AN: It's getting close to the end! This story uses characters of Kate's and my creation. All other characters are either property of Atlus or Capcom. Thanks go out again to Kate for letting me use her characters! Please, e-mail all comments to FrankMayn@comcast.net
Things were not looking well. The Persona Users and their friends were taking cover behind the Philemon Stone and some of the benches that managed to stay when the dimensional rift took form.
"Dammit!" Janet said to Frank. She, Kate, and Tellka were currently hidden behind the Philemon Stone. "She won't let up with those damn attacks!!!"
Frank peeked around the stone and noticed that the Brandshire siblings along with Yuki were hidden behind a bench. Behind the other bench were Neko-Chan, Brad, and Ellen. From his vantage point, he could tell that Diane and Neko-Chan had been injured from the shards of ice. Ellen and Yuki summoned their respective Personas (Nike and Vesta), and healed the cuts on their friends.
Frank glanced at the three with him. Kate was clutching her arm in pain. The Persona User winced as he noticed the blood oozing out between her fingers.
"Help me..." Frank said quietly as he extended his hand out at his girlfriend.
Immediately, wind and magical energies kicked up around the Persona User. Suddenly, Frank was engulfed in a column of soft blue light, which shocked the four in Windia who were currently watching the fight. A beam of light shot out of the top of Frank's head and enveloped into Prince Ryu, who was concentrating.
"Cure!" Ryu yelled, as he pointed his palm at Kate. Immediately, the woren was bathed in soft white light, which healed her injuries. After Kate was healed, he lowered his hand. As he did so, Ryu and the mystical column faded back into Frank.
"How in Ladon's name are we supposed to hurt her if she keeps on raining those shards of ice on us???" Tellka growled out.
"That's a great question... As for the ice... I'm weak against it... But then, I bet she's weak against fire as well..." Frank said thoughtfully.
"Really..." Janet said before racking the slide on her Beretta, making sure that a round was in the chamber. Surprisingly, she took off in a strafe, firing her gun as she did so. Because of the constant movement, Janet was hardly accurate. Only four out of the fifteen shots she fired connected, but they had a profound effect on the Snow Queen. As each shot met its mark, the bullet exploded into flames, doing a good amount of damage to the true demon. Fortunately, the Snow Queen couldn't retaliate, since she was busy trying to put out the flames on her body. Janet ran and hid behind the bench that Yuki and the Brandshires were stationed.
"Gee..." Alex said with a grin, his tail waving mischievously. "That's something I thought I'd see Diane do..."
"Aww... shaddup, Alex!" Diane said with a glare.
Janet just chuckled as she ejected the empty magazine from her gun.
The Snow Queen had finally put out the flames that had sprung out from her body. The bullets themselves did little damage, due to the caliber, but the fact that they were Whispers that had been magically enchanted with fire, was enough to hurt her.
"You BITCH!!!" The Snow Queen yelled as she prepared a Diamond Dust Spell. Fortunately, the group in Lunarvale had an extra set of eyes watching from Windia.
"JANET!!! LOOK OUT!!! SHE'S PREPARING A SPELL!!!" Lucy yelled to her friend.
The Windian turned just in time to notice the Snow Queen casting her spell.
"Shit!!! Scatter!!!" Janet yelled as she slammed a new clip into her handgun. No sooner then they did, the Diamond Dust spell was cast. A few shards hit all four of them, injuring them slightly.
"All right..." Alex growled as he readied him self. Diane and Janet also readied their weapons, despite the fact that all three of them were bleeding from minor injuries. Yuki stood behind the three, readying herself.
"Eat THIS!!!" Alex yelled as he squeezed the trigger on his gatling gun. The six barrels began to whir as the rotated. Immediately, the woren began to shake as 7.76 Whispers flew out of the gun at lightning speed. Beside him, Janet was firing her Beretta, letting the flame enchanted bullets fly.
Diane took off running, firing Storm Caller and doing flips at the same time, hoping to score a few hits on the Snow Queen.
The Snow Queen, however, was quick. She managed to flip out of the way of the gunfire as the bullets merely grazed her. Diane was having better luck, since the buckshot spread, doing more damage. As soon as the Snow Queen was stationary, Yuki raised her arm high.
"Hah!!!" Yuki yelled. Immediately, a blue circle appeared underneath the Japanese teenager as wind and magical energies kicked up around her, swirling her skirt. Yuki was engulfed in a column of soft blue light. Soon after, a beam of white light shot out from the top of her head and enveloped into Empress:Vesta.
Vesta pointed both her hands, outstretched, at the Snow Queen.
"BLASTMORE!!!" Vesta yelled. Packets of flames shot forth and hovered around the Snow Queen. After a few seconds, the packets all exploded, leaving a serious heat wave around the Snow Queen, who was now screaming in pain.
"Blasted mortals! Take this!" The Snow Queen yelled as her ears began to pull back. "RELEASE JAIL!!!"
"SHIMATTA!!!" Yuki yelled. Janet took it as a warning and floored it. The Brandshires weren't as lucky. Diane landed right beside her brother as soon as the spell hit.
"The hell?" Was all Diane managed to get out before she was frozen solid, along with her brother.
"Damn! Diane! Alex!" Frank yelled from where he was.
"LOVE!!!" Ellen yelled. She drew her rapier and charged the Snow Queen.
"DIE DEMON!" The Persona User yelled as she sliced and diced in fury. She managed to get a few blows in, before the Snow Queen stopped her. Ellen blinked in surprise as she was soon lifted from the ground.
"I told you mortal..." The Snow Queen growled at Ellen. "You... will not... STOP ME!!!" With that, she threw the Persona User at the Philemon Stone. If one watched closely, they would have noticed that Alex's eyes widened as Ellen connected with the base that the stone was set in.
"ELLEN!!! Oh Ladon..." The image of Maria said in despair. "Damn... I wish we could help them!!!"
Frank took a chance. He stepped out from behind the stone to pull an unconscious and bleeding Ellen to safety. Luckily, Brad was distracting the Snow Queen with random bursts from his machine pistol.
"Oh..." Kate said as she got her first look at Ellen when Frank had brought her back.
"She's hurt badly..." Frank said quietly. "Kate, bring her back to life. Use one of those LifeOrbs."
"LifeOrb???" Kate asked in confusion.
"Yeah. One of those silver orbs in your pack. That has the same effect as a ReviveMore spell." Frank replied.
"Why don't you just bring her back?" Tellka said in annoyance.
"Because..." Frank said before checking his rapier over. "I need to get over to where Janet and Neko-Chan are hiding. I've got something in mind. Tellka... I need you to distract her, any way that you can."
"Anyway that I can..." Tellka said with a mischievous grin. "I like how you put that." Tellka's tail was waving around as she said that.
"All right then..." Frank burst out from his hiding spot. Sure enough, the Snow Queen had noticed him. She was readying a spell, when Tellka appeared behind her.
Tellka bopped the Snow Queen on the head lightly. With a growl, the Snow Queen turned, only to find nothing.
Once more, the Snow Queen was hit again from behind. She immediately whirled around, and noticed a woren with a grin on her face.
"You're too slow, you know that???" Tellka said as she swung her staff hard, catching the True Demon in the stomach, causing her to double over in pain. She then did an uppercut with her staff, which sent the Snow Queen flying.
The Snow Queen landed with a thud. She slowly got up and wiped some blood from her lower lip.
"That was impressive..." Brandon said as he watched the fight.
"Tell me about it..." Ray replied, as he kept his eyes on the Snow Queen.
"Mangy furball! How DARE YOU!!!" With amazing speed that surprised even Tellka, the Snow Queen shot up and punched the warrior in the face with an Ice Punch technique. Luckily, the technique failed, but there was enough force in the punch to send Tellka flying.
"TELLKA!!!" Kate yelled in worry.
"Ugh..." Ellen said as she finally awoke from the treatment that Kate had given her.
Tellka vanished before she hit the floor. Immediately she reappeared beside Kate, rubbing her face in pain.
"Tellka... are you okay?" Kate asked as her tail waved in worry.
"Ugh... yeah... I am. Damn, she packs quite a punch..."
"Here... drink this..." Kate said as she pulled a Ripobitan from her backpack.
Tellka accepted the health drink and uncapped it. She downed the elixir in one chug, and immediately felt its healing effects.
Frank dove for cover and rolled to a stop beside Janet, Neko-Chan and Brad. Brad was busy keeping the Snow Queen from injuring the frozen siblings. Occasionally, he'd fire his gun to keep the Snow Queen at bay.
"Dammit!" Janet said in disbelief. "It seems like everything we do, she just does back with more force!!!"
The image of Lucy Conwing nodded. "Except for fire..."
"Right." Frank said, getting Janet's attention. "I've got a great idea. Janet, remember Fusion Spells?"
"You've got a certain one in mind?" Janet asked. Lucy looked at the two in confusion.
"Right. I'm gonna need you and Neko-Chan to help me out. We've got to link the spells in this order: Fire, Wind, and FireAll." Frank explained.
Neko-Chan looked thoughtful for a moment before her ears perked up in interest. "Myah! I know that spell! L'osieu Du Feu!!!"
"Say what? Come again???" Janet asked.
"L'osieu Du Feu, Janet. Basically, the spells combine into a bird of flames. The bird then unleashes flame tornadoes on all enemy targets, doing huge amounts of fire elemental damage." Frank explained to the confused Windian.
"Wait!" The image of Lucy said to Frank. "Spells don't work like that! They only add on to the spell cast before that!"
Frank just chuckled. "Oh, you'll see... our magic is different." Lucy was confused. So was her brother, who was standing beside her. Ray was just scratching his head, while Maria seemed to have a sense of what was going on.
"AUGH!!!" Brad yelled from out in the center of the courtyard.
"MYAH!!! BRAD!!!" Neko-Chan yelled as her two tails continued to twitch spastically.
Brad was hurt. The Snow Queen had managed to pierce his shoulder with a razor sharp icicle. The Persona User managed to yank it out, but blood was flowing freely from his wound.
The Snow Queen sneered at the Persona User before she put him out for good. She picked him up, sucker punched him, and finally threw him into a bench.
"AGH!!!" Brad yelled, before passing out into a near comatose state.
Brad Terranama was dying, and everyone who watched knew it as well.
Luckily, Yuki was hidden behind the bench. She touched a LifeOrb to the unconscious Persona User, bringing him back to life after he was engulfed in a golden glow.
"Damn... that was reckless..." Brad muttered as he hid beside Yuki. Immediately, he retracted his spear so he would not attract attention.
"We're sitting ducks! It's like... nothing will hurt her!" Yuki said before peeking out and throwing a volley of throwing razors at the Snow Queen.
"Well..." Brad said to Yuki as she came back down. "Frank's up to something. They're gonna try a fusion spell."
Yuki popped back up and shot at the Snow Queen with her shotgun, actually drawing blood this time. Immediately, she crouched back down and pumped her gun, ejecting the spent shell.
"I think were finally weakening her... What spell are they going to try anyway?"
"L'osieu Du Feu." Brad answered.
Within the time frame, Alex and Diane finally thawed out. Using each other for support, they made their way back to the Philemon Stone, where Ellen, Tellka, and Kate were hiding.
"Ellen! Ladon help me if anything..." Alex said between shivers.
"I'm okay, love... Kate helped me out..." Ellen said as she hugged her boyfriend to spread her warmth.
"Tha's fine fer y'all..." Diane stammered. "But wha about me???"
"Sit between Tellka and me... That should help." Kate said thoughtfully.
Diane squeezed between the two worens and immediately began to warm up.
"Now or never..." Frank said quietly. "She's already growing weak."
Janet readied a Flame spell. "On your call, Frank."
Neko-Chan prepared some energy for a Garu Spell. "Myah! I'm ready here!!!"
"On three, okay? One... two... three!!!" Frank yelled.
Frank, Janet, and Neko-Chan stood up. As soon as Frank summoned his Persona, both let loose with their spells.
"All right, GO!!!" Frank yelled as he lowered his rapier and pointed an outstretched hand at the Snow Queen.
Mystical energies surrounded the three and finally pulled them into a triangle formation around the Snow Queen, who by now had her eyes wide with fear. Janet let loose a flame spell, while Neko-Chan raised an arm and cast Garu.
Wind and magical energies kicked up around Frank while the other two were casting their spells. A circle formed under the Persona User and immediately, he was engulfed in a column of soft blue light. A beam of white light shot out of the top of Frank's head and morphed into Prince Ryu, who silently cast FireAll.
The three spells mixed together. Wind picked up around the room as the two fire spells morphed into a large bird of flames, hovering above the Snow Queen.
The fire bird squaked once before flapping it's wings. Immediately, many fire laced tornadoes formed and began to slam into the Snow Queen, making her howl in extreme pain. After the onslaught was complete, Frank raised his rapier as Ryu, the column, and the circle faded back into his soul.
It was safe to say that Lucy, Ray, Brandon, and Maria were in awe from what they had just witnessed.
The Snow Queen was in pain. She was close to dying, but would not admit it. Neko-Chan glared at her before casually strolling up.
"A minor demon... how quaint... What do you expect to do to me?" The Snow Queen muttered.
"Mrowr... You're responsible for the deaths of my friends!" She said as she extended her claws. "I intend..." Neko-Chan started before slashing violently at her. "To..." Neko-Chan backhanded the Snow Queen hard, actually making her snap backwards in pain. "AVENGE THEM!!!" Neko-Chan let out a feral growl before slashing at the Snow Queens neck, cutting a vital vein open."
The Snow Queen couldn't say anything. She grabbed her neck as blood gushed out freely. Soon enough, the True Demon fell to the ground, lifeless. As she did so, many things happened. First, it stopped snowing. Second, the Plasma Barrier shattered, finally letting sunlight grace the town, and finally, the dimensional rift was beginning to fail.
"Lucy!!!" Janet yelled. "We'll be back soon! I promise!!!" Janet managed to get out before the rift closed.
Neko-Chan stood there shaking. She nearly jumped when Frank layed a hand on her shoulder.
"Meow??? Frank??? I... I killed her... in cold blood..." She said quietly.
"She tried to kill us... and she was going to destroy both worlds..." Frank replied.
"Myah... but still... I killed her. But my friends, meow... I avenged them. But... meow... I have... nowhere to... go... I can't go back... Where..." She said, before beginning to shake.
"You're coming back with me. I'm not leaving you alone. I'm sure Jess wouldn't mind." Frank said to the catgirl demoness.
"Myah??? You mean it???" Neko-Chan said. Frank noticed that she was beginning to cry.
"From the bottom of my heart. I'll protect you. I promise." The Persona User said with a smile.
Neko-Chan threw herself at Frank, sobbing uncontrollably. "Meow... Frank... thank you..."
Frank continued to soothe the Nekomata that was in his arms. Kate smiled at both of them.
"It's finally over..." Janet said quietly. "We can go home now..."
Location: Windia
Windia High School, Courtyard
Time is now in sync permanently with Lunarvale
"They did it..." Lucy said quietly.Maria sighed in relief. "I'm just glad that none of them were seriously injured."
Brandon tapped the hilt of his rapier. "What was that anyway? I remember Frank saying something... Fusion Spell?"
"Look..." Ray said as he pointed upward. "It finally stopped snowing... and the sun's coming out."
The three Windians and the Dragon looked up and let the sun's rays embrace them.
"Janet said that they'd be back soon..." Lucy said quietly. "I think... no... I know... they'll show up here..."
All four of them began to wait patiently for the missing students to finally make their return.