Ok so hi again. I wasn't expecting this continuation to blow up so quickly... on another note I'm curious to know if anybody got the reference I put down in the first chapter, your hint is the velvet room and to clarify it's does not have anything to do with the other prisoners. There will be a lot of references to the earlier games, the reason being is that P5 does this a lot (in case you haven't ever played the game or any of the others in the series.) With that said we can continue on with the dawn of the new day. The stage is set so let's continue!

APRIL 14th

"Are you alright dear, you appear to be quite lost." Lucina started at the sound of Dierdre's voice. "Have you any troubles with your new school?"

The table was set with a fine breakfast. Lucina had helped to prepare it alongside Dierdre, and was currently enjoying the simplicity of it all. Far better than the food that Tharja would make. Lucina snickered inwardly. Was the woman trying to poison us all I wonder?

"No mother, I'm fine, just in deep thought." The blue haired swordswoman allowed her smile to show through. "Where's father by the way?"

"Right here." The old man in question was slowly lugging a cardboard box over towards the table. "Do be a dear and help an old man out."

"Here father." Gently she took the load from Sigurd and placed it onto a chair. "What's inside these by the way?"

"My old uniform and medals." Sighing Sigurd seated himself warily.

"You were a soldier father?"

"No, I was a policeman. Though I do understand those who choose to be soldiers, one such was my father. One thing he taught me was the importance of honor Lucina. For Japanese soldiers there was no honor to those who surrendered or allowed themselves to be captured."

"That sounds quite extreme…"

"It's the belief of those that served." Sigurd's voice took on a serious tone. "To speak ill of them is unbecoming of us as human beings."

"Of course." There were lessons to be taken from these, and Lucina knew better than to discard them. That and… "Oh! I'm sorry but I have to go!" Grabbing a regular toasted piece of bread she ran out of the house, not before she gave a quick hug to both Sigurd and Dierdre.

"What a good heart that girl has…" Dierdre happily smiled as she turned on the news.

"Quite." Sigurd nodded, slowly feeling a medal. "Father would've loved to have met her."

"And today on the show we have Naoto Shirogane. Tell us Naoto what your thoughts are on these mental shutdowns that are currently terrorising the towns and cities of Japan?"

"Eh which one is this again? Isn't he the up and coming detective I keep hearing about?" Sigurd diverted his attention from the box for a moment.

"That would be Goro Akechi I believe. This is the original detective prince." Dierdre watched the scene of the Tv unfold.

"I believe these to be a grave threat in all honesty." What appeared to be a young man dressed in a bluish cardigan coat, a blue cap, black jeans and blue shoes was saying. "I admire those like Akechi-kun who continue to strive towards the truth, and I hope to be joining them in the search for who or whatever might be the cause of this."

Sigurd let out a chuckle. "Those clothes don't cover up her mannerisms well due they?"

"Her? Ah yes, now that you mention it I see what you mean."

"Just because I'm retired doesn't mean I don't have any eyes." With a chuckle the old man went back to his box.

"It's been a long time since the incidents at Inaba, not much has been allowed through to the press due to the sensitivity of the issue. Our viewers are curious if you can shed some light on just who was responsible?" The spokesman leaned back in his seat, a curious expression also on his face. Naoto thought for a second putting her right hand on the bill of her hat in thought. Eventually she simply replied. "A man who had lost faith in us all as people..."

"What took you guys so long?!" Ryuji huffed impatiently. "I've been standing here forever!"

"It's only been thirty minutes since you first sent me that text Ryuji." Akira raised an eyebrow. "Don't try to throw the wool over my eyes Vincent Brooks!"

Lucina snickered quietly as she looks ahead towards the school, in front of it was Ms. Kawakami in conversation with another student. Before she could get a better look though Ryuji stepped in front of her. "Hey Lucina, we have something we want to talk to Akira about right?"

"I believe so." Lucina turned towards Akira.

"Alright you two. What are you trying to talk me out of?" With a wry smile and a sigh Akira held up his hands in surrender. "If it's about Kamoshida then we already know how this is going to end."

"We aren't going to kill the bastard." Ryuji waggled his finger. "As much as I hate the prick we need him to atone for all he's done here!"

"I agree." Akira shook his head in affirmative. "I'm saying that it might have to be our fallback plan if all this goes wrong, think about it. I'm known as a criminal and you're a hoodlum, with how fast this school exchanges rumors around I doubt Kamoshida won't catch wind of what we're doing."

"What's the worst that could happen?!" Ryuji replied with a snort. They had now passed Kawakami and the student, Lucina didn't remember her as part of the class initially, so maybe it was the new transfer?

"Think about it." Akira poked Ryuji's forehead. "What would you do with a problem that just won't go away?"

"Get rid of it for good?" Lucina asked with some uncertainty.

"Right, and how would a teacher do that?"

"Enable it so that you couldn't come to the school anymore."

"Oh…. shit, you might have something going there…" Ryuji groaned. "Alright, I'll see you guys later."

"See you." Akira waved as Ryuji started double timing it up the stairs to his homeroom. "What would that knucklehead do without us?"

"There is something else I'd like to ask you." Lucina stopped Akira outside of their room. "You and I did have the same dream last night correct?"

"The velvet room." Akira confirmed Lucina's suspicions. "Did you see those two cells behind Igor?"

"I did, one had Ryuji in there I'm certain of it."

"Who was in the other though? Was it their persona protecting their identity?"

"I don't know, have you ever heard of a woman with nine fox tails?"

"There are myths and legends, foxes are thought to be magical here in Japan."

"Alright, but what about Ryuji. Why was he in there?"

"Remember what Igor said right? We're gathering bonds of those robbed of their place to be in the world. I guess that maybe we unconsciously brought Ryuji there, but maybe it's not entirely Ryuji?"

"I'm not sure I follow…"

"Think about it Lucina, if you come up with an answer don't be afraid to tell me." With that Akira walked into their homeroom.

As soon as the two stepped into the room it went silent. Students stopped talking to look at the two of them while they maneuvered to sit down. Whispering then broke out as the students began exchanging rumors.

"Did you see those two on the way here?" A small group of girls whispered amongst themselves.

"No, why?" One asked.

"They were walking with Sakamoto."

"Trouble attracts trouble so they say." Another shrugged.

Two boys were staring at Lucina, one nudged the other. "You think the two of them are dating?"

'Who, Lowell and Kurusu?" The other asked quizzically.

"Who else man?"

"I mean she looks like an easy target."

Akira felt his left hand clench into a fist as he listened. They were all sheep, regurgitating the same shit they were all told, the lack of control Akira had in this situation only served to aggravate himself would listen to him and nobody would get close if they could help it. Lucina didn't understand what they were saying but she could take a hint, especially at the boys sizing up her figure. If they even try they'll get more than they bargained for. She vowed silently.

"Everyone to their seats!" Kawakami finally entered, dragging a young man in by their ear. The dummy was grinning the whole time whilst muttering. "Ow, ow, ow!" In english he said something along the lines of. "Why is it always me?!"

"I'm going to keep this short so we can make it to the volleyball ralley on time." Kawakami continued, releasing the young man's ear. "This is another transfer student from the U.S, he'll be attending until graduation. Please introduce yourself."

The new student just stared at her. "Come again?" Was all the gall he had to say.

"Introduce yourself." Kawakami nearly facepalmed. This time she asked him in english so he could understand better.

"Oh, right. Hey there, the name's James Metziner." The newly introduced James waved, his right hand slipping into his pocket for a packet of cards while his left continued the greeting. "Any of you want to see a card trick?" A ridiculously long smile playing itself on his face.

The only ones in the room to understand the poor idiot were Ann, Akira, Lucina, and Kawakami. The rest shifted uncomfortably and whispering among themselves yet again.

"Yeah he looks just like the rumors say." A haughty girl snickered to the other girl sitting next to her.

"How so?" Her partner didn't seem to understand.

"He's crazy, that and a pathological liar. Apparently his parents got sick of his shenanigans and forced him to leave the country."

"Really? I don't know…"

"Man that smile just throws me off, look at how wide he's grinning!" The boys seemed to be going at it as well.

"If he isn't crazy I don't know what is." Another agreed.

And he doesn't even know what they're all saying. Akira could feel himself gritting his teeth together. They're all so damn carefree just because they know he doesn't understand them!

"Excuse me, could I see you card trick?" It was surprisingly Ann Takamaki who called James over.

"Sure!" His smile calmed down a bit, most likely in relief as he walked down the aisle towards Ann.

Akira took the time to better observe the American. He was dressed in a black jacket (A blue badge that looked like a fist was pinned on the jacket over where his heart should be located) which he promptly took off and wrapped around his waist. He had yet to receive the school uniform as his shirt was just a plain white tee. On his lower half Akira could make out the blue jeans and black shoes with white trim as the transfer student kept bouncing his right foot to some rhythm only he could hear.

"Alright, pick a card." Spreading out the deck he nonchalantly sat back, putting a blindfold over his own eyes. "Let me know when you have."

Ann pulled out a card and proceeded to check which one it was. "Alright, I've picked one."

"Great, show it to everyone else, then please slide it back into the deck wherever you fancy."

Lucina caught a look at the card as Ann flipped it over to show the rest of the audience. The ace of hearts was revealed to class before being slipped right into a third of the deck.

"Alright now." With a one handed shuffle James started to put down one card after another eventually stopping with one card left in his hand. "This has got to be the card you had right?" This card was the ace of clubs… the poor guy had failed hilariously.

"Umm… no" Ann shook her head. "That's not my card."

"What?!" Pulling off the blindfold James checked the rest of the cards. "Which card did you have?"

"The ace of hearts."

"But… that's not in the deck!"

"Where is it then?"

"Well it's gotta be in your hands, mine are empty."

"That's ridi-" At that moment Ann looked down to her hands. Fitted snugly between her fingers was a single playing card. "N-no way!"

Akira strained to look over Ann's shoulder, in her hands was none other than the ace of hearts.

"How?" Ann simply shook her head in shock.

"Trade secret." With a wink the transfer student skillfully took his cards and shuffled them into a deck. "Gets better though." Slowly James placed each card down until again he no longer had any in his hands. He had shuffled the deck back into order from ace to king in ascending order, each suite of card where it should be.

"How long did it take you to learn that?" Lucina asked, curiosity gleaming in her eyes.

"A long time." James put it simply."Practiced every day to become an ace, so I guess you can say I got the heart of the cards."

Ugh… that was bad. Akira felt a small smile pull on the corner of his lips despite himself.

"Please don't ever do that joke again." Lucina smiled as well, a small chuckle to be heard under her breath.

The card trick had done its work though. The students were now exchanging positive opinions of James as they wondered how he had slipped the card into Ann Takamaki's hand without moving.

"We don't have any time to goof off now." Ms. Kawakami chided. "To the gym everybody."

"So that's the new guy?" Ryuji whispered to Akira.

The two were currently sitting at the back wall while Lucina had gone to find one of the girls from the volleyball team. The young man in question was one of the first to be playing, boundless energy showing through as he bounced around from leg to leg.

"Yeah, he's quite... Interesting." Akira nodded, now watching the transfer.

"I guess…I'm gonna guess you've already heard the rumors that asshole Kamoshida's spreadin about him huh?" He then glanced at Ann. "... she hasn't changed a bit."

"Some yes, and what else was that?" Akira switched his attention to the perverted gym teacher.

Kamoshida was leisurely playing, showing off as he slowly destroyed the will of his opponents in what seemed like the march of a one man army. Halfway through the game it was becoming obvious he was targeting the weakest team player every time he spiked. The weakest being that of a bruised and bandaged student from Akira's class. Every hit resulted in a new bruise over the boys arms, a wince from the boy as the wall was slowly chipped down to nothing but a slab that even then was being brutally abused. Eventually it seemed Kamoshida miscalculated and ended up hitting the volleyball right between the eyes of the bruised student. He went down like a sack of bricks and layed there unmoving. (The volleyball rolled over to Ryuji's left.)

This is abuse… right in front of everyone, disguised as a game. Akira watched in disgust.

Kamoshida watched for a second, a small smirk twitched at the corner of his lips before he rushed over to check on the student. Acting concerned he called, "Hey! Someone take him to the nurses office!"

Two stand ins rushed over and took an arm, the gently helped the unconscious boy over to the doors. Kamoshida again watched it for a second before smiling. "Alright let's resume the game!"

"He'll get what's comin to him…" Ryuji muttered as he chucked the volleyball towards the student side.

Ryuji and Akira weren't the only ones to glare at Kamoshida. James also seemed to be watching the PE teacher as he nonchalantly walked back to his side. In that moment James walked over to where the two outcasts were sitting.

"Hey could you look after my stuff for the moment?" He asked in broken Japanese. (In reality he had said "Hi, stuff, watch?"... at least from what they could understand)

Akira nodded as James handed him his pack of cards. The moment Akira took hold of it, he felt a spark light up inside of him, an image of a fox snoozing under a tree appeared in his minds eye.

Wha- Akira blinked.

"Thanks!" The American was already gone though, back to playing the game.

What was that? Akira felt his pulse speed up a little. Maybe... Reluctantly he opened one of the jacket pockets and drew out James' phone. In the middle of the screen was that damn app.

"You ok?" Ryuji looked over, eyes widening at he noticed the phone. "How'd that get on there!?"

"I don't know!" Akira bit his lip. "Maybe it was because I touched his phone?"

"How the hell does that work?" With a sigh Ryuji sank back. "Ugh, you know what let's just go find those witnesses."

With a nod Akira put down the phone and jacket before sending a text to notify Lucina. Little did he know that a small black cat was watching the two boys through a window on the roof. A small smirk passed through the cats lips. Intriguing, opportunity seldom knocks twice yet here I am with four...

Lucina was not having a good time. If she saw the boys later she was going to kick their teeth in for sending her out on her own. Far from gentlemen. She growled as she returned to the gym. Yeah it should be easy for you to get close to the girls team, should be easy to talk to them. Oh yeah it probably would be if I could speak japanese Ryuji!

None of those in the girls team Lucina encountered could speak or understand english, so the past thirty minutes have been utterly wasted. The sounds of excitement and shouting drew her attention away from her own brooding.

"Over here!" James was waving his arms towards one of his teammates who was in the middle of passing the volleyball. (James' arms were littered with little pink patches all over his skin. Some of the female students were also marveling at the massive dent that was in the side of the stage.) The volleyball was passed over to the eager boy as he prepared himself. He glanced over at Kamoshida, who was rushing to the net to block, a cocky smirk on his face. "Sledgehammer!" The new transfer student yelled as he slammed his fist into the volleyball which in turn smashed into Kamoshida's face.

Silence fell across the room as everyone watched the PE teacher stood there, blood streaming out of his swollen nose. Lucina glanced at James for a second. The young man had a small smirk playing across his lips before he rushed over to Kamoshida, a look of concern across his face.

"Sorry sir! Are you ok?" He quickly asked.

"No, no it's perfectly fine. Amazing hit there." Kamoshida waved him off as he covered his nose, an angry grimace played across his face as he partially glared at the transfer student. "You should join the volleyball team."

"I'll think on it." With that James excused himself from the game and went to collect his things.

What was all this about? Lucina tilted her head as she watched James rush out of the gym. Still… I should find Akira and Ryuji. Pulling out her flip phone Lucina texted the two, inquiring where the two were.

LucySteel: Alright where are you two hiding?

AkiraDrift: We went to question the males team. How'd it go on your end?

LucySteel: I'm going to strangle Ryuji.

RyuJinguBang:What?! WHY!

LucySteel: None of them understand english you dolt.

RyuJinguBang: Well that sucks… anyway we're almost done here on our end.

LucySteel: And how is it going?

AkiraDrift: What's the opposite of good?

Lucina sighed. It was to be expected that they would be terrified to answer if the palace was anything to go by.

LucySteel: Well when you're done come over to the courtyard, I'll be waiting by the vending machines.

AkiraDrift: Alright, hopefully we'll find something by then.

James tried his best to hide his glee. Serves him right. He smirked as he picked up his jacket. That guy must think he's so smart but it's obvious that you have it out for the guy when you target him every round. Makes you wonder if he does it to any other students though… With a sigh the american slipped his jacket on and jogged out of the gym, his wounds stinging from the cool air. Oh damn that burns, guess that's what I get for scuffing myself up on the floor. There was one thing that James hated more than jerks and that was losing to jerks. Everytime it looked like it would score in the teachers favor James would dive in and barely save it at the loss of some of his skin, one instance ended up with him slamming his head into the stage. Some people went to help him up but they were surprised to find him already jumping to his feet, a big grin across his face.

Doubt I should get into sports while I'm here though. The transfer student thought with a sigh. This time I gotta succeed… First let's figure out what is where. Now he was walking around the school, trying to get a lay of the land. First floor seemed easily understandable, there was a small school shop that sold food, multiple vending machines were strewn about, and the school gate was easily viewable from the second floor. Ok so if I forget to pack some food I can grab something here. Second floor now. The run through of that floor proved to be pointless given that the classrooms were all he found along with a given bathroom that was on every floor. Alright… well at least I won't get lost now right?

With a groan the young man then looked out into the courtyard. Why do I even bother, it's just going to end as it always has. Then again they're depending on me to succeed this time. His thought process would then be proceeded to be interrupted by a small meow. Glancing up James caught sight of a small black cat with a yellow collar on top of some pavilion roof.

"How the-" His voice catching on disbelief James opened the window, slowly crawling out to the cat. "Hey there bud, ya lost?"

"Mrrooww!" The cat then proceeded to pad its way over to the high schooler and check him out.

"H-huh?" Surprised, James just allowed it to happen. Eventually the cat stuck its head into one of the jacket pockets and started to nose his phone. "Do you want to see my phone kitkat?"

"Rrrow!"

"Alright, let me just get it then." Gently pulling the cat back he brought out the phone. "The hell is this?!"

10/16/18: For those curious of this new character. This was the base sheet I created for him along with the way I wanted him to appear. I didn't add in the card tricks until later and they have a very good reason for being there. Any things I've added on will be in the classic underlined, bolded, and italicized.

Tarot: Fox Lenormand

Persona:Tom Sawyer/Huckleberry Finn, ?, ?

Nationality: American

Name: James Metziner

Appearance:

School: uniform with a black jacket tied around his waist,a pair of black framed glasses hanging from his shirt.

Casual: Black jacket, a cartoonish badge pinned onto the left side of his jacket. A red shirt with a side view of a yellow fox. Blue jeans with black shoes.

Persona user: Newsboy cap, one half of the mask is the classic bandit mask, the other half is a kitsune mask. A brown V-neck style vest, a red tie, a white dress shirt, leather boots, black jeans. Missing his tongue.

Physical appearance: White skinned, Brown hair, Brown eyes, starting to grow facial hair. Physically fit with some sort of muscle showing.

Personality:Little lazy when it comes to work, if a task is something he's into will go into it with hyper focus. Sometimes enjoys physical activity outside. Curious about the country he's been thrown into. Has difficulty with talking to people who aren't interested in the same things he is.

Persona abilities:

Tom Sawyer/Huckleberry Finn

Phys/Gun/Fire/Ice/Eltrc/Wind/Psy/Nclr/Bless/Crse

Ntrl /Wk /Ntrl /Ntrl/Ntrl/Strng/Ntrl/ Ntrl/ Wk/ Drn

Abilities: Eiha, Lunge, Rakunda, Snap

Learns:Taunt, Rebellion, Lucky Punch, Invigorate 1, Evil Smile

Appearance: Two boys shoddily dressed (Huckleberry Finn wearing clothes too big for him Sawyer wearing clothes fine for his size), one carrying a fishing pole(Finn) the other an apple(Sawyer), Both boys take to mischief and will constantly taunt the opponent with childish actions.

Reasoning:Not very many characters have stat debuffing abilities, Ann has Tarunda and Akechi has Debilitate, while Akira/Ren can have whatever the heck he wants. The main goal I wanted this character to have is to lower the opponents defense and then become the main focus on attention. Why he's also mainly curse has to do with his later personas as well.

Alright and that's that for this chapter, I kinda wanna try my hand at custom personas and older mechanics from the other games. "IE: three personas for each character." probably only going to do it with Lucina, and maybe the new person. If you have any questions don't be afraid to ask please. It at least puts my mind at ease about how people are enjoying this. Lots more ideas in the future. So back to behind the curtain I go.