A/N: Finally, a new story! and one that's a crossover with Persona, 5 in particular! I've been working on another's (an MLP crossover) notes when I thought of the idea to convert an RP TheBlackAngel07 and I were doing on Discord. :3 So here's Chapter One!

Arcana of Tricks
The Surgeon and the Rebel
Chapter One

It was a rather lazy late afternoon in Sovereihn Town, which was a rather huge town. Not enough for it to be called a city, however. It was rather dusty, with brownish streets and beige sidewalks and grey buildings and houses of various muted colors scattered along the blocks. And there were some businesses as well, and among those, sitting in the very heart, was a surgeon's clinic. And it was the only clinic. Surprising to outsiders, since people got seriously hurt every day. It was on this day, however, that business there was only a medium sized plate of bloody goodness. And it was enough for a certain buttercup who'd made his home here. That flower was currently slithering through the streets, humming to himself as he still tried to clean the dried blood off him. Today was a good day.

A good day indeed. It also seemed the town had a visitor. A very confused one at that. He looked fairly unassuming - disheveled black hair, prescription glasses, a black jacket, white shirt, jeans, and a pair of brown shoes. Akira's usual wear. And he had no clue how he'd gotten here. A walk in part of the United States wasn't supposed to end up here. He started walking into the town.

What was this town? it looked so drab. The clinic of all places was the building that stood out to him, not the houses. He stopped when he saw the flower with an audible gasp. Why was it moving? why was it walking? he hadn't stumbled into a palace, had he? Akira hadn't even a name, much less a guess on the place or keyword. The flower opened his eyes eventually, revealing dull red pupils, and sighed of relief once more. He had known exactly where he was going, which was nowhere in particular. His clinic was well- and recently-nourished and fertilized. He had enough supplies to last him a week. He was just taking a break.

Soon, his eyes landed on a human, and they widened. His smile grew, and he briefly waved a leaf at him, "Oh! howdy! I don't think I've seen you around before!"

The flower had a face and could talk. That definitely made him think of a shadow. Except shadows were rarely friendly. Unless it was a persona, but there'd need to be a persona user around. Not to mention, the flower had blood on it. But there wasn't any distortion otherwise. Was he in Mementos? no, he couldn't be. Mementos was mostly underground, and had a red tint. Akira took a moment to clean his glasses with his shirt. And indeed, it was still a flower. "Hi. Who's in charge?"

The flower blinked, furrowing his brow with near confusion as the smile fell. He blinked again, tilting himself. "Nobody. We, uh, do have a mayor but… never really heard of what he's done.." And that was an understatement. The understatement of the year. Nonetheless, he shrugged. Somehow.

A mayor. That didn't sound like some position that would be held in a palace. Then again, a manager had been the leader of one. Akira wasn't sure what to make o this. Could he have stumbled into a palace and just not known? and not be considered an enemy? "Can you lead me to them?"

"No can do, whoever you are," the buttercup shook his head, putting extra emphasis on the latter half of his sentence. "You're new here, after all. Besides, none of us really knows where he lives. It's like he's nonexistent." Flowey chuckled, and slithered closer to the young man, getting a closer look. In turn, Akira would get a closer look at the flower. The stains stood proud on his off-white cheek and in contrast seemed to fade against his bright stem and leaves. Somehow, there were slight bags under those dull red eyes that the flower could never truly hope to be rid of. Overall, the air around him was guarded, but friendly. Akira took a single step back as Flowey got closer. Would a palace ruler ever be unknown by shadows? had it been that way with Futaba? it'd been so long since the team had infiltrated a palace like hers.

More importantly, could anything like this exist in real life without a palace? plants weren't exactly sentient or sapient as far as Akira knew. He hadn't heard about any experiments where scientists had brought them to life, either. What was going on here? ...perhaps he could figure this out if he observed this flower thing more. For now, he'd motion to his cheek, mirroring where the blood was on Flowey. Hopefully Flowey would get the message.

The flower blinked, before he indeed figured it out and placed a leaf on the bloodstained cheek. He could feel it dried up, and, realizing that he was talking to a stranger, made much more of an effort to scrub it off. Oh, how cursed the love of the sensation of blood on his "skin" was. He'd usually wipe it all off immediately after each surgery, but today was different. He soon sighed, still scrubbing with limited success, "What about it?"

Well, the flower seemed mildly concerned at least. Maybe this thing, whatever it was, wasn't that bad. Maybe he wasn't a shadow. Or if he was, he wasn't hostile. Of course, that still remained to be seen. Best to try and get information from him. Akira stuck his hand in his pocket, keeping a firm eye on the flower. "Got into a fight?"

The flower chuckled and simply shook his head, grin returning the more he scrubbed. He wouldn't bleed red anyway. He'd bleed green, as he'd found out during the brutal fights with Smiley Trashbag. The look in his eyes reflected a subtle craze the more he felt the dried stain. He felt it too, much to his slight horror. So he stopped promptly, his cheeks flushing a pale red despite his blood being green, and he attempted to hide it too, averting his eyes. Akira noticed that slight craze. Maybe this was a palace. Of course, he wouldn't be able to tell that without looking around. He'd need an excuse though, if he didn't want to alert this flower that his current intent was to spy and gather intel. After a moment, he looked up from Flowey and glanced around the town again. "Where is this?"

The slight haze faded away from his mind soon enough, since it wasn't enough for him to need blood, and he soon processed the question. He looked around, as if taking the town in for the first time, and looked back at the young man, replying eventually with a soft, friendly smile, "You're in Sovereihn Town, which, I believe, is in the state of Oregon." He was growing just a little impatient. When was this guy going to introduce himself? ..should he introduce himself first? ...no.

He took a few steps in, careful to pass Flowey and not step on him. Sovereihn Town. He'd never heard of it. Nor had he heard much about Oregon before. But at least he was still in the states. After a moment, he murmured, "Never heard of it." Then he looked to Flowey. "Can you show me around?"

"Sure.." he slithered past the guy a few feet, and eventually sighed loudly and dramatically, rolling his eyes and turning back to the kid with slightly narrowed eyes. "Okay, who are you? I've been waiting for you to introduce yourself since we've met."

Akira was about to continue forward when Flowey started talking again. His name? Akira could give Flowey his real name. But then he still didn't know if this was the Metaverse or not. Who knew what metaverse users could do with his real name? and even if it wasn't the metaverse, his real name might bring up bad news. It may have been a false accusation, but he'd still been convicted before. Better to give his code name. "Joker," was his answer. "You?"

Flowey attempted to hide a snicker. Key word: "attempted". He put a leaf against his mouth. "Joker? What are ya? a clown?" and raucous laughter then escaped his lips, and it sounded not so pleasant. He eventually calmed, wiping a tear away, grinning again, "Ah, just messin' with ya. My name isn't much better. It's Flowey." He had to bite down the urge to follow it up with "Flowey the Flower", and golly it was so hard.

The young man couldn't say that laughing surprised him. He'd thought it an odd nickname for himself at first, and so did anyone else who didn't play cards or know the concept of a wild card. And quite honestly, it did bring a jester to mind the first few times Morgana had called him that. The name Flowey, however, made him smile. The guy was right - both their names were pretty ridiculous. Akira snickered a bit at it. Only a bit though.

He motioned with a nod for Flowey to start leading him about. He expected Flowey to practically talk to himself since that's what usually happened when someone showed him around anywhere. Well, aside from when he first met Sojiro and was really just told to go upstairs and not commit any crimes.

Just wait till Joker learns Flowey's true identity…

The flower nodded back, and began the slither towards the village, pointing out important businesses such as the huge and sprawling market, which sells literally anything since it's the only one in town. He broke off the tour, short of reaching his clinic, to announce out of seemingly nowhere, turning to face Joker, "I know about cards, though, Joker. I also know no parent would name their child such a name." He took a moment to think, Besides, well, maybe, my own goof of a dad. Either way, Flowey was slightly onto the young man, raising an eyebrow. He knew he was being a massive hypocrite, but Asriel himself had wanted Flowey to be considered separate from him. How foolish that was - they were the same person, after all, soulless or not. But if Joker knew his true origin, what would happen? The young man was already a major fish out of water. He could tell.

Akira was silent for most of it. He was used to being talked to; a lot of his friends liked to vent him the entire situation before asking his advice. They also each had their own passions they could talk about and be distracted with for hours. Yusuke especially - that man radiated art. So it surprised him when Flowey suddenly stopped to look back at him. Was Flowey subtly asking what his real name was with that? it was entirely possible, since he basically said he knew Joker wasn't Akira's real name. But he shrugged with a faint smile. "It's what people call me."

"Why?" the demon flower asked. "Maybe it's because we just met but you really don't seem like a joker." He really didn't. It didn't seem Flowey was going to let this go. But something was screaming at him to let it go since he wasn't being honest himself. He eventually shrugged and turned away, "But maybe you are one, or it's just some weird, nonsense nickname. I dunno.. Anyway…" he resumed slithering then.

Akira laughed to himself as he continued following. He wasn't the most joking type, even if he did like sassing his friends from time to time. But given his ability to switch from persona to persona, and how he was always the most rebellious of the group to the end, he sure was a wil card. Especially considering Arsene, who always told him to do what he wanted, was his main persona. A trickster, as Igor said. But he'd let Flowey think otherwise for the moment. Akira would take that time to look around and see if there was anything else unusual about this town.

Flowey took a deep breath, as he gestured to the clinic, "And here's one of the most visited places in this town." He tried rubbing the blood off once more, but stopped seconds later. "It's a surgeon's clinic." He chuckled.

The building externally looked better than the rest of them, even the market. That's because he had it built to his own desires. Above the awning was the name, Surgeon Flowey's Clinic, displayed in elaborate font but still easily readable. He grinned up at Joker, chortling as he played with his leaves, waiting for the young man to connect the dots. He stared at the clinic for a moment before he looked up at the name. Surgeon Flowey's Clinic. Surgeon. Clinic.

This flower was a fucking surgeon. His eyes widened a bit. How. And why. And how. What expertise and skills did this flower have that he could do complicated surgeries without causing infections, or more importantly, cutting anything important? the doctor he knew in Tokyo nearly had her license revoked and her clinic shut down because she made drugs that were too strong. And that wasn't anything near as dangerous as surgery.

"I'm guessing that's yours…"

"And you would be correct, Joker," he nodded, and then pointed to the bloodstains. "Explains this all away, doesn't it?" Flowey had noticed the widened eyes, and kept talking, the grin decreasing in size. "But I suppose you have questions now. Ask away, friend." And that word was said rather loosely as he placed his leaves on top of each other. He eagerly looked into the rather empty clinic, save for this employees, who were human except for one towering goat monster. Seemed his break was far from over, he noted with a bit of dread. He did have a pager if he was needed anyway. Still..

Having questions was an understatement. At this point, he was confused. Horribly. What was this place, why was there a sapient moving flower, and why was he a surgeon? thankfully he hadn't seen the goat for the moment. Akira ended up just asking, "How does a flower become a qualified surgeon?"

The flower took a deep breath, and tilted his head towards the sky. "I've read every single book out here, Joker. Biology, anatomy - you name it, I read it." He looked over at Joker. "And you may have noticed throughout our tour here that this is the only clinic in town." He blinked those dull red eyes, and smiled with an indescribable emotion, "It was also the only.. successful one."

Reading every book and knowing all the information was one thing. It explained part of why Flowey was qualified, but that didn't undermine the fact that Flowey was, of course, a flower. He had leaves and roots, not hands. Akira looked back at him. "But how're you able to do those surgeries with leaves?"

The buttercup's only response was to widen that smile, as well as to summon a vine from the ground. It took a while to emerge for effect, making unnerving, earthy sounds all the while. He chuckled, staring at it, "Golly.. dramatic effect is pretty cool to pull off," and then he harmlessly whipped it towards Joker, expecting a handshake. "This is how."

For a moment, he flinched back from the vine. That looked very close to a shadow's attack.

But then it didn't attack. And from what Flowey said, that it was how he managed those surgeries, it sounded like it functioned as a hand. Akira looked at Flowey. Did Flowey want him to high five it? or shake it? or.. what? he looked back at the vine and opted to give it a light shake. The flower smiled approvingly as it was shaken. "Surgery is a delicate procedure, so I use my vines for it. My leaves are for other things that aren't as delicate. Such as writing and drawing," Flowey explained. He pretended not to notice the flinch. But what Akira didn't know was that that very flinch sent flashbacks of when he was feared - actually dreaded - back in the Underground through his mind. His eyes wavered, as if tearing up, but he refused. The little plant instead looked inside his clinic again, eyes rather cold for a moment. "So, Joker.. would you like to take a look inside? you'll be pleasantly surprised, I hope."

Akira let go of the vine and stuck his hand back in his pocket. That explanation made sense. Still, he wondered if they were sanitary. The thought of Flowey washing off his vines and leaves before a surgery came to mind. Akira looked towards the doors now. He noticed the look in Flowey's eyes in the brief moment he turned his head, but couldn't actually tell what it was. Just that his eyes had changed for a moment there. "Sure," was his answer.

The flower nodded, smiling again, and slithered inside, the vine plunging back into the ground. The first thing Akira would notice was that the floor was soil, but not just any soil. It felt comfy, clean and warm. There were chairs and tables around, with racks of actually interesting magazines and books. This was obviously the waiting room. Several feet ahead was the operating room, and a couple feet from that was a inward ramp of some kind leading upstairs. And some feet from that was a hallway of rooms, most likely (definitely) the patients' rooms.

One such employee from earlier, a blonde boss monster wearing a nurse's attire, was currently talking to Flowey about this day, sighing occasionally. The flower listened and added his own tidbits when appropriate. It was amazing, though, that the monster's son was right under his nose, and he'd never know or be able to tell. And, well, sad too.

The act of walking inside and not hearing his shoes hit tile distracted Akira. He immediately looked down to see dirt. Why was he on a dirt floor? was it for the flower? would this track dirt into operating areas, or did they prevent that somehow?

But then those thoughts wavered and he looked up. And after a moment, Akira's eyes settled on that boss monster. Another possible shadow. This one was much more imposing. Large and animal like…

Like the guards of a palace…

Bluish fire flared up around him for a moment, and his attire was suddenly replaced. He now wore a long black tailed coat, a grey waist coat with gold buttons, unseen red gloves, black pants and brown shoes that curled at the end. His glasses were replaced with a bird-like black and white mask that helped his sight still.

And if that monster attacked, the mask would serve another purpose as well...

A/N: WUH OH! Trouble in the first chapter! ahaha, cliffhanger time! I would like to thank Clock (as I'll be calling TheBlackAngel07 from now on here) for teaching me about Persona 5, as I'd been interested in the series, particularly 4. Hehe, he provided the Persona 5, and I provided the Undertale. In short, that means he was Akira/Joker and I was Flowey and Asgore! :3
I hope you enjoyed! I'll update this next week. Please review! and be sure to check out the version on AO3 that Clock will upload soon. It'll be coordinated. Okay, I'll stop talking now. Cya next week!