"Joker, how much further in do you want us to drive today? It's been a few hours." The boyish voice spoke from the engine of the vehicle the current team of thieves resided in. Of course Morgana was only complaining because he was the van, but that was besides the matter.
"Just a bit more Mona, I want to see how far this split line goes." The leader spoke in an almost toneless manner. They had found these mysterious tracks colored much differently than the red of Mementos splitting off from the rest a while ago. If it was potentially an item of great value, or could help them in some form, they would have to follow it the end. So they followed the cyan tracks, leading into a rather long tunnel that really should've ended a long time ago.
"I'm still unsure of what I'm sensing here Joker. It's like one of our signals, but it's almost identical to yours as well. Are we sure it's an item?" The orange haired Oracle spoke up. She was honestly starting to get tired from being inside of Mementos, and looking at her friends, they were as well.
Skull and Panther were back and forth arguing about something stupid, last she checked in it was about the best flavour of soda. Fox was done drawing in his sketchbook, all the scenery just becoming a continuous loop upon entering the tunnel. Queen was still driving, but she looked like she had seen some kind of Zombie. Then Noir was practically asleep, using her axe like a pillow of all things!
Oracle looked at Joker in his passenger seat, as he watched the rails ahead. His face was like it always was, stoic and unreadable. If he were in a poker game, he would be the best one there. Yet it was where his focus laid that caught Oracle's attention.
Finally it seemed as though the team had reached a wall. The Mona Bus came to a crawl, before braking completely. As the team moved out of the vehicle, it was then a large clunk was heard behind them. Turning back quickly, the crew had seen the tunnel behind them close itself off, shut behind a giant magenta door.
Erupting from the ground before the door was a pair of unusual shadows, slowly forming from the usual black liquids most of the hazardous creatures are composed of. However, in the mix of the liquid, sand and broken glass joined in creating creatures yet unseen by the crew before.
Standing before them, a shadow of opaque grey and sand stood tall, it's head the shape of a rose, as thorns erupted from all out of its body. It's partner became entranced in vines, as thorns erupted from it as well, the glass it absorbed becoming stained as it created it's limbs.
"These things aren't like other weaklings! Be careful!" Oracle warned the others as she tore off her mask, summoning her UFO Persona, Necronomicon. The physical members all got into a battle ready stance as they stood before the opponents.
Skull was the first to act, pulling out his shotgun and letting out a few rounds as he aimed for the Sand Shadow. The creature merely stood there and took the shots, absorbing each hit as if it were nothing. Fox went forth next, unsheathing his blade and letting loose upon the Glass Shadow, which in turn used the thorns on its head to catch the sword, and throw the attacker off.
Noir and Queen went together, Queen landing a few punches on Sand before Noir slashed into it with her axe. The creature seemed to be affected by this at least as it let out a moan of pain. Panther went in next, whipping Sand a few times, before being blasted by a thorn erupting from its hand.
Mona fired his slingshot at Glass a bit, before realizing it was just tanking each shot as if it was air. Joker removed his mask and let out a cry for his other self, the one within him.
"Arsene!"
The feathered fiend appeared behind the leader of thieves, raising his hand to cast Maeigaon upon those who wished harm upon himself and friends. The pair of shadows once more took the damage, though it seems both felt it this time, as once more a moan of pain could be heard.
"We're not doing anything to these guys!" Mona shouted, jumping out of the way of another thorn blast from Sand. The other thieves all converged upon Joker as they tried to think of a strategy.
"There has to be something we can do!"
"Maybe if we hit them with our strongest attacks only?"
"Most of our hits just bounce right off of them!"
"Perhaps if we run into them in the Mona Bus?"
"We need to find a weak point."
Insert Theme: Persona 5 OST - Awakening
A sudden blast of blue...something attacked the Sand shadow, causing it to stumble backwards a bit. Another blast hit the Glass shadow, forcing it to join it's partner. Almost seeming to walk out from the opposite wall of the door itself, a new figure joined the fray.
Dressed in a primarily cyan blue trenchcoat, with black outlines covering it all over, inside laid a young girl walking towards the group holding an odd gun with a similar barcode pattern on it. Pulling out a sword with an odd rectangular/diamond handle from her back she tugs at the collar of the black sweater underneath the jacket. She places the gun on the waist of her black leather pants, said outfit seamlessly flowing into her bright cyan boots.
"A group of thieves and all they can do is struggle against the confines of monsters looking for no more than blood. Yet, they fight on in vain of despair surrounding them." She talks in a calm manner, stopping her walk just feet in front of the team, before looking back at Joker, where the team finally notices her mask.
An eyeless mask, made off the same cyan and black barcode pattern that her outfit consists of, with two red gems planted on mirroring sides of the top part of the mask. None of them see the expression laid inside of her eyes, but they all feel a sense of comfort...and fear.
Joker simply looks at her as she turns back to the two foes that challenge them. She chuckles as she rushes them, striking them with a cross slash of her sword, forcing the two into the door with a thud.
"Those who wish to stand between me and treasure are sure to regret it. After all, I'm just taking what rightfully belongs to others back. That includes your lives. Right, Kadoya?!"
Insert Theme: Persona 5 OST - Will Power
The girl tears off her mask, as in a fury of magenta flames the shape of warrior appears behind her. In a similar barcode ensemble to her, the major difference at first appears that the warrior has switched out Cyan, for a more pink color.
The warrior looks at the group, where they see that it has eyes of green, and a gem of the same color implanted in its forehead. It turns back at the shadows, flying forward and kicking the two into the door, shattering it.
The shadows quickly get up from the attack and charge at the new fighter, who once more lets her summoned friend do the work. Said being punching Glass into Sand, delaying their progress for the moment being.
"Well don't just stand there gawking, can't you keep helping?!" The girl shouts at the Phantom Thieves, each of which look at her in shock momentarily, before all unanimously nodding at her. Joker and Queen run in first, pulling out handgun and revolver, in tandem with the girl pulling her odd gun out once more.
The three fired at the same time, Joker's shot being enveloped by the girl's as they combined and blasted Sand, causing it to shout in pain. Joker looked at the girl next to him, she just merely smiling. Queen just kept shooting at Sand, before stopping and letting Mona take a swing with his cutlass, followed quickly by Noir chopping in with her axe.
The girl rushed over to Glass, drop kicking it away from it's position next to the wall, where it immediately chained a combo into Skull's fist, followed by Fox slicing through with his Katana. As the shadow recovered from the small combo, Panther jumped in and began whipping the beast, sending it flying into its partner.
The girl laughed, as she ran to face the two shadows pulling up her gun. She pulled a card out from a small buckle on her waist and slid it onto the gun, before pulling its barrel forward.
"FINAL SHOT RIDE."
"It's over for you!"
"D-D-D-DIEND!"
She pulled the trigger as large beam of cyan energy erupted from the barrel, completely enveloping the two monsters and evaporating them into nothing within mere seconds. As the beam slowly died out, the girl let out a large breath of air as she began walking back towards the wall she had come from.
"Hold up! Who are you?!" Mona interceded, stepping between her and the wall.
Once more the girl chuckled, jumping over the cat like being, before turning to the Phantom Thieves.
"Who I am is unimportant, but for the times we may see each other, you may refer to me as Diend! Now, for the time being my friends… Adieu!" She once more pulled and inserted a card before raising her gun to the air and firing.
"STATUS RIDE: INVISIBLE!" And with that, she disappeared. But not before throwing a small card at Joker, said leader catching it in a second.
Looking at it, the only thing on it was a symbol of Diend's mask and the following message:
'This is the Diend of this Line. Please Return Home And Sleep.'
And with this card, a familiar voice rang inside of Joker's head.
I am thou, thou art I... Thou hast acquired a new vow.
It shall become the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity.
With the birth of the Jester Persona, I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power…
Joker looked the wall Diend had disappeared to, before calling for the others to fall back and go home.
Yusuke Kitagawa had gotten off of the train with his new exchange classmate, Melany Barode only minutes before his friends began questioning him.
"Who was that?"
"Do you like her?"
"What's her name?"
Yusuke sighed as Ren Amamiya finally approached the group, Futaba Sakuara quickly and quietly behind, and his small cat Morgana away in his bag. Yusuke greeted his friend with a smile, as did the others.
"Why are we all this riled up?" Ren asked in his usual calm tone. He looked at Yusuke who seemed to be the one in the most turmoil from the riling as usual. He was quite glad Futab wasn't here to start teasing Yusuke so early.
"My new classmate, an exchange from America needed help with exchanging lines today and asked for my assistance since we shared the same line. I had finished my small chat with her before moving here, only to be met with the teasing of my comrades in arms." Yusukue stated in his ever so unique way. Futaba gained a malicious smirk on her face, but before she could even say a word, Morgana peeped in and gave his two cents.
"Yusuke was doing the gentlemanly thief thing. Offering help to a lady in need. I would've done the same for Lady Ann!" The cat purred out, the blonde he spoke of giving just a nod in return.
As Melany rode the train home, she looked at her phone just a moment and saw a blue app, with image of a left eye surrounded in flames staring at her. She barely glanced at it, throwing a bit of her black hair behind her ear. She looked up at the window, and even if it was just for a second, her blue eyes came in contact with Diend and Kadoya, as she put her phone to sleep and watched the scenery go past her.