Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

This story is a work of parody. Any similarities to any real people - living or dead - are entirely unintentional. Fictional, on the other hand, is another story. 

Only those who have agreed to the above have the privilege of partaking in this tale.

… 

The contract has been sealed.

The world is not as it should be. It used to be a place of peace and harmony. Now, destruction is beginning to reign over creation, and many are becoming lost to a void coming without warning from which they cannot escape. Though you may seem but a face to be molded by others, it should also symbolize your creativity and potential. You are but a simple traveler now, but now is the time to rise against the abyss of destruction.

It is time for your tale to begin.

They woke up in an unfamiliar place. The sound of heavy wind and machinery from outside the room still whistled through their ears, but there was the sound of helicopter-like blades whirling around as well.

Looking around, they were in some sort of blue airship. After managing to fully orient themselves, they mumbled, “What the…?”

An unfamiliar voice caught their attention. “Ah… it seems our guest has woken up. Welcome to the Velvet Room. This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter…”

“My name is Igor. It is a pleasure to meet you.” He handed over a clipboard with paper on it. “Before we begin any explanations, would you mind introducing yourself?”

Hesitantly, they wrote down Mie Gunter before looking at the strange, long-nosed man and the young-looking boy with a surprisingly large nose sitting next to him. Carrying a large tome in their hands, said boy waved to them and gave them a happy smile.

“That is Yoshi, my assistant,” Igor told Mie.

“Don’t worry, we’re gonna help you a lot on your journey!” Yoshi added, his cheerful expression a stark contrast to Igor’s quieter demeanor.

“We will explain more later,” Igor said, “Until we meet again, Mx. Gunter.”

Sleep overtook Mie before they could truly register that Igor had used their proper honorific.

“We have now arrived in Ryūō. Thank you for riding Boomerang Airlines.” Mie heard over the plane’s intercom. Rubbing the blurriness out of their eyes, they got up, stretched, and got off the plane they’d been flying on before that strange dream and walked into the airport. 

Right away, they could tell that Ryūō was nothing like their hometown. People of vastly different shapes, sizes and other differences moved around all over the place. Finding a quieter area, they took out their phone and dialed a number. A few tears came to their eyes as they talked to the people on the other line.

“Hey, Mio, Mia… yes, I got to Ryūō just fine.” They flushed. “Come on, you can’t just say that! I’ll get a ride to my apartment via Takshi. I have enough money for that…”

Setting up a Takshi and giving it the instructions, Mie didn’t have to wait long before an old, honestly sort of rickety car pulled up to them, an elderly black man at the wheel.

As Mie approached tentatively, the man nodded at them. “I’m Steve Kariuki,” he said. “I’m guessing you’re…” - he looked at his phone - “... Mee?”

“... it’s Mie,” Mie said quietly, “not that it matters…”

“Of course it matters, sweetie. That’s your name, isn’t it?” That reassured them a bit as they nodded and entered the car.

As Steve began to drive, he mentioned, “Sorry if my car gets wheezy. She’s an old one - I call her the Minecart.”

“Cool,” Mie said simply.

“... so, you ever been to Ryūō before?” Steve then asked, “On vacation? Visiting family? Something like that?”

“... nope. First time.”

“Well, then, what brings you here?” A dark look shrouded over them when he asked that, and he noticed. Noticing Mie’s silence, Steve scratched the back of his head and said, “It’s okay… you don’t have to tell me.”

Turning back to the road, he said, “One of the things I have come to appreciate about Ryūō is that there never seems to be a dull moment there. Things are always bustling about and you never know what life’s gonna throw at ya next. There’s also a lot of good people and plenty of creative minds, if you’re into that sort of thing.”

For the first person they talked to here, Steve was giving them a good first impression of this place. It gave them a bit of hope that things would be okay here, and they began to squirm in their seat. Steve noticed that small smile slowly growing on their face through the mirror as they thought about it.

“Heh… are you excited, child?” The excessive movement was making the Minecart wobble a bit more than it was used to. “Hey, slow down there. I know you’re itching to get your new life started here, but this thing’s been getting on in years.”

“O-oh, sorry.” Mie apologized. Calming themselves down, they took in the sights of the town and its many people as Steve got closer to their destination.

It wasn't long before they arrived at the address Mie had given. Steve parked at the apartment complex’s parking lot and rolled down the window to get some air in the car for himself.

“Thanks for the ride.”

“It’s no problem, child.” As Mie grabbed their bags and walked towards the front office, Steve watched them go curiously. “May your spirit shine eternally, Mie Gunter.”

It wasn’t long before Mie got their keys from the landlord - a lanky, middle-aged grump with a long, pointy mustache. Room 2014 wasn’t the best living space in the world. It was a little dusty and rather decrepit like it hadn’t been used in years. Despite its shortcomings, every appliance was working, so it was more than enough to call home.

They set about moving everything they had (which wasn’t much, admittedly) in, but they weren’t able to get it all done before night fell.

Deciding that they would do the rest tomorrow after work, Mie made their bed and went to sleep.

Chapter Text

By the moment Mie woke up to the alarm on their phone, the loneliness of the apartment had already gotten to them. Once they’d woken up and gotten out of their bed, they immediately reached for their phone to text their siblings. There was no response, even after a few minutes. Right, they’d still be asleep at this time, and jetlag had just settled in. The pillow they had in their arms wasn’t doing any good, but it was their first full day here, and they were going to meet some new faces at their job.

Oh, right. They had a job.

After taking a shower in which they had to turn the knob completely up for any semblance of good heat, Mie began looking around for the place they’d applied to online.

As they gained closer and closer to the location Loolog Maps had given them, they passed by Sakurai Intermediate, then Sakurai High School. It was good to know that the school they’d be attending was within a short distance, and Mie had already filled out everything to enroll in an online meeting with the vice principal, so they were free to start attending tomorrow. 

They also passed by a zoo, a religious building of some sort (Mie had no idea what religion the building was meant to serve, though) and a big-looking rec center before arriving at the front of what they really hoped was their new workplace.

They jiggled the doorhandle of the rather small building - it was smaller than their apartment complex by a decent margin - only to find it locked. Deciding to wait for someone to show up, they looked at the logo on the front doors.

“Lylat Detective Agency…?” Mie muttered out loud, “What kind of name is that?”

Perhaps they should have been quieter. 

From behind them, a cocky voice remarked, “See, I told you nobody thinks it sounds cool.”

“I didn’t hear that name sucks,” a different voice responded tiredly, “I heard them ask what it means.”

“No one wants to hear your astrology rant, either.”

“It’s astronomy -”

Mie turned around to face the two people and waited patiently for them to finish. As they did, they took in their details.

The one with the cocky voice was a man probably in his 30s or maybe early 40s. He had slicked-back raven hair and calculating green eyes. He was wearing a white jacket for the chilly weather (they were in the first days of the cold weather of the fall).

The other guy looked to be about the same age as his compatriot. He had light-brown hair that tufted out on the sides and was clad in a pale-gray jacket over an orange shirt, and a red scarf was wrapped around his neck.

“So you’re the kid, huh?” The one in the white jacket eventually stopped, giving a scrutinizing look towards Mie. “Well, beggars can’t be choosers, I guess.”

The brunet sighed. “Anyway, I’m Fox McCloud-Lombardi, and that’s Falco, my husband.” Pulling out a key and beginning to unlock the door, he gestured to Mie and said, “We’ll talk more inside. Go on ahead and wait for us outside the door at the end of the hall, won’t you?”

Mie nodded neutrally and headed inside once Fox had unlocked the door. They wondered what Fox and Falco wanted to do in private, but decided against pushing the question or listening in.

Falco squinted at his husband once Mie was out of sight and earshot. “... something’s bothering you, Fox,” he said, “What’s going on?”

Fox pulled out his phone to remind Falco of Mie’s application.

“You didn’t review the kids’ information, so this isn’t your fault. Look here - in the additional information section, they put Will do whatever I have to do for a living wage. The kid’s just a teenager, and under gender, they put other.” He looked at Falco and said firmly, “Connect the dots, man. And be careful about pronouns.”

Falco was quiet for a moment, but he collected his thoughts eventually. “Something is up with that. I won’t pretend otherwise. What do you think we should do?”

“Well, we’d better get the whole story out of them first,” Fox pointed out, “Then we’ll figure out if they need help and how we can give it to them.”

“Sounds good to me. Let’s do ourselves an interview.”

As Fox, Falco and Mie sat down in the office room, Fox got straight to business. “I looked at your application, and there were some concerning areas that came up.”

Mie did their best to will away the fear in their eyes. Had Fox changed his mind about the job? Were they going to have to go back to their-

Falco must have noticed their stress, because he quickly said, “The job application wasn’t a problem. You’re just on menial tasks, kid - you get coffee, take out the trash every so often, the works. We’re more worried about you personally.”

“... eh?”

“The way you phrased some things on your application had us worried for your wellbeing,” Falco began, “Do you mind telling us what led you to come to us? If you only wanted some spending money, you wouldn’t have applied to a detective agency, regardless of what your job was there… was your home not good for you or something, kid?”

Mie was silent for a while, but they eventually decided it would be best to just tell the truth. “My parents refused to use my proper pronouns and… they got loud and angry when I tried.”

“... did they kick you out?” Fox asked.

“No… I just had enough and applied to some program. If I could prove myself self-sufficient or whatever the word is, I could get legally emancipated. My brother and sister told me about it…”

“So after we agreed to hire you, you got the heck outta dodge, huh?” Falco questioned.

Busy trying not to think of their parents’ cruelty, Mie could only nod.

“I’ll admit, that kinda move takes some real guts,” Fox said, his expression now showing concern, “First of all: where did you come from? You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to.”

Mie took a breath before answering, “Do you know where Wuhu is…?”

Falco’s eyes widened, and he snapped to attention. “Hold on, you came all the way from Wuhu? That’s gotta be a while from here by plane!”

“Ahaha… I just flew here yesterday…”

Fox had to resist the urge to ask the status of their arms; looking to Falco, who merely nodded back, Fox asked, “Second of all: where are you staying now?”

“The apartment complex near here…?”

“Wait wait wait wait wait,” Falco shook his hands out, looking away in disgust, “You’re living at Walmsley’s shithole? And you’re a minor? Ugh, he’s probably overcharging you, too! Fox, can’t we do something about this?”

Fox looked his husband in the eyes sorrowfully. “Unless you’re okay with having them live with us or something, it doesn’t look likely.”

“Fine by me! We can’t let the kid stay anywhere near that jackass!”

The smallness of Mie’s voice stopped Fox and Falco’s argument immediately. “Wait… are you considering, like… taking me in?”

Fox pondered things for a moment. An idea came to him. “I can imagine you’d be uncomfortable about that, but we can’t let you stay in that crummy place in good conscience. We can’t and won’t make you do this if you don’t want to, though… so if you’re at least willing to humor us, we’ll do a trial deal.”

“Trial… deal?”

“You’re still in high-school, right?” When Mie nodded, Fox continued, “How’s about this. You give us… this upcoming semester, I guess… while living in our guest room. We’ll help you move out of Walmsley’s place. After that, you can choose whether you want to stick around or move out. It’s your call.”

“I told you we’d need it someday,” Falco commented quietly.

“... what do you get in return?” Mie asked cautiously. 

Picking up on Fox’s idea, Falco said, “Well, you’re gonna be working for us, aren’t you? I think that sounds like a fair rent. Oh, and keep out of trouble, obviously.”

With that, Fox and Falco extended their hands. “You up to fly with us?”

“... deal.”

And with a slightly-awkward handshake with the two of them, Mie sealed the deal. 

“Well, it might take a while to get you moved, so you can officially start next week,” Fox reasoned, “Oh! We’d better close early.”

“Whatever you say, Fox,” Falco smiled.

As Mie and their bosses stepped out the door and Fox began locking it up once more, Mie accidentally bumped into a third man walking up to the door. He had a scar across his left eye and dyed-gray hair and was clad in a purple-accented outfit.

“Oh… O’Donnell,” Falco groaned, “Sorry, but something came up, and we’re closed for the day. You may as well go home… apologies for only telling you now.”

“... fine,” O’Donnell nodded near-emotionlessly in a deep, grumbly voice. He turned around and hopped in a car with the license plate W0LF3N.

As O’Donnell drove off, Fox sighed. “That was Wolf. He doesn’t like us very much, and odds are he won’t like you either.”

Mie gave a nervous laugh as they got in the McCloud-Lombardis’ car (which had the license plate number 4RW1NG). “Here’s hoping things’ll be fine with him…”

“Oh!” Fox suddenly snapped to attention as he began driving to the apartment complex, “Since your profile said other for your gender, I’m presuming you don’t use he/him or she/her. What are your preferred pronouns, kid? You can be honest with us.”

“... they/them, please.”

Falco gave Mie a reassuring smirk. “They/them it is.” To himself, he then muttered, “Guess we’d better hide the alcohol…”

“Falco!”

Wallace Walmsley let Mie off easily. It probably helped that there were two stern- and serious-looking detectives with them. Mie sure had gotten lucky, having such powerful people looking out for them. It was also luck that they hadn’t brought much anyway (and hadn’t unpacked everything to begin with), so it was decently easy to move them out.

From there, Fox and Falco drove them to their house, which was - while on the other side of town from Sakurai High and Lylat - a bit further than the apartment complex was to said places in distance.

The house was much bigger than their room was, and their guest room was too. There was much more space for them, their bed was far better… it was a breath of fresh air compared to their last apartment.

“Now first up, some ground rules,” Falco announced, “Unless it’s for an emergency, try hard not to interrupt us while we’re working.” He turned to look at them and said, “Second - stay out of trouble, alright? I don’t think I need to tell you that given that you’re in that program you mentioned, but better safe than sorry. If we do hear you are up to stuff… well, we won’t kick you out or anything like that, but things will be a bit stricter than they might have to be for a while.”

“I can do that,” Mie said gratefully, “This is a lot more than I ever could have asked for. Thank you, if I haven’t already said it.”

The three of them spent the rest of the afternoon and a good chunk of the evening unpacking Mie’s stuff.

“Alright, you should probably get to bed,” Fox nodded once they’d noticed the time after finishing, “Your first day at school should be tomorrow, if memory serves.”

Falco then posed an interesting question. “Hey, since when did you get so good at childcare?”

“There’s a lot about me you still don’t know, Falco.”

As Mie laid in their new bed, they thought that the best part about this day was that they felt a lot less alone. A cliché way to think about things, sure, but the two detectives were looking out for them. They at least cared that much.

That was more than could be said for a lot of people back at Wuhu.

Chapter Text

Mie hadn’t had as good a sleep as they’d just had in years. They woke up feeling fresher than in some time, and after brushing and all that, they felt even more fresh.

Falco had been a bit spooked to see Mie once they’d walked towards the door, a cup of coffee nearly falling out of his hands. Quickly recollecting himself, the guy apologized. “Sorry… it’s gonna take some time getting used to you.”

“I understand…” Mie shook their head, “I was guessing this was a snap decision, so I’m not surprised.”

“Well, we shouldn’t keep you busy,” said Fox as he walked up to Falco and Mie, “In case you forgot, classes start today. I think they’ll be forgiving if you don’t have some of the stuff you need, but you’ll be working to get the money for them… that or you can use any previous funds you got.”

“Yessir,” Mie nodded, hiking up their backpack and making their way out the door from there.

Thankfully, they didn’t have any trouble reaching Sakurai High, ending with plenty of time to spare. Hopefully they’d be able to find the principal’s office before classes started; they’d promised to check in with him so he could in-

CRASH!

Somebody collided into them from behind. They were fine, but the person audibly fell on their ass with an oof. “Woah, sorry! Didn’t see ya there!” their voice - a rather carefree one for someone who’d just bumped into them - rang out.

Mie turned around to help the guy put out his hand to help them back up. The guy had long, wild and spiky hair with cobalt tips and a backpack with some sort of multicolored jewel on the logo spot.

“You alright?” Mie asked, holding their hand out to help him up.

The guy took it. “Yeah, I’m fine. I need to watch where I’m going sometimes…” 

He then squinted at Mie. “Hmm… come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before. You new here?”

“Yeah, it’s my first day here.”

“Well, welcome to Sakurai High!” The boy smiled at her. The smile faded a bit as he added, “I remember my first day here. I had a… rough transition into this school. Tell you what: if you ever need help getting around town or even need something to do, I’ll be your guide… wait, where are my manners?”

“Everyone calls me Sonic,” the guy - Sonic, apparently - introduced himself, “and you are…?”

“Mie.”

“Welp, see ya there!” As quickly as he ran into them, Sonic dashed off, zipping past other students and disappearing through the front doors. Mie followed after, and soon they’d gotten directions to the principal’s office from the vice principal - a stocky Spanish man with dark-blue hair in a giant jacket that reminded them vaguely of a cape.

Standing in front of the principal’s office, Mie knocked on the door. From the other end, a thick Southern American (not to be confused with South American) accent called back, “The door’s open, whoever y’are. Come on in!”

The principal’s size was a key factor in slightly intimidating Mie when they entered his office, but the soft-looking beanie helped. A quick look at the nameplate on his desk confirmed that this was the Didier Dedede they’d talked with in the past.

“Now, I know you’re new to town, and this can be a pretty big place. Even I still get lost every so often, an’ I pretty much run the place!” Principal Dedede let out a loud, boisterous laugh, earning a small uneasy smile from Mie, “So whenever this school gets ourselves some new blood, I give ‘em a whole map of the school. Trust me, you’ll need it.”

The manual-like map he handed them was more in-depth then they thought it would be. Showing detailed descriptions of each individual floor, creating a feeling more akin to a mall or theme park than a high school.

Well, Mie mused as they began following the directions, the whole town is way bigger than Wuhu to begin with.

They made it to their history class with about five minutes to spare. People had definitely turned their heads to look at the newcomer, but they’d ultimately paid Mie no mind, choosing to sit around with their pre-existent friend groups until Mr. Bellamy arrived.

Given that today was Day 1, things went by pretty easily. During class intros, Mie had introduced themselves to their class using the pronouns they liked, and there hadn’t been any explicit problems from anyone. These patterns carried over to their next classes - math with Mr. Scapelli and health with Dr. Mario.

For the most part, though, things were as usual…  until they reached Mr. Dragmire’s science class. Nothing bad happened, but afterwards, Mie was flagged over on the way out by another junior in a fashionable cyan outfit carrying a binder with a starry logo.

“Hi there, Mie!” she said pleasantly, “I’m Rosalina Lum… you’re new here, right?”

Mie was silent for a while, thrown off-guard by Rosalina’s introduction, but they managed a nod.

“Then I presume you don’t have many friends here,” Rosalina predicted, “If you’re interested, me and Maurice have a seat for you at lunch!”

“That… that would be nice. Thanks, Rosalina.”

“Of course! Me and Maurice cancel each other out a bit too strongly, so we could use a… well, straight man feels like the wrong term, but…”

Mie chuckled at that as Rosalina pulled out her thermos and began walking with them to the cafeteria. “You too must be very sweet together.”

Rosalina nearly spit out her drink. “O-oh, we’re not a couple or anything! Maurice isn’t… much of a romance guy, anyways.”

As Mie got a tray of meatloaf that at least looked edible and sat down with Rosalina, Mie noticed the guy from earlier - Sonic or something like that - enter the cafeteria. He quickly noticed them and Rosalina too and walked over, navigating through the sea of students. 

Rosalina smiled comfortably around him, making Mie realize the truth. “Wait… you’re Maurice?”

As if on cue, Sonic (or Maurice, apparently) groaned, cheeks going bright-red, and shot Rosalina a look. “Rosie, I thought I asked you to stop doing that!”

“Hey, that’s your name, isn’t it?” Mie giggled.

“Just… stick with the nickname for now, please?” Maur… Sonic pleaded.

“Fair enough,” Mie smiled at him, “Just use they/them for me, okay?”

“That’s a fair trade…” Sonic nodded, “but now that I know that you want that, I’ll use those pronouns anyways.”

Mie flushed. “... thanks.”

Conversation ensued from there, from Mie’s origins to their classmates and teachers.

“Aw, man, you got Mr. Dragmire too?” Sonic groaned, “Man, I’m lucky I got Mr. Crygor this year.”

“Oh, he’s not that bad,” Rosalina protested.

“First of all,” Sonic replied, “it may be unfounded, but he just gives me the creeps, man. Second of all, it’s the first day back in classes; of course he’s gonna go easy on us! Third, you’re good at science; of course you’re fine with the guy!”

It was clear that Sonic and Rosalina had quite a bit of history together. From the way the two of them interacted, it seemed like they had known each other for years. Mie got the idea that Sonic got the rather-reserved Rosalina to come out of her shell a bit more often and that Rosalina in turn corralled Sonic’s impulsive tendencies.

“Hey, Mie,” Sonic then snapped his fingers, “Remember how I promised you I’d show you around town?”

When Mie nodded, he said, “Wanna cash that in today? I heard a new game store just opened in town, and I’d been hoping to at least check it out.”

“Oh, that place? It has been getting a fair amount of customers recently, and I hear there are good reviews on Yap. I haven’t checked it out myself, but if it’s ok with our new friend, I’d love to.”

“You worry too much about us needing a third, Rosie,” Sonic snarked.

Rosalina calmly assured him that “I cannot always be the one balancing us out. Even if two is company, three’s not always a crowd, you know.”

“What, am I not cool enough for you?”

Rosalina smirked. “Not on your own, you aren’t~!”

“H-hey!”

“If you guys are okay, I’ll come along,” Mie interrupted both of them, “but I don’t have any systems other than my phone.”

“Tell ya what, it’s on me.”

That seemed to shock Rosalina. “Sonic, you don’t-”

“It’s cool…” Sonic shrugged, “I’ve been saving up a bit.” It was clear there was more to the story, but Mie decided not to question it.

“Plus,” he added, “it’ll be a chance to get to know you better, Mie.”

“Why not ask them about themselves now?” Rosalina asked. 

The bell to end lunch rang, and Sonic made a gesture. “That’s why.”

“I’ll never understand how you remember the times…” Rosalina grumbled, but the three of them packed up regardless and promised to meet after classes.

The rest of the day consisted of P.E. with Ms. Fitzroy and Mr. Mishima, English with Mr. Angenent, Japanese (their secondary language class) with Mr. Strife and Art w/ Mr. Eisner to cap it off. Apparently, they alternated weeks between Art, Drama, and Music; Mie wasn’t complaining too badly about doing basic intros for three weeks.

Sonic was already at the entrance by the time Mie and Rosalina got out of the school, tapping his foot to some song on his headphones as he was waiting for them.

“Took you two long enough,” he said, wagging his finger at them, “Man, I wish I had the money to treat you guys to noodles at Ms. Huang’s after this… well, at least I have enough to do something right now.”

Rosalina nodded approvingly, and Mie gave him a small smile. “Shall we go?” he then asked.

It wasn’t too much of a walk to get to Ryūō’s shopping district. Other than being where they wanted to go, it was a good reference for if Mie wanted to buy anything else there. They passed by a few interesting places - the temple they’d seen earlier, a swimming pool, the noodles restaurant Sonic mentioned, an occult shop, a library, a gardening store, a music shop, an arcade, some gym or dojo… the place was huge!

The game store was weirdly tucked in the backstreets of the area. Then again, it was new.

Sonic opened the door. “After you.”

“So you have some gentleman in you,” Mie jested.

“You might say that,” Sonic responded coolly, “but you’ll need to unlock my Tragic Backstory™ before any of that!”

Another piece of Sonic’s story, hm? Mie thought to themselves.

“Sonic, please tell me you are joking about that,” Rosalina groaned.

“Maybe…”

As they bickered, Mie looked around the store, beginning to peruse the games and systems. They’d barely been allowed a phone about two years ago, and that had been so their parents could keep a better eye on them. They’d managed to clear out all control when they got out, though-

“Hello, there. Are you looking for something in particular?”

Mie jumped halfway out of their skin and whipped around to face a slender, tall young man with long hair. If this guy had graduated from college, it couldn't have been too long ago. Looking at his employee nametag, Mie learned his name was Joseph.

“Apologies if I scared you,” Joseph chuckled in a way that seemed unintentionally ominous, “You’re new to town, aren’t you?”

“... how do you know this?” Mie asked warily.

“If you’re in the right circles, you come to learn a lot about the world you live in,” Joseph shrugged, twirling around a strand of silver hair, “though this was a fortunate guess.”

Figuring the guy was probably not being unnerving on purpose, Mie decided to humor him. “I don’t have any systems other than my phone… is there something cheap that works?”

“Hmmm…” Joseph studied them, before snapping his fingers, “If you wouldn’t mind giving me a moment…”

With that, the adolescent stole away into the breakroom. Sonic and Rosalina joined them in waiting, and it wasn’t too long before Joseph returned with a small, retro-style handheld.

“This was our last one in stock. Think of it as a welcoming gift if you wish.”

Sonic immediately stepped in to tell Mie, “Buddy, he’s practically giving this away. I wouldn’t deny the deal if I were you.”

Sensing Mie’s unease, Rosalina jabbed him. “It’s their decision, Maurice.”

“Thank you very much for this, sir,” Mie said politely, taking the handheld from Joseph, “How does this work?”

“I’m afraid I do not know this system as well as other ones,” Joseph answered apologetically, “If memory serves, it’s called the ADS. I think the three of you should be able to figure it out rather easily, though. It even comes with a free game preinstalled.

“Ah, one of the older ones, eh?” Sonic seemed ecstatic. It wasn’t long before Sonic made his purchase as well, so the three left quickly, deciding they’d test out the ADS at Rosalina’s place. 

The Lum residence was a rather large house, but after meeting all of the other boys there (as well as her charming father Lubba), Mie understood why. Settled in Rosalina’s room (which was the only room other than Lubba’s that any of the Lums had to themselves), Mie and Sonic observed the design of the ADS while it charged. It had a dark purple and black spatial color and clamshell-like design, opening and closing.

“Well, are you going to try it out?” Rosalina remarked once it had fully charged, “Actually… what does ADS stand for?”

“I’ll look it up later,” Sonic waved her off. Pressing a button, he cheered, “Let’s check this baby out!”

The light emanating from the screen wasn’t anything serious at first, but as it glowed brighter and brighter, Mie, Sonic and Rosalina found themselves looking away and closing their eyes. A great tingling feeling overtook their bodies.

Eventually, the light died down. Eyes still closed, Sonic called out, “Rosa! Mie! You okay?”

“I’m fine!” Mie called back, “What was that…?”

“Everyone…?” Rosalina said quietly, “You may wish to open your eyes.”

Rubbing their eyes, Mie opened their eyes. They shot up the second they’d finished gathering their bearings. Wherever they were now, they definitely weren’t in Rosalina’s room anymore. “Where are we…?”

Chapter Text

Sonic analyzed the place, never looking in the same spot for more than a few seconds. Eventually, he snapped his fingers as if he’d come to a conclusion.

“Alright, purple skies, yellow and green vein-like floors… I think it’s obvious. We’re in… the middle of nowhere!” 

As Sonic smiled innocently at his friends, Rosalina groaned. Mie raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. “Deductive skills at full throttle, I see,” they remarked dryly.

“Hey, you try coming up with a better explanation for why a game system did this!” Sonic snapped back.

“Speaking of which…” Rosalina spoke up as she examined the ADS, voice fraught with worry, “we’re out of batteries!”

The screen of the system wasn’t even turning on, no matter what buttons they pressed or held down.

“Damn…” Sonic whistled, “You don’t think there’s any kinda electricity generator thing around here, do you?”

Rosalina shook her head. “Probably not, Sonic,” she mused, “and even if there were, they’d probably fry it or something…”

“It’s worth a shot if we can find something…” Mie murmured, “Should we split up and look around?”

Sonic recoiled as if physically hurt. “Have you seen, like, any horror movie ever? That’s how we all die!”

“No, not really…” Mie admitted, “Horror movies are too much for me.”

“I respect that,” Rosalina nodded along, “but we really should focus on getting out of here.”

While there seemed to be a pretty straightforward path, there was always the possibility that they made a wrong turn somewhere or that something could jump out at them at any moment. At one point, Rosalina thought she had seen something primed to do just that.

Eventually, they wound up where they’d started. “Aw, come on!” Sonic groaned when he realized where they were, “At this rate, we’ll be stuck here forever! Anyone got a board game or something to pass the time before we all starve to death?”

“I don’t think we’ll have to worry about starving…”

Both Sonic and Rosalina turned to look at Mie. They merely pointed to the distance with a stalwart look, where in the mist all three of them managed to make out the silhouette of something - or someone? - approaching. Sonic and Rosalina assumed pitiful attempts at intimidating fighting poses.

The thing… being… whatever it was came out of the mist, it was rather round - almost circular - with pointy ears and stubby arms and legs. As it came closer, it became clear that it was pink in color and had cartoonishly-big blue eyes with a small curl of hair above its face. On top of its head was some sort of tied part, not unlike the bottom of a balloon.

“What in the world is that?” Mie whispered, slightly frightened.

“Isn’t that rude to say?” Rosalina laughed nervously.

“Yeah, well, I’m not sure how great it is to see this thing, either!” Sonic riposted. Cautiously walking up to the pink being, Sonic circled it, noting its shape and other details. “D’you think it’ll be unable to get up if I push it over?”

The strange creature puffed up its cheeks. “Rude!” it interrupted, voice strangely muffled.

“It talks?!”

“She sure does!” the apparently-female creature snapped, “And I’ve got a lot to say about you guys too!”

Pointing a finger at Mie, she demanded, “Who are you? How in the world did you guys get here?”

“You know what? We’ve been asking the same question!” Sonic countered, “And here’s a question for you, whoever you are - what is this place?”

The pink thing managed to strike an oddly cute pose. “I’m Puff!” As quickly as she’d struck it, however, Puff returned to her previous position. “And this is my world!”

“There’s one question answered,” Rosalina mused, “Sadly, it adds even more ones. You own this world?”

Puff shook her head angrily. “No, you blonde buffoon! This is the world I live in… are you guys from another world or something?”

“Yes, but let’s all calm down before we continue,” Mie said decisively, “We’re not going to figure this out by bickering with each other.”

Sonic and Rosalina nodded. “Looks like I’d be outvoted, then…” Puff sighed, before calming herself down. “What were you doing before you came here?” she asked.

“We bought this game system, and the moment we turned it on, we got sent here,” Mie informed Puff.

“That’s all? Some video-game player?”

“What, are you disappointed we didn’t come here in a DeLorean?” Sonic jested. 

His remark only garnered confusion from Puff, however. “What’s a DeLorean?”

“Never mind. Point is, do you know if there’s a way outta here?”

“No… even if I did, though, I’ve never really needed to-” Puff was interrupted by some high-pitched noises coming from the other direction.

It didn’t seem physically possible for Puff to pale, but she made it work. “Oh, jeez… the Shadows!”

“The what now-”

Before Mie could finish their sentence, Puff fled in terror, running off in the direction she came. 

“That was… weird…” Rosalina remarked uneasily.

“Do you think she knows how to get back to our place or something?” Sonic wondered.

An unknown amount of green creatures in some militaresque uniforms began to step out from the fog, schlepping closer and closer at a sluggish, zombielike pace. 

“... they mean trouble, don’t they?” Mie wondered.

All three of them went pale with fear. “I think we should follow the balloon… girl… whatever she was,” Rosalina whispered fearfully, “Any objections?”

Before Mie could voice their agreement, Sonic grabbed both them and Rosalina’s hands and started running, dragging them along with him. 

They ran for a while, Sonic letting go of their hands when they could roughly keep pace. It wasn’t long before they found Puff; unfortunately, she was unconscious, having crashed face-first into the dead end they too were now stuck in.

“Oh, shit…” Mie gulped. Sighing, they turned to Rosalina and Sonic, and told the two, “If I’m gonna die, I wanted to say that you guys have been really good to me for the brief time we knew each other. Thank you… I won’t let your kindness go to waste.”

They then proceeded to step in the way of these ‘Shadows,’ finding within them a new resolve to protect their friends. The first of the Shadows reared a fist back to punch when-

“I am thou…” whispered a voice. Mie’s eyes shot open, looking around for the source of the voice but finding no one new. 

The voice returned. “Thou art I…”

Sonic tilted his head at Mie’s strange behavior, but before he could say anything, Rosalina pointed upwards towards a source of blue light.

Some sort of glowing orb with a jester, a cliff, and a dog slowly flew down, coming to a stop just outside of Mie’s outstretched palm.

“The time to fight… is now…!”

Grabbing it and crushing it in their palm, Mie felt an intense surge of power flow through their body. A wave of energy flew out from all around them, causing Sonic and Rosalina to recoil and the Shadows to stop advancing.

A word suddenly came to their mind, and as soon as it did, they uttered it out loud.

“Persona…!”

From the bright-blue energy surrounding them, a glowing faceless humanoid shape with a bowler hat and a fancy curved cane came into being. They were all sorts of colors, but the most prominent was sky-blue.

“What the hell is that?!” Sonic yelped, backing further into the wall.

“Don’t worry, guys, they’re with me!” Mie told them. They then looked back to stare down the horde of Shadows. “Help me out, Cornish Jack!”

Seeming to recognize the challenge Mie now posed, one of the Shadows pounced. 

Mie’s eyes glowed bright yellow, and as if on instinct, they called out, “Psi!”

The end of Cornish Jack’s cane opened, and a blast of pink light made a beeline towards the attacking soldier. Circling around it, the creature was lifted into the air and slammed on the ground, making it burst into black dust.

Seeing one of their own go down, the rest of the Shadows charged. Mie in turn began fighting back, attacking with their body and calling Psi and Bash to direct Cornish Jack to attack.

It was clear that Mie and Cornish Jack worked well with each other, but as the Shadows continued to attack, Mie and their strange being they had summoned began to run out of steam.

Mie had eventually fallen to a knee in exhaustion and pain from the punches the Shadows had landed, Cornish Jack fizzling out of existence.

“Oh, no…!” Rosalina whispered in terror.

The sound of stomping only increased that terror as a larger version of the Shadows pushed their way through the crowd. It raised a fist to crush Mie first when-

SHINK!

A giant sword ran through its chest, instantly killing the larger Shadow and making it dissolve into the same stuff the rest of the destroyed Shadows had exploded into. Mie, Sonic and Rosalina gaped as the wielder of the blade started swinging, scaring off the rest of the enemies and cutting down whoever dared to stay.

“Back off, you lot! Out with you!” a deep voice roared.

As the Shadows made their escape, Sonic mumbled, “Hey, I know that voice…”

“...!” Rosalina’s eyes widened as she recognized their savior, just in time for said person to step through the fog, “Mr. Dragmire?!”

“Good to see you again, Miss Rosalina,” Mie and Rosalina’s science teacher nodded, “Wish it were under better circumstances… same for the both of you as well.”

“Of all the teachers that could’ve saved us…” Sonic mumbled.

“I can leave you here if you’re going to complain.”

“U-understood!”

Mr. Dragmire smirked. “Good. Now that we’ve gotten introductions out of the way… what in the devil are you doing here?”

“You probably won’t believe this, but we think it’s because of this game system,” Mie reported, holding up the still-dead ADS.

Mr. Dragmire scowled at the sight of it. “So there are more…”

“Come again?”

To the three’s shock, Mr. Dragmire sheathed his sword, reached into his pocket and pulled out an identical system. “I, too, have an Alternate-Dimensional System.”

“That’s what ADS stands for, huh…?” Sonic mused.

“That’s all well and great, but I think we need to get to the elephant in the room,” Mie reminded everyone, “What exactly is this place?”

“I’ll tell you what I can… after we’re in a less dangerous space,” Mr. Dragmire told them, “Unless you feel like running from Shadows more?”

“If Mie could summon that… Persona, you called it…” Rosalina considered, “We’ll have less to worry about.”

Mr. Dragmire’s eyes widened, before he shook his head. “Explanations from both sides later! Let’s move!”

The three complied, and after walking with him a while, Mr. Dragmire led them to some sort of crossroads. It was much less misty here.

“If you get stuck here again, try coming here,” Mr. Dragmire told them, “That way you can get back without causing a ruckus if someone notices.”

He turned on his ADS, and in another flash of light, the four humans disappeared.

Back at the wall, Puff groaned as she returned to consciousness. “Ugh… my head…” Looking around, she wondered, “Where did the Shadows go…?”

Chapter Text

When the light died down, Mie and their two new friends looked around the area they were now in.

It was some sort of workshop or science lab, but it wasn’t super-elaborate like a factory. It seemed like only one person used it, but needed a lot of space for their work.

“Where are we…?” Rosalina wondered.

“Nothing serious,” Mr. Dragmire assured them, “Just my home workshop.”

“So long as you don’t keep us here, that should be fine,” Sonic jested.

“Do you realize what you’ve gotten yourself into?” Mr. Dragmire reminded them sternly, “You’re a liability to the protection of our world, now.”

“That’s a little dramatic, don’t you think?”

“I have studied those abominations for years now! I know how much of a threat they can be!” Mr. Dragmire hissed. He visibly softened, though, before letting out a sigh. “... although I suppose I should begin by explaining everything first.”

“We’ll listen,” Mie promised before Sonic or Rosalina could say anything, “I want to know the truth.”

` Mr. Dragmire nodded. “I was probably just out of college,” he recounted, “when I discovered the Subspace Dimension… likely through similar means to you three.”

“Is that what that other place… sorry, other world is called?”

“That’s what I dubbed it, at least,” Mr. Dragmire said, “I began exploring for a while on the first trip, and that’s when I met the Shadows. They’re bloodthirsty creatures, born of the negative emotions of all life… especially that humanity. I deduced that since I could find my way into their world…”

“... that they might someday find their way here!” Rosalina gasped.

“I knew you were smart, Miss Rosalina,” Mr. Dragmire nodded, “That’s why I have dedicated my life to fighting them off… among other things. I got very good at swordplay and what have you, too… in a dangerous world like the Subspace Dimension, you have to.”

“Other things?” Sonic asked, confused.

Mr. Dragmire’s expression grew sorrowful. “After I became a science teacher - being the silent protector of our world doesn’t pay the bills, you know - one of my brightest students was accidentally transported with me during one of my trips.”

“Wait, you took someone our age with you to that place?” Mie gasped.

“It wasn’t intentional!” Mr. Dragmire snarled, his voice full of grief, “Aki picked a bad time to enter the lab about a… special project we were working on. We were separated upon arriving in the Subspace Dimension-”

“Aki? Who’s Aki?” Sonic questioned. 

“Aki Light…” Mr. Dragmire sighed sorrowfully, “He had so much promise… as I was saying, we got separated during that trip. I never saw him again, and he never returned… everyone has presumed him dead. I was even a likely suspect for his murder.”

“The Shadows killed him… didn’t they…?” Mie guessed quietly.

“I would assume so. I never saw him or any evidence of a body, but that is the most likely deduction.”

“Sorry if this is a tough topic, but… do the Lights blame you?” 

“I don’t think so, but they are rather uneasy and formal around me,” Mr. Dragmire shook his head, “I am a reminder of what they lost, after all.”

“Jeez… I’m sorry that happened, man.”

“Unless you are responsible for his disappearance, don’t bother apologizing. You are kind, boy.”

“What can you tell me about my Persona?” Mie asked.

“I know very little about them,” Mr. Dragmire admitted, “but I’ll tell you what I do know. A Persona is the manifestation of one’s true self in a separate form. Think of it like a superpowered version of honne and tatemae, Mx. Mie… I think you’ll learn about that with Mr. Strife later on. Don’t worry too much about that right now. For now, let’s get back on topic…” 

He turned to Sonic and Rosalina. “You’ve told me Mie has a Persona. Do either of you two have one as well?”

“I don’t… think so?” Sonic’s shoulders rose in awkwardness, whereas Rosalina shook her head.

“A shame. The more people that can help me, the better.”

“Do not count us out,” Rosalina spoke up, “I would like to help in what ways I can.”

“That goes for me, too!” Sonic piped in.

“And how do you intend to not drag me and your friend down? You were defenseless earlier, I presume!”

“I used to be part of the middle-school’s fencing team,” Sonic said, “If I can get a good blade, I insist on helping Mie out!”

“As for me… I’ll find a way to help, fighting or not,” Rosalina proposed.

Mr. Dragmire mulled it over. “If you insist on doing something, I understand,” he eventually acquiesced, “I can’t exactly stop you now. However, there will be rules I will hold you to if you insist on joining me.”

“One,” he began, “Not a word of any of this to anyone. Not your families, your friends, or any significant others. You’ll have to make excuses to attend our ‘after-school club,’ and that may mean missing out on other things.”

Mie thought back to Joseph at the game store, wondering if he knew anything. In the end, they concluded he probably didn’t know about the ADS. Mr. Dragmire had been “out of college” when he’d discovered the ADS - Joseph was probably a baby at that time!

“If you all insist on helping, you have until after-school on Wednesday to make yourself useful,” Mr. Dragmire said, “If you can’t defend yourself in there, stay out of the Subspace Dimension or don’t come at all. I refuse to be responsible for another’s death.”

“We understand,” Mie nodded, “Wednesday… I don’t have anything this Wednesday. I will be busy on most weekends, though.”

The other two teenagers checked their schedules; they too were clear for Wednesday. Everyone exchanged phone numbers as well.

“Good,” Mr. Dragmire nodded, showing them how to exit the lab, “I’ll see you at the lab after school.”

“Have a good day, Mr. Dragmire,” Rosalina said politely as they walked out of the lab and onto the sidewalks of a Ryūō neighborhood.

“Shit!” Sonic suddenly yelped, checking his phone again, “It’s about 7:30?! How long were we there?”

“And how will we explain how you left when you get back?” Mie asked Rosalina. 

“I’ll just say Sonic dared me to jump from the window or something,” Rosalina shrugged. 

“H-hey! I’m not that reckless!” An idea then came to Sonic. “Maybe we should have a sleepover or something? I don’t think we’re gonna be that easily separated after almost dying…”

“You guys can, but my… guardians probably want me back home for the first few days.”

“First few days…? Oh, right, you’re new here!”

Rosalina facepalmed. “Sonic…”

“I’ll… tell you guys more later.”

“Fair enough about no sleepover, though,” Sonic shrugged, “That said… I propose that tomorrow, let’s go get some weapons. I know a good spot!”

“Really?” Mie asked, “Where?”

“There’s a repair and weapons store; remember, Rosie? They mostly repair cars and computers, but they sell all sorts of cool-looking stuff too. I’d bet you good money they’ve got a sword or something useful there!”

“... don’t the Lights own that store?”

“... oh, shit.”

“It should be fine,” Mie pointed out, “Mr. Dragmire isn’t coming with us, and it’s not like we’re telling anyone what we’re doing with them.”

“Well, if you say so,” Sonic acquiesced, “Get home safe, okay?”

As Mie, Sonic and Rosalina parted for the day, Mie began to understand what Sonic meant by them not being that easily separated.

Thou art I... And I am thou...

Thou hast established a new bond...

Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Fool Arcana...

Fool Rank 1!

Upon Mie’s return to the McCloud-Lombardi residence, they found Fox and Falco were making dinner. They had offered to help, but Fox and Falco were just about done by the time they’d returned.

Trying to make conversation after his first bite of porkchop, Fox asked, “So how was your first day?”

Remembering Mr. Dragmire’s rules, Mie had to come up with the vaguest response they could. “It was… more interesting than I thought.”

“Well, that’s a shocker,” Falco chuckled, “The first day is usually like that… I’d guess that goes double in a new town.”

“Well, yeah,” Mie nodded, “Everyone was generally nice to me, I got my introductions in, my pronouns were respected, and I even made a couple of friends, so I’d say it all worked out.”

“I told ya they’d be fine.”

“Falco, that was you who was worried about ‘em.”

“C’mon, can you blame me after what we learned yesterday?”

“Just saying…”

Aside from the bickering (which Mie assumed was just a part of their relationship and not anything toxic or loveless), dinner went by rather pleasantly. Fox recommended (not ordered) that Mie get some sleep. After everything that had happened today, Mie wasn’t interested in arguing with that.

First, though, they had something they intended to do. They pulled out their phone and opened their groupchat with Mia & Mio.

Hey, guys. First day at school went well. I met these two and they were really nice to me. 

First there’s Sonic. He’s a little brash, but he means well and is really kind. His real name is Maurice, but you didn’t hear that from me, okay?

There’s also Rosalina, she’s a bit more quiet and polite, but I think she’s pretty cool! She has a big family, and she keeps Sonic in check… 

Oh, and I’m… sorta living with my employers now? Nothing bad, I promise - I think they were sympathetic to, well… you know.

Yes, I’ve been doing well, but come on, it’s the first day, you don’t need to worry about that. Tell Uncle Matt I said hi, okay? I love you! Bye!

Mie had considered talking about the Subspace Dimension, Mr. Dragmire, Puff, the Shadows and Cornish Jack, but they figured it was safer not to bring their brother and sister into that mess.

Eventually, however, they sent the message. Thanks to all the exhaustion and fighting of the day, they fell asleep lickety-split.

The familiar sounds of the propellers were unmistakable. Right when they thought it was just a weird dream that didn’t mean anything, they were right back in the blue airship. The two familiar faces from earlier were back too, expectant looks on their faces.

“It seems that your adventure has started. I do hope awakening to your Persona was not too much trouble.”

“How do you know about that?”

“We’ve been monitoring you on your journey,” Igor answered, making Mie look a little uncomfortable.

Recognizing their concern, Yoshi quickly said, “No, it’s nothing like that! We’re just making sure you’re doing well, and seeing your bonds grow. You have a lot of hard work to do, after all.”

“Surely you also noticed the beginning of a bond forming with your new friends and educator, correct?” Igor then asked.

Mie did recall that voice in their head. “Something about a fool…”

“You and others throughout this town are linked to the Major Arcana,” Yoshi explained, “Finding people and forging bonds with them will grant you power. Some will come to you as your time progresses; others you’ll need to seek out, so take some time to explore the place every once in a while.”

“Furthermore, you also contain within you the power of the Wild Card,” Igor added, “That will be explained further as you go.”

“The quest ahead will contain many hardships,” Igor added, “Use your newfound abilities wisely, and the hidden mysteries of the world will reveal themselves.”

“Very well,” Mie said neutrally, “Anything else…?”

“Not for now, Mx,” Yoshi shook his head, “We should be in contact with you again soon.”

Mie drifted back to sleep before they could question anything further.

Chapter Text

The second day of school was always when things really begins, Mie supposed. It had been harder to focus on the events of yesterday - Shadows, an alternate dimension, Mr. Dragmire, Puff, and more - but they got by just fine. 

While he was a hardass of a teacher in general, Mr. Dragmire was kind enough to avoid asking Mie and Rosalina too many questions during Science. They had a few allies here, and that was good. Mr. Scapelli had also proven himself to be a bit rude during class; turns out he wasn’t liked by the student body much either.

At lunch, they once again met up with Sonic and Rosalina. Rosalina had been somewhat distracted, often looking off to a certain part of the cafeteria. Mie wanted to attribute it to yesterday throwing her for a loop - one look at Sonic told them it was the case for him, though he obviously didn’t say anything - but just to be safe, they took him aside and asked if she was okay.

“Oh, Rosie’s fine,” he snickered. Sobering up visibly, though, he said, “Inside joke. I’ll tell you after class if there’s time before Rosie catches up.”

If Sonic was willing to tell Mie an inside joke between the two of them, that was a sure sign that he really considered them close, and since one of Rosalina’s eyes was covered by her hair, it wasn’t like they’d figure it out on their own any time soon.

Classes went by for the day, and Mie met up with Sonic, counting their lucky stars their last class wasn’t with Rosalina.

Sonic looked around to make sure she wasn’t close, before beginning his explanation. “Rosie used to be the mysterious girl here when she and the Lums moved in. It made her pretty popular, and that reputation was sorta what led us to become friends… though I wish she’d tell me more things than she does.” 

“What does that have to do with her looking off wherever?”

Sonic’s voice grew quieter. “That changed when Samus Aran came to town last semester. A lot of students around here - at least the semester before you arrived, I dunno how if it's the same nowadays - considered her hotter than Rosie, and she’s a bit of an ice queen. Not to mention the thing about… actually, never mind that last bit. Point is, Rosalina… I dunno what’s going on, but she’s always been extra kind to Samus.”

Mie raised an eyebrow. “I’d bet good money she likes her, Maurice.”

Sonic opened his mouth to raise a complaint at Mie using his real name, but he stopped when he registered what they had theorized. “... ohhhhhhhh.”

He facepalmed. “Damn it! That makes so much sense!”

“What makes so much sense?” Rosalina asked as she walked up to meet the two.

“I was telling Sonic a riddle,” Mie answered smoothly, Sonic shooting them a quick look of gratitude, “I had to explain it to him…”

“Oh? What was the riddle?”

“Farmer John has 25 dogs and 28 chickens. How many didn’t?”

“... what?” Rosalina asked, puzzled.

“I know what I said,” Mie smiled innocently. Rosalina pondered it for a minute or two before giving up.

“The answer is 5,” Mie smirked, “Say those numbers over in your head: Farmer John has twenty-five dogs and twenty ate chickens. Thus, five of the dogs went hungry.”

Rosalina slapped her head, and Sonic laughed. “They got you, Rosie!”

“Oh, and you nailed it easily, right?”

Sonic wisely shut his mouth.

“Anyway, you remember what we planned to do today, right?” Rosalina continued, “Sonic, since you suggested we head to the Lights’ shop, you lead us there.”

Sonic, being as fast as he was, almost got the other two lost multiple times as they struggled to keep up. They were practically out of breath by the time they got to the shop.

“Next time… we’ll… we’ll just use a map app,” Rosalina wheezed. Even though they’d done quite well for themselves in a brawl the day before, Mie agreed wordlessly.

The store was much more technologically advanced than it looked from the outside. A young girl with a blonde ponytail, most likely a middle-schooler, was sweeping the floors.

“Hey, were wondering if you had any sort of weaponry? Nothing serious, we promise!”

The girl perked up, almost too focused on what she was doing. “Oh, yeah, they’re in the back. Just take a right once you get to the end and you should be good.”

“Thanks!” It took them a second to realize Sonic was already off. This time, however, it didn’t take too long to catch up to the weapons; upon their arrival, they saw him examining a longsword. It was definitely thicker than what he’d use in fencing. 

Rosalina, on the other hand, had a tougher time figuring out what she wanted. Eventually, the proprietor, Mr. Light himself began helping her get a feel for different potential weapons. After testing out daggers, hammers, a battleaxe and even a chakram, Rosalina eventually settled on a bo staff.

But then there was the issue of Mie. Nothing seemed to work out for them but the long-range weapons, and they didn’t exactly have a carrying license.

“Hmm…” Mr. Light mused once Mie’d tried everything, before sighing. “Well, if you kids are LARPing,” - such was the excuse they’d given Mr. Light - “then this should be harmless.”

Entering the backrooms, Mr. Light eventually walked out with some sort of gun-esque item. “I was working on this a long time ago, but… well, let’s just say it’s been a while. It needs a certain kind of power to do any real damage, so don’t put any energy in this guy and you’ll be fine.” 

Mie had a pretty good idea what that meant. Even after buying it, it still felt like the weapon belonged to someone else. Trying not to dwell on it too much, they made their way back to their friends. Satisfied with their purchases, the three separated for the day.

Later that night, Mie had just finished getting ready for bed (they’d been lucky to sneak their weapon past Fox and Falco) when a notification appeared on their phone.

Sonic: cant sleep. too many questions

Mie: Like what?

Sonic: remember that balloon girl?

Rosalina: Puff?

Sonic: yeah, her. whats her deal? think we might see her again tomorrow?

Mie: Idk, I’m just tired.

Sonic: suit yourself. she clearly isn’t a Shadow… is she?

Rosalina: It’s certainly possible.

Mie: And if she's not a Shadow, what is she?

Sonic: well, maybe we’ll find out tomorrow.

It was such a long day at school. The trio was feeling anxious all day, especially Mie. Any time they weren’t doing much, at least one of them felt some sort of worry come to the front of their minds. The idea that they were being put in what was essentially a life-or-death scenario would be a lot for anyone, never mind a group of teenagers. By the time the school day ended, Mie and company quickly made their way to Mr. Dragmire’s science lab (the school one, not the one at his house).

Mr. Dragmire didn’t seem too surprised to see them. “What do you have to contribute?” he asked once everyone was situated.

“I’m not really sure if this will even work, but Mr. Light gave me this.” Mie said unsurely, showing Mr. Dragmire the blaster in question.

“Hmm…” Ganondorf mused, before unlocking a cabinet and pulling out some Ziptite bags with batteries in them. “These should charge it just fine. Take a few packs of these with you on today’s trip. I’ll provide them.”

“Mr. Dragmire…?” Rosalina asked quietly, “Is there any way I can help without fighting?”

“Hmmm… I’ll teach you how to work the communicators,” Mr. Dragmire decided, “You’ll be a navigator-in-training until you feel confident to help out. Now… let’s get down to business.”

Everyone huddled in as Mr. Dragmire began to explain. “The sensors in my home lab detected Shadow buildup last night in a certain area. Sonic, Mie, your first… mission, if you will, is to figure out what’s causing them to congregate in that area and take them out before they get too strong.”

“Do they naturally grow stronger?” Sonic asked. 

“There are multiple factors in all of that,” Mr. Dragmire said, “but usually, yes.” He reached back into his cabinet and handed Sonic and Mie an earpiece connected to headphones. “Me and Rosalina will be communicating with you through those, so be ready.”

With that, Mr. Dragmire handed them one of the two ADS systems. In a flash of light, Sonic and Mie disappeared once again into the Subspace Dimension.

The place was just as abstractly designed as ever. Mie and Sonic knew that it would never be easy getting used to the fact that a place like this existed.

“It would have been nice to have a map of the Shadows’ location…” Sonic grumbled.

Rosalina’s voice rang through their headsets. “Do you read us, Sonic? Mie?”

“We’re fine,” Mie reported, pocketing the ADS in their backpack for safekeeping.

“Excellent,” Mr. Dragmire’s voice came through as well. “We can see through your headsets, so… move forward to reach your destination. We’ll attempt to create a map as we gain an improved understanding of the topography.”

Even though the map was being generated as they went, Sonic would occasionally go a bit off the beaten path, causing Mie to have to put him back on track, making sure he didn’t get lost or ambushed by Shadows that might appear. “This is why I have the Persona…” Mie mumbled.

“Heads-up!” Mr. Dragmire reported as they saw a large silhouette off in the distance.

“What, the building?” Sonic asked, “We see that!”

“No, not that!” Rosalina chipped in, “An odd presence on your left!”

But when they looked over there, a surprising but familiar face greeted them. “You two again?! Wait, where’s the third one? Where’s the blondie?”

Mr. Dragmire’s gobsmacked yelp of What in the devil is that? could be heard through the earpieces.

“Don’t worry guys, I’ll catch him up.” Rosalina told them from her end, “Just give me a moment, will you?”

“We’ll talk with the balloon in question while you do that,” Mie decided. They turned to Puff and asked, “How’ve you been, Puff?

Puff seemed annoyed about something. “I swear, the changing landscape of this place is gonna get me popped. Stupid Shadows making it hard to live here… ugh! Gotta keep putting the Shadows to sleep every time they act up around here! Good thing I’m scary them enough to get them off my back!”

“Changing landscape?”

“Yeah, some strange building propped up not too long ago. You humans have working eyes, right?” 

“Well, if that doesn’t confirm Puff’s inhuman status, I don’t know what will,” Rosalina came back over the speakers, “Mr. Dragmire is… having a moment.”

“Stupid me! How could you not consider something like this happening? Years of study! Years!” Mr. Dragmire could be heard berating himself.

“Anyways, that place up ahead is the Shadow den,” Rosalina continued, “... I think. I’m still getting used to this menu system.”

“Funnily enough, we were just about to go in there.” Sonic told Puff.

“What a coincidence! I was going to explore this strange castle-place myself!” Puff lit up, “I think we should go together; safety in numbers, right?”

As they approached the castle, dark clouds obscuring most of the details, a strange and unfamiliar feeling struck Sonic. “Is it just me, or is this place giving anyone else some serious deja vu?”

“Pretty sure it’s just you,” Mie answered.

“Reassuring, that,” Sonic grumbled.

Nevertheless, as they reached the entrance, Sonic’s unease grew stronger. The lights were mostly out, so it was hard to get a look around. It definitely had the vibe of a haunted mansion… 

Puff, however, seemed to have better sight in the darkness than the other two. “Wow…” she remarked, “this place sure is a fixer-upper!” Tapping a nubby hand on the wall, a faint sound of the wallpaper ripping was heard, enough to alert something to their presence.

“I just had to open my mouth…” Puff groaned as two Shadows jumped up from behind.

Mie’s instincts kicked in again, and the orb from the other days spawned in their hand. Crushing it, Cornish Jack reappeared. Sonic also readied his sword for battle.

Obviously, Mie was much stronger than Sonic, taking out the low-level soldiers like they were nothing compared to Sonic’s agile, yet defensive struggle to get a blow in. Eventually, however, they took out the two Shadows and entered the castle.

The place was pitch-black inside. Sonic and Mie centered around Puff, figuring she couldn’t protect herself from any attacking Shadows regardless of how much they could see.

“Phew, so far, so good.” Sonic commented, only to be jinxed right after.

“Be careful!” Rosalina suddenly called, “There’s a strong presence somewhere in the room-”

As if a TV had turned on, what sounded like some sort of news report echoed through the air.

Breaking News: Local ‘socialites’ Jules and Bernadette Wentworth were arrested today for embezzlement, money laundering and many other crimes… 

Mie looked around, trying to find the source of the intruding voice, but had no luck in the darkness. Before they could say anything, another voice began, as if the theoretical TV had changed its channel.

We know this is an uneasy time for you, but you will need someone to look out for you… There was a fizzle in sound, as if a few words had been censored. We’ve found a temporary set of guardians to house you until you’re of age to take care of yourself at minimum. The Wachowskis are good people, I promise you.

“What was that…?” Mie wondered.

“I’d be more worried about your boy in blue!” Puff called out. It was only then that Mie realized the normally-loquacious Sonic had been eerily silent since the first ‘broadcast.’

“You okay, Sonic?” Mie turned to Sonic. The guy was practically frozen in place. Before Mie could even step towards their friend, however…

“Hahah! What a day that was, huh?”

“What’s going on?” Mr. Dragmire called in, “Wait… that powerful presence is right in front of you!”

A spotlight shone from out of nowhere, landing right in front of them.

“I mean, everything that happened afterwards totally sucked, and they never did give us a chance to talk to them, so the pain is still there, isn’t it?” A pair of familiar track shoes appeared in the light.

“What…” Mie and Puff gasped.

“... the…” Rosalina and Mr. Dragmire gawked.

“... hell?!” finished Sonic as what appeared to be another Sonic - albeit with golden eyes - fully stepped into the spotlight. “What the hell… no, who the hell are you?”

“I’m you… and you’re me,” said Shadow Maurice.

Chapter Text

“I don’t get it…” Sonic tilted his head, staring at the near-doppelganger of himself, “You’re supposed to be some… copy of me?”

“Not a copy,” Shadow Maurice shook his head, “I am you, just as you are me. The only difference is that I’m honest with myself - about the things you refuse to admit to yourself.”

“Care to elucidate?” Mie asked, blaster readied just in case. 

“Right, you,” Shadow Maurice finally looked to Mie, as if only now registering their presence, “You’re new to Ryūō, aren’t you? You weren’t here when our folks got arrested. You heard the broadcast! Embezzlement, laundering, and a few ordered murders to hide the evidence… all of it occurred in this very house, without us noticing.”

“I don’t wanna talk about it…” Sonic mumbled.

“Of course you don’t,” Shadow Maurice shrugged, “It’s not a pleasant memory, is it? You used to be one of the big guys on campus, always paying for meals and treating your friends. Then Mom and Dad got caught, and you don’t have that ability any more!”

“What Mom and Dad did was wrong…!”

“That we agree on!” Shadow Maurice conceded, “I won’t pretend otherwise. But you still have your carefree appearance, in spite of the fact that you went from riches to rags with those foster parent guys. They aren’t gonna be able to put you through college, and you know it! You had bright hopes for a future as an athlete or whatever you wanted to be! Now you’re stuck saving up your allowance and working at Eagle Burger every so often. Aren’t you unhappy about that at all?”

“Look, I get that you’re trying to do the whole dark evil clone thing, but can we stop it with the whole “exposing all of my darkest thoughts” stuff?”

Once again, Shadow Maurice shrugged. “Why not? I’m the side of you that’s honest about the pain and turmoil. Now there’s this other world, though… you could make something of yourself here, right? Mr. Dragmire said the Shadows could leak into your world and destroy it. You could be a hero, beloved by the masses - of course you wanted a piece of the action!”

“Leave him alone!” Puff snapped, “What do you care?”

That was the wrong thing to say. “Pfft… HAHAHAHA! Why do I care? That’s not the question to ask. What you should be asking is why doesn’t this chump show that he cares?”

Staring down Sonic, Shadow Maurice said, “I know you want to talk about it, but there aren’t a lot of people in Ryūō that are rich like you used to be. Nobody at school’s gonna get it if you try talking about it - you’re just some former rich kid who struggles to find his identity outside of that. No… it’s not just you - that’s us, remember? I’m you, and you’re me!”

“Bullshit…” Sonic finally seemed to have found the strength to speak up, “You’re… you’re not me!”

A dark energy appeared, seeming to come from and go into Shadow Maurice simultaneously. “Yeah, you shouldn’t have said that!” he laughed ominously, “Time to go whole hog!”

Puff let out a shrill scream (damn, she had pipes) and Sonic recoiled in horror as Shadow Maurice began to transform, empowered by the dark energy.

Shadow Maurice’s new form emanated a shining golden glow. He was some sort of giant muscular creature with long arms with clawed hands and Sonic’s signature shoes on his feet, and his eyes were patterned with red, spirally circles. 

This was unlike any Shadow they had fought before. Mie didn’t even know if they were prepared for this. But they stood their ground, summoned Cornish Jack, and aimed their blaster at Shadow Maurice.

“I am a Shadow... the true self!”

As Shadow Maurice charged forward, Mie shot their first energy bullets from the blaster; they didn’t know exactly what it was, but it seemed to do some damage given how their foe dodged out of the way after taking the first one.

“Hey!” Mr. Dragmire’s voice could be heard, “Shadows… as unusual as this one is… often have weaknesses to certain types of attacks. Me and Rosalina will record anything you find, so keep that in mind! If you can afford to, experiment with what you have!”

Hearing that advice, Mie switched to using their Psychic attacks. Luckily for them, Cornish Jack’s magic attack sent Shadow Maurice crumpling to the floor.

“Excellent!” Rosalina called, “I think you hit his weakness!”

“Hey, Blue?” Puff ran over to Sonic who was watching the fight between Shadow Maurice and Mie numbly, “You okay?”

“I just don’t get it…” Sonic mumbled, “This guy looks like me, knows everything about me, and just blabs it out to everyone! What does he gain by doing any of that?”

Puff struggled to figure out what to say at first, but found out when she took a look at the ongoing battle.

“I’m not really sure. I live in this world and I still don’t understand most of it. But one of the things I’ve gathered is that this place loves to literalize metaphors.”

“A metaphor? Then what’s this supposed to be?”

“I dunno, bottling up your feelings about the world or something like that? Never been one of those geniuses…but what I do know is that if  you keep going the way you are now, it’s not going away anytime soon. If you keep rejecting that knockoff, he’s going to keep going.” She stared Sonic in the eye. “Can… Mie, you called them? Can they do the same?”

“So what do you want me to do about it?”

Puff shot him a look. “This may sound crazy,” she deadpanned, “but have you considered… oh, I don’t know… admitting it’s a part of you?”

“H-huh?”

“It seems basic enough,” Puff pointed out, “if this copy is a metaphor for you hiding your darkest thoughts in who knows where, and rejecting him makes him stronger, then accepting him and those thoughts about yourself should make him weaker, right?”

“It’s not really good of me to have those feelings, you know…”

“That doesn’t mean you’re stuck that way!” Mie yelled over to them, Cornish Jack busying Shadow Maurice. 

“... you’re a smart one, Puff,” Sonic sighed.

“It helps when you’ve been around the block!” Puff replied while winking cutely at him.

“Don’t let it get to your head,” Sonic deadpanned. Getting up from the floor, he began approaching his Shadow Self. “You may know everything about me, and I don’t know everything about you. It’s strange, isn’t it? All my life, if I had time to worry, I just ran. And to think I thought that would work out… I really am stupid, aren’t I?”

He shook his head. “Look… you’re right. I’ll admit it. I’m freaking out about my future, and I’ve been avoiding the topic even with myself… I need to buck up and start figuring this stuff out, and I need to be more honest with myself. You were right…”

“URGH!”

“Mie, now!” Mr. Dragmire and Rosalina commanded in unison.

“Cornish Jack! Psi!”

A laserlike blast of Psychic energy shot out from Cornish Jack’s cane, careening straight into the monstrous Shadow Self. After the smoke from the ensuing explosion dissipated, all that remained was Shadow Maurice, back in his original form and rather weakened.

“Why? I had it all!”

“It’s no use, me,” Sonic shook his head, “As I was saying… you were right: I’m you, and you’re me.”

Strangely enough, Shadow Maurice’s face took on a peaceful visage. Nodding at Sonic, he transformed once more - not enveloped in darkness like last time, but in light.

This time, the new form was a long, slender mechanoid with Adonic features and sleek blue skin. It had a golden ring around its head like a headband and was wearing a track jersey, and like Sonic himself, it had spiky “hair” and the same style of shoes (although its “hair” was fully blue instead of blue-tipped like Sonic was).

“Wait…” Mr. Dragmire mumbled in confusion, “Is that…”

“Another Persona?!” Rosalina gasped.

Sonic’s new Persona disappeared into another orb that fell into his hand before the orb faded away with a shake of said hand. “Pheidippides…” 

Mie clapped his shoulder. “Congrats, Sonic!”

“Is that big blue thing under your command?” Puff asked, walking up to the two hesitantly.

“Yeah…” Sonic nodded, “But how about we all talk when we’re out of here? I don’t think any of us are feeling comfortable in this place right now…”

“What was that place, Sonic?” Mr. Dragmire asked, “You seemed to recognize it once the lights turned on.”

“It was some copy of my former home…” Sonic sighed, “the Wentworth Estate, everyone called it. Here’s a question for you, Mr. Dragmire - how’s that Shadow concentration? Do we need to go back?”

“... it’s gone,” Mr. Dragmire reported after a moment, “I believe the data mistook your Shadow for a large amount of other ones given the power levels.”

“Well, we probably won’t need to deal with another one again,” Rosalina theorized uneasily, “...right?”

“About that…” Mr. Dragmire said, a hint of unease in his tone, “Well, I’ll explain once you’re back. Better and safer, since Sonic looks rather tired.”

“You can say that again…” Sonic replied, practically flat on the ground, “I’m gonna sleep like a log tonight…”

“Understood, sir,” Mie nodded.

“Before we go, though,” Sonic said quickly. He looked at Puff, who’d been waiting for them to finish patiently. “Thanks for setting me straight, Puff. I think I owe you one.”

“No problem!” Puff said sweetly, “I’ll hang around here in case you guys come back and need my help again!”

Mie smiled at Sonic as he prepared the ADS, feeling a faint bond truly begin to grow between them.

You've formed a bond with Maurice "Sonic" Wentworth, former rich kid and track-team star...

Thou art I... And I am thou...

Thou hast established a new bond...

Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Chariot Arcana… 

Chariot Rank 1!

After that revelation, Puff waved goodbye to them. With a tap of a button, Mie and Sonic were teleported back to their own world.

Mie and Sonic had never been happier to see Mr. Dragmire’s base. After taking in some fresh air after their long trip in the Subspace Dimension, they waited for Mr. Dragmire and Rosalina to arrive so that they could discuss everything.

“Well, that was…more eventful than I thought it would be,” Mr. Dragmire commented once the two had arrived, “So… Sonic, if I understand correctly, you have a Persona now. Is that true?”

“Yeah…” Sonic yawned, “Sorry if I’m not all that helpful right now. I think getting a Persona tired me out…”

“It takes a lot of will to accept yourself so brazenly,” Rosalina pointed out, “I’m not surprised.”

“In any case…” Mr. Dragmire admitted, “I’m impressed by your resolve, Wentworth. Well done.”

Sonic seemed genuinely surprised to receive praise from Mr. Dragmire. “... thanks.”

Something then occurred to Mie. “If you don’t mind me asking,” they cut in, “How do you know about Personas? The Shadows make sense, but… do you have one?”

A moment of silence passed before Mr. Dragmire sighed. “I do have a Persona. In one of my first battles with it, however, it was injured, and I can’t manifest it. I don’t even remember its name anymore… something beginning with an R. Apologies that I’m not as much help fighting…”

Sonic waved him off. “Me and Mie can pick up the slack, don’t worry!” 

“There may be more slack to pick up than even I expected…” Mr. Dragmire’s voice dropped to a deadly serious tone, “I got something in the mail the day before, and it isn’t pretty.”

“I didn’t know your ex still talked to you?” Sonic quipped.

“Talk about Hilda to anyone and I’ll talk to Crygor about you,” Mr. Dragmire returned fire coldly, “Here I thought you’d be a bit nicer after… whatever that was.”

“Nope, still the same as I’ve always been. Just got a bit more of an understanding of who I am and who I wanna be.”

“Anyway, jokes aside, I think it’s about our business. Take a look.”

The letter had some very sharp handwriting, like whoever wrote it was angry at them.

To Ganondorf Dragmire and company:

Do not mess with the Subspace Dimension. That realm is mine to command. 

If you continue meddling, you will highly dislike what happens afterwards. After all, if you aren’t there when someone else confronts their Shadow Self… well, we wouldn’t want a repeat of what happened to Aki, would we?

“... you didn’t get much sleep last night either, did you?” Sonic said quietly once he’d finished reading.

“... no, not really,” Mr. Dragmire admitted, “What to do, what to do… we have to do something about this mysterious ruler, but we’re probably playing into their hands if we do anything…”

“Yeah, well, they’re already pretty pissed, by the looks of it,” Mie pointed out.

“I agree with Sonic,” Rosalina pointed out, “I think the best we can do is run damage control and hope we get clues to what’s going on.”

“Besides, they might be calling our bluff,” Sonic suggested.

“The fact they know about the Subspace Dimension at all is trouble enough,” Mr. Dragmire countered, “We have many questions to answer, but for now… notice how the writer mentioned Shadow Selves?”

“That mean there’s more than one?” Sonic asked. Mr. Dragmire gestured to Mie. 

“They just sorta got their Persona, though,” Sonic explained.

“Interesting…” Mr. Dragmire noted, “Do you have any secrets you’re hiding? No, wait - you wouldn’t tell us or lie, most likely.”

“Nothing secret,” Mie said, “but the best I have isn’t pleasant, either. You guys probably don’t want to hear about it, though.”

“I call horseshit!” Sonic raised his voice, “If I can be honest with you guys, you can talk about your baggage with us… well, unless you don’t want to…”

“No, it’s fine,” Mie shrugged passively. From there, they launched into an explanation of the shit with their parents.

Sonic placed a hand on Mie’s shoulder reassuringly once they’d finished. “... that’s no good,” he sighed, “Well, you know what? Fuck ‘em!”

“Sonic!”

“No, he’s right,” Mr. Dragmire of all people spoke up, “Now, I would have probably said it a bit less vulgarly, but I do agree with him. If they can’t respect you as you are, they don’t deserve any part of what you shall be.”

“Thanks, guys…” Mie said awkwardly, “I’m more worried about my siblings, though. Mia’s my sister, and Mio’s my brother. They’ve always had my back, even against Mom and Dad. I wanted to get out of there with them, but I was barely able to get myself away from the situation. I wanna go back for them if I can, though.”

“We’ll help how we can,” Sonic promised.

“I’m up for that!” Rosalina agreed, “Maybe I should join you two on the next trip so I can become stronger. I can help you out either way!”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Mr. Dragmire nodded, “Speaking of which… we should keep an eye out for potential victims.”

“But how are we gonna do that?” Sonic pointed out, “Lots of people have stuff they don’t like to talk about, so pretty much anyone could have a Shadow Self!”

“It wouldn’t surprise me if everyone did,” Rosalina muttered, “I think it’s likely that they’ll target people that either have a multitude of problems or a severely strong one in particular.”

“Again, that could happen to anyone,” Sonic pointed out.

“There are probably clues in the way people talk about certain things,” Rosalina said. 

“Yeah,” Mie nodded, “Remember when you offered to pay for a game and Rosalina got worried? If we were worried about you having an ‘up-close-and-personal’ with your Shadow Self, then that could be a clue!”

“That’s fair…” Sonic nodded. Everyone made plans to look out for people when they could.

When Mie made their exit with Sonic and Rosalina, they noticed Rosalina seemed to be in deep thought; it wasn’t too atypical from what they knew of her, but something about this time felt different.

“If I’m… maybe I’ll…?” was all they caught before they were too far away to hear her. They were worried, but decided they’d ask her later. It was best not to pry for now.

On the way to the McCloud-Lombardi house, however, their phone rang. The caller ID said it was Fox.

“Yes?”

“Mie? That you?”

“Yes, sir…? Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” Fox said, “Well, mostly. I’m getting pizza for tonight, but some new work is keeping me from picking it up. Can you stop by Kapp'n's Pizza and pick it up? It should be on the way, if I remember the best way to the school.”

“I can do that,” Mie told him. They stopped by the place - which, coincidentally enough, they’d been about to pass by before receiving the call from Fox. The worker there - a young girl named Leila - passed over two boxes of pizza, which they managed to get home without dropping. Fox must have been intending to pick them up himself and placed the order as such, as a car with the logo of Kapp’n’s Pizza zoomed by them at one point, an older man playing some remix of that Wellerman song on the speakers. At least it hadn’t been raining or anything, so they didn’t get splashed by any puddles.

Fox and Falco had been surprised to learn it was their first time eating pizza in a long time, if not ever. Their parents thought pizza was gross and boorish, calling it “lazy man’s food,” so said dish wasn’t exactly prevalent in the house. Falco had been kind enough to share a slice of mushroom pizza (not knowing their preferences, Fox had ordered plain cheese for Mie).

They quickly realized what they were missing out on. Their excitement from wolfing it down got the normally-collected Fox burst out laughing.

“Well, I’ll be,” Falco remarked, “Usually, I don’t get anything from Fox beyond a chuckle.”

“You were the one who proposed when you got me to laugh harder than usual,” Fox pointed out.

“Sounds like a story,” Mie said, having downed their second slice.

“We don’t talk about who asked who first,” Fox chuckled. Ignoring Falco’s grumbling, he continued, “Maybe we’ll tell you in the future. Not now, though.”

Just then, Mie’s phone whistled with a text notification. To their elation, it was from Mia and Mio!

Mia: Hey sib, is everything ok?

Mio: Please tell us you’re doing well. I can’t handle the suspense!

Mie: I’m fine, guys. Didn’t you read up?

… 

Mio: Right… whoopsie. 

Mia: Oh, wonderful! You’ve made friends already, hm?

Mio: What’s with the guy named Sanic?

Mie: Sonic, bro.

Mio: That’s what I said. Anyway, you’re sure he’s not gonna be trouble?

Mie: I already told you he’s fine. I dunno how much I should say about it, but he’s actually going through some parental issues of his own.

Mie: Oh, and I think Rosie and Sis would get along!

Mia: From what you’ve told us, Rosalina does seem like she’s got a lot going on in that big family of hers. Send us a picture of the two of them sometime!

Mie: I’ll take a groupie when I can. Her dad’s got… what’s the phrase… Southern charm? Personality-wise, he sorta reminds me of Uncle Matt but with a Southern accent… 

Mio: How are the teachers?

Mie: What is this, 20 Questions? ;D

Mia: Oh, right. Isn’t it 9 or 10 PM for you right now?

Mie: Whatever. Lightning-round time.

Mie: Bellamy’s a bit loud, and don’t even talk to me about Scapelli I don’t know what that guy’s about. Mario’s kind, but he takes class rather seriously and isn’t much for gum-chewers.

Mia: You’re on a first-name basis with your teacher?

Mie: ?

Mie: Oh. That’s his last name. Everyone calls him Dr. Mario since one of his kids attends the same school… Apparently the kid’s first name is also Mario. 

Mio: Weeeeeeird.

Mie: It can’t be that weird. Probably Ryūō culture or family tradition or something.

Mie: Anyways, Mishima and Fitzroy are a bit emotionless, but they’re not inhuman or anything, Strife and Angenent are quiet but somewhat tough, and Mr. Eisner’s kind. Haven’t done Drama or Music yet, so I can't say anything for those 2 yet. Angenent’s probably the second-cruelest teacher in the school, but that doesn’t say a lot.

Mia: Oh? Who’s #1?

Mie: Mr. Dragmire, my science teacher, is… an enigma. He’s a taskmaster, but he’s not unnecessarily cruel to us. I’ve heard he gets along well with the theatre faculty, but that’s just rumors.

Mio: Probably a lot of those there.

Mie: There always are… 

… 

Mia: Ugh! Miss HB is calling us to dinner. We love you, okay? 

Mio: We’ll get out soon. Have a good night, sib!

Laying down in bed, Mie’s thoughts eventually turned to Sonic, his Shadow Self, and the threatening letter.

I guess the only question I gotta ask is… who’s going to be next?

Chapter Text

The week is almost over, Mie thought to themselves, trying not to yawn in the middle of Mr. Scapelli talking about how to do fractional exponents.

“Alrighty, then… Gunter!” Mr. Scapelli snapped them out of their thoughts. “Here’s an easy one. What is 9 to the 1.5th power?”

Mie didn’t like how Mr. Scapelli used the decimal form instead of the fractional form here, but they regardless took a moment to do the math (pun not intended). 1.5 was equal to 3/2, so they mentally took the square root of 9 and cubed it. “That would be 27.”

“... excellent!” Mr. Scapelli nodded approvingly. Turning to a quiet young man in green clothing, he called, “Lichtenberg, you’re next! What’s 625 to the 0.75th power?”

Link Lichtenberg, a young man who was part of multiple clubs (although he spent the most time with the culinary club), mulled it over before writing 125 on a markerboard he was provided.

“Not bad, kid,” Mr. Scapelli lauded. 

The first half of classes continued from there, and soon Mie found themselves walking to lunch. As they were making a turn into the last hall before the cafeteria, however, their thoughts - which had been on Mr. Dragmire and if they could start a bond with him today after school - were halted as they bumped into someone and fell down.

Okay, I really gotta start watching who’s around me, Mie thought to themselves. First Sonic and now this, it was starting to become a problem. Sure, they’d always been quiet and lost in their thoughts, but they were beginning to have people they could open up to-

A hand came into their sight, extended to help them up. “Thanks and sorry,” Mie said as they took the hand and rose up.

“... ‘s fine,” the owner of the hand said neutrally. Getting a better look at the girl who they’d bumped into, Mie noticed she had blonde hair tied back in a ponytail that they could barely see under her orange hood.

Before Mie could say anything else, the girl walked off, likely headed towards the cafeteria as well. Deciding she was rather unsocial, which they could more than relate to, Mie decided they’d ask Sonic and Rosalina about her… after they got lunch. Mr. Dragmire’s class was next to Ms. Ichigo’s culinary lab, and the food being made there had their stomach going. Mr. Dragmire once grumbled that Ms. Ichigo would be the reason he left the school someday, whether that was from quitting or being fired.

Mie snapped themselves out of their thoughts before they bumped into someone again and got a tray of Salisbury steak and mashed potatoes.

When they made their way to the table their friends were sitting at, Mie noticed the girl from before was rather close by. Tracing Rosalina’s gaze and remembering what Sonic told them the other day, all of the dots were connected. That girl they’d just bumped into was Samus.

Sitting down, a teasing smirk came over their face as Rosalina jumped a bit at the sound of their tray hitting the table. “Lovesick, aren’t we?”

“H-hey!” Rosalina yelped, flustered. 

Sonic snickered, gaining an affronted look from his friend. “You told them, didn’t you?” Rosalina accused.

Deciding Sonic was much more useful alive, Mie covered for the newest Persona-user. “No, you’re just that obvious,” they teased, “I knew you were looking at someone you liked on Tuesday, but I couldn’t pick out who.”

Rosalina’s face went even redder. “And here I thought blue and red didn’t go together in fashion like that,” Sonic laughed, “Somehow, you make it work. Never thought I’d find anything useful out of romance for myself.”

As Rosalina began to stammer (she was lucky only half of her face was usually shown or else her whole face would look sunburned at this point), Mie asked Sonic, “Not a romance guy?”

“I’m aro-ace, so not really,” Sonic shrugged, “There was one girl when I was a kid, but we fell out of contact after… well, you know.”

Even after accepting himself, it was clear that there were still some things about Sonic that Mie had yet to learn. They supposed that such was fair; close as they felt with him, Mie hadn’t even known Sonic, Rosalina and Mr. Dragmire for a week yet. 

Well, Mie decided in their mind, that will have to change!

Soon enough, the school day was over, and Mie was already on their way to the base.

“Mie? I wasn’t expecting you,” Mr. Dragmire mused, clearly surprised to see them, “we don’t have any new Shadow sightings… well, yet.”

“That’s not exactly what I’m here for,” Mie clarified, “I have a question for you.”

“Keep in mind I don’t know everything about Subspace, so I won’t be able to answer all of those questions.”

“It’s not about Subspace. What made you want to become a science teacher?”

“... I get the feeling I’m going to forget you’re not only a student of mine but also a teenager,” Mr. Dragmire facepalmed, “Hmmm… I’ll make you a deal. Help me clean up the lab a bit and I’ll tell you some stories. How does that sound?”

Mie shook his hand. Once they got to the lab area, they and Mr. Dragmire set about cleaning up. 

“There’s a lot of work that needs to be done here…” Mie whistled after a small while. They’d just finished dusting everything, and that had taken a few hours. “What’s next?”

“That’s good for now,” Mr. Dragmire waved it off, “We can cover the rest some other day if you have other questions. Now… you wanted to know why I chose to pursue science?”

When Mie nodded, Mr. Dragmire prepared to give them a history lesson. “I was a teenager during the Space Race,” he began, “the US government began putting lots of money into STEM education. I got caught up in that craze, especially after seeing Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong at work. I didn’t think I was qualified to become a serious scientist, and I definitely didn’t want to work for the government, so I became a science teacher with the intent of passing my enthusiasm onto the next generations. Of course, I came across the Subspace Dimension, and, well… things changed, of course.” 

“So why not be the easygoing teacher, then?” Mie asked, “Not to be whiny or anything, but…”

“Science is still a passion of mine,” Mr. Dragmire pointed out, “I take my job seriously. That said, I play the role of a taskmaster because it’s easier for me to manage you children that way. If kids think I’m too casual, they can grow attached…”

“... is that what happened with Aki?” Mie asked hesitantly.

“... yes,” the teacher admitted. An awkward silence passed before Mr. Dragmire requested, “Can we talk about the rest of this some other day?”

“Sure,” Mie said, “but I think I’ll hold you to that.”

You've formed a bond with Mr. Dragmire, science teacher and expert on the Subspace Dimension and the Shadows that call it home...

Thou art I... And I am thou...

Thou hast established a new bond...

Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Tower Arcana… 

Tower Rank 1!

Mr. Dragmire groaned. “Of course you will… why am I not sur-”

Mie and his phone then rang simultaneously. Looking at it, it seemed to be a group call between them, Sonic and the caller Rosalina.

Quickly picking it up, Mie spoke first. “What’s going on?”

“Remember Samus? Samus Aran?” Rosalina’s tone was panicked. 

“Rosie? Rosie, what’s going on?” Sonic came on, having noticed the call a bit late.

“Samus didn’t show up to class with Mr. Guile, which I have for my last period,” Rosalina reported worriedly, “I didn’t think much of it, but Pika and his brother just asked me if I’d seen her. They looked worried for her…” 

“Calm down, Rosie,” Sonic attempted to mollify her, “I’m sure she just had to go home early or something like that.”

“Who’s Pika?” Mie inquired. 

“He and the Chus are Samus’ foster family,” Rosalina explained.

A thoughtful look overtook Mr. Dragmire’s face. “What happened to her biological parents?”

“Er… I’m not sure,” Rosalina said, “Why do you ask?”

“The letter…” Mr. Dragmire growled. 

That was all it took Mie to get an idea of what he was implying. “You think whoever sent you made Samus go missing? From what I know of her, she could be a good target...”

“W-what?!” Rosalina whispered, “Oh, god…! How are we going to find her? Searching for the writer would be like looking for a needle in a mound of silverware!”

“Deep breathing, Rosie,” Sonic said coolly, “I think I know where she is… or at least I have a theory.”

Mr. Dragmire got right to asking him. “Go on, Wentworth.”

“If that guy thinks the Subspace Dimension is his realm… then why not look there? I’d bet you good money this jackass kidnapped Aran and threw her in there!”

“That would make sense,” Mie nodded, taking charge. “Sonic, go find Rosalina and keep her from having a panic attack. Mr. Dragmire, can you stay behind at school tomorrow and check for Shadow concentrations tonight? I’ll head out and leave you to it, and we’ll all meet tomorrow. Everyone good with that?”

As Sonic promised to find Rosalina, Mr. Dragmire nodded and began typing on the various devices throughout the lab. Mie headed home from there, preparing themselves mentally for the battles to come.

Chapter Text

During World History class, even those who had no idea what was going on could tell anxiety was prevalent with Mie and Rosalina. They were the most concerned about Samus’ appearance, after all. When Rosalina was called on, she almost didn’t notice until Mie discreetly signaled her. 

Unluckily for Rosalina, she hadn’t even paid attention to the question that was asked.

Luckily for her, though, Mr. Bellamy misunderstood her silence. “Sorry, could’ve phrased that better,” he apologized, “Under which Pharaoh's reign was the Sphinx built?”

Mie discreetly moved their hands into the form of a K. Recalling her notes, Rosalina answered, “Pharaoh Khafre, who reigned in the 2600s B.C.?”

“Almost got it all, Ms. Lum,” Mr. Bellamy shrugged, “It was Khafre, so you’re good there, but what you added on was incorrect, see? Khafre ruled from 2558-2531 BC, so the 2500s would have been more correct. In any case, good job. Now, moving on…”

Rosalina wiped her brow and looked toward Mie, who simply flashed her a thumbs-up.

As the bell rang for World History to end, Mie caught some odds and ends of a conversation between a blonde in expensive-looking clothes and another girl in a niqab. Recalling a lunch conversation, the blonde was probably Zelda Hyland and the other girl likely being her sister Sheik by likely process; Zelda was one of Rosalina’s other friends, and she often dragged her wallflowery sister into activities. Mie had the feeling there was more to why Zelda did that, but they figured such wasn’t their business.

Upon reaching Mr. Dragmire’s house after classes, they heard some weird noises coming from behind the place. While the door was unlocked, no one appeared to be inside. That was when they noticed the sounds were coming through another door leading to the backyard. There, they saw Sonic and Rosalina sparring.

“I’m not too late, am I?” they asked, catching both of their fellow students’ attention.

Rosalina quickly said, “Not at all!” 

As they walked to the lab to meet Mr. Dragmire, Sonic stage-whispered, “You’re lucky I can’t use my Persona here… unless I can and Mr. Dragmire hasn’t mentioned it. Mie, have you tried it yet?”

“... no,” Mie shook their head, “and even if we could, I think it would be a bad idea. Speaking of which, what do you think your Persona even does? We’ve never seen it in battle before.”

Sonic shrugged neutrally. “I guess we’ll have to find out, won’t we?” With that, they stepped into the lab. 

Mr. Dragmire was at the entrance waiting for them. “Sadly, it was as you predicted,” he reported, “There’s a Shadow concentration in a new area now.”

Rosalina’s face fell. The evidence was lining up, and there was a good chance that Samus was trapped somewhere in the Subspace Dimension.

“But that just means we should go sooner rather than later. You two, do you have your skills sharpened? I heard some sparring going on in the backyard. Lum, do you remember how the controls work?”

“Well, actually…”

“Is something the matter? I think we’d all prefer as little holdup as possible-”

“May I join the other two?”

“On the battlefield?”

“If it’s for Samus’ sake… I’ll do it.”

Mr. Dragmire studied Rosalina’s determined look before nodding his approval. “The readings this time are higher. I assume that wherever Aran is, it won’t be as easy of a trek as before… thus, it would be wise to have some extra rations.”

“Oh! I have some homemade snacks at my place for if we ever go on long car trips or something like that. We have more than enough due to how many of us there are, so I can bring those next time.”

“Since we’re on such short notice, any nourishment is good nourishment,” Mr. Dragmire reasoned, “For now, let us at least find what I’m presuming is Miss Aran’s location and scope it out.”

Nodding, Mie fired up the ADS, transporting them and their two allies into the Subspace Dimension.

The team was surprised to see that Puff was not there waiting for them as she’d suggested. It was a longer walk than it had been to the Dark Wentworth Estates, but by the time they arrived, it wasn’t as if they were exhausted already. Even Rosalina, who’d been carrying her staff and a backpack of other rations than the snacks she’d mentioned, was fine.

What they found was the entrance to a large, dark cavern. There was also a surprising amount of heat there; not enough to make someone sweat, but they were certainly uncomfortable with the new temperatures.

But as they approached the cave’s entrance, they saw a suspiciously-pink rock alongside the various small craters. Curious, Mie poked the rock with their foot, only to hear a muffled screech come from inside. 

“Hey, I liked it in there! It was kinda cozy… oh, it’s you guys again!” And out from the crater popped Puff. Looking around, Puff’s eyes fell upon Rosalina. “Hey, you brought Blondie this time!”

“Didn’t you say you were going to meet us at that hub area?”

Puff froze. “Uh… whoops?”

“Well, at least we found you again,” Sonic shrugged, “No hard feelings. After all, you weren’t exactly obligated to wait for us.”

“If there was a way to let you guys know, I would’ve,” Puff promised, “although I know you were all looking forward to seeing yours truly. Hehe… I can never say no to a new adventure here with you guys! Just… no more Shadows, please.”

“No promises,” Sonic sighed, “but we won’t let you get hurt. Anyways…”

I certainly hope we won’t have to deal with any Shadows, Rosalina thought to herself, No, that was Sonic’s Shadow, this is the place of Samus… or at least we think so. You’ll be fine.

“Anyways, here’s the deal,” Mie informed Puff, “We think someone from our world was kidnapped and thrown into this cave. We’re gonna go in and see if we can find her."

“Kidnapped?! But this place just appeared, like, yesterday! How could that have happened?”

“That’s what we’re trying to find out,” Sonic told her, “We know someone who thinks they rule this place is behind this. They sent M… our man in the chair a threatening letter telling us that we could encounter something like this if we keep coming here.”

“Well first off, it’s not me,” Puff said once she’d absorbed this information, “You guys are nice, and I don’t think I have any desire to see any humans die. You three are the only ones I know about - well, four, if you count that ‘man in the chair’ or whatever - and if I tried fighting you all, I’d be as good as popped…”

“Okay, that’s one theory quashed.” Mie was relieved to know Puff didn’t have any malicious intent. 

“Besides,” Puff added, “I don’t know what those cool things you summon do, but they look strong, and I’d prefer to be protected by someone using those rather than being attacked.”

“We certainly aren’t going to let you die on your own,” Sonic shook his head fervently at the thought.

“So…” Mie then said, “Everyone ready to go save Samus?”

“Yeah!” Sonic said confidently. Puff nodded resolutely.

There was no response from Rosalina. “Rosalina?”

Turning to where they’d last seen her, they saw the platinum blonde had disappeared.

“Where’d she go?”

“She up and charged in!” Mr. Dragmire roared into the earpiece, “After her!”

“Damn it, Rosie…we’re the ones with the superpowers!” Sonic groaned, “Come on! Let’s step it up!”

With that, they charged into the Dungeon.

It wasn’t long before Mie and Sonic ran into some Shadows. There was one of the usual small militaresque Shadows, but it was assisted by a strange piscine creature with one giant eye and five tentacle-like feelers.

Mie and Sonic readied their weapons in preparation. Mie summoned their Persona and focused on the fish, leaving Sonic with the soldier.

Seeing Mie’s Psychic attack do decent damage to the Fish Shadow, Sonic was eager to see what his new power was capable of. Copying Mie’s actions, he summoned his own orb (with a different design on it, mind you) and sliced it with his sword. In the same blue light as that which Cornish Jack appeared from, Pheidippides burst forth.

“Garu!”

A spiked discus of concentrated green wind appeared in Pheidippides’ hand; with a great heft, Pheidippides threw it at the Soldier Shadow. The Wind attack cut away at it, and while it was distracted, Sonic went in for an attack.

Sadly, the Soldier Shadow managed to recover and threw a punch. Skidding to a stop, Sonic blocked the attack and traded swings of his blade with the Soldier Shadow’s punches and kicks.

Eventually, Mie got an idea. Running over to Sonic, they called, “Switch targets!”

With a high-five between them, Mie redirected their attention to the Soldier Shadow while Sonic focused on the Fish Shadow.

Mie’s aim with the blaster still wasn’t the best, but they were doing okay.

“It’s cool, man!” Sonic reassured them after another shot missed its target, “It probably looks much easier on TV!”

Turning back to his fishy foe, Sonic resummoned Pheidippides and commanded another Garu. The Wind attack knocked it down just as Cornish Jack’s Psi destroyed the Soldier Shadow.

“The Shadow is knocked down!” Mr. Dragmire called, “Let loose on it! Go all out!”

Sonic and Mie converged on the poor Fish Shadow, attacking it until it burst into a plume of dark energy. “Very good, you two,” Mr. Dragmire lauded, “Now, let’s get moving!”

Nodding to each other, Sonic and Mie charged ahead. Strangely, at the end of the path they were running through, there was an elevator to take them down to the next floor.

Sonic looked to Mie, who merely shrugged. “If it’s the only way down, I guess.”

The elevator ride wasn’t as long as they expected, and nothing attacked them through the door, but it still took a while to go down. Sonic was standing directly at the door, staring at it and tapping his foot until it opened. “Don’t go running off like Rosalina,” Mie warned him.

“Hey, I may be impatient, but at least I know when to let someone else catch up,” Sonic pointed out.

“That wasn’t the case when we went weapon-shopping,” Mie teased.

“Can you blame me for being a little excited to get this baby?” Sonic countered, raising his sword triumphantly.

“Knock it off, buddy,” Mie reminded him, “The less time we spend looking for Rosalina, the better.”

As the door opened, they came to a square area devoid of Shadows. “Hmmm…” Mr. Dragmire mused as they looked around, “I think Shadows will avoid you in this area. Looking at the map, this looks like some sort of checkpoint if you will.”

“Unlucky strike to the guy who took Samus here…” Mie murmured. “Oh, well. More convenient for us, right?”

Sonic grinned. 

“Unfortunately, we don’t have time to waste,” Mr. Dragmire sighed, “I sense Rosalina is not too far up ahead. There’s a three-way fork on the way, but all of them converge at the end.”

Sonic put his hand up in front of Mie before they could say anything. “You remember what I said about splitting up, right?”

“I wasn’t going to suggest splitting up!”

“Just making sure.”

“If you two wouldn’t mind ceasing your pointless argument,” Mr. Dragmire said snappily, “Rosalina seems to have stopped. She’s on the next floor down!”

“Nice!” Mie breathed a sigh of relief. “I just hope that means she’s just waiting for us and not a… darker alternative.”

With that, they hurried through the next floor, fighting more Soldier and Fish Shadows on the way. It was tiring, and the fact that Rosalina had been the one carrying the rations didn’t help, but Puff’s encouragement and positive attitude was more than enough to keep them going.

Eventually, they reached the fork Mr. Dragmire had mentioned. “Which way do we take?” Mie wondered.

“Eenie Meenie Miney Moe?” Sonic jokingly suggested.

Getting an idea, Puff picked up some pebbles from the ground and threw one into each path. The path in the middle made the least sound. “Let’s go through the middle one! I think it’ll be the quickest!”

“... that works too,” Mie shrugged, “Besides, I don’t think we have the time to deliberate.”

Nodding in agreement, Sonic and Puff followed them down the middle path. Luckily for them, there were no traps or Shadows waiting for them as they hurried through. It didn’t take long before they reached another elevator. Even Mie grew a bit impatient while they waited to get to the next floor, which meant that by the time it finished its descent, Sonic had been tapping his finger against the door to the point where he could have sworn he’d made an indent on it.

Fortunately in the next room, a familiar girl in a cyan outfit was standing there, her back to the humans and whatever Puff was. As they approached her, a thought came to Mie. “Mr. Dragmire, why didn’t you tell Rosalina to stop before she kept running?”

“... ack.”

“Well, at least we found her,” Puff sighed irritably, “Speaking of which, Blondie…”

As if on some horrible cue, the elevator behind them dinged again. Out rushed Rosalina, backpack still on her back and an ice-cold look of determination on her face. Her cheeks were also slightly red, as if she’d been crying a little.

“Rosie?!” Mie gasped.

Rosalina froze when she saw her friends up ahead. “O-oh… hey, guys…”

“Never mind my frustration that you ran off,” Mie said, “You alright, first of all?”
“I’m fine…” Rosalina said quietly, “I bopped any Shadows that came my way and kept running. I haven’t lost or used my supplies, thank god.”

“That’s a relief,” Sonic sighed. 

“Wait a second…” Puff said quietly, “If you’re Rosalina…” She pointed to the other cyan-dressed girl. “... then who’s that?”

The other girl in question laughed loudly, the familiarity and distortion of her voice making all four parties freeze. Rosalina dropped her staff.

“I was hoping I’d find you two again…” Shadow Rosalina sneered as she turned around, her golden eyes trained on Mie and Sonic. “And my other self, too! How lovely to meet you in person!”

Her face contorted into an ominous smirk. “Say, blondie… you want superpowers, right? Well, maybe you’ll get one, maybe you won’t…”

Her smirk only grew. “I’d say you’d have to get through me first… but you also have to get through yourself, too. After all… you’re me, and I’m you.”

Rosalina’s skin was already rather pale, but somehow it grew even paler.

“Yeah, yeah, we heard that with mine too,” Sonic deadpanned, “At least try to change up your speech a little!

“Right, I suppose I should give a quick refresher as to what’s going on here. Bet you thought just because this is Samus’ Dungeon automatically meant you wouldn’t see me here, didn’t you? Well, Dungeons attract Shadows; doesn’t it make sense that they attract Shadow Selves too?”

“What do you want with Blondie?” Puff demanded.

“Yeah!” Mie pitched in, “She’s got a lot going for her. Decently wealthy, by my guess, she gets good grades and intelligence, she’s pretty popular around school, and I’m pretty goddamn sure her family loves her-”

“What family?”

Sonic slapped his head. “Oh, no…! Man, I’m so stupid!”

“Care to share with the class, Wentworth?” Mr. Dragmire asked. “Preferably before we have to fight her Shadow Self?”

“Well, it was before I met Rosie, but if my guess is right, everything started on-”

“November 1st, 2016, right?”

“Please, no…” Rosalina begged, “I don’t want to think about it-”

“Should we count our blessings that our progenitor was never in the picture? At least Mama was around…”

Her smirk fell. “... was being intentional.”

It hit Mie almost instantly. “Oh, child…” Mr. Dragmire whispered into the air.

“Sure, we’re happy and grateful to be part of a family. Lubba - no, Mr. O’Reilly - treated us well, as he promised Mama he would do… but why did she have to go before everything became okay?”

“What happened to your mother?” Mie asked Rosalina before they could stop themselves.

The real one didn’t respond, tears beginning to prickle in her eyes, but Shadow Rosalina was all too willing to respond. “We were poor, us and Mama. She worked hour after hour after hour to make ends meet for us… it shouldn’t have surprised us that she died of a heart attack on the way home.” 

Shadow Rosalina laughed brokenly. “She was bringing donuts home for us, and everyone joked at the funeral that she couldn’t have found a better way to die than with delicious food in hand… but it didn’t reassure us at all. How could it? What could possibly make us feel better now that Estrella Lum is dead?”

“Yes, our lives are more stable and richer - pun not intended - now that we live with Mr. O’Reilly, but… Mama’s not there with us. Why did she have to die for us to have a better life if Mr. O’Reilly could’ve propped her up? We don’t even know where her grave is, because he didn’t tell us!”

“Rosie…” Sonic said softly, “Why didn’t you talk to me about this? You knew I don’t have contact with my parents, too-”

“I didn’t want to bring it up,” Rosalina eked out, “You were hurting from a lack of biological parents like me… I think that may have been what drew us to each other.”

Shadow Rosalina refused to let her other self go. “Speaking of being drawn to people… isn’t all this what drew us to Samus? I mean, we do actually like her, but there’s also the fact of the bonus. Us two get each other on a level not even dear Maurice could understand! You think you could lift each other up, but you know you’re not recovered enough to make the first move… or would be able to have a healthy relationship with her even if you could. Everything would just blow up in both our and her faces, and you don’t want that… so you stare from a distance, like a young girl looking for constellations.” 

“That explains more things,” Mie mused, “but why rush into danger? If you’re hesitant about a relationship with Samus, I’m not sure that’s why you were so reckless.”

“Blame dear Maury for that one. As we know, he was suffering like us. Like a falling star crashing to Earth, though, along came his other self. He accepted himself, got his own superpowers, and now he’s feeling on top of the world. My other self here thinks she can do the same… isn’t that funny?”

“That’s a lie-”

“In fact, you became so confident you thought you understood exactly what we’re going through! How dare you!”

Now incensed, Shadow Rosalina began advancing on her counterpart, pointing a finger at her angrily. “And you! How dare you pretend that O’Reilly is family! How dare you pretend as if everything is okay! How dare you pretend as if you’re not still that same little girl waiting for Mama to come home!”

Rosalina seemed to have finally found some of her voice. “It doesn’t matter that badly… you’re blowing it out of proportion-”

“Oh? It’s not that bad? Why does it matter how bad it hurts specifically? It hurts enough for us, doesn’t it?” Shadow Rosalina was now close enough that she poked the real Rosalina in the stomach, causing her to recoil and fall over. “Say it. Say that it doesn’t hurt at all. I dare you!”

“Okay, that’s it!” Sonic charged towards Shadow Rosalina, who merely snapped her fingers. 

Mie noticed a sharp stalactite up on the ceiling begin to wiggle before breaking off; at the angle it was going, it would impale or crush Sonic upon hitting the ground. They reached out a hand in an attempt to stop Sonic from getting himself killed, but before they could move, a vision played in their head.

They were in the Velvet Room, their attention focused on Yoshi. “You possess the power of the Wild Card - the ability to use more than one Persona…” he said, “Show your power, O chosen one!”

As quickly as they’d shown up, they were back in the cave. A new orb appeared in their hand, with the same emblem as the one Sonic used. 

“Nuózhā!” Mie called, crushing the orb and summoning a robotic humanoid on flaming roller-skates with bracers, a burgundy scarf and devil horns. “Bash it!”

The new Persona flew above Sonic, and with a mighty punch, he shattered the stalactite into pieces.

“A new Persona?!” Mr. Dragmire cried out, “How did you…?!”

“Not entirely sure,” Mie got out, wiping their brow both in relief and due to the sweat that had come from the energy they’d used up for Nuózhā’s attack.

“We can do that?!” Sonic gawked once he’d recollected himself, “No, wait. Rosie!”

Meanwhile, Shadow Rosalina grabbed Rosalina by the scruff and held her up. “Keep telling everyone, yourself included, that you’re okay. You can lie to everyone but me, though. I know everything about you, if you will recall - as I’ve said, you’re me, and I’m you.”

She tried to escape her other self's grasp, but her Shadow Self had an intense grip on her. Regrettably, though, she was able to at least get out something she shouldn’t have said.

“You’re… not… me!”

Just like last time, Shadow Rosalina began to laugh ominously, dropping the real Rosalina to the ground before being enveloped in the same dark energy that once enveloped Shadow Maurice. It began to swell, growing larger and larger, until in a burst of energy that pushed Sonic, Puff, Mie and Rosalina herself back.

Shadow Rosalina now took the form of a giant space-cadet blue star with pure white eyes and spherical tips. Similar to Puff’s “hair,” the middle point was styled like hair; unlike Puff, Shadow Rosalina’s “hair” was more of a B-52 than a single curl or bang. 

“I am a Shadow… of your true, inner self…”

Rotating like a windmill, Shadow Rosalina’s face contorted into a wicked sneer. “I know you want to see Mama back… time to reunite you!”

It felt like the air around them was both colder and hotter at the same time.

“Ah, so you guys have a pattern, don’t you? We’ll keep that in mind.” Sonic had no hesitation summoning his Persona. It was two on one, so surely this would be even easier than before.

There was only one way to find out, though. “Hang on, Rosie! We’re coming!”

Chapter Text

Shadow Rosalina fired a beam of chilly white energy from the uppermost tip of her head straight at the duo. Both of them jumped over it, with Pheidippides creating a gust of wind under himself to increase Sonic’s height. It was clear the mileage Sonic got from his experience in track was only amplified by his newfound power over wind.

“Not bad, Maury,” Shadow Rosalina admitted, “Try this on for size!”

Seeing this, Shadow Rosalina spat out a small but speedy set of spiky projectiles at him, one just barely grazing him. While it was focused on him, Mie summoned Nuózhā; as they called out Bash, they were surrounded in a bright, orangish energy, charging straight into Shadow Rosalina with a shoulder ram move. The recoil was a bit tough for Mie to deal with, but they at least caused some decent damage to the Shadow Self as well. After shrugging it off, though, they quickly got up and resumed aiding Sonic, intercepting another cold attack with their blaster.

Meanwhile, Puff began dragging the stunned real Rosalina away from the scene. “You gonna be alright, Blondie?” she asked once they were a safer distance away.

“I… I’m sorry this happened,” Rosalina managed to get out as she began coming to her senses, “I never should’ve come with you guys…”

Sonic called out a new attack he learned from earlier in their journey through the caverns. 

With a cry of Skewer, his Persona appeared and formed another blade-discus; instead of throwing it this time, though, Pheidippides attempted to impale his target with it. Once it was about to strike the Shadow Self’s back, though, a spherical shield appeared around her and bounced Sonic and his Persona away.

“So you can do more than try to blow us up, huh? Sweet! I was almost starting to get tired of dodging your shit effortlessly-”

WHAM!

Shadow Rosalina shot forward and rammed into Mie, sending them flying. Sonic promptly shut up as they landed on the ground with a thud.

“Mie!” Puff called worriedly.

“What have I done?” whispered Rosalina, her worry now making her begin to spiral. “I don’t want to be the reason we all die-”

“Then do something about it!” Sonic called back as Pheidippides fired off a Garu to distract her Shadow Self, “Take it from someone who was just there - if you can’t face your problems, how can you fix them? How are you gonna save Samus if you can’t even garner the strength to save yourself?”

Puff nodded. “I agree with Spikes,” she said, “You wanna just wallow in grief for the rest of your life? You want your life to be cut short right now? If you really want to, then keep quiet! 

“I know it’s not easy…” Mie grunted, rising to their feet just time to dodge another frosty blast from Shadow Rosalina, “but you’ll thank yourself for it, I swear!”

“Thank… myself…?” Rosalina mumbled.

“Yeah,” Sonic agreed, “I know I’ve got a lot of that to do in my future!”

While she was thinking about it, Shadow Rosalina just… froze in place. There was no grunting in pain or any of that as Sonic’s Shadow Self had done; it was more as if she were paralyzed.

“I get it…” Rosalina nodded, “I don’t like it one bit, but I thought I was over Mama’s death… I wish it would get better, but it only will if I put in the time, won’t it?”

“URGH!”

“Now you’re getting it.”

“I miss her… I really do… but even if I feel like there’s nothing without her, well… the fact that I’m still here’s proof enough. I don’t know what I’m going to do now… but I’ll figure it out.”

The spherical barrier that once surrounded Shadow Rosalina shattered and dissipated. “They’re still stunned!” Puff called out, “Get ‘em, guys!”

“Pheidippides, Garu!”

“Cornish Jack, Psi!”

The winds of Sonic’s attack lifted Shadow Rosalina into the air, the blades cutting into her more and more…

… until Mie’s Psychic attack dropped into the ground with a loud SLAM, reverting her back to the normal Shadow Rosalina.

“AGH!”

Of all people, it was the real Rosalina who helped the troublemaking doppelganger up. “Mama may be gone, and she may not be able to enjoy a better life with us, but I still have a new family and friends. I think they’ll need us more than we needed them…”

Feelings of understanding came over everyone else’s faces, especially that of Sonic. Even Mr. Dragmire cocked a grin back in the lab. They may have seen someone accept their Shadow Self only once before, but it was no less satisfying than the first time.

“You are me… and I’m you… I won’t ignore you again, I promise.”

Shadow Rosalina nodded approvingly before transforming like Shadow Maurice had. The end-result Persona had a long light-blue gown that was the same shade as her shirt, and a hoodlike scarf that covered her face (except for two glowing blue eyes). She held a torch that crackled with ice-blue flames in one of her hands.

“Welcome to the family, Deborah…”

After a few seconds of heavy breathing from how much everything had taken out of her, she was immediately struck by a hug from Sonic. Feeling her emotions well over, she silently wished both of her eyes were covered so no one could see the tears. That wish was soon tossed to the side when Mie and Puff joined in, the pressure being the perfect blend of soft, solid, and warm.

You've formed a bond with Rosalina Lum, motherless child and lone girl in a family of boys...

Thou art I... And I am thou...

Thou hast established a new bond...

Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Empress Arcana...

Empress Rank 1!

“I hate to interrupt the moment, but I think we might be done here for today,” Mr. Dragmire called from the other line.

“What?! Don’t we still need to save Samus?”

“She won’t be dying anytime soon, I presume. The time differences should buy us time to find the girl.”

“Time differences?”

“I’ll explain later. The trek back might be a bit long, but since you cleared out the Shadows on those floors, you should all be safe.”

“It’s fine. I can keep going.” Rosalina said, clearly panting. She started walking (well, it was more stumbling than walking) forward towards the direction of the next elevator.

“Rosie, you seriously need to rest up. Hopefully Samus should be fine.”

“... fine,” Rosalina eventually got out. Helping her on both their adjacent shoulders, Mie and Sonic began helping Rosalina get through the walk back.

When they got to the checkpoint, however, they decided to take a tiny break. 

Mie had been running their hand along the cavern walls when their hand somehow pushed far enough against a piece of the wall that it broke apart, revealing a button not unlike the one next to the elevator.

Pressing it, a giant part of the wall fell off, revealing a previously unseen elevator.

“Well…” Sonic remarked, “that’s new.”

“No shit, Blue!”

Upon the elevator’s doors opening and everyone filing in, it seemed like it went up. Figuring they could go back down if their destination was too far from the entrance, Mie decided to go up the elevator. As they waited, Rosalina became unsure if she was lucky or unlucky that hadn’t gotten to see how Sonic acted on elevators before.

When the door opened, the group found themselves back at the entrance, a secret door having magically appeared to the left of the main entrance.

“My…” Puff remarked, “how incredibly convenient!”

“That would explain why those areas were so empty.” Mr. Dragmire remarked. “I’m just glad you won’t have to go all the way through next time we come here. That should make our rescue mission all the easier.”

On the way back to their hub spot, there was an uncharacteristically long silence until Rosalina broke it.

“Sonic, I’m sorry. I didn’t tell you about all of what she said because you had already told me what you were going through. I didn’t want to burden you with any more trouble, and after you awakened, it seemed I’d forgotten to tell you. No… I don’t think I wanted to.”

“I should be apologizing, too,” Sonic said, “I was too caught up in pretending to be okay and carefree… I should have tried to help you or something.”

Mie tried to break the apologies up by telling them, “Hey, we’re all getting through our problems, we’re fighting to save the girl one of us loves, and now we’re practically a rescue team. It’s like you said earlier, Sonic - we’re not going to be separated that easily from now on.”

Looking at each other, Sonic and Rosalina thought we needed a friend like Mie, didn’t we in unison. But then Mie heard some more mumbling again, this time coming from Puff. Unlike with Rosalina, though, they weren’t able to make out anything since her voice was already a bit muffled most of the time.

“Whuzzat, Puff?” Sonic asked.

“... nothing,” Puff said a bit more loudly, sadness clearly etched over her face. “You guys are gonna go back to your world now, right?”
“Yes, we are,” Rosalina nodded, “Thank you for dragging me out of harm’s way, Puff. We’ll see you soon, okay?”

“Right…” Puff nodded sadly before putting on a smile. “See you guys around!”

After watching her disappear into the distance, Sonic spoke for everyone. “Something’s up with her.” 

“Well, she’s not human,” Rosalina reasoned, “so she might not have a Shadow Self… right?”

As they teleported back to Mr. Dragmire’s lab, Mie mumbled I hope so out loud.

After recuperating in Mr. Dragmire’s lab, Rosalina had asked, “How long do you think we have before Samus meets her Shadow Self? Or is there no way to tell?”

“The Subspace Dimension isn’t like whatever you see in sci-fi movies,” Mr. Dragmire explained, “It has unique properties that make it unlike anything else you might imagine. Time can be an interesting thing there. At first, things progress at the same rate in both worlds for any organic being. But the more time you spend there without leaving or interacting with other beings, the more things start to dilate. Eventually, until you come in contact with another living being, a minute can become an hour. It’s gotten me out of more than a few messes in my fight against the Shadows.”

“Useful information,” Mie nodded, “but where are you going with this?”

“My point is after running some calculations, Samus should be fine for roughly a week and a half before she becomes likely enough to meet her Shadow Self and perishes. It was closer to two weeks since she originally ended up there, though.”

Mie was probably the one who was the most relieved about this, as while they were excited, a single thought came to their mind about how they would handle the following days. They had been doing so much with their friends that they had almost forgotten. I have work this weekend… crap.

After relaying this information to everyone, Sonic reacted first. “Bummer… are we good after school on Monday?”

“I’m a tad busy with family obligations that day,” Rosalina sighed, “It’s Leo’s birthday.”

“And I have homework to grade…” Mr. Dragmire grumbled, “I do hope you two’s work will be easy to grade, at least.”

Mie was lucky they tended to do homework during freer times or once at home; coupled with all the hard work they’d be putting into saving people from the Shadows, they would be rather busy. 

What Mr. Dragmire said lingered in their mind, however, and it continued to do so until late at night while they were doing Japanese homework.

All that time difference… is that why he thinks Aki could still be alive?

Deciding not to bring it up, Mie finished their homework and went to bed.

Chapter Text

Mie would probably struggle forever to comprehend how they were spending their first two days of work thinking about a kidnapping victim. They couldn’t help but feel a little anxiety over the situation, but in a situation like this? C’est la vie. 

They could only imagine how much worse it was for the people who spent more time with Samus. The Chus, if Mie recalled what Rosalina had said properly, were probably worried sick. Their arms were tucked to their hips as they walked downstairs to greet their bosses (and sort-of-guardians, but not really).

“You look worried. Scared you’re not gonna do well on your first day?” Fox asked, noticing their posture..

“You could say that…”

“Well, while we’ll need you to be reasonably quick and not laze about or anything, you shouldn’t have too much trouble,” Falco promised, “For the most part, it’ll be like when you picked up the pizza on Wednesday. You’re doing menial jobs, like making and bringing coffee, a bit of reception work on days at the agency - we’ll get to that tomorrow - and the works.”

“What about today?” Mie asked.

“One of the best parts about being the bosses is you get a lot of choice about working from home,” Fox smirked, “We decided that would work out best for your first day.”

“Thank you,” Mie said honestly, a tiny smile appearing at the corners of their lips as their posture loosened ever-so-slightly, “That’s awfully kind of you.”

“We did gopher work to get where we are today, man,” Falco chuckled. A hint of unease was detected in their tone as he continued on. “I dunno about Fox, but I wouldn’t wish that sh- er, stuff on anyone…” Mie could see Fox shoot his husband a look before nodding.

“But enough about that,” Fox shook his head, “Any experience making coffee, kid?”

“I would sometimes on weekends,” Mie answered, happier memories of Mia and Mio flashing through their mind, “for my siblings back home. I’m no barista, though.”

“Oh, and if we’re out of something for coffee or whatever needs to be done, let us know,” Falco added on, “That way we know to get more of it.”

“And if you’re busy at the time?”

“Then wait until there’s a good moment, kid. If we’re really that busy, you can work on classwork or something, but be ready to snap back to what you’re doing.”

The coffee machine Fox and Falco had was very different from the one they had back at home. “Fox is particular about the beans he buys,” Falco laughed, “so he won’t send you grocery shopping for those or anything. Now… let’s see your stuff.” Gesturing to the coffee maker and letting Mie through, he said, “I like my coffee with, like, a drop of milk and half a sugar packet.”

“And I enjoy mine with a miniscule amount of milk,” Fox added, “and one packet of sugar… unless it’s springtime. Don’t ask, long story.”

As Fox rubbed his forehead, what seemed like stress taking over his face, Mie decided they wouldn’t ask unless the situation absolutely demanded it.

Like if his Shadow Self brings it up, their mind questioned. It looked like they couldn’t take their mind off of the Subspace Dimension, but they knew that the sooner they got through work today and tomorrow, the sooner they could finish this mission. They scratched their hair with their hands before refocusing themselves.

Fox and Falco tried not to make it seem like they were watching intensely as Mie whipped up two coffees, hopefully like their bosses liked it.

After taking his first sip, Falco nodded approvingly. “Hey, not bad for your first attempt!” he lauded.

“Speak for yourself,” Fox remarked, a sly grin overtaking them, “Mie, you nailed it!”

Mie didn’t even notice their elbows flailing a little bit at the reaction. The two men’s reactions to it made them stop prematurely in their celebration.

Fox chuckled. “Easy, kid. It’s just a cup of coffee.”

“Sorry! I guess I got a bit too excited… I was a little afraid that I’d messed up at certain parts because I don’t know that brand and-“

Their apology was interrupted by Falco. “Well if that was your first attempt with a couple’a screw ups, I can’t wait to see what you pull off in the future!”

Mie calmed down and wiped their brow. “Thank you,” they said honestly, “Anything else I should know about?”

“I think anything else we’ll ask you to do here is on a case-by-case basis,” Fox informed them, “... pun not intended.”

Mie let out a small laugh that turned into an awkward cough. From there, Fox and Falco got to their work, Mie getting them coffee and bringing things like papers and documents from one to the other. In the meantime, they worked on homework.

This pattern continued until dinnertime. After a long, hard day at work, it was nice to be rewarded with some good food (Fox had ordered another set of pizzas, although Mie’s had mushrooms like Falco this time). The rest of the day before they went to bed was spent studying and doing homework.

Sunday was more of the same, but without the tutorial. Mie found themselves slowly improving at their various tasks.

Around a small while after lunchtime, Mie’s bosses tied up the loose ends in the paperwork of their cases. Mie watched as the two fistbumped.

“Fantastic first day, kid,” Falco praised once they’d handed Mie their pay, “Why don’t you take the rest off? Go explore the town a bit, yeah?”

“Just make sure you come back before too late,” Fox added on. “Oh, and before I forget…”

He handed Mie a keychain with one key on it. “This opens the door to our house. We’re placing our trust in you here, okay?”

Nodding resolutely, Mie thanked them, deciding to take their suggestion.

You feel the trust of Fox and Falco, your bosses and temporary sort-of-guardians, growing… 

Thou art I... And I am thou...

Thou hast established a new bond...

Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Judgement Arcana...

Judgement Rank 1!

It was far too late to set up another trip into the Subspace Dimension today, but they decided they’d at the very least try to explore Ryūō… preferably without accidentally getting sent into a magical life-or-death situation.

The late day’s air was relatively different. They hadn’t really seen what Ryūō looked like at night beyond their bedroom window. The various neon signs throughout lit up the place in a way they had only seen in travel brochures to popular vacation spots during the summer. It was so lit up, in fact, that the people on the street could easily be seen, including a certain someone they recognized. It had only been about a week, but they would still recognize that spiky hair anywhere.

“Hey, Sonic! Sonic! Over here!”

When Sonic picked out who was calling him, he lit up; before they knew it, he was already skidding to a stop in front of them. “Yo, Mie! What’s up?”

“I finished up work about a quarter hour ago; my bosses let me go early today. Thought I’d go explore the place where I’m living.”

“Well, I still owe you a more ‘proper’ tour of the city, don’t I?” As if remembering something, Sonic then cringed; Mie could imagine his ears flattening, but they obviously didn’t. “Actually, I’m out here because I was doing someone a solid… Can we put this on hold?”

“Why don’t I come with you?”

“Works for me. Thanks, buddy… to be honest, I’m not all that good with what I’m trying to help him with. You any good at biology?”

“I’d say I’m not too bad. I made decent marks last year…”

“Works for me.” Sonic said enthusiastically, flashing them a thumbs-up.

“So explain this project, please.”

“Well, my buddy Knute is a 9th grader, so he’s in Biology right now,” Sonic explained, “They’re doing a project about plant growth, and he lost his plants. Luckily, we know that Mr. Soncho - his teacher - gets his materials for this unit from Mr. Spellmeyer’s gardening store.”

“Wait…” Mie said quietly, “Isn’t Mr. Spellmeyer one of the gardeners at the school?”

“Well, he helps on occasion. Most of the school gardening around here is Mr. Piccirillo’s job. The guy’s amazing with flora, apparently; one time I heard Principal Dedede joking that he could give plants life and legs, letting ‘em walk around like the soldiers grown by that one guy in Greek mythology… what was his name? Cadmus?”

Nodding their head, Mie remarked, “You have a high opinion of him, huh?”

“I try to talk about him when it’s brought up. It’s my little way of apologizing to him, in a way. See, he’s… vertically challenged. When I first met him, I thought he was just another student! Man, that was mortifying… the point is, I was headed to Mr. Spellmeyer’s store to get Knute some replacements; he gave me a list of what he needed and the money to buy them. I hope he’s open right now…”

Fortunately for Sonic, he and Mie made it to Plant Crossing about 45 minutes before they started closing. A young woman with a nametag that read Vilde - Mie guessed she was a few years younger than Mr. Spellmeyer himself - was manning the register.

“Excuse me miss, do you know where the seed packets are?”

“If you’re looking for anything specific, you’re lucky you made it in time,” Vilde said, “we almost sold out on some kinds of stuff today. It’s down the hall and to the right, you can’t miss it.”

Mie assumed Knute needed something specific, so they relayed this info. Characteristically, Sonic found the things he was looking for in record time.

Sonic scratched the back of his head as they exited Plant Crossing. “Thanks again, Mie…” 

Mie waved him off. “That’s what friends do, right?”

“Yeah!” Sonic responded cheerily, “I’d love to chat with you and all some more, but I should probably get this stuff to that knucklehead…welp, see ya Mie!”

Mie waved goodbye to Sonic, and before she knew it, he was out of sight.

You feel your bond with Sonic improving...

They yawned after he left, only now realizing how tired they were. They had done a lot this weekend, and tomorrow was the day they were hopefully going to save Samus.

Deciding to get as much sleep as possible, they went back to the McCloud-Lombardi residence, made sure to lock the door behind them, and went to sleep not long after. A big day was coming up, and they weren’t going to miss it for the world.

Chapter Text

It was good for Mie that class was uneventful today. It helped that it was their first week of Theatre with Mr. Kingston rather than a continued week of Art (nothing against Mr. Eisner, of course). Considering their current scenario, it wasn’t exactly easy to focus on even basic lessons like improv games when the only emotions they could think about were the ones they were going to feel once they rescued Samus. It was also a little embarrassing how their first impression on him was clouded by their worries. It didn’t help that there was an empty seat within their view… it seemed Samus was one of their classmates.

Despite all of that, they got through the day without any further hiccups. Thank goodness it was a quick walk to Mr. Dragmire’s place.

“This will be Rosalina’s first time in combat,” Mr. Dragmire reminded everyone after greeting them, “I expect the two of you to teach her well. We don’t exactly know what her Persona is capable of yet, but I assume you two will be able to figure out what role she will play in your team.”

As he walked off to the lab, Mie thought something to themselves that had them smile a tiny bit. Playing roles… they’d thought, how funny for their first day in Theatre.

“I’m sure you saw my first few battles,” Sonic reassured Rosalina, “It took me a few seconds to get my footing, but I got it pretty quickly. The actual fighting isn’t instinctual, but all of the laser blast things that just come out of you, that’ll come to you.” Sonic explained. Despite this being a rescue mission that could spell life or death for their friend, his general optimism was all she needed to get some confidence that things were going to be okay. Putting his hands behind his back, he began walking to the lab, humming a tune he'd heard somewhere. 

Before they were to join him, Mie and Rosalina started checking over the rations she’d brought (the ones they would hopefully use this time). Once done, Rosalina was quicker than ever before to get to the lab, and Mie smiled knowing she was more confident than ever on saving her crush.

There wasn’t much to be said before the three entered the Subspace Dimension. One thing was on everyone’s mind:

We’re saving Samus today, no matter what happens.

The heat radiating from the cave’s lava was no less unbearable than last time. Puff was already at the newly opened elevator to the checkpoint, and greetings went by quickly. But right as they were about to go with her, Mie noticed a blue door on the other side of the cave entrance that hadn’t been there before. When they asked the others about it, Sonic assumed they were hallucinating from the heat.

Getting an idea of what might be beyond that door, Mie asked, “Give me a moment, please. I need to ponder something quietly… I promise I won’t be long.”

“Please don’t take too long,” Rosalina requested.

“I promise.” With that, they stepped through the door.

Just as they had expected, the door led to that airship they were all too familiar with at this point.

“Welcome back to the Velvet Room,” Igor greeted Mie, Yoshi at his side as always, “I presume you have questions to ask us?”

“Multiple…” Mie sighed, holding the side of their head on their palm, “I have two Personas on my… well, person. How does that work?”

“As we’ve mentioned before,” Yoshi explained, “you have the power of the Wild Card. It grants you the ability to use multiple Personas… before you ask, only you contain this power.”

“That’s a shame…”

“As you grow stronger, though,” Yoshi continued, “you will be granted the ability to hold more at once. Don’t worry about losing any Personas, though - the information about all of them will be saved in this big guy right here!”

Yoshi pulled out the large tome from earlier. Opening it, Mie saw two entries not unlike that of a dictionary with pictures - one of Cornish Jack and one of Nuózhā.

Igor then began another topic as Mie examined the tome. “Sometimes, when you knock down all the Shadows you are in combat with,” he proclaimed, “there is a chance that a certain type of Shadow will transform into a Persona for you to use. However, the other Shadows will disappear, and thus it will not contribute to your growth in quite the same way.”

In quite the same way? Mie could only wonder what that meant. But they knew they shouldn’t push it since this was the first time they were getting a clear answer on anything from the two of them. They recalled Mr. Dragmire’s advice about figuring out their place on the team. The fact that they were going to be the only one with this ability meant that compared to Rosalina and Sonic, they would have to be the jack-of-all-trades as well as the unofficial leader (they hadn’t been appointed, but as the first one to awaken their Persona, they certainly felt the part), using each Persona they got to their fullest potential. 

“When you get, say, one or two more Personas,” Yoshi informed them, “please try and come back as soon as reasonably possible. We’ll teach you about the next service we provide then.”

Since, unlike the previous times they were in the Velvet Room, they weren’t asleep, leaving was as easy as coming out of a daydream, so once that bright light hit them once again…

“Yo, Mie. Mie?”

They snapped back to reality to Sonic snapping his fingers in front of their eyes.

“Look, I get that you were trying to get your thoughts together, but you were completely out of it!”

For a moment, Mie asked themselves if they should tell the others about the Velvet Room. The fact they didn’t want to blow everyone’s minds any more than the discovery of the Subspace Dimension already had, however, had them settling about no for now.

“Sorry to keep you guys waiting,” Mie said, “I don’t know why, but I think I’m the only one who can do that multiple-Personas thing.”

“Dang… if you think so.”

“What a shame…” Rosalina shrugged. “Well, I don’t think I could manage multiple Personas at once. I’m already struggling to deal with one Persona...”

“Shall we begin, then…?” Mr. Dragmire asked through the elevator.

Without any further delay, they headed down the elevator, and began the trek. At one point while they were running through the Dungeon, Puff asked, “What’s life like in your world? Surely it’s about as rough as here, right?”

That question made some of them stop in their tracks. It was true that Puff must have spent their entire life - however long that life currently was - in Subspace, they could only guess how much (or how little) she knew about their world.

“It’s actually more idyllic,” Rosalina said honestly, “I’ve never had to run for my life before we found this place…”

“Hey…” Sonic wondered, “How much do you know about our world?”

“Well it’s not often I get a chance to catch a glimpse of it. I always had the feeling there was more to existence than this world, but I didn’t know what that something was. Then one day, I was just walking around, and I found this weird thing lying on the ground, and it detailed all sorts of human things… I think they’re human, at least. Most of them are… what’s the deal with those vampire folks?”

“... the vampires are fictional,” Mie answered, “Actually, given how this other world exists, if vampires were real, I wouldn’t be too surprised.”

“Huh, I’ll have to be on the lookout for those, then.” Speaking of devils (or at least something similar to them), a duo of Fish Shadows popped up in front of them, aided by a new type of Shadow.

Mie watched, perplexed, as it nearly tripped over its large pants. “What’s that… a Popper Shadow?”

Sonic’s head snapped towards Mie in surprise. “A what?”

“I dunno, it just felt right at the moment.”

“I guess that’s what we’re calling it, then! Let’s get moving!” Puff yelled.

“Easy to say when you’re not doing any work…” Rosalina mumbled as she swung at an orb in her hands, summoning Deborah. She watched Sonic and Mie attack first, studying how they attacked before launching her own. “Bufu!” 

With a wave of the Persona’s torch, a blast of ice shot off from it, smacking the Popper Shadow straight in its head. The cold air’s sudden contrast to the cave’s higher temperatures immediately got the other fighter’s attention.

“Ice powers, huh? Pretty cool, Rosa!”

Mr. Dragmire and Puff, as they weren’t participating in the battle, gladly facepalmed for the other two who were unfortunate enough to hear that joke.

“You’re aware we could all hear you, right?” Mr. Dragmire complained.

Sonic didn’t even flinch as he fired a Wind attack at one of the Fish Shadows, instead choosing to smirk proudly. “I’m glad to know that joke didn’t go to waste!”

It was surprising that the group was even still able to concentrate. Despite the minor setback, Rosalina was able to keep her distance from the Shadows with her staff. With a shot lined up, she commanded another Bufu… and with it, her first enemy went down.

“Ice going! Haha- Yowch!”

Almost karmatically, Sonic was lashed in the back by a Fish Shadow’s tentacles due to being distracted by his own pun, leaving quite the nasty scratch where he’d been stuck.

“Sonic!” Operating on a previously-unknown reflex, Rosalina pointed her staff at Sonic and shouted, “Dia!” 

A green light washed from her staff, and just as quickly as the scratch had appeared, it was gone.

“You can heal as well as use ice magic?!” Mr. Dragmire remarked, wowed by Rosalina’s potential, “Impressive… and very interesting. Here I’d thought a Persona could only throw offensive magic around…”

But the bigger reaction came from the one she actually healed. “Oh… that feels much better! Thanks, Rosie!”

High-fiving her, Sonic had Pheidippides throw out a Garu that destroyed one of the Fish Shadows. Taking the opportunity to attack the Shadows (who were too busy reacting to their brethren’s death to move too much), another Garu ripped through the other Fish Shadow. The grin that had appeared on Mie’s face was steadily growing now, their eyes becoming more and more focused on their teammates now. However, said attention was short lived when they heard a squealing noise coming from the Popper Shadow. Fortunately, though, all it took was one more shot from their blaster to take it out.

While it did dissolve into the same dark material as its cohorts, though, a ball of light came into being from the spot from which the Popper Shadow had once stood. The ball of light dashed towards Mie, who instinctively held their hand out to stop it. The second the ball of light came into contact with Mie, it transformed into another Persona Ball (or such was what Mie decided to deem the orbs that their Personas resided in).

Closing their eyes, Mie could mentally picture a deck of cards to be shuffled in their head. Jack, Nuózha, and the newest addition to Mie’s little family - Xian Li!

“What was that?” Puff wondered, “You alright?”

“New Persona, that’s all,” Mie said nonchalantly. Sonic would have done a spit take, had he had anything in his mouth.

By the time they reached the room Rosalina’s Shadow Self had been in, Puff saw the weary posture everyone else had. When she saw the bag Rosalina was carrying, she got an idea. “If you guys need a break, we should rest here,” she suggested, “I doubt any Shadows are gonna want to even come close to where an entire Shadow Self used to be!”

“Nah, we’re good.” Sonic replied. As if on cue, a stomach growl (or perhaps two or three; Mie couldn’t say for sure) proceeded to echo throughout the cave. “Okay… maybe not. Rosie, what’d you pack for us?”

Digging into the bag she brought, Rosalina brought out some weird-shaped candies. “They’re called kompeitō,” she explained, “Whenever Mom and I would go to visit Lubba, we’d make these beforehand. They’re gummy things. Mr. Dragmire says food takes on a healing effect while in the Subspace Dimension… did I understand that right?”

“Yes, but they don’t always heal damage,” Mr. Dragmire said before launching into an explanation befitting of his apparent expertise. “Summoning your Persona… to my understanding, that is… for magic attacks costs a separate kind of energy. Some consumptibles will replenish your magic energy - SP, I call it - rather than heal you. Other things may heal status conditions placed upon you by the Shadows, but we shouldn’t have to worry about that.”

“Good to know,” said Sonic as he was given a handful of kompeitō and a small elephant ear Rosalina had also packed. The taste is incredibly sweet, Mie mused, What’s this made with? I can only feel the sugar and some fruit flavorings… no, wait, there’s some honey in this, too.

“This is actually really good!” Mie lauded, “Your family really knows how to pick a snack!” 

Sonic made similar comments, which got a smile from Rosalina. It was a bit weird when a curious Puff asked for one. But despite what logic would dictate, she managed to taste one. One could only imagine how the balloon girl’s anatomy worked, but she ended up liking it, and for Mie, that was all that really mattered in the end.

Once everyone felt ready to go again, they started the trek forward once more. Mr. Dragmire had reported that Samus was likely in the furthest recesses of the Dungeon, so they planned to fight their way down. They’d taken another elevator or two down when Sonic skidded to a stop in front of them.

“What’s going on?” Mie asked, before taking a look at the river in front of them and cringing. It was a river, all right… but one of bubbling, boiling lava rather than water or something less harmful. The one good thing in this situation was that they could see the next elevator… albeit across the lava river. Another bad thing, however, was that it didn’t matter if the team was willing to risk jumping across the river; it was too wide to merely jump across to begin with.

“Dang it! We’re this close!” Puff whined. 

Mie tried to calm down the situation. “Guys, don’t freak out or anything. I’m sure there’s some kind of switch here that opens a bridge or something. Like with the checkpoint elevator, remember?”

Sonic pondered the situation before snapping his fingers. “Ah, I get it! Just like on TV. Good thinking.” Despite the reasonable thought process (and a thorough search of the vicinity), it did not appear that there was any hidden switch.

“Well, if there’s no bridge right now…” Rosalina suggested, “Why not make one?”

Puff and company tilted their heads. “Whaddya mean by that?” Sonic asked.

Puff lit up in understanding. “I get where you’re going! You guys have magic, right? Someone’s gotta have some ‘bridgey-smidgey’ spell or something!”

“If we had those abilities, we would’ve tried that in the first place,” Mie pointed out, patting Puff atop her head as she let out a sad aww.

“I didn’t mean any sort of bridge-building magic,” Rosalina smirked as she summoned Deborah. Pointing to the lava river, she used Bufu to cool down the lava, leaving charred rock where the river once flowed. 

Sonic whistled appreciatively. “Nice going!”

“Speaking of going, let’s cross,” Mie reminded everyone, “I don’t know how long this ice will last…”

Everyone hurried across the river and into the elevator, not stopping until everyone was piled in. There was not much impatience shown during the wait this time, as everyone was mostly busy catching their breath.

Luckily for them, they’d finished cooling down right as the elevator dinged at its exit. As if the lava river from earlier was their final test, the next room had a large door in front of them. 

“I can sense someone behind that door…” Puff murmured, “You think it’s the girl that got kidnapped?” 

“Only one way to find out,” Sonic decided. With Mie’s help, the two pushed them open.

Sure enough. Samus was on the other side, staring to the side. They could see her eyes this time - it wasn’t Shadow Samus, thank goodness. Strangely enough, however, they saw a weird, dark-purple energy surrounding her. It wasn’t the same as that which had surrounded Shadow Rosalina or Shadow Maurice.

“That’s the stasis I told you about,” Mr. Dragmire explained, “It should deactivate once you get close enough.”

They were all quite hesitant in doing so, however, wondering if they would alert her Shadow Self in some way. Once they were within a few feet of Samus, the purple energy dissipated.

“Ugh… how do I get out of this place…?” Samus mumbled dazedly, words trailing off as she turned around to face them. Her eyes widened in recognition of Mie, Sonic, and Rosalina. “Wait… I know you three! What are you guys doing here?”

“There’s not much time to explain,” Puff offered up innocently, “I think we should get her out of here before-”

There was a loud thud before a wall suddenly burst open, rocks flying everywhere from the explosion.

“... something like that appears.”

A silhouette appeared in the ensuing smoke. 

“I think we’ve jinxed it,” Sonic grumbled, “I just don’t know which time it was.” 

Shadow Samus - clad in a robotic suit (although her head wasn’t covered, which was what made her recognizable) - stepped through, shaking out one of her hands. She must have blown through it in one punch, Mie realized.

“Let’s get out of here before she says something you don’t want to hear!”

Samus, however, was frozen in place.

“Hm…?” Shadow Samus mused as she took in the scene of frightened teenagers (and a scared balloon-girl). “Ah, so you’ve made it this far without dying. Interesting. Guess it’s as they say - if you want something done right, one must do it themselves. You know that very well… wouldn’t you say, my other self?”

Sonic attempted to give Samus the rundown. “By we, she means you, and just a bit of a spoiler warning, she’s gonna say a lotta things that get to your head, so stay calm, okay?”

“O-okay…?” Samus managed to get out. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done.

“Well, aren’t you a killjoy? I can understand. After coming this far, I can only imagine you’re tired. That said… it doesn’t quite match up to the shit I’ve been through. Give me a reason to give a shit, or your lives are forfeit.”

“Wow, you’re cold…” Samus mumbled out loud. She didn’t look too concerned about her Shadow Self’s words yet, but that was about to change.

“You weren’t listening earlier. You are me, and I am you. So if I’m so cold and uncaring… that means you are, too.”

“See what I mean?” Sonic said, clearly tired even by his second time fighting a Shadow like this. Samus wriggled her way out of his arms and stood her ground. A bad sign to the others.

“I know I’m not exactly the most empathetic or caring person, but-”

“No shit you’re not. Your abilities to feel badly are limited. Sorrow… rage…” Shadow Samus’ face lit up with a grin. “... grief…”

Samus flinched. “W-what?”

“Do you remember hearing the news? Rodney and Virginia Aran, shot to death by an unknown assailant… why them, right? It could’ve been anyone else. They were beloved by the whole town, yet had little to be jealous of. All theories of why aside… the case went cold within two weeks. Nobody could trace anything about the killer… isn’t it strange how the only thing that stuck was the pity?”

“Shut up!” Samus snarled.

“And that’s not the worst of it. You don’t want their pity. You don’t even want to grieve. You want your parents back, and you want to be strong enough to find the monster who killed them. That has been your sole goal in life.”

“Samus, remember what Sonic said,” Mie reminded her, “Stay calm, and don’t let it get to you.”

“And just let this clone get away with saying all that shit?” Samus snarled, “I’ve dealt with worse.”

“Try me,” Shadow Samus drawled, a hint of superiority tinged in her voice, “You’re not strong enough to take on a killer. Not even close. You’re just a kid who can’t even bottle up their emotions right. That’s why you’re the Ice Queen of Sakurai High. That’s why you lash out and are as cold as can be.”

Rosalina gave Samus one last warning. “I know what you want to say… please don’t say it.”

Samus could only turn at her and say, “Let me handle this. I’m just going to tell her what she needs to hear.” The team knew they wouldn’t get through to her, and readied their weapons. Samus’ voice raised in volume, and she declared, “Listen here, whoever you are. Stop pretending like you know my life.”

“... edgelord.”

Mie could only guess Samus had been called that before and didn’t like it, because she visibly became furious. “Excuse me?”

“You realize you’re only proving my point. Told you I know everything about you. I would know better than anyone else, because I’m you and you’re me… the only difference between us is that I admit it.”

“You aren’t me… you’re nothing like me!”

“Aaaaaaand there it is.”

Silence reigned through the room for a moment before Shadow Samus began cackling. Aside from the fact Samus had just rejected her Shadow Self, something about it felt uncharacteristic somehow. “Poor choice of words, kid!” she guffawed as she was enveloped in a dark energy, “You want our parents back so bad?”

In a burst of energy, Shadow Samus revealed her new form. A bulky yet hollow suit with countless glowing eyes and a fanged grin smashed to the ground. Her hands had holes on the ends like cannons, and giant purple wings extended out to full wingspan.

“I am a Shadow… the true self… in that case, I’ll help you get to ‘em!”

Chapter Text

“YOU LACK THE STRENGTH TO THRIVE, MY OTHER SELF. ALLOW ME TO SHOW YOU MINE!”

Shadow Samus leaped into the air and began aiming an arm cannon at Sonic. A beam of crackling, jagged yellow energy shot out at him; when he dodged, the spot on the floor where the shot landed exploded into a shockwave. Mie picked up Puff and leaped over the shockwave, Rosalina doing the same. Sonic was barely able to dodge the shockwave as well, but he managed.

“What the hell…?!” Samus whispered, staring up at her Shadow Self. This reminded Shadow Samus of her target. 

“I’LL DEAL WITH YOU IN TIME!” Shadow Samus’ distorted voice declared. One of her arm cannons shot out a grappling hook that wrapped around Samus, capturing her. With a swing of said arm, Shadow Samus trapped her other self against an faraway wall, the rope snapping off and leaving Samus stuck.

“Samus!” Rosalina cried out in horror.

Thinking on the fly, Puff formulated a plan. “You three distract the troublemaker!” she told the three as they took cover behind a rock, “I’ll try to get her down!”

While Mie fired a blast in the opposite direction to get the Shadow Self’s attention, Puff started to sneak around a side route obscured by debris, but with her stubby limbs, it was going to take her a while to push some of it out of the way.

Summoning Deborah, Rosalina aimed a Bufu attack at Shadow Samus’ legs in an attempt to at least slow their foe down. She was stunned for a second, but her legs were quickly able to break the ice off, and started to swing at Rosalina.

Mie summoned Xian Li and commanded an Agi. The Fire spell definitely pushed Shadow Samus away from Rosalina, but it didn’t knock her down.

All of her limbs worked in conjunction to change her position and charge forward at her current attacker, but with three different targets, all in different directions, it proved to be a challenge.

“YOU’RE MORE OF A CHALLENGE THAN ANTICIPATED, I’LL ADMIT…” Shadow Samus snarled, “BUT IT’S TIME TO FRY!”

She slammed her cannons into the ground and fired away. A large wave of electricity blasted Mie, Sonic and Rosalina back, knocking Sonic down as well. Rosalina ran to pick Sonic back up when Mie asked to themselves out loud, “We got hit at the same time, how did that hit Sonic so much harder?”

Mr. Dragmire’s voice came in. “I guess those weaknesses apply to Personas as well. Their properties are more similar than I thought…”

Rosalina turned her eyes towards Puff for a brief moment. She was getting close to Samus, but she’d need just a little more time. She healed Sonic with Dia and offered him a hand up, and soon both of them were back up for the fight.

“C’mon… almost there…!” Puff’s rotund, bright-pink body made it difficult to stay on the wall. Her hand nubs were floppy and didn’t grab things very well, but they sufficed. She was only a few feet away from Samus when she looked down and saw how high up she was, her friends still clashing with Samus’s Shadow Self. Each time the beast even got a glimpse of her, there was always an attack flying Shadow Samus’s way, sufficiently distracting her. Slowly but surely, she reached Samus and began trying to pry off the hook.

“Not that I’m complaining about you helping, but… who are you again?” Samus asked quietly as she noticed Puff begin working.

“I’m Puff,” the balloon-girl introduced herself. Getting straight to the point, she matter-of-factly told Samus, “You should really think of being honest with her, by the by.”

“About what? The fact that she’s getting in the way of my life? Kinda did that already, marshmallow.”

Puff sighed. “... I won’t pretend as if I get death all that well. I’ve only seen it on technology… and with the Shadows, but that’s besides the point.” Talking while freeing Samus at the same time only made her job harder, but it also made her more determined to get the job done. “You heard what my friends said. They’ve gone through this before. They know what they’re doing, and are only trying to help.”

Samus gave Puff a cold stare. “Sorry, but while they’re out there doing… whatever that is, what it was saying is my fight to win, and I’m not giving up that easily.”

“Ugh!” Puff grumbled, “Stop being so stubborn! We’re trying to help you! Would you get your head out of your behind?”

“They seem to be handling it pretty well. More than I could do… on the physical side of things, at least.”

“Yeah, but they’re not gonna be able to beat it for good!”

“... why not?”

“The Shadow Self’s strength is based on your rejection of it. I don’t presume to know your life, but if you don’t admit that… what was it, you’re not taking your parents’ deaths well? If you don’t admit that, you won’t have much life left to live!”

Samus went silent and stayed that way until Puff managed to get the hook off of her. Puff could only hope that it was because she was thinking about what to say to her Shadow Self. Fortunately for them, the rest of the team was getting closer to wearing Shadow Samus out.

While Rosalina and Deborah were distracting Shadow Samus, Mie called, “Have Pheidippides throw me!”

“Are you sure it can do that?” Sonic questioned.

“I have no idea, but it’s the best plan I have! I think we can settle this if I can get a good up-close hit!”

Sonic barely wasted a moment before nodding at his Persona and responding, “If you say so!” Pheidippides held out a hand for Mie, who stepped onto it and crouched down.

“Aaaaand…” Sonic extended a hand, leading Pheidippides to chuck Mie at Shadow Samus. Rosalina and their foe’s weapons were pressed against each other when Mie’s foot careened into Shadow Samus’ face sending them both flying. “FIRST DOWN!” Sonic cheered.

When Shadow Samus and Mie had skidded to a stop, Mie was atop Shadow Samus’ exposed back. Mie blasted her in the back once, twice, thrice, and with a horrifying shriek, she reverted to her original form. 

Seeing the fight was about over, Puff came down with Samus in tow. “Please, do the right thing,” Puff requested when Samus let go of her hand.

“It’s not easy to swallow your pride with this,” Rosalina said softly, “Me and Sonic would know…”

Samus seemed distrustful, but she gave in and sighed. “It’s true, what that other me said…” she admitted, “I wish I’d been able to do something… and it does hurt. More than I could ever tell you… or at least more than you could ever understand.”

Sonic cringed, eyes darting to Rosalina. The girl in question looked down on herself. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that…”

“What would you know, pretty girl?” Samus snapped.

Having had enough, Rosalina snapped back. “Not to diminish your issues, but you’re not the only one who’s lost a parent!”

“...!”

“Estrella Lum is dead,” Rosalina declared, “and I miss her everyday. I have a better life financially now that I live with a family friend, and I wish every fucking day that I could have her back-”

Suddenly, Rosalina flushed heavily. “Wait... you think I’m pretty?”

Samus looked overwhelmed, face redder than the ripest tomato. “Oh. Uh…”

“Smooth, Samus…” Sonic mumbled.

Rosalina, for the briefest of moments, looked to Mie. They caught this and gave her a soft smile, giving her a tiny confidence boost. “Samus… do you like me?” Everyone but Mie was shocked at Rosalina making her move. Sonic and Puff quickly looked back to the girl now in question, anticipating her reaction.

“... I think I like you,” Samus said decidedly, “and I think I’d like to date you… but quite frankly, I’d like to wait until I can be a good partner for you. I think I’ve got enough on my plate right now…” 

“Yeah,” she continued, “there’s my grief, what I’m going to tell the Chus, all of whatever bullshit this is…” She looked towards her Shadow Self, who had finally risen from the floor. “... but I think I’ll start with you.”

Samus scratched the back of her head before crossing her arms, clearly uncomfortable. “I always dismissed the theory that nightmares tell you about yourself, but if this is one of those, then I admit… it worked. If the Chus are ever going to feel like home, they aren’t yet. My parents are gone, and I have to learn to move on… but I get that now. You’re me… and I’m you.”

With that, Shadow Samus transformed into a Persona. Unlike Samus, she had dark-brown hair and was clad up to the head in red robotic armor with yellow streaks. She held twin muskets, one in each hand, and her eyes glowed bright blue.

“Cailleach, huh?” Samus whispered as Cailleach turned into a Persona Ball. Turning to Puff, Mie, Sonic and Rosalina, she asked, “Is this like those freaky things you guys were fighting with?”

“I don’t have one,” Puff admitted, “but the pattern says yes. Blues and Blondie awakened to their Personas just like you did. Mie, though… I dunno.”

“You were a bit busy being unconscious,” Mie laughed awkwardly.

“Huh?” 

“I guess the next order of business is figuring out how to move on…” Samus murmured. Tears were beginning to build in her eyes. “How do I do that? How do I move forward?”

“I’ll admit that I don’t know,” Rosalina admitted, “Like I said, we’re in the same boat. But… I'd like to figure it out together with all of you. Samus… would you care to join me in that journey?”

Samus opened her mouth to speak, only for a strangled sound to be all that escaped. 

Sonic smiled sadly. “You need a hug, Samus?”

“You can count on us, we assure you,” Mie promised, “Just say the word, and we’ll be there.”

Without warning, Samus rushed Rosalina, all but tackling her in a hug as tears began to flow. While she couldn’t move too much, being mostly bound by Samus’ arms, she turned to Mie and Sonic, gesturing for them to join in. Puff also joined the hug, embracing Samus as best she could with her stubby arms.

“Thanks, everyone.” Whether those tears were of sadness or relief, she didn’t know. All that mattered right now was that she finally had someone who understood.

Once Samus had calmed down, Puff said, “Hey… should we get you back to you guys’ world? You’re not looking so good…”

Samus, now feeling the exhaustion from awakening her Persona, merely nodded. From there, Rosalina and Sonic helped walk Samus back to the hub, Mie being on watch for any Shadows.

“So… what exactly are we going to say? We’re supposed to keep this thing a secret, right?”

“That you are,” Mr. Dragmire said, “Samus, how are you holding up?”

“I’m feeling better than before,” Samus admitted, “but I’m still feeling tired.”

“Don’t worry. It’s natural.” Sonic assured her.

“Oh!” Rosalina snapped her fingers, “Remember the excuse we gave Mr. Light to get these weapons? We could just say we were LARPing and found Samus unconscious!”

“You told Mr. Light what?!” Samus gasped, a shocked bark of laughter forcing its way out, “I mean, if it sounds believable enough…”

“Speaking of unbelievable…” Mie said, “Meet us after school once you’re healthy. We’ll explain what happened to you…”

“Oh, and please go along with the LARPing excuse,” Sonic requested.

“That was the plan,” Samus nodded, “I don’t think anyone would believe me, anyways. I do sorta owe you guys my life - don’t want to cause you too much trouble.”

You’ve saved Samus Aran from the dangers of the Subspace Dimension. But the fact she was kidnapped at all… what does this mean? Regardless, your bond with the team has improved…

Fool Rank 2!

“I hope you guys will come visit me now that nobody’s in danger,” Puff suddenly said. ‘I know my world isn’t exactly the most friendly place, but it’d be nice to hang out without anything to worry about.” Her eyes looked rather sad, but Mie didn’t think she was intentionally making them puppy-like. 

Mie started to worry about the poor thing. What did Puff even do while they were gone? She was practically defenseless, for all they knew, and it wasn’t like they could easily take her into their world without drawing suspicion. 

Come to think about it, how old was Puff? She was very childish in both voice and mentality, but considering the world she was from, her… “species,” her biological age could be much higher than estimated. 

But because of that childish demeanor, Mie knew they couldn’t say no to that offer. “We promise we’ll stop by sometime soon, Puff,” they promised.

Puff lit up. Her nubby little arms began to flap in excitement, and Mie joined in out of giddiness and instinct. The two hugged, Mie kneeling down a bit to let the mascot-like girl get a good hug in.

Soon after, Mie, Sonic, Rosalina and Samus left the Subspace Dimension. Samus had been surprised to see a video game handheld transport them to Mr. Dragmire’s home lab. She’d been even more shocked to see it was her science teacher who had guided her saviors.

“I don’t wanna push for too much,” Samus questioned, “but how long has this whole… dimension-hopping business been going on for?”

“Funnily enough, it was actually on Mie’s first day here,” Sonic recalled, “How’s that for a first day?”

“Actually, it was my third,” Mie laughed awkwardly, “It was my first day of school here, though.”

“It feels so long ago already…” Rosalina mused, “and it’s only been a week. How time flies…”

“We can only hope there won’t be any more where that came from…” Mr. Dragmire sighed, “but if my guess is correct, this is far from the end of it - only the first of many…”

“You think there’s gonna be more of that?!” Samus yelped.

“Again, we’ll give you the rundown later. For now, you should probably rest up.”

“... right,” Samus nodded.

Mr. Dragmire turned to the rest of them. “As for the rest of you… I’m working on a project that will help you when it’s complete. If you have anything that’s not urgent, try to come in the late afternoon or evening.”

With everyone understanding, Rosalina and Sonic offered to take Samus home, citing the fact that her house was less of a detour than for Mie. There was a lot on Mie’s mind about what Samus was going to do going forward, how many times were they going to need to go on these rescue missions, and how often.

Well, they supposed as they stepped into the McCloud-Lombardi residence and had dinner with Falco and Fox, the first step is finding the bastard who kidnapped Samus and taking them down .

After dinner - Fox, who enjoyed trying new recipes he occasionally found online, had made eggplant lasagna - Mie headed to their room. They cleaned up on the rest of their homework before remembering to do something… 

Mie: Hey again, bro, sis. Have I mentioned Samus Aran before?

Mie: People think she’s a bit of an ice queen… though apparently Rosalina held the title before she moved to Ryūō. Anyways, point is she disappeared for a small while. You won’t believe the day I’ve had regarding her disappearance…

Mia: I’m here, I'm here. What happened?

Mio: Spill, sib!

Mie: Smooth as silk, bro… Sonic and Rosalina apparently like to LARP, and they invited me to join them.

Mia: Okay, you gotta tell us all about that. I heard those things get nutty.

Mie: Rosalina’s a fantastic worldbuilder, and Sonic helps with all the physical parts. That’s not the point, though. Somehow, we found Samus before the police did, and I’ve been living with detectives almost since I got here… 

Mio: You WHAT?! … is she alive?

Mie: She’s mostly fine. She was unconscious, and looked a bit mussed up in the forest we were planning to do it with. We returned her to her folks, the Chus… she’ll be alright, but she’s exhausted as all fuck.

Mio: Language.

Mia: Wait… is her last name Aran or Chu?

Mie: … it’s probably not my business to talk about it. Something happened to her bio parents, and she landed with the Chus. I imagine she just wanted to be away from them for a bit and got hurt, but I’m not gonna ask her.

Mie: I think when she returns to school… if she returns to school… that I’m gonna try and befriend her. Is that crazy?

Mio: No, I’d say that’s very nice of you. Just stay cautious, okay? I imagine she’s got a lot on her mind after whatever happened to her that made her go missing.

Mia: Sounds like par for the Mie course to me. Even if I can’t believe I’m saying this, Mio’s right.

Mie: Hah!

… 

Mie: Guys?

Mia: Sorry, was just slugged for no reason by your brother.

Mio: That was uncalled for? Sorry?

Mia: Did you need to go all the way to my bed just for that?

Mio: YES! YES I DID!

Mie: Okay, goodnight. I have school tomorrow, and I’m pretty sure you guys do.

Mia: That’s fair, sib. You’ve had an eventful day from the sounds of it… sweet dreams!

Mio: We love you!

Mie: Love you guys too!

Not long after turning off their phone, Mie spent a little more time organizing their thoughts before eventually falling fast asleep once more.

Chapter Text

Mie hoped since Samus had been saved from her Shadow Self and returned to her current dwellings that they could go back to having a relatively normal school life. Sure, it wasn’t going to be quite the same after everything, but they hoped things would be as normal as reasonably possible going forward.

As expected, Samus was not in Theatre, but Mr. Kingston had been a bit less on-edge… though it was hard to tell he’d been worried for Samus due to his loud, histrionic personality.

“So then, Mx. Mie,” the aforementioned teacher sneered, snapping her out of her thoughts, “What kind of flag did The Globe Theatre fly when advertising a tragic play?”

“I believe they used black flags,” Mie answered after only a moment of hesitation, “Red flags were flown for historical plays and white flags were flown for comedic ones.”

“Correct, Mie,” Mr. Kingston nodded proudly, “Top-of-the-line work there! The Globe had different flags flown every day of production so all potential customers would know what to expect that day if they walked under the crest of the main entrance. Atop that crest was the Latin phrase totus mundus agit histrionem, which means the whole world is a playhouse.” He laughed lightheartedly. “I’m sure that strikes a chord even with those who aren’t theatre buffs!”

Classes continued from there, and as was becoming usual, they met with Rosalina and Sonic during lunch.

While waiting for Rosalina to join them, Sonic asked Mie, “Hey… do you wanna hang out today? Nothing serious, not even with Rosie - just you and me. You up for that?”

Remembering the whole Social Link thing Igor and Yoshi had warned them about, Mie agreed. They had nothing better to do today, anyways. The bigger question was: what did Sonic have in mind?

That question would soon be answered after the final bell rang, to which the answer was…

“Honestly, I couldn’t think of anything specific to do…”

… a bit of an anticlimactic one.

“Then why did you ask me? I thought you had something in mind.”

“I dunno,” Sonic admitted, shoulders hunching slightly, “I thought I’d come up with something by the time school was over. I was just thinking about that night where we went to the greenhouse, and then I wanted to hang out with you again!”

They smiled at him, trying to convey how happy Sonic’s words made them. “I’m flattered you thought of me… and that you think of me so highly.”

Sonic chuckled humbly. “It’s just the sorta thing I gotta do for my fearless leader,” he teased, poking them lightly.

Mie giggled. “I’d have suggested going swimming at that pool I saw, but it’s September… plus, I still need to buy a swimsuit.”

Sonic, to their surprise, shuddered. “Yeah, well… I have natatophobia anyways. I'd ask Rosie if you wanted to go swimming.”

“Natatophobia?”

Sonic cringed, shoulders hunching up. “Fear of swimming… did I forget to mention I can’t really swim?”

“Well, I guess that works out…” Mie thought for a few moments before recalling something Sonic had said around their first day of knowing each other.

“Man, I wish I had the money to treat you guys to noodles at Ms. Huang’s after this… well, at least I have enough to do something right now.”

 “You mentioned a noodle joint before…” Mie suggested, “Still feeling hungry?”

Sonic lit up at the idea. “Ooh! Genius, Mie!” Instantly itching to get there, he said, “Time to show you one of my favorite restaurants in town!”

The restaurant was only a decent distance away from the school, which meant that unlike the previous times they followed Sonic somewhere, Mie didn’t get lost and was actually able to keep up. The building had an instantly recognizable Chinese aesthetic to it, with reds and yellows adorning its walls. The logo on the front carried a sign picturing chopsticks picking up some noodles from a bowl and the words Mintendo Ramen written in both English and Mandarin.

Ms. Huang looked elated to see Sonic, which Mie at first assumed was because the place was otherwise empty. With all the cheer of someone reuniting with an old friend, the woman cheered, “Soniiiic! How are you? I haven’t seen you in a while!”

“Hey, Ms. Huang!” Sonic greeted with a similar level of casualness, “Sorry I haven’t been around in a while… things have been busy aside from… well, you know.”

Turning to Mie before they could say anything, Sonic explained, “Back when my parents had first been arrested, Ms. Huang and her family had my back. They discounted my meals with them until I got placed with the Wachowskis… it’s not a fair trade, but pretty much every one of the staff here knows my whole story.”

Ms. Huang nodded, confirming Sonic’s story. “Two things before you two order,” she said sweetly, “One: I’m sorry I couldn’t take you in myself. I make enough around here to pay for me and my staff, but not much more…”

“Hey…” Sonic assured her softly, “It’s not your fault. The Wachowskis have been good enough, and I think I was gonna be okay from the start… even if I didn’t feel like it. Oh! This is Mie. They’re new to town, and I thought I’d treat them with what money I do have.”

Ms. Huang wiped away the beginnings of a tear from one of her eyes. “I’m so happy to hear that, Sonic… oh, and two: how many times have I told you to call me Min?”

“And how many times have I told you I’d do that when all the clouds have cleared out of my life?” Sonic responded politely.

“Too many times,” Ms. Huang answered somewhat ruefully.

After placing their orders (Sichuan-style zhajiangmian for Sonic and a simple yawamen tonkotsu ramen for the less-experienced Mie), the two sat themselves down in a booth. The soft feeling of the walls caused Sonic to slouch in his seat and stretch before popping back up while Mie pushed their back against the cushions.

The two chatted about their classes and Sonic’s other friends for a while until Ms. Huang brought them their meals. While Sonic immediately started chowing down, Mie hesitated before they began eating. Ms. Huang had been smart enough to provide a fork instead of the chopsticks which Mie did not know how to use. How she’d known was beyond them, though.

Regardless, the food in Ryūō was gourmet as usual to them. The noodles slid into their mouth easily, and despite the taste of the broth being a bit strong for them personally, the ramen still had a tangy taste they would never forget. Looking over their bowl, they could see Sonic wiping a slight bit of broth off of his mouth with the sleeve of his hoodie. 

Gross. 

Eventually, Sonic and Mie finished their meals. Having saved enough to pay for both of them and then some, Sonic had offered to pay for both of them. Mie, however, had insisted on using some of the money the Shadows had strangely dropped after being killed for their share. Sonic couldn’t think of any other reason to spend that money (why do Shadows drop USD, he wondered to himself), and he certainly wasn’t going to complain about saving a bit of his cash.

They’d been walking to the residence area where Sonic lived when his phone suddenly rang urgently. “Ugh,” he groaned, “it’s probably one of those spam calls. I’ve never had to deal with them before, but from what I’ve heard from friends, I can’t wait to hang up after hearing about the warranty on the car I don’t own…” 

Accepting the call before his ringtone began to annoy him, Sonic grumbled, “Who is this?”

A feminine voice could faintly be heard by Mie. “Oops, I think I have a wrong… wait a minute… Maurice?!”

Sonic’s eyes bulged out with worry. “... do I know you?” He paused for a moment to give Mie a look. “Hold on a sec, buddy. I’d really better figure this out now.”

“Sorry,” the girl/woman/whatever started to trail off, “I thought you were someone I used to know when I was a kid. You sound like him-”

“Okay, now I’m starting to get seriously worried. Who are you, and how do you know my real-”

“... do you remember me? I’m Elise Soleanna!”

Eyes now wide open with shock, Sonic immediately moved a few feet away so that Mie wouldn’t hear his conversation. While they didn’t watch him or try to listen, Mie was too intrigued (and too close) not to hear his responses.

“Yeah… I guess…? Wait, how do you know about that? Man, it’s been so long… sorry about back then. I’ve changed a lot since everything… tell you what: I’ll call you later when I get home. Yeah, I’m with a friend right now.”

“I don’t know about that… but if it was possible, sure, I’d love to! … yeah, I’ll see ya later!”

Once Sonic’s phone was back in his pocket, he walked over to Mie, his hand still inside of said pocket. Scratching his hair, he apologized, “Sorry about that. Just know that that was important.”

“I picked up some of it before you got some distance… you wanna talk about who that was?”

“Yeah, but… maybe some other day, if that’s cool,” Sonic answered, “I know I’m on the track team, but don’t take this for me running from any of it. You know better than most that I’m trying not to do that anymore.”

Mie grinned and nodded approvingly before meeting his hand for a high-five.

In a surprising reunion, Sonic seems to have met up with someone he seems to have lost contact with… 

Chariot Rank 2!

“Hey…” Sonic said, “Do you have anyone you miss back in your hometown?”

Mie was caught off-guard a bit by this question, but they answered, “Just my siblings, really. Mia and Mio are about a year younger than me, but they’ll probably ditch my parents soon too. I think you and everyone would really like them!”

Thinking a bit longer, they added on, “Oh, and my Uncle Matt too. He can be pretty aggressive when you first meet him, and he’s ultra-athletic, but once you get through all of that and get to know him better, he’s actually really fun to hang out with! He practically gave me and my siblings the only semblance of fun back home…”

“I can get behind that,” Sonic nodded as he took this information in, “Good family and bad family… it’s a weird balance, but I’d rather have some good family than have my entire family be full of jerks…”

The news article that played right before they faced Sonic’s Shadow Self put itself to the forefront of Mie’s head. They might have said something, but Sonic’s phone then rang with an alert.

Mie looked interested at the sound of his phone going off again, but he shook his head.

“Don’t worry, that’s just a phone alarm I set. My guardians - the Wachowskis, if I’ve mentioned them before - want me to come home for dinner soon. I think they’re worried I’ll run away or something, but they’ve been loosening up lately.”

“That’s good.” Mie said before her eyes lit up. “If you want, we could visit sometime! I’m sure your place is good.”

“I wouldn’t say that…” Sonic said, “I dunno if you can call me experienced, but I think it’s pretty humble, all things considered.” 

With that, Sonic took off for his guardians’ residence, calling back, “See you soon!”

Mie smiled and watched him go. When he was out of sight, they headed back home. They had some homework they’d been meaning to do, so that took up most of the rest of their day.

A little while after dinner and the rest of their time spent studying, their phone went off with a text notification. Upon inspection, it seemed it was from Rosalina.

Rosalina: Are you asleep yet?

Mie: Yes.

… 

Rosalina: Funny. 

Rosalina: In passing, my friend Daisy told me she saw you and Sonic were hanging out today. Would you mind if we chatted one-on-one after school as well? I think getting to know each other better would be quite nice!

Mie: I’d love to. Plus, it would help us in any more Subspace Dimension stuff… 

Rosalina: Ugh… don’t remind me.

Mie: Yeah, now that you mention it, we need a break from that.

Mie: Anyways, got anything you want to do while we chat? Sonic didn’t, and I had to remind him of something he mentioned a few days ago for us to get anything done.

Rosalina: That certainly sounds like him… 

Rosalina: I mostly wanted to chat, so maybe we could hit up this sweets shop I’ve been meaning to try out. How does that sound?

Mie: Pretty sweet… >:D

Rosalina: Clever.

Rosalina: Well, see you there! <3

Mie went to sleep not long after.

The next day, Mie woke up with the address of the sweets shop texted to them. The place was called The Ice Cream Floor, and everything looked mouthwatering there.

Of course, they had to get through classes first. The school day was rather uneventful, and Mie took good notes, so they were confident they’d get through things just fine.

After classes ended, Mie found Rosalina at the fences outside the track, watching Sonic and his fellow track team members practice. Mie arrived just as Sonic crossed the finish line, seconds before another young man who had black hair with red streaks - Chad Ó Corra or something like that.

Sonic turned towards the bleachers to wink at the two of them. Both of them cheered for him. His rival simply groaned in defeat.

“I’m no athletics expert, but excellent work, Sonic!” Mie lauded.

“Hah… thanks!” Sonic managed to laugh through his heavy breathing, “Phew! That was a close one this time. That edgelord’s really been practicing a lot lately… I’ll have to step it up too!”

“Keep up the good work, Maury,” Rosalina smirked at him, much to Sonic’s dismay, “Mie, should we get going?”

Sonic didn’t have the energy to complain about being called Maury. “Wait, where are you guys going?”

“We thought we’d hit up this new place Rosalina was talking about,” Mie explained, “Nothing against you, but it was sorta going to be one-on-one…”

“Well, that’s fair,” Sonic chuckled, looking back to Chad and who Mie guessed was Knute by the red hair Sonic had mentioned once (and the flexing of his muscles), “I can’t monopolize the Mie, after all. Besides, I’m having a little victory meal with the team later today. Shouldn’t ruin my appetite and all, so… have fun!”

Laughing between the three of them, Mie and Rosalina took off. Having a slower walk was a breath of fresh air to Mie; it allowed for actual conversations to take place between the two of them. 

Rosalina had been insistent on introducing Mie to her other female friends sometime soon. Mie had said hello to Zelda and Sheik in passing, but never actually interacted with them or Rosalina’s other two closest friends - an auburn-haired athletic girl named Daisy and a polite bluenette named Lucina - in a meaningful way. 

The Ice Cream Floor was partially a store that simply sold chocolates, candies and similar sweet foods and partially an ice-cream parlor. According to a paper notice on the window, today was Bread-Lover’s Wednesday, which apparently meant that a small pastry would be given with whatever was ordered as long as a certain amount was paid otherwise. This good deal was probably because The Ice Cream Floor had opened its shutters recently, hence why Rosalina - who Mie had learned had a bit of a sweet tooth - had never visited before.

That explains why she’s looking around the place like the child in a candy store she technically is, Mie thought to themselves as they stepped through the door behind Rosalina. A young man their age with short brown hair was manning the counter, cheerfully humming the tune playing from some speakers. They tried to get his attention, which took a few attempts. 

“Oh! Sorry!” he yelped as he snapped out of his reverie. Turning to the back, he hollered, “Hey, Mom, we got customers!”

An feminine, busied voice called back, “Then take their orders, sweetie! You know how to work the register!”

“Ahaha, right…” The boy apologized. He looked rather nervous staring at the register, though. His lip quivered as he asked for their order.

It took them a while to look at what they wanted, but Mie eventually decided on a “Skeletal Sundae” - a banana split with candy bones protruding from three scoops laid out Neapolitan-style.

Rosalina looked rather amused as she placed her order at the recommendation of the young man (whose name-tag read Pieter) - something called a Cinnamon Bowl. “It’s not even October yet…” she quipped.

“I like skeletons,” Mie countered, “Dunno why, though.”

“I hope you guys enjoy your food,” Pieter said as they paid. Lowering his voice, he whispered to Rosalina, “I really hope you do, Rosalina. The Cinnamon Bowl is… one of Mom’s new experiments. Even I haven't been allowed to try it yet…”

As they took their seats in a booth, Mie asked, “How does he know your name?”

“I used to tutor Pieter back in middle-school occasionally,” Rosalina explained, “He needed some help back then, and I was available. I get along pretty well with his mom, too.”

Acting on the assumption (which may have been reckless) Pieter’s mom was busy baking, Mie teased, “What, because she’s a good baker?”

Flushing bright-pink, Rosalina’s cheeks puffed out. “H-hey!”

Bursting out into laughter, Mie could barely get out that she should chill before her face started to look like Puff. 

This got Rosalina to burst out laughing too, and by the time they’d stopped, Pieter’s mom Pallas was waiting with their food. “You kids look like you’re having fun,” she teased as she set down said dishes, “Rosalina, right? It’s good to see you again! How’s Sonic?”

“He’s fine, but let’s stop talking about him there.”

“What, are you guys not friends anymore?”

“Oh, no,” Rosalina responded, “We’ve already failed the Bechdel Test, that's all.”

Now it was Pallas’ turn to burst out laughing. She nearly dropped the pastries she’d been carrying, but she managed to right herself before that happened.

“That was close,” Pallas breathed, wiping her forehead in relief and setting the pastries down, “Anyways, this is lebkuchen. It’s like gingerbread, if that’s relatable. Rosalina, let me know how your Cinnamon Bowl tastes before you leave, okay?”

“Of course, Ms. Göbel!”

Pallas grew pensive for a moment. “Has it really been that long since we last saw each other?” When she noticed the confused looks on Rosalina and Mie’s faces, Pallas grinned and reached into her shirt, revealing a beautiful, ornate switchblade hanging on a necklace. “I became Mrs. Göbel-Black last year!”

Rosalina let out an elated squeal (thank goodness it wasn’t too loud) and embraced her in a hug. Pallas couldn’t help but laugh, shedding a single happy tear at the thought of her wedding.

Mie couldn’t help but smile at it themselves as they took a bite of their sundae. “How long have you two been together?” they asked.

“About two to three years ago,” Pallas said, pulling Pieter closer, “Oh, Pieter had the happiest look on his face when he found out.”

“I was happy for you!” Pieter laughed innocently.

“Well, perhaps I’ll tell you the story some other time,” Pallas smiled as she and Pieter said goodbye to get back to the counter and baking, “After all, I have to let you two eat before your ice cream melts!”

“Ah! Right!” Rosalina immediately took a forkful of cinnamon roll and ice cream and all but shoved it into her mouth, half-moaning at the taste of it.

“You and Mrs. Göbel-Black really do get along…” Mie said, smiling softly at their friend. While Rosalina, Pieter and Pallas had been chatting, they’d had some of their sundae. It didn’t surprise them that it was fantastic.

Their parents seldom had ice-cream in the house. It was usually only for when either or both of the adults were struggling with work, and even then, Mie and their siblings seldom got to have any. Mia might’ve occasionally snuck some for her siblings sometimes.

“Well, of course,” Rosalina admitted, snapping Mie out of their thoughts. Briefly looking back in the direction Pieter and Pallas had gone in, she then continued, “After Mama… Pallas was basically my maternal figure until roughly last year, when Pieter finally got into high-school. I help him out on occasion, still, but we don’t talk as much as I think I’d like to. Don’t tell her I said that, though. I trust you to keep that a secret.”

“Nobody needs to know,” Mie promised, “I won’t blab about it.”

“Please?” Rosalina requested, “Not even Sonic… maybe someday I’ll tell her, but that’ll be on my own strength…”

Mie placed a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sure you will someday. I believe in you!”

Rosalina rubbed her eyes. “Thanks, Mie…”

Rosalina seems to have gained the ability to talk about her issues with maternal figures. It’s a wonderful sign of her growth already…

Empress Rank 2!

The two gabbed for a while longer before Mie decided to head home. Rosalina stayed back to let Pallas know she’d rocked it with the Cinnamon Bowl and catch up with her and Pieter further.

After they finished dinner (which The Ice Cream Floor had thankfully not spoiled their appetite for), they started to reflect on the bonds they’d been forming with Sonic and Rosalina while completing some homework and studying.

Just then, they received a message in a group chat between them, Sonic, Rosalina, Mr. Dragmire and one other person.

Samus: Hi, everyone.

Samus: I’m feeling somewhat better, but I’m not quite in good enough shape. I think I’ll be at full strength by Monday.

Ganondorf: It’s good to know you’re recovering. We’ll talk more about everything whenever you’re ready.

Sonic: Sweet! Just make sure you don’t overestimate your recovery, ok? We don’t want you overcompensating your muscles and all that, never mind whether or not you end up back in the Subspace Dimension.

Samus: Well, it wasn’t me who made those estimates… You can thank Dr. Bergman.

Ganondorf: Ah, I know her. We shared a few science classes back in university… 

Mie: Sonic, don’t say it.

Sonic: Like Hilda?

Mie: WHAT DID I JUST SAY?

Ganondorf: Strike one, Wentworth.

Sonic: Oh, shoot.

Ganondorf: I will consider rescinding this strike if you can do something for me.

Samus: Oh, boy… 

Ganondorf: How do I change my name on this device?

Sonic: You can work all that high tech in your lab but not your ph… never mind. Samus, you opened this chat. You mind allowing people to change their names?

Samus: Gimme a sec.

… 

Mr. Dragmire: Much better. Strike rescinded. Now, I’ll see some of you on Thursday.

Mie: Night, losers and Mr. Dragmire~

Mie turned off their phone and put it on the charger, ignoring what could only be Sonic and Samus continuing the chat. They couldn’t help but wonder why Rosalina hadn’t said anything. Then again, they mused, she could be asleep already.

So many questions, so little time…

Chapter Text

Mie couldn’t help but wonder if Pallas had placed something in that sundae, because they’d been on an energy high all day… even if they were stuck in English class right now. They were lightly tapping their feet on the floor - not loudly enough to be disruptive, of course.

“You seem to be in a good mood today, Mie,” Mr. Angenent noted. According to Sonic, his senses were quite strong, and he often counted his blessings that his classroom was far away from Ms. Ichigo’s classroom. “Very well. Let’s see if you’ve been paying attention. What is the name of the area where Gatsby’s mansion is located?”

“That’s West Egg, right?” Mie answered, “That’s the richer ones’ neighborhood.”

“Correct,” Mr. Angenent nodded, “Good work. Now, let us move onto analyzing the next chapter…”

Despite it being a rather uneventful day, Mie felt like they needed that to get off of the sugar rush. Shame there wasn’t somewhere they could easily let out all this energy, to Mie’s knowledge.

Friday, on the other hand, was something completely different. Classes went by uneventfully, but when they were walking home from school, the blue door that had led them to the Velvet Room back in Samus’ Dungeon had appeared in front of an alleyway in the shopping district.

They looked around to make sure nobody noticed the entrance. Usually, the Velvet Room appeared when something important was going on, so Mie figured it was best to enter.

To Mie’s surprise, only Yoshi was there. No Igor in sight. Perhaps the man was busy?

“Oh! Hi there, chosen one!” Yoshi greeted in his usual cheerful voice, “Master isn’t here right now… could you come back later?”

“The door appeared, so I thought I was needed,” Mie said, “Should I leave?”

“Wait! Just remembered… nothing happens in the Velvet Room that isn’t important to the guest. Hmmm… oh, I remember! Master wanted me to teach you about Persona fusion!”

“Fusion…?”

“You have three Personas now… I can fuse them into a stronger Persona, taking some skills from either of them and effectively making you stronger in the other world!” Yoshi smiled genuinely and innocently as he said that, but Mie was a little uneasy about giving up their Personas.

Yoshi clearly sensed this worry, because they amended, “Don’t worry! You won’t lose them forever!” Pulling out the tome from before, Mie was reminded of when Yoshi had shown them the entries with Cornish Jack and Nuózhā. Upon Yoshi opening said tome, Mie saw that Xian Li was in there as well.

“You’ll always be able to resummon any Personas you don’t have on your person at any time you want… you’ll have to pay for it, though.”

What do you even do with the money? Mie could only wonder.

“For now, let’s get you some experience with fusion,” Yoshi decided. The photos of Mie’s three Personas began to glow in front of them before flying out of the book as balls of light.

Feeling too attached to Cornish Jack to let them go, Mie immediately pointed to Nuózhā and Xian Li and told Yoshi, “Let’s try those two.” 

Nodding, Yoshi extended his hands, creating a vortex of mixed bright-white and ominous-black energy that sucked Nuózhā and Xian Li in. Almost hurriedly, Cornish Jack’s light-orb flew back to the tome. Mie wiped their brow in relief.

After a few seconds, the vortex spat out a new orb. From this orb, a voice emanated, “I am Andra-inanyas. You want to use my power… my, you’re an odd one. Don't blame me if you end up getting killed.”

Andra-inanyas flew into the tome, where the pictures of Xian Li and Nuózhā were now in grayscale. Yoshi said, “Because this is your first time, I’ll give you the Personas you fused back free of charge.” As the color returned to the aforementioned Personas, he added, “You’ll have to pay from here on, though. Sorry…”

Still curious about what use they had for money, Mie sighed, feeling even more relieved that they had a reliable method of getting their old Personas back should they worry about losing themselves to fusion. They groaned internally at the thought of needing to save up some extra pocket change just in case. At least the Shadows dropped a good bit of cash… though now that Samus was saved, there was no reason to go back to that world other than to visit Puff.

“So? What do you think?”

“It’s… a nice thing to have, I guess.”

Yoshi tilted his head. “Are you having doubts?” 

Mie did not respond, which was response enough for Yoshi. “Then how about I help you practice?” he offered.

“Practice?” 

“Having strong Personas with good skills will be crucial to fulfilling your destiny,” Yoshi said, “If I ‘challenge’ you to fuse a certain Persona with a certain skill, I’ll make it worth your while!” 

It was clear he’d caught Mie’s attention. “I’ll give you additional discounts when you bring back previous Personas, among other things… but that could be a start!” 

Slowly but surely, Mie cleared their mind of doubts. “I can try that. Bring it on, Yoshi.”

The two shook hands, and ironically enough, Mie could feel their fusing abilities improving already.

You’ve been challenged to practice fusing Personas by Yoshi, Igor's cheery assistant…

Thou art I... And I am thou...

Thou hast established a new bond...

Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Hermit Arcana…

Hermit Rank 1!

“Well,” Yoshi grinned, “I guess I should give you your first fusion challenge. I really recommend you get a good bit stronger before you try this, but… a Hitotsu-Datara with Sukukaja is your goal.”

Mie pulled out their phone to type it in a note. “Is that spelt with a C or a K?” Minor spelling mistakes aside, they accepted the new goal they had for the future.

From there, Mie decided to leave before Igor returned and asked too many questions. After arriving in their reality, they realized no time had passed, which was confirmed by checking their phone.

What was also on their phone was a text from Samus, surprisingly.

Samus: If memory serves, Music starts when I get back. Do you have an instrument?

Mie: … no, actually. 

Samus: Don’t worry. You can pick up an instrument in the shopping district. 

Samus: The place I’d recommend is Jiggies. They give discounts to students who need an instrument for their classes. There’s a big puzzle piece out front; you can’t miss it.

Just the thought of puzzle pieces got Mie a little miffed. They knew, however, that the owners most likely had nothing to do with Autism Speaks. Hopefully they don’t like those asses, either…

Samus: There’s also Rhyme Schemers, but I don’t like them. Their prices are outrageous, they’re also half-competing with Ask Your Mum, and a lot of the staff members are jerks, too… in any case, I’ll see you tomorrow.

Mie decided to ask what Ask Your Mum was later.

Mie: I look forward to it. Don’t forget we’re meeting at Mr. Dragmire’s after school!

Samus: I’ll do my best to remember. See you then.

Putting their phone in their pocket, Mie began looking around for Jiggies. They ended up asking an absurdly tall officer with yellow eyes (not like that of a Shadow Self, thank goodness), white hair with a purple streak, and a badge number that read Officer Cunningham for directions. While the man was kind enough to grant it, Mie was all too eager to leave Cunningham’s presence. Mie was sure if they’d met him before that they’d never forget his face.

Something about his toothy smile unnerved them.

They shook those thoughts out of their head once they’d seen the mentioned puzzle piece. It was a shining yellow, not blue, and there were eyes drawn on top. Noticing it was starting to get close to sunset, Mie hurried inside before they could close. It was a good thing that they saw a sign saying they closed about three or four hours later. 

A man with short, dark-chestnut brown hair and the muscles of a bear and a woman with a bright-red faux hawk with tiny yellow tips twirling something small in their hands were talking at the counter, only to stop and look to Mie when the chime of the bells above the door rang.

“Uh…” Mie began shyly, “I was recommended here… I need an instrument for my music class starting on Monday, and I was told you guys give discounts to students?”

“Well, only once every school year,” the woman said in a snarky voice, “You got any idea of what you’re looking for?”

Mie froze at that. No… no, they hadn’t.

“Don’t worry about it,” the man said, his thick country accent coming through, “You’re not the first one. It happens every year!”

As the three of them walked around, Mie introduced themselves.

“Well, I’m Joe Winkler,” the man responded chipperly, “but everyone calls me Banjo. This is Kazue Shiratori. We co-run Jiggies.”

“You don’t have anyone working for you?” 

“We don’t have the money, kid,” Kazue grumbled, “At least Banjo’s sis has an interest in running the place…”

“Then why not train her or whatever?” Mie asked.

“Hon, Tutti’s in elementary school. She’s not even tall enough to reach the register.”

“Easy, Kazue,” Banjo said sternly, “Be nice, now!”

“Oh, alright,” Kazue sighed.

“Well,” Banjo mused, “You seem like a drummer kid, but there’s no way I’m making you carry a big ol’ set of drums home…”

“I’ll be honest, I’ve never actually been good with instruments. When I was a kid, all I did was hit the notes at the right times and hope for the best.”

Kazue cringed. “Kid, your teachers have a lot to teach you.”

“Then how about something simple?” Banjo suggested, shooting Kazue a look. Holding up a small lute-like instrument, he inquired, “Think you could try to pick up a ukulele?”

Mie remembered during Mr. Kingston’s reminder about Music earlier that day; according to him, Ms. Eisner would gladly keep any instruments for anyone who couldn’t carry it or practice at home. Deciding they had nothing to lose, they nodded.

The discount turned out to be 30% off, and it didn’t cost too much. Mie was starting to run out of the money they’d come to Ryūō with, but they’d acquired a good bit from their bosses and the Shadows to make up for it.

As they were paying, the sudden sound of a musical instrument playing a single, long note made them jump out of their skin.

“Kazue!” Banjo admonished, facepalming. Looking in the direction he was, they saw that Kazue was trying hard not to burst out laughing, a small kazoo forgotten on the counter.

“Sorry, kid,” Kazue apologized, “First-timers’ ritual.” Mie could tell she genuinely meant it, even if she did find Mie’s reaction funny.

“Well, now we oughta give a bigger discount!” Banjo shot back, “I know you don’t like being all professional, but there’s a level we have to keep when Bottles and Mumbo aren’t around… the extra part’s coming out of the band funds, by the way.”

“What?! Aw, Banjo…!” Kazue groaned. Banjo didn’t back down, but instead shot her a knowing look.

“Fine… 60%,” Kazue gave in. The total was now roughly $32, which Mie paid for.

Feeling a bit bad for the sulking Kazue, Mie asked, “Band funds?”

“Me and Kazue host music nights where we advertise our own band, and let others shine,” Banjo explained, “We do our thing just about every Friday. Minors are allowed, so you can bring a friend, but not anywhere near any alcohol.”

“I’ll certainly see if I can stop by,” Mie said, “Thanks again… you guys are sweet.” Wanting to cheer Kazue up a bit, they asked, “Sorry to be a bit amatonormative, but you guys are pretty close…”

“QPR,” Kazue said quickly, perking up from her part of the counter, “Nobody else will do.”

“We’ve been friends since forever,” Banjo admitted, scratching his jaw, “Kazue squished on me for the longest time.” He laughed goofily. “I had no idea until Tutti brought it up!”

As Kazue flushed redder than her hair before storming off to the back room to collect herself, Banjo whispered to Mie, “I’ve wanted to get legally married to her for a while now. She’s mentioned that she wants to be proposed to if we ever do that, but I also know she hates jewelry…”

Recalling what Mrs. Göbel-Black had instead of a ring, Mie whispered back, “Then propose with something else. She seems like the knife-loving type - get her a cool switchblade or something.”

Banjo’s eyes shot open. “People do that?” he gawked.

“You know that new dessert store in town? The Ice Cream Floor?”

“I helped out the folks building that one time, actually,” Banjo said, “They had trouble lifting something, and I was in the- wait, you’re talkin’ here. Sorry… what were you sayin’?”

“The owner’s married, but they wear this really ornate switchblade on a necklace,” Mie explained.

“Wonder where they got that…?” Banjo asked, looking genuinely curious.

Mie shrugged. “I’d ask Mrs. Göbel-Black… or perhaps her spouse. I don’t know who that would be, though.”

“Thanks for the advice, kid…” Banjo said honestly, “I might owe ya one.” 

“Save your worries for proposing,” Mie said as they took the case with the ukulele in it, “I should be going now. Good luck!”

From there they headed home. Dinner was a standard affair, and Mie went to bed rather early in comparison to usual. 

They had work tomorrow, after all.

Work went by quite well for Mie. Saturday was uneventful other than that they improved their coffee “recipe,” but Sunday had an interesting moment after they’d finished up and were receiving their pay from Fox and Falco.

“Weird question, kid,” Falco asked offhandedly, “I know you haven’t been around here long, but do you know Samus Aran? She attends the high-school, same as you.”

Mie froze for just a moment. “I’ve met her once or twice,” they carefully answered, “I think I share my elective class with her…” Their eyes quickly darted to the right, attempting to avoid eye contact.

“We can only tell you so much, but she went missing a little while ago, only to be found a bit later,” Fox said, “Is there anything you can tell us about her? If not, that’s fine, but…”

For a moment, Mie considered telling them about the whole LARPing excuse they were using. Feeling like that would put too much attention on them, however, they said, “I did notice she disappeared from class, but I’ve heard she was found… I don’t remember where I heard that or who I heard it from, though. Sorry…”

“It’s still useful info…” Falco muttered, “Sorry if we kept you, kid. I’d say you’ve more than covered your shift for today.”

You feel your bond with Fox and Falco improving…

Once they’d been dismissed, Mie wanted to get some practice with their new ukulele, but they didn’t really have any way to learn the material quite yet. Not knowing where they or Ms. Eisner would start in learning the ukulele, they decided to get some studying done for their other classes in the meantime before eventually hitting the hay.

Chapter Text

Mie was quick to get to school today, almost forgetting their ukulele in the rush. While on their way to Sakurai High, they could only wonder if Samus was right about being in good enough health to return.

Curiosity overwhelming them, Mie sent another text to her just to make sure.

Mie: Are you sure you’re coming today?

Samus: Yeah, don’t worry about me too much now.

A few seconds later, Samus then sent a message in the teens’ group chat.

Samus: Is everyone available to talk to me after school to explain…whatever that stuff was last week?

Sonic: That was the plan, dw!

Samus: great

When they walked into Ms. Eisner’s room for their first day of Music, they saw Samus on a cello right across the room. Once they noticed her, they waved their hand frantically at her, and Samus slowly waved back with a stunned but pleased look on her face. Any would-be conversation, however, was cut off as class began.

Ms. Eisner, a master of her craft, had made learning the ukulele surprisingly accessible and easier for Mie. By the end of Music, they were more confident about this music class than they’d ever been in the subject!

Mie had been on their way to lunch when Samus texted them again.

Samus: Do you think Rosalina and Sonic would mind if I joined you guys at lunch today? 

Samus: Would you mind?

Mie: Of course not! Go on ahead!

Rosalina had gawked for a second when Samus had sat down at their table, but she’d recollected herself quickly and greeted Samus warmly. Samus had awkwardly tugged on her collar while she and the others ate, unsure of what to say for a good while.

“So, uh… do you three always talk about-” - she lowered her voice, just to be sure - “-that place during lunch?”

She didn’t get a response right away; mostly just some thought-provoking looks as they munched. She was almost about to get up from her seat when someone spoke up.

“Sorry,” Sonic apologized, “but it’s best if we talk about anything related to that in private. Again, sorry we can’t explain now.”

Samus nodded understandingly. A short while passed before Rosalina, remembering something she’d heard around school, inquired, “I heard you’re working on a driver’s license, right?” 

Samus smiled a little. “More of a motorcycle’s license, actually.” 

That got an intrigued whistle out of Sonic. “Pretty cool, Samus! I used to skateboard, but that’s even cooler!”

Conversation became lively from there. Mie was happy to see Rosalina slowly coming out of her Samus-induced shell, and soon it was the two girls who were dominating the conversation.

Under the table, they and Sonic exchanged a fist bump.

Sonic: how does it feel playing matchmaker

Mie: Weirdly satisfying.

Watching Samus smile more than Mie had seen her smile (even if that didn’t say much) brought a smile to Mie’s own face. Such a strong-hearted girl will make for an awesome addition to my circle of friends, they mused, well, in the real world at least… 

The school day went by, and the time came to give her the rundown. Sonic and Rosalina had gone on their own, leaving Mie and Samus to get there themselves. 

Once the two found each other, Samus asked, “Mind walking me there?”

“Sure.”

Samus walked surprisingly slow, maybe turning to look behind herself every so often. Upon catching onto this, Mie asked, “You think we’re being followed or something?” 

“No,” Samus shook her head, “For a while after my parents died, I would occasionally get the feeling of being watched. I never picked out who was causing the feelings, if anyone was, but I think whoever was doing it stopped a while ago. Now, it’s just some weird, almost-paranoid habit…”

Mie nodded. “I can only imagine your pain…” they admitted, “My parents were horrible to me while I lived with ‘em.”

“You don’t live with your parents?” Samus asked, “Did… did something happen to them?”

“No,” Mie shook their head, “Let me explain…”

Samus whistled when Mie finished their tale. “Wow…” was all they could say.

“Yeah… kinda sad, isn’t it?”

“Well, we may not be in the same boat,” Samus mused, “but we both lack good parents… that are also around for us.”

“Yeah… I can go with that. By the way… if you need someone to talk to about your issues or anything, you can come to me. Same goes with Sonic and Rosalina.”

“You think they’ll help me, too…?”

“If you’ll let me call you it, I’d like to be your friend,” Mie declared, “and friends have each other’s backs!”

“Friends, huh… that sounds nice,” Samus admitted, “Most people that talk to me at school either need to for class or something or are trying to get in my pants… I can tell you’re genuine, though. Friends sounds nice.”

The two bumped fists. 

You feel a bond forming with Samus Aran, the so-called Ice Queen of Sakurai High…

Thou art I... And I am thou...

Thou hast established a new bond...

Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Death Arcana...

Death Rank 1!

It wasn’t long from that point before they arrived at Mr. Dragmire’s house. Sonic and Rosalina were already there waiting for them.

“Nice to see you both here in one piece!” Sonic said, flashing them a two-fingered salute before everyone piled into Mr. Dragmire’s lab.

“So that’s the long and short of it,” Mr. Dragmire finished, “Not only do we have to deal with the Shadows, but there’s someone who’s been kidnapping people and throwing them into the Subspace Dimension.”

“That weird other world I got thrown into, right?” Samus mused, “I’m guessing that’s what happened to me?”

“Yes...” Mr. Dragmire nodded.

“Hold on a moment,” Rosalina spoke up, “Samus, do you remember anything before being kidnapped?”

Samus’ face scrunched up for a small while. “I don’t remember anything…” she eventually apologized, “The last thing I can remember before waking up in that other world is walking to go find Pika, my… foster brother, I guess. We were going to go to the track field together for P.E., but he got caught up with another friend and went on his own. The last thing I remember is thinking I should just go to the field on my own. Everything from there ‘til I woke up is a blur…”

“Whoever’s behind this is good at what they do…” Sonic mused, “Here’s the real question: do you guys think they’ll strike again?”

“Undoubtedly,” Mr. Dragmire answered, “All we know about them is that they claim themselves to be the ruler of the Subspace Dimension, and it’s likely that they plan to target those with deep insecurities not unlike you.”

Samus figured it out in record time. “And that’s a problem since that could apply to literally anyone, right?” 

“Exactly.”

Samus’ usual calm tone was gone when she started grinning wide, her eyes sparking. “Well then don’t count me out. I’m in. If we gotta look for people like me, I’m willing to help them out like you guys did.”

“You do acknowledge the risks, right?” Rosalina asked worriedly, “We can’t exactly tell people how you died…”

“With my current plans for a future job, this is just training,” Samus shrugged. Her words were casual, but one could tell she was taking this seriously. “Besides, if I go with you guys, I’m guaranteed not to go down alone.” There was a hint of a smirk when she said that, leaving Rosalina to slightly blush.

Mie wondered what Samus meant by current plans for a future job, but decided against questioning it for now.

“Well, in any case,” Samus continued, “Glad to be a part of… do you guys have a name or something?”

The room fell silent. The previous members shared awkward looks at each other. Mie was about to speak up with a disappointed “No…”

“Do we truly need to think of one?” Mr. Dragmire asked.

“It would allow us to talk about the Subspace Dimension in broad daylight,” Mie pointed out, “We can just say it’s a club! The question rises… what should the name be-”

Sonic, who had been doing mental math in his head since Samus had brought it all up, piped in, “S.M.A.S.H. Slayers of Monsters And Subspace Heroes.”

“Doesn’t that spell S.O.M.A.S.H.?” Rosalina pointed out.

“The of is silent,” Sonic shrugged, “Well, now that you’re part of… S.M.A.S.H., apparently, we’ll need to hook you up. C’mon, let’s get you all geared up!”

Samus was immediately enamored by the Lights’ weapons shop, already pondering the possibilities of her future fighting style.

“Hm…this one might be too similar to yours, I think. And this one…nah, that’s way too heavy for me! This one might be too hard to wield for…anyone really.”

“Wow,” Rosalina mused, “I haven’t seen Samus this interested in… anything, really.”

The smile on her face being this big over weapons was… concerning to say the least, even more so when she picked up a whip and said, “Oh…? Ohoho, this. Now this is my thing. Yeah, I can definitely do some damage with this.”

“Phrasing!” Mie eeped. “Especially considering what you’re holding!”

“You know what?” Sonic said quickly. “We found her weapon! Let’s pay for it, get out of here, and do a bit of training with it before this conversation gets any weirder.”

They didn’t end up training, but a new side of Samus was discovered that day, for better or for worse. Mie shuddered at it even hours later when they were going to bed; the reason the memory had been brought up when Samus texted them.

Samus: You’re new to town, right?

Samus: Do you want to go hang out at some point soon? Gotta get to know the leader of the team, right?

Mie: I’d love to! When are you open? Is tomorrow good?

Samus: Well, the Chus have been trying to get to know me by doing things around town with me. It’s a nice gesture, but… in any case, the soonest I’ll be open after school is the 30th.

Mie: That’s… Thursday, right? I can do that!

Samus: Awesome. See you then.

The 28th and 29th went by quite uneventfully. The only two things of note were in this order:

“I just realized I haven’t thrown any questions at you, Mx. Gunter,” Mr. Dragmire said during science class on the first of the two days, “Let’s give you a basic one. Newton’s First Law is also known as the…?”

“The Law of Inertia,” Mie answered easily, “When an object is at rest, velocity and acceleration are at a net force of zero, and it’ll stay that way until an outside force acts upon it. The object will stay at a constant speed and does not change direction unless acted upon by yet another outside force.”

Mr. Dragmire looked impressed. “Above and beyond, Gunter,” he admitted, “though it should be mentioned that the outside force must be unbalanced. It’s not too big a mistake, though - we’ve only just started this unit.”

The rest of the class quietly breathed out sighs of relief at the mercy Mr. Dragmire had given Mie.

“Thus, we shouldn’t waste too much time,” Mr. Dragmire continued a split second later, “Textbooks out to the Newton’s Laws unit, everyone!”

Any other class and there would have been groans.

The second thing was not a singular event, nor did it occur at school. Every so often after school, Samus would text them, Sonic, and Rosalina with complaints about the events the Chus had roped her into. The last chat convo they’d seen before Thursday (the 30th) was this:

Samus: Board game night is a blast. I’m convinced Pich doesn’t even know how to play… 

Mie: He’s beating you, isn’t he?

Samus: … two points.

Sonic: what

Samus: He’s beating me by two points, okay?

Rosalina: I can feel you blushing, you know.

Samus didn’t respond for the rest of the night. Whether she’d been seen texting her friends or was too red to reply, Mie had no idea.

Thursday’s school day went by, and Mie met up with Samus. Sonic had practice for hurdles, and Rosalina was attending the Astronomy club led by Mr. Burrows, so they weren’t open, anyways.

Mie: So, what’s your plan?

Samus: Well I’ve always been told I could use a study partner. Never bothered wanting one until now.

Mie: I can definitely help with that! Wanna hit up Mintendo?

Samus: I’ve heard about that place, and while ramen DOES sound pretty good, I’d rather go to this place the Chus showed me on Tuesday, if that’s okay with you. They have good taste in restaurants, I’ll give them that.

Mie: Really now? What’s the place? And, uh… where are they?

Samus: The place is called Emmeryn’s. As for the location…

Samus didn’t text or send any directions. Mie was beginning to worry when a voice whispered one word into her ear.

“Boo.”

Jumping, Mie whirled around to face the Ice Queen of Sakurai High, who was restraining her laughter.

“Mean,” Mie pouted.

“Sorry,” Samus snickered, “Everyone tells me I have quiet feet, but you’re actually pretty attentive. Was wondering if I could sneak up on you…”

Despite being a tad bit unnerved, Mie laughed a little. From there, Samus led them to Emmeryn’s. On the way, Mie thought they saw someone following them, but realized the man was merely headed in the same direction when he took a left when they and Samus took a right.

He’d been holding a map… Mie could only hope he wasn’t getting himself lost.

Upon arriving at Emmeryn’s, a man in his late thirties, perhaps early forties, took them to their seats (a booth near the entrance, as the place was devoid of other customers right now), introducing himself as Mr. Ylisse (but you’re more than welcome to call me Chrom!) on the way.

“Samus, right?” he asked as they took their seats, “It’s nice to see you again. Never really had anybody come back so soon, to be honest!”

“You’re a good cook,” Samus simply answered, “Plus, I wanted to get to know Mie here better, and you guys came to mind.”

“My sister and nephew do most of all that,” Chrom chuckled, “I just run the bar… which you won’t be touching, for the record.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Mie and Samus promised in unison.

A thought occurred to Mie, then. “Wait a minute… you guys host music nights with Jiggies on Fridays, right?”

“Why, yes,” Chrom responded with a fond smile on his face. Gesturing to a small stage off to the side, he explained, “Banjo and Kazue get to play, they scout for other musicians, and in exchange, they send most of their customers our way if they look hungry. Do you play at all?”

“Not to save my life,” Mie admitted sheepishly, “I stopped by a while ago to get an instrument for class, and I ended up connecting a few dots.”

“Well, that’s alright, too,” Chrom said, “Oh, I’ve been keeping you. What would you guys like?”

“I wanted to try the Pióg An Aoire,” Samus mentioned, “It looked good when you delivered it to Mr. Chu… Mr. Tobias, that is.”

Looking over the menu, Mie ordered the Fated Francesinha. “You do realize that comes with a beer, right? I can’t and won’t serve you alcohol.”

“Not to be snappy, but you do realize you can substitute it, right?” Mie countered, “Just a glass of water is fine.”

Chrom mulled it over. “Doesn’t pair quite right, but I certainly won’t complain. Coming right up, you two!”

With that, he went to the kitchen to go drop off the order. A younger woman with platinum-blonde hair - probably a few years under Chrom - took the paper with their order on it before disappearing into the workspace.

Nodding to each other, Samus and Mie pulled out the material for their shared classes (Samus was taking Portuguese instead of Japanese like Mie, so they were planning to work on those classes on their own time) and began going over their materials together. Aside from Portuguese, Samus apparently excelled in P.E. and English and was decent in Science, Health, and Math, but struggled in History and Music (the other two electives were a story for another day).

Luckily, Mie was well-rounded in all their subjects, so they covered for each other. Mie helped prop Samus up on their weaker points, and Samus elevated Mie up in the subjects where she excelled.

A small while had gone by before Samus casually started talking about Chrom. “If you know Rosalina, I think you know Lucina. I hope this isn’t gossipy, but apparently they’re family.”

“I can sorta see it,” Mie admitted, “But Chrom’s hair feels less genuinely blue… wonder if he dyes it? In any case, we should talk about this at some other point.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Samus nodded, “Anyways, let’s get to History. I think we’re on the Gr-”

The chime of the door opening cut Samus off as another man entered the diner. Mie and Samus took in his details - he had blue hair like Lucina’s and matched many of her other phenotypic features, but he was a good bit older. If they had to guess, Mie would say he was at least old enough to drink. Another second passed before Mie realized that this was the guy who’d been going the same way as them!

Looking around, the young man’s eyes fell on Chrom. He took a deep breath before reaching into his pocket and pulling his phone out. 

Sitting down, Chrom turned to greet him with a “What can I get you?”

The man opened his mouth to say something, only to close it. “Tongue-tied?” Chrom asked patiently, “I can make a recommendation, if you’d like-”

“No, it’s not that,” the young man apologized, “You are… Chrom Ylisse, correct? And your daughter is… Lucina, was it?”

A slightly-uncomfortable look came over Chrom’s face. “Yes…?” he asked, “Is everything all right?”

“There’s no trouble, I promise you,” the man promised quickly, “I apologize… there’s not an easy way to talk about this…”

With that, he showed Chrom something on his phone. Mie and Samus couldn’t see what from their angle and distance. Chrom’s eyes shot up.

“This looks like my daughter…! She’s younger than when I…” Chrom trailed off, as if hiding something.

“Adopted her, correct?” the young man tilted his head patiently, “I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Marth Lowell… and I have reason to believe I am related to your daughter.”

“What?!” 

“She went missing roughly a month before her 1st birthday,” Marth explained, “The police believe she was most likely kidnapped. I was 3 or 4 at the time. My parents passed away from grief when I was 15 or so, and I swore I’d find her so that somebody in the family would get to see her again… from the research I was able to figure out on heritage websites, she either lives in this city of Ryūō or the nearby city of Kakuto, and I’ve already checked around there.”

“Well, this is certainly a big event…” Chrom whistled, “Do you… do you intend to take her in or something?”

“Heavens, no!” Marth shook his head, “I don’t make enough money to take care of her… and besides, you’re her father now.” 

Chrom swallowed a breath as Marth continued, “I just wanted to be in her life again. I spent so much time working on trying to find her that I haven’t done a lot of thinking about careers…”

Chrom thought about it for a moment. “Well, I can’t promise it’ll be permanent, but if you’re looking for work, I’m sure Lissa and Owain could use some help.”

“...! Are you sure? I doubt I’m anywhere as talented a chef as your workers…”

“There’s more to running a restaurant than serving food, you know.” Chrom placed a hand on Marth’s shoulder reassuringly. “My sister will probably just put you on dish-duty or something.”

“And you’re sure she’d be okay with this…?”

“When I tell her what you’ve told me, she’ll jump at the chance. She and Owain hate doing the dishes, anyways.”

“Thank you…” Marth said honestly, “Also… when may I meet Lucina?”

“She usually walks here after her Thespian Club ends,” Chrom said, “Give it an hour or two.”

With that, Chrom guided Marth to the kitchen just as the woman who must be Lissa walked out balancing trays with Mie and Samus’ food. As she passed Chrom, the two had what must be a silent exchange of words that Mie couldn’t register.

Setting down a pie-like dish in front of Samus and giving Mie a huge sandwich, Lissa bowed wordlessly before hurrying back to the kitchen.

Deciding to let Chrom and Marth have their moment, Samus and Mie ate quickly and packed up their materials, only staying to ensure they paid for their food before making their exit. Mie did wish Chrom and Marth good luck.

Taking a seat on a nearby bench, Samus said, “Well, even if that got cut short, I’m glad to spend some time with you, Mie.”

“I imagine your grades are, too,” Mie teased.

Samus scowled at them. “That’s not why I invited you and you know it.”

Mie softened at this. “Do you have an ulterior motive?”

Samus shook her head. “I said I wanted to get to know you… I meant that. Thanks for hanging out with me today.”

Mie merely nodded and smiled.

Even if you had to stop early, you and Samus got to know each other. Hopefully your next hangout will be more pleasant…

Death Rank 2!

“Well, I’d better get home,” Samus said, checking her phone, “I let the Chus know I’d eaten already, but they usually want me home by dinner anyways.”

“Dinner is supposed to be bonding time with family, if nothing else,” Mie supposed, “It’s really nice that they see you as family, even though they aren’t that by blood… or that you don’t see them as such.”

Samus gave Mie a curious look. “We’re… getting there.”

Mie smiled at that sign of progress. “Okay,” was all they said. From there, the two parted.

A thought occurred to Mie late that night. Whipping out their phone, they texted Rosalina.

Mie: Hey… you’re still friends with Lucina, right?

Rosalina: Yes, I am. Why do you ask?

Mie: Saw something interesting that sorta regards her…?

Rosalina: … I’m listening.

Mie: It’s not my place to talk about it. Honestly, I’m not even sure you should ask her. 

Mie: That said, you should make sure to look out for her for a bit. Help her how you can… after all, if the hurt grows too dark…

Rosalina: OH. Oh, that really would not be good. 

Rosalina: You’re right. I’ll text her tonight, just to talk if she wants, and I’ll talk with her tomorrow regardless of tonight.

Mie: Atta girl. ‘Night!

Rosalina: Good night, Mie.

Mie smiled and went to sleep.

You feel your bond with Rosalina improving…

Chapter Text

One month down, Mie thought to themselves as they checked their calendar, eleven to go, huh? Slowly but surely, things were going well so far.

With the program that had gotten Mie out of their family’s home, they were required to show up to a review not long after the end of a year’s time spent. Depending on their age and success by that point, they would either be left to their devices, moved elsewhere, or (provided the original alternative wasn’t dangerous for the kids) returned to their home. The program had been started by some rich woman with a big heart and a sad background of her own. Mie forgot her name.

On a less sour note, the beginning of October meant the beginning of the holiday season, and a chance to see whatever Ryūō’s culture had in store for them.

Fortunately and unfortunately, today was Friday, so while they did have school, at least they would be able to go have fun with their new friends during the coming weekend.

But because the universe has an unfunny way of ruining people’s limited time, Mie received an important text during lunchtime in the S.M.A.S.H. group chat.

Sonic: Happy October, everyone!

Samus: He does this every month, doesn’t he?

Rosalina: I can’t remember the last time he forgot…

Okay, wrong text chain. That was the teens’ chain.

Mr. Dragmire: I apologize in advance, but I need to see you all at the science lab after class.

Sonic: What’s your damage? You know that just ‘cuz we’re fighting together doesn’t mean we’re your gophers or anything, right?

Mr. Dragmire: Not my damage… nobody’s yet. I’m trying to figure out who the damage might occur to.

Samus: You mean somebody else has been kidnapped, don’t you?

Mr. Dragmire: Not yet, but that’s the problem. I’ll explain more after classes. At least I brought the evidence here for you all.

Mie: You sure that it’s safe to talk about?

Mr. Dragmire: I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t think it was safe. I commend your carefulness, though.

Samus: Got it.

Rosalina: See you all at the lab!

Mie could only wonder what was going on with Mr. Dragmire, but it wasn’t as if they could ask him in the middle of class or during the time in-between. 

“I do hope you’re thinking about class, Mx. Gunter,” Dr. Mario’s calm voice said, breaking them out of their thoughts, “In case you’ve forgotten, we’re on the Pseudoscience Warnings unit. Here’s a question for you: what was the term for the use of herbal medicine in India?”

Mie managed to recover quite quickly. “Ayurveda, right?”

“... well, now,” Dr. Mario remarked, clapping a bit, “you have been paying attention. I’m impressed!” Beginning to address the whole class, he continued, “Ancient texts regarding Ayurveda actually taught surgical techniques, the likes of which may seem more contemporary to the layman. They were able to do rhinoplasty, sutures, and remove kidney stones and foreign objects… can anyone tell me what the meaning of the word is?”

Ryu Hoshi, co-leader of the martial arts club, raised his hand. “Life science, correct?” he answered.

“Correct!” Dr. Mario nodded, “Now, onto the issue of quacks like Hu Wanlin…” 

Right before classes finished, Ms. Eisner reminded everyone that midterms started on the 11th and implored them to study hard… especially for their electives, since their midterms would cover all three of them in one part.

Discreetly, Mie snuck through to the science lab. Sonic, as was probably predictable, was the only other of the teens there. Mr. Dragmire and him were talking about something when they entered, only to stop at the sight of them. “Everything alright?” Mie asked.

“Me and Mr. Dragmire have decided to at least be amicable with each other,” Sonic explained, “I’ve been snapping at him a lot because I stink at science, but now I figure arguing with each other is just gonna make things tougher.”

“I was rather harsh on him,” Mr. Dragmire admitted, “I was having a tough year when Sonic was my student. My adoptive mother and her sister had perished in a home invasion, and I was still grieving. That led to me somewhat taking out my frustrations verbally on him and his class, and that was not right of me in the slightest. The plan is to work on being even and at least neutral with each other for the battles ahead.”

“Good for you guys,” Mie nodded, “You’re allowed to joke around, tease, and all the other stuff, but there have definitely been better times to do so than when someone isn’t in life-threatening peril.”

“... thank you, Mie,” Mr. Dragmire said quietly. Sonic nodded his assent.

Mr. Dragmire and Sonic are putting aside their past to work together as they are now. You can’t help but feel your bond with both Sonic and Mr. Dragmire improving… 

“So… what battles ahead, exactly?” Rosalina asked as she and Samus entered, Samus closing the door quietly behind her, “We saved Samus, didn’t we?”

As everyone congregated around the main table, Mr. Dragmire slid out another letter. Mie snatched it up first (Sonic, who must have already seen the letter, didn’t bother reaching out) and read:

So you heard my warning, and yet still didn’t listen? Your chutzpah is rather astounding… well, it’s on me. I suppose it’s easier to manage a rescue mission if it’s just some nobody who went missing.

“Some nobody?!” Rosalina snarled. Even Sonic’s eyes shot open; her snarling must be more uncharacteristic than Mie knew. “I’ll show you nobody… when we find this guy, there will be no body!” Samus gave her a concerned look, though it wasn’t without a fair share of redness. 

This time, I think I’ll find someone a bit more… high-profile… maybe kick up the difficulty, too. Good luck, S.M.A.S.H.… you’re going to need it.

“Are they really calling us that name…?” Mr. Dragmire groaned to himself, “Well, looks like they know more than we thought.”

“Perhaps they truly do rule the Subspace Dimension…” Samus pondered, “How are we supposed to stop them for good?”

“It starts with finding out who they are,” Mie pointed out, “If they know about the group name, then they have access to our world, too.”

“Good point!” Rosalina piped up, “For now, though, I think the best we can do is keep an eye out for troubled souls…”

“Especially ones who are more ‘high-profile,’” Mr. Dragmire added, “or perhaps that’s a ruse… in any case, I’ll keep an eye out for signals that new Dungeons have appeared. You’re all on watching duty until someone comes up with something.”

“High-profile…” Mie thought to themselves. Despite living there for a month, there weren’t any huge names in Ryūō that came to mind at the thought. “Okay, are there any celebrities around this area? Some kind of big politician, heck, even a popular kid in class we could go off of?”

“Nobody comes to mind…” Sonic mused, “Samus is pretty popular, so unless you can think of somebody more popular, it’s not the last category.” After a little more time was spent thinking, he groaned and threw his hands up in the air. “Well, we’re not gonna get that done sticking around here. Should we break away for now and start looking?”

“That’s probably for the best,” Mr. Dragmire sighed, “Let me know as soon as possible if you come across any trouble.”

“Understood.” Mie replied.

Walking out of the lab and exiting the school - and tapping the statue of the Duck Hunt Duo (mascots of the Sakurai Hunters and the respective school) - Mie had an unfortunate feeling that their work wouldn’t be done anytime soon. On the bright side, at least that meant more opportunities to see Puff. How high-profile was this mystery ruler talking? What would someone like them even look for in a victim with such a well-renowned status? Celebrity drama?

“It barely narrows it down at all!” Mie whispered out loud, “It could be some music group I see at the diner, it could be the leader of literally any club in the entire school, it could even be…  uhhhh…” They struggled for a possible third answer before hearing the sound of quiet sobbing. “... those two across the street?” 

Upon further observation, the source of the sobbing seemed to be two younger teens in an alley across the street. A boy in a blue hoodie and a girl in a pink one, clutching onto each other as if for dear life. They looked very similar to one another; odds were they were siblings.

Still, they couldn’t just ignore sobbing like that… even aside from the fact that it could lead to the potential next victim (or victims…?) to be sent to the Subspace Dimension. Thus, they crossed the street and slowly approached the two.

The two flinched at the sound of Mie’s approaching footsteps, only to calm down a teeny bit at the sight of someone their age.

“Sorry, I heard you two crying and I wanted to make sure you were both okay.”

“We’re… fine,” said Blue Hoodie. They were clearly not fine.

“We just need some time alone together, that’s all,” Pink Hoodie continued. 

Not only giving unintentional signals, but using oxymora? Clearly something was up with these two. 

“Not to be rude, but I don’t believe that,” Mie said calmly, “You guys feeling unsafe? If you’re hiding from someone, I can walk you home-” 

“Not home!” Pink Hoodie said quickly. 

That was worrisome. Noticing Mie’s worry had visibly deepened, Blue Hoodie amended, “It’s not a matter of safety! We just… don’t wanna go back right now.”

While Mie was sure there was more to the story, they quickly came up with a tentative solution. “If you’re not feeling okay at home… never mind safe, just okay… I might be able to set you up with a place to stay until you’re feeling better. At least for the night…”

The two looked from Mie to each other, having a wordless conversation. While they did, Mie pulled out their phone.

Mie: I wouldn’t call you if it wasn’t urgent. I found two kids, roughly my age, who might be potential victims. I can’t get much out of them, but I do know that while they feel safe at home, they don’t want to be there right now.

Mr. Dragmire: What can I do?

Mie: You got a guest room?

Mr. Dragmire: … you’re kind, Mie. Take them to my house, and I’ll talk with them.

Mie: Got it. Just need to convince them now.

Looking back at the two teens (Mie recalled seeing them at school, so they assumed they were almost teens if not teenagers), Mie said, “Something tells me you don’t want to stay in this alley for much longer.”

“We’ll come with you,” Blue Hoodie acquiesced. 

As Mie pulled them up, they realized they probably should stop calling them by their hoodie color. “Where are my manners?” Mie began, “I’m Mie. Mie Gunter. You two are…?”

“Popo.”

“Nana.”

Well, if they didn’t want to be home, it made sense that they wouldn’t give Mie their last name. That, and they barely knew Mie.

Disregarding those thoughts for now, they took them over to Mr. Dragmire’s house. Knocking on the door once, twice, then a third after a quick pause, it wasn’t long before Mr. Dragmire opened the door.

If it wasn’t clear that Popo and Nana attended Sakurai High before, the fact they clearly recognized Mr. Dragmire was plenty of confirmation. “I have a spare guest room that doesn’t see much use,” the science teacher informed them, “You’re more than welcome to do as you please for as long as you need, but try not to break anything. Ah, and I request you stay away from the basement unless something urgent comes up.”

After a while more of talking between Mr. Dragmire and the twins, Mie made their leave. Once they’d closed the door behind them, they texted Mr. Dragmire, asking him to update them with the status of Nana and Popo when anything of note happened. Mr. Dragmire promised it would be done, so Mie went back home, had dinner with Fox and Falco, and went to bed early.

Tomorrow was Saturday.

Not much happened during work on Saturday was worthy of note. Making sandwiches for lunch was new, and Mie made sure to inform their bosses they were out of bread loaves as promised.

It was after work (and during dinner) when things got more interesting. Falco and Fox had been arguing about date night, which they tried to do about twice or thrice a month at least.

“Krystal said she could set us up with tickets, Falco,” Fox pointed out, “Who knows how long they’ll be doing shows?”

“I’ve been sitting at that desk all day!” Falco grumbled, “I’d like to do something where I don’t have to stay seated for another few hours!”

Fox, who if Mie guessed correctly had been arguing with Falco about this all day, gestured. “Well, we’ve got someone new living here, maybe an unbiased source can get our gears turning?”

Mie perked up at hearing their name. 

Fox cringed a little. “Sorry to almost bring you into this, Mie. You don’t have to-”

“It doesn’t matter to me,” Mie waved it off, “It’s not like I'm invited. You guys should do something that makes you both happy… or perhaps something that holds significance in your relationship.”

“Is that not what we already do?”

“No, I mean really significant. Like, what were some of the best events or moments you two went through together?”

Looking at each other for a brief moment, it was Falco who snapped their fingers after only a short while. “That’s it! I think the gym’s holding wrestling night tonight, aren’t they?”

“I wouldn’t complain,” Fox agreed, “We haven’t gone to a show in a while.”

“Would you mind telling me the story behind that?” Mie asked innocently, “You don’t have to, just curious.”

This seemed like something Fox was okay with telling, because he launched into the story of the last get-together he and Falco had been to before Fox had actually asked Falco out. It was actually quite interesting, especially the bit about the up-and-coming star that seemed rather spry for his older age who had won the bout.

Falco had opened his mouth to protest the idea of Fox asking first, but he decided against it. Once Mie helped them finish the dishes, they looked up the ticket prices on their laptop.

Falco had taken a look at the ticket prices and said, “Huh. Manageable.”

Mie merely smiled at him. “Glad to be of help.” 

You feel your bond with Falco and Fox improving…

Mie saw their bosses off before finishing up some homework and going to bed. The thought of attending tomorrow’s event was starting to appeal to them. I wouldn’t mind going sometime, they thought before drifting off, and if it’s not staged, maybe I could learn some new combat techniques there.

Of course, they had to get through Sunday’s workday first. Now that was uneventful, unless you count Fox and Falco paying them for their work around the early evening, which gave them enough to pay for the tickets and a good bit more (they had enough even beforehand, but not much more, so this was quite welcome).

Despite their excitement, the line was terribly long. For a long while, Mie could barely see the entrance to the gym. It even took them a while to read the neon logo in front of the gym (the title was South Town), but the lights shining from said logo were more than noticeable.

Eventually, they made their way to the front, where they confirmed their ‘reservation’ with a surprisingly lean (but still muscular) blond man wearing a red jacket and trucker hat with the words Fatal Fury on its front. Surprisingly, the jacket (and the basketball jersey serving as an undershirt, which had his name and title Manager Bogard on a tag) left him sleeveless.

“You alright in this cold?” Mie asked as the man gave them a thumbs-up to confirm they could enter.

“Never better!” Mr. Bogard responded, “Your seat is SH6, okay?”

Not wanting to keep the line up, Mie nodded and went. As they entered the gym and began looking around for their seat, they caught glimpses of a few familiar faces. Ryu’s headband, Mr. Mishima’s slicked-back hairstyle, a blonde ponytail- 

Wait. Was Samus here?

The two’s eyes met at the exact same time before Mie burst into incredulous laughter. Noticing Samus blush and curl up into her seat, Mie quickly apologized. “I wasn’t laughing at you! Just the coincidence of seeing you here!”

It turned out they were sitting next to each other, so Samus unclenched herself. “Sorry… I didn’t even want to be here, to be honest.”

That made Mie pause. “Oh? Then why are you here?”

“I got roped into it by-”

“Oh! Found a friend, Samus?” a cheery male voice asked. Craning their heads, Mie came face to face with two men that they could only assume were the Chus.

From what little Mie knew about them, they were able to deduce who was who. Tobias Chu was silver-haired, with cadet-gray eyes and hexagonal glasses. Apparently, he was a handyman. The other one was Raimundo Chu, a bottle blond with hints of his original brown hair and blue eyes. He was currently wearing a shirt with some sort of superhero made of pancakes on it.

“Oh boy…” Samus groaned, clearly wanting to get any interaction with her guardians over with, “This is Mie. We met sometime after I came back, they’re non-binary by the way, and Mie these two are Tobias and Raimundo. Okay, that’s introductions done. Now what?”

Pika was a freshman, and Pich was in middle-school, so Mie assumed they were home or something. Nevertheless, they knew they wanted to make a good first impression on Sam-

The lights flickered, a warning for all patrons of the arena to be seated. Everyone who wasn’t already so took their seats almost instantly. 

Mie had never been so surprised to see a spotlight and mic shoot down from the ceiling, the mic landing smoothly in the hands of Gawain Bellamy (their history teacher!) and someone else they didn’t know - a bald-headed middle-aged man with a bushy brown beard, bushy black eyebrows and a star-shaped mark over his right eye.

“Good evening, ladies, gents and wrestling fans of all genders!” greeted the bald-headed guy, “We’re your hosts for the night. I’m Morton ‘Big Mouth’ Koopman II-”

“- and I’m Gawain ‘Game-Watch’ Bellamy-” Mr. Bellamy piped up.

“- but we’re not who you’re here to see, are we?” 

Amidst the cheers of the crowd, the two said in unison, “Let’s introduce today’s four challengers, shall we?”

The spotlights all seemed to turn on at once, momentarily causing everyone to recoil and close their eyes. Tobias specifically was getting really giddy for some reason. Mie had a good guess whose idea coming here was.

Already, someone with the biggest muscles Mie had ever seen, platinum-blond cornrows and skin painted gray as stone came running up to the stage. He jumped and slammed his fist on the ground, beginning to perform some speedy mock punches afterward.

“A fan favorite that’s been challenging the title for a while now, he carries fists that have thrown a thousand punches in the matter of seconds! Sending opponents flying over the horizon of the ring and a proclaimed master of every martial art known to man, you know him, you love him, the ring has not been the same since he came into our lives, give it up for Mach-68!”

Mach-68 flexed for the crowd, earning a temporary increase in cheers. Tobias, interestingly enough, leveled a curious smirk at the man. “What a show-off,” he snarked quietly. Leaning towards Samus and Mie, he whispered, “The guy’s a consistent second banana. I guarantee you he won’t win - not even if he had four arms.”

“Our second challenger is the biggest, bulkiest bad dude to ever grace this gym! We haven’t weighed him since a few bouts ago - he broke the scale last time we tried - but there’s no denying many a challenger has failed to so much as dent him! Put your hands together for the one and only Giga Impact Z!”

Big Mouth hadn’t been kidding. Giga Impact Z really was huge. From the way the giant of a man (whose only clothes were dark blue-green trousers and a mask with Totoro-like ears) moved, Mie could tell he wasn’t exactly laggard, though.

“Third on our roster for the night is-” The sound of a phone ringing cut Mr. Bellamy off. “Okay, who forgot to turn their phone off?”

Leaning in close, Big Mouth stage-whispered, “... you, Game-Watch.”

As Mr. Bellamy picked up his phone, one could hear the crowd facepalm, some laughing a little. “Hello? Yes? What? You got caught up in a what now? You gonna be… oh, you’re fine… good to- what do you mean you’ll be late? Well, at least you’re on your way, right? You are? Good! Hurry!”

Adjusting his bowtie and pocketing his phone, Mr. Bellamy apologized, “It turns out our reigning champion and favorite heel will be a little late.” 

Amidst the boos and awws of the crowd, Big Mouth piped up, “Don’t worry, he’s not disqualified! As long as he makes it before the opening bell, he’ll be fine, but I agree - it’s a darn shame he’s making you all miss out on his intro.”

“In any case, our fourth and final contestant is here! One second, she’s in front of you; the next, you’re pinned on your stomach! Opponent after opponent have reported feeling like they’d swung at illusionary copies of the toughest lady to lock horns here since the previous champion! Everyone, make some noise for La Ilusionista!”

From one end of the entrances, a dark-skinned woman with red face marks and spiky hair tied with a cyan bangle leaped cleanly onto the stage. Brandishing a folded-up tessen with claw-like outsides and the words Quick Trickster on its ends, she flung it overhead into a different part of the stands with a flick of her wrist, landing in the hands of a teenage girl. Unfurling it, the girl flushed tomato-red at the sight of a black rose inside.

“Someone’s having an awakening,” Samus snickered to Mie. Mie snickered back at the joke, remembering Rosalina for a brief moment.

You feel your bond with Samus improving…

“Well even if we are one contestant short, you know what they say: the show must go on! So without any further ado, let’s ge-”

Big Mouth and Mr. Bellamy stepped out of the ring, eager to get out of the way of the three fighters. Just before everyone could begin counting down from three, Mie noticed a teeny bit of movement near one of the entrances. Due to where Mie and Samus were sitting, they couldn’t quite catch a glimpse at what (or who) it was before the room was once again plunged into darkness, stopping the fight before it even began.

“Heheheheh…” a deep, gritty voice who must have grabbed another mic could be heard through the room, “HAW HAW HAW HAW! DID YA MISS ME, RYŪŌ?”

Mie had no idea who was speaking, but clearly most of the crowd did, as the room lit up with cheers, hooting and hollering loud and diverse enough that Mie could hardly make out any words being said. It didn’t help that Tobias was hollering right next to their ear, much to Mie’s discomfort. It was to the point where they could just barely hear a slow stomping jog getting closer to the arena. Yet with every step, everyone in the crowd got closer and closer to the edge of their seats. Once the mystery wrestler landed on a spotlight in the ring (and thus in Mie’s view), they got a good look at the guy. Red and black all throughout the costume, black stripes painted onto his abs, flame patterns on his shorts and tiger-stripe wrestler shoes painted a menacing picture for his opponents. Finally, his face was mostly obscured by what Mie would call a tiger mask if it weren’t for the orange being replaced with red (though the bushy ‘eyebrows’ were sort of weird).

“ENJOY!” the intruder shouted as the lights turned back on. It must have been a common thing, because the crowd (Tobias loudest of all) responded, “EEEENJOY!”

“Well, I guess our ring’s raging flame has made it on time after all!” Big Mouth announced, “He’s someone who shouldn’t need any introduction, but we’re gonna give him one anyway, because that’s what you all like, right?” 

Mie couldn’t help but wonder if they were the only one in the audience who actually needed an introduction.

“Reigning champion of our fair stage since the retirement of the previous champion, he stands at 183 pounds and 71 inches of pure, raw strength! 19 bouts straight have been won by this tigrine terror - let’s see if #20 goes to the one, the only… REI TIGRE!”

The decibel levels of the crowd were off the charts. Between their closed ears, Mie half-expected there to be noise complaints from the gym’s neighbors any second now.

“Alrighty, everyone, now we can begin!” Mr. Bellamy said, “All together now!”

One countdown later, La Ilusionista made the first move. It shouldn’t have surprised Mie that La Ilusionista went for the first strike. Her feet were the fastest out of everyone there, which posed a stark contrast to Rei Tigre’s proud run from earlier. She aimed a feint at Rei Tigre before sidestepping to jab at his stomach, the speedster found her blow barely grazed the eyebrows of his mask. 

Mach-68 moved next, charging forward ready to grab Rei Tigre, only to be dodged and grabbed by the scruff of his shirt and yanked back until he was face to face with his target. “You wanted a close-up, eh? Trust me - I’m about to deliver!”

Mie noticed most of the crowd were leaning in as Rei Tigre threw Mach-68 towards the ropes. He bounced off the ropes, stumbling into a lariat catching him in the neck area.

The crowd went wild at this, a few people screaming out something about a Hawaiian Hammer. While Mach-68 was recovering on the floor, Rei Tigre turned his attention to Giga Impact Z and La Ilusionista, the former of which was closer to him.

“Well, now…” Rei Tigre remarked, “Ain’t you a big target? I don’t get enough big shots like you these days!”

A smirk danced on Giga Impact Z’s lips before he leaped into the air, surprisingly fast for his size. While his attempt to flatten Rei Tigre did feel like it shook the room, it was unsuccessful. “You know what they say: the bigger they are, the harder they fall!” the champion laughed. Tapping his elbow, Rei Tigre unleashed a diving elbow drop on the gigantic combatant. “HAW HAW HAW! I’m not even breaking a sweat here!”

Mie watched in awe at the way he fought effortlessly against this horde of opponents, one by one pushing them away and efficiently preparing his next blow for the next one coming at him. It didn’t feel like too long before La Ilusionista got dropped and didn’t get up.

“That’s one down!” Mr. Bellamy bellowed. The crowd let out a roar of applause.

Rei Tigre took the moment to flex for the crowd. It seemed like he didn’t notice Giga Impact Z and Mach-68 approaching until a glint came into his eye and he leaped out of the way of the two charging him, causing them to crash into each other. Running smack-dab into the brobdingnagian wall of a man, however, was enough to knock Mach-68 unconscious.

“We’re down to our last two!” Big Mouth announced, “Will the king of the ring claim a vicenary victory? Or will-”

“OH!”

Giga Impact Z had moved in on Rei Tigre and grabbed him by his sides. Smashing him into the ground, Giga Impact Z attempted another body slam.

This one was successful. Most of the crowd cringed, some looking away at the earth-shaking blow.

Mr. Bellamy moved in to begin a pin count, but before he could so much as start, Giga Impact Z was launched off of his foe. As the giant bounced back from the ropes (it was a wonder how he didn’t snap them or something), Rei Tigre launched feet-first from off of the ground and caught him in a dropkick. 

It all ended in a 1-2-3 with Rei Tigre standing atop Giga Impact Z… literally. The crowd went ballistic as Rei Tigre claimed a flame-themed belt and pointed a finger in the air in some superhero-esque pose.

Once the four combatants were all conscious and checked for any serious injuries (they were all fine), everyone piled out of the arena. Apparently, it was tradition for the participants of tonight’s brawl to chat up their audience. The entertainment didn’t seem to stop after the events, it seemed.

Mie decided they may as well try talking up Rei Tigre. Fighting skills like that might be useful for the Subspace Dimension, and perhaps they could learn from him… not that he needed to know that. Of course, there was a line for all four wrestlers, but Rei Tigre’s was a little longer than La Ilusionista’s (she was popular with the ladies, it seemed).

Samus was right there behind her, as well as her guardians. Tobias’s lips were quivering the whole wait through.

Still, it wasn’t anything the two of them couldn’t handle, after all.

“Mie, please say something to me,” Samus hissed in her ear, “I don't think I can handle Toby repeating his thoughts to me for another minute.”

“I don’t think we need to worry about it that long,” Mie told her, “Besides, the line being roughly split in 4 means a quarter of the wait compared to the one outside, right?” Thankfully, they were right, as it wasn’t too long after that statement that they got to the front. Tobias, to the surprise of those around him, did not run or move all that quickly towards the tiger-themed fighter.

Rei Tigre had just finished ruffling an elementary-aged boy’s hair and watched him leave with his mom when he noticed Tobias and company approach. Having been the loudest of all four stars, it got a bit of attention when he went dead silent. 

“Ikaika,” Tobias said simply, fixing him with a steely smirk.

Rei Tigre, to his credit (and everyone’s shock), only raised an eyebrow. “Tobias.”

A tense moment passed as they slowly approached each other before the two men met in the most aggressive handshake Mie had ever seen. Looking at Samus, she seemed just as confused and bewildered as Mie.

Before anyone could so much as move, they burst out laughing loudly. “Good t’see you again, old friend!” Rei Tigre - or Ikaika, apparently - howled, clapping Tobias on his shoulder.

“Old friend?” Samus asked, “You two are friends?”

“And you didn’t tell me?” Raimundo piped up.

“Ooohhh…” Tobias cringed as he realized nobody knew what in the world was going on, “Tigre, whenever you finish up here, how about we all discuss this at Emmeryn’s?”

“I’ll leave you guys to that,” Mie decided, “Good show, by the way. You’re an amazing fighter.”

“Shucks, kid… thank ya,” Ikaika nodded humbly. Giving Samus and company a blinding grin, he lowered his voice and said, “And that sounds fine to me! Something tells me you won’t want people hounding you about me, anyways. Ikaika Romão ain’t a big deal t’lots of folks, but Rei Tigre’s rather… high-profile.”

Mie’s eyes shot wide open as they remembered the letter the kidnapper had sent them. They prepared to leave, but not before they put a hand on Samus’ shoulder. “Tell me what you can about this guy via text later tonight,” they whispered, “Testing out a hunch.”

While confused, Samus nodded, sensing the importance of Mie’s request.

People cleared out roughly 25-30 minutes later, and Mie briefly caught Ikaika - having changed clothes into more civilian clothes and revealing him to have black hair - walking to Emmeryn’s with Samus and the Chus. Somehow, he looked like a completely different person, yet he was still recognizable if you knew what to look for. Mie got the feeling that a lot of people “mistook him” for Rei Tigre, which they could only imagine stunk.

Once they figured it was late enough that Samus was back at her house, they dropped a message in the groupchat.

Mie: Anybody other than Samus know anything about Ikaika Romão?

Rosalina: I can’t say I have…

Sonic: No, sorry.

Mie: He part-times at the local gym during wrestling nights under the name of Rei Tigre, and unless he’s got one hell of an ego, he’s a bit high-profile.

Sonic: High-profile? Aren’t those the same words the letter used?

Mie: And the ones Mr. Romão used, too.

Rosalina: Odd… you don’t think he’s the kidnapper, do you?

Mie: As much as it could work, I doubt it. He’s rather loud and passionate, and he’s got a thing for theatrics. 

Snapping a picture of a paper they’d gotten an autograph on, Mie sent it.

Mie: Besides, I don’t think the handwriting matches up.

Mr. Dragmire: Not that that particularly matters. Whoever’s behind this could well have typed the letter up and printed it out.

Rosalina: Also possible…

Samus: Hey, guys. Just got back from another ‘family outing’.

Samus: … woah. Yeah, I hope it’s not him behind this. Tobias would be heartbroken, and he’s already in the doghouse with Raimundo for not mentioning that they used to be buddies in college… long before the two lovebirds met.

Samus: Other than that, I didn’t get anything useful out of him or Tobias, for the record.

Mr. Dragmire: I’ve developed some drones that should be quiet and discreet enough. I can find his house and keep an eye on him.

Mr. Dragmire: If he’s the murderer, I’ll know soon.

Rosalina: Good to know. Now, I propose we all get some sleep and prepare for whatever Mr. Dragmire finds tomorrow.

Mie: Make sure you check on those Dungeon detectors.

Mr. Dragmire: That was already the plan for me.

Sonic: … we didn’t wake you up, did we?

Mr. Dragmire: Yes, but for this? I’m glad you did.

Samus: See you all tomorrow.

Mie woke up the next morning to an urgent text from Mr. Dragmire in the same chat as the night before.

Mr. Dragmire: My house after school.

Mr. Dragmire: It’s not good.

Chapter Text

Mie: Do you guys know two siblings by the names of Popo and Nana? Pretty sure they attend our school.

Sonic: Oh, the Bylillys? Yeah! I think they want to be explorers or work on digsites or something. 

Sonic: I wonder how they’re adjusting to high school, being freshies and all…

Rosalina: …?

Sonic: I have Chemistry with them, since they tested higher in science than most. They’re always super-tired… I hope they’re getting enough sleep at home.

Samus: … what about their parents? Do you know anything about them?

Sonic: No… we’re not that close. Mie, what’s going on?

Mie: They’re… staying with Mr. Dragmire for a while. They’re being really tight-lipped, so I don’t know what’s going on. Thought they might be the kidnapper’s victim if it wasn’t for the high-profile thing with Mr. Romão.

Mr. Dragmire: As much as I’m glad you brought this up now rather than later, could you not have discussed this during your lunch period?

Mie: Sorry. Didn’t think about that at the time.

Samus: Don’t you have class too, sir?

Mr. Dragmire: All of us teachers get one period as a lunch break. Some of us have it during your time, but I have it this period. 

Rosalina: I appreciate the warning. Everyone, see you at HQ.

Mie turned off their phone, not noticing Samus had texted Is his house really your HQ? before turning hers off as well.

Once classes had finished and everyone had arrived at and settled into Mr. Dragmire’s lab, their teacher got straight to business. “Mr. Romão’s gone missing.”

“Did your drones catch anything useful…?” Rosalina asked.

“Judging from the footage, someone must’ve hacked or otherwise interfered with the drones while they were kidnapping him.” Mr. Dragmire proceeded to show the others the footage the drones had captured. The moment the door opened, a sudden wave of static appeared on the screen before the camera cut back to the outside of the house, the door still open.

“How convenient,” Sonic grumbled, tapping his feet on the floor in annoyance.

“So, how soon are we gonna go save him?” Samus asked.

“You remember the stasis I told you about, right? You experienced it firsthand, after all.”

“Yeah, that was weird. It was like no time had passed at all until you guys found me. I wasn’t even thinking about how much time had passed…”

“So don’t get too antsy about our failure. This new Dungeon is also much larger than yours was.”

Mie spoke up, “Well, it’s like he said last night. The bigger they are, the harder they fall!”

“And that applies here as well,” Mr. Dragmire said, pacing back and forth, “The stasis will last a bit longer for larger Dungeons, so we should have more time than before. The estimated deadline is currently the 27th of this month, which leaves us three weeks.”

“Of course,” he said as he stopped pacing and fixed his gaze onto the team, “that’s no excuse to get cocky or slack off. Do we all understand?”

Everyone nodded except Mie, who simply said “Yes.”

“So I suggest you all get anything you need before we head in. Pack up on healing items, polish your weapons, go train in the backyard and whatever else we need to do to prepare for these life-threatening escapades. In the meantime, I’ll be setting up a map function so you all can find his Dungeon easily… as well as other Dungeons, in case you need to go there for some reason.”

“Works for me,” Sonic shrugged, “I need to pick up some groceries, anyways. If you guys wanna pick up some stuff that you think would be helpful or even just to get a snack, feel free to.”

“What did you guys have when you were saving me?” Samus asked.

“We… brought some things from home,” Rosalina answered, embarrassed.

“Hmm… I’ll see if I can help pick some stuff out.”

Nodding among themselves, the teens exited the house and made their way to the nearest grocery store.

“I swear, cereal gets harder to pick every time I come here,” Sonic said, squinting at the shelves. “So many brands!”

Rosalina, meanwhile, was buying some sugar, fruit flavorings and food coloring to make more kompeitō, as well as some fruit-flavored juices like Naplesun and Energator that Mr. Dragmire predicted would heal damages instead of restore SP. It wouldn’t be done by tomorrow, but it would likely take multiple trips to find Ikaika Romão, anyways. “Have you ever noticed it’s the sodas that do that?”

“Pop off, Rosie,” Mie joked. They had stopped by the bread section and bought a few more elephant ears and other pastries as well. “Well… soda-pop off.”

Surprisingly, this garnered a small laugh from Samus as she picked out some insect-shaped gummies. Everyone looked at her strangely. “What?”

“Nothing serious…” Rosalina admitted, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you laugh at something before.”

“Well, as long as we stick together, we’ll have plenty of time to laugh more,” Samus reasoned as she placed the gummies in their cart. Rosalina couldn’t help but smile at that.

After everyone paid for their purchases, they parted for the day.

On the fifth of October, the team came in to see Mr. Dragmire had just finished sharpening Sonic’s sword. “It was getting a bit dull,” he explained, “If you would like, I can teach you how to do it yourself.”

“That sounds nice,” Sonic nodded and flashed the educator a thumbs-up, “Thanks!”

“Probably for the best that everyone else’s weapons don’t need polishing,” Samus mused.

“Lucky…” she heard someone whisper to themselves. She knew it was Sonic (who else could it have been?), but refrained from saying anything.

“So… is everyone ready to go?” Mie asked, “We brought our weapons, we stocked up on healers, and we’ll get training from the Shadows.”

“It seems like it,” Rosalina nodded, “Everyone, let’s go!”

So caught up was everyone in their plans that they hadn’t noticed the door creak open. Just as the ADS turned on and began transporting the team to the Subspace Dimension, everyone’s heads whipped towards the door as Popo and Nana - having tripped on the steps - tumbled downstairs, rolling to a stop right inside the ADS’ range of teleportation.

Mr. Dragmire, now the only one in the room, mumbled a word unbecoming of a high-school teacher.

“Oooh…” Popo groaned as he and his sister rubbed their eyes, “Mr. Dragmire, we know you didn’t want us coming down here, but you’re out of… milk…?!”

He couldn’t believe his eyes, and neither could Nana. Where had the room - no, the world around them gone?

“Where are we…?”

Standing before them was a tall, snowy mountain, clouds covering the peak. The intense cold of the wind swept through the twins. At least they were wearing warm clothes.

“What now…?” Nana wondered. Looking behind them, they saw the area was covered in snow and wind, leaving no foreseeable way to go but forward.

“Maybe we’ll find someone who knows how to get back…?” Popo suggested. Seeing no other way, the twins began walking into the cave entrance.

“What the hell just happened…?” Samus was the first to speak up as the team materialized in the Subspace Dimension.

“Shit! I think we dragged those kids in!” Sonic swore. Everyone else looked around, but the two were nowhere to be found.

“I don’t know why,” Mr. Dragmire said over their communicators, “but I’m seeing two non-Shadow presences in what I believe is Mr. Romão’s Dungeon already. Here are the coordinates - go after them!”

Sensing the directions from their communicators, Mie and company hurried in the direction. It wasn’t long before they arrived at a large, snowy mountain. 

Mie immediately started shivering. “If I h-had known that th-this is w-where we were going, I w-would’ve brought a thicker c-coat.”

“Noted,” Mr. Dragmire said through the earpiece, “If you don’t own one already, I suggest you buy one soon.”

Nevertheless, Mie put their hands in their pockets and continued trudging forward with everyone, only to trip over something hidden by the snow. 

“Ow!” a familiar muffled voice yelped, “Watch where you’re going!”

Puff popped her head out of the snow but frantically shook it off upon recognizing S.M.A.S.H.. “I was wondering when you all would show up!” Her face lit up as she saw everyone. “Wait, I wanted to show you something! I always wanted to try this!”

Puff proceeded to lay back down and start to flail her hands and feet in the snow, attempting to create a snow angel. When she stood up, however, all that was seen was a slightly lopsided circle. “Aww…” Puff sighed.

Rosalina tried to reencourage her. “It’s… very cute, Puff. We need to save someone again… well, three people, technically. Would you like to come along? One of them can’t be very far.” 

Puff hopped up from the ground. “Sure!” she agreed, “Just… don’t let the Shadows get me, and be patient. I’ve been feeling more tired lately for some reason.”

“We’ll keep it in mind,” Mie noted, “Ready?” 

Puff nodded, and they entered the cave entrance. Thankfully, it was warmer in the cave, so Mie was able to take their hands out and grip their weapon in time for a Shadow to attack.

It immediately separated into another Popper Shadow and a duo of Shadows who looked like the Soldier ones before but were carrying giant, bladed boomerangs. 

“I’d like to kick us off,” Samus requested, “Any complaints?”

“Not at all!” Sonic shook his head, “Go get ‘em!”

Samus grinned as they took out their whip, called upon their Persona Ball, and lashed it in two, summoning Cailleach. “Mazio!” Samus ordered. Three lightning bolts shot from her Persona’s cannons, knocking down the Popper Shadow and doing decent damage to the Boom Shadows. As much as they would have loved to make a boomer joke, Mie felt Boomer Shadows felt too long.

Puff jumped back at the sound of the bolt hitting the ground. Impressed, she let out a whistle.

Sonic ran in to deal a final blow to the Popper Shadow, its remains transforming into a ball of light like the last one while Rosalina and Mie dealt with the Boom Shadows. Rosalina casted a Bufu with Deborah at one of them while the other threw its weapon at her. She ducked and slid out of the way, only to be knocked in the back of the head as the boomerang returned to its owner.

To cover the damage done, Mie called upon Xian Li and casted a Dia, helping get her on her feet faster. Rosalina was still rubbing the back of her head, but she looked okay. Samus fired a Zio at one of the Boomer Shadows to finish it off and defeated the other one with a few lashes of her whip. With the deep breaths Mie saw her taking afterward, there might’ve been more energy spent than she needed to.

“What a fight…” she said once they were sure there weren’t any Shadows left. Sonic handed her a soda can, which she chugged down before letting out a satisfied ahhh.

“I haven’t even gotten used to it yet…” Sonic sighed. 

Meanwhile, the light from the Popper Shadow flew into Mie like before, granting them the Persona Princedom as they and their team continued into the Dungeon.

“Popo? Are you starting to feel like this was a bad idea?”

“You wanna be home instead?”

“Well, of course not,” Nana answered, “but look around here. This isn’t safe, either.”

“It’s safer than not having you around anymore,” Popo pointed out.

“Better her than Mom and Dad, huh?” remarked a voice who sounded like Nana.

Popo shot Nana a funny look. “Well you don’t have to be so direct about it!” 

“I didn’t say that!”

“We may have said it’s us against the world in the past, but this is a bit ridiculous,” another distorted voice which sounded like Popo piped in.

“Rude, bro,” Nana retorted crossly.

“That wasn’t me either!” Popo said. 

Both siblings stilled at a realization: if neither of them were the ones who’d spoken up… who had?

The answer came as the lift in front of them brought two people down. Two familiar people.

As Popo and Nana gaped at the newcomers, said newcomers giggled maliciously. “What’s the matter?” they asked in unison, “Never looked at yourselves before?”

A few more battles went by as S.M.A.S.H. progressed through the Dungeon. On the way through the end of the first area and all of the second, battling more Popper Shadows (among other types, of course) had nabbed Mie a few more Personas - Pharos, Mokpoi and Astromyxin. Apparently, Mie could only hold up to six Personas at the moment, because they’d sent Andra-inanyas and Princedom away (though they had a weirdly strong feeling the Velvet Room would hold onto the ‘memory’ of the two for them). There had been a mechanical lift instead of the elevators in Samus’ Dungeon that took them from floor to floor. 

The temperature seemed to rise a little to Mie as they hit the third floor. They breathed a sigh of relief at finally being able to let their arms down for a moment as they felt the surrounding area become room temperature, and said relief increased at the sight of Popo and Nana (and with no golden eyes or weird costumes, thank whoever).

That relief was short-lived, however, when Sonic nudged Mie. Looking past the freshmen, they flinched at the realization that there wasn’t just one Shadow Self in the way, but two. 

“Both of them have one?!” Rosalina gasped.

“Of course…” Samus growled.

Sonic ran in front of her and said, “Don’t worry, I think I figured out a pattern with these. As long as they don’t say the words you’re not me… er, you’re not us? Uh, if that doesn’t happen, we can just drag these two away and get outta here peacefully.”

“That’s easier said than done!” Mie panicked as they ran towards the twins. As the rest of the team followed behind Mie, they could tell that Shadow Popo and Shadow Nana had already begun a usual spiel.

“You’re afraid, that’s what you are,” Shadow Nana accused, staring her true self down, “You and our atsilí want to stay together all the time…”

“... but it could very well happen that we might not get a choice anymore,” Shadow Popo continued. “Mom and Dad may not have favorites, but each of them do get along better with each of us separately. They’ll want separate custody; Dad will get me, and Mom will get hádí.”

“Maybe Dad won’t move out too far and stay in Ryūō, and we’ll see each other at school,” Shadow Nana tilted her head back and forth pensively, “or maybe Dad will go gods-know-where and we’ll never see each other for years!”

“The separation will build up resentment towards Mom and Dad, so you’ll probably want to move far away for college, and by the time you two see each other again, maybe you’ll be totally different people!”

As the real Nana and Popo trembled in fear and sorrow, Shadow Nana went for the knockout punch. “Maybe… maybe you won’t even get along anymore.”

“Why are they being forced apart?” Sonic whispered to Rosalina.

“I think their parents are divorcing,” Rosalina said somberly, “It isn’t inherently wrong, but it does have its share of problems, especially for Popo and Nana.”

“Those poor freshies…” Samus murmured.

“Never!” Popo protested, “We wouldn’t let it happen!”

“It’s always been us two together against the world,” Shadow Popo shrugged, “Being each other’s twin is sort of most of our identity. If I’m not Nana’s twin…”

“... and Popo’s not mine…” Shadow Nana piped in.

“... then what are we?”

“Maybe that’s what would happen with you guys, but… that wouldn’t happen to us!”

“What’s the difference?” Shadow Nana said nonchalantly, “It’s like we said earlier-” 

In creepy unison, she and Shadow Popo said, “- you are we, and we are you!”

“You’re…” Popo and Nana snarled at the same time.

“Here we go,” Sonic huffed, “one of ‘em’s gonna say it!”

“You’re not me!” the real twins said in unison.

Shadow Popo and Shadow Nana merely began to laugh maniacally as dark energy enveloped them, said center of energy quickly swelling and growing. Eventually, it finished swelling, revealing a large, two-headed seal monster with long necks and a giant, blood-red heart-shaped mark in the space between said necks.

“Welp, that’s our cue. Let’s end this quickly.”

“That wasn’t even grammatically correct!” Rosalina groaned.

“WE ARE SHADOWS… THE TRUE SELVES…” the Shadow Selves cried, “YOU WANT TO STAY TOGETHER SO BADLY… NOW YOU’LL NEVER SEE EACH OTHER AGAIN!”

The first one to bring out their Persona was Sonic. On-sight, he summoned Pheidippides and fired off a Garu. Despite his best efforts to aim, the attack went right between the two heads.

“Shit…” Sonic growled, “I hope that isn’t some gimmick or whatever…”

“Somehow, I doubt it,” Mie said as they called upon one of their new Personas, “Mokpoi! Eiha!”

Dark energy began to swirl around the small creature that appeared before shooting out and blasting the left head. The right head retaliated by spewing a mouthful of energy like Cornish Jack’s Psi at everyone.

“Gotta wonder what the other would say if I asked them what the truth was…” Samus mused.

“Samus, you try to-” Mie began, but the newest member was already aggressively smacking her whip at the Shadow Selves. Sadly, they didn’t even flinch at any of her strikes.

“It’s the blubber!” Sonic called to her as he was trying to get onto their back.

“Yeah, I figured that out,” Samus grumbled before switching to Cailleach and firing a Zio strike at one of the heads. Sonic was about to stab his sword into their back, but the flailing of the Shadow Self’s large body from Samus’ attack bounced him off.

“Samus…” Rosalina murmured worriedly. She paused in place for a second before continuing on with the fight. She’d thrown a Bufu at the foes, but they seemed to resist it, so she stuck to a healing role.

All the while, Puff was attempting to simultaneously drag both of the real Nana and Popo (who were still stunned and rather disoriented from everything going on) away from the fight. “They’ll be okay… hopefully,” she grunted as she trudged forward, both of the freshies held by a nubby hand each.

Seeing the chaos unfolding in front of them, Nana turned towards Popo. “Did that faker version of you really mean all of that?” she yelled over the blasts, lightning-strikes, and whipped-up winds.

“Of course not!” Popo began scratching the back of his head. “... okay, except for the whole separation thing…”

“Well, yeah, of course I’m scared about that…” She pointed to the Shadow Selves right as they howled in a malevolent rage that made them cringe. “Look where that got us, though. We pissed some magical copycats off, and now they wanna kill us!” 

“That feels like a non sequitur, sis…”

“That doesn’t matter right now! Thinking that we're just gonna drift away out of our own volition? That’s what Mom means when she says something is diigis! Even if our parents moved to opposite sides of the planet, do you think I won’t try to find any sort of way to fight to be at your side forever? Because I will! Even if I have to cross an entire mountain for it!” 

She held out her hand towards Popo. “Wouldn’t you do the same?”

All Popo could do was look at her, smile through a few tears, and nod before taking that handshake.

Rosalina went over to heal Sonic when he slid towards her from a headbutt by Shadow Popo, picking him up off of the icy floor as she did. “She’s really sticking to her guns, isn’t she?” she remarked worriedly.

“Both of them are.”

“I wasn’t talking about the Shadow Selves, and you know it.” As Sonic said that, he turned his head toward Samus, who was firing Zio after Zio. She showed no signs of slowing down despite her overuse of magic attacks, even as Mie attempted to get her to stop. 

Eventually, they ran by her to get out of the way of a blast, and Samus’ Persona used something different. Recognizing it as a healing spell, Mie stepped in the way so she didn’t heal the Shadow Selves. 

“Hey, watch where you’re-” Samus stopped when she saw Mie looked a little less limp after taking the Dia. 

“Thanks, Samus!” Samus paused as she watched Mie continue to fire blasts at one of the heads. Due to Cailleach and Samus’ repeated assaults, Shadow Popo’s head began to drop, and Samus took cover from the falling tusks as he smashed to the ground. After a while more of fighting, it felt like Shadow Nana was beginning to move slower. But before she could point it out, Shadow Nana’s speed went back to normal, which meant it was back to doing what she did best. A random strike of her whip managed to hit the heart-shaped mark in the center, and when she did, both heads writhed in pain at the same time, more so than any of their other attacks. 

Mie hearing the agonized cries of Popo and Nana’s Shadow Selves, took note of Samus’ attack patterns. “Samus, that’s it!” they gasped.

“What’s it?” Sonic asked, running over from Puff and the twins’ hiding spot (he’d helped her move them somewhere safe).

“That heart-shaped mark in the middle…” Mie pointed towards it with their blaster before firing a shot at it. “That must be their weak point!” they explained as the Shadow Selves roared in pain.

“Fitting,” Mr. Dragmire mused from the comms, “They refuse to be separated, so the area that keeps them together is their weak spot…”

With no delay, everyone who wasn’t already there moved towards the front of the Shadow Selves. It was a risky play, however; this would only make it easier for all of them to be taken out at once if Shadow Popo and Shadow Nana could land their attacks right.

Nevertheless, those whose magic attacks did have some sort of effect launched them all at once at the pinniped foes. The results were immediately noticeable from the way the heads almost seemed to bump into each other. They both fired a cyan beam from their mouths toward the center, and lifted it in a linear pattern. Sonic was quick to get out of the way, and while it hit Rosalina, she took it rather well. Mie, on the other hand, was struck in the arm they held their blaster in. All they could feel was an intensely cold feeling before looking to see that it was trapped in a block of ice.

“Mie, stay still!” Samus called to them. They did so, and Samus went over to them and slammed the hilt of her whip onto the ice block. The ice quickly began to crack, and within seconds, Mie’s arm was freed.

Checking their weapon to make sure it was still functional, Mie noticed the batteries currently in the weapon were dying or dead. Remembering that Mr. Dragmire had given them extras, they knew they’d need to buy time. “I need to recharge!” they called out, “Keep these two away from me!”

Samus and company nodded while Shadow Popo and Shadow Nana laughed in unison. “GO ON AHEAD, LET US KNOW YOU’RE WEAKENED!”

The Shadow Selves attempted to rush towards Mie as they began to dig in the pack for their spares, but Samus, Rosalina, and Sonic stood in their way. Together, they were able to hold off their attack by pushing up against them, and once Mie finally got the batteries they needed while the heads were struggling to get the team off of them, Mie fired a shot into the heart-mark, blowing the pinniped doppelgangers back. Summoning Pharos (a red alien-like creature in Roman military armor), the team leader called, “Frei!”

A ball of nuclear energy blew into Shadow Popo and Shadow Nana, the blast making their heads drop to the ground with an unceremonious thud. “They’re down!” Mr. Dragmire cried, “All-Out Attack!”

Samus, Mie, Rosalina and Sonic obeyed; through the cloud of snow and dust S.M.A.S.H. had kicked up, the group could see the body of the Shadow Selves beginning to split in half before they returned into their original forms.

As Mie and the team caught their breath, Puff stumbled back into view, Nana and Popo trailing behind her. “I think these two talked it out,” Puff reported.

Popo and Nana still looked a little frightened, but Mie assured them they’d be fine. “Their strength is based on your self-denial… selves-denial?” Shaking their head and gesturing to the downed doppelgangers, they continued, “Whether or not anyone likes it, your Shadow Selves - those two over there, in Popo and Nana’s case - are a part of you. The only way to defeat yourself is to accept that part of yourself… and we’ll help you grow from there, if you want our help.”

“For real,” Sonic piped in, “We won’t let you guys get separated against your will. Not if we can help it.”

Popo and Nana looked at the four fighting members of S.M.A.S.H. and Puff; seeing kind smiles even from the normally-intimidating Samus was reassuring. “I think we’ve figured ourselves out,” Popo smiled, Nana nodding in affirmation.

Even as Shadow Popo and Shadow Nana rose to their feet, Popo and Nana surprisingly did not falter. “Listen, sis. If you ever want to talk about this sort of thing, I’m always more than willing to listen.”

“Same here. But be sure to take your time on that, ok? I won’t force you to sooner than you need.”

Taking her hand, Popo pulled Nana in for the warmest hug in their lives. “Don’t worry, I’m fine. Especially now.”

The Shadow Selves, even without even a single syllable being uttered towards them, nodded approvingly before being enveloped in the same light from which Pheidippides, Cailleach and Deborah had been born.

Shadow Nana morphed into a humanoid with a pinniped nose with whiskers on each side of it. On her head was an accurately hornless Norse helmet that covered her hair, and on her body was a red-and-pink dress. In her right hand, she held a spearlike staff with a glowing, orchid pink-colored orb on the upper end. The back of her left hand had a cameo pink shield attached; it somewhat resembled half of a heart.

Meanwhile, Shadow Popo transformed into another humanoid with a pinniped face and a homeless helmet. However, his whiskers were longer and came together into a mustache under his nose. His mouth was covered in a sticky-looking yellow substance (if Personas gave off a scent, Mie felt it would smell sweet and not like pee), and similar to his counterpart, he wore light armor colored red and pink. On his back was a dark-blue cape with lupine claw marks patterned across it, and he held a mighty madder sword with wooden splinters poking out around the tip like a nail bat and the word WRATH inscribed on it in his left hand. In his right hand, though, he held another half-of-a-heart shield that was colored resolution blue.

Strangely, however, as the two Personas faded into a Persona Ball, there was only one orb that remained when they were gone. Interestingly enough, as Popo and Nana touched said orb at the same time, the Persona Ball’s energy split, going into both of them.

“Sigmund…” Popo whispered. 

“Signy…” Nana breathed out at the same time.

Samus and Sonic were fastest to rush to the twins as they collapsed to their knees. Both of them were clearly rather tired but still conscious.

“So the energy went into both of them…” Mr. Dragmire observed, “Does that mean they both get Personas, or that they share one Persona?”

“Only one way to find out,” Mie mused, “but we’d better ask when they’re more awake. Come on, guys. Let’s get them out of here!”

Luckily for everyone, Sonic and Mie had enough energy to summon Pheidippides and Nuózhā, who helped carry the twins back to the hub spot.

Returning to the real world, twins in tow, they were laid down on the couch huddled next to each other.

“At least one of ‘em should have a Persona,” Sonic theorized while pacing around the room, “and the other should have some knowledge about it no matter what.”

“How would that even be possible? Isn’t a Persona supposed to be, well, your personal sense of self or whatever?” Samus asked.

“From what little understanding I have,” Mr. Dragmire informed them, “Personas are one’s true self manifest into an alternate form… albeit with superpowers, as you’ve all more than noticed. It’s possible that since the two of them are so closely attached, their true selves manifest best when they are with each other. As for its usefulness in combat…” he grumbled as he checked something on his phone. “... I am not sure, and as much as I would like to know, judging from the schedule conflicts you’ve given me, we may not find out for a while. Luckily for Mr. Romão, the scans say we have about all month.”

“That’s certainly longer than I expected,” Mie wiped their brow in relief, “and either way, that’s really good to know. Nice work, boss.”

Mr. Dragmire was surprisingly quick to shake his head. “Please… I’m not your boss. I’m more of a Subspace Dimension expert, and even then I still have much to learn. This is a team effort, and you’re more of the leader than any of us.” As he walked off to go check on the still-sleeping Nana and Popo, he audibly muttered, “It was just me before you all came along, so…”

You feel your bond with Mr. Dragmire improving…

With Mie, Sonic, Samus and Rosalina left alone, silence overtook the room. Who else but Sonic was the one to eventually break said silence. “Hear me out,” he proposed, “Remember that sleepover idea I had? After we save Mr. Romão, are you guys up for that?”

“Sounds like fun,” Samus agreed, “It’s a good further incentive to find Mr. Romão as soon as possible, and after all the battles, I think it’ll be a good way to wind down. Besides, I don’t think I’ve ever had a sleepover before…”

“You haven’t?!” Rosalina gasped in shock, Sonic’s face changing to one of equal horror, “We certainly need to remedy that…”

In a quiet voice, Mie piped in, “In her defense, I’ve never been to one, either.” 

“That just makes it worse!” Sonic groaned, “And from what you’ve told us, you had controlling parents-”

“You mean have?”

Rosalina shook her head vehemently. “Only if you want it to,” she amended, “Perhaps I’m overstepping my boundaries, but while we may not be connected by blood, I think we’re about family by now.”

Before she could stop herself, Samus blurted, “Does that make our mutual attraction incestuous?” As Rosalina and her simultaneously reddened, Sonic burst out laughing. “You said it yourself,” he assured them through said laughter, “Family or not, we’re connected by how we feel about each other, not our opinions!”

You feel your bond with your fellow members of S.M.A.S.H. improving…

The conversation, however, died out as Mr. Dragmire returned, Popo and Nana in tow. “Sorry if we took longer than expected,” the teacher apologized, “These two needed to call their parents and let them know where they were.”

“Everything’s alright there, I’m presuming?” Mie checked, face twisted with concern.

“Yeah… we’re fine,” Popo promised. He and Nana still looked a bit sleepy in the physical, but it was clear they were mentally and emotionally refreshed.

“Mr. Dragmire gave us a rough idea of that other world,” Nana added. “So some guy named Ikaika Romão was kidnapped, and we’re using the power of our Personas to go find and save him?”

As Mie nodded and the twins took in this information, Popo suddenly paused. Squinted at Samus, he asked, “Is that what happened to you?”

Samus flinched. “You noticed I’d gone missing…?! I know I'm popular, but…” Rosalina rested a shoulder on Samus’ shoulder, effectively helping her calm down. 

Popo answered, “We didn’t think you’d been kidnapped until it hit the news that you’d been found!”

“And to be honest,” Nana tagged in, “our friend Nikki noticed and mentioned it.”

“She noticed Samus go missing too…?” Mie asked, shooting a brief look at Rosalina.

“Well, she does have a-” Nana elbowed Popo’s shoulder, shutting him up. “Ow!”

Mie had a decent guess what Popo had been about to say, but for the boy’s sake, they said, “I’m guessing it’s not your story to tell you.”

The two nodded, confirming the guess. “Here’s the next question we have,” Popo spoke up. He looked to his sister for reassurance before both at once asked, “Can we join you?”

“If you acknowledge the risks and don’t tell anyone, then I’d say welcome aboard!” Rosalina said, “Any objections?”

No one could find it within themselves to disagree. Shaking Nana’s hand, then Popo’s, Mr. Dragmire said, “Welcome to S.M.A.S.H., Popo and Nana Bylilly.”

After a few seconds were spent by the two basking in their newfound responsibility, Mie walked up to them. “And don’t forget that you can count on any of us at just about any time, OK?”

Before they could even lift a finger, Mie was immediately squished between the twins, the tight squeeze on both ends making them feel warm inside. “Heh… you guys mean so much to me already…”

You feel a bond forming with Popo and Nana Bylilly, destiny-entwined twin siblings…

Thou art I... And I am thou...

Thou hast established a new bond...

Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Lovers Arcana...

Lovers Rank 1!

Chapter Text

As everyone began to make their way home the previous day, Mr. Dragmire mentioned that he’d offered to let Popo and Nana stay with him if they didn’t feel comfortable at any time. The younger Bylillys had thanked him for the offer, but they had decided it was the smartest and best thing to do to at least go home and talk with their parents. Mr. Dragmire allowed them, but not without stating that if things went badly they could stay with him.

That night, Mie got a text in the groupchat while packing up their studying materials for the next day of school.

Nana: Hey, guys?

Popo: I think we forgot to say thanks earlier. You sorta saved our lives, after all.

Rosalina: Think nothing of it. If anything, you made it even by accepting your Shadow Selves.

Samus: Yeah. Tell me if I’m wrong, here, but the idea is this: we can subdue a Shadow Self, but only their true self can actually rid the Subspace Dimension of them.

Mie: Sounds about right.

Sonic: Speaking of all that… when are we going next?

Mr. Dragmire: It would be the 15th at earliest. I'd rather not lead you to fight for your lives and take your midterms within the same week, but we only have so many opportunities with our schedules...

Sonic: Aw, I wanted to forget about that… that’s next week. Great. 

Mie: I can study with you, if you want.

Samus: If you all want to get together and study at some point, that would be cool. I can’t do it today, but Friday is open.

Rosalina: Sounds good. I’d offer to help you tomorrow, Sonic, but I have Astronomy Club after school.

Mie: I can do one-on-one with Sonic if need be. I propose we pair up for studying tomorrow when we get the chance. Rosalina, you don’t have to skip Club - you pick a study partner between Samus, Popo and Nana. As for the three I’ve just mentioned, whichever of you two doesn’t get picked by Rosalina should pair up with the other.

Rosalina: I’ll take Samus.

Sonic: To the surprise of, like, nobody.

Popo: Wait, are you two dating?

Samus: We’re working personal stuff out before we start a relationship, so dating isn’t the right word. Waiting it out for each other might be the better term… I can’t think of anything better right now.

Nana: Family issues?

Samus: My foster parents are literally married men. Pika’s openly trans, and I keep hearing jokes about him and Pich’s “Aunt Libre” being the gayest of the family.

Rosalina: I have at least three brothers who are attracted to men and men alone. Cándido - who’s in middle-school - is bisexual and has a girlfriend, but he’s also dating this nice boy named Dino. 

Rosalina: … consensually, that is.

Popo: NOT A PROBLEM! Sorry if we came off that way. 

Nana: We’re both aro-ace. We were just worried for you both, that’s all.

Sonic: I really need to get better study habits…

Sonic: Oh, shit, more aro-aces? Hell yeah!

Mie: … I’ll see you after school tomorrow. You don’t have track practice or whatever, right?

Sonic: No, mix!

Mr. Dragmire: Mix?

Sonic: I know that the gender-neutral honorific (is that the word?) is Mx, so I based it off of that. If Mie isn’t okay with it, I won’t do it again.

Mie: No, I actually like it. Thanks, Sonic… that was really nice of you.

Wiping a stray tear away, Mie finished packing and went to sleep.

“You’re all doing rather well in the Culture unit,” Mr. Strife nodded, “Then again, this is one of the easier units. Hmmm… Mx. Gunter.” 

Mie hadn’t been slacking or snoozing, but they snapped to attention regardless. 

“What brand of candy bar will I be passing out after class this Friday if you get it right? And why that brand?”

“Don’t screw this up, Mie!” Ken Masters, one of the martial-arts club leaders (other than Ryu) called. Mr. Strife shot him a look, and he fell silent. 

It was said Mr. Strife was one of the scariest teachers in the school, but the fact that he was scary only when he wanted to be (and the fact there were more terrifying teachers according to the student body, Mr. Dragmire being among the top) put most folks at ease. Apparently there had once been a few rumors he was a mercenary once; they’d stopped rather suddenly after a while without confirmation, which plenty of people found suspicious.

“Kit-Kats, if I recall correctly,” Mie answered, “Kitto katsu - which sounds similar - means you are sure to pass, so the Japanese give them to students during entrance exam season.”

“Well done,” Mr. Strife nodded, smiling a little pridefully. As the bell rang, he reminded everyone, “Don’t forget - if you study, kitto katsu.”

Sonic found Mie barely a minute after class let out. Their normal route was easy enough to figure out by now.

“So, where are we headed?”

“Honestly, I was just gonna have us go to my house. Kinda anticlimactic, I know, but it’s genuinely the quietest place I have access to. You ever get distracted by someone talking about the science behind the pain of headaches so loudly that they become an example of it?”

“No…?”

“Lucky you.”

Thankfully the distance to the Wachowski residence wasn’t as long as Mie had assumed it would be. Sonic took it rather slow (or at least slower than his usual) for Mie’s sake. Of course, that could’ve also been because of the shorter distance, but Mie wasn’t complaining either way.

With how Sonic described his current life after everything his Shadow Self mentioned, the place was a significant amount bigger than Mie had pictured it in their head. It wasn’t exactly the Wentworth Estate, that was for sure, but it had two stories and a nice looking front yard, and to Mie, that was a sign of a pretty well-off house, with the addition of a garage not being anything too special.

And inside? Again, pretty chic. There was a stairway on the front left with a banister that looked like it had been slid down one too many times and what looked like a skateboard in the entry room near a shoe mat. Upstairs, they briefly spotted what was probably his guardians’ room before entering Sonic’s own bedroom.

It was wider than any bedroom should be, but the space was definitely being used. Two beds, one of which was shaped like a racecar, some little trophy with the name “Blueblur91” on it, a stack of comic books that really should’ve tipped over by now, a beanbag chair that had seen better days…

Mie occasionally paused as they took in the room, noticing some of the things didn’t look like they fit Sonic as a person. Was the thing that looked like a TV made of paper clips supposed to be some kind of old science fair project? Did Sonic even know how to fly a remote-control drone? And that mechanical dog under the race car bed just screamed Christmas present that you played with on Christmas and never used again.

Setting down his backpack and taking out what would be needed for a study session, Sonic said, “Sorry to mislead you, but this room’s too messy to study in. I just usually put my backpack here at the end of the day first thing when I get home. Does the dining room sound good?”

Mie saw no reason to argue as they headed to the dining room, only stopping for a bit when Sonic made some chili-cheese dogs for the both of them.

“Didn’t take you as a hot dog person,” they said as they both sat down.

“Big pork guy,” Sonic said, voice muffled through a bite of his food. “Always been my favorite since I was a kid. ‘Course, my parents thought chili-cheese anything was gross and… boorish, I think the word they used is.”

“Funny,” Mie admitted, “That’s how my folks are with pizza. I only ever got to have leftovers when my sibs went out, and that had to be snuck in. Would you believe I only really ever had pizza after coming to Ryūō?”

Eyes wide with horror, Sonic said, “The more I hear about your parents, the angrier I get. I’m guessing your L.O.T.E. isn’t Spanish?”

“Japanese,” Mie shook their head, “Sorry I can’t help you with that.”

“It’s cool,” Sonic shook his own head good-naturedly, “You should learn French with me as a side thing if you’re able, though. You’ll make Rosie’s week. She’s super-enthusiastic about her L.O.T.E., and she likes to insult me in French when she’s mad at me. I’ve tried to keep up, but it’s tough!”

“At least Spanish and French are similar in some ways…” Mie pointed out, “They’re both part of the same family of languages - Romantic or whatever.”

“I’ll… go with it,” Sonic said, “Now… I know I’m a sophomore, so that makes Chemistry out of the question.”

“More of Phys Ed, actually,” Mie pointed out, “I took Chemistry and most of your other classes last year, so I bet I can help you a little.”

“Works for me. You wanna start on that, or…?”

It was decided they’d start on their English stuff. Mr. Angenent and Mr. Haggard (Sonic’s teacher, a crabby old geezer who helped run the Occult Club and also taught library sciences at the local college) were both doing Shakespearean plays, so they and Sonic were able to share textbooks.

At one point, Sonic came upon a particularly long question with an answer that required a whole paragraph to be written. Mie’s pencil even ended up breaking from how much it was asking! When they turned to the side to get a new one, they almost bumped heads with an unknown young boy of what Mie guessed was about 6-8 years old with blond hair. Mie flung back in shock from his sudden appearance. “Oh! Uh… hi?”

Innocently, the boy asked, “Sonic, you promised me you’d help me with this level.”

Connecting the dots in their head, Mie squealed. “I didn’t know you had a brother!”

“Yeah, sorry I forgot to tell you,” Sonic apologized, “Miles, this is Mie. They’re one of my new friends that I told you about. Mie, this is Miles, though he’ll probably request you call him Tails until he gets to know you.”

“Oh, you’re Mie! Nice to finally meet you!” Tails greeted, holding out a hand for Mie. As they took it, the boy inquired, “Sonic’s been in way higher spirits ever since he met you. Did you have something to do with that?”

Mie and Sonic briefly exchanged worried looks before the first-mentioned teen came up with a response. “I have a good effect on people…” they answered, “or so I’m told.”

Well, it’s not like our issues are as in-the-past as those of Sonic, Rosalina, Samus, or Popo and Nana, their mind hissed poisonously, at least the shit happening with everyone else is already in motion or in the aftermath. For three of them, their original parents are dead or in jail, and for the twins, we’ll ensure Popo and Nana won’t be separated even with their folks still divorcing. Us, though… our parents are still alive, and God knows what they’ll do if they get their hands on us again… 

Shaking their head, they returned to see an innocently confused Miles- no, Tails - and a worried Sonic looking at them. “It’s… I’m fine. Sorry.” 

“It’s okay,” Sonic assured. “We all have those moments. Anyways, Tails, I’ll help you in a bit. Kinda in the middle of a study session here.”

“Can I help?”

“Heh, if you want to try,” Mie half-joked.

“I don’t mean to brag, but I may have skipped a grade or two.”

“He’s smarter than I am…” Sonic stage-whispered, confirming Tails’ boasts, “He made that paper-clip TV thing you saw in our room. If only more of his peers respected those smarts…” Under his breath, he added, “... same with a few of his teachers…”

Mie opened their mouth to ask what that meant but was promptly shut down when Tails peered past them to look at the question on Sonic’s homework. “You gotta remember that honest took two meanings in Othello,” he said, “In Shakespeare’s day, to call a man honest meant he was truthful; an honest woman was chaste, faithful, obedient to her husband or father. It was the worst insult possible to call a man a liar and a woman… well, a cheater.”

“Well, ain’t that a double standard…” Sonic mused as he finished writing his paragraph (he hadn’t directly copied Tails, of course).

“Yeah, but better people have always existed,” Tails pointed out, “Ursula K. Le Guin, Dolly Parton, Vincent Price…”

“Wait, who’s Vincent Price?” Mie asked.

“He was a horror actor,” Tails answered, “Vincent Price served on the Indian - Native American, mind you - Arts & Crafts Committee for over a decade, and curated Indigenous people’s art alongside more well-known works so they’d be sold like Monet, Picasso, and other famous artists! If I remember right, he was going to be Santa in When Halloween Met Christmas, but couldn’t give the directors the emotion they wanted due to the then-recent death of his wife.”

“... that’s so cool,” Mie whispered, awed by the intelligence of Sonic’s younger brother, “... and depressing.”

“It’s a tough life, that’s for sure,” Tails shrugged. “There’s a lot of interesting stuff you can find when the science and technology section of my school’s library is mostly populated by the older kids at my school…”

Thinking for a moment, Mie briefly looked at their homework packets on art and history. Realizing Vincent Price was the answer to a question, they grinned and filled it in. Looking at a history question, they wracked their brain for an answer. Having a potential one, they asked Tails, “Renaissance means rebirth, right?”

“Languages aren’t my best subject,” Tails admitted humbly, “but I know that one’s right.”

The two teens set about studying, Tails helping where he could. At one point, though, Tails was quizzing both of them about the Renaissance from Mie’s textbook (Sonic had World Geography rather than World History, but he figured it would be useful in advance). Mie had nailed the last question they’d gone over, and Tails had lauded them, politely saying, “Good job, ma’am!”

Mie cringed at Tails’ however-intentional misgendering. To their surprise, though, Tails caught onto his mistake quickly. “O-oh, did I misgender you? I’m so sorry! What should I call you!”

Seeing it was a genuine mistake, Mie said, “They/them, if that’s okay with you. I’m more surprised it didn’t come up earlier… wow, were we that deep into studying?”

“Tails would be an awesome teacher,” Sonic piped up. 

Still focused on his mistake, Tails smiled a little bit for a second. Noticing his guilt, Sonic got up from his seat and hugged Tails. “Little buddy, it’s okay. You didn’t mean to misgender them, right?” Tails shook his head vehemently. “Then you do what you’d want Mie to do for you and use the right pronouns from then on.”

“I wish I was better at this,” Tails sniffled, “You’d think I’d be much better at it given… well…”

Getting an inkling of the conversation that was about to happen, Mie got up to see themselves out of the room.

Tails, however, shook his head. “No, Mx. Mie, it’s fine. I think you’d be understanding, since I’m… not exactly cisgender, either.”

“Oh… have I been misgendering you?”

“N-no! You were perfect! I’m surprised you didn’t even notice that I…” At Mie’s confused look, Tails mumbled, “... that I’m not entirely a guy…”

“Hey.” Mie walked up to him, knelt to his level, and wiped away his tears. “You say you’re a guy, right?”

Sonic looked confused and a little on-edge, but Tails nodded, dispelling most of his bro’s worries. 

“Then you’re a boy, and that’s all there is to it! Don’t let people tell you if you should be a girl, or boy, or whatever you want to be… or how to be a certain gender…” Thinking for a moment, they added, “Do you have anyone other than Sonic and me that you can trust…?”

“It’s already widely-known at school that I don’t wanna be a girl,” Tails answered, “Coach Zavok struggles to get it right a lot; I’m not sure if it’s hateful, a genuine mistake, or something in between… same with Ms. Zeena. Most of the other teachers are neutral or accepting, but a handful of them and a good few other students give me a hard time. Mr. Zomom, my Culinary teacher, is at least sorta accepting and tries his best…” He perked up a bit and puffed out his chest a little. “... although I think it has more to do with the fact I’m a pretty good cook.”

Pondering a little, he piped up, “Actually, there’s a girl who always sits with me at lunch who hasn’t minded. We mostly eat in silence, like we made some sort of agreement.”

“First, you should speak to this girl. She may have something to tell you - perhaps regarding your or her gender identity - but it’s possible she’s too shy to speak up. Second…” Mie gave Tails their number. “If you need to talk with someone about your… heh… non-cissues, you can text me. I may not respond right away, but I’ll do my best.”

Tails had them wrapped up in a hug in a matter of seconds. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Even if I can’t have acceptance with all of my close ones, I can try to give it to this kiddo.

After Tails eventually broke away, Mie suggested, “How about we help you with that game? Sonic, can you help me pack our materi-” Looking back to the table, Sonic had thought ahead and not only packed up his half but sorted Mie’s in a way that made it easy to organize and return to their backpack. “Hey, thanks!”

Once Mie had packed up their stuff, they headed to Sonic and Tails’ room, where Tails booted up Annihilists 3. Apparently, it was a fighting game featuring characters from the series Investigator Fumetto. Mie had little experience with video games, but they had some; their folks had been more chill about that than most other things (pizza and ice cream being two previous examples).

They watched intently as Sonic faced off in what seemed to be the final battle of Story Mode. “Now I’ll show you!” Sonic declared as Time Sprinter teleported behind the opposing Cake Knight and landed the finishing blow, knocking his mind-control helmet off.

“That wasn't too hard, Tails… you’re way too good at Annihilists to lose this battle.”

“Uh… that implies it’s over…”

Sonic flinched as the implications shot back in, and he recovered just in time to block an attack from Sir Eyeball, the leader and mastermind of the villainous Eternal Majesties. “Shoulda figured! Wait…” He squinted at the health bar. “I don’t get my health back?!”

“That explains a lot…” Mie mused out loud.

“Okay, fine… leave it to BlueBlur91!” He imitated cricking his neck from side to side and resumed play. He was doing just well enough to lead - for every three blows his character landed or so, Sir Eyeball would nab one. In no time at all, both player and CPU were at the end of their ropes - the next good hit would decide it all.

Mie could have sworn the Sir Eyeball CPU was only so many pixels short of landing the finishing blow. Sonic’s character - a rough-and-tumble mutated hedgehog named Erina - ducked as her foe flew over her; as Sir Eyeball crashed to the floor, Erina back flipped and impaled Sir Eyeball through the back with a body-slam.

“Brutal…” Mie cringed as Sir Eyeball imploded in a blast of darkness. 

The ending cutscenes began to play, Tails letting out an excited cheer. “I’ve been trying to master that move for weeks! How did you do it on your first try?!”

“Well, let’s just say you’re talking to Ryūō's first-ever Annhilists 2 tournament champion!”

“You’re what?!”

Sonic scratched the back of his head. “It’s true, but… to be fair, the game was only a few months out at the time and the meta wasn’t fully developed yet, but I still have the trophy!”

“Oh, so that’s what that trophy’s for!” Mie realized, thoroughly impressed.

“Yup! I still place decently high in recent years. I’m not anywhere near high enough to even get a third-place trophy, but hey, gotta take the small victories while you can, right?”

“You should totally stream!” Tails piped up, “I’d follow you!”

“You’re biased, though!” Taking it seriously, though, Sonic thought about it. “I’d have to learn how to do all that techy stuff, but…”

“I could help! I’d have to learn some stuff myself, but I bet you we’d pick it up fast!”

Sonic’s eyes shot even wider as he looked at Tails. “This… I think we’ve hit something big, haven’t we?”

“Yeah!” Squirming in excitement, Tails squealed, “This is gonna be so cool!” 

“Sorry, but what do you mean by streaming?” Mie asked innocently, “I get the feeling it has nothing to do with, like, movie or TV services…”

Tails gave them a slack-jawed look, but a concerned look from Sonic kept him from reacting too loudly. As Sonic and Tails explained the ins and outs of streaming, Mie listened intently and took in the details with a smile. Mie had to get home at some point, sure, but they were smiling outwardly the whole way. And of course, they promised to keep in contact with Tails - a promise they would keep as best they could.

You’ve gained greater insight into Sonic's new family, even managing to help him and his little brother in the future…

Chariot Rank 3!

That night, though, Mie received another text from Sonic.

Sonic: don’t wanna monopolize your time, but would you mind training with me tomorrow? 

Sonic: refuse if you want… I wanna talk about that phone call a while back and Tails’ streaming idea.

Mie: No problem. I guess I should learn to fight barehanded in case I get disarmed. Where are we gonna train, though?

Sonic: I know the whole thing with Romão will be hanging over our heads, but I think South Town will be fine.

Mie: It could be a good idea to get an idea of him as a person from his workplace before we fight his Shadow Self. I’m up for it.

Sonic: sweet! see you there after classes!

Popo and Nana had joined the first four at lunch. Well, Sonic was still getting his lunch, but he wouldn’t be much longer. “We know we should talk about S.M.A.S.H. after school,” the male twin had whispered, “but we figured we should tell you guys about how Sigmund and Signy work.”

“Should we save this for when Mr. Dragmire can hear about it?” Rosalina wondered.

“We talked to him ahead of time,” Nana promised, “We have to summon them together, or our Personas won’t appear. They also can only attack at the same time rather than separately.”

“So it’s like two wielders using one Persona, even if there’s two different beings… what kind of abilities do they have?”

After closing their eyes and presumably communicating with their Personas, Popo responded, “Psi, Mapsi, Media and Rakukaja. We don’t get to cast it once per each of the two Personas, though, and both Sigmund and Signy will always have the same spells.”

“So it’s like Gehiago and Gutxiago from Teenyboppers?” Samus questioned. 

“Who?” Mie asked.

“Twin superheroes that gain super-speed when in physical contact with each other,” Samus explained. 

Nodding in understanding, Mie then had a thought. “Remember when Puff thought vampires existed, Rosalina?”

“Yes…?” Samus and the twins gave them funny looks, but stayed silent.

“What do you suppose the odds are that superhumans exist, too?”

“Implying that we’re not superhumans?” Samus pointed out, “Or, well, at least in the Subspace Dimension, we are.”

The sound of footsteps approaching ceased conversation; they saw Sonic approaching them happily, only to almost lose control of his tray of a cheeseburger and sweet potato fries by accidentally clipping another young man on the way. 

Not even the ketchup went flying, thank god, but Sonic’s eyes narrowed at the sight of the guy; clearly, he recognized him. “Hey! Was that intentional?”

As the guy tiredly responded, “No, Sonic. As much as I normally enjoy debates, I really don’t feel like arguing with you right now…” Mie heard a groan from a facepalming Rosalina. 

“You know that guy?” Samus asked, tensing up just a little.

“That would be Mario. He has roles in all sorts of clubs - Student Council included - a girlfriend, and makes time for them all… it’s honestly quite impressive. Sonic claims they have some sort of years-long rivalry, but I’m, like, 60% sure it’s just Sonic who thinks that.”

“Wait… that’s Dr. Mario’s kid? That Mario?” Mie asked. Further examining his facial features, they mused, “Well, the mustache checks out.” 

Realizing how pissed the look Sonic was giving Mario was, however, Mie got up to prevent a potential brawl from breaking out. They’d always been the voice of reason between their siblings, and they felt appreciated and (in a sense of the words) paid back when the two defended them against their parents.

“Ay, Sonic!” they hollered, loud enough to catch his ears but not loud enough to get the whole cafeteria looking at them, “I saw what happened. It was an accident, and nothing spilled. Nobody wants to get in any trouble, so let it be.”

Sonic didn’t look too happy, but he agreed. Shooting Mario a quick glare as he returned to his seat, he slapped his tray down.

“Sorry…” he apologized after tearing through half of his cheeseburger, “That guy’s just a jerk sometimes, and he’s always rubbed me the wrong way.”

“I already filled them in,” Rosalina sighed, “You don’t need to like him, but you really need to relax regarding him. What if he becomes a target or something and we need to save him?”

“I don’t want him to die, Rosie; I’d be working hard to take his Shadow Self down like the rest of us. I just want him to stop antagonizing me.”

“As much as we should probably address this,” Nana said worriedly, “let’s change the subject before things get too loud.”

As if Nana’s wish were granted, the bell rang for everyone to leave for class. Groaning, the team decided to pick the conversation up later.

Around the end of Art class, Mr. Eisner was going through a final few general art terms. Looking at Mie, he remarked, “You’ve been doing well so far, Mx. Mie. Let’s see… we’ve talked about shades and tints with black and white, but what is the term for when a hue has both black and white added to it?”

“I think that’s a tone,” Mie answered, “and another way to create a tone is to add gray to a hue.”

Mr. Eisner almost seemed astonished by the addendum, but he ultimately nodded proudly. “Top-of-the-line answer! I had forgotten to add that part. Excellent catch!” Looking quickly at the time, he managed to say, “Don’t forget that midterms are next week, all of you.” just as the bell rang.

As Mie stepped out of the art room to prepare for their trek to South Town, they got another text from Sonic.

Sonic: forgot to wait for you at school… sorry. meet me there?

Mie: Oh, Sonic… on my way!

On the way to meet Sonic at the gym, Mie had stopped by the Velvet Room; after a bit of fusion, they’d swapped out Cornish Jack for their new Persona Lhiannan Shee. As they fused their original Persona with Xian Li (the latter of whom would be repurchased after) to create the Lovers Persona, they swore they heard Cornish Jack whisper This is not goodbye. The closest thing they had to a Shadow Self’s reassuring words made it a lot easier to let go for now, even if they teared up a little. Yoshi said it was for the best, as there were many stronger Personas than Cornish Jack that Mie would be able to access in due time (plus, Sigmund and Signy had Psychic skills).

South Town was very different during the day. Despite the whirring and buzzing of the exercise equipment, everyone training there was quieter and far more serious. Most of the sound audible inside was the sounds of grunting as weights were lifted and sparring attacks were thrown; most everything else was kept to certain areas like the room where protein shakes and what have you were made.

“Yeah, not so ear-crunching when there isn’t an entire crowd in the other room, huh?” Sonic said, playfully jabbing Mie. “Don’t worry, I’ll get you a membership here if you want.”

The jab tickled their ribs, gaining an involuntary giggle out of Mie. “Thanks, but let’s just start with today. We’ll see where it goes from there.”

Mie had been placed in charge of the team’s funds (Mr. Dragmire called it a good lesson in personal finances), so they paid with some of the cash they’d accrued from the Shadows. When Sonic questioned if that was okay, Mie waved his concerns off with, “We’re spending money on training, so this is like a business expense.”

As they walked to the training room they would be using, Mie teased, “Figured you’d want a bit on the treadmill.”

“Eh… you take priority right now. ‘sides, I’m banned from using the treadmill for more than half an hour at a time since The Incident.”

“The Incident?” 

Mie thought they could see flames appearing in Sonic’s pupils as he said, “There was a malfunction. Blame my ex.”

“Ex? Was this before you realized you were aro-ace?”

“Yeah, Blaze moved away two years after we broke up,” Sonic explained briefly, “She was accepting, but honestly I don’t blame her for being sad. I think I should get in contact with her again…”

Setting up when they reached the training room, Sonic began coaching Mie on self-defense as a start. They listened intently and did the best they could to master the moves Sonic taught them.

“My parents insisted on me learning this in case something happened to me,” Sonic explained once Mie had gotten the hang of a few moves, “Got me a tutor and everything. They were pretty pleased to hear I wanted to join the fencing team, come to think of it.” He wasn’t even breaking a sweat as he explained it, still continuing the conversation as they trained. “Gotta say, though - this whole Subspace thing has made me a lot better at it than I anticipated!”

Mie was beginning to get distracted. Their eyes couldn’t focus on his movements and keep up with his words at the same time, eventually making them unable to even get a hit in.

“Sorry, is this too fast for you?” Mie couldn’t tell if that was supposed to be cocky or apologetic. “Yeah, I guess I do tend to get a little chatty when I’m fighting. Sorry about that… let’s get back to the basics for now.”

Nodding, Mie continued training with him. Sonic would continue to talk about whatever came to his mind, but not when going through moves or at times that would distract Mie. “See, you’re getting there!” and other phrases of positive reinforcement were the most he’d say during those times; it wasn’t easy to tell for either of them, but whether Mie was flustered or more motivated depended on the comment.

By the time Mie felt like they had given all they could, Sonic was still ready for more. “That’s jocks for you…” they muttered underneath their breath.

“Well, here’s another lesson for you,” Sonic instructed around the time they were winding down for a breather, “Distraction is an art form. The Shadows may not use it, but clearly Shadow Selves do. We should be ready for that, you know?”

“But I didn’t have a Shadow Self…” Mie said as they blocked a chop. Rearing a fist back, they were about to swing when-

“I’m gonna meet with Elise soon.”

“Huh?” The next thing Mie knew, they were on the floor. Staring up at Sonic, they watched him bow.

At their stupefied expression, Sonic couldn’t help but laugh a little. “You learned that from fencing?” Mie asked, thoroughly dumbfounded.

“Nope! Self-defense classes, remember?” Sonic reminded them as he helped them up, “You said it yourself earlier - anything could be useful information in battle!”

“You got me, dude,” Mie themselves couldn’t help but let out a laugh, “Seriously, though… who’s Elise again?”

Sonic reminded them of when he’d taken a surprisingly-important call when the two had been at Mintendo. “She was a childhood friend of mine,” he explained, “Our families were good friends for a long while, but a few years back, the Wentworths and Soleannas split after some argument by our… parents. We haven’t seen each other in years, but last month, she called me on accident earlier, and I think we’re both really glad I did.”

“Is she… y’know…?”

“Wealthy? Yup. I dunno if her parents are up to anything scummy - I don’t remember them all that well.” He let out a laugh that sounded sort of sad as well as happy. “Who knows what they’d think about me now… especially since my folks are in the slammer.”

“They may have been horrible people, but I’d like to hope they’d be okay with it. What do you remember from the time you guys spent together?” 

“I was mostly the one leading her on adventures,” Sonic recalled after a moment of thought, “The life of a rich kid can be both freeing and restricting, so I tried to get her at least into the backyard a lot. There was this one time where I ran while holding her hand, we tripped, and I think I almost dislocated her arm. She was okay, though, don’t worry.”

“She’s not as athletic as you, is she?”

“Hardly… I think her parents are a bit overprotective, but it was so long ago that I don’t really remember. I think it’s funny how her last name is supposed to mean Sun Ancestor, though. Something about said ancestors running a temple to some solar deity or another a long time ago.”

“Well, look at you, Mr. ‘Shitty Study Habits’!”

“She taught me that a while before we split. Haven’t forgotten it since.”

The two had a good laugh.

Sonic is beginning to reconnect with a old friend…

Chariot Rank 4!

It wasn’t long after that conversation that Sonic got the feeling Mie had reached their limit for the day. He offered to take them out for ramen, but they turned it down in order to save a bit of cash. Sonic was more than understanding, wanting to save a bit of cash himself.

As they walked home, Sonic said, “So Tails is already pretty far along in setting up all that streaming stuff. It’s honestly a little intimidating, going into the same field as Appetancy, Madisceptra and Squawktopod… but I’m not just gonna wallow in fear of the unknown anymore. Nothing’s gonna get better for me if I don’t fight for my future, right?”

“Atta boy,” Mie lauded, giving him a proud slap on his back, “Keep up the good fight!”

Sonic’s sunny attitude left a good taste in Mie’s mouth, even after Fox’s failed, extremely-over-spiced attempt at peppercorn pork chops.

Chapter Text

Mie had been brushing their teeth that morning when they got a text in the S.M.A.S.H. group chat that nearly made them choke.

Rosalina: TURN THAT CHOP SUEY DOWN, ARIE, OR THAT BOOMBOX IS GOING DOWN YOUR FUCKING THROAT!

Mr. Dragmire: … language?

Sonic: Save it for after school, viejo.

Mr. Dragmire: Espera problemas si no te callas, mocoso azul.

Sonic: Mr. Cassidy hasn’t taught us like half those words, showoff.

Sonic: I’m guessing that was a wrong-chat moment. You alright, Rosie?

Rosalina: A-ack! 

Samus: hot…

Rosalina: adhfadjhg

Mie: You guys nearly made me choke on my toothbrush TWICE now!

Samus: You text and brush at the same time?

Sonic: You don’t?

Mie: I was reading while brushing…

Mr. Dragmire: As much as I hate to distract you from your conversation, let me not forget to say this.

Mr. Dragmire: Rosalina mentioned the idea of a study session for you all today. I would be there to help, but I need to grade papers for my classes before midterms start.

Popo: Got it. I’ll let Sis know.

Sonic: She still asleep?

Popo: It’s the last day of classes before midterms. Can you blame her?

Samus: Ugh, don’t even get me started. 

Mr. Dragmire: In any case, I will be leaving some of the review information from all your science classes with Rosalina.

Rosalina: I’m guessing I should stop by during lunch and pick those up?

Mr. Dragmire: If you’re able to.

Rosalina: Consider it done.

Sonic: The question rises: where are we doing this?

Samus: My house might be open, but Pika and Pich have Saturday set aside to study. They may bother us…

Rosalina: Similar story with my place…

Sonic: Yeah, I’m in the same boat.

Nana: We’ll ask Mom and Dad. They’re a bit on edge because of the divorce and all, though.

Mie: I’ll ask my bosses if we can use my room.

Popo: Wait, wait, wait… bosses? Your parents sell you or something?

Sonic: IIRC, their bio parents are shit, but they wouldn’t…

Mie: Nah. The McCloud-Lombardis took sympathy on me or something. We’re doing some ‘trial thingy’ where I can go back to the apartment I had ahead of time if I want to.

Nana: Someone’s gonna have to fill us in on this whole thing…

Samus: I got you, kids.

Popo: KIDS?!

Nana: We’re, like, 2 years younger than you at MOST!

Samus: My point precisely. You two are full-on Baby Mode.

Samus: You have a license for that, right?

Samus: To be that baby?

Popo: Mean!

Nana: SO mean!

Sonic: Lombardi…

Mr. Dragmire: Do you recognize that name?

Sonic: Yeah… some dude with that name on his badge was the one who took me to the place I stayed at for a bit when my parents were arrested.

“You’ve made good friends, huh, kiddo?” Falco’s voice came, making Mie eep as they stepped out of the bathroom. Raising an eyebrow, they jested, “Awfully jumpy for this early.”

Unable to formulate a response, Mie was dead silent for a second, making Falco narrow his eyes. “Everything okay in that bathroom…?”

“It’s… not a discussion for this early in the morning…” An idea then came to them. “Oh, and if it’s okay, my friends need a place to study for midterms… can we do that in my room? We won’t make a mess of the shared space, I promise!”

“That’s fine,” Fox said as he exited he and Falco’s bedroom, “I’d ask you to keep it down as long as they’re there, but you’re all teenagers. I’m not exactly expecting too much quiet, but… just don’t break anything.”

“We’ll do our best!” Mie promised, already having whipped out their phone to inform their friends.

Mie: My bosses said we’re good to do things here.

The idea made them giddy, so much so that they practically jumped out the door on the way to school, almost losing their balance. They would have checked their phone and seen the responses - varying in wording but all the same of affirmation.

You feel your bond with your bosses Fox and Falco improving…

That same excitement carried them throughout the school day to an almost-worrisome degree, but thankfully, they were able to get some of that energy out during P.E..

“Take 5 for notes, everyone!” Ms. Fitzroy called during an easier day (probably due to the upcoming midterms) - running laps around the auditorium. Mie cringed a little as Mr. Mishima blew the whistle for a few stragglers who were still catching their breath.

After a few questions for other students went by, Ms. Fitzroy turned her attention to Mie. As it had begun to do recently (or perhaps as Mie had begun to notice recently), a brief second of something flashed across the teacher’s face, but she asked them their question before they could discern it as always. “What’s the difference between aerobic exercise and anaerobic exercise?”

“To do anaerobic exercise, you get your energy from muscles,” Mie answered, “but aerobic exercise requires energy gathered from oxygen.”

“Correct,” Ms. Fitzroy nodded swiftly, “but aerobic exercise can also come from energy you get from carbohydrates, proteins and fits… er, fats.”

A few students giggled at her verbal typo. “Anaerobic exercises are often short and intense, such as weightlifting and sprints,” Mr. Mishima continued abruptly, shutting them up, “whereas aerobic exercises are often repetitive in manner, the likes of which include recreational sports and endurance activities.”

Mie was attentive as always in taking notes, only raising their hand to ask questions, answer questions, or make sure they didn’t miss or mishear something.

“Good luck to you all,” Mr. Mishima said as everyone headed to their 6th period.

Mie finally checked their phone during a moment in Art. Mr. Eisner had caught them, but after explaining they were planning a study session and promising to pocket it once done (which would go quickly, they added), he gave them a nod. True to their word, they pocketed it after reading the messages.

The spot on their thigh where their phone resided in their pocket bothered them, and they clenched at the cloth around it. This was going to be a long class…

How long had Mie been holding that for? The bell was ringing, so it must’ve been long. They were able to push their phone out to tell everyone that they were ready.

Mie: As long as we don’t break anything and keep things to a relatively normal-by-teenager-standards volume, we’re golden.

They also texted the address to the detectives’ house.

Sonic: Yeah, I think that’s the place. Don’t really remember much of the interior though.

Rosalina: Do you think Mr. Lombardi would recognize you or something?

Samus: That would be… VERY awkward.

Nana: If it’s any silver lining, I doubt he remembers every single case he’s ever taken. 

Popo: And didn’t you say it was a few years ago?

Mie: Well, we’ll see. Sonic, if things get uncomfortable, motion and I’ll step in.

Sonic: Thanks, sib.

Mie took a deep breath, trying to uphold their hope that there wouldn’t be any conflict between the two hotheads. When they got home, they stared at the window, waiting for whoever would be first to arrive.

For the first few minutes, no one was there, and Mie was almost ready to give up and go to their room until Fox or Falco called for them to come to the door. They figured Sonic would naturally be the first one to show up, but surprisingly, just as they were about to get up, they saw who was first to arrive. Mie ran up to the front door, swung it open, and greeted Rosalina and Samus with a gripping hug.

“Hey, it’s just a study session,” Samus chuckled.

“Sorry, I was just excited.”

Rosalina had an interesting question. “So should we start now or wait for the others to get here?”

“Depends on what classes you guys share,” Fox said as he stepped out of the room, “Fox McCloud. You two are…” He pointed at them in the wrong order. “Samus and Rosalina, right?”

“I’m afraid you swapped it, sir,” Samus said, cringing a little.

“Whoops…” Fox apologized, before suddenly squinting at Samus. “Wait, you’re…”

Perplexed, Samus looked at the older man, concerned. Fox then suddenly coughed a bit. “Sorry, it’s nothing.”

Samus and the other teens decided to disregard it just as Sonic arrived. “Woah…” the blue-tipped teen whistled, “How’d you guys get here before me? Oh, duh. I promised Lena and Jeremy a rematch next Saturday…”

“What about a rematch with who now?” Falco had come down at what might have ended up being the worst possible time. It didn’t help that he and Sonic clearly recognized each other on the spot. “... Maurice, right?” the man asked cautiously.

“... yeah,” Sonic responded, “... how’s life?”

“It’s… good,” Falco answered, “How’s yours?” Instantly recognizing he’d said something stupid, he opened his mouth to amend his statement, but Sonic shook his head.

“Nah, it’s cool. Things are good now. The Wachowskis are cool, and I only have to see my old folks if I want to.”

“That’s a big relief,” Falco said honestly, “If things go wrong again, remind me to give you a card.”

Sonic nodded neutrally. Mie wiped their brow, thankful that nothing went too wrong between Sonic and Falco.

“Uh…” a younger voice asked, followed by another similar voice asking, “Is something wrong?”

“Popo! Nana!” Mie immediately came over to hug the newest additions to their group.

“Are you always this affectionate?” Nana asked.

“Probably,” Samus jokingly scoffed.

“Okay,” Sonic said, taking the reins for Mie and calming them down a bit, “I think that’s everyone, right?” Everyone but Fox and Falco nodded. “Then let’s get to Mie’s room and see what we can do!”

As Mie led their friends to their room and Falco and Fox returned to theirs, Falco immediately asked, “That was Samus Aran, right? The kid that disappeared outta nowhere?”

“That’s the one,” Fox nodded, “My guess is the kid befriended her outta sheer circumstance. They’ve got a good heart, and you can see it. However… remember when we asked them about her on the 26th?”

“Yeah…?” Falco said slowly, before recalling Mie had frozen up briefly. “Oh… you don’t seriously think…”

“I doubt it,” Fox shook his head, “but as I was going to tell you, there’s another disappearance case.” Passing over a file, he explained, “It’s a man known as Ikaika Romão. He was last seen at the diner Emmeryn’s… and if the witnesses’ account is correct, Aran and her foster family were with him. His door was left wide-open when it was discovered.”

“So what do we do about…?”

“The odds Mie and Romão end up meeting each other, never mind befriending each other, are far slimmer than they were with Samus…” Fox said, “but they're not zero.”

“Alright, so Popo and Nana are freshmen, so we can easily help them with their stuff quickly.”

“Well, except for their L.O.T.E..”

“That’s not a problem,” Popo said, “We demonstrated skill in Navajo when we were registering for high-school…”

“... so we don’t need to take language classes!” Nana added, “I’d like to take a class for some other language if I have open electives later on, though.”

“Got any in mind?” Sonic asked.

“Not now, Sonic,” Rosalina pointed out, “By our guess, you’re in Biology, correct?”

“Integrated Physics and Chemistry, actually,” Nana corrected, “We took that Bio class in middle-school.”

“I did hear you were very good at science,” Samus nodded, “What are your weak points?”

“... English and our career path classes,” Popo answered, “I’m pretty sure you guys aren’t taking any S.T.E.M. classes, but we’ll get Mr. Dragmire’s help there later. For now… how about we all get some English done first?”

Everyone was covering Shakespeare in some class or another (the juniors were reading some of it in their Theatre electives), so they all agreed.

“Anyone remember what happened to Cordelia in King Lear?” Sonic piped up.

“She was ordered to be killed by the villainous Edmund; it was revealed right before he died, having been slain by his brother Edgar,” Rosalina recalled, “but by the time they were off to stop it, she was already hanged in her prison.”

“Man…” Samus shivered, “That was Lear’s only faithful daughter, right? Poor guy… to lose your daughter’s got to stink.”

Putting the thoughts of their own progenitor aside, Mie could tell Samus was thinking about her own father. Rodney, if they remembered what Shadow Samus had said.

After a while, they went onto Math. “So…” Popo said (they were starting on the freshies’ work and moving their way up for each subject) not too long into that, “the review we were given for Algebra 1 has “(5x-3) x (4x+2)” for this problem. Anyone mind helping us on that one?”

“Sure,” Mie answered, “Remember F.O.I.L.? Multiply 5x by 4x, then 5x by 2, -3 by 4x, and -3 by 2.” When the twins did so, Mie continued, “Group any matching exponents from there. You should have a trinomial at the end.”

By the end, Nana and her brother had acquired the correct answer of - 20x2-2x-6. From there, they were able to complete everyone’s math reviews and whatnot quickly.

Science - which was either Chemistry, Physics or some combination of the two - actually went smoothly for everyone but Sonic (Mie and Samus were only decent), given how good Rosalina and the twins were at the subject. “So… frequencies and periods are inversely related, right?” Sonic checked.

“f = 1/T, and T = 1/f,” Samus answered, “Frequency is f, and T is period - the time, if that helps to think about it that way.” 

“Furthermore,” Rosalina added almost giddily, “the speed of a wave is equivalent to a wavelength - represented by lambda - divided by the period of time, which thus equals wavelength multiplied by frequency, and-”

“No overloading, please,” Sonic groaned, “Mercy, Rosie!”

This earned laughter from everyone else, and even Sonic couldn’t help but laugh. “I think Mr. Dragmire has competition,” Nana chuckled.

“Don’t tell him that,” Samus chuckled, “Something tells me he’ll get threatened.”

“That, or he’ll take her under his wing,” Mie countered jokingly, “We’ll be down a member… and a healer.”

After a while more of jesting, studying for the other subjects went by in a flash. Mie had particularly excelled in the History unit that day (panem et circenses, people).

Sonic, on the other hand, ruled the roost in P.E. and Health… though it wasn’t without its fair share of laughs. 

“The FitnessGram Pacer Test is a multistage aerobic capacity test-” 

“Respectfully, Sonic, shut up.”

“That's the most eloquent I think I’ve ever heard you.”

“Hey! … remember, aerobic means exercises that require oxygen or those energy-group things - carbs, proteins and fats.” 

By the time it got darker out and the time came to head home, everyone left feeling as confident as they could on what subjects they were able to cover. Later that night, though, right before they went to bed, Mie and everyone else in S.M.A.S.H. got a text of Popo and Nana leaning on two shiny-looking pickaxes.

Popo: You guys like it?

Nana: We’re ready to go, more than ever before!

Sonic: We had the thought on the way home from studying. Weapons acquired!

Mie: I’ll pay you back with the funds from our missions soon. 

Sonic: Can’t believe I’m the one saying this, but no rush.

Mr. Dragmire: Excellent wirk.

Sonic: wirk

Popo: wirk

Nana: wirk

Samus: wirk

Rosalina: … 

Mie: do it for the memes, Rosa. wirk

Rosalina: … wirk

Mr. Dragmire: I’m going to bed now. Grading can wait until my newly-formed headache goes away.

Laughing a little to themselves, Mie went to bed. It was best to be up with energy tomorrow, after all.

You feel your bond with Sonic, Popo, Nana, Rosalina and Samus improving... 

Chapter Text

“WE ARE SHADOWS… THE TRUE, INNERMOST SELVES…”

Mie panted loudly, their battered and bruised body skidding back as Shadow Mie transformed. It didn't make sense. They had a Persona, why would they have a Shadow Self?

They placed a hand on their blaster, preparing to fire, but two things made their heart stop cold as they got a look at their foe.

First: the blaster only made a toy-like chk-chk sound, implying it was out of juice and thus useless other than for bashing. That wasn’t good… and if their Shadow Self was out here, that meant they couldn’t summon their Personas.

Second: The Shadow Self’s monster form was a frightening, goopy amalgamation of their family.

The kneecaps had the faces of Mia and Mio on them (albeit with eyes pitch black), and the legs were colored after their hair and respective favorite colors - the left leg for Mia was red with black lines going down like prison bars, and the right leg was Mio’s blue with light-yellow marks in a jagged pattern.

Looking further up, they saw the neck had split into two, similar to that of Nana and Popo’s Shadow Selves. One head held the white glowing-eyed face of Elisa Gunter, and the other held that of Tyrone Gunter.

Tyrone and Elisa’s mouths seemed to split in ways no human face should, revealing two rows of razor-sharp teeth from which some sort of sanguine liquid dripped like drool. Together, the heads lunged for Mie, who couldn’t find the energy to move, let alone dodge-

You got an issue? I know what to do! Pick out your fighter! I’m gonna knock out you!

Mie shot up from their bed, flailing around wildly. Their family’s Shadow Selves were here, and that put Fox and Falco in d-

Oh. It was just a nightmare. That’s good.

What wasn’t so good was that they knew from previous experience there was no way they were getting any sleep after this. Considering today and tomorrow were workdays, this meant trouble. Hopefully Fox and Falco would understand.

All this commotion begins, roping me in, whoa! I don’t know what this is, mostly-

Regardless, they turned off their alarm and went to their bathroom for their morning routine.

They moved quickly, and by the time Fox and Falco entered the kitchen, Mie had their coffees ready. By now, Mie was expecting to do roughly the same thing they’d been doing so far since their first day working for the two detectives.

Fox and Falco, it seemed, had other plans.

“By the way, today’s going to be your first day at Lylat, so we’re going to drive over in a bit.”

That got Mie pausing on a bite of scrambled eggs, perhaps longer than they should have. Swallowing shortly after realizing that, they meekly uttered, “What?”

“Well you didn’t think you were gonna be the coffee kid forever, didja?” Falco joked. He soon got the feeling that was a bit insensitively-phrased.

In an attempt to save face, Fox smoothly piped up, “Point is, we think you’re ready for the full workspace.” 

“Right…” Mie nodded, “Do we go now, or…?”

“I dunno about Fox, but I need to wake up a little more,” Falco yawned, “I recommend you grab anything you would need to pass time when nothing’s needed now. Textbooks, phone, whatever - we just don’t wantcha complaining to us you don’t got nothin’ to do.”

“I’d figure something out,” Mie shrugged, “and I think it would be rude of me to request something like that in that sort of situation.”

“We’re just warning you, that’s all,” Fox continued as he redid his tie, “Nothing meant by it, but you don’t have much to keep yourself busy besides your phone. If you want, you can go see if any stores are open after work today.”

“Why not tomorrow night?” Falco inquired curiously.

“Midterms…” Mie answered.

Falco cringed. “Yeah, that checks out.”

“Well, that explains the study session yesterday,” Fox realized. Flashing Mie a thumbs-up, they lauded, “You’re pretty responsible, kid.”

Mie merely nodded and smiled in a sign of gratitude to him before setting about doing the dishes. Once that was done, they began packing in preparation. It wasn’t too long before they and their bosses were on their way to Lylat Detective Agency.

Despite having seen it before, after everything that happened with the Subspace Dimension so far, the inside of the agency had become but a distant memory. Still, the quality improvement of the area for work gave Mie a bit of confidence. They felt as if they were moving up in the workplace.

As Falco unlocked the door to the building, Fox explained, “Just so you know, you’re not just making coffee and what have you this time. You’re on secretary business first and foremost - we have someone who’ll guide you through how that works, of course - and we have a room with documents and notes that you might need to send between us and our coworkers.”

“Coworkers?”

“Yeah, like-”

“I was right to see if you were working here today, it seems.”

Mie jumped half out of their skin at the vaguely-familiar gravelly voice from behind them.

“Oh! Uh… O'Donnell, right?” Mie asked. Wolf merely nodded, face set in neutral displeasure.

Falco let out a whistle. “Does your silence have an off-mode, Wolf?”

“Hmph…” the less-familiar man simply scoffed in response, “If only you were less loquacious yourself, Lombardi.”

The staredown between Falco and Wolf was almost hastily cut off as Fox sternly got them to break it up. The looks dissipated as everyone went inside, Wolf quickly breaking away from the group to go to his office room in the building.

“Does this always happen?” Mie asked.

Fox could only facepalm in frustration. “Unfortunately… he’s aggravating, but he’s good at what he does and what he needs to do.”

Just then, the doors flew open, a young adult with a green streak of hair hidden under a navy-blue baseball cap hurrying in. “Sorry I’m late…” he wailed, “Traffic was nuts today!” It was only then when he noticed Mie. “Oh! You are…?”

“Right, I’ll introduce you to the other members of the agency as we go along,” Fox told Mie, “This is Slippy. He’s our technician while he’s not in college, and… an old family friend.”

Mie figured there was more to the story, but ultimately didn’t bring anything up.

Fox then walked Mie to an office room, where the sounds of various printers and whatnot filled the background. As other coworkers filed in, he introduced them.

“This is Dillon. He doesn’t talk much, but he’s our voice of reason when nobody else can or will be… ah, and he’s also your predecessor in the whole gopher business.”

Dillon said nothing, merely tipping a cowboy hat to Mie. Understanding he preferred to be mostly quiet, Mie merely nodded back.

More workers came and went, and so did explanations on how to work the desk from Fox, Falco and Slippy. Nothing really happened, aside from an accidental wrong number placing an order to Mintendo. Mie was still kind enough to direct them to the place after some research.

In the middle of their shift, Mie happened to notice Wolf walking by their station, a cup of black coffee they’d made him in hand. “Everything good, Mr. O’Donnell?”

“Just stretching and all,” Wolf scoffed. “Don’t think just because we’re working together automatically means we have to be all buddy-buddy with each other.”

“Maybe not,” Mie shrugged, “but it beats being begrudging coworkers or even enemies.”

Mie’s curiosity was then piqued when they heard Wolf mumble, “Just like his dad, huh…?”

“Hm?”

Wolf gave them a strange, somewhat thoughtful look. “Good ear, kid. Don’t know you well enough to trust you with the story, but perhaps I’ll warm up to you.” Taking a sip of his coffee, Wolf started walking back to the office rooms. “Coffee’s pretty good, by the way.”

While Mie didn’t trust Wolf, their mind was split between their curiosity to know what Wolf knew about Fox’s dad and their desire to respect Fox’s privacy. In the end, one side mostly gave way.

When Wolf opened up to them enough to tell them the story, they’d certainly humor him, but given the animosity he and their bosses seemed to have, Mie had no idea if Wolf would tell them the full truth. Well, either way, it could wait.

They had work to do.

Work went by smoothly, and Mie went back to the house with Fox and Falco at the end of the day.

On the drive back, Falco casually wondered, “You mind if we ask another sorta-invasive question?”

“Maybe? Depends on the question.”

“Understandable,” Falco nodded, “You ain’t obligated to answer.”

“Anyways,” Fox asked, “We noticed you looked pretty out of it this morning. Did something happen last night?”

“It’s just…” Mie almost elaborated more on their nightmare, but decided against it, “I had trouble sleeping, that’s all.”

Odds were Fox and Falco didn’t want to hear any more of their crap.

The rest of the drive was spent in relative silence. It wasn’t an awkward silence, but with everyone wanting to say something but not knowing what it wasn’t 100% peaceful, either. All Mie could do was stare out the window and watch the rest of the city pass them by.

The rest of the night and Sunday’s work hours passed almost in a blur, and Fox and Falco were handing Mie their pay for the week before they realized it was over. Hopefully I didn’t fall asleep or something, they jested to themselves.

On the way back, Fox once more struck up a conversation with Mie. “Hey, kid… if something comes up at work and you’re not sure how to do it, or if you forget a step, you can always ask one of us. I promise you we wouldn’t do something like hold it against you.”

It was good to know, and Mie wouldn’t deny the warm feeling Fox’s words gave them. “... thank you. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Fox and Falco are willing to be as patient with you as is needed…

Judgement Rank 2!

It wasn’t the most fun, going to bed not long after they all got back to the house, but Mie knew it was wise.

Midterms were not going to be fun.

Chapter Text

Sonic: If any of us don’t make it, I just want to tell you guys that it’s been a great run.

Mie: You say that like we’re going to die from midterms.

Sonic: Rosie might not, but I definitely could. IDK how you do in midterms, but…

Popo: No, he has a point. 

Nana: I think death by midterms is certainly possible.

Sonic: Isn’t this you two’s first time with major exams like this?

Nana: Our parents warned us about this. 

Popo: They hated taking midterms and finals… 

Samus: You’re being a bad role model, Sonic.

Mie: Can you at least think positively about this? 

Rosalina: And if one more person texts something along the lines of “I’m positive that we’re going to die”, I will personally see to it that it’s not the midterms that kill you.

Sonic: Tell the Wachowskis I think they’re really cool… and that Tails gets all my video games.

Rosalina: WHAT DID I JUST SAY?

Sonic: I’d rather die to you than to midterms. At least that’d be a noble way to go out.

Samus: Once again, Sonic is right.

Rosalina: You’re an exception, Samus. I won’t kill you.

Samus: Damn, I wanted to go out nobly…

Mr. Dragmire: Good luck, all of you. I think tomorrow is our next opportunity to traverse the Subspace Dimension, so be ready for that.

Sonic: Boy, it’s gonna be a busy week.

…

Sonic: Mr. Dragmire?

Popo: I guess he’s busy preparing for the exams…

Nana: Good luck, everyone!

Laughing quietly, Mie shut off their phone as they said goodbye to Fox and Falco and walked out the door on their way to school.

The outside felt surprisingly empty compared to a normal school day, only adding to the tinge of fear they felt as they walked inside.

As Sonic ran up to the school from behind them, they stopped him with a light whistle. Giving the boy a look, Mie said, “You’re gonna do fine. We studied as best we could.”

“Well, I know that.” At Mie’s unconvinced look, Sonic pouted. “I’m serious! I actually do well on most of my exams. Most people believe I don’t… and I don’t blame ‘em. To be honest, exams really stress me out, so this is my way of letting out that frustration more healthily.”

“I get it…” Mie nodded, “Sorry for assuming the worst of you. It wasn’t cool of me, and I’m gonna do better from here on.” A thought occurred to them. “Who else knows about how much stress this is?”

“Only you and Rosie…”

Mie nodded thoughtfully. “You get your privacy, but don’t forget you can talk to any of us at any time, okay?”

Sonic smiled back. “Okay.”

You feel your bond with Sonic improving…

With that, the two split off to whichever classrooms they were testing in. Today, Mie’s tests were for History, Math and Health, and the questions Mie nailed most easily were:

Which of these could poorer Egyptian women not do: initiate a divorce, become a doctor, own property, or carry out business deals? Well, from what Mie had been taught, while women could become doctors, it was usually only done by the wealthier class.

Who was the last king of Rome? Tarquin the Proud, or Tarquinius Superbus. He was thrown out when his son… violated a noblewoman named Lucretia. Gross. 

Name a number with two lemniscate-shaped digits. Lemniscate meant ribbonlike, which described both 8 and infinity, so they said 808.

What is DXIV in Arabic numerals? D, X, IV… 514!

What is a patella, and how many do adult humans have? Mie was pretty sure those were the kneecaps, and adults had two of them - one for each leg.

The next day’s exams were in Science, P.E. and both language classes. Entering Mr. Dragmire’s classroom that morning, Mie and Rosalina shot each other confident nods.

You feel your bond with Rosalina improving…

Any further thought was cut off as Mr. Dragmire entered to administer the midterms.

Which one of these is a vector quantity: velocity, power, density, or temperature? Mie had studied hard enough to know velocity was the answer. The other three were scalar quantities.

What instrument is used to measure gas pressure? That was a manometer.

Is swimming an anaerobic or aerobic activity? It was aerobic, as one needed oxygen to swim.

Which character is supposed to represent the failure of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby? Mie was sure this was the eponymous Jay Gatsby himself.

What was the original name of Polonius in the First Quarto of Hamlet? Corambis, if Mie recalled properly.

If you’re in the same grade as someone, they are described with which of these words: kansei, furosei, teisei, or dokyusei? Dokyusei was the answer Mie picked; kansei was about completion, furosei meant bathing, and Mie wasn’t sure teisei was a word in Japanese.

Nice try, Mr. Strife, and thanks for the chocolate.

On the last day of midterms, Mie had to take exams for all their electives. Theatre also required them to memorize and recite a monologue as convincingly as possible. Mie had picked one they resonated with… however painfully so.

That was their last thing of the day, though. Giving Popo and Nana a high-five for good luck, Mie watched them go before they saw Samus enter the classroom for Music. One last fist-bump later, Mie cricked their neck from side to side as Ms. Eisner started the exams.

You feel your bond with Samus, Nana and Popo improve…

Where did the instruments that the ukulele was adapted from originate? While Mie was pretty sure the ukulele itself was Hawaiian, they knew it took some inspiration from instruments called the machete, cavaquinho, timple, and rajão - all of which were from Portugal.

When the volume of a passage decreases gradually, what is the term for it? Oh, this was a decrescendo!

Which religious group encouraged the Baroque Movement? If Mie was correct, it was the Catholics, as a way to counter the styles of art, music and architecture created by the Protestants.

Who wrote the longest-running play in the United Kingdom, and what was that play named? Mie was pretty sure it was The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie.

Once they’d turned in their Theatre exam, Mie walked into the adjacent room where Mr. Kingston, Mrs. Bandoni & Ms. Pop awaited them.

“Mx. Gunter,” Mr. Kingston greeted kindly, “We have the monologue you chose. Start whenever you’re ready.”

Mie took a deep breath - to calm one’s mind, just as Mr. Kingston had taught them. Their face adopted a look of frustrated anger, and they launched into the outburst of a child finally standing up to the abuse their vain mother had done to them, their brother and their dog.

“I'm the one who is sick of you, Mother! Children… children are not just things that belong to their parents! Animals are not just things with whom people can do whatever they want to! I am alive! Cosmo is alive! We are not things for you to collect and mistreat! We're not made for you to just discard when you get bored with us! That is terrible, Mother! You are terrible!”

Mie was a little surprised to see that the three educators couldn’t help but break into golf claps. “Very impressive, Mx. Gunter,” Mrs. Bandoni lauded proudly, “I have got to get you into the performance classes next fall.”

“Thank you very much,” Mie said humbly, “I’ll definitely consider it.”

Students who had finished all their midterms for each day were allowed to leave after their last post-lunch class. Different teachers would have their students stick around to study for their next exams, but this was the last day of midterms, so Mie was fine.

They quickly found Rosalina chatting with the twins outside the school. It seemed they were still waiting for Samus and Sonic.

“Think you did well?” Rosalina asked them.

Popo looked at Nana smugly. “I saw Nana sweating during our English exams.” 

“Oh, like you were any better while we were taking our P.E. exams!”

“Maybe it was because you were wearing your coat indoors?”

“It’s getting cold outside, okay?” Nana frantically looked around, and her eyes fell on Mie. “Oh, hey!”

“Heya yourself,” Mie grinned, happy to see their closest friends again. “So aside from your English and your P.E. exams, how did everyone else do?”

“It was… easier than I thought it would be, that’s for sure.” Rosalina said, her laugh trembling for a brief moment, “It wasn’t easy by any means - that’s how it is for exams - but, well… first one since summer break, that’s all.”

“WE LIVE!” A voice that recognizably belonged to Sonic yelled from behind everyone. Turning around, they saw Samus was also with him. They both looked mentally exhausted.

“It was only a few hours…”

“A few hours?! A FEW HOURS?! Do you know how many clock-checks that is? I had to ask to go to the bathroom just to save my sanity!”

“That’s why you were in there?!”

“... that, and I may have stress-downed a bottle of water minutes before my last exam.”

“Don’t worry, I would’ve done the same thing if I thought of that,” Samus shrugged. “That being said, these were pretty boring as usual. I may have moved a little too fast around the end….” She looked away as she placed a hand between the back of her head and her ponytail. “I mean, why would ‘all of the above’ be an option if they didn’t want you to pick it? They’d just put in a random other fourth option if there was only one correct answer.”

“... what if other options had two correct answers out of four options?” Popo pointed out.

“... shit.”

“It’s okay, I see your point.” Mie waved it off, “I dunno how forgiving your results will be, but…”

“Ugh, that’s it!” Sonic snapped, “We’ve got enough stress coming in tomorrow with S.M.A.S.H.. Sorry to take control, Mie, but we need to take our minds off of these exams for today!”

Mie had to admit - Sonic was right. “Then what do you propose we do?”

“I actually thought ahead a bit on the way here!” Sonic grinned, “... well, as best I could with how mentally exhausted. I say we go somewhere Mie hasn’t gone before.”

Going over the list of places they’d seen, Mie pondered, “This isn’t swimming weather…”

“I second that,” Rosalina nodded tiredly, “I don’t feel up to swimming right now, anyways.”

“But isn’t that an excuse to see Samus in a swimsuit?” Popo teased.

“If I didn’t know you were aro-ace…” Samus began hotly.

Sonic wiped his brow from the instant denial of a pool trip. “What about the arcade, then?” He, Rosalina and Mie proceeded to shudder at the memory of their last gaming-related venture.

“I also want to save some of my money,” Mie said, “so let’s not go shopping. Where’s a peaceful place we can all relax and not get any further frustrated…?”

Out of the blue, Nana lit up with an excited gasp. “Why not the zoo? That sounds pretty relaxing to me!”

Everyone looked at Nana, ran the idea through their heads, and decided they liked the idea. “I think we have a winner,” Samus said. Taking Rosalina’s hand, she asked, “Shall we go?”

Neither a bright-red Rosalina nor the other snickering S.M.A.S.H. members dissented, so they all made their way to Taikun Zoo. Sonic didn’t rush off without them for once, which was nice, as they all got to make conversation on the way.

You feel your bond with Samus, Popo, Nana. Sonic & Rosalina growing…

Mie paid their entry fee with some of the money they’d earned on Sunday. Turns out their junior friends (Rosalina and Samus) loved the petting zoo, Sonic tended to enjoy the barn area, and the twins immediately were off for the butterfly house. Mie didn’t blame their friends for going off without them, but the situation did leave them with little more directions than a map.

In the end, they decided to just walk around and explore. As they did, an idea came to them. Opening their phone, they sent a message to the rest of the teens.

Mie: Everyone be ready to meet at the entrance in a few hours. I wanna take a group photo.

Sonic: I’m up for that!

Popo: 125…

Samus: Huh?

Nana: Wrong chat, bro.

Popo: Shoot, sorry! Me and Nana keep count of how many times we hear someone think we’re in a relationship.

Rosalina: Ew!

Mie: Do they really think that you’re dating because you’re clearly close with each other? You two look so similar!

Sonic: Gotta hate amatonormativity sometimes…

Rosalina: Sorry, Mie, but I just reread your first text. I think a group photo would be lovely!

Samus: Won’t argue with you there.

Samus: Don’t say it, any of you.

Sonic: I know that was directed at me.

Samus: Mostly, yes.

Sonic: In any case, let’s totally do a group photo.

Nana: Popo is currently busy with the kaleidoscope on his body. We’re both in, though!

Rosalina: Kaleidoscope?

Mie: I think that’s a group of butterflies, right?

Nana: Yup! So… we’ll all meet around 5:45-ish? That sound good?

Samus: All right. See you guys then.

Pocketing their phone, Mie walked into a viewing area for some of the primates' enclosures. As they did, however, they heard a jarring set of sounds. Almost deep, and nearly as comprehensible as English was to them, but still not quite perfect.

Taking a few seconds to try and pinpoint where exactly in the zoo the noises were coming from, it was most likely from behind the current exhibit they were in. Upon further inspection it seemed to be coming from…

“The gorilla exhibit?”

Was it some absent-minded zookeeper mumbling to himself about something he read? No one was in there, so unless said zookeeper was working on whatever zookeepers do behind the scenes (filling up the feed-bowls, occasional shows, cleanup of… excrement, et cetera) rather loudly, it might as well have been the gorilla who was muttering something under its breath.

And yet, as Mie watched the lone inhabitant of the exhibit seemingly examine Hop on Pop, they noticed its mouth moving in turn and heard a faint but deep voice reading it out loud. Their pronunciation of most words was terrible, but Mie was far too intrigued by the whole situation to care.

“My brot-hers ree-add a lit-lee bit…” Flipping the page, the gorilla quietly continued, “Lit-lee wards laekh if and it.”

When they said it might as well have been the gorilla who was muttering something under its breath, they had been joking. There was no way this was a guy in a gorilla suit - using Puff for reference (though to Mie’s knowledge, Puff might as well have had nothing inside), its body looked nothing like a suit would, and why would a person big enough to smoothly wear a gorilla suit be reading a children’s book?

They had to try making conversation. To think that they saw it in Ryūō…

“Hello…?”

If this really were a person in a suit, they would have flown out of it the way they slammed the book shut and jumped to their hands and feet. This was a real gorilla, one hundred percent.

Any further thought was cut off as the gorilla walked slowly towards the fence. A slight nervousness creeped into Mie as the size difference between human and ape became very clear.

“I, uh… sorry to… disturb you?” Mie could barely come up with anything to say, and the cold stare the primate gave them wasn’t helping. “I just… didn’t expect to hear you reading a book, that’s all. Sorry if this is personal, but how’d you get your hands on that?”

The gorilla seemed to scrutinize Mie before mumbling, “It… secret.”

“That’s okay.” Mie, while still not used to this, started to calm down about the situation. 

Keyword being started.

“I was just curious, that’s all. You don’t have to tell me.” Out of nowhere, a crazy idea came to them. “Weird idea: your pronunciation of English isn’t the greatest. Would you like me to help you learn?”

The gorilla’s eyes widened. Remembering a video of a chimpanzee learning to communicate they watched long ago, Mie pulled into their half-decent knowledge of sign-language and signed, “If you know sign language, we can talk with that to make things easier for us as I teach you.”

The gorilla merely nodded eagerly, looking a little excited. Mie recalled vaguely that gorillas only smiled to show anger or appear threatening, so the fact it didn’t smile was relieving.

They went to check the info sign near the enclosure for a name. “Donkey, huh?” they mused, also taking into note that… Donkey, apparently, was presumably male. Turning back to them, they signed, “Is your name Donkey, or would you prefer a different name? My name is Mie.”

“Everyone calls me that, but it does not feel as right…” he signed back, “Call me DK… please…?”

“DK it is,” Mie answered simply.

Clearly caught off-guard, DK managed to verbally muster up, “You… are… kind.”

Mie hadn’t expected to be complimented by a gorilla in their lifetime, but after everything related to the Subspace Dimension, including being complimented by a living balloon-creature, this was somehow one of the more normal things that ever happened to them in Ryūō.

“But…” DK spoke, before signing, “It not right… to just… take help and give nothing…” The primate then made a sound that rather sounded like OOH! before he turned around and ran to the back of the enclosure.

“Huh…? W-wait, where are you going?”

He grabbed something from a spot Mie couldn’t see, ran to a pool-like area and dunked it in the water, and returned as fast as he left with something in his hand. He was somehow able to throw it over the fence. In a perfect spiral, sailing right into Mie’s hands was…

“A banana?” Somehow, this made sense. Nice throw, they thought to themselves.

DK nodded eagerly. “I trade you!” he offered, “You teach me your language and I share bananas!”

Mie didn’t feel all that positive about the idea of taking anything from DK, especially not food. “I get the feeling you need this more than I do,” they signed.

“It not problem! Have lots!”

In the end, Mie decided to acquiesce. If DK wanted his speech capability kept secret, he probably needed someone who trusted him. “It’s a deal,” they said.

You feel a bond forming with DK, the gorilla capable of speech…

Thou art I... And I am thou...

Thou hast established a new bond...

Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Moon Arcana...

Moon Rank 1!

“When we start, then?” DK asked innocently. 

Mie opened their mouth to answer, but their phone rang with an alarm. Was it 5:45 already?!

“Shoot,” they murmured, before signing to DK, “I can’t today, but I promise you I’ll be back.”

DK looked saddened, but he nodded nonetheless.

It hurt a little to go, but Mie made their way back to the entrance, munching on half of the banana the whole way. It tasted really good, so Mie saved the other half for later.

Sonic, Rosalina, Nana, Samus and Popo were waiting. “There they are!” Sonic called out, greeting Mie with a hug.

“Awfully affectionate, Sonic,” Rosalina observed as the two broke apart.

“Well, I noticed they really like hugs,” Sonic said, “Still, I should have asked first.” Looking right at Mie, they said, “If you ever don’t feel like a hug, you say that.”

Mie nodded thankfully. “How are we getting this photo taken, then…?”

“I’ll take it for you, if you’d like,” a passerby offered. 

Sonic offered his phone. “Don’t run off with this,” he warned them, “I’m faster than you.”

“Wouldn't dream of it!” the passerby promised, “Name’s Kallum. If you kids feel formal, you can call me Mr. Kingston.”

“Wait, Kingston?” Samus recoiled in shock, “Huh… you don’t look like our Theater teacher…”

“Oh, you must mean Keith!” Kallum gasped, “Ah, he’s my brother! We were separated for a long time, but I found him just last year!” Scratching the back of his buzz-cut, he admitted, “He’s been really busy lately, and I’ve been worried about him…”

“Well, we just got out of midterms,” Popo pointed out. 

Nana nodded, “He’ll be busy around these times of year.”

“Well, that makes sense!” Kallum nodded, “Here I was, getting worried over nothing! Oh, and if you’re worried about the quality of this photo, I’m actually a photographer… I won’t charge you, of course!” Suddenly shaking his head, Kallum quickly added, “I’ve kept you long enough. How about that photo?”

Cautiously, Mie handed the educator’s brother their phone. Fiddling around it with a toothy grin, the larger man motioned for everyone to get into a closer position. “Smile!”

*SNAP*

As the group exited the zoo to get some sleep before their planned trip to the Subspace Dimension tomorrow, Popo asked, “So what did you think of the zoo, Mie?”

“I’m gonna go there again, I think,” Mie responded, perhaps a bit too cryptically for their taste.

Chapter Text

After so much midterm stress, after befriending a talking gorilla, after everything else in between… finally, finally, Mie and the others could go back to Subspace.

Sonic must’ve been rubbing off on them, with all the foot tapping they did at school… or maybe that was just a nervous stim. They didn’t have a clue.

God, they really needed to get an examination for autism.

Speaking of Sonic, he wasn’t even outside of the school when the bell rang. He was probably already there by now. Just to be sure, Mie checked their phone; seeing no message from Sonic stating he’d already arrived, they sent him a text reminding him of what was going on.

They received a reply seconds later.

Sonic: Nice save, Mie… I almost suited up for a nice jog with Jet today!

Sonic: How do I cancel on him…?

Mie: Say something happened with Tails and you gotta be there for him?

Sonic: He’ll still give me shit, but it’ll work! Meet you at the front?

Mie: Sounds good.

Sonic didn’t even take ten minutes to find Mie, but by that time they were already chatting with Popo and Nana. Samus and Rosalina were already on their way, but Mie had wanted to guide Popo and Nana to Mr. Dragmire’s place.

As the quartet started on their way, Sonic and Mie worked to assuage any fears and answer any questions the twins had. “If things go like last time, we should be able to save him today!”

“I wouldn’t get too cocky if I were you,” Mie pointed out, “Pride comes before a fall, you know? Besides, Mr. Dragmire did say this Dungeon would be bigger than the last…”

“That doesn’t mean finding Mr. Romão will be impossible!” Nana piped up.

“That’s the spirit!” Sonic cheered.

It wasn’t long before they arrived at Mr. Dragmire’s house. They entered and found Mr. Dragmire conversing with Rosalina and Samus.

“You seem like you’re in a good mood, today,” Mr. Dragmire commented, “I can only hope you keep those high spirits on today’s trip.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Sonic nodded, “we know how it works by now, and we’re gonna show these two how it’s done!”

“You remember the details on how their Persona works, yes?”

“Sure do!” Sonic proceeded to list the steps off on his fingers. “Keep ‘em together, they do the high five, and out come the Personas!”

Mr. Dragmire nodded staunchly. “You’ve paid attention.”

Deigning not to answer, Sonic brought a plastic bag out of his backpack. Inside were two cans of Morgan’s Deadly-Red Chili.

“You needed a bag for the can?” Samus inquired.

“Better than to risk it opening all over my backpack!”

“Not what I expected to bring on the trip, but it looks good!” Mie complimented.

Rosalina stared at the chili almost longingly. “Well, to be fair, beans are a common military ration due to how easy they are to can.”

“That’s just an extra perk, then!” Sonic said, his casual grin becoming a big, goofy smile, “Shame we aren’t gonna find a microwave in the Subspace Dimension… well, these are pre-cooked and all, at least.” Looking around, he then asked, “Anyone else bring something?”

Rosalina brought her backpack over. “I have some more kompeitō and energy drinks.”

Samus also provided some cheese sticks she’d taken from home. “I didn’t have much… sorry.”

“It’s what we’ve got, so it’s fine,” Popo piped up.

“If it’s anything, we didn’t realize we needed to bring anything,” Nana said awkwardly, “Sorry…”

Something occurred to Mie, then. “Oh! I forgot to buy a coat…”

Rosalina strangely smirked. “No offense meant, but I thought you might forget…” Pulling into her sack, she brought out a blue hoodie. “... so you can have one of my old hoodies. I hope it fits!”

Mie put it on. Admiring how comfortable they felt, they declared, “I’m keeping this.”

Rosalina merely laughed. With everything settled, the team nodded among themselves before turning on the ADS and going to the Subspace Dimension.

To their surprise, Puff was right there at the hub. Noticing their arrival, she lit up and bounced excitedly. “Hey, you’re back!” She gave the twins a big smile “Good to see you two are feeling good now!”

“What took you guys so long?” she asked enthusiastically as she hugged Mie first, “It’s no good to keep a lady waiting, y’know?”

“Sorry… we had some exams to take.”

“Oh, is that the thing just after you’re born where the person in white-”

“NO, that is not! We just had some school stuff going on.”

“Oh. Always wondered what education was like.”

“Trust me,” Sonic assured her in a tired tone, “You don’t.”

“Oh… okay, then…” Puff was clearly saddened, but it only lasted a second. “Could I hold one of you guys’ hands while we walk? We’ll break apart for any Shadows that come our way, but… I want to be close with you all…”

“Consider it done!” Rosalina accepted, smiling softly at the balloon-mascot-thing, “Who would you like to go with first?”

Puff’s eyes sparkled as she looked among the group of teens. Her eyes were on Sonic for a while, then Mie for a little longer, but they ultimately settled on Samus. She ran up to her and embraced her in a hug, even if she went up to about the top of the Persona user’s stomach.

“Hey, easy there, big girl,” Samus’ voice was calm, but hesitance was written all over her. “Never would’ve guessed I was your favorite.”

“I love all of you!” Puff said enthusiastically, “But I haven’t been able to interact with you a lot since we met… well, other than when I was helping save you from…” The pink creature trailed off there awkwardly.

“No, it’s okay,” Samus said, attempting to hug her back despite the height difference, “Come on. Hoje, nós salvaremos um tigre.”

“What?”

“It’s Portuguese.”

“Got it.” Puff nodded happily, despite clearly not knowing what Portuguese was. 

Right on cue, Mr. Dragmire came over the comms. “Everyone on board?” A few affirmations from the gang later, Mr. Dragmire dropped the directions on their headpiece maps. “Good luck, children.”

Samus was a little faster while walking through the mountainous region on the way to the snowy mountain, causing Puff to have to speed up to catch up. She’d occasionally bumped into Samus more than a few times. It was a strangely adorable sight for what might otherwise have come off as weird and/or awkward.

The group did speed up a bit while walking through the third floor for Popo and Nana’s sakes, though.

Unfortunately, their cheery yet quick-paced jaunt was rather short-lived, as the group ran into a Shadow not long after they reached the fourth floor.

There were another two Boom Shadows, alongside a new type: a living cloud with what looked to be a battery on top of it. When it became alert of the situation at hand, electricity generated around the hornlike poles around its body. It floated in the middle of the Boom Shadows, sparks surrounding it in preparation.

Puff made for a hiding spot as Samus readied her whip. Whistling towards Nana and Popo, she suggested, “Why don’t you guys go first? You need to learn to use your Personas more than any of us.”

Both of them nodded. Just like Mr. Dragmire had told the others, a Persona Ball appeared between the twins. With a high-five, they clapped it between each other’s hands, summoning Sigmund & Signy. With a Psi called in unison, they concentrated, and one of the Boom Shadows began to lift into the air. Nana and Popo’s eyes shot open, and the Boom Shadow felt the full force of Psi-boosted gravity. The cold air that surrounded them - as well as the multicolored (but mostly pink) energy that vibrated around it as they used their Personas - was reminiscent of Cornish Jack’s Psi, yet completely different at the same time.

“Sonic, watch out for that Storm Shadow!” Mie hollered, “I bet it has Electric skills!”

“Right, thanks for the heads up!” As if on cue, he dashed out of the way of a Zio from the newly-dubbed Storm Shadow. “Nice save! … Rosie? What are you doing?”

All she seemed to be doing was staring at the cloud. Almost deadpan in movement, Rosalina pointed her staff higher than usual; seconds later, a Bufu block landed right on top of the battery on the Storm Shadow’s head, knocking it out of the sky and crushing it into a puff of black smoke upon earthly collision.

“Good job on finding its weakness,” Mr. Dragmire complimented over the intercoms, “Now focus on those last two.”

“We know the Boom Shadows aren’t weak to Popo and Nana’s magic…” Samus mused, “and it isn’t weak to mine or Rosa’s, either. Sonic, try your attacks! Mie, if you have a Persona with any other types of magic that we should know about, now is the time to call them in!”

“Way ahead of ya!” Sonic nodded, who was already avoiding the boomerangs being thrown his way. Once he was a considerable distance away, he began to turn towards the Boom Shadow, and ran up to it while conjuring a Garu. Once he was up close, his sword clashed with the boomerang, the miniature tornado separating the two from the other participants in the battle.

“So those things aren’t just for throw, are they?” he taunted while glaring at its empty eyes. While it was distracted, the Garu was able to knock the boomerang out of its hands. As it stumbled back, Sonic sliced it cleanly in two.

For the last one, Mie called upon Xian Li and knocked it down with an Agi. Outnumbered and surrounded, the poor remaining Boom Shadow was subjugated to a flurry of attacks from everyone, now with the pickaxe-wielding siblings in tow.

“So, how was your first battle?” Mie asked the twins.

“Exhilarating!” the two responded, Nana adding on, “You guys were great too!”

“Well, we’ve had a good bit more practice than you two,.” Sonic admitted, scratching the back of his head, “Maybe if Mr. Romão gets a Persona-”

“Don’t jinx it,” Samus warned him. 

Sonic shot her a look that said I know, I know. “- then you’ll be showing him the ropes,” he continued, his smile resuming, “Or maybe it’ll be somebody else. I dunno.”

“Wait… you said ropes? Was that a wrestling pun?”

“... no, actually. Good one, Rosie!”

In what was almost a longstanding tradition now, Rosalina facepalmed. “Damn it, Sonic…”

“Does this always happen?” Nana asked hesitantly.

“This is your real welcome to S.M.A.S.H., guys,” Mie joked. While the twins picked up that it was a joke, they still seemed a little unnerved. “Sorry, guys. I’m not being the most helpful, I guess.”

Popo and Nana shook their heads good-naturedly. From there, the team wasted little time before traversing to the next floor.

A few more floors down, they stepped outside the caves into a cliffside ridge with a suspicious lack of Shadows. There was a slight worry in Mie’s mind - maybe another Shadow Self was there even after Shadow Popo and Shadow Nana - but they shook it off.

And then a voice somewhat familiar to them and Samus permeated the air.

“HAW HAW HAW! That’s what you get for underestimating me! Come on, who else wants to get crushed? ‘Cuz I know I won’t be!”

“Yup, that’s Ikaika, alright.” Samus commented. Looking around, nobody saw anyone in the area.

“These are echoes of his thoughts,” Mr. Dragmire explained, “This happens from time to time.”

“I’m the strongest, most powerful fella around this town… how I get away with hiding my identity is honestly beyond me with these guns!”

“You know, it just hit me.” Sonic thought out loud as he and the others pointedly ignored the sounds of Shadow Ikaika kissing his pecs, “We’re dealing with the Shadow Self of a pro wrestler. If he’s anything like his wrestler persona-”

“Good going, Sonic.”

“... wow, what is it with us and unintentional puns today? Anyway, point is: imagine what his Shadow Self would look like if Mr. Romão rejected himself. I’m calling it right now - a giant Smilodon!”

“What, like Didacus from Stone Age?”

Mie tilted their head from side to side in thought. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

“Yes sirree, I’m practically unstoppable in any contest of might… not that there was any contest to begin with, haw haw!”

Popo put a hand to his chin as they kept walking. “So, it just hit me… what’s Mr. Romão hiding about himself?”

“Hm?”

Popo turned towards Rosalina. “Well, you guys have said that Shadow Selves represent the things someone hides about themselves, right? Like what we had with our fear of being separated?”

“That is correct…” Rosalina nodded slowly.

“Yeah, you’re onto something!” Nana gasped, “We just think something’s off about what his Shadow Self is saying. Isn’t boasting and bragging and stuff like that literally his whole thing? He’s a heel and a face in one! If he had something to hide, you’d think he’d be awful at keeping it secret-”

“- unless it were hidden in plain sight.” This time, Shadow Ikaika’s voice felt more concentrated (aside from the fact he had addressed them directly), but nobody could pinpoint where he was until-

“There! On the next lift!” Samus pointed at the mechanical carrier platform that led to the next floor. They couldn’t make out any real details about the figure on that lift going up, but they could tell they were there. Mie only needed to catch a flash of red on their top to know it must be Shadow Ikaika, but the lift took him out of sight before they could see anything more.

“Damn it!” Sonic groaned, “Get back here, you!”

It only led to Sonic going towards the bottom of the lift, shouting after him all the way as Rosalina and company followed after him. 

“Ugh, he got away…” Sonic groaned.

“Guys…?” Popo suddenly murmured.

“Yes, Popo? Everything alright?” Rosalina asked.

Popo merely pointed up the mountain, where they saw the platform returning. As before, it wasn’t empty, however - from atop it leaped a giant cannon-shaped creature with a cannonball-shaped head, small wheels for legs, two giant scythes on each of its sides, and a handle on its back akin to those seen on baby carriages. The Pugilist Shadow was flanked by a duo of new Shadows - blue and light-gray wheels with a cyan eye in their centers. Feeling frosty energy emanate from them, Mie dubbed them Rime-Eye Shadows.

“Aaaand he left some friends behind for us…” Sonic groaned as he and his friends readied themselves, “Fun.”

“Let’s focus on the little ones, first,” Mie decided. Samus dashed to one side of the Pugilist Shadow, where one of the wheel-like Shadows was. It rolled in front towards her, charging up icy energy around itself with the intent of bowling her over. Popo and Nana initially struggled to pick a direction, but came to Samus’ side with Sonic; Rosalina and Mie made their way towards the second one.

Popo smashed (pun not intended) down on the Rime-Eye Shadow with his pickaxe, Nana swooping in to send it flying with a sideways swing. It didn’t die, but the swings were worth a good chunk of damage; nevertheless, it shot a Bufu at the two, but Samus melted it with a Zio that burst right through, zapping the Rime-Eye Shadow and taking it out.

Mie kept switching between Personas, trying to figure out which one to use against the other Rime-Eye Shadow. The area around them went dark for a brief moment, and looking behind them, they saw the bright red eyes of the Pugilist Shadow. By instinct, when they flinched, Xian Li came into view, and fired an Agi attack at the giant Shadow. It pushed it back a little, but sparks from the Agi hit the ground around Mie, melting the snow in the area where it stood. Mie then fired a shot from their blaster at the Pugilist Shadow, causing its head to spin like a screw, buying them some time as it reoriented itself.

The remaining Rime-Eye Shadow rolled around Rosalina and Sonic, flinging up snow and hail wherever it went. Unfortunately, one of those places was one of the sparks from Xian Li’s attack, which caused it to spin out of control, eventually landing on its side.

“Mie!”

“Yeah, Rosa?”

“You knocked it down!”

“Woah, nice!”

Rosalina and Sonic took advantage of Mie’s unintentional success, bashing it with alternating swings of sword and staff until it broke. Arguably overkill, but efficient nonetheless.

Everything was all on the Pugilist Shadow now, and by now it had fully recuperated from Mie’s earlier blast on it. “Aim for the head, guys!” Mie called to their allies. Receiving nods of understanding back, the group slowly began chipping away at their foe’s life, throwing Sonic Punches (yes, from Sonic), elemental spells, and a Sukunda from Cailleach after the Pugilist Shadow nicked Rosalina with its scythes.

Rosalina had received a Dia immediately after that attack, too.

The Shadow leapt in the air, high for its size, and swung its scythes like helicopter blades. Sonic tried to use Garu to hold it in place, but it was to no avail. While the tremor it sent out didn't do much damage, even grazing Sonic in the shoulder when it landed, the giant blades ended up stuck in the snowy rocks beneath it. It pulled furiously to try to get them free.

“Now!” Careful to attack from behind to keep the scythes in the ground, the group rushed in for an All-Out Attack, leaving only the scythes in the ground before they too fizzled away.

In a manner akin to the Popper Shadows Mie and company had beaten before, the Pugilist Shadow’s remains turned into a ball of light that went into Mie, giving them the Persona Imdugud and-

*BUMP*

Something soft beaned Mie on the hand, landing perfectly in their non-weapon hand.

“What’s that?” Samus wondered, examining the item in Mie’s hand as Mie mentally discarded Nuózhā, “Some sort of… fruit cookie…?” It looked like a small, heart-shaped cookie with a blue fruit embedded in its center. “You think it’s poisonous…?” she wondered.

“I think if that were the case that I’d have keeled over or felt sick by now,” Mie pointed out, “Worst-case scenario, we’ll pocket it for now and eat it last.”

“Smart move,” Samus nodded as Mie put it in her backpack. Together with Samus and Puff, they joined up with the rest of the group.

“Oh, man…” Sonic groaned, “I think I almost pulled something during that…”

“Do you still want to keep going?” Rosalina hesitantly asked.

“Yeah… I can manage.”

“If you say so…”

“Well, enough about that…” Sonic grumbled as the lift finally came to a stop in front of them, “Let’s go after him!” Despite him already being on the elevator, everyone else took much longer to make it there, some even stopping briefly to work out any further kinks. “Come on, we ain’t got all day!” Sonic complained, tapping his foot.

Once everyone was on the lift, some sat down on its floor as they went up. A near-oxymoron, sure, but an accurate one.

Eventually, they came up to a stop on the next part. The foggy clouds were clearing up, meaning they must be close to the end. In fact, they could see that in the form of another on the outside of the mountainous tundra. Of course, this also meant a huge trench between the ridge they had come off the previous lift and traveled to, and one on the other side. Boulders sat throughout the place in patterns, many of them cracked or reduced to rubble. To the side, there was a circle on the ground that radiated white light upwards.

“Ah, the ol’ trainin’ grounds,” Shadow Ikaika’s voice sneered from no particular direction, “Not like a bunch of pipsqueaks like you would know the raw power it takes to clear yerself a path! HAW HAW HAW!”

Samus groaned. “If he wanted a test of strength, he could’ve just given us one of those carnival-bell things. We just got two people who can pound down hard.”

"I'd word that a little differently if I were you-"

“I bet you wish it was that easy, huh?”

“OH, SHUT UP, YOU!” Puff shrieked in a surprisingly loud voice. There was a pause as the other members of the team looked in various directions in a frightened manner.

Caught off-guard and pixillated, Puff asked, “Why are you doing that? Something wrong?”

“... knowing our luck, we figured you might cause an avalanche or something,” Mie shrugged, “That aside, though… wow, Puff, you’ve got pipes!”

“Yeah, well, storing air is what balloons do,” Samus reasoned.

“Wait, is that racist or something?” Sonic asked Puff.

“I…” Puff’s voice grew quiet and somewhat muffled, “I don’t know if there’s anyone like me, but I don’t think so…?”

“Okay, just checking.”

“Hey, Mie…?” Nana piped up. She and Popo had been silently conversing while the others took in the sights and discussed the logistics of whether or not joking about balloons was racist to Puff. “Do you have any Personas with Psychic skills like us?”

In response, Mie summoned Lhiannan Shee. “What do you have in mind?”

“You think we could make a bridge by levitating the boulders?” Popo answered, “We think it would take a lot of our SP to do them all, but…”

“I’ll do it.”

“You sure?

“Not like we have a better idea,” Samus shrugged, “If you’re low on magic, though, we might have to call it a day after, though.”

“Wait, we’ll need to return back?! Without Mr. Romão? But won’t he-”

“Remember the stasis thing, atsilí?”

“Oh, right! Whoops…”

“It’s okay,” Rosalina assured, patting Popo on the head, “You’ll get used to it. Heaven knows we still are…”

One smile to the girl later, he was joined with his sister. They summoned Sigmund and Signy and began lifting the first boulder. Placing it into the spot required, the twins took a breather as Mie did the same to the second one. One by one, a bridge of boulders slowly formed.

Once the full bridge was set and the three lifting them (Sonic had offered to try helping, but Mie had shook their head, citing the slicing aspect of Garu) were sure nothing would slip while they were gone, Popo fell backwards onto the snow below.

“H-hey!” Nana complained, “Do you want to get frostbite on your butt?” 

“Admit it, sis,” Popo moaned, “You wanna do this, too.”

Nana walked to a less-snowy part of the cliff and promptly plopped down. “Okay, this does feel good.”

“Nice work, guys!”

“I do think it would be best to return for today,” Mr. Dragmire nodded, “With Popo and Nana’s schedules added, the best time to finish the job is next week exactly - the 21st, to be specific.”

“That’s so long…”

“It’s one more week after that when he’s estimated to die, so we should have enough time.”

“Weird question,” Mie then asked, pointing to the light-circle thing, “Anyone have an idea what the deal is with that?”

A few seconds of tapping later, Mr. Dragmire reported, “It’s a teleporter. Let me see if I can see where it takes you… ah! It seems it will take you back to the entrance, conveniently enough!”

“Awfully convenient…” Puff murmured, “You sure this is the right thing? And is it safe?”

“It’s no different than a fancy-looking version of the checkpoint elevators back in Samus’ Dungeon.” Sonic guessed, stepping into it.

Samus put her hands in her pockets. “Why didn’t I… subconsciously think of that?” She paused at the group’s funny looks before she entered the portal alongside them. “Okay, guys, fair enough.”

The rest of the group could only chuckle before they disappeared in a flash of light.

Sure enough, Mie and company reappeared at the foot of the mountain. “Somehow…” Rosalina mused, “somehow I can’t help but feel as if we got lucky.”

“How about we sit around and catch our breath?” Sonic suggested. 

“Fine by me!” Puff cheered.

As the rest of the gang settled down, Mie remembered the challenge Yoshi had set out for them with the new Persona they’d acquired. They had no need for a Persona of Imdugud’s Arcana yet, so they entered the Velvet Room to get Nuózhā back and maybe fuse Imdugud with something to get a stronger Persona.

Upon entering the otherworldly airship, Mie noticed that akin to a while before, Igor was nowhere to be found. Yoshi, however, still sat in his normal spot.

“Oh! Hello, chosen one! Master is out at the moment, but perhaps I can take over in his presence.”

“You can just call me Mie, you know.”

“Oh, it’s just an honorif-” Yoshi’s big nose began to sniff the air around him curiously. Their eyes lit up, and they asked, “Mmm… what’s that smell?”

It was then that Mie noticed their backpack was still with them. “Gimme a sec…” They looked through it to see what could possibly have caught the attention of the only other person in the room.

“Is that…?” Yoshi gasped, eyes going abnormally wide, “... a Velveteen Cookie…?!”

“Oh, that’s what this is?” Mie inquired, “That big Shadow with the scythes dropped it… we didn’t eat it because we were worried it might be poisonous.”

“Well, if the average human ate it, their body would combust into stardust within a few hours-”

“What.”

“- but I can eat them just fine!” Seemingly oblivious to the fact they’d revealed that they were either superhuman or not human at all, Yoshi continued, “Master keeps a few for me in the back, but they’re pretty much off-limits to me given how I’ll eat the whole stock if nobody else is around…”

Seeing as how this could’ve been a ticking time-bomb otherwise, Mie quickly handed the cookie to Yoshi, telling him, “Well, if I find any more in Subspace, I’ll be sure to hand them to you as soon as I can.”

As Yoshi happily munched on the cookie, Mie felt a great surge of power wash over them. “What’s this feeling…?” they mumbled. 

“Hm?” The second Yoshi swallowed the last of the pastry, he took a look at Mie and suddenly squinted at them. “Huh… when’d you get an extra Persona slot?”

“Extra… what?”

“Yeah, you know how you could only carry 6 Personas before? Now your limit is 7!”

Mie tilted their head in confusion. “If you say so.” With 4 other Persona users around, being able to keep up with the improvement felt nice.

“I feel like the power you just gained is linked to our bond,” Yoshi mused. Mie could feel it too, but only faintly. “How about another deal? If you bring me more Velveteen Cookies, I’ll take tiny discounts off of buying Personas!” They and Mie shook hands, sealing the deal. “Now, then… any fusions you wanna make?”

The answer was yes. After a while, they had new Personas such as Ahemait, Madana, and Wild Soul. Most notably, however, was the Persona they got after fusing Imdugud and Pharos. While doing so, they remembered Yoshi’s request for a Hitotsu-Datara with Sukukaja. Fusing the two and taking Sukukaja over, they reminded Yoshi of the request and how they’d just completed it.

“Oh! I guess you have!” Yoshi scratched the back of his head, “Right… well, good job! Your future purchases will now cost about 97% of the original price!”

You’ve accomplished your first fusion task Yoshi set out…

Hermit Rank 2!

“So, er…” Yoshi then asked, “Do you want to keep going?”

“I think so,” Mie nodded, “What’ll it be?”

“A Torero with the Mahama skill! I’d put on a few more levels before you try for that… no offense.”

“I’ll take your advice,” Mie thanked him before exiting the Velvet Room. Thankfully, nobody was looking at them curiously as they returned to their plane.

“Welp, another day in Subspace wrapped up!” Sonic breathed a sigh of relief as he sheathed his sword behind him.

Mie nodded. “Mr. Dragmire, if you can tell us, how close are we to Mr. Romão?”

“We should access him quickly after the elevator you didn’t take,” Mr. Dragmire responded, “Excellent work today, everyone.”

“So, how was your first time, guys?” Samus asked the twins.

“It was awesome!” Popo began, pausing in his spot to reminisce, “When we weren’t getting attacked by those ice-wheel-things or whatever, I felt like I was on just some normal mountain! I almost forgot we were in a different dimension at times!”

“Hey, Puff!” Nana called after Puff as Rosalina fired up the ADS, “You’re really nice and super cute! I can’t wait to see you again!”

“See you again? Oh… right.” Her giant eyes looked at the glasslike floor around her. She tugged on Mie’s jacket, startling them. “Hey… can I come with you guys too?” Everyone turned to look at the creature with concerned and wide-eyed looks. “It’s been getting a little lonely around here ever since I met you guys.”

After a few moments of silence, Sonic wondered out loud, “Could we…?”

“It would be nice,” Mie reasoned unhappily, “but as much as I hate to say it, I can think of at least two good reasons to not do that. One: where would you stay? Second: given we’re not exactly sure what’s inside your body, it would be very hard to explain why there's a strange balloon girl that’s always in a costume but can’t take it off…”

Puff now looked extremely uncomfortable, especially after the second reason. “I’m sorry, Puff,” Mie said sadly, “but for everyone’s safety - yours included - it’s best for you to stay here. If you’re worried about the Shadows, we can figure something out to keep you safe, okay…?”

It was obvious from her expression that Puff was heartbroken, but she also clearly understood. Right as tears seemed like they were about to come out, Rosalina crouched down to wrap her arms as best she could around Puff. “There, there. I promise we’ll be back soon. I’ve seen this before. One of my siblings used to get attached to me like this when they were little.” Mie joined in soon after, and the rest of the group quickly followed suit.

“You're so soft!” Nana giggled.

“It’s like lying down on a giant bean bag chair…” Sonic sighed, “You think we could get an insulator inside you like that one robot from The Big-Time 7?”

“What?” Puff asked curiously, sufficiently distracted, her sorrow beginning to wither away.

“... long story,” Samus answered, “Think we can get a projector or something out here when we’re not on a time-crunch?”

“…I’ll look into it.” Rosalina said, closing her eyes. Perhaps she had gotten too comfortable, though, because even when everyone else had broken away a few minutes later, she was still latched onto the otherworldly girl.

“You can’t be serious…” Mr. Dragmire groaned.

“Hey, Rosie, you comin’?” Did she seriously fall asleep on Puff?

Sonic nudged Samus and discreetly gestured towards Rosalina. He leaned in and whispered something to her that made her blush a bit. 

Approaching Puff (who was stuck under the sleeping Rosalina), Samus managed to pry her off and hoist her into her arms in a princess carry. From there, Popo and Nana gave Puff one last hug, Mie turned on the ADS, and they teleported back. Boy, was Rosalina in for a bit of a surprise...

Mr. Dragmire lauded them on their progress, reminded them they were to return to his place for the final trip next week, and said his goodbyes for the day alongside everyone else.

Mie wanted to text their siblings upon returning to Fox and Falco’s place, but they found themselves too tired to do much after dinner. That was Subspace for you, they supposed. 

“New jacket?” Falco asked during a dinner of breakfast tacos with pulled pork, queso and bok choy (yes, they knew it was dinnertime, but it was delicious).

“Gift from Rosalina,” Mie yawned, “I owe her one, I suppose.”

Seeing how tired they were, Fox and Falco let Mie get some sleep that night. They had work the day after tomorrow, and they only had one day to correct their sleepiness.

Sometimes, that was all you really needed after a long day in the cold.

Chapter Text

The school day had not been kind to Mie today. Maybe they’d overexerted themselves during their last trip to the Subspace Dimension, maybe their expectations had kicked up after midterms had caused a bit of class-related stress… who knows what it was for certain? They were practically begging for the clock to move just to get to lunch to experience some kind of break.

Thank goodness it came swiftly. Mr. Dragmire had been merciful to them.

They ate slowly with the others, much to everyone’s concern. “Yo, Mie, you ok?” Sonic eventually asked softly, seeing the exhausted look on their face.

“Yeah, just… having a rough day and all.”

“Still all burned out from midterms, I’m guessing?”

Rosalina happily smiled down at Mie. “Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll feel better once we save him. After all, we have that sleepover we’re planning a while back.”

Something about that got a grin out of Mie, but it didn’t really dissipate their drowsiness. “That’d be great.”

“Sleepover…?” Samus mumbled quietly. “Oh, right.” She pulled out her phone and began to type something down. Mie felt their phone buzz, and received a text from her.

Samus: Can I talk to you in private sometime after school today? 

Mie: Important, urgent, both or neither?

Samus: … important, but not urgent. We could go back to Emmeryn’s and see if it’s not too crowded, if that works for you…?

Mie: That’s fine by me. See you then!

Around the time Theater was ending, Mie couldn’t help but wonder what Samus wanted to talk to her about. They would help her through it, though, no matter wh-

“Planning ahead for your time off school, Mx. Gunter?” Mr. Kingston smirked. The man was actually much more kind and patient than his cruel-looking smirk would have you believe, but woe betide you if you were the rare incurred of his righteous fury. If Sonic was to be believed, he was also decidedly less kind with the other teachers during the faculty prank war week that was held every spring.

“Oh, this is a perfect segue into my question for you… and into my Actors’ Life unit, for that matter. What do we call days during the week when a theater is closed?”

Mie took only a few seconds to answer, “Dark days, right?”

Mr. Kingston nodded approvingly. “Excellent! This was a rather simple one - on average, theaters perform eight shows over six days a week. On that seventh day, the lights are all off and the theater is dark - hence the term. Now, let’s get onto the yearly play essay due at the end of this school year…”

As Mie walked out of class, they found her unsuspectingly in front of them, watching cars drive by. What a perfect opportunity! They were just about to lightly slap their hands onto her shoulders…

She whipped around. “Nice try!”

“Gah!” Mie stumbled back, almost falling onto their behind before Samus caught her.

“You think this was the first time someone tried to get me back on that?” Samus teased once she'd helped Mie stand on their feet.

Mie was still recuperating from the scare, and after managing to fully do so, they admitted, “Honestly, yeah. You got me, Sammy!”

Samus was clearly rather proud of herself. “Thank you, thank you!” She took a mock bow and started laughing. “Tip your waitresses.” That just had both her and Mie laughing harder.

It took the two a few seconds to stop laughing. Once they stopped, Samus told Mie “If you want, I’ll teach you how to perfect being scary later.” Turning in the direction of Emmeryn’s, she added, “But right now, let’s go grab something.”

This time, Mie did not see Samus look around cautiously on the way to the diner. For once, the girl was focused on their destination. It probably helped that she didn’t have a giant coil of leather jangling at her hip for most of the day like yesterday.

It surprised Mie a little to see Marth Lowell taking their orders them after only about two weeks of working at the place tops. Regardless, they ordered a Waking Cheese Dream, whereas Samus, not as hungry, ordered some appetizer called Butterfly Popcorn.

“Rosalina and Lucina are friends, but I think you know that,” Samus explained, “Apparently, she was the inspiration for this dish. She mentioned it offhandedly one time, and it sounded really good.”

“Does… does it actually-”

Samus shuddered for less than a second. “Well, I doubt that. It’s tempura, but with chicken rather than shrimp or some other seafood, and it has a portion size like popcorn chicken.”

As Marth took their order back to be prepared, Samus watched him go. The second the kitchen doors swung shut, she turned back to Mie, an anxious look on her face. “How do sleepovers normally go?” she asked, sounding almost a little desperate.

“I’m just as in the dark as you. My siblings were able to attend some sleepovers with their friends, so I only have second-hand knowledge from them. From what I know, you don’t actually sleep and the first one to fall asleep gets pranked or something.”

Samus concernedly leaned forward. “I’m listening…”

“Of course, that could just be because their friends weren’t exactly…” Mie paused to figure out how to describe their siblings’ friends. “… well, they certainly weren’t like most everyone else in Ryūō.”

“... lots of jerks?”

“So many jerks. I had this sorta-friend in middle-school…” Mie trailed off at the memories of Isaac.

“Are they all right?” Samus asked.

“I dunno. Ms. Moriah, his mom, forbade him from any interaction with me the summer before I entered high-school. She called me…” Mie shook their head, attempting to swallow their pain and dispel the memories. “I won’t bother repeating those words. Cis, het, or otherwise, you wouldn’t like what she called me. Filthy sinner was the nicest thing I can remember without melting down right now.”

“That’s so fucked-up…” Samus snarled, hands convulsing as if to choke something (or perhaps someone) out, “Mie, if we meet that woman, I’m gonna need you to hold me back. She’s a transphobic piece of shit, isn’t she?”

“Unfortunately for her, yes,” Mie sighed.

“Ugh, I can’t believe that! Mie, I’m so sorry… what did we do to get placed in the same screwed-up world as her?”

“Tell me about it!” Mie complained, “Being me in a place full of so many people who just can’t let me exist in peace su-” A thought hit them, then. “Wait… are you identifying with me on a gender-based level, or just on a queer basis?” 

Samus froze up. “N-not to accuse you of anything rude or bigoted!” Mie assured her, “Just a little confused at what you meant by we, that’s all.”

Samus smiled ruefully. “Guess I slipped up, didn’t I?”

It took a second to make Mie realize what she implied. “You’re…?!”

“Yeah… ‘m trans,” Samus told them, “No need to make a big deal out of it. Ever since you saved me, I figured you’d need someone to talk about stuff like this.”

“Samus… I’m sorry if you ever went through any… trouble like that.”

“You didn’t, so no sweat. Honestly, I went through the whole figuring-it-out process pretty young, and at this point, nobody bats an eye. I’m lucky that I don’t deal with too much dysphoria. Heck, I forget sometimes. Didn’t even change my name or anything.”

“Did you want to?”

“Thought about it,” Samus admitted, “but my name didn’t matter. I realized one day I was a girl, and the rest is history. I’m gonna get the surgery next year, even though my parents are…” She visibly sobered at the memory of her parents. “... they’re dead…”

A small while passed before Samus asked, “I dunno if you have any personal experiences with the death of a loved one, but… does it ever feel the same?”

“I don’t remember hearing about any deaths in the family,” Mie admitted, “but from what I know… it’s never going to be the same. Even if your parents magically came back, you’ve changed a lot since they died. Surely, they’ve changed in the time they spent in whatever afterlife is out there too, right?”

Samus chuckled. “I wasn’t the type of person to believe ghosts exist, but with all that SD stuff… I’d bet there are ghosts and spirits out there, but I don’t know. It would be nice to see Mom and Dad again…” At last, she smiled a little at Mie. “... tell them I’m going to be okay.”

Mie opened their mouth, but Samus wiped away the small tears that had appeared in her eyes. “I’m not okay… but I’m going to be. Mom and Dad, I promise you this… and I’m gonna find out who killed you, too.”

“Wait, seriously?” Mie paused to gather their thoughts. “Not that I don’t think you can do it, but even if you figure them out, how do you intend to catch the guy?”

“But I can’t do it alone…” Samus admitted, “Mie… would you help me?”

“M-me?” they asked.

“I won’t throw you into danger if I can help it,” Samus swore, “I just want your help with piecing everything together… but you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“I’ll help how I can,” Mie assured her. 

“Thank you, Mie,” Samus said, taking their hands into their own and squeezing them just in time for Marth to return with their meals.

The two spent a good while bonding over their food talking about non-cis experiences and Samus’ memories of her parents. At one point, Samus complained that she didn’t know a lot of other kids who weren’t cis around town. 

It was here that Mie had a stroke of genius. “Do I have permission to tell someone I trust that you’re trans?”

“Sure…?”

“Thank you for placing your trust in me. I know one trans kid - he’s, like, 6 - but he’s the only one I know who lives in Ryūō… well, other than us two.” With that, they pulled out their phone and texted a certain someone they’d kept in contact with.

Mie (they/them): Hey, Tails?

Tails (he/him): Yeah?

Mie (they/them): Can I make a groupchat with a friend of mine and you? She’s trans, and I trust her. I’m sure Sonic would agree with me, and you can ask him if you want.

Tails (he/him): Are they your age? Have they transitioned?

Mie (they/them): She’s not old enough yet, but she wants to next year.

Tails (he/him): If you trust her, I trust you.

Samus (she/her) has been added to the chat. Audīvī fāmam illī̆us…

Tails (he/him): Uh, hi…? I’m Miles, but call me Tails.

Samus (she/her): Name’s Samus. Nice to meet you, Tails.

Time passed as Samus and Mie conversed with Tails over text. Eventually, though, Tails said goodbye - he was going to a sleepover hosted by a new friend of his. Seeing how late it was getting, Mie and Samus said their goodbyes, too.

Before they parted, though, Mie told Samus, “You can trust everyone else with this stuff, okay? We won’t leave you to suffer anymore, and we know you’ll do the same for us.”

Samus just smiled. “I promise. I’ll talk with Rosa soon.”

Samus has resolved to live on and catch her parents’ murderer…

Death Rank 3!

On the way home, Mie and Samus received a text from Sonic.

Sonic: Thank you.

Chapter Text

Mie spent the next two days working at Fox and Falco’s, taking calls, getting papers and information transferred from person to person, making coffee, and overall ensuring their supper would be properly sung for. Wolf, strangely, wasn’t seen all day, but Mie figured he had a good reason.

“No offense meant, kid, but I honestly thought you’d take longer to get the hang of all this,” Fox remarked at one point during break hours.

“None taken,” Mie responded, “I thought the same thing, honestly.”

“It’s super convenient!” Falco laughed, “We barely had to train you!”

“Ah, but such wasn't how your education under me went, wasn’t it?” an older, British-accented voice laughed from the entrance (though Mie could tell it was without an ounce of malice), “Ah, my most long-staying student, eloquence and patience were never your best qualities.” Everyone in the room turned to see a man with barely-visible brown hair under a long top hat make his way through the entrance.

Falco and Fox’s eyes simultaneously shot open. “Ah! Professor!”

“Professor?” Mie repeated, feeling severely out of the loop.

“Right, you haven’t had any connection to the detective business all that long,” Fox mused, “This is Professor Hershel Layton. He teaches archaeology and forensics at Gressenheller University in Kakuto, and he was me and Falco’s mentor.”

Mr. Layton smiled politely. “I thought I’d come to see how my old students were doing,” he explained. Eyes training on Mie, he added, “Especially since they mentioned a young one they’d taken in named Mie. It may be rude of me to assume, but I presume that’s you?”

“Um, yeah.” Mie tried to keep their eyes focused on the man, but something made them turn away shyly. “They’ve been housing me for about a month now, so I’m getting used to it.”

“Ah, how very gentlemanly of them,” Mr. Layton noted quietly. He gave Fox and Falco a scrutinizing but otherwise indiscernible look for a small while before saying, “I couldn’t approve more. Good on you two!” His watch began to make a beeping sound. “Oh, I need to go.”

“Always in a rush, eh, Professor?” Falco remarked.

“In a world where many crude things happen, I often have to be,” Mr. Layton replied. Before he went, though, he paused and mentioned, “Ah, yes - Fox, Falco, it would do you well to research ammonium thioglycolate.” 

The second he was out of sight, Slippy burst into laughter. “What’s so funny, Slippy?” Fox asked.

“I actually disagree with him…” Slippy guffawed, “I just can’t see you two getting perms!” 

“A perm?” Mie asked. Going over Mr. Layton’s parting words, they asked, “Does that have anything to do with that ammonium thioglycolate thing?”

“Yeah!” Slippy answered casually, “Amanda had that hairstyle for a week a while back, and I’ve gotten pretty good with hairstyles because of all the stuff she tries. Ammonium thioglycolate is what keeps hair in a perm, so long as it’s not made wet-”

“The Professor’s done it again!” Falco suddenly squawked, making everyone jump. “Fox! That one case we have - the one where the victim’s stepdaughter said she was in the shower at the time after getting a perm-”

“Where are you going with this, Falco?” Fox asked.

“Oh!” Mie would look back at this moment in time and be surprised they realized it before Fox. “If she was in the shower, wouldn’t that mean her hair was wet?”

“Yeah, and…?” inquired Mr. Date, another of the workers at the agency.

“And if it was wet, would that not ruin the perm?” Dillon’s quiet voice had everyone snapping to attention.

“God almighty, we might have something!” Fox declared, “Chalk another one up to the Professor. Everyone, break-time’s over. Let’s get back to work!”

Even Mie couldn’t help but give a big grin at the resounding YEAH everyone let out. The thought I wanna be part of that cheer someday came to the forefront of their mind before they could stop themselves.

At both the end of that Saturday and the following Sunday, even as they received their pay, they found themselves thankful that they hadn’t needed to do too much after that, because Fox and Falco sure were busy cleaning up the loose ends on it and getting it sent to the legal system so they could get the gears of justice grinding.

Before they went to bed on Sunday, Mie stopped the two who essentially served as their guardians these days. “I dunno if this is the right thing to say here, but… congrats on getting the case done.”

Fox and Falco couldn’t help the smiles that appeared on their faces. “... thanks, kid.”

You feel your bonds with your bosses Fox and Falco improving…

“Nice try, Mr. Graile,” Ms. Eisner admonished, “I know you’re not looking at your pants with that kind of smile on your face.”

Ike Graile, the guy who sat in front of Mie in Music, was one of the school’s sports captains - not the fastest by far, but very strong for his age. He had the decency to look sheepish before returning his phone to his pocket.

“I don’t blame you kids for enjoying your phones, but please focus on your lessons while you’re having them,” Ms. Eisner told the class. She then adopted a thoughtful visage. “Speaking of phones… Mx. Gunter, if you wouldn’t mind answering this next question…”

After Mie nodded in affirmation, Ms. Eisner asked, “Name all the main groups of musical instruments according to the Hornbostel–Sachs System?”

“Idiophones, aerophones, chordophones, and… membranophones?” Mie answered uncertainly.

Ms. Eisner nodded proudly. “Good work, Mx. Gunter, but you missed the later addition of electrophones such as modern synthesizers in 1940. Good attempt… let’s see if you can get this one, though - whose system did Hornbostel and Sachs base this scheme of musical instrument classification on?”

This one Mie knew. “It was… Victor-Charles Mahillon!”

Ms. Eisner gave them a thumbs-up before moving to the non-Western classifications in organology for the last 15 or so minutes of class.

Mie walked out of class, intent on seeing if Rosalina was available, only to jump half out of their skin at the sound of someone yelling, “WHOAH!” followed by the sounds of a loud thud and a ton of papers flying through the air. Hurrying around the corner they’d heard it come from, Mie came across the portly fellow that was their principal, Didier Dedede.

“Are you okay, sir?” Mie asked in a concerned tone, offering him their hand. He didn’t look too frustrated as he scratched his head.

“I’m fine,” Principal Dedede asked as Mie helped him back up, “but thank you kindly for asking! This happens a lil’ more often t’me than I’d like. Hope it ain’t too embarrassin’ to see me like this… eheh-heh-heh-heh…”

“We all have our moments,” Mie shrugged, “You want my help picking up the papers?”

“Shucks, kid, that would be awful nice of ya!”

Mie set about helping Principal Dedede pick up the papers he’d dropped. “Sorry, but I don’t know if there was an organized order to these.”

“Awful carin’ of you, Mx. Gunter!” Principal Dedede laughed, but it quickly turned into a thoughtful grin. “You know, there’s an office assistant position open, if you don’t mind picking up after my falls again. Looks real good on a college rec letter!”

“Wait, really?” Mie mused, “You’re serious?”

“Well, I hope I ain’t the type to go ‘round lyin’ to mah charges! Lord knows the seniors would have me fricasseed durin’ Senior Prank Week if I did.”

“This is good and all, but… I have an after-school club I attend that meets a lot.”

“Well, that ain’t no problem! If I remember right, you got lunch after your 4th period, right?”

“Yes…? You know my schedule?”

“I try to know everyone’s schedules!” Principal Dedede gave the big, sunny grin he was known for. “You can show up then! You ain’t needed on any particular days - you get to pick yer hours - but I’ll let you know if you’re needed any more than usual. If you want to, though, you’d need to spend some time with me today going over what needs to be done, so you might miss out on whatever club it is you attend.”

“We don’t have a meeting today, sir,” Mie smiled at him, “and I didn’t have anything long-planned. You want to lead the way?”

“Any other school and I’d ask if you knew the way,” Principal Dedede grumbled good-naturedly, “Toldja this place was big.”

With that, Mie followed him to the front office. Principal Dedede set about explaining what would be going on while Mie helped around. For the most part, as he and Mr. Goon explained, their job was mostly getting papers and moving them to different faculty members. “Not too much like working on the weekends.”

“Clubs, a weekend job, and now this, huh?” Mr. Goon noted, sounding very impressed, “You’re a busy one, aren’t you?”

“Well, I was kinda hoping to bolster my university resume,” Mie explained, “My time’s being eaten up a lot these days…” They thought about how long the days they spent on Subspace Dimension trips felt and how there was no way their parents would support them before dispelling such thoughts from their head. “... so I want to make it the best I can with what time and opportunities I get!”

“I like your spirit, kid!” Principal Dedede declared, “Well, if you want this position here, she’s all yours!” He extended a hand out to Mie, who readily took it in a handshake.

You feel a bond forming with Didier Dedede, the vivacious principal of Sakurai High…

Thou art I... And I am thou...

Thou hast established a new bond...

Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Justice Arcana...

Justice Rank 1!

Principal Dedede waved goodbye to Mie as they made their way home. Rosalina had left a text as they headed in the groupchat.

Rosalina: Ursin just started experiencing a fever, so I will going to be out for the next two days just in case I catch it.

Rosalina: I would rather not make any of you sick before Friday. I get better rather quickly, so if I do have it, I should be fine.

Welp. So much for furthering the Empress Arcana today.

Samus: You feel sick?

Rosalina: I don’t feel anything in particular, but this is a precaution.

Mr. Dragmire: Wise and noble. Thank you for that, Rosalina. I’ll see if I can talk to your teachers and get notes for you.

Popo: We could deliver them after school, if you want!

Nana: We’ll give ‘em to your dad or leave ‘em in your mailbox.

Rosalina: Lubba is not my f… oh, never mind. Thank you all, genuinely.

Nana: No sweat! Just focus on staying healthy!

Mie then had an idea. They created a chat with them, Nana and Popo.

Mie: You guys mind if I tag along with the classwork delivery tomorrow? We can go do something after.

Popo: I’m up for it.

Nana: Sure! Got anything in mind?

Mie: Hmmm… how about…

Mie finished making plans with the freshies just as they stepped through their bosses’ door. Falco was grabbing a bottle of A1 and some paper plates when he saw them step through. “Great! You’re right on time!”

“For what…?”

“Oh, yeah. Every four months or so, Fox does his best to host a barbecue get-together with all our old buds and colleagues. Kid, he’s a master with mea… butcher’s products.”

Picking up what he’d been about to say, Mie merely nodded. “Okay, then… wait, is that today?”

“Nahhhh, we woulda warned you way earlier. It’s gonna be on the 6th. Fox just likes to practice once a week a few weeks ahead of time-” Falco grinned, his head turned slightly in the direction of the backyard, and he raised his voice so Fox would hear him. “- because he’s paranoid he’ll lose his grilling skill!”

From the backyard, Fox called, “You want me making subpar stuff? Fine, then - you don’t have to eat first next month!”

“What?!” 

Mie was barely able to resist laughing, but they couldn’t help the smirk.

Once Fox finished grilling kebabs (burgers were next week), they all sat down. Mie was hooked on Fox’s second craft from the first bite, and in turn, Fox and Falco were pleased to hear about Mie’s new position.

“Good on you, kid!” Fox had lauded, “What’s the principal like?”

“Mr. Dedede?” Mie asked. “You didn’t have him?”

Fox looked down at his kebab, face riddled with an emotion Mie couldn’t place. “Well, the principal when we attended Sakurai High’s dropped and now giving 30 for child abuse-” Falco jabbed him. “... sorry. Point is, your principal and our principal were not the same person.”

“... noted.” Conversation stayed strong in spite of the awkward moment, but eventually, Mie and their sorta-guardians went to bed.

You feel your bonds with your bosses Fox and Falco improving…

Chapter Text

Mie had been making small talk with Ryu while they waited for Mr. Strife to arrive when Ken all but threw the door open. “The midterm grades got posted!” he shouted, the vociferousness and importance of his statement getting everyone’s attention. Heads shot up like their desks had given them an uppercut.

“Yes, they are…” Mr. Strife grumbled from behind him, rubbing his ears, “but you’ll have to check them after class. We’re starting now. Masters-san, please take your seat.”

Having the decency to look sheepish under Mr. Strife’s gaze, Ken was quick to do as told. Once everyone was seated, Mr. Strife instructed them on ikenai and naranai for about half of class before moving onto the next topic.

“Alright, Gunter-san,” Mr. Strife instructed in Japanese, “You did well on your Expression Of Reasoning & Benefits homework, so I think you won’t have too much issue with some more general language knowledge. What is the general term for the use of tame no and tame ni’s English equivalent? You can answer this one in English.”

“The purpose clause… I think.”

Mr. Strife gave a small smile and switched back to Japanese. “You thought right. Now, then, Downer-san…”

Mie was silently happy that Travis nailed Mr. Strife’s next question.

Japanese passed by, and so did Music. Mie decided it couldn’t be any harm to stop and look at their grades. They felt pretty confident in their work, and their pencil had felt as if it was doing their job for them. Thus, they stopped by the bulletin board near the entrance. Sure enough, a sea of students milled around the boards, looking for their names and grades. A few other teachers that weren’t busy like Mr. Threepwood and Mr. Wedgewood watched from the background

“Hey, I did really well this time!” they heard Sonic exclaim as they inched their way through the crowd, “Talk about a new personal best!”

“Ahhh, nyes!” wheezed Tao Kakaru, a Japanese-Chinese girl with a love for cats, food, sleeping and not much else, “I barely passed…!”

Upon perusing the lists for their grades, Mie found they’d done incredibly well for themselves. They were in the top 15 in their grade!

“Hey, nice job!” Popo and Nana lauded from Mie’s side. The enby felt a little embarrassed that they hadn’t even noticed the two right next to them.

“Thanks…” Mie said humbly, blushy at the twins’ praise. “Did you guys pick up all the stuff from Mr. Dragmire yet?”

It was clear they hadn’t when Popo and Nana slapped their faces. “I told you we’d forget!” Nana groaned.

“No, I told you!”

“Well, let’s go pick them up together before Mr. Dragmire heads home,” Mie reasoned, cutting off the two’s bickering. Mr. Dragmire looked outwardly calm when they arrived at his classroom, but he was notably laser-focused on whatever he was doing on his computer, so they picked up the stack of papers he’d left them and moved out without a word.

“I can’t believe he was that focused back there,” Popo remarked once they’d exited the school, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him that chill…”

Nana snickered. “Yeah, well, that’s par for the course when he’s shirking his work.”

“What do you mean?” Mie asked. Popo looked equally confused.

“I caught a peek of his screen,” Nana smirked, “What do you think he was doing on that computer?”

“Grading his students?”

“Sharpening his torture devi- er, fine-tuning his lesson plans?”

Nana looked seconds from bursting with amusement as she gave them the answer. “The geezer was playing Solitaire!”

Popo and her burst into chortles at the same time, whereas Mie, not really finding the joke all that funny, uneasily laughed. “Is there a story behind this one?”

Nana and Popo sobered at this. “Our acheii played one video game before he died…” Popo admitted, “and that was Solitaire.” 

Mie opened their mouth to question what acheii meant, but Popo beat them to it. “Oh, right, you don’t know Navajo. Samuel Bylilly, our grandfather…”

“We thought it was sorta funny when we were younger that he only ever played that,” Nana continued, “and while he didn’t really get it, he did humor our giggles. He really enjoyed it… so to this day, we find Solitaire funny in his honor.”

“It sounds like he was a great man,” Mie smiled softly, before lighting up as an idea hit them. “Would it be useful if I learned Navajo? I’ve already told Sonic I’d learn some French with Rosa when I have the time.”

Popo and Nana nodded eagerly as the three began their walk to the Lum residence. In spite of the earlier camaraderie, however, Mie quickly noticed the twins had grown oddly silent on said walk. “So… anything on you two’s minds?” they asked in an attempt to break the silence.

“No, not really,” Nana answered, looking away near-instantly.

Popo patted Nana on her shoulder. “Don’t worry, sis. I’ll tell them.” 

“Please don’t.”

“You promised…”

“… okay,” Nana grumbled reluctantly.

Popo began to explain. “We were talking to each other last night about what was going on with our Shadow Selves and how our Personas work, and we realized that… maybe the two of us need to learn to be independent from each other.”

“It’s… it’s always been pretty much just us two and not really anybody else,” Nana piped up, “Of course, we’re gonna work together with each other while doing stuff with S.M.A.S.H., but… we need to learn to grow with and without each other.”

“I see… is there any way that can I help?”

“If you want…” Nana shrugged. 

“I could hang out with you guys one-on-one every so often,” Mie offered, “I’m not a licensed therapist, but I’m a good listening board. I can offer advice if you guys would like me to talk you through it, but if you just need someone to vent to, that’s fine as well.”

Popo and Nana looked to each other, having a conversation without words that Mie couldn’t parse. Eventually, they looked back to Mie and nodded gratefully. “Thanks, Mie!” they said in unison before realizing their mistake.

“Eh, it’s okay,” Mie shrugged, “You two being so in sync with each other isn’t the problem - you two working so well with only each other is.” As they approached Rosalina’s house, they assured Nana and Popo, “Don’t worry, we’ll work on that.”

Popo and Nana have expressed a desire to become independent from each other, just in case they ever need to…

Lovers Rank 2!

It was Nana who knocked on the door. The sound of footsteps was heard before Mr. O’Reilly was heard. “Who's there? Sorry, gotta stay inside right now.”

“Friends of Rosalina’s,” Mie spoke up, “We thought we’d take her notes and homework to her since she’s quarantining…”

“Aw, that’s real nice of you kids! I’d say leave it on the doormat, but it’s a windy day outside… if it’s okay, I’m gonna open the door just a pinch. Leave it there, would ya? I’ll make sure it gets to Shooting Star.”

Sure enough, the door opened just enough for Nana to squeak it through. “Thanks, y’all!”

With their little errand complete, Mie and the freshies turned around to leave, but Mr. Reilly said something that stopped them. “Shooting Star ain’t sick, by the way. Doctor Bergman mentioned she ‘n Ursin are gonna be fine. They get their shots and everything, so she’s safe to come back to school tomorrow.”

“Got it. Thanks!” Popo called.

Having helped Rosalina out in a time of need, you feel your bond with her improving…

With that, the trio made their way into town. The Ice Cream Floor was waiting for them.

While the place was a fair bit busier than the last time Mie had come by, they were silently ecstatic to see Banjo and Kazue at a table, sharing a big old bûche de Noël (a bit odd for this time of year, but Mie wasn’t going to question it). Mie also didn’t miss the necklace Kazue now wore, even if they didn’t see what was on the end due to Kazue’s shirt covering the part where any ring or knife would hang.

Mie got themselves another Skeletal Sundae, knowing what they liked (and that it was a seasonal item). Nana got a Big Fat Whoopie, and Popo got a Cherry Bombe with a slice of Carrot Chariot.

Pieter brought them their orders, greeting Mie politely before returning to his little post at the register. Mie found it a little odd how harried and hurried he’d been, but shrugged it off.

Banjo had noticed them before he and Kazue left, and they had exchanged high-fives on the downlow, but the rest of the day before Mie went home was spent chatting with the twins and making plans to hang out after they saved Mr. Romão.

Chapter Text

All day, Mie had been feeling like they’d been forgetting something, but class had kept them from thinking about it too much.

“I hope you all have been keeping up with Ishmael,” Mr. Angenent mused during English class, “Mr. Kingston has vehemently voiced a strong dislike of this book for reasons unknown to me, so I do occasionally quote it around him and ensure he never forgets it.”

Many of the class quietly chuckled or giggled at that. Say what you will about many students being scared straight by the teachers, but everyone loved to see faculty rivalries and vendettas go on.

“Hmmm… Gunter.” Mie nodded readily. “This one will be difficult, so take what time you need to answer it. Exemplify how animals and their predators coexist in relative peace outside of Taker culture and what Ishmael says deviation from the laws dictating such must be so are leading to.”

Mie thought it over, before saying, “Lions don’t kill more zebras or gazelles than they need, and that’s because they don’t kill for the sake of a gazelle massacre. It’s nothing against the gazelles - the lions just need to eat. In that situation, c’est la vie.”

“And what are the consequences of deviating from the law of nature that states one must not take more than they need?” Mr. Angenent prompted.

“The Takers… well, take more than they need. A portion of humankind decided to abandon this law, and ever since, every other ecosystem on Earth has been thrown out of balance…”

“Well done, Gunter. I’m quite pleased with your progress.” A few students smiled at Mie. “Now let’s move onto our vocabulary unit. Anyone remember what imprimatur is?”

With Mr. Angenent’s attention off of Mie, two finally allowed itself to be put with two.

Wait… book, gorillas, learning English… shit, DK!

The moment the school day ended, Mie just barely remembered to say hi to their friends on the way out, dashing to the local library/bookstore (there was a separate section) at a pace that would make Sonic proud.

He certainly snickered.

Mie hadn’t realized how slow automatic doors could be at times. Once they’d bought and received a library card from Ms. Magee, they zoomed over to the educational section (at a library-appropriate speed) for any books that were marked as purchasable and focused on teaching basic English. Maybe they should have asked Mr. Angenent for recommendations…

“We’re worried that some of these books will never be read,” Ms. Magee had explained, “so we sell those books cheap!”

“That’s pretty smart,” Mie agreed.

“M-hm!” Ms. Magee smiled. “It also works better than asking for donations… we also do that, just so you know. Of course, kiddo, you get to decide how you spend your money!”

Still, they were thankful that the librarian didn’t seem to question what they were buying it for; Ms. Magee was more busied by the fact they’d dumped about four dollars’ worth of coins in the donation jar. The way the Shadows dropped different types of U.S. currency was weird like that.

The extra weight in their backpack made it more of a struggle to get all the way to the zoo, but it was a manageable walk nonetheless, even if their legs were a bit tired by the time they got there.

DK jumped at the sound of footsteps and looked up to see Mie approaching. “You co… c-came back…” he murmured, keeping his voice low.

“Yeah…” Mie signed. “I’m sorry I took so long. My life is… busier than most people my age.”

“It is okay,” he signed back. “I know humans do many things aside from come to this place and view me or provide for me.”

“Okay, just making sure. Anyway, I got you something.” Mie pulled out the book they got, making the gorilla tilt his head.

“So I checked the library for any books on language skills, and then I thought ‘wait, won’t I have to return this book?’ but then I learned there was a section of books available for permanent purchase and it was a godsend!”

“I… understood most of those words. What is a library?”

“That’s a great start!” Mie said cheerily as they opened the book. “Okay, now where should we start…?”

Over the next few hours, Mie did their best to explain the more common parts of English. DK had a rather good understanding of the alphabet, so only about an hour was spent getting him caught up to speed on that. The rest was getting basic words and concepts. Mie wasn’t sure how far to go on life outside the zoo, but the gorilla had seemed eager to learn, so they hadn’t held back.

Gotta say, though… Mie mused to themselves at one point, Mr. Angenent makes this look really easy.

Not too long before Mie had told DK they needed to go again, DK’s eyes shot open, his gaze seeming to go beyond Mie. Mie cautiously looked back; many times before, DK had hunched up as an indicator to keep things on the downlow while people were passing by.

Unfortunately for both human and ape alike, the other presence in the area had seen it all. Kallum Kingston approached softly.

Mie hopped off the bench from which they’d been communicating, stance a little too apprehensive as the photographer approached. “Hey, uh… Mr. Kingston’s brother, right? Did you need something?”

“I’m not mad or anything.”

“Oh, thank goodness.” Mie was beginning to sweat internally. “I was worried for a moment, you know how us teens can be.”

“And I’ve played dumb enough times to the point where it can be considered a nuisance to the point where I know you’re hiding this secret when I see it.”

Mie now began to sweat a little. “I’m afraid I don’t follow, sir.”

“Please, listen,” Kallum whispered, leaning down to Mie's ear level. “I know about DK here.”

“You what?” Mie yelped before they could help themselves. They sent a silent wish to the stars that this accidental divulgation wouldn’t put them in DK’s bad graces.

“Again, not mad. More impressed, if anything.” His eye was caught by the educational guide in Mie’s hand. “Oh, my… we had similar ideas? I’m even more impressed now!”

He laughed a little, the sound allowing Mie to better see the family resemblance between Kallum & Mr. Kingston.

“You… wait, what?”

“Looking back, I dunno why I didn’t try to do that earlier. I’ve only been teaching him what I knew about just speaking and pronunciation. But I guess I have no reason not to now, aye?”

“Again: what?!” Mie repeated.

“Okay, okay, let me explain. However intentionally on any of our parts, we’ve both come into the knowledge that DK here is capable of speaking and understanding human language. It seems we have similar interests…  and you genuinely wish this fellow well. So how about I help you out?”

Realizing that Kallum genuinely held no ill will, Mie said, “Sounds good to me. But in the end…” They looked towards DK, who flinched as the attention fell upon him. “… it’s his decision whether or not he wants our help and all.”

Once DK recuperated from the flinch, a rough exhaling sound emanated from his nose as the two of them anticipated his response.

“That go… that would be good. Tan… thank you… both of you.”

You not only have proved yourself trustworthy to DK but have gained an ally in the gorilla’s education…

Moon Rank 2!

As if on cue, Mie’s phone rang with the reminder alarm to get home. “Shoot…” they muttered, “DK, Mr. Kingston - wow, that actually felt less awkward than I thought it would - I have to go home for dinner.”

“And if my memory is correct,” Kallum recalled, checking a watch Mie hadn’t seen on him earlier, “it’s feeding time for DK, anyway. Best we all part for today… oh! Perhaps we could coordinate better with each other’s numbers? Of course, this is only if you trust me with such power. Say the word and I'll delete it, too.”

“W-wait!” DK yelped. Getting up hurriedly, he rushed behind a boulder, out from which flew an attached trio of bananas.

At Kallum’s confused look, Mie explained the deal they and DK had made, taking care in clarifying that DK had offered the bananas out of his own volition and that they weren’t robbing or deceiving him.

After exchanging numbers and saying goodbyes, Mie hurried home. Dinner was fantastic as always - Fox, having completed his end of the deal on the case Layton had tipped him off on, attempted Hangtown fry with steak fries - Mie went to bed somewhat early, citing that they wanted to get some sleep ahead of time in case they didn’t get any tomorrow to Fox and Falco.

Chapter Text

It had been roughly two and a half weeks since Ikaika Romão went missing. Most would’ve concluded him dead at this point, but Mie knew the truth.

Ikaika Romão was coming back today. 

“I did some extra scans to be sure,” Mr. Dragmire reported once everyone was gathered at the lab, “and I have two pieces of good information.”

“Do tell,” Rosalina remarked.

“First: not only is the bridge you made still there-”

“Be humble, Popo.” Nana warned, her eyebrows lowered. “If what everyone’s said about these Shadow Selves being worse than what we were is true, the last thing you need is an inflated ego.”

Popo was silent, not even giving so much of a hey. “You’re not gonna say anything, bro?”

“Nope. I don’t have anything to say there, you’re just right about that.”

“Is it safe to assume Popo’s the ‘evil twin’ of you two?” Sonic commented, being very careful to use quotation symbols.

“That’s what my sis wants you to think,” Popo immediately deadpanned, shooting Sonic a serious look.

“How early were we this time?” Rosalina asked.

“Less than a week before the Timer Field dissipates on its own,” Mr. Dragmire answered as he overlooked the statistics.

“Just a little less than when you guys saved me…” Samus noted. “These things really are getting tougher for us, aren’t they?”

“Shouldn’t be a problem at the pace we’re going!” Sonic said with more confidence than usual. “As long as we don't have any more stowaway incidents…”

“Don’t jinx it,” Mie warned him sternly. “The less people know about this, the better.”

“Second,” Mr. Dragmire interjected sternly, shutting everyone up, “Mr. Romão should be not all that far from the other side.”

“You located him?!” Samus gasped, before a giddy grin overtook her face. “That’s good news!”

“There is bad news, however… although I suspect you may have reasoned this already. While the Timer Fields and Dungeons are getting longer, Shadow Ikaika is also stronger than any other foe you’ve faced. Whether that’s due to his age, his combat experience, or some other unknown factor, I cannot say. It could very well be a combination, however… hmmm…”

“Hey, as long as our numbers are growing. Let’s charge through!”

S.M.A.S.H. returned to the mountain in record time. Upon entry, the group was greeted with a loud call of, “Heads up, Blue!”

Popo braced for impact, but nothing came at him. His eyes picked open to see Puff pinned on top of a bowled-over Sonic. “I missed you guys!” she squealed.

“Long time no see, Puff!” Mie chuckled. “It’s only been a week, though…”

“A week to me is like a month to you!” Puff stopped in thought. “Or is it that a week to you is like a month to me?” She then shrugged before attempting to squeeze Sonic with her small arms.

“Is that true?” Nana wondered, scratching her hood. “No wonder why it was so late after we were saved…”

“I meant metaphorically…” Puff huffed. “Well, I dunno. I don’t have the best understanding of how time works… maybe you guys can explain to me some time?”

“Sure thing,” Sonic promised, “but right now, we got a wrestler to save. Uh… if you wouldn’t mind getting off of me?”

“Oh, right.” Puff hopped off of Sonic. “Sorry, Blue.”

With that, the team made their way onto the teleporter. Upon finishing their transportation, S.M.A.S.H. - the twins most of all - were relieved to know their hard work wasn’t a trick.

Even if it was made by them, it was surprisingly sturdy, albeit smooth in a way that could make one stumble if they weren’t careful.

Just as Mr. Dragmire had predicted, a new area was just beyond. It was a rather large snowy bowl, with empty seats in rows upon rows that eerily reminded Mie of the Theatre of Dionysos Eleuthereus. To the team’s elation, standing in the middle of the area at the bottom of the steps was Ikaika Romão, surrounded in the same dark-purple energy that had surrounded Samus. They could see his eyes, and they weren’t golden - this was the real deal!

“So do we just get close in order to break the Timer Field, or…?” Popo asked Mie.

“We may as well find out,” Nana shrugged. Not seeing any Shadows’ presence, S.M.A.S.H. thus approached Ikaika.

They were only so many steps away when the aura faded away, leaving Ikaika to snap to attention. “Urgh… where the hell am I-” His eyes fell on Mie, Samus and the rest of the team. “Whoah! When’d you kids get here? Uh… y'all lost in this freezin’ dump, too?”

“Boy, is that a story…” Mie admitted awkwardly, not sure how to interact with the wrestler. “We actually came here to get you out of this place…”

“You know the way out?” Ikaika’s shoulders sagged in relief. “Fantastic, haw haw! Y’all mind leading the w-”

“Leaving so soon?” An elderly, almost-wispy voice echoed through the area, just as distorted as the Shadow Selves they’d faced before.

“Shit!” Sonic hissed as a lift came down from the other side. “That’s definitely Shadow Ikaika!”

“Doesn’t sound like the one we heard, though…” Rosalina murmured.

Mie braced themselves, expecting the biggest, strongest, most muscular Shadow they’d ever faced to appear from the suddenly-darkened ground between them and the lift they’d taken to reach this coliseum-like crag.

One could imagine the tonal whiplash when a walking stick was the first thing they saw.

Rather than a near-perfect copy of Ikaika but for yellow eyes like with the previous Shadow Selves (well, minus Shadow Samus), this one was older. Much older.

To begin with, he had tousled, wrinkly skin, his hair was grayer in some parts (others, such as his mustache and beard, were dyed burning crimson). Some sort of tigrine headdress adorned his head like a regal muffler hat. Otherwise, he wore a tank top that for whatever reason reminded Mie of an elderly silverback they’d seen at the zoo.

Ikaika flinched. “Who the hell are you supposed to be? My after-picture?” Looking back to the kids, he saw their weapons readied and immediately whipped back to his Shadow Self, recognizing him as a threat. “You thinking of attacking kids, old man?” he growled out. “You got mad balls.”

“How foolish of you to think you would target a child… the only thing I can think that was more foolish of us, in fact, was to think that we could last forever.”

Ikaika notably bristled at this. “You wanna explain what you mean by all this, phony-boy?”

“Phony? Is that any way to speak about me, of all people? I am who you already are, after all…”

“Wanna elaborate on that?” Ikaika snarled.

“Actually, let’s not…” Nana meeped.

“Time is fleeting in our lives, and you are coming to understand that,” Shadow Ikaika smirked, leaning on his cane. “Why don’t you let your successors take this fight, hmm?”

Samus piped up in a futile attempt at reasoning. “Listen, sir. We got this. No offense meant, but you’re not equipped for this fight-”

“Not a chance! I can take this fogey any time of the week!”

“Not with those frail bones, you couldn’t.”

“Look who’s talking!”

“Exactly, my dearest other self. Your era, your legend, your time, will soon come to an end.”

“Wait…” Rosalina whispered. “Are you, say… terminally ill?”

“Germy-what now?” Ikaika asked, his gaze hardly leaving his Shadow Self.

“I think it’s just some sort of mid-life crisis thing…” Samus muttered. “Ageism is a bitch.”

“You may have faced a mighty slew of foes in the ring, but your biggest enemy is the inevitable passing of time itself. You can’t teach an old tiger new tricks…”

Clearly having had enough, Ikaika gave a toothy grin that didn’t match the frustration in his eyes. “You want a mirror match, old man? Then come and get some!”

Mr. Dragmire hissed, “Oh, for the love of god, don’t say it -”

“There’s only one Rei Tigre out there, and that’s me!”

Shadow Ikaika merely chuckled lowly, the dark aura that had surrounded him since he’d hobbled off the lift intensifying. “Well, now… your funeral. Let’s see just what it is that finally gets you…”

“At least he didn’t specifically say ‘you’re not me’ this time…” Sonic muttered as he resumed a battle-ready stance. “Not that it’s gonna make this fight any different from the rest!”

“Hmhmhmhmmmm … HAW HAW HAW HAW HAW!” The dark aura enveloped, bulging and billowing bigger and more outward. In a burst of energy, a mighty lion with flaming wisps on the tips of its shieldlike mane slammed into the ground, sending a little debris flying in all directions, before letting out an ear-shaking roar.

“Aw, come on! How can you call yourself me if you can’t even get the species right?”

“Don’t make him stronger…!” Popo pleaded.

“I AM A SHADOW… THE TRUE SELF…” Shadow Ikaika declared, “NOW, THEN - BRING ON THE RING!"

An earthquake shook throughout the location, and four red pillars landed from the sky in a square shape around them. The terrain shifted, and as glowing ropes appeared between the pillars, it became clear that they were now fighting in a wrestling ring.

Or perhaps an arena.

Puff, now annoyed and desperate to get Ikaika out of the way before he became a liability, jumped up to grab him by the scruff and dragged him off of the ring without a second thought.

“Let me at ‘em! I can take this oversized pussycat! Let me at ‘eeeeeeeeeeeeeem…”

“AND WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING?” Shadow Ikaika roared. Before he could chase after Puff, though, S.M.A.S.H. stood in his way. “… I’M GETTING TOO OLD FOR THIS. FINE!” Shadow Ikaika let out another deafening roar.

“Okay, that problem’s solved… let’s get to work!” Mie declared, firing their first shot at the beast. It pretty much bounced right off of his face, and so did Popo and Nana’s Psi attack.

“Ugh, our attacks aren’t working!” Nana scowled as she had Signy block Popo from a slam of their leonine foe’s paw. “What do we do?”

“Help out Puff with Ikaika!” Mie called as they switched to a different Persona.

“Right!” Popo grabbed Nana’s hand, and two of them slipped out of the ring.

Sonic hopped into the air, preparing a Sonic Punch. Aiming at the lion’s mane, he charged in, only to be blocked by an iron elbow being held up against him. While he was falling, the paw slammed down, pinning him to the ground.

Shadow Ikaika cackled, before beginning to slam Sonic with the same paw. “ONE!” SLAM! “TWO!” SLAM! “THR-”

“Don’t ring your bell yet!” With the help of Pheidippides’ Garu to blow the paw off, Sonic pushed it away from him, allowing him to make his escape.

Pulling out their Persona Ball, Mie summoned Imdugud and had him attack Shadow Ikaika with Double Fangs.

“Lov the cronch!” Popo cheered, only to flinch as a large shadow fell over Mie. “Watch out!”

Mie dodged another paw slam, but a flying chunk of debris nicked the forearm holding their weapon. “I’ve got you!” Rosalina called, casting Dia to heal them.

Mie held their gun arm in pain, switching their weapon between hands after Rosalina healed it. Right then, she saw one of the lion’s back feet about to sweep her while she attempted to freeze it with Bufu. Shadow Ikaika did stop midway so he could shake off the cold. Even then, the ice didn’t last long. In fact, the pain only seemed to make him move faster.

Like a wild bull, it charged around the ring, bouncing off of ropes in an attempt to ram people, with only the twins being able to heal everyone from a distance. It was about to land another hit on Samus when she casted Sukunda, and dodged in the nick of time. She weaved past the clawing attacks of her enemy, moving between its legs to get to Sonic, Mie, and Rosalina.

Just to be sure, Mie called up Imdugud and threw out a Sukukaja for everyone. Now with increased evasion, the group began to run circles around their target, keeping up with his breakneck pace. With the speed issue settled, Mie switched to Madana and - knowing it had a skill that wasn’t shared by Pheidippides, Deborah, Cailleach, or Sigmund and Signy - commanded an Agi.

The ball of fire found its mark, leaving Shadow Ikaika to yowl in pain. “URGH… NICE SHOT!” He prepared to pounce on Mie with a Headbutt. “C’MERE!”

Mie barely managed to dodge the blow, leading Shadow Ikaika to crash headfirst into the craggy surface. Dizzily, he fell back on his butt, back legs spread eagle. “He’s knocked himself down…” Mr. Dragmire realized. “Go, all of you. All-Out Attack!”

Mie had dropped their weapon not too far away when they’d leaped out of the way. As Sonic, Popo, Nana, Samus and Rosalina charged in, Mie grabbed their gun on the way to join their allies. In a brutal flurry of blows, Shadow Ikaika took a lot of damage before he was able to get back up.

“WELL, AIN’T YOU JUST AS STUBBORN AS ME? AW, ALRIGHTY THEN…” In spite of the cold surrounding them, Mie and their allies felt the temperature drastically rise. “TIME TA TURN UP THE HEAT!”

Shadow Ikaika roared to the sky before it spewed flames out from its mouth. With their cold-tailored clothes, it was even worse, especially for Rosalina, who was knocked down. Shadow Ikaika jumped into the air, surrounded himself in a ball of fire, and charged back down to earth like a meteor.

Samus grabbed the dizzied Rosalina, hoisted her into a princess carry, and got the hell out of the way. When a shockwave emanated out, Cailleach appeared at their side and took the damage to help ameliorate Samus’ hurt. She stumbled from the shared pain and the sudden airtime they’d all been given, but she didn’t drop Rosalina.

“COME ON! IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?” Shadow Ikaika sneered, before spewing out another stream of flames at Popo and Nana. Sigmund and Signy put their shields together just in time to save the duo from being torched. As Shadow Ikaika only increased the pressure in response, the twins noticed the recovering Rosalina. She was healing herself from the damage she’d taken now that Samus helped her back up. Seeing that Shadow Ikaika was moving to target her, they casted Rakukaja, ensuring that she could take the blows a little easier than before, even if she was still more susceptible to Fire attacks than others.

“FEEL THE POWER OF RYŪŌ’S SUN, NEVE EM PÓ!” The leonine Shadow Self prepared another fiery surge for her. 

“Not this time…!” Rosalina growled. She summoned Deborah, who shot out a stream of Bufu all her own to counter it. Well, she was trying - Shadow Ikaika’s flames were clearly overpowering Deborah’s frost.

“YOU’RE PINNED NOW!”

“Perhaps…” A grin appeared on Rosalina’s face. “But so are you.”

Shadow Ikaika only then noticed a small weight on his head. Samus dropped down from where she was standing, lassoed the lion’s mouth and began looping around until his mouth was sealed tight, Samus landing smoothly atop his snout. 

“Nice!” Mie cheered, giving a fistbump to Sonic, who had helped Samus get onto Shadow Ikaika with a Garu.

With nowhere to go, the flames in Shadow Ikaika’s mouth began to build up in his body before he proceeded to blow up in a burst of flame that everyone’s Personas (Wild Soul, in Mie’s case) shielded them from. Thankfully, the dark energy spewing out of him as he reverted to his humanoid form covered any blood or guts that would have flown out of a human.

That was probably for the best, Mie reasoned in their mind as they all reconvened towards Shadow Ikaika, If Shadow Selves bleed like that, nobody wants Puff to see that crime scene-

Wait.

Where was Puff?

“Puff?” they called. “Is Mr. Romão chill?”

“I wish!” Puff huffed back from the stairs where she and Ikaika had been watching. “This guy’s so stubborn!”

“What do you mean he’s right?” the real Ikaika shouted from behind her. “Whose side are you even on?”

“Your friends’ side!” Puff snapped back.

“Oh, brother…” Mie facepalmed, realizing this was why the shadow had been growing so strong in recent minutes. “Mr. Romão, this older… duplicate is a part of you, just a bit exaggerated in his appearance.”

“A bit, you say?” Ikaika snapped, before remembering he was talking to a kid. “Oh, uh… sorry fer snappin’…”

“You still think you’ve got what it takes to defeat the King of Beasts…?” Shadow Ikaika wheezed, having grabbed his cane. He looked heavily beaten around, and he wasn’t leaning on his cane out of his own volition anymore. “Ach, this song and dance is getting old, too.” He turned his attention to Mie and company. “Foolish children… let’s try this again.”

“… what do you mean by that?” Sonic asked, a slight nervous quiver in his voice. “Didn’t we beat you already?”

“Under any other circumstances, perhaps…” Shadow Ikaika managed a sneer before he reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out some sort of dark discus.

Puff shivered at the sight of the circular item. “I’m getting a really bad feeling about that thing…” she mumbled. As if on some horrible cue, it began to exude a black miasma that traveled through the hand holding it to the rest of Shadow Ikaika’s body. 

“Some nice fella warned me that some folks would be getting in my way…” his voice echoed through the air, “He gave me this funky little gadget… let's see if it works!” 

“Dark energy?” Mr. Dragmire murmured. “It must have been that Ruler fellow…!”

Once Shadow Ikaika was fully engulfed, it began to bulge out and eventually reform into an alarmingly familiar form…

… albeit a bit different. Shadow Ikaika’s lionlike form burst into being once again with a loud (but slightly pained) roar, but dark energy stayed on some parts of his body.

“What’s going on…?” Samus hissed to Puff.

“What’re you lookin’ at me for?”

In dark bursts, black, crystalline appendages began appearing on Shadow Ikaika’s body. An extra pair of clawed arms appeared on his sides. His mane was covered partially by long horns, his tail was armored up into a trident, and sharper claws protruded from his front feet, all topped off with a spiky goatee of sorts.

“AHHHHHH-HAW HAW HAWWWWW! Y’ALL READY FOR ROUND TWO? I BET Y’ALL CAN’T EVEN PUT A DENT IN MY BRAND-SPANKIN’-NEW NECRO ARMOR!”

“This can’t be good…” Rosalina murmured. 

Mie inhaled and exhaled. As they looked around nervously, their eyes caught the real Mr. Romão gaping a bit himself. Was he finally beginning to understand how out-of-his-depth he currently was…?

That doesn’t matter right now, they remembered, We gotta make sure everyone lives to see him accept his other self…

“We can do this…” Sonic called to his teammates. “C’mon! The armor doesn’t protect his whole body - and he’s clearly tired already! Just one more push, everyone!”

Mie smiled before giving a battle cry as they rushed towards Shadow Ikaika with the rest of their allies.

Danger looms overhead, but your team will fight with you to the bitter end…

Fool Rank 3!

Chapter Text

Absent-mindedly, Mie noticed it had grown dark ‘outside’. Through the snow, they saw it had become like nighttime, the sky painted with endless stars.

Given that Shadow Ikaika’s new form now shot powerful beams out of his forehead, however, they didn’t really have time to admire it. 

Sometimes, he’d envelop himself in the same powerful energy and he’d roll them across the battlefield at speeds that barely gave S.M.A.S.H. any time to rest.

“He’s so fast! That’s my thing!” Sonic snapped, launching a similar Sonic Punch at him. It didn’t even make the Shadow Self flinch.

“Does ANYTHING hit this thing?” Samus grunted as Cailleach hit him with Zio.

“I can’t even find something that it resists!” Mr. Dragmire reported over the intercom.

“I… I can’t keep up with healing everyone…” Rosalina panted, clutching her chest in fatigue.

“Ugh! This is bananas!” Sonic groaned after a narrow miss. This gave Mie a relieving reminder.

“Popo! Nana! You got the bag with our stuff in it?”

“Yup!” Popo answered, yelling from far away.

“There are some bananas in there!” Hopefully they’re not mashed right now… “Can you toss one over to me?”

“I got it!” Nana said, digging through their inventory. Once she found DK’s gift, she tossed it at Mie, and they jumped up and grabbed its crescent form. They then ran to Rosalina as they peeled it, careful to not grab the Shadow Self’s attention. “Eat up, Rosa!”

Upon the first bite, Rosalina could immediately feel reinvigorating magic energy thrum through her. “That was surprisingly useful, Mie,” she sighed graciously once she’d finished the whole thing. “Where did you get these?”

“… you wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Mie shrugged. “They’re not gonna blow your insides up or anything…”

“I understand… but please look at what we’re facing,” Rosalina retorted, pointing at the Shadow Self with her staff.

“Okay, it’s a long story, but now’s not the time!” Mie admitted, silently hoping that Rosalina would forget by the time the fight was over. To help smoothen up the process, they cast Madana and aimed an Agi at an unarmored part of the rampaging beast currently charging after Nana and Popo.

Unfortunately, it hit a part of its body that did have armor… but fortunately, the Fire attack elicited a cry from Shadow Ikaika, who nearly tripped and fell over but managed to reorient itself first. However, the energy that it charged and was charged with dissipated. “CLEVER…” he growled out.

“AHA!” Mr. Dragmire gasped. “The armor might be its only weak point!”

“Hitting the armor?” Samus asked, swinging her whip at the pitchforked tail. He jerked forward in response.

“According to the calculations I did, the Necro Armor… as he called it, that is… is powering this form,” Mr. Dragmire explained. “If we can break most or all of the pieces, he’ll lose all his energy, and he should be easy to finish then.”

“That’s a lot of armor, though…” Popo grunted. 

“On the bright side, the power behind your attacks should not matter as much as the number… quantitative attacks would be better than qualitative… this makes things easier, actually, given how he seems to resist most of the group’s attacks.”

The team nodded among themselves before Rosalina cast Media. With the team healed up a good bit, they charged into battle.

“So, trying to trick us into not hitting the stuff that hurts you, huh?” Sonic commented as he charged up a Garu attack directly at its head. Once he launched it, he kicked Shadow Ikaika in the nose and flipped out of the way just as it was about to bite him. “Then consider this an investment!”

As he flew out of harm’s reach, Rosalina swept forwards with her bo staff. With a boost from Deborah, she smashed the bludgeon into Shadow Ikaika’s goatee armor, shattering it in one blow. Shadow Ikaika thundered furiously before spewing dark magic out in an Eiga that sent Sonic flying.

Seeing this from a close enough position, Nana hopped up to the edge of the ring. “Don’t worry! We’ll tag in for you!” Thanks to Popo, she got a boost up, and grabbed her brother’s hand once she was in there. Once they’d entered the arena, one of Shadow Ikaika’s arms grabbed Popo. Nana grew panicked, but Popo managed to squirm his arm out of its claw, and used his pickaxe to smash at it repeatedly.

While it flinched from the first strike, Popo called out, “You get the other one while I’m busy, sis!”

Nana came to the side of the ring where Samus was just as the other arm was about to grab her. Nana leapt up, evading the arm’s grasp, and dropped down the remaining arm right off of the elbow as Popo finished with his side.

Meanwhile, Samus got pinned at the edge by its tail, being caught by the sleeve of her jacket. In her position, she couldn’t strike hard enough with her whip, and the hilt couldn’t make a dent on the armor. Flailing the whip around, a small part of it looped onto the non-armored part of the tail. She spun it around, and after enough times, she had tied up the thing holding her captive, and took the lion down by literally yanking his tail. While pinned, Samus smacked the trident-like spikes repeatedly and threw a Zio in for good measure, smashing it into disappearing shards.

“Boys and girls,” Mr. Dragmire piped in, “I believe I have a way to slow him down further.”

“I’m guessing you want me to focus on attacking him, then?” Mie asked.

“… yes,” Mr. Dragmire nodded.

“Fine by me,” Samus grunted out. “Sukunda is only doing so much, anyways. What do you have in mind?”

“We’re rooting him to the spot,” Mr. Dragmire said. “Freeze his feet!”

Rosalina had Deborah use Mabufu on all four of Shadow Ikaika’s paws, the Ice attack damaging him and rooting him to the spot. “WHAT DO Y’ALL THINK YOU’RE DOING?”

Shadow Ikaika attempted to yank his legs out of the ice, but Pheidippides’ Magaru blew the surrounding snow around, blinding Shadow Ikaika and breaking his focus on freeing himself.

There were only two pieces left. Two pieces standing between this powerful shield and Ikaika being able to safely accept himself. Even without most of his armor, Shadow Ikaika breathed streams of fire all around himself, attempting to melt the frosty shackles and keep S.M.A.S.H. away from there. While everyone else was dodging the flames, Mie weaved through them, careful to fan away anything they could with their free hand or using Madana’s Bufu to extinguish the flames. Seeing the successful havoc he was causing, the lion triumphantly roared, giving Mie the perfect opportunity to leap up and fire two shots at each horn - once from the first jump, then once after readjusting to Shadow Ikaika’s recoil of pain.

The attacks managed to break Shadow Ikaika free from his icy irons. “I’M NOT GOING DOWN YET!” he bellowed desperately. “I CAN STILL FIGHT! DON’T RING THE BELL YE-”

“Psi!” two familiar voices cried in unison. Two psychic blasts of energy collided into Shadow Ikaika, causing him to drop to the group and revert to the human Shadow Ikaika.

From behind him, Popo, Nana, Sigmund and Signy grouped together with the team. In unison, the twins declared, “Ding, ding, ding!”

“It’s over…” Mr. Dragmire wheezed.

With the battle (hopefully) all said and done, the team reconvened with Puff and Ikaika. Much to the team’s vexation, Ikaika still huffed with the anger of a bull who’d seen some flashy movement. “Hey! Old me!”

Shadow Ikaika’s head perked up at his other self’s words.

“I got something to say to you about what you just did!”

Mr. Romão, please! We can’t do this fight for a third time… Mie mentally pleaded.

“I’ll admit it - I’m getting older. I don’t like it one bit. But I ain’t even 60 - I still got a lot of years in me before I end up like you. I swear on my life I’ll spend those years well.” He jabbed a finger at his Shadow Self and admonished, “But that does not give my dark side the justification to attack a buncha kids! If I’m supposed to accept this side of me like you say I am, I wanna do it right!”

Shadow Ikaika nodded at long last. “Though your flame may be going out, I see it still burning with a renewed passion,” he mused before transforming into a Persona.

He was a large muscular tigrine humanoid, whose fur - while gold as the giant lion form of Shadow Ikaika around his beefy arms and long platinum-blonde head of hair - was Ikaika’s traditional crimson and black everywhere else. He was clad in almost-royal robes, albeit with one piece that wasn’t as fitting with the theme - a wrestling champion’s belt made of dark flames and a big V inscribed in the center.

“Gorgeous George, eh? So, this is one of those ghost things you used in that fight, huh? I can feel myself getting stronger already!”

Mie was genuinely shocked at how smoothly that confrontation went. “That was… different.”

“I guess that’s just his way of managing his issues.” Sonic assumed, shrugging. “As long as he’s not hurting himself or anyone else with it, that’s okay, isn’t it?”

“That being said… man, even watching a match like that got me worked out! You guys said you had a way out… mind guiding me to-” Ikaika suddenly started shivering once the arena turned back to normal. “AW, CHRIST! Why is it so cold out here?! What is this, some kind of mountaintop?”

“Long story, but yes,” Nana answered, earning a whistle from Ikaika. “We probably should’ve considered getting something warm for you…”

“I’ll do it.” Mie took their jacket off to help Ikaika in what ways it could (in spite of its inadequate size, that is to say), using the last of their magic energy to use Madana like a radiator.

Some might have found being warmly hugged by the nature spirit hot (neither pun being intended)… those people probably didn’t know adult yakshi fed on human blood once a year.

“Thanks, kid…” Ikaika gave them a grin. 

You feel a bond forming with Ikaika Romão, the brawling, boastful braggadocio who wrestled at South Town…

Thou art I... And I am thou...

Thou hast established a new bond...

Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Hierophant Arcana…

Hierophant Rank 1!

“If you guys came lookin’ fer me, you probably already know m’name,” Ikaika guessed. At their nods, he continued, “Y’all mind if I get all of yours?”

The group took care to introduce themselves before Samus suddenly snapped her fingers. “Oh, Puff!” Turning to the oddly-quiet balloon-being, she bent down and took Puff’s stubby hands in her own. “I don’t know what you said to convince Mr. Romão, but great job. You saved our bacon today!”

Puff got a big smile on her face. “Thank you, Samsam!”

“Samsam?” Popo questioned as Samus’ cheeks burst into flame.

“That’s a new one…” Nana remarked. “Puff, do we have nicknames?”

“Uh… yours are hard…” Puff admitted, looking down in sadness. “Popo and Nana are just your names. If your names were Po and Na, it’d be better, but I’m not gonna complain about you guys’ names.”

Popo just smiled. “Why not do it the reverse way, then?” he asked, earning an adorably confused look from Puff. “I can be Po, and adeezhí… uh, sis here, is Na!”

Puff’s smile couldn’t have grown any bigger before she rushed the siblings, who took her up in a big hug. “I love you all,” she squealed contentedly. “I love Po, an’ Na, an’ Nicky, an’ Roro, an’ Mimi, an’ that Drag guy you keep mentioning is probably cool too, and…” Subsequently failing to notice a flustered noise coming from Mr. Dragmire, she looked up at Ikaika with big eyes. “Well, I’ll probably get to know you. Whoever dumped you in this freezing joint probably isn’t going to stop just if we say the third time’s the charm…”

“About that…” Mr. Dragmire piped up, “I didn’t hallucinate that dark disc, did I? The one that Shadow Ikaika showed us before he revitalized with that Necro Armor or whatever he called it?”

Samus just scowled as they all began the walk back to the hub, where they would quickly say goodbye to Puff and take Ikaika back to the real world. “When we catch this bastard, we can interrogate him then. One thing at a time…”

“You tell us when you’re feeling better, okay?” Popo checked. The team and Ikaika were now in the lab.

“Swear I will,” Ikaika promised. “I gotta take a long break after that fiasco. I told that copy of me that I would use my time wisely, and right now, I wanna use that time to take a breather for once in my life.”

“Well, in order to do that…” Mie reminded him, “Do you mind if we ask for your number so we can keep contact with you?”

“I’m not really one to just give out my number like that-”

“In most situations, that would be 100% respectable, but this is still pretty valid.”

“- but if you guys need my help catching the jerk who nearly got us all killed?” The man in question chuckled. “Hah! I can’t say no to that!”

“Then let’s get you home!” Sonic cheered.

“Eager to get away from me?” Mr. Dragmire jested.

“Eager to conk out,” Sonic answered, shooting the educator a look with a slightly scary grin, “and maybe to spend some time making preliminary plans…”

“Plans…? Plans for what?” Nana asked. 

Popo opened his mouth to say something, but he stopped when he noticed an excited look on Rosalina’s face. “You aren’t saying…” she whispered.

“Yeah,” Sonic said, “I don’t think it's gonna be just the two of us and Tails this Halloween.”

“What are you talking about…?” Mr. Dragmire asked.

Sonic just grinned. “Me and Rosie always wanted to throw a Halloween party, but nobody ever comes, and we spend some time taking Tails trick-or-treating anyways. Would you guys like to join us? We’ll clean up on our own!”

“You had me at Halloween party,” Mie said giddily, Popo, Samus and Nana nodding along in excitement.

“Please tell me you’ve gone trick-or-treating before…” Popo mumbled.

“My folks weren’t that bad,” Mie laughed awkwardly. At Ikaika’s confused expression, they teased, “Heal up, you heel, and I’ll explain more.”

“Right…”

“Excellent work today,” Mr. Dragmire noted. “All that remains now is to wait…”

“Wish we could be doing more, though,” Sonic sighed. “Well, with the sleepover and now the Halloween party, we’d better hope that Ruler bastard is taking Halloween off too.”

“Do they even have holidays or parties in the Subspace Dimension?” Samus wondered. “Man… poor Puff … think there’s a way we can have her join us, like, virtually or something?”

“Sounds like an interesting project…” Mr. Dragmire couldn’t help his intrigued grin. “Working with the technology of phones isn’t my field of expertise, but I ought to know it.” More quietly, he grumbled, “Maybe then I wouldn’t break my phone by accidentally knocking it off my nightstand.”

“Well, we’ll plan later,” Mie suggested, “For now, I’ll see you home, Mr. Romão.”

Unbeknownst to Mie, as they walked him home, they failed to notice two certain men were driving in the area at the time.

“You weren’t kidding when you said slim but not zero,” Falco murmured. “So we’re gonna talk to them, right?”

“… not yet.”

“What?!” Falco squawked. “You don’t wanna do anything? You said it yourself-”

“They’re probably involved, that's true,” Fox reasoned, “but I don’t want to assume they’re behind the kidnappings. You really think the kid has the power to kidnap and hide someone with Mr. Romão’s build?”

“Uuuuuugh…”

“Plus… twice may be a coincidence, but thrice is a pattern, right?” 

Falco groaned, but ultimately he gave a stalwart nod of understanding. 

“If someone else goes missing, and we see Mie hanging out with them, we’ll definitely talk to the kid. But for now, let’s just keep an eye on them.”

“…”

“You really wanna incarcerate a teenager on this little evidence?”

“… yeah, I get it. I just want these kidnappings to stop.”

“Trust me, Falco…” He stared at Mie curiously as they prepared to make their way back to the house before preparing to use a shortcut he knew. “You’re not the only one.”

In spite of Fox and Falco getting home late with tomato pizza and garlic knots, dinner was delicious. Even still, Mie thought that success tasted much sweeter.

Chapter Text

Mie was genuinely trying to get better at resting up after fights against Shadow Selves, but it still wasn’t easy, and while Mr. Dragmire noticed, he did still have a job to do.

“Just because midterms are over is no excuse to slack on your studies, all of you,” Mr. Dragmire lectured. “Learning is a lifelong process, so the better you get at it - and the sooner you start working on it - the more interesting a person you will become to yourself and others. Nobody likes a knowledgeable show-off, but nobody can deny said show-offs know how things work.” He smiled softly. “Speaking of work… Mx. Gunter, if you wouldn’t mind…”

Mie snapped to attention. “As your workbook has indicated, there are three key ingredients that make up work - the displacement of an object caused by a force acting upon it. Name these three, please.”

“At the risk of being that person, Mr. Dragmire, you named all three of them…”

Mr. Dragmire facepalmed to himself as he realized his slip, almost garnering a chuckle from a few students. “Ack…”

“May as well say it, though. Force, displacement, and cause!”

“I can’t believe this…” Mr. Dragmire groaned. “Very well. Let’s try that again. Name the mathematical expression for work and all its components.” He seemed rather proud of himself. “I don’t think that one’s gone to pot, has it, no-”

“Work is equal to its force (F) multiplied by the displacement (d) as well as the angle between the force and the displacement’s vector, which is represented by the cosine of theta.”

“Curses… well done, Mx. Gunter.”

Quietly, Rosalina muttered, “I should hope we will not need a calculator for that…”

Without even glancing at her, Mr. Dragmire responded, “You can always use your calculators. I'm not a barbarian.” He paused. “Actually, there is one exception. Don't do it for basic math unless it’s part of some sequence in your calculators - your math teachers and I don't get paid to let you get away with doing elementary-level math on your calculators like that. Now, then: onto kinetic energy and the work-energy theorem…”

Class went by with little trouble, as did the rest of the school day. An idea came to them as they stepped out of Music; thus, they sent Mr. Dragmire a text asking if he’d follow through on their request from the last time it had been just the two of them.

Mr. Dragmire: … I did promise you we could talk about it another day.

Mr. Dragmire: Not sure why you want to speak with this old man, but I am one of my word.

Mie: Old man? You’re only what, 33?

Mr. Dragmire: 35, actually. I turn 36 in about a month.

Mie: really? We’ll have to celebrate!

Mr. Dragmire: We’ll get there in due time. See you in about half an hour, I presume?

Mie: Sounds good.

Mie had been helping Mr. Dragmire to recalibrate one of his tech pieces when a light popped up from the corner of their eyes.  “Uh, Mr. Dragmire, you got a notification for something.”

“What is it?”

Picking it up, Mie read the email address and immediately put the phone back down. They had definitely seen something very private.

“It was a student email… from Aki?”

Mr. Dragmire, strangely, merely sighed in resignation. “That would check out, yes.”

“Didn’t you say he’d disappeared? That he was presumably dead?”

“Well... it’s not him, technically,” Mr. Dragmire admitted.

“What’s that supposed to mean?" Mie asked curiously. "Did someone get their hands on his email?”

Mr. Dragmire started updates on his laptop before getting up from his seat. “You see, after he passed, Thom- no, Dr. Light… has been sending me messages through his email for a few months now. It started with him inviting me to the funeral, but… I didn’t think it would be good of me to come. Ever since he’s sent me stuff every few weeks, trying to get me to talk to him about reconnecting and whatnot. I’ve yet to respond.” He sighed. “Mmh… hopefully he’ll realize that it’s not worth the effort talking to his son’s teacher sooner than later…”

“He means well…” Mie said, offering what they hoped was a comforting smile. “Mr. Light seems like a good father - maybe this is his way of grieving or coping with it?”

“The odds look up for such things,” Mr. Dragmire shrugged. “Aki certainly had a better life going for him than I had when I was his age. How it stings, to have it be cut so soon…!”

“Your high-school life?” Mie thought to themselves. “That sounds like an interesting story. I’m all ears.”

“Don’t get your hopes up…” Mr. Dragmire said, “You and the rest of S.M.A.S.H. have much work to do if you wish to combat and stop the Ruler.”

“Yeah…” Mie admitted. “You know, it would be cool if we could get someone with all your expertise and knowledge fighting alongside us, but it is probably better for you to stay behind and all, so…”

Mr. Dragmire went silent at that. Mie was unnerved at the thoughtful look on their face, and those feelings weren’t eased by the rather giddy grin that fell over his visage. “Eureka…!”

“What?” Mie asked. “Lemme guess… it’s nothing I need to know about?”

“Oh, it’s something all right…” Mr. Dragmire stated, grin not ceasing as he explained, “but it’s something you’ll find out about in due time.” He let out a loud belly-laugh that gave Mie an idea of why so many feared him. “I think I may have a solution to that problem!”

“What are you thinking?” Mie inquired.

“There’s this old project that Aki and I were working on before his… disappearance,” Mr. Dragmire explained, “I just realized that it could serve us very well in the Subspace Dimension.”

“Buuuuuut…?”

“But it will take a long time to finish it,” Mr. Dragmire admitted. “Plus, this is something I would rather do without you lot’s help.”

“No, I get it,” Mie shrugged, “but you should tell the rest of the team about this… and keep us updated on your progress.”

“Keep you updated on how that’s coming along…” Mr. Dragmire mused. Noticing Mie had extended a hand, he took it. “I’ll text everyone right now and update them to this degree.” He suddenly snapped his fingers. “Ah, speaking of Dr. Light… I had another idea - one which I’ve wanted to do a small while before today. May I borrow your weapon until our next meeting?”

Mie took their weapon out from their backpack and handed it to him. “Excellent…” he grinned. “This plan of mine I’ll tell you at least some things about now. I’m going to upgrade it with a new function and grant you some… enhanced movement capability, so to speak.”

“Like what?”

“Still figuring out the minutiae right now, I’m afraid.” A thought occurred to him, then. “You should probably go home, by the way - it seems it’s getting quite late.”

Your curiosity about the project Mr. Dragmire is working on has only been further piqued, as is your interest in his mystery-shrouded past…

Tower Rank 2!

Mie knew Mr. Dragmire was right, so they said their goodbyes and headed back to their bosses’ residence. On the way, they felt like they and S.M.A.S.H. were forgetting to do something, but they couldn’t remember what.

“Let’s see…what else did I need to do today…?” Mie wondered as they finished doing some nighttime studying after dinner. “I talked to Mr. Dragmire about Aki, he told me about his relationship with Dr. Light… didn’t Aki also have a sister or someone like that at his family’s weapons store? I dunno where she fits into all of this…” As Mie’s train of thought began to derail, it immediately came back to its set path once that detour came into their mind.

“Wait… sister… OH! I ought to tell Bro and Sis about the twins and Mr. Romão! … I should probably also talk about Principal Dedede, too…”

Flopping onto their bed, they texted their siblings the new details.

Mie: Sorry for the delay, guys! There’s some new people I gotta tell you about!

Mia: Wow, already?

Mio: And here I thought you got lucky with just the three you mentioned earlier.

Mia: Have some faith, bro…

Mie: Self-esteem-lowering confidence in my ability to make friends aside… I don’t think I’ve mentioned the Bylilly twins, have I?

Mio: Nope.

Mie: Okay then. Popo and Nana are practically identical twins. They could wear the same clothes and nobody could tell them apart, and they’re always switching who’s the outspoken one and who’s the more reserved one. They’re going through some pretty rough times with their own family lately, and I can’t even imagine one without the other.

Mia: Heh… kinda reminds me of us, don’t you think?

Mio: Are you implying I’m like Popo or Nana?

Mia: I choose not to answer that.

Mie: Yeah, that’s fair, sis. Anyway, does our… progenitor still enjoy watching pro wrestling?

Mia: Not very often, but on occasion, same as always.

Mie: Kay then. The local gym here in Ryūō does wrestling nights every so often, and I may have befriended an older one.

Mio: Tell us their name. Maybe it’ll ring a bell?

Mia: Pun jar!

Mio: Aw, come on!

Mie: Do I have to participate?

Mio: We’ll just have your dollars go towards buying a place for all three of us once me and sis get out of here.

Mie: Anyway, there’s this wrestler named Rei Tigre, and I may or may not have befriended him…

Mio: Congratulations, you befriended a celebrity. Look at our big sib, grown-up and hitting the big time!

Mie: H-hey! He’s only, like, a local celebrity! And that’s while he’s in the mask! There’s some other stuff going on, too, but for his privacy, I’m not saying anything.

Mia: Fair enough. Just be careful… you’d think this guy was bein’ a creep.

Mie: I will, swear.

Mia: So nobody cared about who he was until he put on the mask?

Mie: Such a Bane-al reference…

Mio: Pun jar!

Mie: Given the purpose that money’s going to? See if I care!

Silence reigned for a few seconds - through the chat and through the house. Against their wishes, Mie felt themselves beginning to tear up.

Mie: I mean it! I miss you guys so much…

Mia: Hey, we know…

Mio: It’s gonna be okay, sis. We’ll be there before you know it.

Mie: Mhm… hey, it’s Snap-Mom season, right? You guys are surviving, right?

It was rather strange, how every year around late October through early-mid December that Mrs. Elisa Gunter grew even crueler. Examples included stricter curfews, less mercy after bad report cards or ‘subpar’ exams or quizzes, and more arguments with her husband. It was a wonder how she and Tyrone Gunter hadn’t divorced yet, Mie had once thought, before realizing that their faith was what forced kept them together.

There have always been stranger bedfellows than misery and company, then again.

Mia: It’s bad this year. She’s rearranging that document drawer…

Mio: Hey… you don’t think she’s got some secrets in there, do you?

Mie: … oh my god. You guys aren’t gonna look, are you?

Mio: It would be good to know about. We’ll tell you what we find as insurance, if that's okay.

Mie: … I can’t stop you, I know.

Mie: PLEASE, be careful. I don’t want her getting pissed at you and hurting you!

Mia: I’ve been taking aikido classes in secret. She or Dad attacks one of us, I’ll lay them out.

Mio: She’ll fuck ‘em up!

Mia: Language!

Mio: … we don’t have a jar for that, do we?

Mia: Keep this up and we will soon.

Mie: Hehehehe… as much as I wanna stay and talk, I should go to bed. Got work tomorrow…

Mio: Awww… got it. Love you, sib!

Mia: Love you, sib!

Mie: Love you guys, too!

Mie slept decently that night.

Chapter Text

It was probably a good thing Mie’s sleep wasn’t bad, because they had work the next day. The tasks of this schtick had become muscle memory at this point - Mie, Fox and Falco would drive to work, and Mie would make coffee, take and redirect calls, let Slippy know about any trouble with the tech, and mediate the uncommon argument between Falco and Wolf before everyone clocked out for the day. 

Speaking of Wolf, he had been polite, almost nice to Mie all through Saturday and Sunday, taking some care to praise or thank Mie for their efforts. From what knowledge they had gleaned about Mr. O’Donnell, this was probably abnormal. It wasn’t much, but it had caused them to pause in confusion and say you’re welcome in a way that felt too forcedly polite for their liking.

They wanted to be able to get along with Wolf, so sue them!

In any case, though, work and payday had gone by, and Fox and Falco had suggested they go spend some time outside for a bit that night.

“Teenage-me woulda been bored outta their mind and snuck out the second his folks were asleep for a night on the town,” Falco had laughed.

“You sure about this?”

“The bonus for today exists for a reason, kid,” Falco responded.

“And so does that key copy we gave you,” Fox added on. “Seriously, kid. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”

Mie couldn’t help but smile at that. “You know what? You’re right! Thank you both very much!” 

“We recommend you not stay out too late, though,” Fox added for one last statement. “It’s a school night, after all.” As Fox and Falco retired to their bedroom for the night, they opened the door and were greeted by a rush of cold autumn air.

They started their nighttime escapades by visiting a cheap local restaurant (not Emmeryn’s, as it was closed this late in the day) where they made a to-go order of small fries and a chocolate-dipped ice cream. Both were definitely a rare treat back at their folks’ place…

Next, they absentmindedly realized that it wasn’t swimsuit season (and thus they would be cheap), and that they’d never packed one for their flight to Ryūō. Seeing a decently large clothing store entitled Trendsetters that was having a moving-from-this-location sale, they decided to go get one ahead of time.

It wasn’t like most swimsuits had a gender-neutral option, but Mie was still able to find something they were comfortable with. Orange had always been their color, hadn’t it?

They had just been heading to the cash register when they saw someone else out of the corner of their eye in a section entitled Counter-Culture.

“Samus?!”

“Oh…” Samus paused and turned around, “… hey. You’re out late.”

“My bosses told me to take a load off for a bit,” Mie replied, “How are you? I figured you’d be with the Chus right now.”

“Yeah, right. They’re growing on me, but they’d never buy me something like this. Have you seen the kind of stuff Raimundo wears?”

Mie was brought back to the pancake shirt they remembered seeing him have on at the ring. “It’s not that bad…”

“Not when it’s all he wears,” Samus grumbled. “That guy was built to be a dad…”

“Explains why he has a dad bod.” It’s okay to have these father figures in your life went unsaid.

“Oh my god, Mie.” Samus groaned at their pun. “They’re so much, sometimes, so I get stuff like this-” She showed Mie a duo of bracers that would have never flown with the dress code back at Thompson High. “- in the hopes it’ll piss them off. I don’t think they mind if they find this stuff in my laundry, but it’s… not something you want to be judged on when you’re about to spend money on it, you get it?”

“Ohhhhhh, yeah,” Mie agreed, thinking about their own parents. “You can’t imagine how nervous I was when I went into the men’s section for the first time just to get some fucking pockets.”

“Exactly, but once you buy it-”

Mie happily finished Samus’ sentence. “- the damage is already done, so they don’t care as much about it.”

“Don’t interrupt me while I’m soapboxing here…” Silence reigned for a second. “You can go ahead.”

“Sorry… weird question: not to challenge your rebellion, but have they made any complaints so far?”

“Only thing so far is Pika complaining about me occasionally leaving stuff out in the bathroom… that I know of, anyways.”

Mie looked at Samus, mouth quivering with mirth. ‘Does he complain about you often?”

“He’s good,” Samus scoffed. “We get along well enough. It’s Pich you gotta worry about.” Despite Mie’s worry, Samus giggled before regaining her composure. “That kid is a menace to society in the making. Can’t get him to sit still for a second.”

“Heh… my brother Mio’s the same way,” Mie joked absentmindedly. “Guess that’s just the older sibling lifestyle, isn’t it?” 

They’d covered their mouth the second they finished the sentence, but the damage was done. Samus had frowned, but her face noticeably softened into guilt for a moment first. “I’m heading to the cash register. It was nice talking to you - let’s do it again some other time.” With that, she headed off to the register, currently manned by a woman whose name-tag read Emmylou.

“Bye…” Mie felt guilty, even though they were pretty sure Samus wasn’t seriously angry or anything.

Despite her negative reaction to your slip, you feel your relationship with Samus improving…

Having ruined their own mood a bit, they paid for their swimsuit and returned to the house, ensuring they locked the door. That night, however, Samus texted them.

Samus: Mie…?

Samus: I’m sorry for snapping at you earlier. I didn’t mean to brush you off like that - I left the house to get space from them, but there was no excuse for me to snap at you.

Mie: It’s no problem. Everyone gets angry.

Samus: That’s true, but it doesn’t mean I get to snap at you. You do know if I’m making you uncomfortable that you can tell me, right?

Mie: But then you’ll be unhappy…

Samus: That may be true, but I’m a big girl. I can take it, and so can Sonic, Rosalina, Popo and Nana. Mr. Dragmire… that last one’s situational, but you get my point.

Mie couldn’t help but giggle at that, keeping softly enough so that their bosses wouldn’t wake up.

Samus: Point is, we care about you, Mie. Tell us when you’re struggling, okay?

Mie: I’ll try to do that.

Mie: Also, I’m sorry for bringing it up. It just caused trouble…

Samus: Nope on that too. You weren’t trying to hurt me when you said that or anything, so dw.

Mie: … appreciated?

Samus: No sweat. We can talk more about this later if you’d like.

Mie: I’ll take you up on that offer… 

The feelings of catharsis rode Mie to sleep.

Upon waking up, Mie found another text, this time an image from Rosalina - an invitation to a ‘Non-Boys’ Night Out’ whose design of the poster definitely seemed unlike Rosalina’s aesthetic.

Mie: What’s this about?

Rosalina: I wanted to invite you to a night out after school!

Rosalina: Samus and Nana are also invited.

Mie: Still, I don’t know if I should even come, since you know…

Rosalina: I put non-boys instead of girls this time for a reason. It’ll be fun!

Mie: If you say so…

Rosalina: You don’t have to come if you don’t want to. Sorry if I felt as if I were pushing you…

Mie: No, I’d love to! Just a little sleepy still…

Rosalina: Ooh, that is fair. We’ll talk more at lunch, if you’d like.

It seemed like Sonic’s natural carefree spirit had rubbed off on her.

Mie shut their phone off afterwards to free their hands and get outside on their way to school.

The walk never felt too long, especially when they saw Popo and Nana on the way. Hollering their names, they quickened pace to catch up with the two. The three started up a conversation, and eventually the topic became the flier Rosalina had sent Mie and Nana.

“Oh yeah… that…” Popo grumbled. “Seeing Nana get invited out without me kicked my morning mood in the teeth.”

“Jealous, bro?” Nana giggled. “You know how it goes,” she teased, “doo kóneʼ naʼadáa da~!”

“What does that mean?”

Nana merely looked at her brother, gesturing for him to answer. “… it means keep out,” he grumbled.

“Boys aren’t allowed tonight, Popo,” Mie pointed out, “Firmly grasp it, dude.” Since Popo didn’t seem convinced, they reminded them, “You guys wanted to be able to go without each other. This seems like good practice, doesn’t it?”

Popo conceded. “You’re right… I’m just nervous, I guess; I don’t spend a lot of time without my hádí , and you know that. I don’t even know what to do to pass the time while she’s gone…”

“Maybe go chat with Sonic?” Nana suggested. “He’s the only one of us in high school who isn’t going. We can see if he’s available, if you want.”

“I guess…? I don’t wanna intrude on him or something-”

“He already responded.” Nana cut him short, a text long-sent already. “He’s good to go, and you can take your pick of where you go.”

“Uh… the Ice Cream Floor sounds good…?” Popo stuttered.

“Okay… he now warns you he’s a bit ravenous when it comes to sweets.”

“Doesn’t that sound familiar?” Popo retorted snarkily. “You know what? I’ll do it.”

“That’s the spirit!” Mie grinned. “Race you guys to school!”

“Huh?” 

“H-hey!”

You feel your bond with Popo and Nana improving…

Before they began chasing after Mie, Popo looked to his sister and assured her, “But make sure to call me if anything goes wrong, ok?”

“Thanks, bro.”

The first portion of school went by smoothly. The only bump in the road was that Mie had almost forgotten to tell Fox and Falco about Rosalina’s invitation. Thankfully both men greenlit them, though there had been some reminding not to make too much noise if they came back and that they could be relied on for emergencies.

“Time for the notes portion, everyone!” Ms. Fitzroy called. There wasn’t much to complain about, especially after a game week (the semester of Phys Ed was randomly but as evenly as possible divided into weeks of exercise and weeks of playing sports and games) that was last. Mie had quite liked badminton…

“For those still interested, our sports teams are closing tryouts at the end of the week,” Mr. Mishima said. “I look forward to seeing which of you make the cut for them. Speaking of cuts, actually… Gunter-san!”

Mie nodded from where they’d been catching their breath, not failing to miss how Ms. Fitzroy avoided eye contact with them. “Name the major differences between abrasions and lacerations,” Mr. Mishima questioned.

“… abrasions aren’t deep cuts, right? But lacerations are!” After a moment, they added, “Abrasions also result from rubs or scrapes, whereas severe impacts or sharp edges lead to lacerations!”

“Excellent work, Gunter-san,” Mr. Mishima nodded. “To be more specific, abrasions are minor or superficial damages to the epidermis, which is the first layer of skin. Lacerations pierce through not only the epidermis but also the dermis underneath and even the deepest level - the subcutaneous fat layer.”

As class wrapped up, Ms. Fitzroy reminded everyone, “Don’t forget - the school trip this year is next month! The plans on what we’re doing are almost finalized, but we’ll tell you when and where we’re going and hand out permission slips to be signed soon!” She then tacked on, “Oh, and you’re not obligated to come if you don’t want to, of course!”

A school trip? That sounded fun! It sounded like all the years were going on the same trip, so they wouldn’t be going without Sonic, Popo or Nana. This fact made them dance around a little bit as they stepped out of school at the end of the day.

Nana and Samus were waiting for them when they stepped outside. “Hiya!” Nana called when she saw Mie, whereas Samus gave a two-fingered salute and a lopsided smile.

“Heeeey! Uh… where’s Rosalina?”

“She’s getting everyone else,” Samus answered. “By the way… you guys think Rosa designed that poster?”

“Whaddya mean?” Nana questioned.

Samus shrugged helplessly. “It’s just… something about that poster had me thinking she would have designed it differently. Something more… elegant? Ladylike? I dunno… less pink?”

“You know, I was wondering about that,” Mie remarked, “I think one of her friends must have designed it.”

“Ooh, that would do it!” Nana gasped, snapping a gloved finger. It didn’t make much sound. “I’d bet it was Zelda.”

“A pink enjoyer?” Mie guessed.

“Not as much as Peach,” Samus remarked. “I haven’t heard much about her lately… wonder how she’s doing… I don’t know if she’s coming, but I’d bet she was invited.”

“Peach…?”

“Yeah, Peach Toadstool,” Samus responded, “She’s a bit of a rich girl, but when she says something insensitive, it’s never been in a bratty or haughty way. She’s more… what’s the word…?”

“Innocuous?” Nana suggested.

“I think that works…” Samus shrugged. Checking her wristwatch, she hummed. “Did Rosa invite the whole female student body?”

“She’s a social butterfly,” Nana reasoned, “It doesn’t seem too impossible-”

“Ma biqueeeeeeette~!”

The first thing that went through Mie’s mind when they saw Rosalina was She wasn’t wearing that earlier today…!

Sure enough, Rosalina was dressed in a very cute pastel goth outfit. It wouldn’t have looked too out-of-place on Samus, but on her? Maybe Mie didn’t know Rosalina as well as they thought… what a shame Sonic wasn’t here to clarify if that was normal.

“Mie, are you okay?” Rosalina asked. She definitely noticed Mie flushing.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine! I was just surprised by your outfit change. that’s all.”

Rosalina giggled. “I hope you like it…”

“No, it looks great on you! I just wasn’t expecting it.”

Samus, meanwhile, was struck speechless and rendered red as a raspberry.

“Samus? My… was this outfit really that unexpected?”

“Give her some time to recover.” Mie told Rosalina. “She’ll probably be over it by the time we get to your place.”

“Shut up, Mie…” Samus murmured as affectionately as she could muster.

“Or right now,” Nana mused under her breath, “Why not?”

“Everyone here?” Zelda Hyland asked as she, her sister Sheik and a few other girls who had been invited approached. “I should hope so. Rosalina took forever getting everyone together.”

Kindly, Daisy Sarasa piped up, “We honestly don’t know how you do it. Not to complain like Zelda’s doing-” 

“Excuse me?”

“- but it’s sorta crazy how you surround yourself with so many people. Girl, you’re a social butterfly… não, a social kaleidoscope - and not a bivouac, sweetie. I swear to God, tu nunca durmas.”

Samus opened her mouth - perhaps to defend Rosalina, perhaps to shoot back at Daisy in what Mie was pretty sure was Portuguese - but Rosalina beat her to it with a lighthearted laugh. “I’m the only woman in a house of boys and men. I do not get to sleep. Why do you think I host these things in the first place?”

Excitably, Lena Oxton squealed in laughter, her girlfriend Emily Ewart unable to help a snicker. Sheik, however, looked rather uncomfortable. “Please be nice to my sister…” she mumbled.

Rosalina opened her mouth to concede that point, but Sheik softly said, “There’s more to the story, though, isn’t there?”

“E-eh? Pardon?”

“You’re always looking to meet new friends and meet new people. You could have everyone in this world for your friends, but something is missing, isn’t it?”

Sensing the unease, Zelda attempted to mollify her sister. “Sheik-”

“Zelda.” The girl went quiet as Sheik’s red eyes bored into her. “I appreciate it, but I want to speak for myself this time.”

Stunned but happy for her sister, Zelda just nodded.

“Don’t worry about me. I’m-”

“You can be honest with us,” Sheik reminded her. “We are your friends, aren’t we?”

Rosalina’s hesitance was written all over her face. “Rosie…” Daisy asked softly, “does this have anything to do with Tia Estrella?”

Innocently, Zelda asked, “Who’s Tia Estrella?”

“I think that’s Spanish for Aunt…” piped up Nikki Teshigawara, one of Nana’s friends.

“Wait, you and Daisy are related?” Mie wondered out loud.

“Nah, me and Rosie have been friends since childhood,” Daisy corrected, tone showing she wasn’t offended or anything. “Her mom was like a second mom to me…”

“‘Was’…?” Zelda and the girls took little time to gasp, “Ohhhhhhhh…” in realization.

“Yes…” Rosalina’s quiet voice cut through the awkward silence that followed. “My Mama passed away five years ago… I miss her dearly. But I can still be strong. As long as I can smile and not be alone, I’ll be fine.”

“So that's why you always surround yourself with friends and shit…” Samus realized. As the beginnings of tears built in Rosalina’s eyes, Samus inquired, “Your mom put a hole in your heart when she left, didn’t she?”

A few seconds passed, many of the other girls looking back and forth between the two girls in question, before Rosalina laughed brokenly. “Yes… yes, she did… the size of a donut hole, I would say… this was a poor showing, wasn’t it?”

Mie, Nana and Samus huddled around Rosalina to keep her sorrow out of the way of the others. “There’s nothing to worry about, Rosie…” Nana assured her.

Mie leapt up for a hug. “If you need to take a break from this thing, none of us will fault you for it.”

“O-okay…” Rosalina took a few deep breaths to calm down. As she made her way over to the others with Mie and Samus next to her, she told them, “Sorry guys, I’m fine.”

Lucina put a hand near her mouth. “You sure, Rosalina? I’ve never seen anyone recover from such emotion that quickly.”

“Yes, I have been working on myself to a degree in recent times,” Rosalina affirmed, tilting her head onto Mie’s side.

“And it’s all thanks to our newcomer.” Samus patted Mie on the head, presenting them to the group.

Mie awkwardly smiled and waved to the group. “Hi… I’m Mie Gunter. They/them, please…”

“Come on, newbie! Where’s your excitement?” Daisy whined good-naturedly. “This is a g… uhhh, a non-boys’ night! You’re supposed to be excited about this!”

“I know, I’m just a little nervous since you all seemed so experienced.”

“Right, you’re new to Ryūō…” Sheik mused. “Should… shall we begin?”

“Yes, let’s!” Zelda took charge quickly. “Does anyone wish to get something to eat first, or would we rather do something else?”

“Popo and Sonic are at the Ice Cream Floor, and I don’t want to interrupt those two…” Nana told everyone. “Does Eagle Burger sound good? Or does anyone wanna do something else?”

“I’m not going to complain…” a soft voice assuaged.

Mie looked at the blonde girl in a pink coat standing in the back before they raised their hand. “Never been there before. Guess I still got some restaurants left to try in this city.”

“It’s a worldwide chain!” Daisy gawked. “How have you not had Eagle Burger before?”

“Asshole parents. If I haven’t experienced something cool or normal or whatever, it’s safe to assume it’s that.”

All of the girls groaned in sympathy. “Looks like we got a sneak-out case here…” Vivian Barbieri reasoned kindly. She was the fourth-newest member of the Girl Squad, having transitioned before Mie came and before Rosalina bonded with Samus and Nana. If you were transphobic to her, you became a walking example of the Megamind meme (i.e. no girl would date you for the rest of the school year).

“Well, sorta; that’s why I’m in Ryūō in the first place. I mean, one of my bosses - staying with them; long story - made grilled burgers for us, and they were amazing. Shouldn’t be that different, right?” They flashed an awkward smile.

Daisy stared directly at Mie. “We have much to teach you,” she deadpanned.

Mie could only sweatdrop before Rosalina took her and Samus by an arm each. “Let’s go!”

Samus and Mie could only look at each other before being dragged along. Mie didn’t miss the smile on Samus’ face, though.

Mie was the last one to order at Eagle Burger, mainly because they were being indecisive with their order.

“Just pick something…” Samus moaned.

“I know I should, but I don’t want to be basic and pick a normal burger. I can have that any time!”

“These are chicken sandwiches! They’re way different from the ones you have at home!”

“Oh! I think I get it now.” While seeing some girls with wraps stirred their curiosity, they nonetheless ordered a Chickadee Sandwich and cheese fries.

Mie stayed in the corner of the booth as they ate, only really adding to the conversation if Rosalina or Samus said something that reminded them of something else in their life. It was hard not to feel like a fish out of water.

They did, however, notice that Sheik wasn’t speaking as much. She mostly added onto Zelda’s points, and the other girls did take her thoughts in like anyone else.

The fries were nice, though… they finally got to have cheese fries like they’d always wanted.

“Er…” Sheik’s voice made them jump a bit. “Can I ask you something?” she asked softly, almost timidly.

Mie looked to the other girls, who were engrossed in conversation, before looking back to the girl adjacent to them and nodding. “You are… what are the words… not a girl or a boy?”

“Uh… yes, I’m not,” Mie affirmed. “The label I use is nonbinary.”

“Non… binary…?”

“You want me to explain?” Mie asked, receiving a nod in response. “Gender binarism is the idea that there are only two genders - male and female - and that everything that has a gender must be somewhere on the line with those on the ends.”

“So… you can be neither a boy or a girl?”

“Yeah! Or, if it feels right for you, you can have multiple genders!” Honestly, Mie wanted to try out other pronouns, but they had never had much opportunity to explore that.

“I… I see…” Sheik was beginning to tear up, eyes closing from behind her niqab. “M-Mie… could I be…”

“I don’t know what gender you are, or what pronouns you are…” Mie took Sheik’s hands into theirs, getting the attention of the rest of the group, “I can’t decide that for you, but I’d say you should take some time to think about it. If you want, I can share some useful links if you’ll give me your contact info!”

“That would be good.” They swapped numbers. Finally, Mie had a new friend in this group…

“Aww, my sis is already making friends with the new kid!” Zelda squealed, ruining the moment a bit.

“Uhm…” Sheik flushed, before bowing their head. “Zelda… everyone… I should go home. I do not think I belong here.”

“What do you mean, Sheik?” Emily asked innocuously.

“I’m… not a girl…” Sheik attempted to explain. “I feel more like a man than a woman… but I also feel like neither. Does that… make any sense?”

Zelda had him wrapped up in a hug before anyone could open their mouths. “Sheik… Mie isn’t a girl either! You’re fine, okay?”

As Sheik sniffled and recollected himself, Zelda assured him, “Whenever you want, we’ll go talk to Momma Impa and Aunty Urbosa. I promise you that they will understand!”

“B-but… what if they don’t?”

Zelda paused. “I… don’t know… but I’ll side with you, bro! I love you, no matter what!”

Sheik burst into tears. Zelda followed suit.

“Dang, twice today…” Samus mused. “I get both instances, but still…”

Mie had stayed mostly silent for the rest of their meal, but when they noticed the uncomfortable look on Rosalina’s face, they nudged Nana. “Hey, can you watch over Zelda and Sheik for a moment?”

“H-huh? Why me?”

“I think Rosalina needs a moment…” They nudged Samus to bring her into the convo. “Me and Samus are gonna talk with her. Could you keep order?”

Samus only needed a moment to nod in affirmation, but Nana only looked hesitant for a moment before nodding and moving over to talk with the nearby Vivian, who looked more than a little nervous. Mie and Samus then scooched over to Rosalina.

In lieu of greeting, Rosalina mumbled, “I’m not really feeling alright… Sheik ripped me wide open for everyone to see…”

Mie and Samus were just quiet and let her go on. “He was mostly right, you know. I started making all these friends in the hopes it would fill the void in my heart Mama left. But…”

“But what?” Samus asked softly.

“The bonds I made, even if they were started for personal reasons… they’re real.” Mie briefly noticed the scene had calmed down around them. Zelda and Sheik were still hugging, but they weren’t crying anymore, Daisy and Lucina were breathing sighs of relief, Vivian and Nikki looked calmer, and both Lena and Emily were sitting there a little awkwardly. “So please, do not think that I am only hanging out with any of you only because I wish to use you as, say, replacements for Mama. That was never my intent!”

Samus softly smiled at her. “Never thought you were some sorta manipulative asshole, Rosa. You’re an amazing girl who lost someone important to her and wants to have people in her life. I… we love you, Rosa. We all do.”

Rosalina looked across the room of teens before her gaze rested with a smile at Mie and Samus. “I love you all so much too!” Everyone piled in for a big group hug.

Once everything was settled at the restaurant, it was decided that the night would be finished with a movie at Rosalina’s house. Some of the girls had to head home early, though, so goodbyes were said to Lena, Emily, Vivian and Nikki. 

Mie also noticed the pink coat-wearing blonde had gone missing. They brought it up to Daisy, who told her Peach got overwhelmed sometimes and was uncannily good at disappearing. Mie was still uncertain, so Daisy showed them a text from Peach saying she was okay and safe at her home.

Seeing Rosalina’s house, a normally rather noisy place, all dark and quiet with the lights turned off, created an unsettling October atmosphere, especially since this was the very place from which they entered Subspace for the first time. Mie walked almost nervously up the stairs with a bag of Puffenschmecker popcorn they were carrying, remembering the path to Rosalina’s room from that fateful day. The constant footsteps of the other girls didn’t help the intimidating tone. But once Rosalina flipped the light switch on, some of that initial fear went away.

“So what are we watching?” Mie asked upon sitting on Rosalina’s bed. It was cramped with everyone else, sure, but the squishy feeling from everyone else felt weirdly satisfying to Mie.

“The Big-Time 7, maybe?” Lucina suggested. “I still need to see that one…”

Mie remembered how Sonic had mentioned that movie around Puff some time back. “Actually, me, Rosalina, Samus and Nana promised we’d watch it with a friend.”

“Oh… why didn’t you invite them, prima?” Daisy asked Rosalina.

Recalling who Mie was talking about, Rosalina quickly answered, “Puff is a long-distance friend. We don’t get to talk to them a lot…”

“And they usually have shitty Internet,” Nana piped up, “so when she has the opportunity, we always spend time with her.”

“Life is fleeting…” Samus smiled ruefully, “We gotta savor what life we get while we have it.”

“Mmm…” Zelda and the other girls nodded in agreement.

Mie perused the list on “Hey, what’s this one? Haircoloring?”

“Oh, for the love of God,” Daisy hissed to Samus, “please tell me their folks aren’t like the van Tusselles…”

“The who?”

“I think that settles the matter, then?” Rosalina asked. Nobody was adverse, and Mie was both curious and excited as Rosalina turned it on…

Mie enjoyed most of what was going on, but halfway through, their eyes began to droop. “Sleepy, Mie?” Rosalina asked in a hush. “Hold on a second, please.”

Upon doing so, Mie found an immense amount of warmth coming from the blanket enveloping the two of them, as well as the pressure Rosalina’s body applied to their back, becoming sandwiched between the two. Their eyes and body couldn’t handle it anymore, and Mie wasn’t able to pay attention to the movie anymore anyway. Sights and sounds began to fade around them, soon vanishing completely as they felt Rosalina’s fingers running through their hair…

The validity of Rosalina’s amiability has been tested, and it came out true…

Empress Rank 3!

“Awww, they’re asleep already!” Zelda squealed, trying to keep her voice down no matter how absolutely adorable she found Mie to be. “Samus, they ought to have a license to be this cu-”

“Bro… sis…?” Everyone stopped at the sound of Mie mumbling in their sleep. “I missed you guys so much… but I’m here now. I’m never letting go - never again…!”

Silence reigned throughout Rosalina’s room.

“… who are their brother and sister?” Sheik asked softly, surprisingly the first one to speak.

“Scratch that!” Daisy hissed. “Where are their brother and sister?”

Nana, Samus and Rosalina looked to each other in concern before Nana answered, “I dunno their names, but they’re still with Mie’s mom and dad back in their hometown…”

“They… they said they escaped from their parents for Ryūō…” Lucina whispered in horror. “Or did I misunderstand?”

“We don’t know a lot about Mie’s old home life other than that their parents are bigoted and that they really love their siblings…” Samus sighed. “The shit they’ve told us… it scares me sometimes.”

It went quiet again before Zelda flumped back onto her part of the mattress. “Quite frankly, I’m not eager to have a third emotional moment tonight.”

“I’m with Zel on this one,” Lucina admitted. “Not that we don’t care about Mie, but it is rather late. If they wake up with something to say to us, it would probably be better dealt with when it’s the morning.”

“I hate to say it, but that’s fair…” Rosalina admitted. As everyone fell asleep that night, the three S.M.A.S.H. girls cuddling a happy-looking Mie, she whispered an old phrase Estrella would always say when she kissed her daughter goodnight. “Stars protect us all…”

Chapter Text

Somewhere else in the universe, as Mie and the others slept, a girl looked down to the floor, which was so clear and refractive she could stare at herself as if she were looking into a mirror.

“All this talk about true selves… pah! It’s just a bunch of metaphors!” Her fists clenched and unclenched with frustration. “I wanna know what it’s like in other places than this dump. Must be nice having so many things to do… nothing in the world would make me happier than to be there with them… ooh, and does the weather suck! I swear, I’m leaving here and never coming back if I can help it!”

The girl pouted, struggling to look away from the spot she’d become all too familiar with. “No… it doesn’t matter… there's no use dwelling on what I can’t do… but it’s so boring nowadays! I don’t wanna just sit around and pass time doing nothing, but no way am I dealing with those guys!” She shuddered. “That’s waaaay too risky…”

Tears began to drip onto the reflective floor, and her voice grew in intensity as she spoke. “They all get to be pretty, and cool, and great, and then there’s little old me. Worthless old me. Powerless old me. Miss Not-Enough-For-You-Guys, Unwanted, Has-To-Stick-It-Out-All-Alone-”

An infuriated and incredibly loud scream shook the room before all was silent.

Mie woke up cuddled next to the still-asleep Sheik; after prying themselves out, they noticed their phone had a few messages in the chat with all the teens in S.M.A.S.H. in it.

Sonic: Hey, we were planning that sleepover for tonight, right?

Popo: If everyone’s available…

Mie: Oh wow. Funny story: I was one of the few people who stayed the night at Rosie’s.

Mie heard the sounds of distant tapping, and found that Samus was right across from them.

Samus: Can verify.

“Oh hey, you’re awake.” Samus said, clearly having some bedhead.

“Did the text not set you off?”

Sonic: It’s fine. We can do it at my place then. I got the snack cash.

Samus: If you’re putting on a movie, make sure to pick something Mie will stay up through.

Mie: I’m in this chat, you know. And I resemble that remark.

Mie: RESENT

Nana: HAAAAAA

Popo: >W<

Sonic: Don’t worry, I’ve got a better idea…

Rosalina: Close the gates!

Sonic: No SlideShower Night for you, then.

Rosalina: Open the gates!

Sonic: Oh, fiiiiine. Seriously tho you guys up for a SlideShower Night?

“Where is she, anyway?” Mie asked, still in the process of waking up.

“Making breakfast,” Samus answered as she finished stretching. “She told us her dad was cool with us staying the night - though I dunno about her brothers - but for breakfast we’re on our own.”

Mie: I don’t exactly have a computer to make SlideShowers on… whatever a SlideShower Night is.

Sonic: No worries! We’re all gonna meet at the library after school and figure it out there, if that’s chill with you guys. I’ll teach you! Trust me, it’s great, you’re gonna love it!

Mie: All right… but someone explain to me at lunch?

Sonic: Totally fair. See you guys at lunch, then.

Once Rosalina’s eggs and Toast-Tarts had been hastily devoured, the girls and enbies hurried to school, only saying their goodbyes when they had to disperse to their respective classes.

Mie’s excited mood was slightly marred on their way to lunch by another important text message. However, it was not from a pre-existent S.M.A.S.H. member so much as it was the prospective one.

Ikaika Romão: Uh… y’all are the folks who were there in that snowy area, right? The one with old geezer me?

Mie: Yup! That's us!

Ikaika: Well in case you’re wondering, I’m all fighting-fit now! Already contacted Ganondorf here, and he told me I should meet with you guys for the rundown.

Samus: You realize we’re at school, correct?

Ikaika Romão: Oh, I did. It should be lunchtime for y’all.

Sonic: … how do you know that?

Ikaika Romão: Because you wouldn’t be texting me if you were in class, yeah? Plus, I was a student here too!

Sonic: okay, we’re not in class. You got us.

Ikaika Romão: Hu’i hu’i! In any case, I never got a time and place. I was hoping y’all might have the answers…?

Sonic: Oh… didn’t think that would be today. No offense.

Ikaika Romão: Não, I get it. I’m guessing y’all all have plans for today?

Popo: Yeah, I’ve been looking forward to this since Sonic brought it up yesterday.

Ikaika Romão: Naw, I get it. I can’t say I didn’t pull similar stuff during my school days. Go have fun! Y’all only get so much time in life to do what you want!

Rosalina: We can do it tomorrow at Mr. Dragmire’s house after school, if that works for everyone.

Ikaika Romão: Sounds like a plan! See y’all then!

Mie pocketed their phone as they picked up their tray of a steak quesadilla, corn chips and a cup of queso and took it to the table where their friends were sitting. “You guys got the messages from Mr. Romão, right?” they asked.

“No, but it’s pretty cool to know you have another friend named Sonic,” Sonic deadpanned.

Mie flushed embarrassedly. “I was just making sure!”

“I was kidding, Mie!”

The whole group burst into laughter. “In any case,” Mie giggled, “how does this SlideShower Night thing work?”

“It’s sort of a comedy thing,” Rosalina offered, before letting Sonic take the wheel.

“After classes, we’re gonna go to the library and make funny SlideShowers on any topic you want,” Sonic explained. “Funny topics go over better, in my opinion, but if you can’t think of anything particularly funny, that’s totally okay!”

Mie thought about what they’d do for a while as they ate and conversed with their friends at lunch. Around the end of said period, they looked out the window to see a pizza-delivery car drive past the road from the school. 

An idea fell into their mind, and they smirked with excited and almost devilish intent.

“What are you planning, Mie?” Sonic asked, catching their smirk.

“Oh, you’ll see.” Mie’s head was already filling up with potential ideas. They giggled excitedly, bouncing in their seat a little, before resuming conversation normally for the rest of lunch.

With the aggressive noises of Mie clicking and typing, not to mention their rather manic grin, everyone who didn’t know them would probably assume Mie was playing some sort of online game, to the point where even the more aggressive friends of theirs were concerned.

“Should you check everyone’s presentations to make sure they’re not putting in anything too… inappropriate?” Samus whispered to Sonic, the other half of her focus on a picture of the Loch Ness Monster.

“I wish it didn’t defeat the point of the game,” Sonic mumbled. “Besides, if their face is any indication…” He pointed with his thumb to the still- Mie. “I think they’re gonna have something pretty interesting to show us.”

“If you say so…”

“No peeking, Popo.” Nana pulled her laptop away from her brother in the background. “We were barred from doing separate presentations for a reason…”

Rosalina, meanwhile, could be seen smiling at one thing. After taking a look at Mie, she paused in thought and proceeded to gag. “I can’t include that,” she muttered under her breath, before furtively looking around to see if anyone had noticed. Nobody was looking at her funny, so she returned to her work.

Sonic merely just smiled to himself before returning to his MH Artist application.

Once everyone had finished their SlideShowers and sent them to Sonic’s email so he could access them on his personal computer, they made their way back to the Wachowskis’ house.

Sonic had thankfully had the foresight to let his foster parents know it was today well ahead of time. Fortunately for the gang, it was date night for Tom and Maddie, and the Wachowskis had been waiting to do something that would last late into the night. 

Mie wouldn’t have cared too much if Tails was there or not, but he was hanging out at a sleepover with his new friend either way. They were more ecstatic at this time about playing with Ozzie, the Wachowski’s big boofer of a golden retriever. The teens’ only responsibility tonight (other than cleaning up after themselves) was making sure Ozzie was fed and was able to get outside and everything.

Mie squealed as they scritched the back of Ozzie’s head adoringly, grinning into his cute dopey face. “What a cutie pie! You’re just a good dog, aren’t you?”

“Tell that to Ms. Sullivan…” Sonic grumbled. “He couldn’t sit still!”

As Mie ignored him, Samus snarked, “Gee, that sounds familiar.”

“What was that for?”

“I’m just saying: pot, meet kettle.”

“Touché, Samus…”

“Hey, Rosie…?” Popo asked timidly, causing the girl in question to pause while doing Nana’s nails, “I wanna try getting my nails done, too! Once you’re done with Sis, could you…?”

Sonic just clicked his tongue. “Let her do her thing, Popo. I gotcha covered.”

“When did you even learn how to do that?” Popo asked. “No offense… I just never took you as the pedicure type.”

“People will surprise you, Popo,” Sonic advised him seriously, “Good surprises, bad surprises, all sorts of surprises.” Popo nodded in understanding as Sonic took some of Rosalina’s extra materials and began doing the boy’s fingernails. “And to answer your question, I picked up a lot back at the foster home I stayed at for a bit. Miss Hasenkamp’s daughter would occasionally come and play with us, and I just couldn’t say no to her face when she asked.”

“Someone’s got a soft spot for the cute, small and physically weak,” Samus remarked.

“Jeez! Everyone’s out for my blood today!” Sonic grumbled without breaking his focus. “And who are you talking about other than Michelle? Ozzie could easily kill me if he wanted to, and the same applies for the rest of you gu- oh, Puff.” He scoffed. “You guys all love her too, and you know it!”

Mie, having finally left Ozzie to his own devices, shrugged. “You got us there.”

Eventually, Popo’s nails were a nice blue and white, Sonic looking quite pleased with his work.

While all of that was going on, Samus was setting up the SlideShowers. “Alright, I think I got ‘em all.”

“You didn’t peek, did you?” Sonic asked suspiciously.

“I only looked at mine, I swear!”

“Good, good!” Sonic looked over to Nana and Mie, who were carrying chips, sodas and a big bowl of popcorn over to the couch. “That’s handled, too… Rosalina, you got the connection?”

“Waiting on your computer to go. You know what to do!”

“Awesome!” Sonic cheered. “Now, who wants to go first?”

“Me!” Popo cheered.

Instantly, Nana deadpanned, “L + Heathen + No Damsels + Get Dueled + Touch Gold.”

“Fine, you go first then,” Popo grumbled.

“No fun…” Nana grumbled. She went up to the TV that the laptop was plugged into and clicked away, showing off a photo of what looked to be…

“Is that a giant chicken?” Sonic asked. He thought better of bringing up an old friend whose family ran a lucrative poultry business while Nana was presenting.

“It’s a Tyrannosaurus rex,” Nana said with the most serious look on her face. “Dinosaurs have feathers.”

“They did?” Mie asked innocuously.

“She’ll fight you on this,” Popo warned them, “and I’ll record it. I’m serious. Adeezhí beat some sense into Angelica that one time she was stubborn…”

“Don’t remind me…” Nana growled. “Anyways, I couldn’t think of anything particularly funny, so I was just gonna nerd out about dinosaurs for my time.”

“I’ve been enjoying this so far,” Mie mumbled.

“Thank you, I actually really needed that.”

“So hot take: the worst part about dinosaurs going extinct before humans even came into existence is that their meat probably would’ve tasted awesome.”

“Oh, man… that does sound good, Samus…”

After listening to more of Nana’s rants (which were so intriguing that the short slide amount was hardly an issue), she took a deep breath and wiped her brow. “Okay, I’m ready for whoever’s next. I really needed to get that out of my system.”

“So next up is…?” Samus inquired.

“I’ll go!” Popo volunteered, happily skipping to the screen. “So I had to think really hard on the rankings for this one, but I think I’m happy with it!”

He hit the button to go to the next slide and announced, “Top 5 Twins in Media!”

“I should’ve figured…” Nana affectionately facepalmed.

“It was going to be ten, but for that, I’m doing five.”

Everyone glared at Nana.

“Just kidding! Figuring out the top five was already hard enough.”

With that, he tapped on the remote to move to #5…

“Hansel and Gretel?” Samus deadpanned.

“Yeah, that’s fair. I couldn’t really find anyone I found better.” Popo shrugged before changing slides. “Second up, Goldspeed and Flame Mage from The Duhvengers!”

“Oh sick! I never took you as a superhero fan!” Sonic grinned. “Can’t lie, that’s one of my favorites too.”

“He kinda reminds me of you too.” Nana joked.

Popo’s voice rose as he continued. “They’re only this low because I am still not over the ending of Cosmistream!”

Nana sank in her seat. “Popo, give it a break.” 

“They brought in the original actor for Goldspeed just to reveal him as some random guy named Hugh Jassman! HUGH. JASS. MAN. They set all that up for a big butt joke!”

“Do you two always rant like this to each other?” Rosalina asked.

“It’s nice to listen to each other talk sometimes.” Nana shrugged.

“You know what they should’ve done?” Mie remarked. “Given that name to the Formidable Bulk.” At everyone’s confused expression (even Ozzie stood there attentively), they explained, “He’s a huge-ass man!”

The entire room burst into laughter. “HE’S RIGHT, THOUGH!” Popo wheezed. “Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. Moving on, we have #3-” He tapped the remote’s buttons to move ahead a slide. “- Zeke and Corey from Life Is Suite.”

Samus scratched the area behind her ponytail. “That… caught me off guard.”

“Something wrong with that?”

“Nope, I just didn’t expect the tonal whiplash of going from superhero movies to a sitcom.”

“That’s fair,” Mie shrugged. “I missed the ending of that show when I was a kid… er, younger.”

“Aaaaand putting that on the bucket list of things to do with Mie to remind them that they can be looser here,” Sonic mumbled, writing this down on his phone.

“You have a list of stuff you wanna do with me?” Mie said.

“It’s not creepy, is it?”

“NO!” Mie yelped. “That’s like, the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me… not counting all the times you guys have saved my life.”

“It really is no problem,” Rosalina assured them. “We love you, Mie.”

“Honestly, it only gets me even more excited for your presentation,” Sonic teased. “Now, Popo: about #2…?”

#2 had turned out to be the previously mentioned Gehiago and Gutxiago from Teenyboppers, and #1 was Meg and Lorenzo from Boring Deluge ( with Popo acting like a proud Alpha Twin™).

“Now that the twins are done…”

“I’d like to go!” Rosalina said cheerily. “Some of you are going to love this, but otherwise I apologize in advance.” A few clicks to set things up revealed…

“The 5 Cutest & Most Gross Moments In My Life?” Samus read out loud. The font used on the slide was in a cursive so wavy the words could just barely be laid out.

“Mhm!” Rosalina nodded, looking proud of herself. “I will be alternating between the grossest and cutest things, for the record. If you do not wish to see any of the gross things, let me know and I will skip them.”

“And if we don’t wanna see the cute things?”

“I’ll silently judge you,” Nana deadpanned instantly, garnering chuckles from the rest. 

When her hard look stayed, they stopped laughing.

“A-anyways…” Rosalina stuttered out, “#5 Grossest: Marathoning Casual Geographic at three in the morning!”

“Oh, I’ve seen some of those!” Mie gasped, not failing to miss the excited and knowledgeable looks from Popo and Nana. “At my old high-school in Wuhu, Dr. Tropovy and his sister gave us this project for Biology. We took any video from him or any similar channel and did research about the animal or animals in question.”

“That sounded like fun,” Sonic remarked. “Any rumors or gossip about ‘em?”

“Well, there was this one rumor that they were long-lost twins who actually dated each other before they learned they were related-”

“TMI! TMI!” Rosalina called, making an X with her hands. “I already feel the need to revise this list…”

“Keep it in mind for the next sleepover!” Sonic commented.

“Yes, right… anyways, #5 Cutest: Marathoning Casual Geographic at one in the morning!”

“Cheeap.”

“Hey, no judging,” Samus lightly scolded. At Nana’s pout, she teased, “If we’re really judging, Rosa doesn’t have to take this from the girl who just talked about dinosaurs for about twenty-five to thirty minutes, does she?”

Nana wisely shut up.

Thankfully, the rest of the #4s, #3s and #2s had been fine. The fourth-cutest one was Mie snuggling against Samus and Rosalina the previous night.

“At least there weren’t any photos…” Mie grumbled.

Samus whistled innocently, and Rosalina admitted, “I’ll be honest; I picked this topic specifically so I could talk about that… you really are cute, Mie.”

Mie had been red as a fire-hydrant for the next three slides.

The fourth-grossest one had been Shadow Samus (“Sorry, ma biquette!”) when transformed into her boss form. Samus had admitted she needed to be taken down a peg after teasing Mie and roasting Nana. 

Rosalina’s third-cutest thing was the petting animals at the zoo. “I thought the rabbits were the cutest!”

Samus tried not to think about her dressed in a bunny suit.

The third- grossest moment was some musical Rosalina had been told to attend as a freshman.

Sonic had immediately begun to recite the moment he knew Rosalina had despised. “IIIIII AAAAAM THE GREAT MIGHTY P-”

Back from doing his business in the backyard, Ozzie let out a loud and happy bark as he trotted over to the teens. Briefly scared, Sonic stopped and jumped, causing everyone else to laugh.

“Good boy!” Rosalina cheered through her cackling, giving Ozzie head-scritches. “Such a good boy!”

The second-cutest thing was just a picture she’d taken with Samus at the zoo. “You mean me…?!” Samus stammered out, already more than blushy from the thoughts of a rabbit Rosalina.

“There’s nobody else I’m into,” Rosalina had teased, making Samus blush even worse. “The reason you’re not #1 is because I also think you’re hot.”

Even redder than Mie had been, Samus just moaned into her hands, garnering a giggle from Rosalina and laughter from everyone else.

The second grossest thing was some video she’d seen with humongous rats stepping out of a train tunnel in New York. She had not provided a link, but rather a crudely-made image of a subway and copy-pasted PNGs of cartoony rats.

Sonic shuddered at the memory of the huge rats. “Oh god, that was horrifying. I’ve never been so scared of an animal.”

“What vi-”

“Please don’t,” Rosalina and Sonic interrupted Mie in unison.

“All right, who or what is cuter than me?” Samus finally managed.

Rosalina tapped the remote and switched to a slide with a decent drawing of-

“Yeah, that’s fair.”

“Should’ve thought of that.”

“How? How did we not realize it?”

“Who else but Puff for the cutest thing?” Mie groaned. “Good drawing, by the way. Shame we can’t get any photos of her.”

A few murmurs of agreement later, Rosalina finished her presentation. “#1 Grossest: That time Sonic spilled half a chili dog all over me after that rollercoaster. He then proceeded to throw up the rest. He was lucky he didn’t get any of that on me-”

Sonic began clapping fervently. “WOW, GREAT PRESENTATION! WHO’S NEXT?”

“Aww, but the next slide was going to be the photo I bought after the ride…”

“YOU WHAT?!”

It was decided that the third to final presenter would be Samus. She put on a domineering, almost cruel smile that wouldn’t be out of place on Mr. Dragmire as she began. “I studied multiple resources to be sure I was accurate on everything. There are a lot of creatures in this world that no one can explain the existence of, but could they have potential in our society? This… is… Cryptids: Domesticate or Destroy?”

“This should be good…” Mie noted.

“First up, Mexico’s craziest little devil - El Chupacabra. This thing’s just kind of a dog who takes your goats and curses your second-born. So it’s an easy Domesticate. Mexico’s got good taste in cryptid ideas.”

“She does know they’re not real, right…?” Sonic whispered to Rosalina.

“Shut up, would you?”

Sonic just smiled softly. “You really love her, don’t you?”

“I think they’re cool, but I don’t think they’re real,” Samus interjected, “although with the Subspace Dimension, they could very well be.”

Nobody could argue that.

“Anyway, next is Siren Head-”

“That’s one of those CCP things, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, and we gotta destroy it. Too loud and kaijulike. Will destroy cities and probably has too big of an appetite to satisfy.”

“Appetite? Appetite?” Nana yelped. “With what mouth?”

“… you know what? I have no idea. Ugh, let’s just move on to the Loch Ness Monster.”

“Domesticate?” Mie guessed.

Samus finally grinned. “Oh, instant domestication. If used effectively, Nessie could revolutionize ocean entertainment and travel. Just don’t let MondOcean get their hands on her; they’ll make her into seafood and serve her at a farewell dinner. The dinosaur she’s presumed to be is an herbivore, so I think she’d be relatively harmless to humanity.”

“Aren’t the herbivores the scary ones, though?” Popo pointed out. “You always wanna be scared of the ones who have evolved to defend and protect themselves at any cost.”

“You’re really making this difficult, aren’t you?”

“I like science, damn it!”

“Sorry, Samus…”

“No, it’s cool. I guess this is what SlideShower Nights entail. Just… ugh. Just two more and then we’re done here.” Samus then switched to a slide regarding Cthulhu. “Destroy. Inflicts madness upon eye contact, and again, way too big. It would probably also make for killer calamari.”

Nobody noticed Sonic grimace.

With that, Samus moved to the final slide, her scowl deepening when she saw who was on the screen. “Bigfoot, a.k.a. Sasquatch…” Everyone jumped at her incensed growl of, “Destroy.”

“R-Respectfully, Samus…” Sonic had the gall to ask, “what’s your beef with Bigfoot?”

“Look at the way this smug prick looks at the camera,” Samus snapped, “Motherfucker knows what they’re up to. If it’s just some guy pranking us for so long, quite frankly he deserves what’s coming to him. Thinks he can avoid identification by always being a step away from a clear camera and having two different names. If it’s just some wise-guy, I want them shot - and if it’s a real-ass cryptid, dissected for fun or science. Not picky on which.”

The group sat there in stunned silence for a minute before Mie started to applaud. “I think you win, Samus.”

“Hold on, now! Us two haven’t gone yet!” Sonic protested.

“Oh, you’re going next?”

“Yeah, actually!” Sonic shot back at Rosalina, high-fiving Samus as they swapped spots. “Don’t worry, this should help you guys chill out for a bit. Mainly because it involves all of you, mind, but whatever.” Twirling the remote around in his hand like a drumstick, Sonic grinned. “Plus, you get to laugh at my shitty art skills, so…”

Click!

“So you ranked our Personas by their design and fit?” Mie inquired, intrigued.

“This should be good,” Samus mused.

“So I’m going in order of acquisition.” A decent drawing of Cornish Jack appeared on-screen. “You know ‘em, you love ‘em, it’s Cornish Jack. 7/10 design. But saved me, Mie and Rosie’s lives from more Shadows than I think we’ve fought total… yeah, this dux is pogchamp. Also, I’m not rating all those other Personas you have.”

“Wise call,” Mie admitted. “Heck, I can’t remember all my Personas.”

“Rosa told us you didn’t fight your Shadow Self,” Nana recalled.

“Wish I could’ve seen you get this one, though…” Popo grumbled.

“It was awesome. I miss them.” Mie looked to the ceiling, holding onto their bond with Cornish Jack.

“Wait, how did you lose your original Persona?” Samus pestered.

“You forget to cherish them,” Rosalina joked. “But seriously, if you lost them somehow… do you need help regaining them?”

Mie began sweating bullets. “I didn't lose them! I just can’t access all of them! It’s… a long story… you remember those times before we enter Dungeons and I just kinda space out?”

“Happens to the best of us,” Rosalina shrugged. “If anything, I think Sonic should do it more often.”

“No, I mean when I do that I-”

“Moving on!” Sonic interrupted. Mie wiped their brow as they and the rest refocused on him. “I want to once again clarify that there is no bias as we move on to my own Persona, Pheidippides. Really hard to not consider the crap I had to deal with when getting this thing, but he’s still awesome. I wish I could summon him here so I could hang out with this guy.”

“You were surprisingly humble with this one.”

“I dunno, I still feel like he’s missing something to give him that extra oomph!” Sonic clarified. “Oh, and Pheidippides sounds sorta like… what’s his name… Roy Drummithson?”

In true Sonic fashion, he rattled off the rest’s descriptions swiftly.

“Too regal-looking for my tastes. I really see the appeal, but it’s not for me. Sorry, Rosie.”

“A little over the top. Mechs are notoriously hard to draw, so kudos. There’s a certain badass charm to it. Love the twin cannons, bee-tee-dubs.”

“I put Sigmund and Signy together since they’re required to be summoned together. I like the mirror aspect in their designs. A very solid duo.”

“Lastly, Gorgeous George or whatever. He’s really cool-looking from what I remember, but I only saw the guy for a few seconds. Need to see it in action before I can make a solid conclusion.”

Everyone nodded in moderate agreement with Sonic’s conclusions.

“And I wanna give a special honorary mention to R.”

“Who?”

“Mr. Drag’s unknown Persona. Didn’t he say its name began with an R or something? If I had to guess, which I did-” Sonic’s drawing for this was notably cruder than the others. “- it’s probably some wrinkly old fuddy-duddy in a tank-top with a chemistry flask that doubles as a blaster and a ruler-sword that’s taller than he is.”

 Nana closed her eyes. “Despite the shitty drawing, I can actually see that.”

“I think I’ll take that as a compliment. I hope you all don’t feel insulted or get too big of an ego from what I say, have a good rest of your night.”

Nana looked at Mie slyly. “Alright, Mie! We all saw you were really excited to show off yours, so go ahead and show us… whatever you’ve got.”

“Yay! Finally!” Mie immediately began loading up their presentation:

“Top 10 Life Changes I Want To Make While I’m In Ryūō, huh?” Sonic remarked. “I like where this is going!”

“Thank you!” Mie said excitedly. “Okay, so first up, I want to try every pizza topping at Kapp’n’s… n-not all at once, though!” Five instantaneous remarks of Coward came from the couches. “Oh, come on… “ Mie sighed. “Next, I always wanted to participate in a talent show. I’ve spent countless hours thinking up plans, but I can’t decide…”

“If I recall correctly, that will be some time in the spring semester,” Rosalina answered, “You have plenty of time to decide.”

“Perfect!” Mie grinned. “Next… I never want to attend Sunday School ever again.

“The temple has a Sunday school?” Popo inquired.

“You don’t have a Sunday school?”

“Not that I know of…” Nana answered.

In pure euphoria, Mie flopped on the couch. “I’m in Heaven…”

“Should we tell them that’s an oxymoron?” Rosalina whispered to Sonic.

“Nah, just let them have this.”

Eventually, Mie hopped right back up and continued on. “Does anyone here have a motorcycle license? That’d be a huge help for this next one!”

Samus grinned. “Give me just a few months, Mie, and I’ve got you there.”

“Oh, fuck yeah. We’ll hash stuff out later. For now…” They clicked to go to the next slide. “I think this one I could theoretically go without if the world ran dry of ‘em, but…” 

There were no images on the screen - just a blank white slide with the words Punch a transphobe and/or ableist in the face. Mumbles of agreement permeated throughout the group.

“Preach it, sib,” Samus mumbled.

“What a shame,” Rosalina chuckled, “We are almost fresh out of bigots around here. There are a few stragglers, sadly, but…”

“Compared to Wuhu?” A sad smile came over Mie. “I’ll take what I can get.”

The room was silent at that. “You are fucked up, aren’t you?”

“And don’t you forget it,” Mie managed a laugh. They shook their head to dispel their thoughts. “But I'll be fine. I’m here… I’m safe… uh, #5?”

“Suuuure…”

Wordlessly, Mie moved to the sixth thing. “Y-you guys can refuse now if you want to…”

“Why?” Nana asked. “Getting wrapped up with everyone like rice in a sushi roll sounds awesome!”

“Wait…” Rosalina paused Nana. “Considering all of these previous entries, was your bed at home…”

“Nah, it was actually pretty comfy,” Mie answered, causing everyone to breathe a sigh of relief. “But I saw a bunch of king-sized beds in movies and it really made me want one for myself. I’d guess all of us here know what it’s like to sleep with siblings. I would be willing to share it with someone…” Mie gave off a very cheeky grin. “But more on that some other day.”

“I have no siblings,” Samus grumbled under her breath, a small blush on her face as she thought of Pika and Pich. Nobody heard her, to her pleasure.

“S-sorry.” Mie apologized, wordlessly proceeding to the next slide.

“Cosplay at a convention, huh?” Popo remarked. “You got something in mind…?”

“I haven’t decided yet. My Halloween costume this year is my first homemade one though. You guys will love it… I hope.”

The next slide, everyone’s eyes widened. “Kiss… Someone… Good!” Mie proclaimed proudly.

“Someone’s been lonely…” Samus teased.

“Not any of you, don’t worry!” Mie stammered, clearly in a panic. “I just… I wish there was someone out there for me, okay?”

“Someone as cool as you?” Sonic snarked. “You’ll find one.”

“Yeah!” Nana piped up. “You deserve, like, three girlfriends… or boyfriends. Whichever you like.”

“I think…” Mie admitted quietly, “I think I’m bi or pan… romance-wise. I wanna say I’m ace, but not all sex stuff makes me feel like a pure asexual. It’s weird, I know-”

Samus instantly shut that down. “Nope. Not weird.”

“Yeah!” Nana chimed in. “Everyone here gets what it’s like to make a mountain out of a molehill. Right, atsilí?”

Popo wasn’t heard. “Bro?”

“Maybe you’re aegosexual…” Nana’s twin eventually muttered.

Mie paused, their head whipping to face Popo. “I-go-what? If this is dumb, I dunno, but what is that…?”

“I gotcha, bro,” Nana offered. “Aegosexuals like sex and do feel arousal and stuff, but they don’t want to participate in it. For us, it means we’re willing to do sex ‘on our own,’ but not with other people.”

Mie was dead silent as they took all of this in. “That feels… pretty right. That’s me!”

“No problem,” the twins chorused, fist-bumping.

“And if we’re being honest…?” Nana admitted after a nod to Popo, “Me and atsilí are aegosexual, too.”

“We are aromantic, but we’re not specifically asexual,” Popo explained. “When adults ask, it’s often easier to just say that we’re not into sex.”

“Aspec stuff, m’dudes,” Sonic laughed. “Mie? You coherent enough to finish?”

“Uh, yeah! On the topic of sexuality…” 

Click!

“Yeah, we do a Pride festival,” Samus assured them, “It’s always some time in the summer, but the date’s never decided before springtime…”

“I think that sort of heightens the anticipation,” Rosalina mused.

“… huh. When you phrase it like that, the wait becomes less aggravating.”

Rosalina just giggled humbly before doing a mock-bow. “I aim to please!”

Samus’ face went incredibly blushy. She sputtered like Al Acritty’s famous talking vehicle before slumping back onto the couch pillows. The pillows were bouncy enough, however, that she slipped to the side and fell on Rosalina’s lap.

Instead of flinching and pushing Samus off of her, Rosalina smiled and dropped a soft kiss to the top of her head. “It seems you’ve fallen for me,” she flirted.

Somehow, somehow, Samus managed to keep it together. “Damn gay I did.”

Everyone else had to hold in the urge to burst out laughing.

Eventually, Samus found herself fully laid in Rosalina’s lap as Mie proclaimed, “Alright, now for the honorable mentions!”

“Ooh, innovative!” Rosalina lauded.

“List includes but is not limited to building a spaceship, fighting a zombie, and climbing the Leaning Tower of Pisa.”

“We don’t have a Leaning Tower of P- wait a minute…” Sonic caught on. “Now you’re just quoting the lyrics to the Phoenix and Ferd theme song!”

Mie gasped in mock-astonishment. “Someone of culture!”

Now everyone laughed loudly and freely. Mie seldom remembered moments where they felt such powerful happiness. With that, they moved to the final slide:

Buy A House With Mia & Mio.

“Awwwww…” 

“I know, it’s sweet and all, but I’m still pretty worried about how Mia and Mio are doing back home.”

“No, I get it. It’s nice of you. We’ll see what we can do about bringing them there once the year is all said and done.”

“Right… I have to prove I can be self-sufficient…” As Mie set about getting Ozzie to his kennel for the night (though not without plenty of kisses for the good boy) later that night, they murmured, “The Shadows are tougher than that - the self-sufficiency part’s a cinch.”

After a few hours of banter, the last thought Mie had before they dozed off was It’s the waiting that’s the hard part.

You feel your bonds with Samus, Popo, Sonic, Rosalina & Nana greatly improving...

Chapter Text

Ikaika Romão was fighting-fit, and the text he’d sent everyone this morning seemed good enough proof of it.

Ikaika: Alright, I’m clear! Once y’all’re done with school, get ready to see the brand-spankin’-newest me!

Samus: Chill out, it’s just fatigue recovery.

Sonic: Hey we all had a lot to say when we recovered. It’s no biggie.

Mie: You most of all, actually, Samus.

Popo: Can’t really blame her, though.

Nana: Most of us weren’t there at the time.

Rosalina: It was a lot, and I’m proud of all of us for getting through it.

Ikaika: You guys too, huh…?

Mie: Yeah, for better or worse.

Ikaika: … I like it!

Mr. Dragmire: Pardon?

Ikaika: Always got respect for people who ain’t afraid to be wiwo ‘ole. If the whole thing with that big cat wasn’t enough…

Nana: Sorry if this is rude, but… what language is “wiwo ‘ole”?

Ikaika: Just some Hawaiian. I’m calling y’all brave. They only teach it at uni nowadays, so it don’t surprise me you didn’t know…

Rosalina: They used to teach Hawaiian in high-school? Ooh, that sounds like it would be a lot of fun to learn.

Ikaika: Yeah. I didn’t get to learn it, ‘cuz I was on the other side of that time period. Minhas mães - Portuguese for my moms, by the way - went and did everything she could just so she could teach me my culture.

Samus: Huh. I’m learning Portuguese now.

Ikaika: I’ll help you out if you want it. Not for a bit, but y’know.

Mie: Yeah. We have higher priorities. Mr. Romão, you know where to go, right?

…

Ikaika: 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽

Ikaika: Heh heh… still getting the hang of emojis. Good luck, y’all!

There wasn’t anything more to really say as Mie stepped into Sakurai High’s doors.

“So, how are you all enjoying the Italian Art sub-unit?” Mr. Eisner asked. “I know that a lot of you in this class are more focused on S.T.E.M. than any liberal arts, so here is a question for you specifically: do any of the science-focused people here know Filippo Brunelleschi?”

“Yeah!” piped up Penny Crygor, the granddaughter of Sonic’s science teacher, “We now recognize Pippo as the world’s first modern engineer!”

“Well-said, Ms. Crygor,” Mr. Eisner nodded. “Pippo was a nickname for Mr. Brunelleschi, for those who don’t know. In any case, his most notable claim to fame was designing the dome of the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore - a combination of the arts and sciences at their then-finest!”

“The arts and sciences always feel so different, though…” muttered Maxwell Scriven.

“The contrast is unnecessary, actually,” Mr. Eisner corrected, “Many in power like to make them seem at odds in order to keep the people from dealing with bigger fish such as them. It was never S.T.E.M. majors or liberal arts majors you should worry about in college.”

“Lemme guess: the business majors?”

“They’re up there, Mr. Woodward, but I was thinking police cadets,” Mr. Eisner answered, receiving raucous laughter from his students. “Ahaha… speaking of contrast - Mx. Gunter, if you wouldn’t mind?” Once Mie nodded to show they were paying attention, he asked, “Do you remember what the effect of unevenly contrasting light and shadow is called?”

“That’s… chiaroscuro, right?” Mie answered tentatively.

“Sin é an freagra ceart!” Mr. Eisner nodded approvingly. “Chiaroscuro, a portmanteau of the Italian words for clear and obscure respectively, describes a notable contrast in color between light and darkness in a work of art. Excellent work, Mx. Gunter.”

Class continued on, as life does, and eventually everyone headed home.

Well, mostly everyone went to their homes. Mie, Rosalina, Samus, Popo, Sonic, Nana? They had other plans.

As per usual, the team was quick to arrive in Mr. Dragmire’s house to explain what they could about the Subspace Dimension to Ikaika. Mr. Dragmire had given everyone house-key copies, and they’d sworn not to misuse them.

The 57-year old had arrived early, and was making use of Mr. Dragmire’s kitchen. “Ah, you’re here!” he’d greeted Mie and Sonic when they arrived (Mie had let Sonic drag them along this time). “Figured you’d all be exhausted after school, so I asked Ganondorf if he didn’t mind me making y’all something.”

“You know, sometimes I forget that’s his first name…” Sonic mused. “Thank you, Mr. Romão - really!”

“Learn to cook, kids. One of the most important skills any fella can have… oh and none of that Mister stuff!” Ikaika waved him off, gesticulating with his oven-mitt-covered hands. “Call me Ikaika! Same applies fer the rest of you. Now… let’s see if I’ve still got the recipe down pat…” He whipped out a tray of bread-crusted pastries. “Can’t remember the last time I made pastéis!”

Mie and Sonic took a bite - good thing they weren’t too hot - and bit into the Brazilian dishes. “Hlly shrrt!” Sonic moaned through his mouthful. Swallowing, he apologized and continued, “Is this cheese inside?”

“Mozzarella, to be all precise-like!” Ikaika replied with utter pride in his voice. “People fill them in with all sortsa stuff! Meat… cheeses… seafood… some people use this stuff called heart of palm, but it ain’t even an ‘acquired taste,’ if ya ask me…”

“Did I hear food?” Nana called as she, her twin, Rosalina and Samus entered the house.

“I certainly smell it…” Popo grinned, a faraway look in his eyes.

Ikaika handed out a few more pastéis, and by the time everyone had eaten their fill, Mr. Dragmire had come out to investigate what he was smelling.

“I appreciate you asking earlier, certainly,” Mr. Dragmire mused in lieu of greeting. “I’ll clean this place up once the real business is handled.”

“We’ll all do it,” Mie chuckled as the teacher took a pastel, “Er… except for Ikaika.”

“It would only be fair,” Rosalina reasoned. “Those who cook shall not clean.”

Once everyone was situated, Mr. Dragmire made to properly greet the other adult in the room. “Good to see you in one piece, Mr. Romão. I'm genuinely glad you've healed… especially so quickly.”

“It’s kinda impressive how you healed from all of that so fast,” Sonic mused. “Wonder if it’s a natural or supernatural thing… maybe a bit of both.”

Ikaika laughed. “It’s fantastic timing, right? How’s that fer a birthday present?”

If there had been music playing, it would have stopped. “… it’s your birthday?” Samus squeaked.

“Yup. Just another on the list... wonder how many more of these things I got in me... ain’t even got nobody to celebrate with…”

Sonic instantly took his hand. “Come on. We're getting you a cake.” With that, he began to lead Ikaika out of the room.

“Wait!” a flummoxed Mr. Dragmire called after them, “He isn't up-to-speed on things! We can't throw him a party right now!”

Sonic, however, was already too preoccupied with Ikaika. “We’ll explain everything over something sweet, don’t worry, and we’ll come back to clean up.” A sly smirk crossed his face. “You can come too, y’know.”

“He's not wrong there!” Popo grinned, “Though it’s a bummer... that we can't throw you a big party, that is.”

“The plan is to get him a slice of cake, right?” asked Nana.

“Nah, let's get a whole cake.” Mie suggested. “I think we can put the team funds towards it - it’ll be a nice reward for all of us for a job well-done.”

Rosalina cheered. “I’ll pay for the candles!”

As everyone else left the room for The Ice Cream Floor, Mr. Dragmire smiled a little bit before hurriedly following after everyone.

Mrs. Göbel-Black was surprised at the amount of people entering the door all at once, especially given the age-difference of Ikaika among them. “Oh! What’s all this for?”

“We have a birthday here and we need a cake!” Rosalina answered cheerily. “I heard you were doing orders like that, so maybe a small cake would do?”

“Oh?” Rosalina’s sorta-mother figure piped up. “Who’s celebrating, then? And for what year?”

“This guy right here!” Sonic said, presenting a rather bewildered-looking Ikaika.

“What, is he your grandpa?” Pieter queried.

“I wish he was…” Mie laughed. They were only half-joking.

“You got a particular flavor in mind?”

“Ch-chocolate’s fine…” Ikaika murmured. His being at a loss for words was likely a rarity for the man. “And fer the record, I’m 58 now.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it. I’m not exactly what you’d call young either.” Pallas chuckled. “You’ll have to guess my age, though.”

“Nah, I’m not that type of guy. You look great!”

“Oh? Is that flirting I detect?” Ikaika opened his mouth to say no, but Pallas beat him to it. “I’m afraid you’re about a year too late! I'm happily married, and I’ve got… well, a kid. Besides, you look old enough to have babysat him on weekends like his grandfather.”

“And what does that make me?” Rosalina inquired innocently.

Flushing in embarrassment, Pallas conceded. “I suppose that’s fair… apologies, sir.” She skedaddled into the kitchen to join her newest hire, a nice woman named Aliyah who was frosting cupcakes. As she did, she called, “Your cake is coming right up, a-and with a few complimentary cupcakes on the house… but not, in spite of this business’ name, on the floor.”

As Pallas disappeared, Samus suddenly swore underneath her breath. “Speaking of business… we need to ‘equip’ Ikaika, don’t we?”

“Equip?” Mie asked. The realization hit them, and they facepalmed. “Duh! All right, we’ll detour to the Lights’ place! … after cake!”

“What’s happenin’?” Ikaika asked confusedly. “We gotta make a pitstop, pipsqueaks?”

“People may be able to hear this conversation,” Mr. Dragmire hissed in a low voice, “You never know who’s listening… but in any case, you’re right. First, though, I think it is only fair to make sure you are willing to accept the risks, dangers, and responsibilities that come with this - and that you understand them."

Still uncharacteristically quiet, Ikaika looked towards the teacher, a grave look on his face. “I don’t get everything, but I got some idea of what I’m signing up for. I may be trying to work with that other me’s desire to take stuff easy, but if whoever took someone with my talents down, y’know, did that to me, they can be a threat to everyone. Did I get that right?”

“Nothing incorrect, certainly,” Sonic murmured. “The Ruler, as the dickhead calls himself, is protective of ‘his world…’”

“That’s certainly putting it nicely…” Mr. Dragmire scowled.

“Weird question,” Popo piped up, “Did you know the guy? Like, before that first letter he sent you?”

“If I knew something, you would, too,” Mr. Dragmire simply answered as he took a sip of water, silent rage plastered across his face, “and we’d be using it to our advantage.”

“They’re exes,” Nana deadpanned.

Ikaika nearly spit out his water, but managed to hold it down before bursting into snickers. “What? It’s funny!” He shook his head a few seconds later, though, and said, “I’ll make it my last big brawl - what greater battle could I ask for?”

“That’s what we like to hear!” Sonic cheered. “Now let’s getcha armed up!”

“Woah, there,” Mie giggled, “the cake hasn’t arrived yet-”

“Armed?”

“You weren’t expecting to suplex those things, were you?”

“In my defense, I forgot you guys were usin’ your own stuff… someone train y’all?”

“You learned or you died with us,” Rosalina spoke up. Mr. Dragmire adopted a sheepish look onto his face. “We can make sure that doesn’t happen again, if possible.”

“Fine by me,” Ikaika nodded, “Now, if y’all could explain how that other world or whatever works while we wait for the cake. Oh, and speakin’ of which… as far as your parents are concerned, I didn’t hop you up on sweets before you had dinner, ‘kay?”

A few fast and cursory nods later, S.M.A.S.H. set about explaining the Subspace Dimension to Ikaika. He’d been wondering where Puff went, and the rest of the team had expressed guilt over their lack of ability to watch over the balloon girl who held so much importance to them.

“I totally get it, but that’s still a kid we’re leaving in there. You got some kind of cross-dimensional baby monitor or something to keep an eye on her?”

“Not a bad idea…” Rosalina thought to herself.

“We’ll talk to her next opportunity we get,” Sonic assured him. “Let’s hope it’s not a necessity, though…”

Luckily, they’d succeeded in giving him all the important stuff before the cake arrived at their booth. Never one for the traditional song, everyone toasted to him and enjoyed cake and cupcakes.

Mie liked the flaming orange color on Mrs. Göbel-Black’s chosen frosting.

“Sentient clouds? You mean the things that make rain?”

“Yup. Giant battery on top and everything. They turn black after you attack ‘em enough, and that zapping hurts.”

“Man, no wonder why you wanted me to go with a ranged weapon here. I was never really the IT’S DIANA WITH THE CHAIR type, so I’m actually not all that proficient with something other than my fists and stuff. I don’t think I could lug around a rocket launcher all day, though…”

“Eh, it’s your choice. Mie’s the only one who’s doing the whole shooting thing so far. Odds are there’s enough options that you’re bound to find something that suits your fancy.”

Ikaika thought about it for a moment. “You guys think we should get a few weapons? If this Ruler fella’s gonna continue taking people, we might need more than just something fer me.”

“It isn’t a bad idea, actually,” Rosalina piped up, beckoning him and the gang over, “but we’d need the requisite money. I was thinking you might like these nunchucks. Thoughts?”

“I know what I just said about the rocket launcher, but a heavy-hitter-”

An “ACK!” was suddenly heard, followed by a rather loud crash. The group looked over to see that Nana had bumped into a shelf and knocked one item over. Thankfully, nothing had fallen over, and nobody was hurt.

“Oh, dear!” Dr. Light gasped, hurrying over. After he’d made sure nobody was injured, he inspected the item - a mace-flail. Seeing it to be none the worse for wear, he put it back on the shelf and went back to his spot.

Ikaika stepped towards the scene and gently, almost reverently, picked up the flail. Spinning it around a little (but not enough to hit anything or anyone), he muttered, “It’s perfect…!”

“That was faster than expected…” Samus mused as they walked out with the purchased mace-flail, twin nunchaku, twin blasters (which would need a similar energy source to Mie’s blaster), some rather large gauntlets, and a large clubbing weapon Dr. Light had called a kanabō. Ikaika had been kind enough to help pay for stuff.

“No one’s going to take the rocket launcher, Mie.”

“You never know…” Mie said ominously.

“Where are you even going to put that thing?”

“Do you think I’ve lived this long before I came to Ryūō without coming up with some good hiding spots for stuff?”

“Oh, for the love of- we’ll just ask Mr. Drag!” Sonic declared. “I’d text him if I wasn’t carrying some of our stuff.”

“I got it!” Nana offered, already texting Mr. Dragmire to let him know they were on their way and to ask if he could keep the extra weapons.

Eventually, the members of S.M.A.S.H. returned to his house and ended up giving thanks to a multitude of gods that cleanup went by expeditiously.

Once it was done, Mr. Dragmire handed Mie their weapon back. “I finished the upgrades for you. You should be able to use the new function even without batteries… ah, and I improved the charge duration on the blaster.”

“What’s the new function?” Samus asked.

“A grappling hook,” Mr. Dragmire answered rather proudly. “This should help in Dungeon travel and in combat.”

“That sounds incredibly cool,” Rosalina gushed as Mie picked up the weapon and adjusted for the added weight. “The Shadows will run screaming with our new member and an upgraded weapon!”

Sonic snapped his fingers. “Speaking of scary things… hey, Ikaika? We got a Halloween party coming up after school if you want to come.”

“On Halloween itself…?”

“Yup!”

Ikaika checked his phone. “Sunday night, huh…? Yeah, my schedule should be free that day!”

“Sweet! You don’t have to have a costume by the way. Figured I should ask, since… you know.”

“Não, I got it. I’m sure I got somethin’ old that’ll work for this.” Ikaika laughed. “Can’t promise it’ll be high-quality, but…”

“No sweat,” Sonic shrugged. “It’ll take a while for us to get the stuff for the party set up, though - why don’t we all meet over the rest of the time leading up to Halloween and prepare?”

“This sounds like a nice plan to me,” Mr. Dragmire nodded.

“Yes, Mr. Dragmire, you’re invited,” Sonic snarked. “Someone’s excited if you’ve invited yourself.”

“Was I… not invited?” Mr. Dragmire looked a tad bit flustered. “I suppose it would seem odd to your parents if I came over…”

“You are invited, but I never said that,” Sonic teased, earning a glare from Mr. Dragmire. “Just teasing you, dude! You can come by! We’ll just say we overheard that you were spending Halloween alone and invited you!”

“Or, better yet,” Popo suggested, “If you’re okay with it, you could host the party!”

“Yes, but… your parents would be okay with this?”

Throwing up quotation fingers, Mie said, “There will be other adults to keep us from getting into trouble, and no alcohol will be present.” in the most lifeless, boring voice the others had ever heard.

“Jeez…” Sonic whistled after a moment of stunned silence swept through the room. “Your mom and dad are absolute shi-”

“I know they are…” Mie nodded. “I’m just focusing on ensuring I can keep myself away from them more than hating them or anything. I don’t think I have the energy for that anymore…”

Ikaika, clearly concerned, asked, “Rotten folks, huh?”

“Pretty much… and they’ve got custody and all of my younger siblings…”

“Mmm, I can get that.” Ikaika mused. “Maybe not personally!” he then amended, “but when I was y’all’s age, this city was far from as nice as it is now.”

“Really?” Samus said. “Interesting… I guess I’ll have to read up on that some time.”

“Good on ya, kid. Education is important!”

Mr. Dragmire nodded along, looking pleased.

“In any case, I’m definitely coming, then!” Ikaika cheered. “I might be a bit late for the meetings until Halloween, by the by - gotta turn in my resignation at South Town… and I got work tomorrow and Friday, of course.”

“Really?” Mie inquired, “Where do you work?”

“Eh, ‘m just a janitor when I’m not wrestling… granted, it’s at a science lab, which is pretty cool.”

“You play an important role,” Nana said kindly, “Maybe you’re not in a starring role like when you’re Rei Tigre, but… it’s still very important!”

“All work is real work!” Popo piped up.

“Heh… thanks, guys.”

“I do hate to be that lady,” Rosalina said, “but it’s become rather late. Shall we separate and meet here after school tomorrow?”

Everyone seemed good with this, so after dividing the remaining cupcakes among them, everyone went home.

During dinner - Fox and Falco had worked together to make chicken and waffles - Fox reminded Mie, “Tomorrow, I’m doing more practice for the barbecue. Save your appetite for me, okay?”

“I promise!”

Mie went to bed that night feeling quite pleased with the success of the past week. The last thing they thought before falling asleep was how delicious those pastéis were, and how they hoped they’d get to hang more with Ikaika in the future…

Chapter Text

“You all got your Radical Equations homework in on time,” Mr. Scapelli lauded. “Good job!” The portly math teacher went on and noted, “Though some of you got a lot of them wrong! Might as well review for juuuust a bit before we go onto complex numbers, eh? Eh? Yeah!” The students grumbled out various equivalents of Yes, sir, prompting Mr. Scapelli to proceed. “Gunter, then…” 

Mie nodded to the teacher. “The square root of x-2 is equal to the square root of two minus the square root of x. What is x?” As Mie began to write it down with the rest of the class (who were doing the same problem for practice’s sake), Mr. Scapelli added on, “Oh, and make sure to explain your process!”

After a small while of scribbling it down - for such an annoying and boorish man, Mie would always commend his patience with the students - Mie answered, “We start by squaring everything, which puts things at x-2=2+x-22x. Then we subtract x-2 from both sides, leaving us at -4 = -22x. Then we divide both sides by -2, which gets us even closer with 2 = 2x. Semifinally, we square everything to make 4 = 2x. All that’s left to do from there is divide both sides by 2, leaving us with the answer: x=2.”

Mr. Scapelli, who’d been writing along on the blackboard, nodded and grinned a somewhat yellow-toothed grin once Mie had finished. “Eccellente! Now, let’s get complex…”

Math continued on, as did the rest of the day. That evening, Mie got a text from Mr. Dragmire requesting that the setup for the Halloween party be moved to Saturday, the day before.

Mie: Reminder that I have work then and Sunday. I’ll only be able to start after then, which might be late.

Rosalina: Should we wait for you?

Mie: No, it’ll be too late to get much done by then. Go ahead and start without me!

Samus: If you insist…

“Oh, yeah. I almost forgot to mention,” Mr. Bellamy snapped his fingers in the middle of attention, waking a few sleepy students right up. “Very well done on your midterms, everyone. This class’ average was one of the highest I can recall having since I started teaching!”

Mr. Bellamy was one of the most friendly teachers, and as long as it didn’t get out of hand, he didn’t mind a bit of laughter. Thus, when a student muttered a teasing remark about him having worked at a school that taught Neanderthals under their breath, he laughed it off. “All right, then, Mr. Swiftail,” the teacher asked, “Let’s check your retention. Who wrote one of the earliest-known written legal codes?”

Lucky floundered and came up short. “Good try, palooka. How about you, Mx. Gunter? Same question.”

“That was Hammurabi!” Mie answered after hardly any time; they’d studied.

“Absolutely Hammurabi!” Mr. Bellamy lauded. “Hammurabi claimed his code had come from Shamash, the Babylonian’s justice god, and while his legal punishments would be horrid if you suggested ‘em today, they were a big start on the legal system.”

“Really?” Lucky inquired curiously.

“Hammurabi’s the guy we got the whole idea of an eye for an eye from… boy, I wish that wasn’t so literal.” Mr. Bellamy shook his head and shivered. As the bell rang, he announced, “Oh, hey, and if you wanna learn more about Shamash and other gods, I’m teachin’ a mythology course next semester for seniors. Hope you guys will give me a shot, nyeah?”

When Mie returned to the house, there was a delicious smell coming from the backyard; eager to investigate, they went around the back rather than head inside directly.

Fox once again was hard at work on the grill. Right, Mie had forgotten about Fox’s “grilling practice.”

“Hey, kid,” Fox greeted after looking away from the grill. “It’ll be a couple minutes until dinner’s ready. You can take a seat until then.”

“Mie’s here already?” Mie heard Falco say from afar.

“It’s been a month, Falco! They’re better at keeping up with everyone’s schedules than you are!”

“I don’t screw up that often-”

“Yeah, like when you remembered Dillon’s birthday in February?”

“February 22nd. Still have it saved on my phone.”

“Man that was the most embarrassed I’ve been of you in years. By the way, I just finished up - food’s done.” Fox called, flipping a burger squarely onto a bun.

“Hey, watch your aim with the bacon this time, Einstein. The kid’s watching.” Falco teased, causing Mie to giggle as Fox looked away defiantly.

“Bacon?” Mie looked at their bosses confused.

“Yeah, they’re Biham-Burgers. Old McCloud recipe.”

“Why are they called that?”

“Because…” Fox beckoned Mie to look… “Two pieces of bacon on it. Bi-ham-burgers!... also, Biham is the traditional name of one of the stars in the Pegasus constellation.”

“Apparently, he’s thought that was the funniest thing since he was a kid.”

“So it’s not your joke originally?” Mie asked. 

It had been an innocent question, but Fox cringed and looked down almost mournfully. “…”

Almost instinctively, Mie’s eyes filled with fright. “I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to anger you!”

Softly, Falco told Mie, “It’s a sensitive thing, kid. Don’t beat yourself up about it - you couldn’t have known that would… well…”

“I’m not angry, kid, I promise,” Fox assured them, “Just… bad memories.”

“Is there anything I can do to avoid bringing up those memories?”

“I don’t know, kid…” Fox admitted. “If I can think of anything, though, I’ll tell you.”

Conversation was able to continue normally after that small amount of awkwardness, and Mie let their bosses know about the Halloween party they were working on. Eventually, Mie and the two men went to bed.

Fox and Falco put Mie to work on Saturday, as always, but they were informed they had a lessened workday on Sunday by the grace of their bosses.

But that didn’t matter right now - not to them. What was much more important on Mie’s mind was the first day of preparation for their friends’ Halloween party. With all the athletics they’d been doing, they reached Mr. Dragmire’s house in record time.

Sonic got them at the door. “Mie, right on time!”

“Great! Where can I help?”

“Well, I already got a few decorations set up, but I’m having a bit of trouble with this singing skeleton Mr. Dragmire had laying around.”

“He has that?”

“Turns out he loves Halloween. Says it’s the-”

“Best holiday of the year!” Mr. Dragmire boomed from inside the house.
Mie whistled. “Well, I’ll be…”

“See? Rosie’s coming back with plates and stuff later, and I think the twins are doing some final touchups on their costumes…”

“Sounds like a plan. What’s Samus doing?”

“She’s with Mr. Drag on the plastic jack-o-lanterns.”

“Dang, I wanted to do a real one…”

“It was either that or Samus was buying one of those electronic scarecrows that jumpscare you if you get too close to them.”

Mie grimaced. “Fair! Fair! Ugh, I hate those things!”

“Same… when I went trick-or-treating with Tails last year, Knute broke one trying to defend us.”

Mie nodded stoically. “Good on him!” they lauded. “Now where can I help?”

Mie, Sonic, Samus and Mr. Dragmire (plus Popo and Nana, once they finished their costumes) had just finished decorating the house when Rosalina knocked on the door. 

“Mind getting that?” Sonic asked Mie. “I think I forgot something, otherwise I’d do it myself. Be right back!”

Rosalina would have greeted Mie with a hug if she weren’t carrying stuff. She’d barely stepped into the living room, and out from behind a couch, Sonic popped out with a strange-looking mask. “OOOARRRGH!”

Mie couldn’t tell whether the patterns on the cheeks were supposed to be a mustache or stylized cheekbones, but either way, it did get a good scream out of Rosalina. “Really, Sonic?” she huffed.

Sonic wheezed with laughter as he took off the mask. “Gets me every time. Don’t worry about it, I got my one scare of the season out of the way, I’m done.”

“… I will have my revenge one day,” Rosalina said ominously before she walked to the table to put the plates she’d been carrying down.

Laughter ensued, and the day went on. Eventually, everyone headed to their homes… except for Mr. Dragmire, who was already there.

Work on Sunday went by extra-fast, and Mie had even been allowed to work on their costume at Lylat in one of the spare rooms when there was nothing to do. They’d been struggling.

“Something wrong, kid?” Fox asked from another room.

“Nah, it’s fine. Just looking for a Halloween costume… or at least something I can make on short notice.”

“Struggling for ideas?”

“I have an idea, but I can’t figure out how to get all of the pieces of the costume.”

“Want me to take a look?”

“If you can try.”

Fox took a look at Mie’s phone. “Yeah, that’s pretty good for short notice… hey, Falco? Can you help me with something?”

“What is it?”

“I’m trying to see if I can get the stuff for Mie’s Halloween costume!”

“That’s today?”

“Haven’t you been listening to Slippy talking about his kids’ trick-or-treating costumes?” 

“Non-freaking-stop…” Falco grumbled as he entered the room. “I love his kids like they were my own, but I don’t think I could do parenting full-time.”

“I know, Falco,” Fox sighed wearily as he passed the phone over to Falco. 

Falco looked over the items and nodded to himself. “But enough about that. I think I can do something about that. When we get back to the house, gimme a sec. I can definitely help with that shiny rock. Does it need to be pink?”

“Preferably…?”

“It’s all good. Yeah, I think we can make this work!” Falco cheered as he handed the phone back to Mie. Before Falco left the room, he mentioned, “Don’t mention this to anyone.”

Mie looked to Fox, who merely shrugged back. “I dunno what he’s talking about.”

After everyone clocked out and the triad returned to Fox and Falco’s house, Falco went into the attic. Eventually, he came back with a case containing a bunch of shiny metallic things. “Nothing illegal,” he assured them, “but promise me you won’t ask.”

In unison, Fox and Mie said, “Deal.”

You feel your bond with Fox & Falco improving…

I’m lucky Halloween ended up being on a Sunday, Mie remarked to themselves as they walked to Mr. Dragmire’s house, it’s just like most other holidays where they could sleep in and enjoy the season. 

Their lightened workday had left them plenty of time to spend with their close ones, and enjoy it they would!

The evening sunset was predicted to come quicker than they expected, however, so they decided to come to the party fashionably early as the leader of the team.

They had brought a coat with them that wasn’t accurate to their costume - dressing like Stevonnie was hardly warm enough for the weather of Ryūō’s autumn. 

On the way there, they ran into Sonic, Rosalina and Tails. Sonic was dressed in pirate garb, whereas Rosalina was in a witch costume. Tails himself was dressed like a pilot - some guy named Big Al, Mie would later learn.

When he saw them, Sonic cheered, “Yoooooooo… Mie, when you said you had a good idea for a costume during our Slide Shower Night, I definitely wasn’t expecting that!”

Mie smiled bashfully. “Do you like it?”

“It’s great!” Tails assured them. “Uh… aren’t you cold?”

Mie shook their head. “For the bit,” they said. “I tried getting some kind of leggings, but they were way too uncomfortable and didn’t even work too well. Now, how’s trick-or-treating going?”

“Really well!” Tails answered, showing off his two fake jack-o-lantern candy buckets. One of them was full, and the other about 60% of the way. “Just a few more houses, then I’m off to my friends’ house for a sleepover!”

Observing Tails’ candy bag, Rosalina reminded him, “Don’t eat it all tonight, okay? Mr. and Mrs. Wachowski will have my head if you get a stomach-ache or throw up.”

“Don’t worry, I won't,” promised Tails. “Mx. Mie, would you like to tag along with us?”

Mie pretended to contemplate it. “Well, I had a party I was going to…” When Tails pouted, Mie smiled and told him, “But it’s the same one Sonic and Rosalina are going to after you’re done. Of course I will!”

Tails cheered, getting Mie and company grinning. “Then let’s fly!” From there, Mie, Sonic and Rosalina had to resist the urge to coo every time Tails went to a new house and knocked on the door. 

Tails had even been lucky enough (or perhaps clever enough) to have Ms. Ichigo’s house on his route. The things Mie would have done for one of those snickerdoodles…

Eventually, though, Rosalina, Mie and Sonic reached the house of Tails’ friend and saw him off with said friend’s mom and a hug from each teen to the kid. From there, they hurried over to Mr. Dragmire’s house, where Popo - dressed as Naz from Teenyboppers V - got them at the door.

“So where’s Anyage?” Sonic asked.

Something flashed in Popo’s eyes; he said nothing, but a devious grin did fall over his face. “If I turn around and Nana’s got a scary mask on, I’m just gonna rip it up and off her,” Mie teased. “She’s too short-”

Something tall and slender in the corners of the darkness behind them (it was dark out, okay?) moved. Shrieking, Rosalina grabbed her bag and threw it.

The figure managed to catch the bag in their chest without grunting. Stepping into the house, they tilted their head up to reveal it was Samus in a pitch-black suit with a card in the middle that said I Am Very Sorry in fancy font. “Gotcha~!”

Sonic, Mie and Rosalina groaned, leading Rosalina and Popo to wheeze with laughter. “You are not sorry,” Sonic accused. “What kinda costume is that, anyways? You supposed to be Lady Lissom?”

“Nah,” Samus grinned. “I’m a formal apology.”

Mie burst out laughing. “That’s so good!”

“I didn’t have time to make a scythe and design a Blue Screen of Death costume,” Samus shrugged proudly, “so I went for second best.” At everyone’s confused looks, she sighed. “Okay, I got the idea from spying on Pika and Pich looking at an article about pun costumes.”

“That checks out,” Sonic shrugged.

Footsteps were heard as Nana scrambled down the stairs. As Sonic predicted, she was dressed like Anyage. “Awww, I missed it…”

“Sorry, sis,” Popo said guiltily. “Bad timing…”

“Eh, it worked out. I’ll take that. Ikaika here yet?”

“I was wondering where he was!” Mie remarked. “Well, him and Mr. Dragmire…”

Samus sighed. “The former isn’t here yet. Called and said he’d hit every red light so far. As for Mr. Drag… he’s still putting his costume on.”

“Mr. Dragmire is pretty tall…” Rosalina mused as they headed inside the house in order to keep too much cold air from getting in. “Do you think he has trouble finding things his size?”

The second the door closed, the lights shut off, plunging S.M.A.S.H. into darkness. “Oh, crap,” Nana moaned.

An eerie, deep laugh rang out across the room, the source undeterminable. “Who’s there…?” Samus growled out.

“DEATH COMES FOR ALL…!”

A few of the teens - Popo most notable among them - shrieked. Samus held Rosalina close, mumbling something unintelligible.

Not for the first time since coming to Ryūō, Mie felt true fear.

The sound of footsteps from their right made everyone freeze. Sonic pulled out his flashlight and turned it on to reveal a looming figure in dark-purple robes, a skeletal, glowy-eyed head, and a very ornate scythe. “I'M DRESSED TO KILL…!”

The whole team screamed loud and high as the Grim Reaper cackled menacingly. When they’d finished screaming, he ripped the skeletal front off to reveal…

“Happy Halloween, children!” Mr. Dragmire proclaimed, laughing like a madman.

“… holy shit,” Sonic wheezed, “I nearly went in my pants!” 

Mr. Dragmire just kept laughing. “You should not be this proud,” Rosalina huffed. “Samus was scarier than you.”

Wiping a tear from his eye, Mr. Dragmire managed to get his chortles down enough to say, “Right, right… and you would have thrown your backpack at me, too?”

Unable to formulate a response, Rosalina merely huffed again. “You’re awfully jovial…”

“Yeah,” Nana added, “it’s sorta creepy in a different way.”

“This is my favorite day of the year!” Mr. Dragmire barked out another laugh as he turned on the lights again. “I think I shall forgo any scary stories tonight.”

“I bet you’re good at those…” Samus grumbled.

“I’d like to think I’m among the greatest,” Mr. Dragmire preened. “I learned from the best - Koume and Koutake Dragmire, my mother and her sister. I’m not as good as them-”

A series of knocks resounded on the door. “Hey, is the door s’pposed to be locked?” Ikaika could be heard asking. “Or am I at the wrong house here?”

Mie got the door for him, finding the elder man waiting in a pretty well-made Hellguy costume. “There y’all are! I was beginning ta get scared, haw haw!”

“Thought you’d be in some wrestler costume,” remarked Nana. “Then again, if you’re retiring from that…”

“Yeah… plus, it’s a bit too recognizable fer me to be goin’ around in that sorta clothes.” Seeing the teens’ faces were a bit pale, he wondered, “What happened to you guys?”

“I happened!” Mr. Dragmire laughed.

“You really did, hate to admit it as I do…”

The night was fun, full of good conversation, good food (Ikaika made bolo de rolo), and Mie was sad it had to end.

You feel your bond with Sonic, Mr. Dragmire, Popo, Nana, Samus, Ikaika and Rosalina improving…

“Did you get it?” someone clad in fake iron armor inquired a girl in a martial artist gi with a yellow belt.

“I sure did,” she responded. “Let’s see what skeletons Mom’s got in her closet… or drawer, I guess.”

Chapter Text

Sonic: Happy November, guys!

Samus: Fucking hell, Sonic. Rosalina wasn’t kidding.

Popo: Bruh, it’s 5 in the morning. You’re lucky Nana’s asleep.

…

Popo: Nvm. You’re getting mauled at school today.

Samus: RIP Popo.

Popo: 1. She’s not that feral. 

Popo: 2. She’s not angry at ME.

Sonic: I know she’s scarier than you, but…

Nana: ur motherfucking kneecaps r gon in less thn 10hrs

Sonic: Someone’s got a short fuse.

Nana: now its on sight

Sonic: Tell Tails I love him.

Samus: SNNNNRRK

Sonic: Oh! Kneecap-related threats aside…

Nana: not just threatenng u

Sonic: SERIOUSLY.

Sonic: Rosie’s, like, almost definitely gonna be out today. You guys be delicate with her for the rest of the week, ‘kay?

Mie: What’s going on?

Mie: Nana, no gnawing on Sonic’s legs at school.

Mie: Sonic, what’s wrong with Rosie?

Sonic: Today’s the 5th anniversary of her mom’s passing. 

Samus: Oh. That’s why this chat doesn’t have her in it.

Popo: Fuck…

Nana: mauln u cn wait. Were gonna be there 4 her rite?

Sonic: I wanna be there for her, but I also don’t wanna poke the bear.

Sonic: Like, she’s one of the people I love more than anyone else in the world, y’know? Me and her, we’ll die for each other…

Sonic: Heck, we’ve both been around when our own siblings actually needed it. She sometimes comes over to play with Tails and hey, her bros love me. I’m sure whatever she’s doing today to mourn, she’ll be okay.

Sonic: We’re brother and sister, man… literally in arms, now that I think about it. 

Popo: 👏👏👏

Mie: Hopefully she’ll be okay…

Samus: Always one to cheer up a crowd, eh?

Sonic: It’s a gift!

Mie: Good to know, Sonic. With that settled, everyone back to bed.

Nobody argued with that.

With what Sonic had told them, it made sense to Mie that Rosalina didn’t show up at school that day. During some off-time in Health, they decided to text him and Samus about the situation. The twins had been called home for something by their folks, so they wouldn’t be able to do much today.

Mie: Should we check up on Rosalina after school?

Samus: We can try. We SHOULD try.

Sonic: We should also probably ask first.

Samus: Good idea. Which one of us is gonna do it?

Mie: I’ll do it. Samus, you’ll be an awkward mess, and Sonic, I’m worried you’ll go too fast with things. 

Mie: I don’t mean it as an insult… we’ll work on these things, okay?

Sonic: I can be slower when comforting someone…

Mie: I believe you. I’m sorry if I made it seem otherwise…

Sonic: I get it. Good luck then, Mie. I’m sure you’ll do great.

Samus: You mess this up, I'm the leader from now on.

Mie: Maybe… you two should come with me? If you want to?

Samus: please?

Sonic: please?

Mie: Okay, then! After classes, you guys let me know when you’re ready.

Their message received two thumbs-up emojis just in time for Dr. Mario to resume class. A while into their continuation of the Medical Conditions unit, Dr. Mario called on Mie. “What is the colloquial - more common, that is - name for a myocardial infarction?”

Serious as a heart attack, Mie answered, “That would be a heart attack.”

“Excellent work, Mx. Gunter,” Dr. Mario nodded approvingly. “On that note, today we’ll begin having you all practice CPR. This will happen twice a semester, and it will take a doctor’s note to miss out on both.”

Ah. Mie had been wondering what the fake chests were there for.

The walk to Rosalina’s house was the first time Mie could remember Sonic staying on pace with them. Samus even had her hood up, barely even glancing at the other two.

“What do we even say Mr. O’Reilly shows up at the door?!” Samus asked, putting her hands in her pockets. “Hi, heard it’s your adopted kid’s mother’s deathiversary or whatever you call it, can you tell us where she is so we can all go hug her?”

“I wouldn’t say that’s a horrible way to go about it…” Sonic stared ahead while lost in thought. “We just gotta rephrase it a little nicer than that.”

“You don’t get it…”

Sonic stopped and gave Samus a hard look. “You’re right that I don't know what it’s like to have a dead mom. Yeah. Fine. But do not talk to me like I don't know what it’s like to feel like Mom’s gone and never coming back… same with Dad.”

Having been told his story prior, Samus looked away. “… sorry. That was insensitive.”

“No sweat.”

“Look, I’ll just tell him we’re here to make sure she’s okay and that we noticed she wasn’t at school that day, and if she needs some space, we go home.” Mie took a deep breath as they made it to the porch, and with a nod to their closest friends, knocked on the door.

After a few moments, Mr. O’Reilly opened the door. “Y’all definitely ain’t Girl Scouts…”

Instantly and simultaneously, Sonic and Mie said, “I’m not even a girl…”

“Knock it off,” Samus sent the two a glare that could kill. “Mr. O’Reilly, we came to see… well, how Rosalina was doing.”

Mie had heard the word used to describe people’s reactions to bad things, but seeing Mr. O’Reilly’s reaction was the first time they could recall really seeing someone deflate.

“Ah, you noticed she wasn’t at school today, didn’t you?”

“Yeah… we just wanted to know if she was okay and all.”

“She ain’t sick, if that’s worth anything…” Mr. O’Reilly sulked. “I’m afraid her situation is a bit personal right now…” He shook his head. “Today’s a… well, it’s an important day fer Shooting Star… one that requires a touch’o delicacy. I already called the school, and yer principal understood, so you don’t need to worry about that… sorry that you came all the way here for nothin’, though-”

“Mie…? Sonic…? Samus…?” Rosalina’s voice came from upstairs. Everyone went silent at the sound of her voice. “Don’t worry about them. They can come in.”

“Are you sure?” Mr. O’Reilly was the first of them to speak. “Not to tell you whatcha can or can’t do, I swear-”

“No, it’s okay, I promise,” Rosalina said quietly, silently beckoning them to come over. “Lubba, they already know everything.” Looking back to her friends, she softly inquired, “You guys came for me…?”

“Of course we did,” Sonic said softly. “We care about you, you know.”

Taking the three to her room, she didn’t even sit down before putting her hands together. “I’m sure one of you told the others, and I appreciate you for giving out the context.” Upon saying that, Sonic raised his hand; Rosalina merely nodded at Sonic, to which he put his hand back down. “This is the fifth year since Mama died. Fifteen days before her birthday.”

“Do you need some time alone on that day too?” Samus asked as politely as she could.

Rosalina shook her head. “No… I have plans for that day, but I’ll come to school, promise. But today… it’s different. You all remember what my Shadow Self said.” She looked hesitant for a moment before saying, “Actually, speaking of which… do your Personas ever talk to you?”

Sonic slowly nodded. “I mentioned he sounds like some actor, didn’t I?”

Samus, however, just sounded unamused. “This is a distraction, Rosa.”

“I had to tell all of them to speak one at a time…” Mie moaned, before pausing. “Wait, what?”

“You’re trying to not address the memories…” Samus said matter-of-factly. Her face softened, and she told Rosalina, “I am begging you, Ro - never pretend the good stuff never happened or ignore those times, or you’ll lose yourself in the bad stuff.”

Rosalina was stubbornly silent. “She’s right, Rosie…” Sonic piped up. “You think it would help to tell us about her?”

“I don’t want to…” mumbled Rosalina.

“Even I didn’t get to meet her, and I’ve known you the longest out of all of us-”

“Because it hurts!” Rosalina gasped out. “It hurts… it hurts so much… especially today…” Tears streaked a path down her face as she wildly threw her hand out to the window. “It’s like any other beautiful autumn day outside! All the leaves are falling, a-and the winds howl a little bit here and there, and… and on days like these, where I am alive and Mama is not, I don’t know how to live…”

Samus slowly extended her arms out to Rosalina. “Ro… can I hug you?”

Rosalina’s sniffly breaths caught. Silence reigned throughout the room before she uttered one word.

“Please.”

And as Samus hugged her (Mie and Sonic quickly joining in), the dam broke. Rosalina began to cry into the trans girl’s chest.

“I can sometimes hear her voice calling to me whenever I summon my Persona…” Rosalina sobbed, closing her eyes as if trying to get contact with her again. “It sounds absurd, but I feel like she’s speaking to me through Deborah. Every time I went somewhere that reminded me of my mother, I received an odd feeling from Deborah, like she was reminiscing with me. Two days before Halloween, I went back to where we used to live. There are five women living there now, enjoying that home like we used to. One of them was named Daphne-” Sonic shot her a quick look. “- but that’s besides the point…”

Rosalina talked about all the things she and Ms. Lum had done, from playing catch to making kompeitō to skipping stones at a river on the outskirts of town.

Now looking to be feeling much better, Rosalina mused, “If nothing else, I know one thing for certain.”

“And that is…?” Mie whispered.

At last, Rosalina really smiled and embraced them all once again. “She would have loved you all…”

Rosalina opened up about the memories of her mother…

Empress Rank 4!

Even as three of the kids left that whole afternoon, none of them noticed someone had been listening in on their conversation from the next room over. A single tear dropped down his face.

“By God, she’s healing…” Lubba whispered.

The following night and most of the next day, Mie had nothing of particular event. Well, they’d received their permission slip for the school trip - they were going to a circus in Kakuto, but at the moment, they were deciding if they wanted to go.

It depended on who else in their friend group was tagging along.

That night, however, while they were finishing up some homework for Mr. Scapelli, their phone rang. Mie only intended to look at their phone briefly, but when they saw who was calling, they dropped what they were doing and picked up.

Mia and Mio never called unless it was dead important.

“What’s up?” they spoke quickly. “Who do I need to kill? Is it Dad? Mom? Someone else?”

“There’s our goofball,” Mia giggled, their brother right next to her. “First off, are you busy?”

“I was doing homework… so no.” Mia and Mio didn’t laugh. “It’s serious, then. I’ll get comfy. If I faint, don’t worry and just hang up; I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Beat us to it. You will not believe what we just found!”

“Mio, what did you do now?”

“It was Mia this time, I swear!”

“I went in the forbidden drawer.” Mia said, completely monotone.

“YOU DID WHAT?!”

“Shoosh!” Mio hissed.

“At first, it was a bunch of boring documents. I didn’t know why Mom cared so much about stuff like taxes and receipts that she’d try to hide them away. But then at the very bottom, I found the mother-load… pun not intended.”

“What did you find?”

“Congratulations, Mie. You are now the second oldest kid in our family.”

“Mom’s pregnant? Wait, then I’d be the third, still…” Mie rubbed their temple. “What’s going on? Did Dad adopt a 20-year old or something?”

“Implying Dad would want a fourth kid?”

“Pffft!”

“Seriously, though- you ready, Mie?” Once Mie nodded seriously, Mio dropped the bombshell. “She’s got some old stuff about gaining custody of some guy named Ingram from an ex-husband.”

Mie gasped, but not even a moment later, they gasped, “You’re kidding. Mom’s too much of a Jesus freak to divorce anyone - not even Dad! She’s not cheating on him, is she?”

“The years on the documents were before Mom and Dad got together, so no. It’s just simple serial monogamy.”

“Okay, but… what happened to this Ingram guy?”

“That’s the only thing the documents didn’t tell us…” Mio admitted. “Even if there was anything about that, sis put the documents back so we wouldn’t get in trouble, and we’re not likely to go digging again soon unless we need to.”

“I don’t blame you…” Mie sighed. “You guys scared the shit out of me, you know that?” they admonished.

“Sorry, sibby…” their siblings apologized.

“I forgive ya,” Mie chuckled. “Now tell me how things are back in Wuhu!”

“Thought you’d never ask. Isaac finally got outta here, too. I asked him if he wanted to keep in contact, and he said you’re welcome to text him if you’re interested.”

“Oh, I miss him. He’s doing alright, right?”

“I dunno. He got taken in by some gents named Helmut and Bob who visited the place, and…”

The trio of siblings chatted well into the night, Mie sharing some stories about their friends and allies. Eventually, they said their goodbyes, as it was getting rather late, and went to bed.

Mie hadn’t been this happy after saying goodbye to their siblings since they left Wuhu.

Chapter Text

Mie was not happy to be woken up incredibly early almost twice in a row.

Then again, given the chime, it was likely from Mr. Dragmire in the S.M.A.S.H. chat, so it was surely important.

As Mie begrudgingly got up from their bed and grabbed their phone, they mentally grumbled It had really better be.

Mr. Dragmire: I received another letter from a “Round 3”. Come to my house after school as soon as reasonably possible.

…

Ikaika: You weren’t kidding when you talked about this fight being demanding… you know what time it is, don’t you?

Mr. Dragmire: Tigers are known to sleep for 18-20 hours on average.

Ikaika: Oh, shut up!

Ikaika: Well, I’m goin’ back to sleep ‘til I got work. I’ll see y’all there, of course.

Mie: What’s going on…?

Mr. Dragmire: Read up, please.

Mie: Oh, I see. Very interesting information. Thanks for waking me up at, like, 5 in the morning for this.

Mie: Of course, the Round 3 thing is important. Good to know!

Needless to say, Mie was not looking forward to how sleep-deprived they were going to be at school, even with the half-hour of sleep they got from going back to bed after finishing the conversation.

Their equally-exhausted friends would only reiterate this sentiment.

“Nice hustle, everyone!” Mr. Mishima called. “Break for notes!”

Everyone broke away from Four Square (a personal favorite of Mie, when nobody added any fancy-pants extra rules) and sat down to go through their Phys Ed lessons.

Realizing rather belatedly that Mr. Mishima was the only teacher in the gymnasium, Mie asked, “Out of concern: where’s Ms. Fitzroy?”

“It is not my place to say what, but something came up yesterday, and she needed the second half of the day off. I will be filling in for her part of things today, but I will let her know you were thinking of her when I see her next, if you wish.”

Filled with compassionate concern for the other gym teacher, Mie nodded gratefully, and without a word more on the topic, they began review. The current unit was Olympic Sports, and Mie was doing pretty well as things went. “Mx. Gunter!” barked Mr. Mishima around the tail-end of review time. “You’ve been doing rather well so far - let us up the difficulty today. Which of the following throwing events in athletics is not performed with a safety cage: discus, hammer throw or javelin throw?”

Mie wasn’t perfectly sure, so they went with their best guess. “The javelin throw…?”

“Hm. Good work. The javelin throw does not have a cage behind the thrower, as they would need room to hold the javelin without it getting caught upon the cage. A ‘fun fact,’ as I believe it’s called: the Olympic record for the discus throw is over two-fifths longer for women than it is for men, with Martina Hellman’s 72.30 meters in 1988 compared to Virgilijus Alekna’s 69.89 meters a whole sixteen years later.”

After school, Mie waited outside the entrance to see if anyone else in S.M.A.S.H. wanted to walk with them to Mr. Dragmire’s. Pulling out their phone, they had realized that they missed a fairly lengthy conversation in the group chat. Not having time to scroll through all of that, they skipped it all and simply texted:

Mie: Is anyone else still at school?

Sonic: No, sorry… I’m already there.

Mie: Oh, is everyone already at Mr. Drag’s by now?

Samus: Oh, right.

Sonic: Did you not see the text?

Mie: I… think I may have missed you guys saying that. Whoops.

Samus: Eh, it’s okay. We should probably set a system so everyone remembers.

Popo: I told Nana to remind me.

Nana: Verified. Sorry, Mie…

Rosalina: I was wondering where you two were. You’re usually so punctual.

Mie: It’s okay, guys. I’ll get on my way now.

Mie: Sorry to keep everyone waiting.

Ikaika: I ain’t there either, so don’t sweat it!

Ikaika: Come to think of it… need a ride?

Mie: You willing to pretend to be my uncle for this?

Ikaika: Can do! I got whatcha need covered, kid.

Mie: I was mostly joking… but it would probably be smart.

Mie jumped a little bit at the sound of Mr. Mishima’s voice. “Ah, Mx. Gunter. Waiting for a ride home?”

“… yeah.” Mie never was one to get close to their teachers, as they usually didn’t have much trust for those with power over them.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Mr. Mishima snapped his fingers. “It was very kind of you to ask after Ms. Fitzroy, by the way. Would you mind if I told you a story about her to pass the time, or would you prefer space?” he inquired. Once Mie slowly nodded, Mr. Mishima began, “The two of us actually applied for the job the same semester. I was having a long string of rejections from other work, and my son Jin was having trouble in elementary school, and I was considering just giving up and trying my luck elsewhere. She told me something, then, that I may never forget. ‘Sometimes, we get to be strong. Other times, we have to be strong.’”

“And you got the job?”

Mr. Mishima smiled. “We got the job. Both me and her. Didier- er, Principal Dedede could not decide who was more qualified, so he decided not to choose.”

Mie smiled at that. “I always got the vibe she was sorta detached. She always looks a little… uncomfortable, I think? Uh, I dunno if she even knows this, though. Don’t tell her I said this, please?”

“I will not. In spite of her occupation, she can appear a little closed-off. I could not tell you why… I suppose it’s neither of our business, though-”

Mr. Mishima stopped when he heard a loud noise. Skidding to a stop, a motorcyclist pulled up on a white and red motorcycle. With a two-fingered salute to them both, they took off their helmet to reveal…

“Ikaika?!”

“Mie! Still need that ride?”

“Yeah, actually… wait, hold on. when’d you get a motorcycle?!”

“I had it-” Ikaika abruptly shook his head. “Well, that’s a story for another day! Got you a helmet. Safety first, an’ all that.” Looking to Mr. Mishima, he nodded. “I’m guessin’ you’re their teacher?”

“Yes. You are…?”

“I’m their uncle.” Mie nodded to Mr. Mishima to confirm this. “Their folks were a little busy, and I was in town, so I thought I’d surprise ‘em. Hope that’s okay.”

“It shouldn’t be too much trouble. Principal Dedede, if I recall, usually would rather this not become a regular occurrence without proper registration, so you’ll need to sign something next time, but this once is probably fine…” His eyes narrowed. “Of course, if I’m given any reason to believe something is wrong, I have already memorized what you look like.” Ikaika tried not to gulp as the P.E. teacher turned around. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Mx. Gunter.”

Mie waved goodbye. Once he’d gone inside the school, Mie whipped around to Ikaika. “You can get in the back,” he whispered. “Hold on tight, okay?”

Mie’s helmet was a bit foggy on the inside, so they held onto Ikaika for dear life. After they grew used to the speed, they passed the time with their own thoughts. One such example, brought on by Mr. Mishima’s conversation with them earlier, was when they began to wonder what kind of life Ms. Fitzroy had led so far.

Thankfully, Ikaika hadn’t gone as fast as Mie had feared; even so, they were still able to arrive at Mr. Dragmire’s house in a rather timely manner. Sonic had been the one to open the door for them, saying, “I heard a motorcycle outside and I had to see what was up. That’s yours?”

Ikaika shot a grin that ought to be trademarked. “Sure is, haw haw! But ‘nuff about that - where’s everyone else?”

“Samus got here literally a minute before you two. Come in, we’ll catch you up on what Mr. Dragmire got last night.”

Ikaika and Mie nodded, and with Sonic, they joined Samus, Mr. Dragmire, the twins and Rosalina in the basement workshop. Once greetings and pleasantries had been exchanged, 

“So what’s our favorite dickwad up to this time?” Samus remarked.

Mr. Dragmire just grunted and slid another letter (indeed labeled Round 3) across the table.

Curse you, S.M.A.S.H.! What you’re doing ought to be taboo!

Fine. Fine! No, this is fine! I’ll make it personal this time… hug your loved ones close, S.M.A.S.H. - this is what you get for intruding upon my realm! 

Hahahaha…  that being said, I doubt Ganondorf would ever make connections with someone right next to him. Here’s hoping this does not discourage you from forming bonds in the future…

Mie felt a bead of sweat trickle down the side of their face at the thought of the Ruler taking Mia and Mio. Looking at their fellow fighters (Mr. Dragmire looked the least perturbed), they could easily tell they were all thinking of their loved ones…

Sensing this unease, Mr. Dragmire said, “While I request you not tell your close ones about the danger they may face, I do suggest you hold them close tonight and tell them to stay safe. Keep a close eye on them. Accompany them when they head out, if you wish.”

Thinking of who could qualify if the target was close to them, Mie remembered something Fox had mentioned to them on their way out the door that morning.

“My guardians are barbecuing tonight, so I should be able to watch them just in case.”

“That is good,” Rosalina breathed out, happy for them. “It is going to be hard to watch out for all my brothers and Lubba. I wonder who would be the most vulnerable…?” She snapped her fingers. “I should make a list!”

“Don’t get too distracted or let anyone find it…” Samus looked uncomfortable in her own thoughts. “They’re not my family, but I’ll keep an eye out for the Chus. They don’t deserve to be caught up in my bullshit.”

“So many people…” Sonic muttered, looking rattled. “Tails… my moms and dads… heck, even the guys on the track team… statistically speaking, whoever they’re going for is most likely related to me. This sucks…”

“I mostly just got all the folks at South Town…” Ikaika mused. “I’m chummy with everyone, but not so chummy with most of ‘em that I think it could be anyone in town.”

Popo and Nana had been holding each other close. Unable to take the mood anymore, Nana stuttered out, “W-we need to go.”

“I can’t fault you for that,” Mr. Dragmire nodded. “Everyone, please send a message in the groupchat when you make it home. I’d rather make sure this isn’t a trick.”

Sonic, Popo, Rosalina, Nana, Ikaika and Samus nodded before making their way to the stairs. Mie stood in front of the door - not to obstruct them, though, but rather…

“I know you’re scared, guys - I know I’m scared - but can I get a hug before you guys go?” they asked timidly.

“Oh, of course, sweetie…” Rosalina was first to hug them, and the rest of them joined in. Even Mr. Dragmire, seldom good with others’ emotions, awkwardly approached and joined the embrace from the outside.

The second they were at the McCloud-Lombardi residence (and they'd sent a message to the groupchat), Mie beelined for the backyard. Not only were they concerned for Fox and Falco (they who had shown them so much kindness…), but the smell of hot dogs grilling had more than caught their attention.

“Hey, kiddo!” Falco greeted. “Was beginning to wonder where you were!”

“Sorry! I was catching up with some friends.”

“All clear on that, kid,” Fox nodded. “We understand you have a life outside of us. So long as you’re staying out of trouble, all’s well.”

Mie sat down as Fox continued flipping franks. “Hey, before we forget to remind you,” Falco piped up, “The barbecue’s Saturday. You’ve met a lot of the people who’ll stop by - Slippy, all our coworkers, and plenty of our old colleagues.”

“Any other people I should expect?”

“Well, Peppy will be there.” Fox chuckled as he set down some hot dogs, buns and condiments, likely recalling memories of this Peppy. “Old man never misses our barbecues. He’ll show up - by car, by foot, or by hearse.”

“Betcha Krystal will be there, too,” Falco piped up. “She’ll bring Marcus, her son, if she can’t find a babysitter.” Snapping his fingers, he turned to Fox. “Please tell me you didn’t invite Katt, by the way.”

“I didn’t, don’t worry. I banned her, remember?”

“You did?”

“Of course I did! We threw her out last time…” Fox caught Mie’s innocent, neutral gaze, and collected himself. “… and that’s the last you’ll see of her. Swear it.”

“You sure she won’t try anything?”

“She’s not stupid enough to show up where she isn’t welcome. Not with a ton of ex-p- er, not with me around.”

Mie didn’t ask any questions about this Katt woman to avoid bringing up any bad memories, letting them banter themselves out. Mie stilled in thought a while into their third hot dog. “Hey, just had an idea… Fox?”

“That’s my name, kid, don’t wear it out. What’re you thinking?”

“Do you think you could teach me to at least manage the grill? If I can be of help…”

“Shoot, kid, I can’t make you do that.”

“You wouldn’t be making me do anything. I offered. I’m not asking for any extra pay, for the record - I just wanna be helpful.”

It took a little bit of convincing, but eventually Fox conceded. “Hmm… I’m not putting you to work, but how about we see if anything comes up this time? We can talk again around March or April, at the next one.”

“Sounds good to me!”

You feel your bond with your bosses Fox and Falco improving…

Mie couldn’t sleep that night. Not even reading Fahrenheit 451 for English helped them. Something was poking around in their head, telling them to make absolutely sure every loved one in Ryūō was accounted for.

Then it hit them. Every loved one in Ryūō.

If the Ruler was going after Mia and Mio, Mie would kill them.

Yanking their phone off the desk, they checked their siblings’ group chat for any missed messages.

Mie: Just checking up on you two. Both of you okay?

Mia: Mio’s asleep. Did something happen?

Mie: Oh, okay. Can you check up on him for me?

Mie waited anxiously until they saw the next notification, which was sent alongside an adorable picture of their brother sleeping.

Mia: He’s fine.

Mie: Stay close to him for a few nights, okay? I don’t want anything bad happening to you two.

Mia: Bad dream or something?

Mie: Woke up this morning and felt a premonition…

Mia: Considering the stuff I’ve heard about Ryūō, I get it. Get some rest though, okay?

Mie: I know… I love you guys.

Mia: I love you too, Mie. I’ll tell Mio as well… tomorrow, since he’s asleep.

Mie: Can do, sis. Night! 

Mie turned off their phone and went to sleep not long after.

Chapter Text

Mie had just finished 2nd Period. They’d been chatting with Zelda and Daisy, blessed from up on high with a calmer mind than yesterday, when they were interrupted.

“Mx. Gunter!” Didier Dedede hollered as he passed by, a stack of papers held precariously in his hands. “Just the kickbutt enby I been looking for! You mind coming heah for a sec?”

Remembering their student position as office helper, Mie called back, “Can do, Mr. Dedede! Just a sec of my own, please?”

“No sweat!” Principal Dedede called back over his head before disappearing into the front office.

Mie turned back to Zelda and Daisy to let them know they had to go, but the gobsmacked faces on the two’s faces confused them too much. “What? Something on my face?”

“How the heck did you get in the good graces of King Dedede?” Daisy hissed. “Haven’t you heard any of the rumors surrounding him?”

“I hear a ton of rumors about the faculty,” Mie grumbled. “There’s always something, like Mr. Angenent’s a test-tube supersoldier or Mr. Kingston trains Russia-imported crocodiles.”

“They what?”

“Okay, so I made those up on the spot. Maybe it’s just my outsider's perspective, but it’s sorta weird… feels like it might be a little rude, too.”

“Hm… I get where you’re coming from…” Zelda nodded as she pondered Mie’s words. “No matter how unkindly they can get, I suppose it wouldn’t be fun being gossiped about like that.”

“Ooh, yeah… what are the odds the stuff about our teachers is true?” Daisy remarked. “Well, be careful around Triple D. Shyanna had to go to his office for something, and she told me he offered her some candy that looked a decade old!”

“The candy itself or the wrapper?”

“Well, Shy didn’t recognize the brand, and she said the wrapper was super-wrinkly; she thought the stuff might be poisoned… well, we’d better not keep you. Go get ‘em, minhe amigue.”

As much as they wanted to contest what was probably bullshit (Poisoned candy? Really?), Mie figured they ought not to keep Principal Dedede waiting, so they hurried over and met him outside the front office, where he’d been sipping his coffee. “You said you needed me for something?”

“Not this very instant,” Mr. Dedede shook his head. “Jus’ needed t’letcha know ahead’a time, that’s all, but aside from the usual duties, Mr. Chip is out sick today, and we could use an extra pair’a hands on deck. You still want that student aide position, this is your first day on the job… you in?”

Mie nodded eagerly. “Yes, sir! Should we head there now?”

“E-heh-heh-heh-heh!” Mr. Dedede laughed. “No shirkin’ work, kid. You got 3rd period comin’ up, so just go theah-” The bell to start 3rd period rang. “… I’ll walk you to your class so you’re off the hook. Come by at lunch, ya hear?”

Mie nodded. “I’ll do that.”

“Dedede-lightful! Let’s get goin’!”

Health went by, and so did Physics. Sonic, Popo and Nana had given Mie questioning looks when they said they needed to be at the principal’s office (Rosalina and Samus, more well-versed in the rumor mill, had just sighed), but Mie assured them they’d be fine.

During Mie’s work moving papers around and helping the faculty, Principal Dedede walked in from a quick trip to the yoga room. Mie didn’t miss how a few students had skittered out of sight when they saw him; unable to withhold their curiosity, they innocently remarked, “Wow… the students really don't like you, do they?”

The second those words finished, their hands were all but shoved down their throat. They’d just fucked everything up, hadn’t they?

Mr. Dedede seemed unperturbed, which eased their nerves a bit. “I don't know about likin’ me,” he sighed. “It's hard to tell when hardly any of 'em trust ya. Ya hear a lot of stuff in the world about bad authority figures, so I don’t blame ‘em fer being all distrustin’.”

Trying to calm their beating heart and not think about their own ‘authority figures’ back in Wuhu, Mie sympathetically commented, “That sounds tough to deal with…” 

“Eh, y’git used to it after dis long.”

Mie raised an eyebrow. “How long have you been working here?”

“E-hee-hee-hee…” Mr. Dedede chuckled. “Reckon that’s a surprise for another day. I got some pretty interestin’ stories from my earlier years…”

“Dang it!” Mie and him then heard coming from deeper in the faculty office. Hurting over, they saw Mr. Bandoni, one of the theater faculty’s husbands and one of the janitors, in the midst of an attempt to dust off the top shelf he was too short to reach. “Stupid short genes…”

“Easy, Bandee,” Mr. Dedede lightly admonished. “I told ya - when you need t’hit them high notes, go ask Mr. Dustman to carry a tune!”

Mie picked up the metaphor. They didn’t get why a metaphor was necessary, though.

“Oh, I did, but he’s cleaning up at the cafeteria right now,” Mr. Bandoni responded. “Someone has to do it, Triple Dee.”

Mr. Dedede just groaned. “Awright, lemme see what I can do-”

From behind Principal Dedede, Vice Principal Knight’s voice made him, Mr. Bandoni and Mie jump. “Didier, Dirk and Kirk are here requesting a word with you. They looked rather distraught…”

Mr. Bandoni groaned. “Those two? Didn’t they graduate last year?”

“Yeah, they did,” Mr. Dedede nodded. “That theah’s unusual. Mie, you mind handlin’ this? Be careful, and if Mr. Dustman shows up, let him handle it.”

“Sure!” Mie nodded as they were handed the duster. They headed up the mini-ladder and began sweeping away. It sounded simple enough. Mr. Goon, when they were being shown around, had joked about how it had been so long since someone had dusted that the dirt up there must have collected from years ago. That said, Mr. Bandoni had done well enough so far that they hadn’t sneezed or anything, so it probably wasn’t a big deal-

An echoey, metallic sound followed by a crash made them snap to attention. Their eyes slowly made their way to the floor below them to see the remains of what was probably a vase. They weren’t sure. It had shattered into so many pieces it was hard to tell.

Mr. Dedede was gonna have their head for breaking that vase! They were gonna get expelled, and then they’d have to leave all everyone and go back to Wuhu-

“I heard somethin’ break! What’s goin’ o- Mie? Mie!” they vaguely heard Mr. Dedede’s voice call.

Their hands slipped from the ladder, and they fell off… landing in Mr. Dedede’s arms. “I gotcha! You alri-” 

Now he had to catch them? “I-I’m s- I’m sor- I’m sorry-” they blubbered.

Mr. Dedede just took a deep breath. “Kid, I need you to tell me five things you can see around you,” the principal asked. “Deep breathing now, just like I did…”

Managing to see through their tears and start some deep breathing, Mie listed the three faculty members watching over them, a bigger shard of the vase-thing they’d accidentally broken and the duster that had hit the floor next to them.

“Good job, Mie. Now, can you tell me four things you can touch?”

Mie nodded. From there, Mr. Dedede walked them through the rest of the grounding process. Once they were sufficiently solaced, they said, “I didn’t mean to break the vase…”

“I know you didn’t,” Mr. Dedede assured them. “Ain’t a big deal, Mie. Prolly shoulda went an’ put that somewheah else.”

“Wasn’t it expensive, though?”

“That thing’s so old I don’t even remember. Even so, I don’t need a new one, an’ even if I did, it wouldn’t even be a drop in my bucket. It’s replaceable.”

“Are you sure-”

“Kid, you're the irreplaceable one. All’a y’all are. I got more’n enough money fer a new vase, but I couldn’t replace you even if I wanted to.”

Principal Dedede has a lot of love for his students, you included…

Justice Rank 2!

“Would you like to go home early?” Mr. Knight asked. “I imagine you’ve had quite the scare today.”

“It’s okay. I can get through my classes.” Mie said. Never mind how they were a little nervous and on-edge, still - they needed to keep up on their education and all.

“Don’t push yourself,” said Mr. Goon, who had hurried over at the crashing sound. “You’re shaking like maracas in a monsoon. Do you have anyone who can pick you up?” 

Conceding, Mie shook their head. “Then heah's the plan,” Mr. Dedede said, “I’m gonna go finish talking with some alumni that came by. Matías, can you collect their assignments and homework and git their teachers t’let ‘em off the hook? Meet Mie at the nurse’s office.”

Mr. Knight nodded and set off. “Bandee,” Mr. Dedede said to Mr. Bandoni, “your job is to walk Mie to Doctor Vargas and have them wait theah ‘til Matías gets all their schoolwork. While yer walkin’, let Mr. Dustman know about this lil’ spill.”

Bandee saluted. “Yes, sir!”

“What should I be doing?” Mr. Goon asked.

“You figured out why Wilma ain’t called in yet?” Mr. Dedede asked.

“I wish I could say yes… Kazuya’s able to cover for her just fine, and she’s racked up enough sick days to excuse herself all month, but you’d think she’d say something, right?”

“It is weird…” Mr. Dedede agreed as he headed out. As he walked out to go find the two named Kirk and Dirk, the next words out of his mouth made Mie pale.

“Did she disappear off the face of the planet or something?”

If there was any conversation between Mie and Mr. Bandoni, they couldn’t remember it. All they could think about was that they might have found the Ruler’s next target.

Samus: Hey, where’d you go, Mie? I didn’t see you at Theater today, and Mr. Kingston kept his jaws shut.

Mie: There was… an incident. I’d really rather not talk about it.

Popo: You don’t have to tell us the details.

Nana: You okay? That’s what we’re concerned about.

Mie: Mhm…

Mie: Not the point! I just had a big realization.

Ikaika: You mind telling us?

Mie: The Ruler… I’m pretty sure their target is Wilma Fitzroy.

Sonic: Wait, Ms. Fitzroy?!

Rosalina: What makes you think that the Ruler will go for her?

Mie: She’s been missing since yesterday, and I overheard Mr. Dedede say she’s racked up a ton of sick days. Something’s up.

Mr. Dragmire: I’ll check the scanners tonight. Everyone, prepare to meet tomorrow.

Today was a stressful day, Mie thought as they went to bed, and it’s only going to get more stressful from here…

Chapter Text

Taking Mie’s report into more than consideration, Mr. Dragmire texted the team to discuss his findings regarding the apparent disappearance of Ms. Fitzroy.

It didn’t help the ominous feeling that sat in S.M.A.S.H.’s stomachs that Mr. Dragmire had begun the thread of text messages with this message:

Mr. Dragmire: Well, I found SOMETHING of note. Come over after work and I’ll explain.

Rosalina: Did you perchance mean school?

Ikaika: I wish he did… it’d be nice to be y’all’s age again.

Popo: Yeah, and it’s only you and Mr. Drag.

Mr. Dragmire: School is the majority of you lot’s work. Your job is to prepare for your futures, wherever they take you, as best you can.

Sonic: Right, good point…

Mie: You said you found something… what did you find?

Mr. Dragmire: It’s best to explain in-person. I don’t have time right now, I’m afraid.

Mr. Dragmire: I have to prepare for 1st Period. I’ll see you all soon.

“I’m glad you all seem to be taking this class seriously,” Mr. Strife praised his class. “Nice to know my youth in Japan wasn’t totally misspent.”

Looking at the uneasy faces of his students, Mr. Strife apologized. “Social situations are not my specialty… speaking of specialty, Mie-san, here’s a question for you.”

Mie nodded in accord. “What number is used to describe someone’s specialty dish?” Mr. Strife asked. “Feel free to answer in English for this one.”

“18, or ohako,” Mie answered.

“Good work, Mie-san,” Mr. Strife lauded. “The most popular theory as to why the dish a cook considers their specialty is called the ohako or juuhachiban is that’s based on the Kabuki Jūhachiban, or 18 kabuki plays that a famous actor called the best representations of the aragoto style. Aragoto is known for characters who speak and act dynamically, and it’s the ancestor of  the actor I mentioned earlier who pioneered the art. Today, I’ll save you the lecture on the facial paint style they used, which was called kumadori.”

“Speaking of Japan and paint,” piped up Ken, “I heard the museum in Kakuto has a traditional Japanese art exhibit for a little while! There’s this one artist over there who’s got a lot of popular paintings there - what’s his name again? Kirayama? Kitachiwa? Ugh, I can’t remember…”

The bell rang right on time. “You’ve got me all excited, Ken-san. I know what I’ll be doing this weekend… in any case, you’re all dismissed. Good luck with your last class.”

Mie didn’t hesitate to hurry to Mr. Dragmire’s house after school was over, and neither did anyone else. Ikaika was a little late, but he’d stated this would be a pattern given that his job hours ended a little after school.

Once everyone was there, Mr. Dragmire gathered everyone around a screen with a map. “There’s another great Shadow concentration there,” he explained, “… that, or another Shadow Self. I’m almost done with making updates to these scanners so they can distinguish the two a little better… and so they can detect Shadows in a greater radius.”

“Radius?” repeated a puzzled Sonic.

“Think of it like a range of space,” Ikaika explained. “Ganondorf here can detect Shadows, but only in so many areas from where his scanners can find ‘em.”

“Precisely!” Mr. Dragmire said, nodding to the older man.

Ikaika scratched the back of his head humbly. “Well, you spend enough time ‘round a science lab, even if you ain’t a scientist, you pick up some stuff.”

Mie adjusted their grip on their weapon. A little nervous about their proficiency with the grappling hook function (Mr. Dragmire had shown them how to switch from blaster to grappling hook, but they had no practice in battle or anything), they asked, “Did you find anything on if Ms. Fitzroy might be there?”

“There is a non-Shadow presence in the depths,” Mr. Dragmire confirmed, “but I have no details on who or what they may be.”

“Hey, you think it’s the Ruler?” Popo wondered.

“Could be…” Samus pondered, “… then again, he might be a powerful Shadow, too.”

“He does seem to believe the Subspace Dimension belongs to him…” Rosalina pondered. “In any case, shall we get going?”

“I think it would be best to at least scout this area out,” Mr. Dragmire answered.

“Shoots, then!” Ikaika nodded, mace-flail wrapped around his belt. “E hele kāua!”

With that, Nana fired up the A.D.S., and off they went.

Off the bad, S.M.A.S.H. found things getting interesting.

The first thing everyone heard upon entering Subspace was someone shouting, “Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please- YES!”

They didn’t have time to react before Puff ran up to them and latched onto Nana, their huge eyes close to tears.

“Puff! Did something happen?”

“New area… Shadows… near the entrance!” Puff wheezed with all of the air she probably had pent up in her body. It was a wonder how her body wasn’t expanding and shriveling up like a water bottle.

“Really?” Mie jumped, pulling out their blaster and pointing it behind Puff.

“I… I think they’re gone now, but…” Her breathing slowed closer to a human normal, but she still didn’t let go of Nana.

Mie got onto Puff’s back. “Puff… it’s okay now. We’re here.”

“Mimi…” Puff warbled. “I-I… ‘m so scared…!”

The whole team flinched. “She’s totally in meltdown mode…” Samus murmured. “Someone hold her close, now.”

Ikaika moved in. “Kiddo, can I pick ya up and hold you close? Do I have your permission?”

Puff looked up at him slowly. “P-please…” she whimpered.

With that, Ikaika hoisted her into a princess carry and gently rocked her, humming a tune until Puff’s breath steadied. Once she’d been let down, she hugged Ikaika again, albeit more softly. “I’m sorry for losing myself and stuff on you guys…”

“No problem, keiki!”

Puff giggled as she accepted hugs from the rest of S.M.A.S.H., one by one. “I missed you all so much…”

“We’d have called you, but we’ve known since day one that this world’s phone service is nonexistent…” Sonic said, showing Puff the lack of bars on his phone.

“Maybe the Shadows have their own service providers?” Rosalina wondered. “Is there a subscription service?”

That got Nana to burst out laughing, still with tears through her eyes. “So do we just go up to Ms. Fitzroy’s Shadow Self and ask for a service plan?”

“Perfect!… minus the Shadow Ms. Fitzroy part.”

Puff, however, still stared at Rosalina’s pocket that she put her phone in. “That’s what a phone is?”

“You recognize it, kid?” Ikaika asked. “Rosalina, você estava certa!”

“Was that the Portuguese Samsam was talking about?” Puff inquired innocently.

“… yeah, actually,” Samus nodded. “But that aside… Puff, do you have a phone?”

“Uh-huh!” Puff’s body shook around for a second before something popped out of the opening at the top of her head, landing in Popo’s hands.

Mr. Dragmire suddenly gasped. “Where did you get that?!” he boomed urgently at the broken phone Popo held.

Puff flinched. “I found it on the ground one day. I just thought it was neat.”

“Miss Puff… would you mind letting us have it?”

“No! Finders keepers!” Puff squeaked immediately, grabbing the broken phone and holding it close to her chest with her stubby arms.

“You’re just gonna fix it, right?” Mie asked out loud. Mr. Dragmire grunted out a yes, so they told Puff, “We’ll give it back right after, and it’ll be even better.”

“Okay…” Puff hesitantly handed it over to Mie. Face puffing up in a pout, she told them, “You better give it back, okay?”

“I promise we will.” They tried to direct their stern face directly at the communicator. “Even if it means some disagreements along the way.”

“… it won’t take that long,” Mr. Dragmire assured the two. “Well, Miss Puff, can you tell us where the Shadows are so we can defeat them?”

Puff looked a little nervous, but she eventually nodded. “I’ll take you. Will you make sure they don’t kill me?”

“Of course, little one,” Rosalina assured her. “Lead the way. You can hold one of our hands, if you’d like-”

Puff had already latched onto her hand. “Follow me!”

“And a left here… there!”

They’d reached a big building with indescribable features. “Last time I saw ‘em, they were trying to find me just outside of here. It’s pitch-black inside at first, but it turns on eventually.”

In response, Mie summoned Pharos. “I’ll light the way until then,” they assured her.

With that, S.M.A.S.H. stepped through the door. “Kouha,” Mie whispered, ordering Pharos to use its Bless magic to light up the room.

Upon seeing what looked like a massive, sterile-white massive gym they’d just walked into, Sonic remarked, “Well, this is different.”

“Something wrong?” Popo asked him.

“Nothing,” Sonic shrugged. “It’s just, after spelunking through a cave and climbing a Mount Everest ripoff, I wasn’t expecting… well, a gym.” Mie took note of how he didn’t name the Wentworth Estate replica. “Like, I get she’s a gym teacher and all, but I dunno, it feels pretty tame by comparison.”

“I still wouldn’t underestimate a Dungeon if I were you,” Mr. Dragmire reminded him. “The fact that it’s taken on a more industrial appearance could mean a multitude of things. Perhaps it’s due to her age, her mental state… here’s hoping we won’t need to find out directly, I suppose…”

“We can expect lava or canyons from the others, but I don’t know if- aah!” Rosalina stumbled as a red streak zoomed by her. The lights flickered on fully, revealing the source was a red version of the Soldier Shadows and two red versions of the Rime-Eye Shadows.

“Woah! Are these one of them Shadows y’all were talking about?”

Mie looked at the semi-familiar Shadows, confused. “Yeah, but I remember the wheels using ice to move around…”

“These guys seem to be fire-themed, though,” Samus scoffed, readying her whip.

“Doesn’t matter what it’s made of, I got it!” Ikaika took out his flail, called on his Persona Ball and spun it over his head. “Perrrrrrrrrsonaaaaaaa!”

You’ll have to imagine for yourself just how much Ikaika’s battle cry sounded like Leroy Jenkins.

Gorgeous George appeared and cast an Eiga. Dark energy surrounded Ikaika’s weapon as he yelled, and when he swung his flail straight at the Pyre-Eye Shadow, it made a black and red explosion upon contact with its eye, knocking it on its side.

“How’d you do that?!” Sonic gawked, stunned at the downed Pyre-Eye Shadow.

“I ain’t a stranger to fighting extravagantly-dressed enemies like the rest of y’all are,” laughed Ikaika. “Y’all wanna take a crack at ‘em?”

“We’re gonna have to,” Samus growled, striking the Flame Shadow with her whip, “but it’s Mie’s call.”

“Let’s get these guys for now. Don’t want ‘em bothering Puff anymore, right?”

Puff’s big eyes went all glossy. “Mimi…”

Mie let Puff nuzzle in as they called upon Pharos. “Eiha!” they ordered.

Mie fired their grappling hook at the downed Pyre-Eye Shadow to ensure it would stay still. Once it was locked on, Pharos shot off the Curse spell at the downed Pyre-Eye Shadow, which took it down. “Nice shootin’!” Ikaika praised. “Now, let’s see what else George and I got…”

“Nah, leave it to me!” Sonic cheered before he slashed at the Flame Shadow with his longsword. The second Pyre-Eye Shadow, surrounding itself in fiery energy, rammed into Sonic in retaliation, sending him across the mat where he landed sprawled out and a bit scorched.

“Sonic!” gasped Rosalina. She summoned Deborah, and with a call of “Bufula!” a cold wind burst out of her and blasted the wheel-like Shadow away, making it land on the ground in front of Popo and Nana, who pounded it to pieces with their pickaxes.

The last Shadow, the Flame Shadow, backed away as S.M.A.S.H. approached it. “Well, well, well…” sneered Ikaika. He pounded his fist against his hand before grabbing the Flame Shadow; once he had a good grip, he lifted it back and slammed it onto the ground in a suplex, crushing its head for the kill.

After getting back up, Ikaika wiped his brow. “Phew! That was way easier with the more… humanoid ones.”

Samus shrugged. “You’ll get used to it.”

“Right, trial by fire… hey, what’s that?”

Sitting on the ground where one of the Pyre-Eye Shadows once stood was another Velveteen Cookie.

“Long story, I’ll tell ya later,” Mie said before quickly snatching it up. Luckily for them, a door to the Velvet Room had appeared just by the entrance, so once Mie had told everyone to search the room for anything useful while they sorted through something quickly, they entered the interdimensional airship without much to worry about regarding the others.

“Hey, Yoshi! I got you something!” they teased upon seeing the attendant on their lonesome. Pulling out the Velveteen Cookie, they asked, “Wanna see if we’ll get any benefits from this?”

“Yes, please!” Yoshi cheered, immediately taking the pastry from Mie and gulping it down.

Mie giggled. “You want to be able to taste that, you know?”

Yoshi flushed a little. “Sorry, mix…”

Just then, Mie felt a familiar surge of power wash over them. “Yoshi, how’s my Persona stock looking?”

Yoshi stared Mie in their eyes which sort of reminded them of the meme with the dog sniffing close to a microphone. It had been a bit loud for their liking, but they’d found it funny. “You have another Persona slot! Congratulations!”

Mie pumped their fists. “Yessssssss! Now, let’s see if I can find some good Personas to add…”

By the end of their fusing spree, Mie had access to some powerful new Personas like Ogress, Ole Lukøje, Bhāgīrathī and Alp. They’d also gotten some stronger Personas for known Arcana like Enyalius, Oonagh, Torero (they’d have to refuse him with Mahama later), La Sirene, Komainu, Potestās, Soul of Fortune and Úlfhéðnar. For the moment, though, they couldn’t find a better Tower Persona than Ahemait.

Obviously, they couldn’t keep all of these Personas at once, but it was nice to have access to stuff in the Compendium.

With a new squadron of Personas ready to go, they left the Velvet Room. Once they’d snapped to, the first thing they heard was Sonic. “Mie? You got that look again.”

“Look? What kinda look?”

“That ‘I’m going to a magical sky world to train my mind powers before a dungeon trip’ look?”

Mie’s eyebrows shot up, getting a laugh out of Sonic. “Relax, Mie, I’m kidding. Looks like you owe us a story, though.”

Mie’s discomfort was clear, and Mr. Dragmire conveniently stepped in. “We’ll save it for some other day. Since it seems you were out of it, all you need to know is that we didn’t find anything but the steps to go further in.”

“There are no elevators this time…” Rosalina bemoaned. “Strenuous physical activity, my beloathed…”

Nana giggled. “Boy, you better not let Ms. Fitzroy- oh, right.” Her brother proceeded to facepalm as she cringed.

After some chuckles from the original four fighters of S.M.A.S.H. at Nana’s expense, Ikaika asked, “Should we start spelunkin’ today, or was it just recon?”

“I think we can call it easy for today,” Mr. Dragmire said. “The scanners estimate our deadline to be around the 27th, so we have plenty of time.”

“If that’s settled…” Samus decided, “should we go back? Pika and Pich mentioned Tobias is making a ‘cheeseburger ring,’ whatever that is, but apparently it’s really good…”

“Works for me,” Sonic shrugged. “Sorry to cut this short, Puff. We’ll see you… uh…”

“If your schedules are updated, the next viable trip is next week, on the 12th-”

“A whole week?! Alone?” Puff shrieked, tearing up again. “Please, let me come with you! I don’t wanna be alone again…”

“Oh, petite fée…” Rosalina whispered, kneeling down to Puff’s level. “We’re doing everything we can here. If there was just a way to get you into the real world without anything going wrong, we would, we really would!”

“A way to get her into the real world without… hmmm…” Mr. Dragmire’s voice trailed off. He turned off his microphone for a small amount of time, but he came back soon enough and said, “Oh, all right. She can stay in my basement for now. I can give that phone back to her sooner that way.”

“Yes! Thank youuuuuu!” Puff grabbed Mie’s communicator from them. “I promise I’ll try my best not to break anything!” she squealed.

“Not to discourage the idea of taking the kiddo home, but are you sure you can take care of her?” Ikaika asked him. “I mean, I dunno what she is, but she’s kinda a kid mentally.”

“I teach children for a living-”

“I don’t think Puff has the maturity of a high-schooler,” Popo pointed out.

“As a denizen of the Subspace Dimension, I doubt she requires much other than an attentive eye.”

Something about the phrasing made Ikaika shudder a little. “Oh, for the love of- I’ll watch over the kid. Besides, I reckon you don’t want her messing up yer tech ‘n papers.”

Mr. Dragmire exhaled at Ikaika’s offer. Was it out of relief? Resignation? Both? Something else? Mie wasn’t entirely sure. 

“That works, then,” the teacher assented. “She has to stay home, though… but I think an exception for trips to the Subspace Dimension can be made.”

Puff ran over and hugged Ikaika. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! I’ll stay out of trouble, I swear to my bones!”

“You have bones?” Samus asked.

“Uhhh… maybe?” Puff’s voice grew muffled again. “I don’t know. I just heard the phrase while looking at stuff on the phone, and I liked it.”

“That explains how she knew what vampires are…” remarked Sonic.

“Well, enough about that,” Mr. Dragmire decided. “Mie, if you wouldn’t mind leading the group back here?”

Mie looked over towards Puff and gave her a grin. “With pleasure.”

Puff grinned. “Thank you guys so much!”

As Puff and you walk back to the hub so you can return to your world, you feel a bond forming between you and her…

Thou art I... And I am thou...

Thou hast established a new bond...

Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Star Arcana…

Star Rank 1!

Puff took a huge breath of air upon entering Mr. Dragmire’s lab for the first time. “Woah… your world looks so much more… industrial than I expected.”

Chuckling, Ikaika picked up Puff, looking down at her. “Remember, kiddo: as far as anyone knows on the way home, you’re just some giant merch bag someone in the audience left on the seats that I’m trying to find the owner of. Try not ta make a peep until I say so, ‘kay?”

“I have no idea what that means, but yes, sir!” Puff cheered.

While Puff and Ikaika talked, Mie walked over to Mr. Dragmire. “Here’s the phone, by the way,” they said, handing the item in question over.