I get a chance to test my new abilities almost immediately. Ted runs straight past me, which means that the two golden knights are following right behind him. Wait a minute, weren’t there three? What happened to the third one?

Anyways, since I have the hammer, I’m assuming that I must have some sort of electricity attack as well. Going by Pokémon logic, it should hit at least neutrally.

I raise my hammer into the air, and sure enough, it begins crackling with sparks. I bring it down, and a huge crash of lightning is brought down right on one of their heads! The one I hit is fried; he falls to the floor and dissipates into shadow.

The other one stops in his tracks and looks at me. “Ah, there it is! Quite the bombastic opening, but I hope you know how to follow it up!”

“You bet I do!” I shout back, even though that’s kind of a lie because I don’t know what other powers I have.

He runs towards me with surprising speed, so much so that I’m caught by surprise and don’t have time to guard against a punch that hits me right smack in the face and… just kind of bounces off. Ha! I’m awesome.

“What in God’s name is this?” the knight yells, recoiling from the punch.

“It’s your doom!” I shout back. Emboldened, I run forwards, take a huge leap into the air, and club him right across the face with my hammer, which sends him staggering backwards.

As much fun as that was, when I land back on my feet I notice that it didn’t seem to do much. There’s a big dent in his helmet where I hit him, but otherwise it mostly seems to just have annoyed him. Wait, didn’t Ashley say that they resisted physical…?

Then, he starts doing something new. His eyes begin glowing, and he claps both of his hands out in front of him, which shoots a wave of whiteness at me, and it feels like I’m on fire…

The few seconds I stopped to see Nova’s transformation, the winged cherubim is on me. These assholes have proved to be quite evasive. I finally managed to get rid of one of them, but now the other one is clawing all over my body, somehow always just out of my reach…

Then, with one last shove, I’m on the floor, and the thing is standing over me, staring at me with its creepy, vaguely human face.

“You know, for a heavenly being, you really are a piece of shit,” I tell it.

It raises its paw to deal a final blow, but then I hear a gunshot and the cherub shrieks in pain as blood starts pouring out of the wings attached to its head… and onto my face. Great.

I push it off and roll over onto my front. I see that the one who fired was Ted. Anja is still laying on the floor a few yards behind him.

“I never miss a shot,” he gloats, looking proud of himself.

“Thanks for the help. Can you use that healing move on Anja?”

“Not right now… I used up my magic fighting the golden ones.”

“You used it up?”

“That’s right.”

I push myself up with my arms, which is rather difficult given that they’re all bruised by my winged assaulters, and then I get to my feet. I look around and see Nova fighting the last of the knights.

“What in God’s name is this?” It shouts at him.

“It’s your doom!” Nova yells back at it, which makes me roll my eyes. He needs to work on his one-liners.

“Think we should go help him out?” I ask Ted.

“I don’t know what we can do for him. My fire attacks were very effective, but now that my magic is depleted…”

“Don’t worry, I have something up my own sleeve,” I assure him.

I turn back just in time to watch Nova get blasted in the face by one of those light attacks that the other guy tried on me. Unfortunately, it looks like Nova isn’t taking it as well as I did, so I think it’s time for me to intervene.

I run towards him and stick out my hand, just like before, and shoot a beam of light straight into him. In his weakened state, this is enough to finish him off. With no enemies left on the field, I walk over to Nova to check his status.

He’s laying on the floor, still conscious but looking dazed and utterly wiped. Upon looking more closely at his new outfit, he’s dressed in what appear to be the clothes of a king, with a golden robe and a matching gold layered headdress.

“Looks like that light attack really did a number on you,” I observe. “Anja, can you…” but then, I remember that Anja was knocked out near the beginning of the fight.

“I’m… so… tired…” Nova complains. “Finish… tomorrow…”

I turn towards Ted, who shrugs at me. “I don’t think we have another choice,” he says simply.

“Okay, fine then,” I agree begrudgingly. I carry Anja over back to where Nova is lying, and then I use the app to get us all out of there.

When we re-enter the real world, Anja immediately nearly loses her balance, as the transition between worlds put her back on her feet. I stick my hand on her shoulder to help her regain balance.

“What the… ah… oh, thanks, Ashley,” she says, seeming to realize what’s happening after a short moment. “That was weird. It was like I went from being fast asleep to suddenly being on my feet in the middle of the day.”

Nova yawns loudly, looking like he’s about to fall asleep while standing up. “Man… I need a nap,” he laments.

“Wait a minute… did you do it?” Anja asks excitedly, her eyes sparkling. “You awakened your Persona, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I did,” he says sleepily. “I’m Thor… hell yeah.”

“It really takes a lot out of you, huh?” Anja questions. “I was exhausted all day after awakening mine.”

“Hmm. I guess it’s a good thing I awakened mine when it was already evening,” I remark.

“Honestly, I’m pretty tired too,” Anja admits. “Let’s all get back… AAAARGH!” While talking, she had begun walking to the car and ended up tripping over Ted and faceplanting onto the sidewalk.

“Watch where you’re stepping!” I chide her, kneeling to the ground. “Are you hurt at all?” I ask Ted.

“Not at all,” he replies. “It’ll take much more than that to break through this shell.”

“Oh my god, he can talk in this world too?” Nova asks, looking slightly horrified. “That’s really weird.”

“Of course he can talk in this world!” I tell him. “Come on. Let’s get home, I have homework.”

“Yeah, I’m okay, thank you for asking,” Anja complains, having just gotten back on her feet.

After she unlocks the car, I scoop up Ted and set him in the backseat, and then climb into the backseat on the other side. Before long, Anja has started the car. She goes to Nova’s apartment first since it’s furthest from her house.

“Well… we definitely learned a lot about his cognition from that,” I say conversationally.

“Yeah, no kidding,” Anja agrees. “Holy crap, he was such an asshole to Nova in that courtroom! I guess that’s the ‘mask off’ moment for him.”

“I want to note something from when I talked to him before, though,” I say. “I asked him if he’d ever taken bribes from his subjects, and he said that he never has.”

“Well, he could’ve been lying!” Anja argues.

“That was his literal ‘shadow self,’ Anja,” I explain. “How on earth could he be lying?”

“Uh… I dunno,” she admits. “Well, I guess it doesn’t matter now. Either way, he needs to be stopped. For Nova’s sake… Oh yeah. Nova, how does it feel to have your Persona? How do you feel the experience impacted you?”

She waits a little bit for a reply, and then looks over at him and laughs. “Oh… he fell asleep. Guess I’ll ask later.”

After she drops off Nova, it’s silent for a while. Then, unexpectedly, Anja says, “You’re quite the workaholic, Ashley.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I respond.

“Well, anytime I see you, you’re always focused on finishing some task. I’ve known you for several weeks now, and I feel like I barely know anything about you.”

“Well, I do like to be efficient,” I say defensively. “It’s a necessary quality to succeed in life.”

“But having your nose to the grindstone 100% of the time isn’t efficient,” she argues. “You miss out on so much that way. Leisure time is important to prevent yourself from being burned out. You can also learn a lot about yourself and the world around you when you stop and take a look around every now and then.”

“I’m sorry, why do you see it necessary to nag me about how I live my life?” I ask her, getting annoyed. “You think that I’m a robot? That I literally do nothing but work 100% of the time?”

“Well, not exactly, but…”

“How about you mind your own business?” I interrupt her. “I don’t remember asking for your opinion on my work-life balance.”

“I just can’t stop thinking about what happened back in the palace,” she explains. “How you were able to get through that chamber without us. I can’t help but to wonder if… maybe the way you think is similar to Pavia’s in some aspects.

“I’m not saying that you’re a bad person like he is,” she adds quickly, evidently reading my anger in advance. “You have a strong moral compass deep down, Ashley. I’m just saying that you’d thrive in the type of society he wants to create.”

I don’t say anything to that. I don’t know what she’s playing at…

Eventually, we arrive back at the Methodist Church. I scoop Ted back into my arms and step out of the car.

“Do you want me to drive you the rest of the way after you set him down?” Anja asks me through the window.

“No. I’ll walk home myself,” I answer.

“Okay,” she replies a little sadly. “See you tomorrow.” She drives away.

I walk Ted back over to where the trees are. “What’d she have to go after me for?” I vent to him as I walk. “Like I’m anything like that arrogant asshole.”

I set him down on the ground. He looks up at me and says, “It’s remarkable how empty that man’s palace was.”

“What? Oh yeah, I guess,” I respond, caught off guard by this random observation.

“It was only him, that assistant, and the shadows,” he continues. “Ashley… if you had a palace like that, who would be inside of it? Who do you trust in your heart?”

“Um… interesting question,” I say. “I’ll think about that for you. Be ready to finish the palace off tomorrow, okay?”

He nods vigorously, and then turns around and disappears into the trees.

All things considered, I arrive home this afternoon in poor spirits. My parents are in the living room, having a very odd conversation.

“If you were born with green eyes,” my dad is saying as I walk in, “You could, in theory, hide this fact by spending your life wearing colored contact lenses.”

“Yeah, but why should you have to?” my mom counters, surprisingly passionate about this subject. “Wouldn’t it feel dirty, just spending your whole life hiding what your true eye color is? That kind of thing can have bad effects on someone’s mind.”

“Well, that’s true. So it’d have to be worth the pain and effort of hiding it. If having green eyes is a sin against God, that would make it worth it.”

“Sure, but how can having green eyes be a sin against God, if God gave you green eyes?”

“Hmm. That’s a good point.”

“Um, Dad? Don’t you have brown eyes?” I ask, leaning against the wall behind them. “Why is this even relevant to you?”

“I technically have hazel eyes,” Dad responds, taking off his glasses and fiddling with them. “Of course, most people can’t tell the difference.”

“I didn’t see you come in, how was it with your friends?” Mom asks, turning around to face me.

Let’s see… I got mind raped, then had to fight a dude twice my height by myself, then had to listen to Anja and Nova bitch at me, then got yelled at by Pavia, then nearly got my ass kicked.

“Oh, it was great. Utterly fantastic.”

“Um… good to hear?” My mom replies uncertainly.

“Where’s Zoe at?”

“She decided to wait for you back in your room,” she explains.

“Alright. I won’t keep her waiting, then.”

I exit the living room and go back to my own. Sure enough, Zoe is there, sitting on the bed.

“There you are,” she greets, putting her phone down when she sees me. “What were you off doing with Anja?”

“Um… doing something which is gonna help Nova a lot,” I say vaguely. “It’s difficult to explain.”

Despite my very unclear answer, Zoe looks a little relieved. “I hope that things get better for him soon,” she remarks. “He has such a sad life.”

Zoe really is a remarkable person. She only really met Nova like, four days ago, and yet already seems so legitimately concerned about him. She just exudes so much warmth in everything that she does. It’s hard for me to not trust her…

“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asks, her head cocked slightly to the side.

“Don’t worry about it,” I say, sitting down on the bed next to her. “Before we start on our work, can I make an unusual request?”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“Can I give you a hug?”

She beams at me. “Yes, you can!”

And so we hug. And it feels very nice… like I don’t ever want it to end. In fact, I feel once again like I’m about to break down crying, so I pull away from her.

“Thanks,” I say.

“No problem. Um… with region jazz coming in less than two weeks, can you help me with something?”

“Of course.”

“I don’t quite understand something your mom said about the improvisation. Why is it that I’m supposed to use the blues scale… but I can also play a d natural… but only sometimes?”

And… well, I think you get the idea. From there we just do our usual practicing/homework and stuff. Next time… we’re going to make that Pavia have a change of heart whether he wants to or not.