@CronicCrystalis

The High Priestess - Meredith Fong

Meredith nodded in acknowledgement, her brain soaking in the information that had been delivered to them by the dapper and cuddly-looking bug alien. The natives of this plane were definitely embroiled in quite the pickle, but that was why she and all these other folks had been brought in, right? That hadn't really been what she thought her day would end up being, but -

She'd vowed to help save those kiddies, so she was going to stick with it to the end!

Her drifting attentions were drawn back into the real world (her initial guess of a super vivid dream was super off now) by that bad landing by the glasses-wearing dude. He was a middle-aged guy, a lot older-looking than everyone else who was hanging around, but there was a kinda youthful way he was carrying himself that made Meredith think he was younger than he actually was.

Old guys never seemed super face-plant ... y (was that the word?) to her.

"Don't worry," she said with a reassuring smile, strolling over and holding out her hand to help Mark up. "Your glasses are still fine, Clark Kent."

Nicola Khumalo

The fight ended up being way shorter than Nicky had expected, which was probably for the best. Who wanted to trudge through this forest fighting weird wobbly black thingies all day? Nicky sure didn't. With these things out of the way, they could all get a move on and go find the caterpillar the Hatter had told them about, and when they found the caterpillar they might have a clearer picture of whatever the heck they were even supposed to be doing here. Nicky knew it was all about the children, but they still had no idea how they were going to do anything about it, or where they had to go to do anything.

Upon arriving in the Caterpillar's Grotto, Nicky found herself enraptured by the beauty of it all. Having had some time to calm down, and being on a slight confidence rush since the whole Persona thingy, she was finally able to appreciate how nice the environment looked around here. If only they could have started out somewhere like this, things may not have seemed so bad here. It was only when the caterpillar started talking in its booming voice that Nicky finally stopped admiring her surroundings. Now they had to pay attention, because this was precisely who they had come here to listen to. What he ended up saying seemed a whole lot more straightforward than she had been expecting at this point. Go places, defeat things, make a way into the big baddies' lair. Seeing as they had the means to do so, it was as simple as just getting in there and doing it. The caterpillar opened the floor to questions, but Nicky decided to keep her mouth shut here. She had a billion trivial questions on her mind, but she knew well now was the time for meaningful questions, and she could not think of any good ones.

---

"Yeah, that's right; run away..." Tylissa goaded at the fleeing Shadows, before everything seemingly returned to normal. Or rather, as close to normal as things got in this strange netherworld. She was completely unaware that Tyler had vanished in the chaos, and she hadn't even realized that she'd dropped the stuffed toucan that she always carried around either. In any case, the White Rabbit reunited with the group that she'd presumably broken from, taking Tylissa, Jacob and Arthur with her.

"I'm gonna assume you three were thrown in here as well?" asked one of the boys from said group.

"Huh? There's four of us, silly," Tylissa stated, "I'm Tylissa, this is Arthur, that's Jacob and this..."

However, now the fact that the boy had said three as opposed to four was starting to add up. Tylissa had looked around all over the place, but Tyler was nowhere to be found. Immediately, she turned to Jacob and Arthur for help.

"You guys haven't seen...?" she was about to ask, before panic began to set in, and she found herself clutching both sides of her head, "THE HELL COULD TYLER HAVE EVEN GONE??!! He was right here with us a few seconds ago(!); he had to be!"

Tylissa tried another desperate scan of the area that once served as the battlefield, but once again, no dice. However, she did manage to find her stuffed toucan again, just sitting out in the open for someone else to grab. Not wanting that to happen, Tylissa rushed towards the stuffed toucan, diving after it at the last second and, after she stopped rolling along the ground, hugging it tightly.

"Oh geez... I knew I completely forgot something," with that, Tylissa picked herself up again and, now that she was a little bit more at ease, resumed her search. It was here that she saw that another boy from the larger group had touched one of the nearby trees and found that his hand had phased straight through it. Her curiosity peaked, Tylissa went over to that same tree and tried her hand at it.

"Whoa. This is... feels kind of like a ghost tree or something. And it looks like it's trying to cover a hole in the ground or something," she deduced as she felt around inside the strange tree and realized that there was no solid ground in between it, "That's so cool! A ghost tree covering a hole! Although wouldn't it make sense to cover the hole with an actual tree?"

...

Apparently not. From what the White Rabbit had been explaining to everyone, these so-called 'ghost trees' that Tylissa had dubbed them for the moment were actually meant to be called World Trees, and what they were supposed to do was transport those that jumped inside from one side of this strange netherworld to another. It was possible that Tyler had inadvertently fell inside one of the World Trees as the battle between the humans and the Shadows was raging on, and if that was the case, the chance that Tylissa would ever get to see him again was unlikely. Tylissa was reluctant to go on without Tyler. But, realizing she had little choice, she followed all the others.

It was here that she saw a giant caterpillar giving the whole group much needed information on what was going on and what they needed to do. Considering that this caterpillar was more than capable of filling in the gaps for what Hi'iaka had been trying to tell her earlier, Tylissa should've been listening intently. But instead, she'd been distracted by the sight of all the weapons that some of the larger group's members had, which naturally had captured her excitement more than all this exposition being dumped.

"Oh wow; you guys get weapons too! That's so cool," Tylissa's eyes glistened with excitement as she moved closer to some of the larger group, "There's like... a sword, I see; nice bow and arrows; an axe; another axe; oh, cool, even a whip! And... wait. A yo-yo? Seriously?"

She scratched her head at that last one, unsure of how a yo-yo could possibly work as a weapon. However, that made her realize something. Tylissa, Jacob and Arthur had never received weapons of any kind from the White Rabbit; all she gave them was their Chronovokers. Figuring that this was about as good a time as any, Tylissa darted over towards the White Rabbit.

"Never mind all that; where's my weapon? Do I even get one, hm? Do I? Do I? Do I? Do I? Do I? Do I? Do I?"

Tylissa would continue to jump up and down excitedly as she awaited the White Rabbit's answer.

As the shadows rapidly began to dwindle due to the combined effort of the people gathered there, Luke quickly realized the abilities and controls of Xingtian. It was almost instinctual, ordering him to move around, and the name for certain attacks leaped to his mind with incredible ease, far easier than the word "Persona" had come to him. In a few minutes at most, the entirety of the shadows were decimated, dissipating into puddles of black goo or exploding in clouds of black dust, before disappearing in a matter of seconds. The scene itself was surreal.

The rabbit began another one of his tangents that Luke, as usual, ignored. All the running had tired him greatly, and swinging the heavy axe was no easier on him physically, even if the weapon felt natural in his hands. He'd simply ignore the rabbit and just copy what the group did - he had already given up the hope that this was a dream, and simply wanted to go back to his normal life as quickly as possible.

It was only when most of the children had entered the tree that Luke finally realized what the hell was happening. As he quickly made his way to the tree, he spent several seconds looking for an entrance, before simply walking into what he thought was a solid mass.

The area they had entered was dark, completely devoid of sound besides the sounds of the waves by the beach, and the labored breathing of Luke and the rest of the group. When the massive insect that was referred to as "the caterpillar" revealed himself, Luke was already readying his axe to slam into the creature's flesh - until it started speaking. Luke still held the axe in front of him, ready to strike or summon Xingtian at a moment's notice - the creature, while intelligent, was speaking incredibly loudly, and it's size alone was already intimidating to the tired Luke.

As the Caterpillar described their mission, and the use of the trees, Luke realized the gravity of the situation - more than one kid has already died, and it was almost certain that more would follow. Luke was stronger than most kids his age, but he had never been in a life or death situation in his life - the closest he ever got was when a classmate pulled a knife on Luke in a fight. This was far, far worse by comparison, like trying to compare a slap to a bullet wound. Quickly, Luke called out, doing his best to hide his tired and scared mood with a deep voice.

"H-hey, these 'World Trees' - Can we use them to get home? We're not really supposed to stay here until we find these key things, are we? What about our families!?"

Luke couldn't help his voice from rising near the end as he grew angry - no, pissed off. What about Luke's mom? What about all the caretakers at his home? Were they just going to find him in a coma or something?

Luke's hand rested at his side now, but the hand gripping it was white from his strong grip. If he was lucky, these trees would be a way out of this horrible nightmare, a way to leave these people behind.

I get up to see Tyler was no where to be found in the woods, but I didn't care right now, cause I wanted to get out of this damn forest and that girl - the one that was with me, Tyler, and that other guy - I find her annoying as fuck. She wondered where Tyler was, but then noticed her stupid stuffed toy. She yelled out excitement about someone going through a tree and started heading straight over there. I quickly follow her and everyone else to the tree in question, then she stopped and walked right into the tree, following the others. I looked around it, but she wasn't anywhere else I could see. I reached out my hand and it went through the tree. I quickly walk into it and a quick flash of light happens so fast that I failed to notice that I'm flat on the ground before quickly getting up. I notice her and several other guys standing by a huge mushroom and this ugly looking Caterpillar. ...Ok, I'm convinced: This is fucking wonderland alright. The white rabbit was also there and they go on explaining about what was going on and that four keys were needed to open the door to the castle of some stupid red queen, sounds too much like reaching for the final boss in a fucking video game. The other humans laid down a set of weapons, much to my disappointment as my weapon of choice wasn't there, nor where there any guns. All there was, was just a bunch of melee weapons and a stupid yo-yo, but they were all taken.

Fuck...

"OK worm thing, I got some questions for you, Why the fuck am I picked to be here of all people and where the hell is my real weapon?" I bluntly asked.

Caterpillar Grotto

The White Rabbit was stricken nervous by the girl's questions regarding her weapons. ...That's right, the Hatter gave additional orbs to her in the wake of him seeing more humans on his way back to his sanctuary. One of them was meant for Tyler, but he's lost thanks to falling into a tree and there was yet another human that was now among their ranks once more.

"Ah, yes...Here you go." Jill said, reaching into her little pockets and taking out another set of orbs, giving one to Tylissa, one to Mark, one to Jacob, and one to Arthur.

"You have to squeeze them until they break while thinking about what weapons you want, then they'll turn into them. ...You...probably shouldn't do it here though." The White Rabbit said.

Meanwhile, The Caterpillar looked over to the one who asked the first question to him.

"The Personas that you have all acquired are a side of you that manifests as you face the world around you in your daily life. You may think of it as an alter ego, a mask, that manifests itself as you face hardships in your life. They exist within your mind, and is empowered by the strength of your will, your heart. To further enhance them is akin to enhancing yourself, in mind, body, and soul. In layman's terms, you can think of your persona as a limb in addition to your arms and legs, in that the more you use it, the stronger it - and you by extention - will become. Typical training such as this is only half of it, and so would only give you half of the true potential you can wield. The other half is strengthening the soul, the heart, and that can only be done through your bonds with others. To truly strengthen yourselves as individuals, you must also strengthened yourselves as comrades. I understand such a thing may be difficult, you certainly look as if you only just met each other very recently, after all. Bonding is not so simple that we'd expect you to be friends with people you have only ever seen about an hour ago at most. However, you will only be able to overcome what awaits you beyond this point if you work together, and so it is advisable to take the time to get along with each other, and strengthen your heart, your persona, by doing so, as best as you can." The Caterpillar explained to Cronic, and by extension to everyone else. He next turned to Hector, who also gave a good question on the matter regarding this world.

"...For the most part, no, we were not. Aspects of your world are unfamiliar to us in our world. All we knew for certain is that this world shaped itself this way because it is the way you humans collectively desired it to be."

"...Yet another creature that speaks in riddles..."

"...Very well. If you insist, I shall simplify this for you as best as I can." The Caterpillar said upon hearing Adam's annoyance. Immediately, he breathed out a large puff of smoke, dispersing and shaping itself unnaturally into shapes and images conveniantly matching what he has to say next.

"The world you see before you now, this world you know as Wonderland, is a part of the sea of souls, the collective unconsciousness of all living things. Humanity and other species like it are connected via this sea, and so shapes it by the current state of their hearts. In other words, Wonderland was made to be the way it is by the will of humans."

"...So, we are the reason your world is like this?"

"Not you all specifically, but humanity in general. To be precise, the collective populace of the area you were taken from. Wonderland is not all there is to the sea, after all. ...As I am not familiar with your world, or the state of which it is in, I cannot surmise as to why this world and we shadows were shaped into such forms, only how." The caterpillar explained. He then looked towards Luke, and though Luke clearly tried to hide it, it was rather easy for both the Rabbit and the Caterpillar to read his emotions. The Caterpillar went silent for a second, placing his pipe back in his mouth and smoking it with a saddened look on his face before puffing another cloud of smoke.

"I am sorry, but the World Trees and any other forms of transportation within this world, are not capable of such a feat. This world was never meant to be visited by humans, and so a way in or out was never meant to exist naturally. The times in the past where your world interacted with our own occurred by the direct intervention and meddling of others. The circumstance bringing you and the lost children to Wonderland being no different; the Looking Glass was created as a means of bringing humans to this world, and even that is a one-way door for them." The Caterpillar explained.

"...Created by who?" Chase simply asked.

"The Queen, I would imagine."

"'Imagine'? You mean you don't know for certain?"

"...Embarassingly, yes. It is a question I am currently attempting to discover for myself, but the direct cause of this phenomenon is elusive, every attempt at solving this mystery has been met with a proverbial wall erected by hands unknown to my eyes. However, the fact remains that the Queen has made use of the Looking Glass regardless of who truly created it, and that it is catalyst of her goals. Therefore if it is not the queen herself who created it, I believe it is someone or something close to her." The Caterpillar changed his attention back to Luke, knowing he might not have liked the answer he was given to his question.

"I understand you have many anxieties regarding your own world. I may not know or even understand what they are specifically, but I certainly know they are there. You were dragged to this world against your will, it is only natural you feel the way you do. Were there any other way they could have done this, they would have taken it in a heartbeat. The rebels truly have done everything they could to stop what is about to transpire...the lot of you are their last resort. ...If it's any consolation, you may have quite some time before anyone in your world notices you are gone. Time in this world flows differently from time in your own world. Before Wonderland, time used to flow at the same pace as it did in your world, but certain events in the past, combined with the twisted nature of this wonderland, has altered many of the rules to be different and ever-shifting, including time. Time in this world flows faster than it does in your world, and so it may take a day or two in this world before the sun rises in your own. ...However, do not be mistaken, time is running out for us all."

"...What do you mean?" The Caterpillar then took his pipe into his hand and used it to point up, if the others looked up as well, they'd see a moon in the sky, nearly full but not quite there.

"...In Wonderland, whenever it is a full moon in this world, it is midnight in your world. The looking glass opens up, and more children are lured to the Queen's castle. It is past midnight in your world, so the moon's full phase has only recently passed. But in due time, it shall be full again as midnight strikes your world the next night. Our Queen has gathered a number of children and her dominion has further spread with each harvest. This next night will be her largest yet, and most likely her last. If she is not stopped before the next full moon, she will have what she needs to extend her reign beyond Wonderland. Should that happen, the rebellion will fail, and the humans of your world will suffer for it."

"...In other words, we have a Time Limit." Chase said. It was around this point that Jacob decided to ask his own question to the Caterpillar, oddly changing the dreaded subject unknowingly.

"Oh? ...I had thought the Hatter and his comrades already explained this to you all."

"Umm...He wasn't with us during that, he and a few others came with us later on." Jill said to the Caterpillar, pointing towards Jacob, Tylissa, and Arthur.

"...I see, late arrivals then. ...Very well, I will keep this swift and simple. You were all chosen for the power of Persona that you wield. Not all people in your world are capable of wielding the potential for this power that you possess, and so only you stand here before us now. No other human is capable of fighting the Shadows, and no creature, be it human or shadow, can stand against the queen without the capability of persona." The Caterpillar then looked over to everyone else.

"Are there any other questions? ...No? ...Very well. Step into the Pond, and it shall take you back to the Sanctuary, you will likely need some rest and a strategy before stepping into the four realms of Wonderland. ...I shall always be here in this place, so if you have any other questions about this world, about we shadows, or about your personas, do not hesitate to come back and see me. I have opened the way between the sanctuary and here, so you may come and go through this pond as you see fit." The Caterpillar explained to them, as the pond began to glow with a beautiful cyan.

"This world is a haven of many dangers, but do not lose heart. Stay true to yourselves, and you shall succeed." The Caterpillar then said as Alice, Jill, Adam, and Chase jumped into the pond first.

-------------

Hatter's Sanctuary

As soon as they step into the pond, they would immediately find themselves coming out of a giant mirror in the Sanctuary, as if the surface of the pond and the surface of the mirror were the same. There they'd be greeted by the Hatter and his comrades, Sipping tea in a floating and spinning chair non-chalantly.

"...Welcome back. I had recieved word from the Dorm Mouse that you managed to awaken to your personas. I must admit, I'm quite impressed; you adapted faster than I was expecting. ...Ah, and these three must be the ones in the forest I saw a while ago. I'm glad to see you are safe. ...I am the Mad Hatter, as the three of you may have guessed, and we are a rebellion against the Queen of Wonderland." The hatter said, the latter half of his words being focused towards Jacob, Arthur, and Tylissa.

"...There was actually one more, but...he dropped himself in a World Tree on accident."

"I see...Well, there's no need to lose heart. I'll send one of our men to try searching for him. In the meantime, what did the Caterpillar say must be done?" The Hatter asked. Jill hopped forward and explained to him what the Caterpillar explained to the others.

"...Hmmm...There's a great deal of risk with such a plan, you only just awakened to your persona abilities, and those keys are likely very well-guarded in the center of each section." The hatter contemplated aloud.

"Well...we might be able to pull it off if we all work together and go to them one at a time."

"Yeah, no...Not happening." Said the voice of the Dorm Mouse as she came out of the rabbit hole, clearly somewhat injured after her fight with those silhouettes.

"Dorm, are you alright?" Jill asked as she hopped over to the mouse woman.

"Just a scratch here and there, some of those spoiled little brats don't fight fair, that's all. More importantly, they're on high alert now. The whole lot of us sensed you guys getting your personas - good job with that by the way - and they went running, likely heading back to their respective lairs to reinforce security. A good chance at least one of them came running to Daddy Dearest and told him about it already, and if he knows, the Queen probably knows too."

"...Oh dear."

"But why would that stop us from doing what the rabbit here says and attack them one at a time?"

"Because of time. ...Now that they know that you are all awakened, you are an ever-growing problem to them, but we only have until midnight in your world and a full moon in ours, and they know this. They are not protecting themselves from a threat, they are stalling for time."

"...How much time do we have then?"

"Every six hours in your world is 24 in ours. Therefore...we have less than four days before the next full moon."

"Less than 96 hours then, that sounds like a fairly large amount of time, all things considered. We probably could storm them together and get to the castle by then."

"...If only it was so simple. The shadows you all fought in the forest are but mere pests compared to the Queen's soldiers. For as much as I admire your confidence, and have faith in your newfound persona abilities, you have only just awakened to those powers, and the Queen's forces, her Royal house and the card soldiers with them, they shall not show you mercy or relent. Even when you succeed in getting those keys from them, the next step is storming the Queen's Castle, a challenge in and of itself even for us. Focusing on one thing at a time will cost too much of it. It is for the best we save time by focusing on all four lands at once." The Hatter explained.

"But that would mean splitting us all up, right? ...Isn't that even more dangerous?" Alice asked.

"Fear not, None of you will be alone during this. As I mentioned, you are our only hope of fighting the queen, it would be unfortunate should any more of you die by the hands of her minions before you even meet her. Therefore, I will be sending a member of this rebellion to each of the four parties to protect and train you in preparation for what's to come. ...Now then, there is still some time we can use to rest. I suggest you all take the time to do so, and discuss among yourselves who is going where. My only advice is to keep it as even as possible." The Hatter explained.

@Godzillafreak54 @AdmrlStalfos19 @Godlikeblade @rebthewriter @CronicCrystalis @Crimmy @Petulant @Duoya @Etranger @Avant @Suku @Windstormugly @CriticalHit @EchoicChamber

Caterpillar Grotto

His question answered as best it could have been, Cronic turned to gaze over at the new arrivals, before someone dropped an F-bomb. Gripping his forehead in annoyance, he then turned to look at Jacob.

"Do make an effort to hold off on the swearing please. There are those here who don't need to become renegades like you." Cronic said to Jacob, before diving into the pond.

"...What have I gotten myself into this time?" Mark said to himself, having listened to everything the Caterpillar explained, prior to taking a deep breath and regaining his composure.

"Well. We're going to have to make this count then, aren't we? I can't say for certain how much help I'll be in a fight, but I'm more of a thinker than a doer." Mark said, following after Cronic back to the sanctuary.

-------------
Hatter's Sanctuary

"...So we only have four days in this world before doomsday hits. That's a very strict timeframe... And a lot of pressure." Cronic said, having listened to the exchange... And he wasn't happy about what he was hearing.

"...Need I remind you that Snow broke... And turned into a Shadow right before my eyes? If the others can't handle the pressure... I fear they may end up the same way." Cronic said, showing concern for the other Humans present.

"...I'll take care of their mental health. I'm a Psychologist afterall." Mark said, interjecting before anyone else had time to speak, and now that it was safe to do so, crushed the orb in his hand, forming a bow and quiver, full of arrows in his hands.

"...Oh geez... I guess it's a bad time to mention I've not practiced archery in years."