May 1st, 20XX

On Sunday afternoon, it was time for business in the Velvet Room.

Ren didn't invite Takemi. One, because he wasn't completely sure she could be trusted, and two, he didn't want Ryuji to go 'awooga awooga'. Definitely more of the first one though.

The phantom thieves, as well as Ryuji and Makoto, sat down at one of the blackjack tables. The blond looked more confused than anything else. Makoto didn't let much of anything show, but she seemed a little anxious about her underclassmen drinking.

"Are we…allowed to be in here? How'd we even get in?"

Ren shrugged off the question. "The alcohol is imaginary, don't worry about it." Lavenza put a tray of Coke cans on the table, before walking back behind the bar.

Talk about a jack and coke, yeah?

He continued, taking a sip, "You don't have a contract yet, you wouldn't be able to find this place on your own."

"Contract?" Ryuji looked like he didn't quite get it.

"It's how you get your Persona, and no, it's not a legal thing."

"Many times in the past, the contract was not written physically at all." Lavenza said, from across the room.

"...Alright, how do I get one?" Ren pulled Iwai's evoker out of his bag and pointed it right at Ryuji— "Hey, wait!"

He clicked the trigger, only… No response.

"A-Amamiya-san," Makoto's eyes had grown wide, "what were you trying to do?"

"The hell?" He shook his head and pointed it at his jugular.

BLAM

Arsene De Mort appeared, lounging at the bar.

Ryuji shot forward in his seat with a dropped jaw.

He pointed the Evoker at Yusuke.

BLAM

Tantalus appeared, sitting next to Arsene.

"Okay, so that works." He itched his forehead with the barrel of the gun before putting it back in his bag.

"The hell is that!?"

"It's called an Evoker. It summons Personae from the user's concept of death. I guess you don't have the, uh, potential, I think it's called."

"Would it work for me?" Makoto asked. He clicked it in her general direction, but no luck.

"Your Persona didn't form the same way as Yusuke's. Oh, I should introduce him. Yusuke Kitagawa, apprentice of Madarame. Has an icy stick for a Persona."

"A pleasure." Yusuke nodded at the president.

"The pleasure is mine, Kitagawa-san. I am Makoto Niijjima, and my assistant's name is Ryuji Sakamoto."

"Hey, we're all friends here," Ren kicked back with a can, looking between them lazily.

"Right…" Ryuji cleared his throat, "Why does the—Evoker, wasn't it? Why does it work for you, if it won't for me?"

"Dunno. Might be because I can use multiple Personae."

"Any chance you can lend me one?"

"Doesn't work like that, Ryuji."

"Man… How do I get mine?"

"From what I know," Ren ticked off his fingers, "Acceptance of death, summoned with an evoker, facing your shadow, summoned with a card, and will of rebellion, summoned with a mask."

Makoto interjected, "A shadow? You mean that thing that looked like me?"

"It was you, don't forget. You didn't accept it, necessarily, but you rebelled against it. That's what it looked like to me, at least. Yusuke got his by talking to his shadow, but he needs an Evoker."

Makoto narrowed her eyes. "...This all sounds like pseudoscience... But if that's how it is…"

Pseudoscience? That reminds me...

"Oh, demons are real too."

"They're what?" That got the two's attention, though Yusuke didn't even blink.

"They've got a whole demon world. They don't come to this side very often, don't worry about it."

"Often? As in, they still can?"

Ren shrugged. "I dunno. They give me their power as Personae sometimes, so it's helpful occasionally."

"Does that mean there's a demon called Johanna?"

"Probably not. Initial Personae are formed from the essence of the user, not any demon. The ones I have, besides Arsene, have demon juice in them, but since Arsene was my first, he doesn't."

"Interesting."

Ryuji leaned in, and seemed to be thinking for the first time. "...I gotta get me one of those- I just need to find a shadow-me, right?"

"That seems like that's how it works. What times can we organize to work?"

"You say 'work' like we're some kind of organization."

"Well, if we're gonna find out what the hell's wrong with the school, we sure are. Phantom Thieves, right?"

Makoto closed her eyes and nodded. "...That does have a nice ring to it."

Morgana, in cat form, bounded onto the table, and started meowing.

"Oh, this is my cat. I know he just said some dumb shit like 'Phantom Thieves, out!', but he can speak Japanese. He's our navigator."

"He's what?"

Apparently, even while knowing there were demons you can summon with your brain, they were still surprised by the idea of a talking cat.

"He also turns into a bus."

"HE WHAT?"

This could take longer than expected.

May 2nd, 20XX

Makoto couldn't make it the next day. There was an important faculty meeting, and though not required to attend, she wanted to impress upon the teachers that she was responsible as a president.

Can't blame her. Probably needed a bit to completely understand the Metaverse.

So no phantom thieving to be had at Shujin Academy. Lame.

Oh hey, text from Ann.

"Showed the guys ur picture, they wanna see ur stuff. Come check out the shoot :)"

That sounded vaguely homerotic. Nothing to be worried about, a little homeroticism never hurt anyone- Oh, she was probably talking about modeling.

Ha! GAYYYYYYY-

She sent an address, somewhere in… Isn't that a red-light district?

Whatever, as long as he didn't get robbed. Or anything else.

He got there an hour later, still not used to finding new places in the subway. He certainly built up an appetite from wandering around. Ann liked pastries, he could probably score some off of her.

She was standing off to the side with a water bottle, looking about the same as she did normally. Maybe he was desensitized to hot women, who knows.

"Hey, Ann." he tried to walk up to her, but was blocked by a guy with a camera. Typical cameraman look, you know the one.

"Don't bother the models while they're workin', kid."

"He's with me."

"Ah. Sorry about that, Takamaki-san." He bowed and turned back to fine-tuning his camera. It was kind of funny, considering the age difference. Not the kind that makes you laugh, more like the kind you see and think, 'ha', in all lower-case and with flat punctuation.

"The producers are over here." She waved him over to a cluster of business people, gathered around a laptop.

They weren't impressed, obviously. Ren would have been an idiot to expect otherwise.

A cheerful reporter in the back spoke up, saying something about a vibe he gave off. There were some murmurs of agreement.

Ren's face blanked.

Because of course they would, they shoved him into a changing room and gave him a list.

Goddammit, Ann. And that reporter too. Those Moon Arcana, you can't mess with 'em.

The rest of the afternoon was a haze of stuffy and itchy clothes, posing like statues, and bright flashes.

He leaned against a wall, damn near collapsing, as someone handed him a water bottle.

"Whose idea was it, to model winter clothes, in the middle of spring?" He panted out, as soon as he gulped the whole thing down

"Sorry about that. Delays and such," spoke an unfamiliar voice. He looked up to see that reporter from earlier. "Maya Amano, Coolest magazine. It's nice to meet you."

Ren shook her hand. "Ren Amamiya, uh, unemployed high school student." He still had Pixie on deck, because she seemed to like Ann. "Sorry to say, I don't read much gossip these days. A lot more stuff to do in the city."

She laughed off the slight against her magazine. "I thought I heard Takamaki say something about a country boy."

"I didn't choose the hick life, the hick life chose me," he joked, trying to roll off any resentment he had for his old town.

"So, what's a country bumpkin doing out here?"

"Well, you know, school, studying, making friends…" He trailed off. "Is this an interview?" He switched to Succubus. Hey, it was a fusion accident, don't blame him! Arcana bonuses and all that.

She slightly twitched before answering, "...Not if you don't want it to be. Sorry, you just reminded me of some friends of mine."

"How so?"

"Oh well, you know, appearance, attitude, switching… You know what, I think one of the producers is calling me." She walked away while tuning her camera.

He noticed her quickly tap something into her cell phone. "Later." Weirdo.

"Hey! I met a kid that switched his arcana during a shoot."

"You're shitting me."

"Is that so surprising?"

"It's been a while since someone like him showed up."

"How many years ago was that? Like, half a decade, right?"

"Little longer than that, come on. What was his name?"

"It was Ren Mamamiya, something or other. Wasn't recording, sorry."

"Sounds weird, but I'll check in with the others. Keep an eye on him, see if we need to buckle in for another year like that one."

"You text like someone half your age."

"And you don't, miss happy go lucky?"

"I gotta say, Ren, I didn't think you'd be into older women."

"You know what they say, women age like wine."

"..."

He switched back to Pixie. Succubus was whispering things in his mind that he did not need to be thinking about in public.

"I was joking. It's something my grandpa used to say."

"Sure, sure, make excuses. And while you think of more, I'm going to go get some pastries. Wanna come with?"

Hell yeah!

"Ah, yeah, sure."

May 3rd, 20XX

After bringing everyone into the metaverse, and letting them recover, it took Ren some time to explain everything about the cognitive world and Mementos and Palaces and the like. Makoto was able to wrap it around her head pretty easily. Ryuji needed simple terms, and even simpler terms than that, but he eventually got the gist.

"We have one week to destroy the shadow nest that leeches off of Shujin Academy," said Ren, boldly, looking at his three teammates. And the cat.

Ryuji raised his hand from the back. "Why do we only have a week?"

"Because mid-terms are starting up next week, and if I get a bad grade, it might violate my probation."

"Probation?"

"Didn't I tell you that I have a record, Tantalus?"

He shook his head. "I was simply curious, it does not matter either way."

"Good to hear it." Ren turned around, looking at the chained-up gates to the distortion. He shielded his eyes from the neon sky's light, which felt like buzzing in his ears to look at. "We're scouting out today, getting a view of the place."

Morgana pulled out a comically large bat and tossed it to Ryuji, who managed to grab it and hold it up with only one hand.

"I'm not even going to ask where you got that."

"It's a skill only professionals have, Arsene." snarked Morgana.

Makoto asked, "What do those names mean?"

"We need to go by codenames, since we're in the cognitive realm. You never know the effect shouting your real names in someone's head might have."

"I suppose that makes sense. Those are the names of your Personae, correct? I think Johanna will be fine by me."

"Hey guys, what about me?" Ryuji piped up, practicing swinging his bat into the air.

"..."

"..."

"Thug," said Morgana suddenly.

"Lame…"

"Blondie."

"Even lamer."

"Monkey."

"You trying to start something, cat?"

"The names are just temporary. We'll call you… Shizuo."

"You watch too much TV, dude."

Ren scoffed and tossed him a pair of shitty plastic shades. They were old cosplay ware; The fashion club let him take them with the longcoat. A souvenir from the bartender costume, he supposed.

"Seriously dude?"

"Suck it up. We'll develop a strategy after seeing what kind of shadows we're fighting." Everyone nodded. "Morgana, stick with Ryuji in the back and watch the flank." Ren handed Yusuke the evoker.

Morgana waved his falchion in the air before making a declaration. "Phantom Thieves, move out!"

"Shut up, Morgana."

Cognitive Shujin was just as messed up as before. Dark and damp, the halls had somehow developed an even deeper and stronger scent of lead, and for as little light as the barred windows had allowed in their previous excursion, somehow even less light was peering through now. Everything was quiet, so quiet that not even the sound of the wind passed through the world; seemed that the Thieves' only ambiance were the sounds of their shoes tapping against the floor.

They ran into a bizarro version of Ushimaru, one with mottled gray skin like that of a drowned corpse, except it was still walking around. Yusuke raised his rifle, before Ren gestured for him to stop. The distorted teacher shambled up to them with dead gray eyes, and turned to Ren and Makoto.

It nodded at them and kept walking, muttering something about bag checks and respect and a bunch of other words that couldn't be made out through the hoarseness of his voice.

"That must be how the students see him. Just some old dead fossil." He remarked, watching the thing's back turn around a corner. "Morgana, would you say that was a cognition or a shadow?"

"It didn't have golden eyes, did it?"

"Is that a rule with them? Alright." He tried to peer into the courtyard, but the window was so blocked with nailed-on wooden two-by-fours, he could barely even see the dying grass.

"No! It's not possible!" Screamed a familiar cognition, before melting into shadowy goop via nuclear blast.

Ryuji must have thought it was awesome. "Holy shit, you have a Godzilla bike!"

"It's a perk."

Makoto wiped some goop off her cheek, "Those cognitions don't have any specific weaknesses, do they?"

Morgana piped up, rhetorically asking, "Do humans?"

Ren tapped his chin, thinking. "Well… I guess we're weak to everything if we don't have a Persona."

"Right. Personae grant passive strengths without being summoned."

"Good to know. Wait, Ryuji kept up with me when I was fighting those thugs... When he didn't have a Persona..."

Ryuji just shrugged it off. "I guess."

"Badass."

He rubbed the back of his head, "Thanks."

Ms. Chouno stiffly walked down the hall like a mannequin.

Literally, like a mannequin. Her skin looked like actual plastic, and the dusty make-up heavily contrasted her reflective skin. Her hair stayed in one place like a stuck-on wig.

It just looked... artificial... and sad.

She ignored them and kept walking down the hall. Ren could see shining metal joints in the back of her legs and arms as she walked past.

"I guess she does wear a lot of make-up." Ryuji was watching her too, but looking further downwards than her face.

Makoto thwapped him with a paper fan. God knows where she got it. "Watch it."

"I was- I mean, uh, yes ma'am."

Ren snorted. "Ryu- Shizuo is probably more subtle about it, imagine what everyone else thinks."

She slapped him too.

"I believe I understand. The body is simply a canvas that its owners print their own art upon."

Makoto looked like she was about to hit Yusuke, but hesitated, realizing he probably wasn't being a pervert intentionally.

He continued, "That being said, even those unknowledgeable in the arts can appreciate-"

She slapped him swiftly. She eyed Morgana, almost daring him to say something. The cat was about to open his mouth, but refrained, averting his eyes to inspect his falchion.

As they were climbing the stairs, they saw something rather strange in the hallway. A hulking mass of yellow fur and leathery skin, like a gorilla, but hunched over on only two legs, like it was defying gravity. In front of it… A robotic version of Makoto with chrome silvery skin and red eyes was dragging it down the hallway by a leash.

"Beep boop," he whispered to himself. Ren pushed the rest of the thieves behind the corner, waiting for the approach.

The robot scanned the hallway, with red lights that flowed across the floors. It landed on the mottled Ushimaru, who had suddenly appeared at the other end, and cut off. She walked straight past them, neither noticing the crowd in the stairwell and walked straight up to the teacher.

The gorilla moved to the side, as the robot lay prostrate in front of the teacher, like a prayer form, almost. The cognitive Ushimaru muttered something and jerked his arm, like a motion to wave them off. It staggered past the stairwell, continuing on some random route. The two cognitions resumed their path and walked around the corner, leaving an empty hallway.

Once it was clear, Makoto spoke up, sounding disappointed. "Me…"

"What was that thing next to you? There's no way that was human."

Ren chose to keep his thoughts to himself on that one.

"Isn't it obvi-"

He bopped Morgana on the head, keeping him quiet. He didn't want Ryuji to do anything drastic.

They stepped into the hallway, waved up by Ren, who took up the back, reversing formation.

His arms were pinned to his sides, as a furry hand wrapped around his torso and threw him into a wall. His shoulder blades turned bricks into dust, likely breaking some of his bones, as he was embedded in the wall.

"Ow."

The monster ripped him out, dislocating his arm, and throwing him further down the hallway. It was blown back by a nuclear blast, and had its legs frozen by a growing glacier.

Its blackened skin sloughed off as it broke free of the ice, kicking an ice block the size of a car at them. The cognitive Makoto was nowhere to be seen.

"What will it take to kill this thing?" Ren jumped up, snapping his shoulder back into place and wincing. Dia was already healing his bones, and he could still walk. And that was my good arm!

"Intruders…" The cognitive… Thing mumbled. "Prez-e-dent says no intruders…"

"The hell?" Ryuji guarded with his bat, as the group was backing down the hallway. "What's this bastard mumbling about?"

The monster reared back, slamming into Ryuji. Makoto managed to grab him, riding Johanna, leaving only shattered floor tiles.

"Do you really not get it, you monkey?" The cat yowled, while slicing thin cuts along its arms with his sword. Not that it noticed.

"Shut up, Morgana, you'll make it worse!" Ren yelled over him.

"Monkey?" Ryuji turned back to the monster, lowering his guard for a second.

A second too long. Without hesitation, it punched him, sending him flying past everyone else, and into the end of the hallway.

"Everyone, back up, focus on holding it back!" He jumped back, summoning Pixie to check on Ryuji.

It was definitely… Not a pretty sight. The hall end had a window, covered in rebar. Sharp, outcropping rebar. His clothes were the only thing holding him up, streaking blood onto the floor. Ren lifted him and started healing, laying him across the ground. Looked like he knocked his head pretty bad;

He heard the monster roar, and glancing at it, saw a glacier forming around it's head, throwing it off balance. It punched itself in the face, trying to smash the ice.

That gave Ren an idea.

"Keep that up, Tantalus! Johanna, aim for the floor in front of it!" She looked at him strangely, but must've wisened up because she nodded.

The floor blackened as the monster stumbled around, shaking the walls with every movement. Ice kept forming, even as it tried to free it's head. It tripped forward, falling onto the vaporizing tiles. It broke through the floor, falling below, landing with a large thunk.

"..."

"..."

Ren didn't hear it stir. "Everyone alright?"

Although very drained, everyone nodded.

"Yusuke, evoker."

He tossed it to him.

Ren snatched it out of the air, placing it at his heart. "Arsene. Voler de la Mort." Arsene's death form appeared next to pixie. The blood on the tiles dried up and turned into ashes. Ren nearly passed out from the drain, but managed to keep himself upright. The ashes flowed into Ryuji's clothes, stopping the bleeding.

"...I think we ought to head back." He lifted Ryuji around his shoulder as the gashes on his back began healing.

They filed out of the hall, gingerly avoiding the gaping hole in the floor, seeing the melting black goop pile on the level below. They made the choice to go out the other stairwell.

Back in the Velvet Room. Makoto seemed distant, keeping her fingers tented and staring a thousand miles ahead. Yusuke formed a rectangle with his fingers, seemingly finding inspiration in the sight of Lavenza working the drinks.

Ren said suddenly, "Ryuji, we're not bringing you back in."

"What? I can definitely fight!" He sprung up, though wincing at the sudden movement.

Ren pushed him back into his seat, "You don't have the passive resistances of a Persona. You're lucky none of that rebar pierced far enough to damage your organs."

"Well I'm fine, ain't I?"

"That's not the point. You're a liability, to yourself and the rest of the team. I can't stop to heal you every time you get hit or stabbed or shot."

"But I need to help, Shujin is F'ed up, dude! Can't I do something about that?"

"No."

Ryuji sunk back in his seat, drinking from a can.

"Makoto, do you have a good idea of what you're getting into?"

The president took a few moments to respond. "It's what must be done. I can't let the student body fall any further into it's degeneration."

Ren sighed, "Good to know. I'll call everyone together next time we go in."

AN:

Early update, I won't have access to the internet over the weekend.

Who could this mysterious woman we have never heard of be talking to? Find out next... Actually, give that a few months. Maybe like, four weeks. I'll try to include more days each update.

I'm imagining the way that nuclear skills work is by producing a sealed sphere of nuclear energy, allowing the light to escape, but not the radiation. It can damage whatever it's touching directly, but not anything outside direct contact. Cuz y'know, nukes can melt shit from a large distance, even with a low kiloton yield.

NoRoleModelz is on the king shit as always, making the writing better, cool stuff, cool guy, check his stuff out.