Welcome to Gaia! ::

It didn't hold sway over him anymore. Well yeah, that was kind of a lie. He and his partner had once come to realize it would always mean something to him, but the sight of the Konishi Liquor Store no longer caused Yosuke the pangs of guilt that had once been so strong, like weights tying down his everything. "Saki-senpai...without her, I can't even imagine where I'd be right now. But if I just dwell on it, it won't honor her at all. I have to pick myself up and keep moving on." He'd learned that with the help of everyone around him, and at this point it wasn't even a deep sense of reflection that brought that thought to mind. They were with him, every moment, and he'd long forgotten the deep loneliness that burdened him at that time over one year ago. What was important now, was why he was here again...the people who'd appeared on the Midnight Channel, the hostages they had to rescue somehow or another. And there was that damn General Teddie again; he'd seen him before, during the P-1 Grand Prix, but that had turned out to be Labrys' Shadow manipulating them for her own ends. There was no Shadow to deal with this time...at least, not hers. So what the hell was mimicking his best friend and causing this trouble once again?

He had a sense that htere'd be someone waiting inside when he finally reached the door, thinking back on he and the others separating, but when he heard a voice inside he felt a little hesitant regardless. He shoved the door open, a bell jingling in anticipation, and spotted Mizuiro holding a spear ahead of him just as General Teddie had planned. Yosuke was armed too, but he didn't want to have to fight someone just because they said to, damn it. There was something wrong with this whole thing. "Hey...looks like you're a part of this too. I just want to say this in advance, I'm not an enemy." Yosuke sighed and glanced to the side quickly, realizing that none of his words were probably getting across to his enemy anyway. General Teddie interfered last time, and the things they'd said afterwards were...well, pretty depressing. And it wasn't like he wasn't focusing. In fact something already occurred to him; this guy wasn't on the Midnight Channel, which meant that he was probably someone they'd planned to include from the beginning...or he was someone who'd ended up here entirely by mistake. He had to clarify, he couldn't just attack until he could tell the difference between the two options. "Are you alright? You seem familiar, have we met? If you don't want to fight, I think you better hurry out of here, because there's a pretty dangerous tournament going on and-"

'Ah, crap!' Just as soon as Yosuke began, cheers filled the room. A sure sign that General Teddie planned to drop the ring on 'em...and intended to completely force the situation. There wasn't much Yosuke could do about this situation.

Oh man, he was serious! But, for some reason there weren't any cutting words this time...was it because this guy was already onboard with fighting him? Yosuke had to wonder. "I've got a reason to keep going, so dying's not even on the table. Sorry about this, but I'm pushing straight through!" The spear clashed against metal, driving Yosuke back. Today he'd prepared for this tournament, and he had armor on underneath his uniform and everything...but that still hurt pretty bad, damn it. Yosuke raised his kunai, and his card appeared with a sparkle of blue lights as he slashed through it. Above his head Jaraiya appeared and rushed forward, stopping in front of Suigetsu with breakneck speeds and suddenly taking a big, cartoony breath that puffed up it's chest...before breathing out a noxious green gas that he'd be hard pressed to avoid. "Tentarafoo!" It wasn't a skill that he broke out every day, but the ability to make his opponent (figuratively) fight with his hands tied behind his back was useful...especially because he didn't mean Suigetsu any harm, and if he wasn't pressed, he wasn't going to go all out against the silver haired Messenger either.

It looked like Jaraiya hadn't managed to confuse his opponent, but Yosuke didn't let that get him down. It was clear that this guy's spear had some real special skills to it, so this time when he came lunging forward Yosuke jumped to the side, nearly slipping as he did but managing to avoid the lunge anyway. It was hard being this popular! Ha, but no seriously, he shouldn't have been making jokes like that right now. "Brown? What the heck are you talking about? Why are you so insistent on carrying on with this fight when you know someone's going to get hurt?" Despite his complaints, Yosuke's retaliation was immediate; the moment he dodged Suigetsu's attack his card appeared and he sliced it with his kunai, sending a torrent of wind his way. If his opponent was going to keep pushing forward, then he'd try to use force to keep the distance between the two, as well as his own fleet-of-foot nature as best he could. "Garudyne!" Of course, had he known about the spear's second effect, he would have been more prepared for the follow-up that was about to occur.

A lot of people would have been killed off right there, but luckily Yosuke had some of the best instincts around and he was really pretty nimble...when he wasn't crashing into trash cans. As the spear altered it's direction to catch him Yosuke's eyes widened and he tried to move his daggers in the way again; unfortunately he'd just used one to send off that Garudyne. The spear pierced through his uniform just as his other dagger deflected the weapon, and he managed to force it away just as it began gouging into his flesh...leaving a long open wound from chest to shoulder. It wasn't deep, but it sure as hell hurt. 'Ah s**t...I was careless!' The moment the spear was diverted Yosuke leaped backwards again, keeping his eyes on his opponent this time with doubled-down awareness. "Ah, what the hell! That's no fair, you were cheating." Yeah he was whining but well, the other guy was trying to take his life. So it didn't exactly make him a bad guy or anything!

"Look, I'm not going to underestimate you again. If you don't want to forfeit now, then I'm not gonna hold back! What's up ahead is too important for me to lose." As he made his declaration wind began sweeping in from the area around them, and gathered around Yosuke as his body began to light up with an orange power. In a flash his form had changed, and his clothes were replaces with the white jumpsuit of a Jaraiya, the trickster he'd come to put his faith in! The sudden burst of strength had to be noticeable, but Yosuke wasn't just going to gloat and leave himself open to another blow. Holding one kunai in front of him and one behind in a pose that screamed 'Here I come', Yosuke smirked. "Here I come!" Smooth dude. Really smooth. And despite his awesome, battle-ready pose it was a whirlwind that came storming in from behind Suigetsu that followed up, not an awesome finisher that he'd be launching with all his strength. Oh man, was that really all it was? Talk about a disappointment Yosuke.

'Dude! S-shut up!'

"Get some!" Yosuke shouted with a smirk as the spurt of water came his way. The Persona-bound fighter gripped his weapons and began kicked into a rapid spin, wind swirling around him like a tornado to repel the attack. Just how well it worked was the question...but one he intended to confound Suigetsu on. Letting the other guy know when you got beat up wasn't very smart; even he knew that much. "Hey, over here!" The moment Suigetsu's attack finished the spinning ended with an explosion of gas, and a human-like figure thrust it's arms wide, blowing away the smoke as it lunged forward threateningly; but it was not Yosuke, and just as he called out to his opponent the Investigation Team sub-leader lashed out from ground level where he'd ducked to in the confusion, dashing towards the water-user. His right hand shot out, and in it was a sphere of rotating purple energy that riggled chaotically and attempted to explode...a goal it was about to have realized as he thrust the attack directly towards the silver haired enemy's face.

"Megido!"