concerned she might be hitting on me.



It seems you have several "Social Links" already.
Recurring meetings, recurring words… By deepening your understanding of one another, your bonds strengthen.
But sometimes the heart is shaken more by a single action than a thousand words.
Do you understand?

Before this started I'd have had no idea what she was talking about, but now I think I'm beginning to.



Hmhm…
Today's meeting might be classified as that single action.
I've decided.
The strand of fate you follow… Entangle me within it as well.
Perhaps a new bond will be spun.
There is something I have wanted to know, and you are the first guest I welcomed here…
In light of today's meeting with my master absent… Hm.
I believe we are both special to one another…
> Margaret is smiling…
I want to know more about you.
First, I think I shall have you show me your rare Persona ability.
Let me see…
Show me an Ippon-Datara that knows Sukukaja.
The heart is shaken more by a single action than by a thousand words… Have you already forgotten?
Hmhm, then I have something to look forward to.
I wish you well.

I found myself back in the lobby. A quick inventory revealed all the components I'd need to complete this task on hand, so I headed back for the Velvet Room.



What a strange thing. Anyway, Margaret was impressed.



An Ippon-Datara with Sukukaja… You have successfully completed the quest…
Well-rounded, flexible, muscular… Splendid.
…You've done good work here.
You are indeed the one with infinite potential…
*chuckle *… Now I'm even more curious about you.
> Margaret is smiling gently…
> You became a little more intimate with Margaret…

Seriously I think she's hitting on me.



Well then… For my next request…
Bring me a Matador with the Mahama skill. I know that if anyone can do this for me, it's you.
I eagerly await your return.

I wasn't quite strong enough to create a Matador, whatever the hell that was supposed to be, so we headed back to the damn sauna.



A man's…
A man's got this thing called pride…
Heheh, I'll never lose…
Hrmmm… It's not good…
The steam's getting worse, so I can't tell where Kanji-kun is at all…
Maybe it's already time for me to retire from being a guide…

And it just got worse and worse.



This feeling… The other Kanji's staring at us!
Hey there, cutie pie!
Are you trying to break the barrier of the acceptable, just like me?
No! Sensei came to rescue Kanji!
OoooOOOOoooh! Does that mean you're yearning for me? Is that so?
Oh, that makes me sooooo happy!
Well then, I simply MUST prepare something spectacular for you!
I'm so looking forward to seeing you soon!
Well, tootaloo!
……
Sensei… This little bear's getting too scared to go on…

The steam was even thicker on the next floor.



For some reason, this floor is really steamy.
Hang in there, guys!

The steam seemed to be coming from behind one door in particular. That's always a bad sign.

VIDEO- "Daring Gigas"

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This place is heating up from the sudden entry of a fine young man!
To celebrate this encounter, I've prepared a special stage tonight!
A single match with no time limit! Who will be left standing in the end?
Now, pour out your hot blood and guts!
D-Don't lose, Sensei!

Boss: Daring Gigas
This guy is an ass. He's only got one trick but it's a real show-stopper. He'll buff himself with Tarukaja to increase his attack power and Rebellion to increase his crit rate, then use Power Charge. This makes his next physical move do about 2.5x normal damage. At this point he'll unleash a brutal attack on someone. When any of the buffs wear off he'll renew them. He's not really weak to anything and can counter physicals. Bringing a Persona with resistance to physical is pretty helpful, just in case. There's not really much 'strategy' to this, though, it's a slugfest.



I knew you would win!
> Obtained Bathhouse Key.
We did manage to get through that big wrestler looking thing somehow.



No, dammit!
That ain't important to a man's man…
That's not what I want to become…
That ain't it at all!
……
Hey, Sensei?
The world you came from seems really complicated…
Even since I met you, I really had to think hard about stuff like what I am…
So I can kinda understand how Kanji feels.
……
Sensei, we gotta save Kanji!



This place is great… It's wonderful here…
……
S-Something definitely feels wrong!
Sensei, we need to hurry!

Teddie was feeling pretty useless.



I can't hear Kanji's voice…
……
Alrighty!
I'm gonna get myself pumped up again to look for Kanji!
Concentrate! Raaaaaaaaawr!
……
Here goes!
……
Whoa… this feeling! I think I've made a comeback!
Kanji's not far from here!
I'm positive he's really close by!

Teddie was right. Not long after that we reached the summit of the creepy sauna.

VIDEO- "Manhood"

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Kanji!
I-I…
Oh, come now, enough with the charade. Isn't it awful to deceive people? To deceive yourself…?
What's so bad about doing what I want to do?
That has nothin' to do with it…
I'm what you really want, aren't I?
Hell no!
Ohh, how I hate girls…
So arrogant and self-centered! They cry if you get angry, they gossip behind your back, they spread nasty lies…
They look at me like some… some disgusting THING and say that I'm a weirdo…
Laughing at me, all the while!
"You like to sew? What a queer!" "Painting is so not you."
"But you're a guy…" "You don't act like a guy…" "Why aren't you manly…"

Yeah this one was much worse than any of the previous ones.



Girls are so scary…
I-I ain't scared of 'em!
Men are much better…
They'd never say those awful, degrading things. Yes, I vastly prefer men…
Hell with that! What makes you think you can say that shit with my face…!?
Why, you're me… and I'm you… You do know that, don't you…?
No… Nuh-uh! No way!
There's no way in hell that you're me!
*chuckle * Teeheehee… You're me, and there's no denying it!

Seriously next time someone's going to say that we should cold-cock them or something. Anyway it turned into the biggest, gayest Shadow ever.



Kanji-kun!
Everyone, on guard!

And we were once again up against someone's Other Self.

VIDEO- "Shadow Kanji"

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I'm just being true to myself… And that's why…
I'll get rid of anything in my way!
Are these… Kanji-kun's true feelings?
This isn't really him! It's just his emotions going haywire!
This has nothing to do with you guys anymore! Didn't I just say I'm gonna get rid of you!?

Boss Battle: Shadow Kanji
We're up against Shadow Kanji and his two buddies, the Nice Guy and the Tough Guy. In the first phase of the fight, Shadow Kanji's only abilities are Swift Strike, Fatal End, and Power Charge. Normally he'll just alternate between Power Charges and Swift Strikes, it's actually sort of rare for him to use Fatal End or a Swift Strike without a Charge. He's not weak against anything, and is immune to lightning. The Tough Guy uses a mix of largely ineffectual physical skills and is actually really hard to kill, so we'll just ignore him. The Nice Guy uses a lot of buffs, including Heat Riser (+Offense/Defense/Agility), which is needless to say really annoying. Our strategy for the start of the fight, then, is to kill the Nice Guy while keeping the enemy party's buffs clear with Yosuke's Dekaja every few turns (or just in general if Kanji's both Charged and Heat Risered, that is sort of dangerous). Once the Nice Guy is down, we can move on to Kanji. When his health gets to about 2/3 max, he'll telegraph his first phase change by saying this:



In this phase he gains the skill Forbidden Murmur, which he'll always use that turn. This skill attempts to poison your whole party, so hopefully you brought some Dokudami Tea to cure it. At about 50% Kanji will start mixing his moves up a bit more, which is telegraphed by this taunt.



Things don't get really exciting until he's at about a third of his health, though.



No matter what, I won't lose!

At this point he will always cast a special lightning skill, Fanatical Spark, and he'll start using it quite heavily from this point on. If he manages to knock down Yosuke with this, he'll spend his One More on a Fatal End usually.

So, there's a rather obvious way to make this fight a lot easier for you, which is to bring a Persona that resists Physical attacks. I generally use Rakshasa for this, because it's Strength Arcana (which should mean it gets a lot of bonus exp on fusion even this early) and it gets Kill Rush, which is broken as fuck (watch the video if you want to see exactly why). The thing to remember is that Kanji's offense and defense aren't that impressive when he's not buffed. You can blast through that last 33% where he gets dangerous pretty damn quickly if you go all-out. I suggest you be about level 24 or so for this, which isn't hard at all if you don't duck out of fights in the Sauna.

The Shadow was huge, but for all its muscles and roses and creepy giant male signs it didn't have shit on us.

VIDEO- "Awaken Take-Mikazuchi"

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Kanji-kun!
Wait, Yukiko! Something's wrong.
I-It's still coming at us! Kanji's still rejecting it…
Well, I can't blame him with this many witnesses…
Such a passionate approach…
What?
I think that you three… would make wonderful boyfriends.
S-Stop it! Y-You got it all wrong!
Enough… Stop… What the hell are you blabbering about…?
I don't care who… Won't someone, anyone, please accept me…?
Stop… it…
Accept me for who I am!
Wh-Whoa! I really don't swing that way!
I said stop it!

That was when Kanji belted the damn thing in the face. Wish he'd done that, you know, before it hulked out and we had to fight it.



Kanji, you're…
Yeah, I know… I've known all this time I had something like you!
It ain't a matter of guys or chicks… I'm just scared shitless of being rejected.
I'm a total pansy who tries to make everyone hate me.

We're basically team mental problems though so none of us can talk shit.



……
C'mon… get up.
Anyone who looks like me, I know they ain't so weak they can't take a punch.
I already know that you're me…
You're me… and I'm you, dammit!
> The strength of heart required to face oneself has been made manifest…

Kanji's Persona was as intimidating as he was.



> Kanji has faced his other self…

His Persona is Take-Mikazuchi, a thunder god.



Ngh… Shit…
Kanji-kun!
Let's get him out of here!

We bugged out of the TV world back to Junes.

VIDEO- "Back in Reality"

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It's… It's nothin'…
Whoa… Ngh…
Heheh… I feel great… It's like my mind's all cleared up…
Glad to hear it.
Hey… About what just happened…

He looked exhausted, and boy was this a long story.



Yeah… You better…
We'll explain everything later. You need to take a rest now.
We'll be waiting for you at school.
School…? Sure, if I ever feel like going.
I'll take this guy home.
If anything asks, I'll just say I found him somewhere like this.
> You were able to rescue Kanji.
> Now you must wait for him to recover.
> Will this take you one step closer to solving the case…?

Dojima had some 'news' when I got home.



Oh, I forgot to tell you.
Remember that Kanji Tatsumi guy I told you about? You know, the one who went nuts on that news special.
His family's shop called in to report him missing, but now he's been found.
I thought I'd let you know, since you go to the same high school.

It was good news even if I already knew.



Yeah.
One other thing…
Some people have seen you around that textile shop lately, I hear. It's not the kind of shop students normally visit.
Just what kind of business did you have there…?

It's a good thing we had a cover for our visit.



A friend…?
Oh… That Amagi girl? That's right, her family's inn buys their stuff wholesale…
*sigh * …Fine.
Just don't get yourself in over your head, okay?
…Are you fighting again?

We need to be careful, though. Dojima's no idiot, if we do something stupid he'll figure out we've got something to do with what's going on.

Next Time On Persona 4: Waiting It Out.