A Zoo in the Fog (PersonaxZoophobia)

The Throne Room

            As the boys rush through the door, they were presented with Kayla's shadow holding her down, with the ax close to her neck. Zill immediately pulled up his gun and shouts out "Let her go!"

The shadow let out a small laugh. "Sure, my king... just after I deal with this filth." The shadow smirked. "Trash that isn't nothing but the arm candy of the school's local freak show."

"No... I love Zill with all my heart... I..." Kayla was trying to find a way away from this situation, and she was all out of options.

"You love him, but he holds you back." The shadow seems to grimace Zill's way. "You could be the queen! You could be the star of the school, of the entire music world! But the king always holds you back. All you are with him, is his good little girl."

"Kayla... Is that what you think...?" Zill attempts to hold the shock back, this can't be everything she feels. It just can't be.

"That's not true!" Kayla took this chance and kicked the shadow away from her. "All you are is... is a monster wearing my face! You're not me!" She backed away, tears beginning to fall down her face.

The shadow began to laugh loudly, letting a dark energy gather around it. "That's right! I'm me, the queen! I won't be held down anymore, I'll conquer everyone who's in my way!" The energy made armor around the shadow's form, followed by many shadows flying over to lift it up and take the form of a large tank. "And I'll start with you!" The shadow aimed its cannon at Kayla and fired. Zill was quick to call upon his persona, and it took the blunt of the blow and sent him flying back.

"L-leave him alone!" Kayla quickly picked up something up to attack. It was a music stand, she threw it in the direction of the shadow, who simply just shrugged it off and once again took aim at Kayla.

"Madrake! Skull cracker!" The flower persona that Jackson had picked up appeared and rammed straight into the shadow's head, causing it to recoil a bit. The tank it was sitting on though seemed to morph and catch it, making sure their queen didn't fall from her seat.

"You think you can hurt me? With all of these loyal subjects and fans?" The shadow laughs, then singing a soft melody which was directed at Jackson. Jackson couldn't help but become immediately drowsy and stumble back a bit. He fought to keep his eyes open, he couldn't fall asleep here. There was a danger to them all right in front of him. But his eyes felt too heavy. To the point where he closed them right there and passed out into a deep sleep.

"Jackson!" Zill made sure that nothing touched him while Autumn began pulling him back and away from danger. Zill blasted the shadow with fire, and even fired several rounds into it. It was no good when the shadows below it caught their queen, and even seemed to heal her over time.

Meanwhile, Autumn kept trying to wake Jackson up. "Jackson, c'mon, we need you right now." Autumn shook him, patted his face, even lightly smacked him. It was no good. Jackson continued to sleep silently, his chest moving slightly to indicate that he was still alive and breathing. "... We can't wait on this... Wake up soon." Autumn quickly jumped up and began firing at Kayla's shadow, the arrows quickly piercing the armor the shadow wore. Yet it seemed all for naught as the subjects continued to heal it, and even fired a shot at Zill, which hit him dead in the stomach. Zill flew back against the back wall of the stage, gripping his stomach as he slowly picked himself up.

"Hit the tank!" Zill called out, wincing a bit as he tried to walk off the pain.

Autumn quickly nods and yells out "Garu!" His persona appearing and taking aim at the tank made up of shadows. One of the shadows that made up the tank seemed to dissipate, only for another to take its place. The two of them had to be quick to hit all of them at once and knock the queen off balance. Autumn began quickly moving around to hit the other parts of the tank, but the queen was quicker. It lashed out a whip which caught Autumn's leg and threw him about the room, slamming him against the ceiling, walls, and floor. All of which knocked the wind out of him and left him in too much pain from each impact to really take a clear shot.