A/N: Wow! I'm getting OCs faster than I expected, and that means that the main cast has more or less been decided, and the second set of Persona users, the rival team needs only one more member before that's done. I still need two more palace holders, and a few more confidants, which will be put on the scoreboard at the end of this chapter. Also, just a miscellaneous housekeeping matter: This story takes place about two years before the events of Persona 5, in the year 2014, thus each calendar day will be 2014's calendar. Thank you.


"Candidate... Found?" Wondered Tobias, completely confused, not only as to the existence of this app, but to the strange purpose it seemed to convey.

"Need more information." The app insisted.

"Information?" Demanded Tobias, as he poked and prodded the touch screen, trying his best to understand the odd app. "Did mom install this as some kind of prank?" He searched the app store and found nothing. "Some kind of trick?" He wondered, as he fired up his phone's browser, and searched for "Metaverse Nav"

"The fuck?" Tobias muttered, looking over the results. It was all oddities from conspiracy websites; a few people claimed to have the app as well, but it seemed their accounts weren't active, so he wasn't holding his breath regarding further information from them.

"Well, I may as well sleep." He sighed, as he powered down his cell phone and turned out the light.


Monday 4 August 2014.

"Well, it's nice to meet all of you." Declared a middle aged man sitting in front of the class. "I'm professor Robert Chapman."

Robert Chapman was a tall, portly man in his mid forties, not exactly attractive or charming, but oddly young looking for someone his age. He retained a full head of brown hair, and had green eyes that conveyed a fatherly gleam. He wore a simple suit, and portrayed a friendly figure as he surveyed the class, keeping particular attention on none other than Tobias Zain.

Tobias figured he could play most of this 'orientation' stuff by ear, so his attention wasn't especially focused on the material. He was more interested in the people in his class. Somewhat to his displeasure, this included John Crawford, who sat two rows in front of him, though he was hardly the only-or even the most interesting person in this class. In particular, he found himself interested in the two folks sitting next to him. On his left, a fellow who said he was from China, though he spoke English like an American, so Tobias figured one of his parents taught him English from an early age. Mark Feng, he called himself. He was a bit taller, a couple inches shorter than Tobias, and had brown eyes with choppy, short black hair. To his right was a young woman from Pennsylvania, though she was a bit more of a mystery. She had black hair that was short and choppy, and oddly enough was tied into two beginnings of braids on each side of her head, though her bangs were unkepmpt, and fell over her right eye. She stood at 5'6" and her exposed eye had an almond shape to it and was dark brown. She had introduced herself as Lyn Akume, but had proceeded to retreat into a curled position and seemed awkward with those around her.

"Hey, pay attention!" Shouted another voice, from the back of the classroom. That would be the TA, Alisa Ivanov. She was only a sophomore, but had landed a position as an assistant in an orientation class. She was a slim woman with long black hair and brown eyes, and wore a black shirt with blue butterflies printed on it, along with a red skirt and black boots.

"Yes Alisa." Sighed Tobias.

"Now then, this orientation class will run until the end of the semester, and will be an introductory course designed to acclimate you to college life. As I'm a psychology professor, we'll look at a few basic principles of psychology, primarily its historical context. The other classes you'll take, will of course be more challenging." The professor continued. "Well, that's all I need to tell you for today, I suppose now would be a good time to explain the student center. Alisa, take the class there.


Tobias was relieved to leave the building, as it was still summer, and the weather proved nice. Leaving the building that they were in further gave him a look at exactly what it was.

The building was called Thompson Hall, and was taller than all of the other academic buildings. It seemed to have been built more recently as well, as it carried a modern sensibility with prominent windows and glass incorporated into its cylindrical design, particularly on the ground floor, which was a small botanical garden with several classrooms throughout it, where botany classes met, though there weren't enough aspiring botanists to support only that. As a result, other such classes met there as well. One such class was the orientation class that Tobias was in. On the other floors, the classrooms tended to be situated around labs, unless they were larger, auditorium-type rooms. According to the orientation material, the building housed the natural science as well as social science department. Outside of it was a fairly substantial prairie ecosystem, brought on by the campus administration for the academic interest.

"All right." Tobias was taken back into reality by Alisa once again. "Here's the student center." She said, as she motioned to another modern looking building with three floors and prominent windows all around. "It's time I show you all around it."


To be honest, Tobias was extremely impressed by the venue. It held all manner of distractions, with a quick stop for food in the basement, a small arcade and several open meeting spaces one floor up, and even a radio station on the top floor. All of that would have to wait though, as of right now, the class was hungry, and Alisa insisted on telling them the best and worst orders from Kendall's, the campus-run restaurant on the first floor. As far as its appearance, it seemed fairly normal, with a wooden floor and a set of tables and booths dotting its walls and its center, at the right hand wall, it held a small bar.

Tobias sat at a booth with Mark and Lyn, and Alisa joined the three, seemingly out of some interest.

"So, how are you three adjusting?" She asked, genuinely by all appearances.

"Well I'm not the most academically honest." Quipped Mark.

"We're going to keep additional tabs on you." Retorted Alisa.

"Fine." Muttered Lyn, hiding her face immediately.

"And you Tobias?"

"I'm fine, I'm not used to it though." Sighed Tobias. He was indeed fine, but as usual, the thought that he was an idiot without a chance. Guts was hardly a strength of his.

"I asked for a sandwich and this is fucking wrap! I knew you were stupid, but this is beyond even my imagination." He heard a voice shout out from somewhere else in the restaurant, as he scanned the place, focusing his eyes on its source. It was coming from a very short white haired woman who was extremely angry over seemingly nothing at all. She was strange, with long hair in a pony tail and eyes that almost seemed red. Not to mention, her deathly thin frame. She looked like she didn't eat enough to survive, but she was certainly alive, right there, wearing a large black shirt and ripped jeans, and she was barefoot.

"I-I'm sorry." The waitress sobbed. She was a bit taller, but through her mannerisms and tone looked to be a mite younger. She wore the uniform of the restaurant's waitstaff, an orange shirt and red pants with a black apron tied around her waist, and had green eyes and hair dyed purple.

"You should be, I clearly asked for a sandwich, and you're pissing me off." The woman responded.

"We can get you a sandwich, free of charge." The waitress offered.

"That doesn't make me any less hungry!" The other woman shouted.

Alisa clenched her fists and stormed over to the table, and Tobias followed.

"Mathilda! This freshman is trying to give you a meal, give her a bit of slack." Alisa demanded.

"She's fucking incompetent, fuck off." Mathilda said, through clenched teeth.

"It's not like she killed your dog, leave her the fuck alone!" Shouted Tobias, more forcefully than he intended.

"Tobias, take the waitress somewhere safe, I don't need your help." Insisted Alisa, and Tobias complied.


"Thanks, I don't handle that kind of thing very well." The waitress, whose name tag read 'Brittany Parker' sighed.

"I'm not either." Sighed Tobias. "I don't know what I was thinking. What if she decides-"

"Hey, you did something good, and as far as I'm concerned, that makes you good at it." Brittany said, with a smile.

"I think I'm more confident now..." Tobias thought.

Guts +1

"Anyway, you don't know how thankful I am, it's not gonna be easy working these shifts while I'm in college, thanks for not making it any harder.

Strength: Rank 1.


"Fuck it, I'm doing nothing productive." Tobias thought to himself, already feeling drained as he ascended up to the third floor of Weston Hall. When he wlaked into the doorway, he was once again greeted by none other than Naomi Kita. Behind her was someone Tobias was less eager to see: John Crawford.

"Hm. Now that's interesting." John said, with a devious smile, as he retreated to his own room, on the second floor.

"That guy bothering you?" Asked Tobias, genuinely concerned.

"Well yeah, he's kind of a dick."

"I ran into him last night, he seems to just act like everyone is some kind of artifact. Always trying to uncover something secret or something."

"I know. It's like he thinks Weston Hall is some kind of Lost City." Sighed Naomi.

As if on cue, the world around the both of them seemed to distort until it resembled something very different.

"What the hell happened to the roof?" Naomi wondered, looking up at a cloudless sky. The college dorm that the two had been standing in was gone in its place was a slight clearing in a lush jungle, and the doorframe was instead an ancient, uneven staircase, a faded brown. It formed out into walls with elaborate tapestry carved into the walls. Replacing the dorms were statues, with cryptic messages written on them in a language neither Tobias nor Naomi could understand, and each of the statues seemed to represent the student that lived in that room.

The thing was, Naomi was a bit more concerned about Tobias' appearance, as he had emerged on the other side with his Metaverse outfit, while she was dressed the same as she had been before, in her normal attire of a black and white, horizontally striped short-sleeved shirt under a short, black denim vest with a silver zipper and a few silver buttons, along with black jeans and gray converse shoes.

"Why are you dressed like that?" She asked him, as it hit Tobias as well.

"Because I think I've been to this place before." He muttered.

"What do you mean?"

"I remember having these clothes in a dream, along with this sword and gun." Tobias explained. "I guess it wasn't a dream after all."

"What else do you remember?"

"I think this place is called the 'Metaverse.'" Tobias continued. "Someone important showed it to me." He explained.

"Well then, why does it look like we're in some kind of archeological dig?"

"Because you are." A third voice spoke out. It belonged to a shadow, though unlike the naked one that Tobias had fought previously, this one was clothed, and resembled a stereotypical explorer of the 19th century, with a tan jacket and khakis, as well as a pith helmet, though the mask on its face remained the same. "In fact, this is fantastic, we've found living examples of this civilization, our expedition leader, Lord Crawford will be most pleased, come this way.


The shadow led them down the stairs and to a location far within the city, though the two didn't see much of it thanks to the shadow prodding them to a selection of tents set up in what appeared to have been a garden near an opulent house.

"Now then, I recall a few of these statues outside looking like these two." Remarked Shadow-John, who looked much like his real world counterpart, but was dressed in much the same way as the shadows that surrounded him. "So then, why are you here then, some kind of respected figures from this civilization's past?"

"Not sure." Sighed Tobias, not particularly interested in answering the question.

"I don't think you're telling the truth." Shadow-John shot back. "What can you tell me about this place?"

"We know as much as you!" Insisted Naomi.

"Is that right?" Sighed John, in disbelief. "I'll cut to the chase then, where are the most valuable tidbits? The greatest product of your city?" He asked, his friendly disposition slowly fading.

"Eat shit." Tobias muttered.

"Very well, you're more useful dead than alive. Rectify the situation." Said Shadow-John, motioning for his two cohorts, both of whom morphed into their demonic forms. The one on the left became a creature resembling a horse, with seaweed seemingly flowing from its body, the other was yet another Jack Frost.

"What are those things?" Asked Naomi, scared.

"Shadows, human souls that think they're demons." Tobias said, as he drew his sword.

"Aladdin! Agi Slash!" Tobias declared, his persona's blade ready to cleave Jack Frost.

The other shadow blocked the strike, and while it took minor damage, it rebounded instantly, and charged Tobias, who sidestepped it, only to be hit with a bufu spell courtesy of Jack Frost.

"Damn, not again." Tobias Sighed as he fell to the ground and immediately fell victim to an all-out attack from the two shadows.

"Tobias!" Shouted Naomi, terrified by the situation her friend found himself in.

"You don't want to be useless, do you?" A voice in her head called out.

"Wha!?"

"I know how the world has wronged you, always wronged by others, and overpowered by the worst you knew. Well, here is your chance to save someone from the same fate. I am thou, thou art I, say my name and my power is thine."

"Musashi!" Naomi shouted, as her clothing transformed and she took on a costume that resembled a modern take on a samurai. She wore a black haori accented with silver and purple, and a five petaled flower printed on its back in white and purple, but it was leather, and covered by a black breastplate tied on with purple rope. Instead of Hakama, she wore simple black pants with a white obi tied to her waist, which held two scabbards holding a katana and wakizashi on the left, and a holster containing a submachine gun on the right. Her arms and legs were further covered with leather armor. On her face, she wore a samurai mask that covered only the lower half of her face. It was black and white, and featured a fanged mouth with the tongue sticking out. Standing behind her was her Persona, Musashi, which also resembled a samurai with an open blue kimono and gray hakama, along with swords attached to its own obi. It had a scarred face and scraggly facial hair, and looked distinctly more human than Aladdin.

"Rising Slash!" Naomi Declared, and downed the horse-like shadow.

"Naomi! Good work!" Tobias Exclaimed as he got back up, ready for his own strike. "Agi Slash!" The Jack Frost went down.

"I'll finish this. Agi!" Shouted Naomi, whose Persona drew its swords once more and released a burst of flame from the blade, which connected with deafening force, and the shadow dissipated.

"All right, we need to get out of here, sighed Tobias, his fear taking over as usual. "Wait, where is out?"

"I might be able to be of assistance." Another voice rang out, from behind them. It didn't sound like a shadow, it sounded small, high pitched, offputting even. That said, neither Tobias nor Naomi were expecting its owner to be a bipedal rabbit.

"Who are you?" Asked Naomi, unnerved but hardly aggressive.

"I go by Hazel, and from what I saw, you two are persona users." The rabbit said.

"Do rabbits normally talk in this world?" Tobias wondered aloud.

"Hard to say, I'm the only one around here. Kinda lonely." Hazel sighed.

"All right Hazel, how do we get out?" Asked Naomi.

"That's just it, you're in a palace right now, which makes it much easier."

"A palace?" Naomi and Tobias asked in unison.

"That's right, the metaverse bends to the will of distorted desires. If a person feels sufficiently strongly about a location, it changes shape, as it has here.

"I think I know whose it was." Noted Tobias.

"That shadow-self that was here a second ago?" Asked Hazel.

"I guess so..."

"That means that his cognition affects a building in the physical world. As far as our aim, we only need to find a safe room."

"Safe room?"

"I'll explain later, let's go."


Hazel led the duo down to a basement level, which resembled an underground bazaar. Most of the buildings were caved in, but one in particular that was still standing caught the rabbit's eye.

"See this door? If you see a door that looks out of place, that's probably a safe room, where a palace holder's cognition is weaker. As a result, we can stay there and avoid the heat from the shadows, and even port out if need be."

"All right, I still need to process this shit." Sighed Tobias, as he followed the rabbit into the room.

"Hey, isn't this the laundry room?" Asked Naomi, as she looked about the surroundings and washing machines flickered in and out of view.

Tobias felt envious, Naomi seemed to be processing this much more quickly than he was. Damn his nerves. "Right then, let's get out of here." Tobias offered, as he opened the metaverse nav and clicked the prompt marked "exit."


"I don't remember it being this dark when we started." Muttered Naomi, looking out the window. "Hey, we were in there for six hours, it's 9 o'clock."

"Time in the Metaverse is a bit different." Explained Hazel. "A few hours are certain to pass if you stay in it."

"Wait, why are you here?" Asked Tobias.

"Proximity. You'll drag people who are close to you in and out from time to time." Hazel said, expositing more on the concepts.

"Hey, how was your first day?" A slightly distant voice asked the two.

"Shit, Annette's coming." Hissed Naomi. "Hazel, hide in my backpack." The rabbit begrudgingly complied.

"I-it was fine." Stammered Tobias, feeling more and more of the reality setting in, and feeling a bit tired to boot. "Not too busy, but I'm sure it will be!"

"Okay, if you need help with anything, I'm right here, and my door is open." Annette said, as she retreated to her room.

"All right, I think I'm going to need some time to process all of that." Tobias said, his nervous nature finally overtaking the rush.

"I'll see you after that then. I feel like there's way more to this palace stuff, and I intend to see it all!" Naomi laughed.

"Aren't you forgetting someone?" Coughed Hazel.

"Oh, right. We can't have pets on campus, so we need to figure out a place for you to stay, if you don't want to stay in the metaverse.

"Nah, I don't anyway, we rabbits can sleep in our burrows after all." Hazel said, as she ran out of Naomi's backpack and through the door, down the stairs and out into the night.

"Should we be concerned about owls?" Tobias wondered aloud.

"I'm sure Hazel can handle it." Naomi said. "I'm as tired as you are. See you tomorrow."


A/N: I promise that the whole one chapter/one day thing won't be the normal time scale for the fic, these chapters are just establishing everything. The pacing will pick up very soon. Other than that, the same things apply, so just enjoy the Arcana stuff and send in an OC if you're feeling courageous.

Arcanas:

Wild Card: Tobias Zain

The Fool: Igor.

The Magician: TO BE REVEALED

The High Priestess: Lyn Akume

The Empress: Hazel.

The Emperor: Saoirse Zain.

The Hierophant: TO BE REVEALED

The Lovers: Annette Jansen

The Chariot: Naomi Kita.

Strength: Brittany Parker

The Hermit: TO BE REVEALED

Wheel of Fortune: ?

Justice: Alisa Ivanov

The Hanged Man: TO BE REVEALED

Death: ?

Temperance: ?

The Devil: TO BE REVEALED

The Tower: Michael Rowntree.

The Star: Robert Chapman.

The Moon: TO BE REVEALED

The Sun: ?

Judgment: Mark Feng.

The Aeon: Abigail.

Finally, here's a bio for you all. I know in the past I let people review and PM OCs, but for now, please only PM OCs, it's easier to keep track that way.

Name (first and last):

Metaverse Codename:

Age (should be 18-22):

Gender:

Sexuality (if bisexual or pansexual, note whether they tend more toward boys or girls):

Year (in college):

Major(s)/Minor(s) (just for a bit of background):

Country of Origin (Where they were born/Grew up):

Persona Name (Please Name it after a hero of popular culture):

Persona Arcana:

Design of Persona:

Persona Fighting Style (explain how it fights and what its strengths and weaknesses are):

Melee Weapon:

Ranged Weapon:

Appearance

Eyes:

Hair:

Height:

Build:

Standard Clothes:

Metaverse Outfit (include a mask as well):

Night:

Swim:

Formal:

Personality:

Likes:

Dislikes:

Type of person they would…

-Fall for:

-Befriend:

-Hate:

-Respect:

-Rival:

Hobbies/Skills: (Your characters day to day hobbies and unique skills. Like they enjoy creative writing or are really good at cooking. Things like that or more serious things like they're good leaders and teachers. Or maybe their skill is that they are a disastrous cook. Be creative.)

How they would act…

-Towards Romantic Interests:

-Acquaintances:

-Towards Friends/Close Friends:

-Rivals:

-Towards Enemies:

-Towards Respected Figures:

-Towards Family/People in their history:

-Towards Strangers:

-Under Extreme Pressure:

-When Facing Fears:

-When Mortified/Angry/Depressed/Any Emotion that they react different than what would be expected:

Social Stats:

Knowledge (X/5)

Guts (X/5)

Proficiency (X/5)

Kindness (X/5)

Charm (X/5)

Past:

Musical Themes (optional):

Quotes:

All right, Have fun, and as always, Until Next Time!