AN: Once again, this is a story using my WRPG characters along with Kate's characters. Thanks again, Kate, for letting me use your characters and for saving my back-ups! Please e-mail any comments to FrankMayn@comcast.net
Location: Windia
Windia Park
Ray sat on one of the park benches, watching with interest as his little sister ran around, building a snowman, making snow angels, the usual things that a child would do when it snowed.
Ray chuckled at Britney's antics as she ran around, wishing that for once, he were her age again. Suddenly, a feeling of sickness overpowered the dragon, causing him to put a hand to his head.
Ladon... What's happening to me? Ray thought to himself. Just a few moments ago, he was feeling fine, when suddenly, a chill and a wave of nausea overtook him.
Meanwhile, at the entrance of the park...
Lucy held a hand to her head as well.
"Lucy? What's wrong?" Jason asked
"It's... it's nothing..." What's happening to me? I was fine a few seconds ago...
Lucy's thoughts were interrupted by the concerned voice of her brother.
"Lucy..." Brandon started. "You look pale. Are you sure you're okay?"
"Brandon, I'm okay. Honestly." Lucy replied with a slight nod.
Jason took one look into the park and let out a sinister sounding growl.
"Well, he's not going to be feeling better anytime soon..." Jason muttered as he packed a snowball with a rock inside of it.
Jason reared back and was about to throw his snowball, when a certain someone who decided to throw her arms around his neck accidentally averted his aim.
"ACK! Jeez Candi!" Jason managed to get out as the snowball left his hand and went wide, landing on the bench beside Ray.
Candice Raster: Another member of WINGS. She appears to be a dumb blonde on the outside, but that seems to only a mask. Secretly, she has plans for WINGS, and wants to use Jason to get at the group.
"Aww... Jason..." Candice said after putting on a pouty face. "You're not happy to see me?"
Jason gagged, then gently pushed Candice off of him.
Ray's attention turned to the snowball that landed beside him. He took a look in the general direction that it came from, and frowned.
"Britney... get out of here now!" Ray said as he put his hand to his head once more. Ladon... why now? Especially when I'm not feeling well.
Britney noticed her brother was pale and weaving around slightly. "No!" The younger dragon said. "I'm not leaving you!"
Ray was about to say something, when Jason strode up to him purposely.
"Well, well... Look who's here..." Jason said as he cracked his knuckles.
Ray slowly got up, wobbling around a little. "Leave me alone..." The Dragon managed to get out.
Jason said nothing, but took a swing at Ray. However, the Windian's fist never connected, because at that time, Ray decided to collapse and fall unconscious.
"What the F..." Jason was interrupted by Brandon and Lucy.
"No swearing and no fighting! There are children present!" Lucy said harshly, before noticing Ray.
"What did you do to him?" Brandon asked while giving Jason a harsh look.
"Nothing! I swear!!!" Jason said as he raised his arms.
Britney ran up to Lucy and threw her tiny arms around the Windian's leg. "He just... fell. He looked pale then..."
Candice looked at Lucy. "Lucy, are you feeling okay?"
Lucy managed to get out a weak shake of her head, before she gently pushed Britney out of the way. Lucy fell to her knees before passing out right beside Ray.
Location: Lunarvale
Lunarvale General Hospital
A sudden, constant beeping broke the silence in the hallways of Lunarvale General Hospital."Wha th' heck is that?" Diane said as she stood at attention.
Frank merely chuckled. "That's the radio Tammy gave me earlier."
"Radio???" Alex asked in confusion. Frank gave no answer, since he was busy taking it out of his jacket. Instead, Ellen began to explain it to him while Janet and Diane listened in on her explanation.
"Frank??? What is that?" Kate asked as he fished the radio from his jacket pocket.
"Tammy probably decided to give me a call..." Frank then pressed the button on his radio and spoke.
"Frank here. What's up?"
A hiss of static, and sure enough, Tammy responded.
"Tammy here. Before leaving, Tad, Nekomata, and I decided to scope out some of the info that you were given."
Frank raised an eyebrow. "You guys find anything?"
Another hiss of static, then a response.
"Actually, yes. Did you guys recently kill a demonized Persona? A HellCat?"
Frank groaned, remembering what happened back in the museum. "We did, Tammy. A HellCat, to be precise. It was guarding the shard in the museum."
Silence. Finally, another hiss of static broke the silence.
"Don't go into room 206 then, Frank. There really is another demonized HellCat in there, ranting about how it's going to extract revenge on the Persona Users for killing it's brother, and for plotting against the Snow Queen."
Frank pressed the button on the radio again. "Thanks for the warning Tammy. Anything else?"
This time, Tad answered after the hiss of static. "Concerning the shard in Room 302, we couldn't get near it."
"Oh? Why not?" Frank asked in genuine curiosity.
Tad answered once again, with a hint of concern in his voice. "There's some type of barrier at the third floor stairwell. We heard an odd voice as we approached it, asking us who we are. When we told the voice our names, it said we're not the ones, and sent us flying down the stairs."
Frank crossed his arms for a moment, thinking. Odd monotone voice? Where did I hear that before?
"Frank? You guys still there?" Tad asked in concern.
"Yeah man. We're still here... Just thinking about something."
"All right then. Try to get through that barrier. The shard is back there, somewhere. Just be careful, okay?"
"We will, Tad. You, Tammy, and your Nekomata be careful as well. We'll radio you guys back as soon as we retrieve the shard, ok?"
"That's a 10-4, Frank. We'll be expecting your call." Tad said with a chuckle.
"Frank out." Frank said as he switched his radio off and clipped it back to his inner pocket.
Janet spoke up after Frank put his radio away.
"Odd monotone voice?" Janet said as she checked her Beretta. The clip was still full, since there were no encounters in the hospital.
Frank nodded once before turning to his group.
"All right then, let's get moving! Stay away from room 206, since there is definitely something there that I don't feel like dealing with at the moment.
"Oh? Like what?" Brad said as he too checked his machine pistol.
"Remember the HellCat in the museum? Apparently, he has a sibling that wants all of us dead for killing it's brother and for plotting against the Snow Queen." Frank said with a shake of his head.
Ellen clasped her hands together in thought, before speaking to Frank.
"So, what's the game plan? Do we just go charging up to Mary's room and retrieve the shard?"
Diane raised a hand. "Sounds like a plan ta me!"
Yuki giggled at the enthusiastic Woren, along with Kate.
Frank chuckled. "I wish it was that easy, Diane. Apparently, something set up a barrier of sorts that's keeping people off of the third floor."
Yuki spoke up. "We'll figure out how to get through once we get there. Let's just concentrate on getting the shard first."
"Yuki's right. Let's move out, people!" Frank said as he lead his group to the staircase.
On their way to the third floor, the group had to pass by room 206. Neko-Chan got scared and leapt into Frank's arms when the HellCat slammed itself into the door.
"Whoa! Easy!" Frank yelled in shock at Neko-Chan's sudden movement.
Both of Neko-Chan's tails were waving spastically as her eyes darted all over the place.
"Myah! I'm sorry! It's just that..." Neko-Chan started.
"I know..." Frank said. "You don't want to die again. Don't worry, you won't... I'll protect you."
Neko-Chan looked at Frank in surprise. She had never heard anyone tell her that they would protect her. Usually, humans used her, or killed her kind. She knew that she could trust Frank, sort of like a sibling that she never had.
"Meow? Frank?" Neko-Chan asked in confusion.
Frank set Neko-Chan down gently and looked her in the eyes,
"Neko-Chan... Alex and I saved you. I promise... I won't let anyone or anything kill you, okay?" Frank said with a smile.
Neko-Chan blinked a couple of times before giving Frank a giant hug.
"Myah... you're the first human... to ever say anything like that to me... Thank you..."
Frank smiled, then slowly separated from the purring demoness, before turning to his friends.
"What? C'mon, let's go find that shard!" Frank said to his friends.
Kate smiled at Frank, remembering that he always keeps his promises to his friends. Finally, the group followed Frank up the stairwell.
At the top of the staircase, a glowing blue barrier stopped the group.
Alex glanced at the barrier, tail waving in curiosity.
"So... how do we get past this? I mean, do you just summon a Persona and it destroys the thing?"
Frank shook his head. That's when Janet decided to speak up.
"I could try to fire some bullets at it, or a couple of spells..."
"Don't, Janet." Frank said. Janet turned to look at him coldly.
"What, you don't think I'm capable of destroying that thing?"
Frank raised his hands. "It's not that, it's just that we don't know if that thing is bullet proof or spell proof. If that's the case, then the bullets or spells will fly back, hurting or killing us, or you."
Janet was taken aback by Frank's concern. She thought to herself for a couple of moments when a voice broke their thoughts.
"Who dares to enter this place?" An odd, monotone, but definitely female voice said.
Janet looked up in shock. Lucy??? How??? Why???
"Yo, Janet? Are you okay?" Brad asked in concern.
Janet managed a slight nod to the Persona User.
Frank, however, crossed his arms in thought. Where have I...
"Lucy???" Kate managed to get out.
"Huh?" Frank asked in confusion.
Kate's ears twitched nervously as she shuffled her feet. "That's Lucy's voice..."
Ellen picked that moment to jump in. "But why would..."
"Answer now, or else!" The voice said once again.
Frank spoke up. "Persona users and company."
"Which Persona Users?!" The voice boomed, still in it's monotone state.
"Frank Maynard, Ellen Johnson, Yuki Kauro, and Brad Terranama." Frank said calmly.
A minute or two passed, and finally, the barrier shimmered from view.
"Enter..." The voice said again.
Frank unsheathed his rapier, and cautiously stepped through the barrier with his friends in tow.
Diane shuddered. "This place... I dun like th' feel of it..."
"It's like pure evil..." Ellen added in.
Janet had her Beretta in hand as she looked around. "There... room 302"
Frank nodded and placed his hand on the knob.
"Myah! I'll go in with you, Frank." Neko-Chan said as she looked at the door nervously.
Frank nodded. "We'll go in first. Follow us in after I ask you to, okay?"
The group nodded. Frank slowly grabbed for the door handle, heart pounding in fear. He finally opened it slowly, and both he and Neko-Chan walked in carefully.
The room was as he had last seen it: The building blocks on the table built in the image of St. Hermelin, Mary's painting, Gate to Paradise hanging on the wall, but one thing was changed. A shard of the Holy Mirror was floating over Mary's bed.
"Meow... Shiny..." Neko-Chan said, transfixed on the shard.
Frank was going to say something, when he felt a great magical presence. Before he could turn, he saw a spell flying at Neko-Chan.
"LOOK OUT!" Frank yelled as he knocked her away. Frank screamed as the spell turned him into stone from the neck down.
"MYAH!!! FRANK!!!" Neko-Chan yelled as she flipped to her feet. However, she too was the victim of another spell. As she turned to stone from the neck down, she roared in pain.
At that moment, the rest of Frank's friends rushed in. However, each was turned to stone from the neck down as they entered.
Janet was the last one to get the treatment, and she immediately recognized her attacker.
"Lu... Lucy?" Janet stammered out.
"Not quite, bitch... I'm only a part of her... something made to be the complete opposite of her..." 'Lucy' said to her as her eyes glowed a deep red.
At that moment, an evil version of a certain Light Dragon joined 'Lucy'. He laughed momentarily at the weaknesses of the group.
"Pathetic..." 'Ray' said before slapping Janet across the face.
Janet scowled at the Dragon and was going to say something, when Frank's pained voice spoke over the room.
"Janet... that's not Ray... It's just like that Lucy over there..."
The two laughed evilly. The Persona Users and their friends realized that they had walked right into a trap, and had no way to get out.