Day: April 15th: Friday
Time: Early Morning
Location: Shadow Kamoshida's Castle
The four of them entered through the hole near the castle gate, still uncompromised by the guards there. Once they entered, they made their way near the great hall. The thieves hid in the darkly lit corridor where they saw Shadow Kamoshida in front of his guardsmen, waiting attentively for their 'great king' to speak.
"Those intruders the other day were quite entertaining." He began in a slightly amused tone, "However, I can't allow that trash to ransack my castle! Strengthen the security! Kill them on sight! I'll reward whoever brings me their heads."
The shadows cheered in rally at his orders, causing the four intruders to stiffen at the threat before them.
"Praise to King Kamoshida!"
"Death to the intruders!"
Skull groaned at their display, he turned to Mona on his right. "Hey, Mona. Can't we just beat the shit outta him and call it a day?"
"Look at all those soldiers, idiot! It'd be suicide." He hissed in annoyance, "And I'm sure you don't want a repeat of last time. Besides, don't you want him to confess his sins? There's no point beating him up. We need to steal his materialized desires… The Treasure."
"And where would that be, exactly?" Ghost asked as he and Joker looked to the cat from their position.
Mona put a paw to his chin, "It has to be somewhere in the depths of this castle. Let's infiltrate further in while he's out here!"
With that plan established, the four slipped away from the entrance while Kamoshida was still flaunting himself to his men. Sneaking through the halls, they discovered a lone guard wandering around. Skull looked to Joker as he rubbed his nose, "One guard huh? Let's take him down and keep going, I want to get this bastard as quick as possible."
"Wait…" Mona halted them from jumping to action, "We need all the materials we can get, so let's try to get something out of this."
"What do you mean?" Joker asked the cat, "You want us to rob the shadow? Is that even possible?"
"Shadows are born from people's hearts, meaning they act like them too." Mona explained as the four slowly moved in through the corridors. Hiding right behind the guard. "Naturally, shadows aren't interested in dying so they should be willing to bargain for their lives."
"Well then…" Joker cracked his knuckles before leaping to action. He jumped onto the knight's shoulders before pulling at it's mask. "Time to see what you have for us!"
From the guard, came a fairy that struggled to float. The thieves immediately pulled out their guns, causing the shadow to raise its hands up in surrender. She shrieked, "W-W-Wait! You guys are the intruders that King Kamoshida was talking about?! I… What are you going to do to me?"
"We'll let you go, if you can hand over all your money." Joker demanded with a stern voice as he raised the barrel of his pistol to the fairy.
"Oh! Right, of course… I… Don't have anything on me…" The fairy blanched at her lack of funds.
"Seriously? Hm, this wasn't how I was planning for it to go…" Mona awkwardly rubbed his head as he lowered his slingshot, "Well, I guess it's time for you to go to hell."
"Sheesh, this is dark…" Ghost commented casually as he kept both of his berettas locked onto the helpless fairy on the ground.
"Wait! Don't kill me, please!" The shadow brought her hands together in pleading, "I'm sure we can work something out!"
"Well, alright. I'll let you go… to hell." Joker smirked, keeping his voice deepened to sound cool. Which caused the shadow to scoff at him, catching Joker off-guard.
"Ugh… That was really cheesy." The shadow began to giggle, causing the four thieves to sigh at their lack of intimidation. "But those stupid one-liners are always fun to say, though…"
"They are, aren't they?" Joker smiled at the same wavelength that he and the shadow were on, causing his fellow thieves to glare at him.
The fairy slowly floated to him with a smile on her face, "I guess you and I aren't so different. Hm… Oh, Oh! I just remembered something!"
"Hm?"
The shadow began to glow in a blue flame as she hovered close to Joker, "I never just belonged to Kamoshida. I'm an existence that drifts about in the sea of humanity's souls. My real name is Pixie! From now on, I'll live on inside your heart!"
The shadow transmuted into a ball of fire that morphed into a blue form of Joker's mask. The object flew onto Joker' face, searing itself alongside his original domino vizard. Joker blinked at what had just happened. His teammates gathered around him, astounded at what happened.
"Did… you just eat that shadow?" Ghost asked Joker, who was too speechless to give him a response.
"Was that supposed to happen?" Skull turned to Mona, who looked about as surprised as them.
"Intruders?! Halt!" A guard appeared from the hallway, catching them off guard. The four leaped out of the knight's sword swing. The shadow exploded, revealing itself to be two dark horned horses. Snuffling in anger at the sight of the Phantom Thieves.
"Jeez, these guys keep coming out from the wood works!" Ghost groaned as he called forth his mysterious persona, Skull following as well.
The two astral figures fended off the shadows. Captain Kidd doing quite well as his Zio blasts struck the bicorn's weak spots. While Ghost could only give boosts to Skull's strength as his persona had not much to offer in its attacks.
Joker went to call Arsene, reaching for his mask with a steady pull, however he noticed an energy that differed from the Pillager of Twilight. With a shout, he instinctively called the specific persona's name. "Pixie!"
"Woah! When did Arsene look like that?" Ghost asked as his Persona wrestled with a bicorn with its feet.
"No way…" Mona gaped at such a unique circumstance, "You turned the shadow into a persona?"
"Apparently," Joker smirked as Pixie floated right in front of him. He brought his thumb and index finger together, his newest persona charging up lightning in her hands as he readied his fingers. "Blast 'em!"
With both snaps of his fingers, the pixie shot a spark of Zio at the Bicorns. Captain Kidd and Ghost's persona quickly floated away to let the sparks finish off the Bicorn shadows. Both thieves called back their personae to rush over to Joker, who was returning Pixie back to his mind. He looked at his teammates with a blanket expression.
"Uh… weird right?" He attempted to play coy with a sheepish smile on his face.
"I don't understand, does that mean you can wield multiple personas?!" Morgan jumped with widened eyes.
"I think so? I still feel Arsene with me, as well as Pixie…" Joker rubbed the side of his head.
"To be able to seal any enemy shadow into your mask and use their power, I've never seen someone be able to do something like it!" Mona exclaimed, causing Skull and Ghost to raise a brow at.
"What do you mean?" Ghost asked, "Is this something that only Joker can do?"
"Maybe? Only one heart exists within one person, so normally one person can have one persona! But this… With this ability, we have a huge advantage in battle!" Mona jumped in excitement before turning to the other two thieves, "Ghost, Skull, it seems that Joker will need assistance in collecting as many allies as he can. So we need you two to give any form of aid you can possibly give him."
"Aye, aye." Ghost saluted with a smile on his face.
Skull pumped his fist in excitement, "Hell yeah! By the time we're done, we'll have a whole ass army to take down Kamoshida!"
TAKE YOUR TIME
Unbeknownst to the thieves, Ann Takamaki was able to find her way back into the Castle. After finding a strange app on her phone and uttering the same words as Sakamoto, she was able to be warped back into this distorted version of Shujin.
"I… What's going on?" She voiced her thoughts as she looked down to her phone, "How did this app just‒"
"Princess!" A distorted voice called out to her. Ann immediately turned her head to it, only to see something weird, large men in armor rushing towards her. "Princess, King Kamoshida is very strict on your leave from the castle. We'll have to take you to him ourselves."
"Wait… Princess?" Ann wasn't able to get another word in as she was heaved over one of their shoulders. "H-Hey, Wait! You've got‒ Ah!"
She began kicking in protest, the knight not even flinched at the boots to the head. "I'm telling you, you're mistaken! I'm not‒ Woah!"
TAKE YOUR TIME
"So where do we start?" Ghost looked to Mona as he leaned against the wall of the safe room. "This whole Treasure thing, where exactly do we find it?"
"That's just something we're going to have to find as we explore Kamoshida's castle, but it won't be easy with Kamoshida on high alert." Mona sighed as he crossed his arms.
"Speakin' of that, yeah." Skull jumped into the conversation, "More of those shadows have been popping up, they've been a pain to get through."
"It must be because you guys had provoked Kamoshida in the real world," Mona confidently assumed, "Whatever happens to Kamoshida's cognition over there, affects what happens here."
"Well, despite that little obstacle, how are we going to get to the treasure?" Joker asked with his hands in his pocket. "I'd like to deal with this as soon as possible considering what's on the line."
"Calm your horses, we'll just have to secure an infiltration route." Mona jumped onto the table that they were centered around. "It'll lead us straight to the Treasure room, but it won't be easy…"
Mona looked to Ghost with a raised paw, "When we were fighting those shadows, I noticed how your persona struggled against it."
"Okay, what do you want me to do? Tell him off?"
"First, I want you to take this seriously!" Mona raised a paw at him, "That persona of yours seems too weak to be able fend for itself. It can't do anything other than support. If you don't shape up, then you'll just be a hindrance for us."
Ghost gritted his teeth at the cat before letting a sigh escape from him. Joker and Skull watched the two, both unable to comment on it.
"With the manpower we have now, we won't be able to succeed in our mission." Mona turned to Joker and Skull, Ghost looking at the floor in the background. "If we just get one more person involved then maybe…"
"Tch… For someone who has amnesia, you sure do have alot to say about the palace and our situation." Skull stepped to stare down the supposed 'honest-to-god' human. "You sure talk big, but what if it turns out you're just some stray cat in the end?"
Mona became crestfallen at the idea, "That can't be…"
"Let's not continue this squabbling," Joker moved forward, uneasy with the bickering between them. "We came here for a reason, to steal Kamoshida's treasure."
"Yeah, Joker's right…" Ghost whispered as he stood near the door, "I think I hear footsteps…"
The thieves immediately went silent as they stood near the door. Keeping their ears to it to listen in on any possible leads that the guards might spill.
"Still, why would the princess be in such an odd place?"
"Princess?" Skull whispered to which Ghost shushed at as the guard's metal boot clicking drew closer.
"I could have sworn we were pursuing the readings of a prisoner."
"Doesn't matter now, we must take her to King Kamoshida."
"What 'Princess' are they talking about?" Skull looked to Ghost and Joker, who shrugged in response.
"Allow me to look into this." Mona zipped past through the door. His teammates looked on with fatigue.
"And yet another question goes unanswered…" Skull pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Stuff like the castle and that navigation app are mysterious… but Morgana's got 'em both beat."
"Code names, bro." Ghost reminded him.
"Crap! Sorry! What was I again? Oh yeah, Skull?"
"Maybe we should have name tags…" Joker rubbed his chin in jest, Skull letting out a frustrated sigh at his mockery.
Amongst this, Mona rushed back into the room with fear plastered onto his face. His breath was heavy as he announced to the other three thieves, "This is bad! They've captured your friend… Lady Ann!"
"Wait, what?" Skull reeled back in surprise at what the cat had told them, "We just sent her home, there's no way that she could get back in."
"Unless…" Joker let out a sigh as he brought a hand to his face, "That app must have showed up on her phone when she followed us here."
"Damn this stupid world and it's confusing rules," Ghost grumbled at their lack of understanding of the metaverse. "We have to hurry up and save her, right?"
His fellow thieves nodded before slipping out the door. Keeping away from shadows yet they needed to be quick with their rescue. God knows what this distorted version of Kamoshida just might do.
TAKE YOUR TIME
Ann Takamaki used every bit of strength to try and wrestle out of those freaky guards' hold on her. But no matter much she squirmed, these things never even shifted from her kicks. Ann was locked into shackles that bound each limb.
She attempted to struggle out of them as she looked to the guards. Standing beside her captured state, almost like mindless statues.
"What's all this about!?" She seethed at these strange knights, "Seriously, I'm gonna call the cops if you don't let me out!"
"So, this is the intruder." A familiar sickening voice rang. Ann raised her head to Kamoshida, clad in a heart patterned cape as he stared her down with golden eyes.
"Kamoshida?!" Ann asked in disbelief at sight of seeing that bastard in such an odd place as this. Beside him, arrived someone else. A girl with blonde hair that were tied into pigtails and teal blue eyes. She was dressed in a revealing purple bikini and a tiara along with a pair of cat ears rested on her head.
"Who?‒ What's going on?!" Ann shouted to her captors, "Why is the school like this?"
"I can't believe you mistook my Ann for someone like her." Kamoshida went to stroke the look-a-like of Ann's chin. He turned to her, an evil smile crept onto his face. "Are you afraid?"
"What the hell is all of this?!" Ann shouted, causing Kamoshida to let out a laugh. "Have you lost your mind?!"
"I do as I please here." Kamoshida proclaimed, drinking in every bit of the display before him. "After all, this is my castle… The world of my desires."
" This isn't funny! Enough of the bullshit, Kamoshida!"
The perverted gym teacher let an airy laugh out. He turned to the other Ann, who looked blank-faced yet held mischief in her eyes as she stared at Kamoshida. The teacher smirked, "The girl's decided to tell me off, what do you think?"
"Talking back is like… Totally unforgivable…" The other Ann drawled out in a dull tone of voice.
"In that case, she should be executed." With a wave of his hand, Kamoshida called for another one of his guards to step forward. A shadow in gold armor that stood taller than it's fellow guards. "Now how should I play with you? Shall I tear you into little pieces?"
The sounds of the door being forced open caused everyone in the room to turn their heads to it. Out stepped Kurusu, Sakamoto, Watanabe, and that strange cat creature. The four looked around the room in disgust at the sight of the statues. Modeled after highschool girls in gym clothes, each one displayed a seductive pose.
"Huh? What's over…" Kyotaro turned to see Ann locked up with Shadow Kamoshida overseeing it all.
"Takamaki?!" Ryuji exclaimed in disbelief as they all shared the same shock of her presence here.
"Just when I was about to start enjoying myself…" Kamoshida groaned at their arrival, placing a hand to his head.
Ann looked over to the three Shujin boys alongside their cat, half-relief and half-confused. She called out to them in a strained voice, "What's the deal with this guy…!?"
"Never mind that," Akira jumped in with his blade in hand. He turned to Kamoshida, "Let her go or we'll be tearing down your castle!"
"Hmph, empty threats are meaningless." The king sneered at the challenger before him, instead he kept his attention to his prisoner. "I bet you're just like those thieves. You came because you're pissed at me, huh? But, ah… I forget that chick's name, but it's your fault she jumped, you know."
"What…" Ann's voice became rigid.
Kamoshida gave a sickly sneer as he gazed over Ann's captured state. "You were so reluctant to throw yourself onto me that I had her take your place."
"You… Bastard!" It was all Ann could get out, her mind was filled with fire as she saw red.
As she squirmed, the two silver guards raised their swords to her neck. Causing her to stiffen at the threat. The thieves attempted to rush in and save her but they were stopped when Kamoshida raised a hand. His devilish smile caused them to grit their teeth.
"Take one step and she's dead on the spot, just sit back and enjoy the dismantlement show." Kamoshida's grin grew as a mischievous thought came to mind. "Maybe I'll start with her clothes…"
The thieves reached for their guns, only to stop at the realization of how pointless it was. Nothing they had on them could save Takamaki. They were completely useless here…
They watched as Ann lowered her head in defeat, accepting what was to come for her. "Is this my punishment, for what happened to Shiho? I… Shiho, I'm so sorry..."
Akira had enough of this show. He shouted aloud, "Don't give into what this bastard is saying!" Takamaki raised her head in shock at his words. "Suzui is your friend, right? You're only one! Don't you want revenge?"
"I…" Ann lowered her head, "Shiho's been my best friend since middle school. No one else would talk to me, but she was different. And I let him toy with me… both of us... "
"Oh, what a sad story… Some friend, you are..." Kamoshida groaned. He looked to his guards and ordered, "Get it over with quick‒"
"...Shut up!" Ann seethed through her teeth. She raised her head, hatred burned through her eyes. "I've had enough of this… You've pissed me off, you son of a bitch!"
…
"My… It's taken far too long." A voice called out to Ann, causing her head to pierce. She convulsed in response to the searing pain dealt to her head. The shackles binding her began to rattle.
"Tell me… Who's going to avenge her if you don't?" Sweat poured down Ann's face as the pain lingered. Tears flowed from her eyes as the voice called out to her again, "Forgiving him was never the option… Such is the scream of the other you that dwells within… I am thou, thou art I… We can finally forge a contract."
"I hear you… Carmen." Ann whispered as her head was dropped. She gritted her teeth and raised her head, sparks of blue flame erupted from her face and revealed a mask. On her visage was a red cat man that revealed her eyes, once teal now a sickly gold. "You're right. No more holding back!"
Ann began forcing her wrists out of the shackles, the voice in her head quietly cheered her on as she did. "There you go… Nothing can be solved by restraining yourself. Understand? Then I'll gladly lend you my strength."
She reached for her mask, tearing it off in a flesh tearing flick. From this, a pillar of blue flame emerged and absorbed Ann. And from that flame, came forth her Persona.
Amongst the flames was Ann, clad in a red forming-fitting bodysuit made of leather that exposed her cleavage. With pink arm-length gloves, red knee high boots, and a long cat tail attached to her backside.
Standing behind her was a tall woman with pink skin. She wore a black and red rose dress and a puma mask along with a cigar in her mouth. In her possession were two short men with hearts for heads. One, she held on with a leash, the other, being used as a stepping stool.
Ann stared down her opposition; three mindless guards, a toy made in her image, and a filthy bastard that cowered behind his shadows. She rushed over to one of the guards and kicked it's sword into the air, letting it fly over to Kamoshida and jumped up to catch it. Ann brought it down onto the copy of her, satisfied seeing it dissipate to dust.
She turned to Kamoshida, who hid behind the gold knight as he sweated buckets. "You know what? I'm not some cheap girl you can toy with… you scumbag."
"Bitch…!" Kamoshida attempted to bite back, not leaving any effect on Ann. The four thieves joined beside her to face down the royal coward before them.
"You stole everything from Shiho… You destroyed her… Now it's your turn!" She jabbed a finger towards his direction as she seethed with rage. "I will rob you of everything!"
"How dare you! Enough of your insolence!" The knights began to convulse, melting into puddles of black and red that merged together. From this vortex, emerged a large shadow. A two horned demon that lazily sat upon a toilet gazed down at the thieves, barring it's sharp teeth.
Ann faced down the challenge with determination. "No, I've had enough of you! No one's going to stop me now! Let's go Carmen!"
The shadow sent multiple streaks of green wind that tore at them. Each thief narrowly avoided being in the center of their small tornado. He spouted out in anger as he readied up another blast for all of them, "How dare you deny King Kamoshida's love, you selfish lass!? Pay for this insolence with your life!"
Before the shadow could strike them all, a blast of fire was sent to it's head‒ knocking it down. The thieves turned to see Ann without her mask as her persona launched several sparks of flame to the shadow. She faced down the demon with a stern look on her face.
"That dirtbag just sees women as sexual outlets!" She growled in disgust at the mention of Kamoshida. "Don't make me laugh with that "love" bullshit!"
"Grgh… Insults to the king will grant you a painful death!"
He shot out chunks of ice from his mouth, each one darted towards Ann at a rapid speed. She rolled out the way, the first two had missed her but the third hit her in the back. The other thieves went to help her up but they were sent flying due to a Magaru blast. Ann reached for her mask as the demon began to ready another ice blast.
"For your treachery, you now face your demise!"
He sent an extremely large blast of ice towards her. Ann braced herself, however she noticed how not a single bit of ice had touched her. Looking up, she saw a strange figure of black wrapped in chains guarding her. The creature shivered in pain as Kyotaro let out a groan.
"Ghost!" Ryuji rushed over to his friend who fell to the ground in pain, his persona dissipating after the blow. He kept himself on one knee as he shook, his teeth chattering as well. "Ghost, you okay man?"
"N-N-N-Never mind me," He looked to Ann, raising up a thumb as he gave a weak smile. "J-J-Just… Finish that guy so we can go home…"
Ann blinked in surprise before picking herself up off the ground, "Thanks… I'll do just that. Carmen! Burn him!"
With the removal of her mask, her persona shot multiple bursts of fire that knocked the toilet demon back onto the ground. With that, the words came to her mind like second nature.
"All-out Attack!" Ann, Akira, Ryuji, and Morgana jumped into the air and began to strike in a flurry. The demon began to tear apart at their cuts.
Ann dropped down, giving a short twirl, looking forward and held up the peace sign whilst the guard captain spewed out blood. A background of predominantly pink appeared behind her with icons and logos of the typical girly-girly motif. Cursive text with fluorescent colors that read-out,
OMG! We are SO awesome!
"I-I-I-I still don't get that…" Kyotaro let out a shaky laugh after bearing witness to another one of those all-out attacks. The four rushed over to his side and helped him up.
"Thanks Watanabe-kun," Ann bobbed her head in gratitude as she helped support his shaky state.
"I-I-Its… Ghost."
"Huh?" Ann tilted her head at the name.
"We'll explain later," Akira told her before scanning the room, "But, where's Kamoshida?"
"He must have booked it," Ryuji gritted his teeth, "Damn coward…"
He turned to Ann, who was looking around the room to figure out what was going on. Ryuji yelled, "Why'd you come here, we said we were gonna handle it!"
"Hey! Is that how you speak to a woman!?" Morgana interjected before turning to Ann with loving eyes. "Are you all right, Lady Ann!?"
"Lady Ann…? Wait, what is this thing? Is it alive…? How can it talk? And… where in the world are we…!?"
Morgana faltered at her words, "J-Just calm down. Everything's going to be OK‒ don't worry."
"How am I supposed to be calm?!" She yelled, running breathless after everything that's transpired. After calming down for a bit, she realized what had happened to her clothes. "H-huh? Why am I dressed like this?! When did I‒ Ugh, what's up with this?!"
"Alright just calm down," Akira attempted to sooth Ann, who was currently collapsed onto the floor as she covered up her cleavage. He looked to his teammates, "We have to head out, Ghost is too hurt to keep going and Takamaki is… frazzled at the moment."
"P-P-Please, I can still‒"
"Kyo, you're shivering like a madman." Akira rebutted, causing Kyotaro to let out a shaky sigh.
Ryuji looked to Ann as he let out a tired groan, "We were just gettin' fired up, and you had to go and get in the way… Rgh, whatever, let's just go."