Persona BLEACHED 2: Part 37

Chapter 37: Beginnings in Red
2023
"Flawless. Absolutely flawless, Rinnie. It's exactly how I'd imagined it. Aside from no color, of course." Miko said with excitement in her eyes. Rin was dressed in insectoid body armor, white in coloration.
"Look, I'm always happy to help with your ventures, but wouldn't you want it painted first before anyone wears it?" Rin asked, taking off the helmet.
"Have to make sure it fits first before I use up a bunch of paint. Plus I needed an excuse to finally get your measurements."
"My...measurements."
"Not for anything pervy, I promise. Once we're done with Gaim, I'm gonna get started on a, well...new project, let's say."
Rin looked over at Miko's desk. Amongst the many sketches of bugs, there were pictures of various costumes, mostly red in coloration. "Would this 'new project' involve these sketches?"
"Ohhh, I knew I should've hidden those! They're just rough concepts that popped into my head. I wanted to go over them with you when Gaim was all squared away."
"Okay, but...what are they? They look like superhero costumes."
"Well...that's cuz they are. Yours, in fact." Miko began blushing.
Rin sighed. "Miko, we've been over this. There hasn't been a major threat in years. Just because I have...certain gifts, doesn't mean I should run around in spandex punching criminals. Between school and helping you out, where would I even find the time for it? I don't mind you jotting down every idea that comes to your head, but this would be overdoing it."
"Pleeeease, Rinnie! Even if it's not for serious butt-kicking. It could just be something for conventions and stuff like that. I want to make something cool for you, that's all. I want people to see you the way that I do."
"You think way too highly of me."
"Rinnie, come on. You know where I'd be if you didn't come along when you did? Not sketching bugs and making geeky costumes with you. I'd be in a box, six feet in the ground. Just someone else that walked into that forest and never walked out. You walked out of that forest and became the badass you are now. You showed me that there's another option besides either going back to my parents or just ending it. You're my hero, Rinnie. Least I could do is make a little something something."
Rin sighed with a smile. "I swear you and Tenko must've taken classes on how to butter me up. Let's give those designs a look, then."
"Yay! Now these are just my ideas, but I'm gonna need your input, of course. Also sorry if most of them have bug eyes. Kinda my aesthetic, you know?"
"I don't mind. It wouldn't be your work without it. Oh, I like this one..."
---
April 5, 2029
Inside the capitol, the students continued climbing up. "Unbelievable. Not even leaving the planet can take me away from awful stairs..." Kenji griped.
"Well when the elevators haven't been used in hundreds of years..." Max said.
A bead of sweat came down Sahir's face. "Hey I know this is gonna sound like a pickup line, but...is anyone else feeling hot, or is it just me?"
"Maybe it's from all this obnoxious climbing..." Kenji complained.
"No, Kicks is right. Everything was frosty up til now. Why would it get..." Kitty replied.
An intense pressure overcame the group.
"Holy--! Feels like we just walked into an active volcano!" Max said.
"This is absurd...something must have changed at the summit. For it to reach this far down, though..." Carrie pondered.
"This doesn't feel like the Master's power...this raging heat could only belong to..." Sakuya added.
In the arbiter's chamber, Pittacus observed. "Ban...kai?" he questioned.
Amongst an aura of flames, Rin was now garbed in a white armored suit, with red markings across its body, red segmented eyes, and a belt, the buckle of which was in the shape of the sun. On the armor's backside was a stylized image of an apple with 'angry' eyes.
"Asahi Kamen Raidā." Rin answered. "All of my burning power channeled into every fiber of this uniform. This was actually a design a friend and I agreed upon for a costume we would make together. Unfortunately she never got to see it to fruition. Once I finally awakened this power, it was only natural that it would take this form. Now I can honor her memory properly."
"...hmph. To think you would give me that sermon about moving past the dead, then coat yourself in armor to honor a lost friend. Your hypocrisy knows no bounds."
"Honoring the dead and being enslaved by them are two completely different concepts. Is your mind so clouded by anger that even you cannot see that? And to be clear, a philosophical debate is the least of your worries. Don't you feel it? The heat steadily rising? Most of it is contained within my suit, but it's inevitable that some of it would leak out."
"She's correct." Pittacus thought. "This body was built to survive extreme weather conditions, hot or cold. Even then...it feels as though I'm standing inside of a furnace. Non-spiritual organisms might only last a few minutes before turning to ashes..."
"I only ever used this power during training. This'll be my first time ever using it in battle. But I do know one thing: using it indoors for too long might result in everything inside being burnt to cinders. And since the other person in this room is who I intend to marry, I would prefer that not happening."
"Your concern is duly noted, beloved." Rose said while fanning herself.
"So at the risk of sounding older than I am..." Streams of flames erupted from Rin's back, almost resembling wings. "Let's take this outside."
Rin launched herself at Pittacus, kicking him squarely in the chest and right through the wall.
A few floors down, the students heard the commotion. "What was that?" Kibō asked.
Natalia looked out the window. "Um, guys?"
The students witnessed Pittacus falling to the streets below. Manifesting wings again, Rin pursued him.
"...I don't think she needs rescuing anymore." Kitty said.
Pittacus plunged towards the ground, with Rin in fast pursuit. "It's going to take more than flashy hand and knee techniques to undo me, woman!"
"I know." Rin held out her hand, and took hold of a lance, comprised entirely of flame. "That's why I have this." She began rapidly spinning the lance, and hurled it at the falling Theban.
Pittacus' reaction was not what she was expecting. He smirked. He held out his arms. As the spinning lance was about to reach him, his upper and lower halves detached from one another. As his waist and legs fell to the ground, he launched his wires towards an adjacent building, stopping his fall.
"...?!" Rin was caught off-guard, but recomposed herself in time to land safely on the street. She stared up at Pittacus' upper half, now dangling from the side of the building.
"Heh." the Master scoffed. "I hope you weren't expecting victory to come so quickly, Proffesor. I told you that every last fiber of my being, artificial or otherwise, is dedicated to my continued survival."
"Clever. But I'm not seeing how you'll be able to continue fighting like that."
"Oh ye of little faith." Pittacus' eyes glowed. Like a virtual simulation being loaded in, a new lower half manifested. 
Rin was stunned, as Pittacus fell back to the ground. "Don't be so surprised. Surely an academic such as yourself would assume that I would have contingencies in place? I'm disappointed."
"Consider me taught, then. I won't overlook your abilities again."
"I wonder what else I can teach you today. Let me pose another question: if one half of my body is capable of regeneration..."
"...then surely the other should be able to do the same, yes?" Rin was grabbed from behind, by a second Pittacus.
The original walked over, and grabbed Rin by the throat. "I would have expected greater awareness from you, Professor. Or have you assumed that I suffered from the same degree of foolishness as your brother? I am not the type to give in to an easy impulse at the first sign of gratification. I have suffered and planned for five centuries, waiting for the moment that I could return here and make that arrogant fool pay for every soul he'd silenced. Neither you, nor your misguided lover, nor your naive charges will do anything to halt my march now."
"...hahahahaha." Rin chuckled. "Now it's my turn to be disappointed."
Sparks of fire began appearing around her. "For someone who can't get past things that happened hundreds and even billions of years ago...your short-term memory really sucks."
A pillar of flames erupted around Rin, particularly behind her, as the second Pittacus was consumed. The first jumped away, though his hands were turned to ashes. "Damned wench...!"
"'Forgiveness is better than revenge.'"
"Hm?"
Rin emerged from the flames. "It's a quote, from Pittacus. The sage, I mean. He was an advocate for pardon over punishment. It's pitiful that his namesake is so counter to his beliefs that he'd sacrifice any shred of humanity he had left. Right down to boasting about how you couldn't possibly lose. Here's another quote for you: 'Don't say beforehand what you're going to do; for if you fail, you will be laughed at'."
A hand grabbed her on the shoulder. Behind her was the flaming, metal endoskeleton of the second Pittacus. "It's far too early for you to be laughing, my dear educator."
High above the streets, Rose looked on from the judicial chamber.
"Hey, Doc!" Kitty shouted out as the students entered the room.
"Hm?"
Natalia ran over and gave her a hug. "Oh, she's not a ghost! She's really okay!"
"Children...I'm so glad you all are safe." Rose said. "I'm so sorry you all were dragged into this."
"'Dragged', nothing. We came here cuz we wanted to. Course, we might've bitten off a bit more than we were expecting..." Kitty replied.
"We know everything. About Death's Hand, about how this world came to be...and about you." Kibō added.
"It's a lot for us to digest...I can't even imagine what must be going through your head right now." Barbara said.
"I'm...working through it. There's really no way to immediately process that everything I've known about myself was fabricated in the way it was. Especially given what's happening down there." Rose answered.
"Those flames belong to Professor Kubo, right? And the one she's fighting...that would be Pittacus." Sakuya pondered.
"I can feel the heat from up here...I'm not sure we could get any closer without turning to ashes ourselves..." Carrie said.
"If I could get closer, I absolutely would. But she's chosen this course knowing that she'd have to do it alone. Her full power is too much for most to handle." Rose said.
"Can she really handle this on her own, though?" Sahir asked.
"For as long as I've known Rin, I've had the utmost faith in her ability to overcome anything. She's never given me any reason to doubt her. I know she will win. Of that, I have no misgivings."
"I hope you're right, Doc. I hope you're right." Kitty replied. "Yeah, Prof can do it. So why do I have this pit in my stomach? Maybe it's cuz...he's still running around..." she thought.
Back on the street, the second Pittacus was consumed by the flames, but not before he detached his arms. Both of these arms formed an additional Pittacus, but these, too, were engulfed. Rin slowly approached the prime Pittacus, but was set upon by four more duplicates. With a series of punches and kicks, the mechanical units were subdued and burned away.
"It never fails. People like you can never just fight for yourselves. You always have to sit back and let someone else do your fighting. Even if 'someone else' is just copies of you. Not so formidable when you're forced outside the shadows, are you?" Rin chided.
"Underestimate me at your own peril." Where his hands had turned to ash, the left was filled by a barrel set resembling a minigun. The right was filled by a spiked ball on a chain. "My arsenal...knows no limits!"
Pittacus began rapidly firing at Rin, who deftly dodged. "Keep on keeping on. You're telegraphing your moves horribly--UGH!" 
She was hit from behind by a blast of energy. Still smoldering on the ground was a Pittacus clone, which had transformed one of its arms into a cannon.
"Tsk tsk. You have no hope of winning if you can't even keep track of how many opponents you still have. I am LEGION. And beneath my assembled might...you will be crushed!" The main Pittacus lobbed the spiked ball at Rin, bashing her from the side and into the side of a building.
"Ugh..." Rin looked up to see Pittacus standing before her, flanked by several, horribly burnt endoskeletons.
"Hehehehehe..." Pittacus detached the spiked ball, and forged a baton that emitted sparks of electricity. He jabbed it into her abdomen, violently electrocuting her.
"GAAAAAAAH!"
"Wouldn't want you going anywhere, now would we?" He pointed his gun arm right at Rin's head. "In all of my years of life, whether it was a sword or a gun...few things can put fear into a creature's eyes quite like having a weapon put up against them. That slow realization that death is a very real possibility, if not an inevitability."
"You should be at peace, Ringo Kubo. After all, staring into the barrel of a gun, being so close that you can smell the powder...it's a Kubo family tradition. It will likely be the source of much humor between yourself, your father and your brother. Heh, granted that whichever god you believe in took mercy on the latter. Not a very likely prospect, if I'm being truthful..."
"...shut up." Rin growled.
"Not fond of the truth, are we?"
"How dare you. You want me to believe you're an agent of revenge, the 'will of the dead'? This entire time, you've mocked the people I've lost. Your world was on the verge of ending when it was destroyed. Papa, Tohru, Miko...if things had been different, they would all be here. Papa might be enjoying retirement. Tohru could have had any career he wanted. Miko would be off in a jungle somewhere, sketching a bug she stumbled across. Might, would, could. That's all I have left of them. And for someone enslaved by things that happened eons ago to stand there and mock them, just to get a rise out of me...you're scum. No, you're lower than scum. There was a monster in that laboratory that day, but it's not who you're thinking."
Energy began sparking around Rin. "For a wise strategist, you've conducted this all wrong. You wanted to make me angry? Well let me spell it out for you." 
Flames erupted underneath the endoskeletons, turning them to ash. Before Pittacus knew what was happening, Rin delivered an uppercut that obliterated his gun arm.
"YOU'VE FUCKED UP!!!"
She punched Pittacus across the face, then began to deliver a rapid, violent series of punches to his abdomen. Several seconds of this turned into several minutes. She punched, then kicked, again and again.
"No more SUFFERING!"
She punched off his right arm.
"No more REVENGE!"
She kicked away his lower half.
"NO...MORE!"
Images flashed through her head. Her friends. Her students. Her family. She charged power into her fist, and delivered one final blow straight through his chest. 
"SEN NO HONŌ', ICHIGEKI!"
At the moment of impact, a line of fire erupted from her fist, blowing a hole through the Theban's chest.
The street was incinerated. Bereft of any limbs save for his mangled left arm, Pittacus flew back and landed limply on the ground. "Gkkkkk...not...yet...I can't...die yet..." He tried reconstructing his missing parts, but all he got were sparks. "Grr...not when I'm...so close..."
The fire about the area died out. Confident that the job was done, Rin's armor disappeared. She fell to a knee in exhaustion.
Behind her, a portal opened up. "Professor!"
"Huh?"
The students stepped out with Rose. "Hell of a light show, Prof! Remind me never to get on your bad side." Kitty said.
"You all...you really did--ugh..."
"Easy does it, Rin. You've expended a great deal of energy..." Rose helped her up.
"What, that? That was barely even a workout--ngh!" Rin replied unconvincingly.
"You don't need to play invincible for me. Even from up there I could feel the flames. I will say this: if Miko were here, she would be gushing right now."
"As good of a compliment as I've heard."
"So, um...is it really over?" Natalia asked.
Sakuya stood over Pittacus, an empty expression on her face. "Tire--." he muttered.
"Sakuya. I want to say one thing and one thing only." Sakuya began. "Thank you. For getting me away from my father. For giving me a chance at life. Were it not for you, I may have withered and died at the bottom of the basement. Absent of anything else...I am grateful. Inclusive of everything else, you know how the saying goes. You reap what you sow. A life of anger ending violently." She turned away. "That's it." 
"Decisive. I have no response for that." He glanced over at Rose. "Gala--no. Rose. I don't think you realize how fortunate you truly are."
"Enlighten me."
"Not having to bear the curse of immortality. Your mother saw what had been done to us. She spent millenia keeping Miyatsuko from doing the same to you. This is the end result of one man's hubris...no. It was not just Miyatsuko's doing. I built the machinery that caused the catastrophe. I was as bent on being the savior as he was."
"You were...? So you..."
"My name is Kostas Dimitrios. I regained my memory years ago. Even knowing the part I played in what happened, I had to put an end to it. Perhaps as some kind of repentance. Heaven knows that I would never be able to do so naturally. I have seen entire civilizations rise and die out, and yet I remained unchanged."
He turned away. "I am not sorry for taking the actions I did. All I will say is...thank you, children. For setting us free from this endless cycle of pain. It is long past time I answered for my misdeeds. And once that is done...I can face Tony and Sara, and repent for stealing their lives from them. Go, Rose. Go and live. For the billions who no longer can."
"Kostas...I cannot do that. I can't be beholden to old grudges. Mother wanted me to live a happy life, free from what occured before. I have to live for me. Let the past be the past. Otherwise...nothing will ever change." Rose replied.
"Um...I hate to interrupt, but we aren't completely done yet." Kitty said. "Your buddy followed you here and he's still running around."
"Buddy? You mean Jin? He followed us here?" Rin asked.
"He did. He used his illusory powers to sneak through. We encountered him earlier. He's been possessed by something terrible." Sakuya explained.
"Unless we take him to Dr. Miyatsuko, he'll just get worse until...I don't even want to know." Kibō added.
"Ugh, I was afraid of this. Where would we even begin to--"
What happened next caught the entire group off guard. From seemingly nowhere, a chain came flying through.
It impaled Rin through the side.
"OH SHIT!" Max exclaimed.
"Where the hell did that come from?!" Sahir questioned.
"Grrrrrrrrr..." An inhuman growl echoed out. Fading in, eyes blazing red, was Jin. A murderous aura surrounded him.
"Jin, why?!" Rose demanded.
"MotherFUCKER! Are you out of your damn mind?!" Kitty yelled.
"Why, Jin...?" Rin questioned, weakly.
"Grrrrrrr..." Jin continued to growl. Suddenly, red particles began swarming out from under his sleeve. They traveled along the length of his chain, before overwhelming Rin. The particles returned to Jin. Rin was gone.
"What the hell is this...what did you do to the Professor?!" Kibō demanded.
"Grrrrr...the power...needed...the power...! Needed...AAAAAAH!" Jin clutched his head as distorted screams echoed out from his watch.
"Jin, what's happening--AH!" Rose tried to approach, but a burst of energy sent her back.
"Kill him...!" Pittacus uttered.
"Wha...?" Barbara muttered.
"You can't...you can't allow her to..." he pleaded.
"Oh no...is this..." Carrie questioned.
Jin fell to the ground, violently shaking and continuing to scream as crimson energy sparked around him.
"Horrific...how are we supposed to get near him?" Kenji asked.
"It's too late..." Pittacus muttered.
"She's here..."
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Jin let out one final scream, and a violent energy burst erupted out. His movement stopped. His eyes grew lifeless.
Someone was standing above him.
Draped in dark red body armor, a small crimson orb placed below the neck, was a young woman. She wore a red hood, its cape in tatters. When she turned to face the stunned students, she wore a dark red mask over her face, bearing angry eyes and a jagged smile not unlike a jack-o-lantern's. The mask withdrew, revealing short, pale white hair with red highlights, and blood red irises.
"Happy birthday to me!" she exclaimed.
"Who...the hell..." Kitty uttered.
"Ker...beros..." Pittacus weakly stated.
"That's Kerberos? The Theban that destroyed the capital?" Kenji asked.
"'Destroyed' is a bit of a weak way to put it, mate. Me, I prefer 'shittin' wrecked', but that's personal taste." Kerberos replied.
She suddenly teleported next to Pittacus. "Pity Cup! Damn, mate, years haven't treated ya kindly, 'ave they? Not even half the bloke ya used to be! Ey, where're Heinz and Izzy, anyhow? Don't tell me they got wasted before I even got here!"
"What is the meaning of this? What did you do to Rin and Jin?!" Rose demanded.
"Oy, shut yer mouth! I'll get to ya when I get to ya. Can't ya see I'm catching up with stumpy over here?" Kerberos bit back.
"Get out of here...you all must flee..." Pittacus pleaded.
"Aw, c'mon, Pity pat, don't break up the shindig when the guest of honor just made her grand entrance!" Kerberos groaned. "A'ight, fine. Ya wanna know what happened to ol' Rinnie? She's right in here." She poked at the crystal on her chest. "Even spent like mad, she had enough juice to gimme what I needed. Now I don't need that mopey meat suit to do my business." She pointed at Jin's body. "Master of fuckups he might be, but he got me my body back. That oughta count for something."
"You animal...!" Rose griped.
Kerberos appeared behind her. "Don't be such a grump, girlie. I won't be keepin' ya apart for long." The red particles began to cover Rose. "You get to be in there with 'em."
The particles dissipated, going back inside the crystal. Rose was gone.
"Monster! Who do you think you are?!" Sakuya demanded.
"Meh meh meh meh meh meh meh, pfffft!" Kerberos mockingly uttered. "I did that chick a service, I did. Knew she'd be all, 'waaaah, I miss my bosom buddy, boo flippety hoo'. Now they can be my fuel source together!"
"What is this all for, anyway? What reason could you have?" Barbara demanded.
"Reason? Yeah nah, ain't got one of those. I'm just having me some fun is all. Yer prof and her mates really twisted me undies last time I was out and about. That shit ain't cool. Nuthin' wrong with fixing the score. And while we're on that subject..." She turned to the students. "I hear Sir Big Nose picked one of you anklebiters to fill the Rinnie role and beat me. Fat chance of that happenin'. How about you be nice, orderly kiddos and tell your pal Kirby who it is?"
"I don't see a reason why we should." Kenji retorted.
"Figures I wouldn't get much from a damn pommie. Let's do it like this, then..." Kerberos' aura flared. "If y'all are gonna be a bunch of stubborn Bolshies, I'll just have to waste you all one at a time!"
---
Busan, South Korea. Late night. The country's biggest port and industrial center, just over a hundred miles from the shores of Japan. Far from the capital in Seoul, and even farther from the turmoil that had been unfolding in Naruki City.
On this night, that turmoil reached Busan.
Near the shore, a portal opened up in the sky. Something came spilling out of it, crashing into the water. Seconds later, the 'something' rose to the surface.
Sakuya took a deep breath after surfacing. Next to her, she was holding up the unconscious body of Kitty. "Nnngh...Kitty-san...please wake up...don't have...the strength to move..."
At that moment, something began to push the girls forward towards the beach. Sakuya looked behind her, and saw who it was. She expressed surprise, but didn't give any objections. After a couple minutes of pushing, Sakuya got her footing, and pulled Kitty onto the shore. 
She began pushing down on Kitty's chest. After a few pushes, Kitty began coughing up water. "Kitty-san! Oh, thank the maker. I thought we were going to drown out there..."
"*cough* *cough* What's with the water...there an ocean on the moon now, too?"
"We're not on the moon anymore. We're back on Earth. I don't know where on Earth, but...we're all safe here. For now."
"All? Who else--"
Breathing in and out, soaking wet, was Ryōma. "You're welcome."
"How are you...Maggie. What happened up there? Where's everybody else? What's this asshole doing here?"
"....." Sakuya averted her gaze.
"No...don't tell me...don't tell me she got them. Maggie. Don't tell me she got them. Maggie!" Kitty got up and began shaking Sakuya.
"I'm sorry...I'm sorry! I only had time to grab you! We had to get out of there, otherwise we..."
Despair on her face, Kitty fell onto the sand. She put her hood over her head, and buried it in her arms. "...they're dead...they have to be...she got the Professor and Doc Rose and now she's got...oh, God..."
Back at the lunar capital, Kerberos appeared to be annoyed. "Well I'll be stuffed, you miserable old fruit loop. Got some aces up your sleeve after all."
Pittacus weakly held out his hand. "They are far from here now...had Creon not intervened...all may be lost..."
"Man, even as a damn stump you can't stop with the yabbering. I dunno if you've noticed..."
Behind Kerberos, the remaining students layed beaten, strewn about large, smoking piles of rubble. "Things are lookin' pretty lost where I'm standing, chief. Much of a rip snorting good time this has been, I'm getting pretty tired of your little half-body, soooo..."
"Ha...ha...ha..." Kibō weakly got to his feet.
"Ah, c'mon, mate. Can't ya just know when it's caput?"
"I don't...submit...not to anyone...especially not...scum like you--"
Kerberos suddenly appeared behind Kibō, and drove her hand through his chest. "Shoulda stayed nappin', ya drongo." She pulled her hand out, and Kibō collapsed to the ground. "Stubborn little bunch, ol' Rinnie has. I'll give 'em that much. Now, where were we, Pity Cup...oh yeah! THIS IS THE PART WHERE I BLAST YOU TO DEATH!"
Her outstretched hand began to glow red, and she fired a large beam at the unmoving Pittacus.
Once the smoke cleared, there was nothing left of the Death's Hand leader. 
"Rest in pieces, ya ancient waste of good parts. Satan's red flamin' arsehole's been waitin' to get his mitts on you..." She turned to the beaten students. "As for you lot..." Her jewel began to glow, as the ground around her turned red. "Y'all are getting front row seats to the greatest show in the world. Ain't no shindig like a Kirby shindig."
Particles rose from the ground and covered the students. They dissolved into the crimson liquid, which returned to Kerberos' jewel. "Ahhhh, that hit the spot! Good a brekkie as I've had in years. All nice and set to face the day!"
With a swipe of her hand, a tear appeared in front of her. She stepped into it.
When she emerged, she was atop a skyscraper. She looked out over the skyline of Tokyo.
"A'ight, then...where do we begin?" she said with a sinister grin.