Thinking Out Loud. (Hyde)

As the last bell of the day sounded, Jack felt a wave of relief wash over him. As he began to pack his things to go home he ran through all the things he had planned for the day."Ok! First! Gunna catch the new episodes of Prehistoric Charge! Then it's on to a twelve hour gaming binge starting with-"

"A two hour jog around the island...."

"A two hour jog around the island!... Wait... What? No! I'll start with finishing up .hack//Infection! Then I'll move straight into Mutation and-"

"Three hours of combat and strategy drills with the rangers,"

"Three hours of... combat... and strategy.... Grrrr...." Jack took a quick look around at the now empty class room to make sure no one was still around to hear him... no one he could see... seemed safe... "Gah! Golem! I get that you're me and all, but seriously! We trained all day yesterday. Can't we take a day off?"

Jack was a little louder then he needed to be... but luckily no one was there to hear him... right?....

Yo jack….” Hyde would pop out of his hiding spot from within the room and scratch his head. “ What in the world are you talking about, or talking to?” Hyde would then look around but he didn’t see a person. “Is there more people playing the game right now? I’m actually playing hide and seek with a few people from our class, but I managed to get myself a head start. “ Hyde would then point at the locker behind him, which is funny because it seemed that he had to literally squeeze himself in. “ So watchu talking about?

strength

Spoiler:

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaay there Hyde! Didn't uh... Didn't see you there! Heh... hehe... eheeeee...." Hyde TOTALLY didn't just scare the pants off Jack. Jack new he was there the whole time!He used his uh... hightened Ranger senses to detect Hyde's presences in the room even before Hyde knew he was IN the room! Yeah... That's totally how that wen't down. Jack wasn't startled in the slightest by Hyde's sudden and very unexpected greeting. Yep! In complete control of the situation....

"Lieing is very unbecoming of a hero of justice. You must be truthful at all times, and also remember to always respect your parents and say no to dru-"

"Shut up Golem... I know!" Jack whispered to himself through clenched teeth. "I uh... was just... Talking to my...self?... Y-yeah! I uh... do that some... times...S-So how are you! How's your day been eh? Heheh...ehehe...eeeeeh...." damn it all to hell... Hyde had caught Jack talking to Golem... But... then again. There was NO way for Hyde to know that... maybe if Jack played it cool, he could get out of this without to much of a problem.

Kind of reminds me of the imaginary friend that I had when I was a lot younger. Then again, this seems a lot more profound. So you still feel lonely or something Jack? You know you could always talk to me you know, and your other friends, or even your club members. You don’t have to sit in here and play by yourself.” Hyde would then pat Jack on the back.” It’s alright… I get lonely too sometimes.” He wasn’t really getting it; he thought that there was something up with Jack

"Lonely? Me? hah! Not quite Hyde. I just happen to enjoy the conversations I have with myself. I find that I agree with most of my own opinions and have very deep insight on many issues that other's just do not. heh" Jack chuckled at his own joke. Sure Golem could be a pain at times but he was still a part of Jack, and that meant that they often thought the same thoughts... though after talking to Nilo and the others about their persona... It seemed Golem had a bit more free will then most. This made Jack worry about the stability of his Psyche at times. Golem's talkative nature often lead to Jack being woken up in the middle of the night by the call to train or by "needing to protect the fine people of the city" or just Golem being a general dic-

"GAH!"Jack shouted as he covered his ears. Jack's line of thought was cut off by a loud explosion going off in his head... Note to Jack... Don't insult the robot that lives in your head."What the hell Golem! Not cool!"... whoops....

“………………” Hyde was speechless, he didn’t really know what to expect anymore, or what to say for that matter. “Umm, Jack? You are kind of doing it again, but your reactions kind of make it seem like it’s an actual person. What’s going on man? “ Hyde was a bit concerned, he gave Jack a confused look. “Is this one of those “attack of the brain jackers” moments?

Jack pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed..Golem was really being a pain this time..."N-no Hyde.... It's just... I doubt you'd really understand... Remember all that talk about supernatural stuff and how it happens to find it's way to me.... This is one of those things. Trust me when I say it's way to complicated to really get into... lets just say I can get on my nerves some times..." Jack knew he was pushing his boundaries a little here... but he honestly didn't see any other way out of this...

You mean like, the boogey man and…. Ghosts? stuff like that? Oh, why didn’t you just say so? Sorry for butting in, that kind of makes you less crazy if this is a spiritual thing. Then again, I’d like to think that we all can be a little bit crazy sometimes. “ Hyde would say this with a reassuring smile. He didn’t want his friend to feel bad about. After sitting on a nearby table, Hyde took out a coin. “ Want to play a game? Heads or tails. Call it right, I won’t bother you about it., call I wrong, you have to tell me everything that’s bothering you buddy. Deal?

"Boggy man?...." Jack stopped and tried to imagine the shadows he faced in the alt world as the stereotypical boggy man... Ultimately it lead to him imagining the rangers fighting "Boggy" From Grim Adventures.... the thought alone was enough to lift his spirits. With a hearty laugh and a broad smile Jack would sit down on the desk opposite Hyde's and nod curtly "Haha! Sure! But I warn you... It's some pretty heavy stuff... but I'll call... Heads!"

Ok, i see that you have a little bit of a gamblers heart. Lets leave this to fate." Hyde would then flip the coin with ad smile and close his hand over it. There was a bit of silence, but a strange bit of tension started to build up more and more, both Hyde and Jack would know what to expect from this con toss at all." I call tails!" Afterwards, Hyde would remove his hand for the both to see. Though he didnt like to pry to too much in his friends business, he had a feeling that Jack was hiding something. If it had anything to do with persona or anything like that, Hyde wanted Jack to tell him on his own. If not, Hyde would still want Jack to feel comfortable around Hyde enough to talk about his problems.

Coin toss

Spoiler:

Heads! Jack won!... Or did he lose... Wait..."I won!... I think... We never said what happens when the coin is flipped... Awe ta heck with it, I'll just tell you. You're a galactic bounty hunter so I'm sure you've seen some weirder stuff then this anyway..." That's right Hyde... You thought Jack forgot didn't you! Well Jack never forgets anything!... Except birthdays... Jacks really bad with birthdays.... and peoples names, important events, how to spell simple words, what classes he has each day of the week, and the capital of Australia... Ok so perhaps Jack forgets a lot of things but this was not one of them!

Regardless Jack felt he could trust Hyde to listen to what he had so say so... what the heck?"Dose the word... Persona... Mean anything to you?"

Mhm, I am. I that what this is about? Your persona talks to you?” Hyde would make a gasping sound. “Aww man! That so not fair! My persona doesn’t talk to me at all. Though, I think the most that mine would do is growl or something. Oh… well… “ Hyde would then smile at Jack” Dude, I have one too, so you aren’t alone after all. I kind of got it around the time that Lewis Rhode was being announced as the strange criminal, everything tuned black and white and I was attacked by shadows with a group of other people. I summoned some ghost like thingy to defend myself. “ Hyde would say as he pointed to his head. “What about you?”

Jack took a moment to pick his jaw up off the ground and to remove the palm from his face... So Hyde was a user as well... Only his persona didn't talk to him that much. Jack was starting to think he was special for having a talkative persona."Yeah Golem talks, it's getten him to shut up that's the trick," Never a bad time for a Shrek reference heh...

"Huh... I remember reading something about that on some "paranormal" message board... I got mine from that weird boradcast tower incident were the TVs were taken over by that reporter lady." So much had happened that the event seemed like a lifetime ago... He had grown so much, not just as a ranger and a fighter, but as a person... kinda wistfull.

"So tell me about yours. I'm kinda interested."

What do you mean? My persona? It’s some wolf guy with a spear that has some stinger like wings. If anything, it looks like some supernatural robotic version of Anubis if he got a makeover for the next terminator movie. Basic utility, but I thrive on using physical hits and DE buffing the big baddy when it counts. One of my favorite things to do. “Hyde would then whistle.” Yep, everybody’s name that popped up is involved. I tried seeing one of those names, his name is simon alba. Didn’t work out too well, he isn’t here, might not be here for a while. Think simon was kidnapped?

Simon... Hmmm Jack knew a Simon... Probably not the same Simon though," Kidnapped? What makes you say that? Seems like quite the leap of logic to say he was kidnapped just cus he disappeared. If dealing with all this Persona stuff has taught me anything it's that anything is possible... He might have left to train in the mountains with an ancient master, or maybe he was abducted by the machine empire... ether way we can't just say he was kidnapped and be done with it." Jack stood from the table and stretched his back slightly causing it to pop loudly,"But if it's a real issue I can get my team on it. We're the best there is so we should have him found in no time!" Jack took pride in his rangers. After all. They were the best team around!... Right?