Stage Sixteen: Start!

Before this chapter begins, please for the love of all things good, DON'T GO POSTING SPOILERS ABOUT PERSONA 5! ALRIGHT! I MAY KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IN THE GAME ALREADY, BUT FOR THE SAKE OF THOSE WHO HAVE NOT, DO NOT GO SPOILING THE GAME! With that said, hope you enjoy. ^^

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For the numerous Fighters in the Super Smash Bros. Tournament, a privilege among many is the ability to let their friends or even rivals from back home come over to the Tournament to act as spectators. Or NPCs if you will. This even counts for those that are classified as "Additional Fighters" to the Tournament.

As such, the Phantom Thieves of Heart had come to Gamindustri to see how their leader would fair against the other Fighters. Suffice is to say, thus far, watching how he seemed to always find himself getting into shenanigans even outside of a match, it was quite unlike anything that they had expected to see. Today in particular, Joker had entrusted his team to their own devices, leaving Makoto Nijima, Ryuji Sakamato, Anne Takamaki, Futaba Sakura, Yusuke Kitagawa, Goro Akechi, Haru Okumura, and Kasumi Yoshizawa to wander the streets of Lastation on their own.

"Well," one Makoto said as the group walked through Lastation's streets, "I think that we can all agree that this Tournament has been quite eventful thus far. Yes?"

"Oh yeah," Ryuji agreed. "I mean, have you seen half the crap our Leader has been telling us about those CPU girls?"

"I will admit," Anne said, "they certainly aren't like any goddess I would have expected. Lady Palutena seems a bit more... appropriate?"

"They're certainly fun," Haru laughed.

"Speaking of our leader," Yusuke said. "Where did he run off to?"

"Well," Goro said, "he said something about going off with Lady Neptune to find some broken sword. Apparently they're going to try summoning a Pokemon from the Galar Region to the Tournament for 'fun' as they claimed."

"Senpai has certainly been more lively," Kasumi laughed. "I mean it seems like every time he is done with a match, he sees us for a minute before he runs off to one of the CPUs."

"Yeah," Futaba added. "As if how he normally is wasn't enough to live with."

"Well," Anne added, "at least life isn't boring."

The group continued to file around themselves for awhile, before they all settled down to grab a bite to eat. They found a local cafe and sat down at one of the outdoor tables, pulling up multiple chairs to satisfy the lot of them, as they continued speaking to one another with drinks in hand. As they did, Goro's keen eyes spotted a familiar face walking from nearby, naturally looking over to see who it was.

"Ah, greetings Zero!" he said to the Maverick Hunter himself as passed by on the sidewalk. He stopped in place and turned to the Phantom Thieves member, waving casually.

Zero had certainly been a lively NPC upon becoming an Assist Trophy, typically found walking around and interacting with anybody that needed help. "Hello there," he greeted. "It's lovely to see you all. How have you been?"

"Quite well," Makoto greeted. "Would you care to sit with us?"

"Well, that's awfully kind of you," Zero replied. "But I do not have to eat. So I'm afraid I will have to decline."

"That's okay," Haru replied. "You can still sit. After all, I think somebody would like to learn more about you!"

"Shh!" Futaba said, a blush on her face as she hushed her teammate.

"Hmm..." Zero said, thinking it over. "While that is fair," he said, "I was also in the middle of a job at the moment. So I should really get back to-"

"What was that, handsome boy?" a flirtatious tone from nearby said. The group saw C-Sha, the Leader of Gold Third and Lowee representative walk over, purposefully leaning up against Zero.

Much like the CPUs themselves, the members of Gold Third all had their own followers, with C-Sha specifically finding herself in charge of the likes of those from the Mega Man and Street Fighter series, just to name a few.

"Hello, Lady C-Sha," Zero said, naturally uncomfortable with the Gold Third's close contact. "I was just informing the Phantom Thieves that we were currently in the middle of a job that you specifically asked my help with, since they were asking if I could sit with them."

"Well why didn't you say so?" she asked. "Why don't we pull up a seat?"

"Yes! Please!" Ryuji said, suddenly finding himself very enthusiastic by C-Sha's presence.

"So," C-Sha said, pulling up a chair, "how have you all been enjoying Gamindustri?"

"It's been a great experience," Yusuke said. "The closest we've gotten to such an experience is our trips to Mementos, which at the end of the day is not quite a hospitable place."

"Yes, I see," C-Sha said. "Well we here in Gamindustri pride ourselves on our hospitality to all those from other dimensions. Isn't that right, Zero?"

"Yes," Zero replied calmly. "That would be correct."

"Why don't you tell them about the first time I brought you and X to Gamindustri?" C-Sha asked.

"T-that won't be necessary," Zero replied, looking away from his Gold Third.

"Is there a problem?" Kasumi asked curiously.

"Oh nothing so much," C-Sha replied. "I just get a kick outta teasing this boy. I really gotta give credit to these Reploids for being able to simulate human emotion so seamlessly."

"Really?" Futaba asked, scooting closer to Zero. "I mean I've heard about it, but I didn't know you could really simulate human emotions to such an extent."

"Why yes," Zero replied. "We Reploids can simulate human emotion to such an extent, we are nearly indistinguishable from human beings."

"Fascinating," Futaba said, wide-eyed as she looked Zero up and down.

"You'll have to forgive her," Makoto said, noting Zero's befuddled expression. "Futaba is a bit of a tech brain herself. While not as 'lethal' with her fascinations as the way Sonic described Nepgear to us, she still has her own quirks."

"Makoto-san..." Futaba said, face reddening slightly.

"I understand," Zero said.

"So why don't you tell me," C-Sha said, "have you all made any friends around here?"

"Friends?" Ryuji asked.

"Yeah," C-Sha said. "I mean you can't expect me to believe you haven't gotten to know anybody here. Especially when there are so many NPCs!"

"Well I don't know about anybody else here," Ryuji said, "but I find I relate to K.K. Slider on a spiritual level. Sans the goofy skeleton, too."

"Is that right?" Goro asked.

"Heck yeah," Ryuji said, flashing back to a moment that he had with Sans.


One day, Ryuji had approached Sans with a request for his salvation. Turns out, the Phantom Thief had naturally gotten himself into a pretty bad situation at the moment and was doing whatever he could to find the means to survive. Also well aware that his teammates would sooner throw him to the sharks rather than do anything to help him.

Sans hid Ryuji behind a conveniently shaped tree, just as Solid Snake had approached the skeleton with a rather firm expression on his face. "Alright, what did you do with it?" Snake asked.

"what'd i do with what?" Sans asked in a cheeky manner, looking at the agent with his perpetual smile.

"You know what I mean," Snake replied. "The control for Metal Gear REX. The CPUs had asked me to grab it for them, and that Ryuji kid decided to mess with it like it was a toy. The Metal Gear smashed its head into the walls of Shadow Moses, and is now stuck there until we find a way to get it out. Which we need the control for. So where is it?"

"i dunno," Sans said. "i've just been sitting here looking at this conveniently shaped tree. wanna look at it with me?"

"No," Snake replied firmly, turning and going on his merry way to look for Ryuji.

"okay, you're good," Sans said.

"Thanks Sans!" Ryuji said, coming out from the tree, gasping and panting for breath.

"y'know," Sans said, "while i'm not one who typically acknowledges authority of a basic level, i would say in this case it might just be easier to bite the bullet."

"Trust me," Ryuji said, "the last thing I want right now is to be held accountable for a Stage nearly being destroyed! But if I gave this thing to Snake, or God forbid, Lady Blanc, I would be crushed! I'm gonna look for somebody a little more... understanding?"

"okay," Sans said. "good luck with that. maybe later we can hit up grillby's."

"Sure," Ryuji said. "That sounds good! I heard from Lucas and Mario that you took them there. But... I do question how you got there."

"i have my ways," Sans said simply, delivering a shrug with a wink, before he slipped away.


"He is quite the character," Anne observed.

"Agreed," Goro nodded.

"How about you, Miss Nijima?" Zero asked.

"For me personally," Makoto said, "I find Marth's friend Caeda to be a very intelligent and admirable woman." She punctuated her point with a memory of her own of one of the first times she spoke with Caeda.


Makoto was positively floored by the fact that she was actually not only looking at, but petting a real life pegasus. The creature was certainly majestic and proud. Typically these creatures are thought of as pretty creatures made from little girls' fantasies, yet this one showed that they were actually powerful and imposing creatures despite their association.

"He seems to like you," Caeda said, as the pegasus nudged itself closer to Makoto, as the Phantom Thief continued rubbing the creature's head.

"It is still impressive to think you ride such a creature into battle," Makoto said.

"Well," Caeda said, "while I may have been the princess of Talys, that certainly did not mean that I was going to merely sit idly by and do nothing in the event my kingdom was in danger. I would much rather fight and protect it directly."

"You are certainly an impressive individual yourself, Makoto Nijima. The way you harness that Persona to help change your world by altering the hearts of its people, truly shows the strength of your ideals."

"Oh, no Caeda," Makoto said. "I'm nowhere near as admirable as you. I mean, I could never imagine being a warrior princess like you. Let alone a soon to be queen."

Caeda's face flushed as she laid a gentle smile on the engagement ring on her finger. "Yes," she said. "While that certainly is impressive in concept, I know if you and I were to switch places, you could easily step up to the challenge. It merely requires a bit of... experience."

Makoto looked back at the pegasus, stroking its mane a bit more thoughtfully. That is, until from nearby the princess and the phantom thief heard a loud 'bang!' They both turned to see Morgana and a pair of Inklings stuck on top of a runaway Devil Car as it crashed its way down the road, with Pikachu, Rush, and IF and Compa giving chase!

"Somebody stop this crazy thing!" Morgana yelled.

"It's your own fault for messing with it!" IF yelled.

Makoto and Caeda looked to one another. "I don't suppose," Makoto said, "you've ever had to deal with a situation like this, your majesty?"

"Believe it or not," Caeda replied, "yeah." The two mounted Caeda's pegasus and began giving chase!


"Agreed," Yusuke said. "She certainly is ahead of her time."

"What about you, Yusuke?" C-Sha prodded.

"Hm..." Yusuke said, eyes gliding to the sky. "Well for me, I would have to say Miss Yuri Kozukata is quite an elegant individual. She is understanding and wise. I also find Shovel Knight to be an honorable individual."

That second one took a few of the others by surprise. "Shovel... Knight?" Kasumi asked.

"Yes," Yusuke replied bluntly. "His armor is quite a sight to behold, and his sense of honor and chivalry goes unrivaled."

"Well," C-Sha said, "I suppose everyone has their own style. What about you, Goro?"

"Oh, me?" Goro asked. "Well, I can't deny that Alucard certainly does have my attention."

"Oh yeah!" Kasumi said. "Alucard is a really impressive guy!"

"He's always kinda intimidated me," Haru said.

"Well," Goro said, "you merely need to know how to talk with him."


"Mr. Alucard," Goro said, finding Alucard walking down a path in Leanbox one day. "I hope you don't mind if I call you that. I was wondering though if I may talk to you."

"Certainly," Alucard said. "What can I help you with?"

"Well," Goro said, "I do not think it's a secret that your father is none other than Count Dracula himself."

"Quite," Alucard said. "I do not keep it a secret. However, I do not let it define me, either. In fact, I do my best to refute that fact."

"Yes," Goro said. "And that is quite admirable of you. However, I do wonder, what is it that particularly drives you to stand oppose to your father's tyrrany."

Alucard looked straight ahead, his eyes somewhat glazed over as he looked ahead. "My mother was a human," he said, "and my father was a vampire. Already you can imagine that is looked at as something of a sin in the eyes of the rest of humanity. My mother was killed under accusations of witchcraft and as such my father's evil, which at that time had been somewhat snuffed out by the light of my mother's presence in his life, caused him to declare war on humanity and destroy them all for their crimes."

"Yes," Goro said simply, "humanity can be ignorant and heartless. Specifically to things they do not understand."

"Yet," Alucard said, "it's hardly the entirety. I have met a number of good and kind humans in my past. Not only Richter, but also his ancestor Trevor. Both of whom are inspirations to the best humankind can be. And there are several more out there, including ones I have not even met myself."

"So you prefer," Goro said, "to look at the best of mankind. Whilst your... father, preferred to look at the worst."

"If you wish to look at it that way," Alucard said. "Though I will say, it's best to always recall the best that mankind can be. Because if you only worry yourself with the worst, you can only expect the worst of everything in life."

Alucard parted ways with Goro, as the Next Detective Prince watched him go with a curious look on his face. "What a very interesting man," he observed.


"Well," Zero said, "that was a very... deep conversation between the two of you."

"Goro's a deep guy," Ryuji said simply.

"So how about the rest of you ladies?" C-Sha wondered, looking to Haru, Anne, and Kasumi.

"Well," Haru said, "I haven't talked to a lot of the NPCs myself, yet I have tlaked quite a bit with Compa!"

"Ah," Zero said. "One of Lady Neptune's human companions."

"Yeah!" Haru said. "She's a very sweet and nice girl. I've happily helped her out in the past in healing other Fighters."

"She actually reminds me a bit of you," Kasumi said, tilting her head to the side.

"Sure enough," Anne said.

"Maybe that's why we get along!" Haru said happily.

"What about you, Anne?" C-Sha asked.

"Well," Anne said, rubbing the back of her neck.

"She got pretty cozy with Blue Mary," Ryuji said snarkily.

"Hey!" Anne said. "Why don't you know how to keep your mouth shut!?"

"Blue Mary?" Zero asked.

"One of the recent additions from Terry's world," C-Sha said.

"It was a bit hard for me to not get close," Anne said. "She's very friendly."


"Hey, Takamaki!" the fighter herself said, catching the attention of Anne as she was walking in the opposite direction.

"Oh, uh...?" Anne said, failing to remember her name, as she had only met her in passing before.

"Blue Mary," the woman herself said, patting Anne on the shoulder. "It's okay that you don't remember. So, how're you doing?"

"Oh," Anne said. "Uh, good. How about you?"

"Fine," Mary replied. "Just kinda been looking around right now. This Gamindustri place is something else, isn't it?"

"Y-yeah," Anne said. "It definitely is." She was a little bit thrown by Mary's casual attitude, acting as if the two were already on friendly terms with one another. Whilst Anne herself was certainly not against becoming friends, but she figured it'd take some time.

Blue Mary herself naturally noticed the younger girl's attitude, and merely shot her a smirk. "Hey," she said, "it's okay, you don't have to worry. I'm chill. You can just act open around me."

"If you say so Mary-san," Anne replied.

"Oh, you can just call me Mary," Blue Mary said. "Just drop the whole honorific thing."


"Ever since then," Anne said, "she's been giving me some good fitness tips. She's a really good person."

"Oh! I know what you mean senpai!" Kasumi said. "She's a super inspiring woman!"

"Now that I'm thinking of it," Makoto said, "you've gotten close to one of Caeda's friends, haven't you?"

"That's right," Goro said. "You're close to one of Caeda's acquaintances."

"Oh yeah!" Kasumi said.


"Oh... my... gosh!" Kasumi said, awestruck over Tsubasa Oribe's backstory. "You are so cool!"

"Thanks Yoshizawa-san," Tsubasa said. "You're not bad yourself. You said you want to be a professional gymnast, yeah?"

"That's right!" Kasumi replied. "I have sadly been in a bit of a slump lately, but my senpai is helping me get out of it! He's a really nice and caring guy."

"That's Joker, right?" Tsubasa asked.

"Yup!" Kasumi replied. "He might seem devious on the surface, but he's a really kind guy."

"I don't doubt it," Tsubasa replied.

"But you gotta tell me something, Oribe-san," Kasumi said, "how is it like knowing a princess like Caeda?"

"Oh, she's great," Tsubasa replied. "In a way, she's kinda like a senpai of my own."

The two girls proceeded to giggle.


"She's great!" Kasumi said again.

"Well," C-Sha said. "Looks like you all have gotten to get friendly with some of the locals. So how about Futaba?"

"Yeah," Anne agreed, "you've been pretty quiet the whole time."

The group looked where Futaba was sitting... or rather was sitting, as she was now completely gone! The Phantom Thieves began to freak out, looking around desperately to see where the redheaded navigator had gone!

"Where did she go!?" Ryuji asked.

"I don't know! She was here a minute ago!" Haru said.

"We have to find her! Now!" Anne said.

"Yeah! Senpai will lose it if he finds out we lost her!" Kasumi said.

"It's alright," C-Sha said, trying to calm them. "She couldn't have gone that far. And what is the worst that could happen to her? She's hardly a child."

"You don't understand," Yusuke said grimly. "Our leader will certainly destroy us if he finds out we misplaced Futaba."

"Joker has a bit of an older sibling relationship with her," Goro added. "And henceforth, he will certainly be a bit peeved if he were to hear that we lost her."

"Oh no," Zero said, rubbing his eyes.


Turns out, Futaba had crossed paths with a man by the name of Otacon that was currently showing her the work he was doing on a Mettaur. "So you see," he said, "Dr. Wily's augmentation of this device?"

"Yes, I do," Futaba said. "Very fascinating."

"I must admit Miss Sakura," Otacon said, "your interest in science is very admirable."

"Well," Futaba said, "I am a bit of a hacker myself and just can't help but have a fondness for machinery. I've thought about talking to Nepgear so I could look at that N-Gear handheld of hers, but Sonic's warnings about how she can get with tech has made me a bit... fearful."

"Yes," Otacon said, "the CPU-Candidate of Planeptune is quite unlike any kind of a scientist that I have ever seen before."

Not far away, Joker was walking past with Morgana hanging onto his shoulder. "Oh, hey Futaba," Joker greeted.

"Yo," Futaba waved.

The leader of the Phantom Thieves walked past, until he turned a corner, only to see the rest of his teammates continuing to panic!

"What in the world?" Joker wondered.


A/N: And through the flames of anarchy and chaos I have arisen back again to update SmashDimension Neptunia: Ultimate! Yes, it has been quite crazy over here in the past few weeks with classes wrapping up before Spring Break. And on top of that, there was details going on with our break being "extended" in the wake of the coronavirus, but having to do online courses after the week's end. And to top all of that off, dorms won't be opening up on my end at the end of the semester, meaning that all the stuff I left will have to be dragged back home with me.

So before we continue with this note, I do want to wish everyone the best and to stay safe out there. While I do think that a bunch of this panic is a bit exaggerated, I still hope that everyone stays healthy out there.

Onto the chapter here, this one more or less combines two ideas: The first being the Phantom Thieves getting to explore Gamindustri, and some more focus on NPC characters of the fic! In addition to Futaba meeting and interacting with Otacon, which I threw in as a gag for the ending.

I had C-Sha act all flirty around Zero due to C-Sha representing Capcom, so she's kind of Zero's own "goddess" not unlike how Blanc is Mario's and Neptune is Sonic's, though Gold Third aren't technically goddesses. Honestly I enjoyed making their interactions quite a bit.

The second thing of note is that I used the entire Phantom Thieves roster from P5 Royal, including Kasumi Yoshizawa, who is a precious patoot that must be loved at all costs. And once again I would like to remind you all to NOT spoil anything in the reviews for those that haven't played Royal or seen clips of it online... the latter of which is what yours truly did.

With all that being said, we have many of the NPCs that I decided to showcase. Not much else to say, this was very much a case of me thinking of characters to showcase that would have fun interactions with the Phantom Thieves that I used here. I decided to write flashbacks for some over others namely because I couldn't think of some. I hope that doesn't bother anybody.

I can't deny that including Tsubasa from Tokyo Mirage Sessions as a character to interact with Kasumi was especially fun, considering Tokyo Mirage Sessions is a crossover so to speak between Megami Tensei, the parent franchise of Persona, and Fire Emblem!

The whole ordeal with the others freaking out over losing Futaba was something that I had a lot of fun with, especially with them thinking of just how angered their leader would be with losing his little sister insert! Nothing else to say aside from, this one turned out being a fun chapter to write.

Anyway, with Fighter Pass 2 on the way, the hope of Neptune getting into Smash still remains in my heart! Especially in recent days with Megadimension being ported to the Switch in Japan! The 10th Anniversary of Neptunia is still going strong and I cannot tell you how hopeful I am!

Review Time!

To ARSLOTHES: Honestly, I did think of shipping Pit with Nepgear initially as just a joke, but it has significantly grown on me over time. I namely just did it because I thought the two could relate quite a bit, what with the both of them being the butt monkeys of their respective universes and are blindly devoted to their respective goddesses. I think the two are just the most precious little things!

To 3 Question Marks: If you mean the Xenoblade request, don't worry. I will get to that soon. I've already made some notes about it, so I intend to get to all the requests I can.

And to Jacob9594: Yes. Nobody can resist Kirby's cuteness.

Anyway, thank you as always for reading and for your patience. And join us next time where we will introduce Byleth, and finally wrap up the introductions of the cast from the initial Fighter Pass. I fondly look forward to when the Fighter Pass 2 cast is introduced and we can include them too! Until next time, have a wonderful evening, and take care!