Note: Shout-out to a review for bringing this to my attention. Someone mentioned that this chapter is very similar to another fic called Sparring Session by MrMUnited95 that was released just a little under two weeks before I published this chapter. I checked it out and yeah, wow, pretty similar, but it really was just a coincidence, I've had an idea for a Makoto Vs. Joker fight chapter for a while now and I've been working on it for the last few weeks. I guess two people just had the same idea (shrug).

Peace out

Makoto grins when she enters Ren's room after a long period of training with her Persona, one on one.

The shadows had noticed her power had been drastically increased, as they fled in terror at the sight of her, within a week, she had them fleeing at the sound of a motorcycle revving.

It seems that spending a lot of time with Ren, significantly raised her Persona's strength...

"We need to get you started on training so that you can fully utilize your power." Johanna had told her upon being materialized. Makoto's eyes had widened in shock, but she had wordlessly nodded her head.

During her time training with Johanna, Makoto realized Johanna wants Makoto to have enough power to protect Ren, too.

Within a week of training with Johanna, she informed her it was time to evolve, that the bonds she had forged had unlocked the next level of her Persona, to which Makoto had been speechless.

"I didn't think I had another level..." Makoto whispered, and Johanna had given her a sad smile.

"It takes time to master your Persona, but you need to get started, or else you and he will just end up getting killed. I can't have that." Johanna had revealed, and Makoto had spent the rest of her time in Mementos, training very hard, resting, or eating. She didn't spend any time socializing, because she understood that she had no time for slacking off.

Makoto had been amazed to learn just what all her Persona was capable of, it really surprised her that she was even capable of such power. She had grinned as she had realized that she would even be quite a handful for the very powerful and amazing Ren Amamiya. It had always bugged her a tiny bit that he had surpassed her own abilities in such a ridiculously quick amount of time.

She feels like she's on top of the world, when Ren enters his bedroom and nearly squawks when he sees her leaning up against the window with a soft smile on her face.

"Makoto! You're back!" Ren says as he closes the door. He wishes he could walk over and hug her, but if she pushes him away, he doesn't know how he'll be able to take that. "You've been a ghost for the last few weeks now"

"It's been awhile, huh Ren?" Makoto asks him with a grin, and a sparkle in her eyes.

"Yeah." Ren whispers, not wanting to admit that his life has been plain drab without her around making everything wonderfully complicated.

"Have you been training a lot?" Makoto asks, causing Ren to give her a strange look.

"Not really, just the usual visit to Mementos twice a week." Ren replies, with a bit of a smirk.

"Well I've been training intensely, and I'd like to go to Mementos and keep going." Makoto tells Ren, who's eyes widen.

"Now?" Ren asks her with a bit of surprise.

"Yes now. Do you want to come with me?" Makoto asks him with a pointed stare. Ren finds himself smiling before he even realizes it.

"Of course I want to come with you." Ren says with a grin. Makoto winks at him.

"Great. We can train together." Makoto tells him, and Ren dips his head to the side.

"Are you sure?." Ren tells her in a quiet voice, causing Makoto to slug him in the chin.

"Don't assume I'm so weak. In fact, I'll even challenge you to a friendly battle. You can even use multiple Persona's if you want to." Makoto tells him, causing Ren to scoff.

"I wouldn't use the Wild Card in training against you," Ren says, and then he stops before he pisses her off, since the rest of what he's thinking certainly would piss her off.

"That's interesting. I wouldn't hesitate to use any Persona against you." Makoto tells him, and Ren rolls his eyes.

"Keep dreaming." Ren tells her, and Makoto just keeps smiling.

"Are you taking my challenge, or are you chickening out?" Makoto asks, and Ren rolls his eyes.

"Fine. I accept your challenge, but you're not allowed to cry if you lose." Ren warns her, and Makoto's eyes flash defiantly at him, as she smiles a bit wider.

"The same goes for you." Makoto says in an even voice, and Ren is impressed. She sure can talk a good game.

"I'm amazed you can say those things to me, yet I'm fairly certain you would never challenge Sae like this." Ren tells her, and Makoto gasps.

"Of course I would never challenge Sis." Makoto says with a shake of her head. "I would never hit her either." Makoto says in a pointed voice, and Ren glares at her for that remark.

"Now I feel special," Ren mutters angrily under his breath, but Makoto either didn't hear him, or she pretended not to. He can't tell which it is. He doesn't expect her to just walk past him, and he ends up having to chase after her since she doesn't wait for him, she just starts heading to the train station.

I can't wait to see the look on his face when I show him what I've accomplished.

Ren can sense that something is different about Makoto, now that she's back. He tries to figure it out, but he can't pinpoint what about her has changed. Ren doesn't really relish the idea of a mock battle with her, after all, of all of the people he has the resolve to be able to cut, she is simply not one of those people.

She looks downright eager to cut me though.

Ren feels a bit sulky. He had missed her while she was gone, not that he'd come out and say so, and she acts like they haven't spent any time apart, except for to say it's been awhile.

When they arrive at the train station, Makoto activates Mementos on her phone and the two work their way down until they can find an empty area without shadows

"You ready?" Queen asks, cracking her knuckles

"I'll try not to hurt you too bad" Joker informs her with a sly smirk

"Then get ready to lose" Makoto huffs

"Your fists of Justice Vs. my showstopping abilities" Ren chuckles "Let's see what more damage"

They get into their fighting stances, and Makoto gives Ren a superior look with a small smile as she equips her brass knuckles as Ren draws his knife and the chase begins.

"Arsene!" Ren calls out as the winged phantom appears beside him, he firs small bursts of Eiha towards the charging Queen, each of which she gracefully dodges

His speed pales in comparison to hers, her stamina is immense, which is quite useful whenever she's about to chase a shadow, since he can't run from her, he has no choice but to jump away or get hit. Ren does not notice how she hasn't even summoned Johanna

As they keep going, Ren starts to get frustrated, just as Makoto had expected him to do. It's driving him crazy that he hasn't already won this mock battle. Just as Ren is about to catch her, she brings throw a kick, which Ren's blocks with his arm. He grabs her foot and throws her over her shoulder, Makoto lands on her back and Ren jumps into the air, intending to strike with a final blow. Makoto immediately turns and flies at him with fists drawn, and Ren's eyes widen as he realizes he's nearly caught.

"Damn it!" Ren shouts at the top of his lungs.

Makoto attempts to uppercut him right in the jaw, but he whips his head back to avoid her. As he lands on the ground he immediantly launched himself back into the air and throws a kick to Makoto's gut. Makoto's arms absorb most of the impact but its enough to send her flying back, her feet grinding across the ground until she regains her stature. Ren glares at Makoto as he blocks her attack. She's a cunning and difficult opponent. She's not nearly as easy to defeat as he had imagined she might be.

"Why aren't you using your Persona?" Ren says in a teasing voice, and Makoto gives her an even bigger glare, since it's like she refuses to take him seriously. Now that she's lost her temper, she forgets all about chivalry and fair fighting.

"Fine. You want it? You got it. Persona!" Makoto doesn't wait any more. "Come, Anat!" Makoto calls out, causing Ren's mouth to drop completely to the floor.

"Anat?" Ren asks in shock, as the blue flames are flying all around her. He can hardly believe it when it finally appear. It's not a motorcycle but instead what looks like a bipedal robot, essentially if Johanna transformed into a humanoid form, like that American cartoon he watched as a child, the name escaped him at the moment...

Makoto holds out her hand as a blue ball of energy surges infront of Anat.

"Freidyne" Makoto whispers

Makoto aims the swirl at him and he's instantly targeted by the nuclear blast, Ren nearly screams in terror as it flies right past his face. Makoto responds by arming another blast

"Eihadyne!" Ren calls out frantically, as he starts to try and break apart the Freidyne that's coming right for him. With every blast he negates, another flies at him again. Ren cringes as one blast very nearly misses his manhood.

What is she trying to do to me?

Ren realizes he can't get out of her range, no matter how hard he attempts to, even though he's able to avoid her attacks. He's starting to get tired and it's hard to move, not only that, it's getting harder to breathe.

There's only one way to get out of this…and Ren isn't at all proud that he has to do it.

"Persona!"

Arsene disappears as instead Raphael is summoned, its holy power is enough to blow away all of the nuclear attacks coming from Anat. When a sudden burst of energy, Ren leaps forward, keeping low enough to avoid any more potential Frei strikes

Makoto gasps as Ren is charging towards her with at a million miles per minute. He thrusts his knife forward and she shuts her eyes tight. A few seconds pass as she opens them back up, witnessing Ren holding up the knife, carefully a few inches from her neck

"Ren!" Makoto says, in shock, and Ren is still breathing hard, from what he feels was his near death

"Were you trying to kill me?" Ren snaps at her as he yanks his blade away and starts to stomp away from her. Makoto's mouth drops open at that comment.

He is quite livid that she brought him to the point of having to use the Wild Card against her. He had no idea that she could cultivate that kind of power…the kind that made his amazing abilities, irrelevant.

He looks around at how everything has been blasted away by Makoto's frei attacks, and he realizes she could have captured him, no matter where he would have gone. Not only that, but her new Persona is absolutely amazing…just like her.

"Not one of my blasts even touched you..." Makoto says quietly, and Ren gives her an angry glare.

"They came close enough!" Ren roars at her, and he realizes she's trying not to smile at him.

"Are you surprised Ren? That I have a new Persona?" Makoto asks him, not even seeming worried about his anger, or his near death. Ren shakes his head yes, and he feels a smile breaking on his face.

"I'm beyond surprised. I had no idea that you were even working on it" Ren admits softly, and Makoto smiles.

"I'm still training to master it, but I'm very happy with how it's all turned out." Makoto tells him with a wide smile. "It was much more fun to show you than to just tell you." Makoto says with sparkling eyes, and Ren loses all of his anger completely.

"I was dumbfounded." Ren admits with a whisper. He looks at her in her Phantom thief attire. She looks absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful.

"You're the first person to see it." Makoto tells Ren with a blushing grin.

"Really?" Ren asks with a whisper. Makoto shakes her head no.

"I only obtained it recently, and I have yet to master it. I'd prefer to show the others after I have it mastered." Makoto explains.

"Doesn't the strategist of the Phantom Thieves an obligation to report it?" Ren asks her cheekily, and Makoto nods her head yes at him.

"Well, maybe a break the rules isn't so bad. Since I'd have to tell them why-" Makoto stops mid sentence. She hadn't meant to reveal so much, sometimes it's just so easy to talk to Ren that she forgets she shouldn't just say whatever comes to her mind.

"Tell them what?" Ren asks, suddenly curious. It's even more intriguing when she blushes.

"Nothing." Makoto mutters as she dissipates her Persona and her mask returns.

"I won the match, now you have to tell me," Ren reasons, and Makoto blushes again.

"It's private." Makoto mutters, and Ren gets a surprised and hurt expression on his face at being told that.

"I thought you trusted me?" Ren asks in a confused voice, and he doesn't miss how her face turns an even brighter shade of red than it had previously been. She lets out a loud defeated sigh.

"Fine, I'll tell you, but you better not run off crying when I do!" Makoto threatens him, and Ren nods as he dissipates Raphael and puts his mask back on.

"Alright, shoot." Ren tells her, and Makoto looks at the ground as she gives her explanation.

"Johanna knows how important it is to me to be able to still protect you." Makoto says in a low voice, refusing to meet his eyes. Ren's eyes soften right up. He forgets all about how close she came to killing him, and removing his manhood with her Persona.

"You never change…always trying to protect others." Ren tells her in an amused voice, and Makoto slowly looks up to meet his eyes. Her big red eyes are very large when she responds to him. There's a lump in her throat, but if she's going to tell him this, it might as well be now.

"I want to protect you, because I love you." Makoto tells him, and Ren is shocked beyond all belief. "I...I just wanted you to know that..."

He never expected her to show him her newly acquired Persona, let alone confessing her true feelings to him. It's not as though he didn't know, he's always known, how much he loves her, and that she returns his feelings.

"That's my line," Ren tells her in a soft voice as they stare in each other's eyes. Makoto's lips curve into a smile.

"Is it now?" Makoto asks him, and Ren finally gives into the temptation.

He snatches her up in his arms and kisses her and holds her tight in his arms to let her know that she's not the only one of them, who feels love.

When he pulls away, Makoto is stunned by the love she sees clearly in his eyes. She also realizes that the love has always been there, and she's always failed to notice how brightly it shines in his eyes.

"I'll be loving you and protecting you for as long as I live." Ren whispers as he stares into her eyes.

"Right back at you!" Makoto says with a laugh and then she throws her arms around him and hugs him close. She lays her head against his chest and truly enjoys the feelings of her arms around him, and his arms around her.

Neither one of them say what they're thinking, so they don't realize that they are having the exact same thoughts.

I'll keep getting stronger so that nothing bad ever happens to you.