Naomi's Stolen Identity (Prime Awakening)

Naomi would look at her mother that was falling apart. So, this is what happened to all those that wore the face of another. She wondered if breaking apart like that hurt them. If so, was this the same as murder? She couldn’t find it in her to think of it that way, but it sort of was. She may have treated Yatagarasu’s lookalike that way (which was her way of showing affection), but the way she treated her mother was very different. The words that left her mother’s mouth made her throat burn ever so slightly. She was trying to stop from crying out of joy. It was hard, and made her body ache for some reason. She couldn’t help it. Before she understood what she was doing, she would sprint forward and wrap her arms around the person fall to pieces before her. It hurt to do so, of course, but she didn’t let go. She was so happy. So happy and sad and relieved by her mother’s words. She could help herself. She had been afraid of what her mother really thought about her for the whole of her life. Even if this was all in her head or whatever was happening, she was relieved to hear that her mother didn’t hate or resent her. She wouldn’t say a word, but just waited for the end of this fragments existence.

Once the last bit of the thing that looked like her mother was gone, Naomi would pull herself back together. She rubbed her eyes to catch any remaining tears that had escaped and quickly turned to leave the room. She didn’t say anything to the people with her as she rushed past them. She kept her head down the entire time so they wouldn’t see her face. She suddenly stopped in her tracks and looked back at all of them with a smile on her face. She wasn’t faking this smile. She was genuinely happy now that she heard those words and now that she knew where the other her was, “Come on everyone. If we just stand here all day, nothing will get accomplished.” They had to cover a lot of space and it wasn’t going to be an easy journey. In fact, she imagined it would take a bit of time. She had no idea why her mind was so complicated, but that’s just what they had to deal with. Too bad there wasn’t just a shortcut for all of this. That would make life so much easier.

Spoiler:

((I am not kidding, Block 8 is at least six posts away (if you post 400 words) and there are two Shadows. This is going to take a while. I will try to be quick about this, but it will not be easy. >.<))

The android watched as Naomi's mother broke to pieces, offering words of encouragement. The android considered how difficult it was to see something looking like one's mother die before their very eyes. Sure he had killed his creator, but...he didn't feel that attached to his creator. Not like he did to Maria, it would be difficult to do then. Even more so if he had to watch her fall apart before him. Besides his friends, Maria was the only one he had grown close to. She was the one that he had considered family. He looked toward Naomi who seemed to be motionless, but turned on her heels and rushed by them. The silence was almost unbearable, however when his friend turned and smiled at them all, he relaxed a bit.
"Right, come on Hyde and Shunnosuke. We're just getting this thing started."
The android said before following after his friend. It was hard to imagine so much complexity, then again if what the fragment of Naomi's mother had said, then it wanted to play the waiting game and taking time was in its favor. Well the shadow was not stupid that was for sure, but regardless this other half of Naomi would be something that needed to be eliminated with the utmost haste. The question is, just how powerful would this being be? Thus far the obstacles encountered were not overly difficult, therefore it was either a clever ruse to lure them into a false sense of security or was it just this difficult from the start? So many questions, very few answers, this was growing to be a rather reoccurring trend which was irritating the android. As they kept moving a status update would appear before Sentinel's eyes. Hmmm, he was still rather injured, better to take care of that now rather than later. Odysseus would appear and raise a chalice into the air and green light surrounded Sentinel. He felt some of his systems start to function a bit more efficiently. Excellent, now all he had to do was maintain his form and status to help ensure that he would be of assistance to his friend. Though he had to press on, and his mind drifted to what his own reflection would look like. No doubt, in the burning mansion of Maria’s own home or perhaps elsewhere? In the lab where he was created, or the bloodstained laboratory? Wherever it was going to take place at, he knew it would not be a happy place, and invoke a lot of painful memories too. Though he would have to press on through it, like Naomi was, and he could see how she was changing.

Movement:

Stats::

Skills used::

Hyde was pretty much happy that it was over, he knew ahead of time that it wasn’t going to be an easy battle for him and his friends. For crying out loud they were fighting and smashing their Persona’s into a version of Naomi’s mother. That wasn’t something that they should celebrate in the first place, but Hyde was still relieved that he was the only one that managed to get hurt as much. “Well, at least we won. It turns out that we shouldn’t even bother to believe anything these shadows say until the end. They only say these horrible things to spite you and throw you off your game, but they start telling the truth in their last moments. Why is that? “ Hyde would then turn back around and fallow the rest of the group “ If that helps with your resolve, the truth of your heart relies on beating the barrier of lies that seemed to have corrupted it. Once we find that out , I’m sure that everything would be a lot more clear for you. “ Hyde would then have an excited smile on his face, he felt like he knew what they would have to do at this point.

“I see now, we should go for the corrupted version of you right now. It seems to be the main thing that messing up your inner soul, taking it out should be the top priority. I’m sorry Naomi, but I think we have to skip midnight and Yuki and make a guess that they have your best interests in heart. I think we all know how this works now. “ Hyde would then crack his knuckles. “ We go straight for the source, and were going to order some pizza when this is all over. Sounds fun?” Hyde was rearing to go, he was starting to feel the pressure of what could happen if they was to fail. Naomi’s mind would be corrupted, but what does that really mean for Naomi in the end. Would she ultimately become a different person, would the corrupted version of Naomi take over. “ I think if things are left without being attended to, our shadows take over as our truer selves. I’m not too sure what happens to our original personalities if that happens, it kind of makes me worried. That this is going to happen to us soon as well, looking into our minds and seeing things we don’t want to. Becoming someone we really aren't, but are at the same time “ Hyde would then look at Shun for a quick glance. “Hey Shun- chan, could you heal me up one more time? I would like to be 100% for anything else coming our way.

Stats

Spoiler:

Once again, Hyde would be given a dead look by Naomi, “You know, considering that I’m starting to get tired of this place and I seem the one that’s probably holding up the best, I didn’t think I would need to be told that it would be a good idea to go straight to the room with the only person I’ve been searching for this entire time.” She said that, but there was no spite in her words. Maybe a tinge of annoyance at Hyde treating her like she couldn’t think things through for herself, but no spite, “And you’re making a bunch of groundless assumptions again. I’m not disregarding them, but don’t treat them as fact until we have more information.” That was how mistakes were made. Jumping to conclusions made you follow the wrong leads and buy into the completely, “Hopefully we’ll never figure out what happens in that case. I don’t know about you all, but I don’t plan to go down to the other me that thinks she can run around my subconscious and do whatever she wants.” She gave a triumphant fist pump into the air. She was excited.

She shook her head when Kurosawa asked if they needed any more healing, “I’m fine. Don’t worry about it. Thank you for offering though. Just take care of yourself.” She would reach into her jacket and pull out a sucker. She may not have carried her tablet or purse when she went exploring (for safety reasons) but she always kept a piece of candy on her. She preferred hard candies since they didn’t melt when it got hot out. She would hand the candy off to Kurosawa, “I know it’s not some expensive name brand candy, but this is the only piece I have. Plus, getting one like that would be a bit out of my price range. But, you should still take it. Candy is good to keep you from getting tired. I think it has to do with the sugar or something. You are kind of healing us all and giving us a boost when we need it.” If Kurosawa didn’t take it at first, she would keep holding it out; almost as if insisting he take it without saying anything. She actually had another reason to try and give it to him. She was telling the truth. Candy did relieve a tired heart, and she could tell by the look on his face that he was tired. She wouldn’t dig too deeply, but she could at least do this. She didn’t need to be someone’s good friend to know when they needed something. She knew better than to say it directly from her brief interactions with Kurosawa in the past, “Sorry I don’t have any more for Maria, Alphonse. Then again, I think if I give her anymore, she’ll end up with a cavity.” She laughed and continued on at full speed.

Spoiler:

As the group wandered the hallways he noted that Hyde was looking to theorize again, which was fine, but when he began to talk about what may happen if Naomi's corrupted side would take over, he looked towards him. "There is no need to theorize on that point, too much theory and not enough action will lead to no results. We are not going to let that happen, we are putting an end to this here and now. I don't intend on conducting experiments here, nor any place like this. We are putting an end to this here and now." He stated, not wanting anyone to misunderstand him. This was something that would be dealt with swiftly, they had spent enough time here as is. It would be better if they took care of business right here and now.

When he was healed and asked if he was alright, he nodded, "Thank you Kurosawa, my systems are functioning at full potential now." Now he had nothing holding him back. He was ready to talk whatever challenge awaited them. Granted, he was a bit surprised to see her hand candy to Kurosawa to help keep his energy up. Was she making up with everyone now? Something must have really changed in her after facing all these creatures, it was good to see such a change. When Naomi told him that he didn't have anymore for Maria, he held up a hand signifying that her apology was not necessary. In fact, he knew that Maria had a lot of candy to go through still. "You need not concern yourself about Maria. She has plenty of candy left over, no doubt she is having some right now." He smiled at the thought, then he realized she would be bouncing off the walls...oh dear. That would be something he would have to control later.

As they marched he decided to prepare himself for the next level of fighting, by powering up quite a bit. The android summoned Odysseus once more and the warrior rose another chalice to the air. The android glowed blue as he felt a great power flow through his circuits and wires of his body. He could feel that his next attack would greatly harm their next foes, no matter who they were. The beasts would suffer his full entire wrath and strength for their transgressions against his friends. His Persona faded, it would rest until it was called upon again. There was no way he was about to allow these beasts to slow their progress. He wanted to get Naomi to be safe and sound then leave this awful place full of pain and suffering for his friend.

Movement::

Stats::

Skills used::

This walk was talking a good while; it seemed that Naomi was quite irritated about it. If that was the case, wouldn’t it be better if they had some sort of futuristic car that Naomi could pop up and imagine? Would be pretty convenient to get a free ride while there were inside of Naomi’s soul, it would have been a lot worse off the only thing that was here were doors upon doors. Having something like that for a loop would have been completely insane; it wouldn’t necessarily be Hyde’s cup of tea, even though he wouldn’t have a problem with the extensive travels in the first place. You mean you plan to go on? Sorry I’m not a grammar nazi or anything, it just came out wrong. But if long story short, were going to see the other version of you and put an end to this mess, you can be sure to count me in. Though, it does make me think about what form that you shadow would take. If it’s anything like from the time we saved Yata, it might be…” Hyde took a look at interwined and wondered how they would look as monstrous beings.

“Well anyway, It would be nice it f it took the form of something we could actually eat without a care in the world you know? Like….pizza! Ok that was a bit random, but what else is there to talk about besides being on the same page?” Hyde had his reasons to theorize, they kept his brain working most of the time. Theory’s exist as theories in order for them to be proven as true or false in the end. That’s how it worked right. However, Hyde’s thoughts shifted over to something else entirely when he noticed that Naomi was trying to by nice to Shun chan? “Isn’t that great shun Chan, you got yourself some sweet candy. Though I don’t mind carrying you either if that’s what you want? We have been walking for about, maybe two hours?” Hyde would say as he gave Shun a playful nudge, he was glad to see that there was some improvement s between Naomi and Shun. When Alphonse got fired up, Hyde would also punch his fist into his hand with an excited look on his face. “Let’s bust those shadows and head right over to the finish line. I hope I get to show you guys my new moves!

Stats

Spoiler:

Movement

Spoiler:

Well, at least Alphonse seemed to be on her side when it came to Hyde’s theories. She would much rather the doom and gloom side of them take a rest. She didn’t even want to think about what would happen in the worst case scenario. Intertwined seemed to be in agreement as they walked beside her. They hadn’t really done anything in the last battle other than be there for support, but they had just as much a stake in this as anyone else. Although, she would return Hyde’s stare with one of their own. It was almost as if they knew what he was thinking, and they didn’t like it. They were meant to be cute and small. They disliked the idea of being giant monsters. Leave that to the other Persona.

She would bury her face into her palm and make a slightly irritated frown, “Hyde, don’t remind me of your new moves. I’ve seen some of them. That’s why you’re in trouble, remember?” She wondered if she could project what she saw on these walls so the others could see. That would at least help them understand why she was still upset. Instead, she got her private photos posted all over the wall and her memories warped into some ugly, unrecognizable mess. This place was really unfair in how she was treated, “My subconscious is a jerk.” She would say almost out of nowhere, [color=#ffcc00] “Do I really come across that way?” She had to admit to not being the best person, but she didn’t think she was that bad. In fact, she thought she had more good days than bad moments, “You know what, don’t answer that. If I don’t like the answer, my subconscious may send more evil lookalikes at us. I’d rather not have to happen before we reach the other me.” She was terrified of the thought.

She noticed that Shun took the candy not because he wanted to, but because he felt like he needed to. She was an emotion reader, and he was an open book, “Oh well. I guess you don’t have to like it. I just wish you wouldn’t force yourself.” She would laugh when Kurosawa played along with Hyde saying he would carry the blonde before she realized he was serious. Then she almost respected him, “A queen, huh? At least you didn’t say princess. A queen actually has some political power, instead of being a cute bargaining chip.” Little girls could be princesses, but once they were older, they had to be queens. That was just Naomi’s opinion on the matter.

Spoiler:

The android continued to press on as the group went down this seemingly winding road through Naomi's subconscious. "You do seem to have a knack for avoiding damage Shunnosuke. A knack that I wish we could all adopt, but supernatural entities seem to have their own unique way of hitting us. The attack seemed so simple, but no matter what they either came to fast or seemed to home onto their targets. A rather annoying skill to be perfectly honest, but it fit the supernatural world they were in. When Hyde suggested that they find something else to talk about, granted he didn't know what about, the android began to answer till he realized something himself. That was a good question, "Hyde does have a bit of a point, there really isn't much to talk about. Normally, I'd propose focusing on our survival and the like, and checking on each other, but such concerns are already answered. I suppose we have freedom to speak, but no more theorizing. It takes too much mental processing that could be diverted to finding possible ambushes and the like." With that said the android turned to focus on the path before them. How much further and what challenges were lying in the way of their goal. No doubt a few traps meant to wear the party down were ahead of them. However, the android knew they had the firepower to get right by them.

"Whatever this subconscious version of you throws at us, we'll handle it like we have been handling it. I'm not too worried about." Of course this was coming from the android who had a blue aura about him, he had done something to himself, what that was had yet to be seen. However, the android had a feeling that whatever was on the receiving end of his next attack would be having a really bad day. When the topic suddenly shifted to Shunnosuke being a queen and needed to be carried around by his...or her? He called himself a queen, so would he be a she in this case? Well....whatever, the android decided to speak up.

"It is true, princesses were often married off to help their fathers or kings secure influence over other countries, heirs or simply influence. In fact, many princesses were expected to marry at a young age, in fact marriage was the one constant event a princess could expect." The android explained, granted that was not needed at all, but he felt as though it would be a bit helpful for everyone's understanding. The android was acting like a walking textbook, but that was rather normal.

Movement:

‘The reason why the shadows aren’t attacking Shun much is due to the fact that the shadows are mostly focused on targeting Naomi. Well, that’s a lie; they hit all of us equally. However, in a place that’s designed to be Naomi’s subconscious it’s safe to say that she has the most presence out of all of us. It’s kind of something like Alice in wonderland, but it’s all digital and whatnot and her name is Naomi instead. “ That was a pretty bad comparison, but Hyde was willing to roll with it. They needed to pass the time, and they were pretty tired of Hyde’s theorizing. So in that case, Hyde managed to keep his thoughts to himself. Suddenly, Hyde stopped short and lifted up Shun on his back. “Ok your highness I’ll give you a piggyback ride. “ Hyde didn’t necessary mind giving Shun a piggyback ride. He was probably getting a bit tired and these gauntlet style shadow fights could get a bit tired. Hyde seriously knew how to tough it out in those worse case scenarios, but it didn’t bother him too much.

He was pretty calm and calculated each movement, being able to narrow it down so he wouldn’t exhaust too much of his own energy. It sounds like a very smart and wise thing to do, but not a lot of people expect hyde to be a smart guy at times. However, sometimes it kind of works to an advantage. He wasn’t dangerously stupid or anything, sometimes his decisions mean well. However, what he’s trying to do at times doesn’t necessarily end up the way that he wanted it to end up, as do all life decisions end up that way eventually. “I’m no pro on royalty; but I got a feeling that I must be the mighty steed or something if shun is the queen. I mean, he is riding me right pretty hard right now. I wouldn’t be surprised if the next things I hear is sweet bribes about being given apples, along with sharp kicks to my spleen if I move too slow. The only thing he’s missing is a whip. “ Hyde decide to play along with his friends, thought he did describe some graphic imagery just now. “Wait a second, that is animal cruelty. I wonder if horses would be able to sue their owners if they could talk. Speaking of talk, did you guys try to use your persona’s to speak for you? If you summon them and focus, they would mostly say the words you had in mind like a puppet.


Movement

Spoiler:

She would think about Alphonse’s comment about Kurosawa avoiding damage. Now that she thought about it, she couldn’t remember being hit all that often either. Maybe once when they were all being targeted, but not individually. Even then, Intertwined had seen to it that she was quickly patched up. It was a little strange not to be hurt when this was her mess. She felt guilty for it, actually. Maybe she should push herself on the front line even more. It would make it interesting, at least. Plus, the others wouldn’t have to get hurt that way. She healed herself anyway, so it’s not like it would hurt for very long. That idea was only getting better with each passing thought she had.

Naomi rubbed her temple, “Hyde, you don’t stab horses in the spleen when you want them to move. That’s animal cruelty and is more than illegal.” She would laugh a little under her breath. She never knew they had that kind of relationship. She was taking Hyde’s words in a completely different context and it was hilarious. Of course, she wouldn’t say what she was thinking, because that would dissolve her innocent act very quickly. Innocent people didn’t make those kinds of jokes or comments. Besides, it would probably make the two of them turn red. They really should be careful how they worded their sentences. Or maybe she was just finding any reason to laugh, given how this day was going so far. Then again, given the reaction on Kurosawa’s face, he got the joke too. That only made her laugh even harder, “Don’t worry. If you kick Hyde it’s not animal cruelty. I should know.” She had punched him plenty of times and it was never considered cruelty toward animals. Maybe cruelty towards idiots, but never animals. Although, she was really more concerned with if that was a safe mode of transportation.

She would point to Intertwined before speaking, “My Persona can’t do that. They sort of lack a mouth.” Well, that was sort of true. It was mostly false, but it was partially true. They had mouths, but they were stitched on. The two couldn’t open their mouths or speak. The most they could do was stare at people and bounce around to express their emotions. She wasn’t even sure they could blink or move their faces. They just had this special way of conveying whatever they were feeling. It was sort of strange. Maybe she just didn’t understand it. Or maybe there was nothing to understand. It could just be that Hyde was over analyzing what was possible.

Spoiler:

The android cocked his head at Shunnosuke's comment about luck, he was not a real believer in luck. After all there were statistics, strategy, intelligence, and skill that could account for things that are often attributed to luck. Whether or not these things could be applied to the supernatural could be argued back and forth forever. Though when the topic turned to the comment about Kurosawa not wanting to do what others wanted, in other words he was living his life the way he wanted to. Good for him, unless the way he was living would lead him to rash decisions. Then living his life the way he wanted to might lead him to more trouble. Oh dear, that most certainly wouldn't be good.

When Hyde mentioned that he was mighty steed, that was being ridden hard, he noted the look Shunnosuke's face and heard a little laugh from Naomi. Looking between the two somewhat confused about what was going on? Shunnosuke was another human being, no doubt that Hyde would be carrying a lot of weight by carrying his friend. Doesn't it make sense that in that case Kurosawa was riding Hyde hard? Though suddenly he gave it a bit more thought and an idea struck him. This was meant to be taken as a dirty joke, the look of realization became evident on the android's face. As if he had just turned on a light bulb, and he nodded now understanding the humor of the joke. "The others would simply think that you were riding Hyde hard, Kurosawa. I fail to see the issue with such a predicament." He said smiling at the pair a bit, oh yes...the android had gotten the humor and now he was embracing this knowledge to the best of his ability! No way was he going to miss a chance to try and show that, yes...he was not completely oblivious to the humor and dirty references that could be made.

When Hyde mentioned using Personas to speak for them, he blinked a bit. "Using Persona's to speak for us? I've never really thought of how that could be advantageous for us, but it might be something worth considering. I wouldn't really make it speak for me, I have my own voice and thoughts. I would rather try and make peace and speak my mind with my own voice rather than my Persona's." It was true, the android enjoyed his own independence and wanted to use his own voice to speak his mind, not that of his Persona's.

Movement:

Hyde let out a gleeful laughter as he tried his best to explain why that would be a good idea. “Well on the other hand, if there was ever a chance that we could make phone calls and use our persona’s at the same time, we could probably make prank phone calls. Either that or use our distorted and monstrous voices, or an angelic voice in Shun’s case, to make calls to people without actually having them recognize your voice. I mean, they would only guess that it would be a high tech voice changer, or maybe auto tune would work just as well. Can you imagine? Someone calling you for a ransom by singing in auto tune, but it takes about 20 minutes them to get their point across?

Hyde wasn’t too sure as to what the joke was about, Shun seemed embarrassed and Naomi was laughing pretty hard. Hyde had an innocent mind when it came to these things; he mostly meant one thing as opposed to the other. If there was something he wanted to say, Hyde would have been a little more blunt about it than beat around the bush. That was the kind of guy that he was, but he couldn’t really help it if the things that he said would could out in a different kind of way. “ But it’s true isn’t it? Your body is pretty light too.” Hyde was a bit confused for the moment, but he was pretty happy that everyone managed to share a laugh together. Isn’t this swell, were all having our own form of bonding time and whatnot. I was we could all laugh together like this a lot more often. “ Hyde was really fond of he and his team going out to places together, there was this action movie that he wanted to see.

“Hey guys, I know this is off topic, but do you like action movies? I could say that they are my favorite genre, it’s mostly able to catch my attention and isn’t mushy like romance. Comedy is pretty good to, but I’m more fond of things blowing up every ten seconds. That’s kind of why that I think Michael bay would also do an action movie some justice, that guy is like the king of explosions. “ Hyde was pretty much curious as to what their favorite genres was. “What about you guys, do you have a favorite movie genre? Maybe we can rent one for a movie night?”


Movement

Spoiler: