Persona X TWEWY X Kingdom Hearts
Summary: Trapped in an unfair game? Fighting against society? Changing the hearts of evil adults? Save the world? Discovering oneself? Nothing out of the ordinary for these teenagers.
Chapter 2
The Trickster, the Player and the Guardian
Ren was severely regretting not taking the second option of just doing community service. He was only in Shibuya for three days and already he lamented ever setting foot in the big city. His new home was an attic that hadn't heard of spring cleaning since Sojiro bought the building, his school principal was a pompous as ass hat, the teacher immediately regrets taking him in, he was late on his first day, then there's that pervy teacher.
And to top it all off, he was somehow in a castle with other students.
Yup…should have taken community service…
"Yo…where in the hell are we?", Beat asks, scratching his neck as they entered the foyer. Neku hummed in thought as they take in this place.
Everything felt like an actual castle, the floors were black and white patterned tiles covered with elegant yet gaudy red carpet, chandeliers hanging around them like the owner is just flaunting their wealth, expensive fancy torches hung on the pillars around them, and ahead is a flight of stairs on marbled stone with more red carpet.
"W-where's the school?" Ryuji asks, "I mean…the gate said "Shujin", didn't it?".
"Pretty sure Shujin wasn't a freaking castle last time I came here…sign be damned…" Neku grunts out. As the other two boys look around with the spiky blond asking more inane questions, Beat shuffles closer to Neku and quietly asked the dreaded question.
"Phones…ya don't think we're…back, do ya?", he asked, "Back in…ya know…the UG?".
Neku resisted the urge to snap at that question and bit his tongue, Beat had a very good question after all, and heck, for all he knew maybe they were.
"I…don't think so…remember how you get there?", he says quietly. Beat frowns with memory and punches his hand together, grunting tensely and growling quietly. The Underground, or as the previous veterans call it, the UG, a place within Shibuya that can only be entered when someone's life is snatched away. A parallel plane of existence of Shibuya, or for all of Japan for all Neku knows, never left that far.
But this place was a completely alien world in comparison. The UG at least was the same layout as the Real Ground (RG), Shibuya, major differences aside. Here it was like they were taken to another world, the colors were pinkish and almost psychedelic, and apparently, it spawns castles.
"Hey, I can't get a signal either!", Ryuji speaks up. They look at their phones and confirm nothing was coming or out, which only confuses the two. Even in the UG, they could still use their phones to a degree. Out of morbid curiosity and only for his sanity's sake, Neku slips his hand into his pocket and pulls out a small pin. Black with a unique graffiti style white skull painted on the face of the pin, one of the oldest pins he had.
He shares one glance with Beat, who gave him a nod, and turns back to the pin. He flicks up into the air like a coin and when he caught it, he squeezes his hand tightly around it. Immediately Neku's head is jolted with intense shock and pain. He lets a growl of pain and grabbed his head in agony, teeth gritting and nearly collapses onto his knees. The orange haired teenager hisses as Beat checked on him, holding his friend up.
"…nope…definitely NOT the UG…" growled Neku as the pain subsides.
"Guys…we've company,"" Neku growls. All four eyes glance to see, fitting the location of their stay, is a large knight with an equally large shield and sword with a faded jade-colored mask of all things.
Ryuji sighed and scratched his hair, saying: "Jeez, ya freaked me out…who're you? A student?". He approaches the armored warrior and even compliments the armor, especially for a student cosplayer. Neku and Beat however readied themselves to start running and judging by Ren's piercing glare he wasn't buying this cosplay either.
"Hey C'mon, say something! It's cool and all but ya could tell us your name!", Ryuji says impatiently.
Then another knight appears in front of them, this time Ryuji stepped back. "H-Hey…what's goin' on here?" the blonde asks, losing his nerve. Neku and Beat glare at the knights, the blonde taking a more aggressive stance towards them while Neku calculates their options.
"This the real deal here…" growled Neku, "We've gotta get out of here!".
The four boys immediately make a break for the entrance, only to be cut off by two more knights appearing from thin air. Trapped by the four lumbering knights, the students frantically looked for an escape, except Ryuji was bashed roughly by the giant shield, forcing him on his hands and knees in pain.
"Screw this!" Beat shouts and charged at one knight.
He tried to dropkick him, except his momentum was halted by the giant shield and he falls onto his side, and when he tried to get up, he has a sword aimed at his throat. He snarls at the knight, cursing it while the other two boys step back as the knights close in on them.
"Phones, Four-Eyes, run!" Beat shouts.
Neku sighs in defeat as he relaxed his stance, shaking his head.
"No point…we're caught," he sighed.
And with those final words, Neku takes a pommel to his skull along with Ren, Beat calling their names while Ryuji starts to panic before being grabbed by the knights roughly. One of the knights commands the others to drag the intruders to the dungeons and inform their "king". Unaware as they drag away the four teenagers, a fifth intruder watches intently…
*?*
"Hey! Hey, wake up!".
Ren squints then weakly opens his eyes and sees Ryuji watching him. Ren throws his legs over what he feared was a prison bed and rubbed his head, with Ryuji looming over him with a worried look. "You ok?" he asks. Ren nods his head weakly, grimacing at the pain throbbing in his skull before he takes in his new surroundings. And like a cruel joke and even an ominous foreshadowing of his future, he finds himself in a jail cell.
Or in this case, a dungeon.
Dark and dank with the sounds of running water, brownstone walls with chains hanging around them, barrels littered around with his bed being nothing more than a rough wooden board with a sheet, and finally black metal iron gates. He sees Beat kicking and pulling on the gates while Neku was looking around for anything they could use. Ren rubbed his forehead and shakes it then, getting off the bed.
"What about everyone else?" he inquired.
"Nobodies dead, just a few bruises," Neku says, turning to him, "The guards dragged us here and then just left, at least that's what these two said".
"OPEN THIS FREAKING CAGE AND LET US OUT ALREADY!" roars Beat, shaking the bars furiously, "WE AIN'T DONE SHIT!".
"…Beat's not taking the sentence well…" Neku remarked.
"Damn it…this is so messed up," Ryuji groaned, "How do we get out of here?". They tried to find any other exit, a weakened wall, loose bars, or even thought of tricking the knights by hiding. Except with each attempt failed or too many holes in their plan to warrant an attempt. During their search, footsteps rang out in the empty dungeons at last, and when they looked through the bars, they see the knights marching towards them.
"Be grateful, your punishment has been decided", the leader of the entourage says, standing before the gate. The four glared at them but only Ryuji demanded the answer to the reason for their punishment. "You are being charged for "unlawful entry". Thus, you will all be sentenced to death".
"Nobody is allowed to do as they please in my castle," a voice boasts. The knights stepped aside to allow the mysterious voice to be witnessed by the four prisoners and to their shock and disbelief, it is Kamoshida. Except he is wearing a gold crown, red heart printed cape, and pink underwear, leaving his torso and hairy legs exposed. Also, they see his eyes were glowing yellow, and even his voice had an echo to it like two people were speaking at once.
"What in the hell is this? Is that…Kamoshida?", Neku questions, "Without pants…damn this really is a nightmare".
Kamoshida sneers at Ryuji, saying: "Here I was thinking it was some petty thief but to think it was just you, Sakamoto…". Then his sneer shifts into an ugly smug look like he had already won some game. "Are you disobeying me again? Haven't you learned your lesson?". "And look, you even brought friends with you? Figures…you can't do anything by yourself".
With an aggressive shake of the bars, Ryuji shouts: "THIS AIN'T FUNNY, ASSHOLE!". This makes the man turn his sights from the other back to the outbursting boy with amusement.
"Is that how you speak to a king? You don't understand your position now", he sighed, "You not only snuck into MY castle, but you've also committed the biggest crime here. Insulting the king". His smile shifts into an even smugger, more condescending smile. "The punishment for that…is death". Then with one wave of his hand, he commands the execution to be taken out. The four boys stepped back, some in fear while some were planning.
The knights entered their cells, the three of them cornered Ryuji like trapping a wild animal. The boy grits his teeth while the pervy teacher was smirking at them, completely fixed on watching the show. With one subtle glance to Neku, who nodded, Beat then rushed towards the knight. He roared as he shoulder tackles the knight and smashed them into the wall, startling Kamoshida and gets the other knights to turn their heads.
Ryuji quickly takes the opportunity to tackle the knight closest to him and knocks them onto their back. "Come on! I ain't down for this shit!" he commands. He makes the attempt to run, but the knight still standing appears before him and delivers a devastating punch to his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Neku and Ren rush in to jump on the knight, stopping them from finishing the job, except all they were able to accomplish was hindering its movement ever so slightly.
"Just get out of here!" coughed Ryuji, "These guys aren't playing around!".
Kamoshida glanced at the two, smirking wickedly at them. He taunts them, accusing them of being heartless for abandoning their friend, despite Ryuji trying to play down their bond. He pleads with them to flee, to escape. Beat however shouts back.
"Shut your mouth, ya fool! Ain't nobody gonna get left behind!". Beat's tries to kick the back of the knight's knee to get them down but all he did was the equivalent of brushing his shoe against a stone wall. The knight then turns its massive body despite Beat using his muscular weight against them, and soon enough it overpowers Beat and throws him aside like he was a doll. Neku calls his name as Kamoshida laughs victoriously.
"Pfft, you're all pathetic…why don't you just do what I tell you and lie down?" he taunts.
"This coming from the guy without pants?" mocks Neku with a callous smirk. Kamoshida snaps his head to the boy as Ren is pushed to the wall by the knight, and when it tries to grab the orange-haired boy, Neku ducks under it. He runs around it and rushes for Kamoshida, fist clenched, and with a yell, he manages to deliver a punch to his face. Kamoshida shouts out in pain, just as Neku goes for another punch.
But then a knight stands before him, and with the two blondes screaming his name, the knight brings down his sword on Neku's back. Neku freezes as a splash of crimson shoots out of his back and stains the knight. He falls forward with a thud, gasping in shock and pain as his back leaks crimson. Kamoshida rubbed his jaw and glares smugly at the bleeding boy, twitching in shock as he gasps in pain. With a growl, he kicks Neku's side and then like disregarding someone else's trash, walks past him.
"Keep an eye on that brat, focus on executing that one," Kamoshida commands, gesturing to Ryuji. Beat roars in a fit of rage, only being held back by one knight's shield pinning him to the ground, he thrashes around and curses Kamoshida with every swear he knows while Ren has his back against the wall, frozen. Ryuji is then held up by the two remaining knights, held by his arms as Kamoshida stands before him. With that twisted smile, he begins to pummel Ryuji, shouting insults at him as the poor blond is beaten.
Ren squeezes the wall behind him, helplessness seeping into his being while Beat still struggles to break free, calling out to Neku. Ryuji's cries of pain and pleads for mercy ring out along with the beatings, Ren shaking his head. Soon after what feels like an eternity, Ryuji is punched one last time and falls to the floor, whimpering in pain with that scum of a teacher looming over him. Kamoshida scoffed at Ryuji, asking where'd all his energy go.
Like a true scum of "royalty", the king of the castle declares the blond vulgar teen wasn't worth beating any longer and decided he's had enough fun. His execution would continue.
"Stop it…" Ren says quietly.
He couldn't find that voice within him, that voice that told him to stand up. The same will along with it, steeled by a sense of righteousness and justice. The same one that got him into this whole mess, the probation, the transfer to a new city and school, and now this. Maybe if he kept quiet, maybe if he begged for mercy Kamoshida would just leave him alone or at least make his execution short and painless. But looking at Ryuji's beaten form, Neku's possibly dying body, and the raged Beat, he feels it.
"Stop it!" he says louder.
Kamoshida stops moving and looks back, just in time to see Ren's eyes turn into steel.
"STOP IT!" he shouts.
Kamoshida turned on him fully, ignoring Ryuji. "What? Don't you dare tell me you don't know who I am?" he glowers as he approached him. He leans down to stare at him directly in the eyes, "That look in your eyes…really pisses me off". He then kicked Ren in the stomach and knocks him on his rear with his back slamming into the wall. "Hold him there…once this peasant dies, he goes next," he commands before returning to the beaten boy.
Ren tries to rush in and stop them, but he is then held against the wall by two knights while the king looms over Ryuji. As Kamoshida laughs over the boy's pleas for mercy, Beat's cries for Neku going on, Ren looks over in despair.
"This is truly an unjust game…your chances of winning are almost none" a voice sings. Ren almost groans, even fate is pointing out how screwed they were. But as he laments, his eyes spot a strange butterfly-shaped creature fluttering around in front of him with blue light. Eyes widened behind his glasses as the creature hovers around him, it continues to speak. "But if my voice can reach you…then perhaps there is a possibility open to you".
Ren gasped quietly as the creature disappears like an apparition in the air, and as he feels his strength wane in defeat, another calls.
"What's the matter? Are you going to just watch? Forsaking them to save yourself?".
Ren's eyes scour the place for the voice but no one bar that perverted teacher was speaking, and from the way the knights just stood there holding him in place, he wondered if only he could hear it. Maybe he was losing his mind, death was but a moment away from him after all. Maybe this was the inner voice he was supposed to be hearing his whole life that pleaded him to be smart, to do the right thing. Yet there is something…otherworldly about it, it has a strange tone of charm within it.
"Was your previous decision a mistake then?".
Previous decision…the moment he chose to not ignore someone in need. Was it a mistake back then? Was that just a poor judgment call on his end? He almost surrendered and said yes to that question…but he didn't. Looking back on it, Ren would be the first to say, based on how it ended, it might have been something he couldn't do alone. Yet, even if he was doomed to this predicament he was caught up in, he saved someone. He spared them an even worse fate than what could have been if he didn't step up.
"It…wasn't. I hate this…I hate how everything, the whole world just decided to shit on my life…but…I saved someone. I helped someone when nobody else would…" he answers within his heart.
"…very well…I have heeded your resolve".
Suddenly Ren stops his struggles with a loud gasp, and then pain…inhuman pain. He screams in agony as his struggles change to thrashing around like a wild animal, crying out in pain.
"Vow to me".
Thrashing his head like he was trying to escape, Ren throws his head around like a man desperate to throw his skull off his shoulders.
"I am thou, thou art I…".
He clenched his fists in pain, teeth-gritting while he still thrashed around, the voice in his head booming with untold power within him.
"Thou who art willing to perform all sacrilegious acts for thine own justice! Call upon my name and release thy rage! Show the strength of thy will to ascertain all on thine own, though thou be chained to Hell itself!".
"ENOUGH!" roars Ren, the pain in his eyes vanished as a darker, more determined look forms. His outburst interrupts the execution, and worst of all interrupted Kamoshida. He turns his eyes to the boy now gritting his teeth as whatever fear, trepidation, and even despair dies. No more would he forsake his justice for society. No more would someone decide his way of life, and most important of all. No one would confine him like a prisoner.
"You heard me…you heard what I said," he growls as Kamoshida stares down the boy, "You act like you're a king of a castle…but you're nothing more than a perverted piece of garbage, preying on people who can't fight back, just like you are now. You can't do anything without somebody holding your hand…and you act so high mighty where in truth? You're probably BELOW that "peasant" …".
Livid and terrified of this young man's resolve, his words cut deep into this man, Kamoshida growls. "Y-You want to die THAT bad? Fine! Execute him first!" he commands. His fear doesn't go unnoticed by the two boys. The shield man holding Ren smacks the boy with his shield, knocking the glasses off his face, and while staggering, Ren is then held up by the neck with two spears crisscrossed below it.
As the knight lifts its sword to deliver the final blow to this rebellious youth, a heartbeat resonates within Ren's chest, and with a gasp from him, a powerful gust of wind bursts forth from him. The knights were halted in movement and even Kamoshida had to raise a hand to protect his eyes from this burst of power. The wind is thickened into gales of wind, dense and strong like steel. When it fades, Kamoshida lifts his eyes to see what just happened.
Ren lifts his head and shows replacing his fallen glasses was…a mask. A black and white, birdlike domino mask. The boy feels it with both hands, and then he starts to pry it off. He struggles with grunts and growls, pulling the mask that seemed to be glued to his face. As he peels it, blood spurts from his face before with a final cry of agonized pain, Ren rips the mask off with a splash of crimson. His cheeks to his jaw drenched in red, but when on his face with dark yellow eyes is a mad grin, just like the apparition of himself days before.
Suddenly his entire body is engulfed in blue flames, consuming him with only a fiery set of eyes and smile left behind before the flames grow into a taller life form. With one weak turn of his head, Neku watches at that same creature he saw appears before them, scaring the pathetic king to hide behind his knights. The orange-haired youth watches as Ren begins to reappear from the flames with that wild grin and evil gaze in his eyes, enjoying the look of terror on the king's face.
As Ren stands before the four foes, behind him the blue flames that took the form of blue fire began to reveal a taller…man, behind Ren, hovering over him like a ghost or guardian devil. As black chains dance around the boy, he waves both his arms, and like a perfect mimic, the tall man performs the same motion. This causes a powerful burst of wind to push aside the men forward, but the impact for the two knights was enough to crush their bones and necks.
Kamoshida could only watch in utter terror at the sight of this demon of a boy before, like a coward, runs off for safety. Beat and Ryuji only stare at the boy with the same question that escaped their lips.
"W-What the…".
Ren only grins madly at the two boys before he turns his eyes to the sole knight who stood up against the boy as the king demands his head. Ren's grin only darkens when he notes the shaking knees of the knight, as he flicks his hand. No longer in his school uniform, Ren now wears a black ankle-length tailcoat, a high-necked waistcoat with gold accents, black pants, brown-black winklepickers, and a pair of red gloves.
But before he lets the knight taste the bitter end of its life, he turns to the "demon". "I am the pillager of twilight- "Arséne!", the demon reveals. Arsène has, from top to bottom: a very tall top hat, a long-horned mask for its face. A cropped red eighteenth-century-esque suit worn open with the collar popped, stitched heart designs on the shoulders, a white ruffle tie, a black, tailed corset running down its torso; large, black, feathery wings starting at around the small of its back; claws; red coverings on its legs resembling pants and boots with blade-like heels.
"I am the rebel soul that resides within you. If you so desire, I shall consider granting you the power to break through this crisis" he offers. With a smirk of his own, Ren requests this power. Arsène "humphs" and agrees to the request. The mask Ren ripped off his face returns via a blue flame as he turns to the knight near Neku, Kamoshida behind it like a true coward. But without any traces of fear in Ren, however, the boy flicks his hand and sliding down from his sleeve, is a dagger.
He spins it around his dexterous fingers before grabbing it and aimed it at the knight with a wild grin. The knight, be it out of fear of the king's wrath or Ren, rushes in. It brings its sword down on Ren, only for him to gracefully leap over the knight, and with a single front flip, he slices its neck from behind and upon landing on his feet, turns back to Kamoshida just as the knight collapses. The nearly naked king staggers back in fear, demanding to know who was this rebel.
"…a Trickster" Ren answers.
Before Kamoshida could say a word, he is suddenly smashed on his back by a barrel, carried by a still enraged Beat. The impact shattered the wooden structure and knocks the pervy teacher on his face. Beat then rushes to Neku and as carefully as he could, he hoists the headphone-wearing teenager on his back, turning to the other two.
"Get your asses moving! We gotta get phones to a doctor or something!" he bellows. Ren turns to Ryuji and quickly grabbed his hand and helps him onto his feet, telling him to follow Beat. Together they all raced outside just as Kamoshida rubbed his head in pain. He realizes his prisoners were escaping and snaps his head to them in time to see Ryuji closing the door.
"Y-You little brats!" he shouts, racing toward the door and grabbed the bars. He then smirked but then frowns. They see his hands searching for something within his robes, but a single whistle earns the attention of everyone. Spinning on his red finger is a handful of keys on a big round metal string, the Trickster whistling innocently. Kamoshida snarls at him and demands him to hand over the keys. In true teenage rebellion fashion, Ren not only opens the ring and piles each key into his palm, but he also then tosses ALL of them into the river.
"Go fish," he says before giving him a salute and runs off with the other two.
Ren leads the two through this dungeon, running up the small hills while taking in their surroundings. A dungeon that has certainly been lacking in prisoners with so many cells empty, other hanging cells over the rivers are rusted beyond use, many of them already polluted the clear waters rushing by. Based on how quick Kamoshida had been to get started on the execution of the teenagers, Ren wondered if these cells were just included in the castle.
When they came to a dead-end, they paused for a moment to ponder where to go next, but Ren sees that thanks to the cages that were dropped in the water, they could be used for platforms to help the boys to get across the river. Though Ryuji wasn't so sure himself, Ren leaps and skips across the river using the cages while Beat, even with extra weight on his back, manages to get across with no hassle.
"Dude, you're carrying Neku like he weighs nothin'!" Ryuji compliments just when he lands on the other side.
"Phones here weigh as much as a little girl! And he's got muscle" Beat laughed, but his voice is strained as he tries as hard as he can not note how quiet and light Neku was. He isn't a doctor but with that amount of blood lost, it'd be a miracle if Neku was awake and cracking subtle jabs. "Come on, we can talk shit after we get Phone to a doc!". He rushes on ahead before waiting for a response, desperate to get out of this place as soon as they could.
He knew Neku would probably kick his ass for thinking this but he wished they were back in UG instead of this crap-hole of a castle. At least there he'd have defended or kicked Kamoshida's ass and then escaped. But here in this screwed-up place, he was as about as helpful as a kid taking on a bully from college. At least with Ren and whatever the hell that red demon is, they have a chance to fight back.
"The hell is that thing anyway? Ain't no noise I've ever seen!" he thinks.
He is stopped by Ren, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him back. Before Beat could snap at him, Ren placed a finger to his mouth and gestured to the end of the road where there was a corner leading further down. "I've got a way" he assures, gesturing another door. He opens it and leads them inside. Only to find themselves staring at what they dread to be a tower with a very tall winding stairway to wherever the heck it'd take them.
They opted to go for it, believing that perhaps they were underground and if this could lead them back to the main entrance or something close to it, then they'd have a better chance of getting out of here. So forth, they ran up the stairs and its winding towering design, Beat barely slowing down even with Neku, if nothing else he looked even more determined to climb the stairs. Ren was beginning to wonder if Beat was just that stubborn.
Reaching the top, to their dismay, they find themselves in what seemed like a complete copy of their previous spot. "Aww come on!", Beat cursed, "Who the hell designs the same dungeon!?". Ren shakes his head and when he looks down the pathway on his left, he points out something worrying. Hanging from the rushing stream of water, they see two changes housing students like them. The difference was their heads were encased in a very bizarre helmet. It was like knights except the eyelids and mouthpiece looked more…suggestive.
"The hell? There are others here too?" Ryuji asked.
"What's with those helmets?" Beat asks, "They don't look so good…".
Reluctantly, the three carried on. With Neku on death's doorstep and having no way to rescue those students, they cut their losses and rush on to escape. They come to a drawbridge that is held up and to their irritation, there was no method to lower it. Ren and Ryuji look around while Beat keeps his distance, but when both boys sigh and reveal they find nothing of use, he cursed.
"Damn it! Who makes a freaking drawbridge but not make the lever or whatever obvious!?".
He glanced back at Neku's pale face; his angry look shifts into worry. How much longer can the guy go without help, and who knows how much longer this place will go on.
"Hey, over here!".
The three jump in alarm, Ren taking his dagger out while Ryuji frantically looks around. "Come over here! Frizzy head! Blondies!". Ren points out a single cell down by the wall with an old rotting wooden key holding bar. Ren goes first with his dagger and when he investigates the cell, he relaxes slightly and gestures the two to come on over. The two blondes approach the cell and see the prisoner.
An anthropomorphic and biped tuxedo cat-like creature was behind the cell with a large spheroidal head. Its fur is predominantly black, except on its limbs and tail which appear white. The bottom front half of its face or his mouth is also white. It appears to wear a mask that covers much of its face (which can be unbuttoned from behind) with elliptic eyes consisting of white sclerae, blue irises, and black pupils. The outer ears are black with white inner ears. It has a yellow scarf around the neck and a utility belt around the hips, with two golden buttons and two bags attached. Finally, it has pink paw pads.
"W-What the hell is that thing!?" shouts Ryuji, staggering backward.
"You guys aren't the castle guards! Get me out of here!" begged the small cat-like creature. It even points to the key holding bar, gesturing the keys to likely its cell. However, the trio of boys was wary of this creature. With this more twisted and downright murderous Kamoshida, the knights, Ren's sudden power, and this bizarre world, trust issues were created.
"We're trying to get out of here too! Hell, you could be an enemy for all we know!" Ryuji accused.
"I'm locked in THIS CELL! How the heck am I a threat to you guys!" the cat asked with wide eyes and desperation in its voice, "Sides, I can help you get out of here!". Ren glanced back at the cat and the three boys, biting his inner cheek in heavy debate with letting the creature out or just leaving it. He shakes his head, they were short on time and it was chipping away fast. But then the cat sees Neku, and points at him.
"Hold up, your friend's hurt right? Let me out and I'll heal him!". Beat glares at him, then with a curse, he runs to the keys, yanks them off, and opens the cell regardless of Ryuji's protest. Once it was out of its cell, it stretches and sighs in relief.
"Ahhh…freedom" it breathes. But hen Ryuji stomps his foot aggressively towards the creature, demanding to uphold their end of the bargain, calling them "monster cat". "I am NOT a cat! The name is Morgana and don't you forget it!".
But when the furball was about to show them their way out, the drawbridge is suddenly lowered. All eyes turned to said bridge with dread as Ren immediately steps up and stands in front of the team. However instead of a knight or anyone else from Kamoshida's legion of goons, instead it was another teenager walking across the bridge. He looks around for a moment and then back to Ren's group, surveying them for a moment before he heaves a sigh and then…just walks away from them across the bridge.
"H-HEY!" Ryuji yells, chasing after the silver haired teenager, "Who the hell are you!?".
"Wait a second…" Beat grunts and then chased after the two.
He sprints in front of the silver haired teen and when he gets a better look at him, his eyes widened with shock. "Y-You…you're Riku".
Riku smirks and nodded. "And you're Beat, right? Huh, haven't changed much since we last saw each other".
The punk nodded before he takes a step back, hearing Neku groan lowly. Riku peers over his shoulder at the wounded teenager but as he just about to ask, Ren and Morgana approach the rest of the teens.
"And whose this?" Ren asked, looking at Beat, "Friend of yours?".
"Something like that," Riku comments before continuing his walk, "If you guys are gonna try and get out of here, go right ahead. I've got something to take care of here". But just as he was about to leave, he stops in place and cursed.
Rushing towards the six escapees are more of Kamoshida's guards, and one yell from Ryuji tipped them off that even more were coming from behind. Almost immediately the group were surrounded by the knights, pressed together with swords pointed at them and shields up high like walls. Ren slides his dagger down from his sleeve and readies himself while Riku and Morgana stares down the threats.
"So much for stealth…" Riku comments as his fights tighten and eyes narrowing at the threats before them.
"Stand back newbies, let the professional handle this," he says and turns to Ren, "You can fight too, right?".
Ren nods just as his Persona rises from him, while Morgana stands firm at the opposition.
"Come…ZORRO!".
With a burst of blue light spiraling into a pillar, much like Ren's first awakening, Morgana is bathed in powerful energies for a shorter time in comparison. When the fires fade, standing above Morgana is a strangely shaped human. Very thin legs while its torso and arms were beefy large, a small head with a steel helmet shaped like a hat, comically large V-shaped metal mustache. In its hand was a rapier and with a quick flurry of swings, it traced the letter "Z" in the air.
"You too!?" Beat says, "You got one of those things?".
"Bingo, now stand back and let us deal with those guys!" Morgana commanded.
Ren nodded but when he turns around, he cursed. "Guys, behind us!". The team look back and saw more of the knights chasing them down, this time a whole platoon of them. Morgana lets a "yikes" out and then turned back to the enemy ahead of them in time to see the knights explode into a red glob before a new shape takes form before their eyes. Now a ghostly creature with a pumpkin head and a very vulgar-looking monster appear before them.
"Monsters now?" Beat growled, "Damn it, take them out fast yo!".
Quickly Ren rushes in with Morgana leaping into the air. The pumpkin head weaves its lantern and fires four trailing flames towards the Trickster while the vulgar creature flies towards the cat. Ren with incredible footwork manages to leap and jump around the flames before he slides underneath the final trial on his knees while leaning back enough to slide. Once he gets to his feet, he jumps into the air, twirling his body around and with the dagger held in a reverse grip, splits the head of the wannabe jack-o-lantern.
Morgana spins forward like a buzz saw, green wind forming a wheel around him and together with a large sword he carried, Morgana cuts into the vulgar creature. He easily sliced through it and rolls forward with a few flips until he lands on his pawed feet. He gave Ren a cocky nod, but their victory is taken away when more monsters appeared in front of them.
"Damn it, they're out for blood here!" Morgana groaned.
Several knights take a swing towards Riku, who with far greater footwork and agility than any human should have, manages to not only dance around the flailing swords with ease and while he flips around a mid-swing of the sword, but he also kicks a knight in the head. Not only does Riku's kick send the knight flying toward a wall, but it accidentally lets go of its sword and Riku catches it during its spinning descent. Once he has a firm grip around the handle, he swings the sword with little effort and cleaves his way through three knights.
More knights crossed the bridge, closing in on the six escaping prisoners. Ren spots this and quickly backpedals back to Beat and Ryuji, calling for Arséne. The strange being appears from blue light as Ren aims his hand and calls out for power, dark reddish energy surged in his red hand. He clenched his fist and then three pillars of the same dark energy entrap the knights and close on them, crushing their armor and killing the hosts inside.
He stands in front of Beat and Ryuji, dagger in hand, and stares down the horde of knights. A total of eight with the respawned monsters, three easy targets, and two whatever the hell he and Morgana have, a bad situation.
"Beat, when Morgana clears the front, take Ryuji and make a break for it!", Ren commands, sidestepping a sword swipe. He plunged his dagger into the throat of the knight and danced around its dying form, yanking out of his weapon to deflect another blade.
Beat nodded with reluctance, but behind him, more monsters spawned. A pumpkin head cackles evilly and fires more fire at the punk boy. Its laugh alerts Beat and when he spins around, he is stuck on the chest and thrown off his feet. With a cry of pain, Beat falls on his side with Neku bouncing off him and onto the ground with a thud. The punk shouts his name as more monsters and knights began to swarm them.
Ryuji tries to reach Neku after grabbing a piece of wood and smacks aside the pumpkin heads swarming them, but the knights began to overwhelm him. Beat ripped off his burning jacket and tosses it on a knight's head, scrambles to his feet to try and save Neku from the knights. They used their shields to form a wall and trapped Beat in place, forcing him to contend with the vulgar creatures swarming him.
"Guys! Neku's in trouble!" Beat shouts, "Someone go to him!".
"I've my paws full over here!" Morgana yelps, dodging more of the fires from the pumpkin heads. Even Ren is starting to be swarmed by the knights, his body still unadjusted to the new powers granted to him and this first experience of true combat was a bit too much for the first-timer. He looks at Neku's form and desperately cuts his way to him while using whatever powers Arséne could give him.
Riku lops off the head of a knight and rushes for Neku, but he is interrupted by a sudden armada of fire balls that came from nowhere. He evades them and rolls along the ground, flipping onto his feet to see the knights suddenly having their bodies explode large spurting fountains of reddish and blackish ink, and their forms take on monsters again. Instead of vulgar creatures, they turned into more human sized knights on steads.
"Just what we needed…" he grunts.
All the while with the four fighting for their lives, the sixth's conscious state fades…
"Am…am I…g-gonna die…?" asks the barely conscious boy as his vision blurs, the world goes slower and echoey for him. "Why…? Why here? So soon…?".
He could feel the cold seeping into him, his strength waning as he could barely keep his eyes open. Hearing his name being screamed by his best friend, everyone else fighting and trying to reach him. Weird…the last time he perished, he believed nobody even noticed he was gone.
It was weird to remember, how you died. He died alone, he died without any prelude or hint, he died without someone being there to mourn him. And maybe a part of him was grateful that he'd be forgotten that even death was just casual for him. So why now? Why now was he feeling so…conflicted?
His eyes glanced weakly to the people who are trying to save him, the desperate looking Beat trying to break through to him, the wild panic in Ren's eyes as he viciously cleaves his way to the boy and even Ryuji, who he barely knows, was fighting with anything he could to help him. Even that guy who reminded him so much of the other boy was fighting for him, and he probably doesn't even know his name. If the others were here, they'd be no different.
He could dream of Rhyme using her young but wiser brain to make a nuke out everything here, Eri would probably just go ape shit on those monsters…and Shiki?
There was no stopping that girl when he needed her here.
"N-No…I…I…I don't want to die…" he weakly pleads, "My world can't end here…".
"So…you've decided to rebel?".
Neku's shallow breathing is stopped as a sudden grip clutches his body and soul, his dulling eyes brighten. He couldn't thrash around without irritating his wound, but he twitches and gasps as something, something deep inside him awakens. "Once you faced death without a means to deny it, once you fought your way to the end, to expand your horizons…and now faced with the same dilemma, will you rebel against it?".
Neku growls and grunts in pain as he rolled onto his back, clutching his head while ignoring the pain in his back. He lets out a weak yell as he starts to claw at his face, something was there, something was holding him back. Chaining him…
"So be it! Let us form a contract! Together we will ride into destiny! We live and die OUR way! I am thou, thou art I! Ride into the storm!".
Slowly, as if he were possessed, Neku gets to his feet as the knights close in on him with their blades high. Neku stands before them with his head downcast, and then when he raised his head high, there was a wild and mischievous grin on his face as his eyes glowed yellow. Along…with a mask. It was a smaller pale unique skull design that a certain graffiti artist made, minus the bottom half being attacked. Without an ounce of hesitation, Neku rips off his mask and a burst of power roars to life beneath him.
Encompassing the boy, the power doesn't blow the knights away, it eradicated them and even a few of the weaker monsters. This catches the attention of the four, witnessing Neku's awakening. As the blue tower of power fades away, Neku walks out of it, changed just like Ren.
Instead of his uniform, Neku wears high black boots and dark jeans with a single belt wrapped around each thigh. A belt featuring the same graffiti skull buckle wraps around his waist, on his left arm is old samurai armor with red clothing. The right arm is only covering the bicep, he wears a fingerless gauntlet, but the backhand has twenty circular slots. The coat is a deep violet with two coattails and a pronounced buckled collar and a black strap going over his right shoulder wrapping around his chest, with two golden studs on the front.
On the back is the full skull graffiti in bright violet. The front of the coat is also patterned individually from the rest of it, resembling a sort of vest or body armor, with a zipper closed all the way up from the waist to the bottom of his neck. His mask has the top of the graffiti skull minus the end. The gang watches in awe of this new form while Neku lifts his right hand.
"I don't know if this is the UG or some other world…but I do know you freaks are in my way. Fine by me, if that's how this game is gonna be…then I'm all in", he says as his hand is glowing with psyche energy.
"Let's show them how to play the game, Sanada Yukimura!".
Behind him, floating above the new player is a warrior from what seems like the Sengoku era, wearing brilliant dark red samurai armor, wielding a beautiful cross spear with blades as large as an arm, with black fiery hair, piercing blue eyes in the form of fire with the graffiti reaper's skull for its face. The famous warrior of the Sengoku era and Japan's greatest hero, Sanada Yukimura.
Power…power courses through him.
Euphoric, like drinking the finest wine from the oldest bottle, he felt as if he were born anew. Not even back in the UG at his most powerful could compare to this form. His psych powers were at a whole new level to him, like he could pick up a pin fresh from the box and unleash its full potential just by equipping it to himself.
Looking at his gloves and his new clothes, Neku then gazes toward the remnants of their enemies, the jack-o-lanterns cackling at him while the vulgar monsters taunt him lewdly. With a smirk, Neku lifts his glowing right hand and aims at the vulgar monsters flying toward him. In an instant, one of them is shrouded in blue shining light, freezing in the air, and with just one flick of his hand, Neku slammed it into the three and together crushes him into the wall.
Next, Neku lifts his left hand and encases the jack-o-lanterns in a block of ice, six in total. He turns to Ren and without even opening his mouth, Ren complies with the request. The dark Trickster dashes past each block of ice and slashes his dagger-like a whirlwind, flipping and leaping around them while slashing and only with a single flip in the air and gracefully landing on his feet, he flicks his dagger and the blocks shatter into thousands of pieces.
Then as the knights rushed towards him on their steads, Neku swipes his hand across, leaving a trail of fire that erupts from the ground and forms a roaring wall of fire. The horses unleash hellish yells of terror, standing on their hind-legs and the knights nearly falling off in shock. This sudden strike of fear granted Riku an opportunity to cleave them all in a single dash and swing of the sword, cutting the heads off the horses and splitting the knights in half.
The last bit of trouble is finally dealt with; Ren looks back to Neku checking himself out. "The hell is this?" he questions, the moment of rushing power finally passes him, "Where's my uniform? Oh shit…. don't tell me it's gone forever, they cost a lot".
Then he looked at Riku who tosses the sword aside while it dematerializes, letting a huff. When he turns his eyes onto Neku, the younger teen folds his arms. "You…you're from this morning," he notes, recalling seeing him. Riku runs a hand through his hair with a tired sigh, nodding and even confirming that fact.
"I saw you guys, namely Beat, and thought if I follow you, maybe I'll get some answers," he explains, "Gotta say though, this wasn't on my list of possibilities".
"Dude, no shit!" Beat grunts, "How the hell did we end up here? And yo, what about your back?".
Neku frowns and then pats where his newly acquired wound should be and feels no pain from contact. Based on how he was able to move with little ease and no longer feels the cold touch of death, he was happy to presume his wound healed itself when his Persona awakened. While he did this, Morgana crossed his arms and even smirks approvingly at the two boys.
"Not bad…your Persona's are pretty powerful" he praised.
"Persona? Wait, those things that came out of us?" Ren asks, looking at the child-sized cat.
"Yeah, you saw how orange boy over there summoned his when he ripped off his mask? And I'm assuming it was the same thing for frizzy hair over here?" Morgana asked. Both Persona users nodded and he continues: "Well everybody has a mask deep within their heart. By removing that-
"Their Personas come out?" Neku says crossing his arms. Morgana nodded in time when Ren suddenly was coated with a blue fire and when it vanishes, he is wearing his uniform. "Huh? What just happened?".
"Hmm…looks like he doesn't have full control over his powers JUST yet," Morgana says "But it shouldn't dissolve like that-
"DUDE! We don't have time for all this Persona or whatever!" Beat grumbles stomping his foot, "If Ren's Persona thing ain't at his full control yet, and Riku…".
He looks at the older teen with confusion. "The hell was that? I remember you were WAY tougher! "he asked, "You were able to do all kinds of weird tricks last time I saw ya, where's that sword…key, thing you used?".
Riku's eyes narrowed, glancing at his hand with a heavy sigh. He shook his head and states that his abilities are being restricted for whatever reason, that the moment he entered this castle he felt as if someone or something was holding back what he could really do. Hence, as he stressed, why he tried to stay out of sight and reframe from alerting any guards. And he also pointed out that the punk had a very good point regarding their current situation about being both outnumbered and underpowered for the likely approaching legion of knights and monsters.
"We're down to two, and we've still got Kamo-dickhead's guards to deal with," Neku says with a fold of his arms, "Hate to say it but Beat's right. Sooner we get out of here before we get anybody else's attention the better".
"If he would sit still and listen…" Morgana grunts but Beat cuts him off yet again with a growl. He stubbornly informs him of his name along with Ryuji's and the others. Morgana opened his mouth to retort with likely another insult, but upon Beat's outburst, he frowns. Regardless of his lack of patience, the punk had a vital point. They were still hold up in the dungeon and likely when there is no response from the original legion of monsters/guards, they'll send more.
And like Beat said, with Ren still unable to fully master his power, he and Neku, far as he knows, won't be enough to take on the king's soldiers. The cat grumbles and then agrees that it was probably better to save the lecture for a time when they weren't going to be eviscerated by the guards and proclaims the exit wasn't that much farther and speeds off with the teens following close.
During the escape, Neku was pondering on what info he was given by the furball and continuously looks at himself and touched his mask on the occasion. This crushed any doubt in his mind that they were in some parallel version of the UG, from how the monsters worked, powers, and even the world was bound by a completely different set of rules. When he used his psych powers, there was something different about them compared to how he used them before.
For example being he was able to use two with a different hand, where before he had to concentrate using just one to its fullest. Here, thanks to Sanada, it was as if it came to him like he's been doing it all his life. Looking at his right glove, he sees that at least five of the circles were already filled with pins. Pins from the UG and even from his old collection that he's kept with him since he won the game. He did pin a few of them on his bag out of memory's sake and maybe out of consideration for Shiki.
As far as he can see, the pins consist of:
Long live the ice, Pyrokinesis, First Gear, Stellar Flurry, and Healing Drink.
Not all of them were anything to boast about certainly but if he is right, then maybe applying the other pins to his gauntlet could give him more power. Except he strongly remembers he was limited to six or so during his time in the UG. He recalled when he tried to "break the rules" and use more than that, he was struck by an overcharge of sorts and damn near died afterward, only saved by Shiki's healing.
Here, however…maybe things could work out in his favor this time?
Up ahead of the team they see another drawbridge with the same statue of Kamoshida. Morgana explains that the statue works as a lever, pulling down the jaw of the king. It makes a cartoonish jaw drop, activating the mechanism and letting the drawbridge down. Morgana, Ryuji and Beat quickly cross it, but before the others follow suit, Neku stops and looks at a cell near them. Strange as it may seem, he felt a presence within the jail, unlike the other inmates they crossed.
"Neku?" Ren asked as the teenager approached the cell.
He grabbed the bars and peers into the cell to see someone hunched over and head downcast, still but he could see slight movement in breathing. Neku's eyes narrow to try and see if he could get a better look at this prisoner, something in his heart telling him this was different. A glimmer shined for a moment near the prisoner's neck, shining enough that he made it out to be a crown. His eyes shoot open, there was only one person he knew who'd wear a crown for a necklace.
"Sora!".
He shakes the bars, rattling them as Ren and Riku approach the cell, the latter grabbing the bars and staring into the dark dank cell. Riku whispers "Sora", and then starts to shake the bars even harder, shouting for the boy to do something. Say something, anything just to confirm he hadn't lost his mind, that this desperate hope was real and possibly, his best friend was only a cell away from him. Ren looks around for a key or a lever or anything to open the damnable cell but finds nothing.
Neku growls and steps back from the cell, telling Riku and Ren to do the same. When both boys were out of the way, he lifts his hand and calls upon his Psych powers, encasing the cell bars in a faint blue glow. The sounds of metal groaning and bending, creaking like they haven't been oiled in centuries. Pebbles and dust break free from the corners of the cell as Neku rips it off the frame and levitates the cell for a moment before he chucks it aside.
Not even waiting for the cell's bars to hit the ground, Riku runs into the cell and crouched before Sora, grabbing his shoulders. He cried his name, shaking him and begging him to open his eyes. Ren and Neku join him just as Morgana brings the two blondes back to see what the hell the three of them were doing.
"Sora? Sora come on! Wake up!" Riku says, shaking him while Neku studies the boy. He couldn't help but shake his head in worry. There was something very off about Sora, even if wasn't obvious to anyone else. The Persona user could sense a drastic change in Sora's power, as if he had been stretched so thin there was hardly anything about him remaining, a horrible sense of loneliness and isolation hovered around him.
And weirdest of all, he felt…dimmer.
Ren kneels to the two boys' level and gently cupped Sora's chin to see if he was sleeping or if there were any wounds on his face to give him an idea on his state. To his surprise, the boy's eyes were open and there is a slight cohesive awareness within them, but what startled him the most was the sheer vacancy within them. They were dark blue and dull as the light behind them had long since gone out. Ren stares into the eyes, something drawing him into them like there was a gateway to another place.
Strange as it may sound, but somehow…Ren could feel…pain.
A deep pain, something that one couldn't experience and come out as the same person, like a grievous wound that forever scarred your heart and soul. A sadness deep in those eyes that, to him anyway, look like he's been through something rough and just defeated him repeatedly. Ren investigates his hands and sees a beautiful shell-made charm nesting within his gloved hands. When his fingertips touched it, he is rendered speechless.
There is a powerful feeling within it, one touched filled his heart with hope and strength to fulfill something. A connection even, to someone else. He raised his dark eyes to the dull boy's, sensing that pain is only held back by this powerful connection, and perhaps, even more, is only softened by the existence of this charm alone. Was this boy just scared? Or was he…
Like Ren?
"Dudes! Come on and get a move on al…ready," Ryuji whisper-shouts but slows when he sees the boy in black and red. Morgana looked at him too with surprise as Ren turned to him.
"He's…he's real," the child-sized cat says. When Ren turned his eyes to him with confusion, Morgana clarifies that everyone else here is nothing more than the cognition of Kamoshida, that only himself and the two teens should be the only "real" people here. And points at the sleeping boy that he isn't a cognition or a shadow, but another person who must have accidentally found himself here.
"Dude looks like he's stoned or something…" Ryuji comments, "How long do you think he's been sittin' here?".
"Too long," Riku growls as he stands up and hoists Sora to his feet. He throws one arm over his shoulder and grabbed the waist of his pants as Beat approached. He gave Neku one more look of "Is this for real" before the former anti-social teen nodded. But those questions were for another time, right now they had another to take care off and get out.
Morgana eventually leads them back to the foyer after some more exploration and a few twists and turns, eventually coming to a winding tower which leads them back to the main entrance, where the two boys were previously captured, and claims their escape was just a few steps away.
Or so they thought…
Before they reached the second corridor ahead of them, a splash of crimson bursts before the trio in several numbers, and more knights popped out from the gushes. Ren almost crashes into them and nearly topples himself and the boy. Morgana yelps in surprise akin to a cat and Ryuji throws himself backward in surprise, before looking behind him and curses. The others look behind and sees to their dismay, Kamoshida and a legion of knights approaching them.
The king wore that smug victorious look, sneering at the two teenagers and cat. His knights surrounded them all, swords aimed at them while having their shields up to form a walled circle. Trapped and outnumbered, the three look around for an exit or anything they could use to get out of here.
"Well well…looks like the rats couldn't make it all the way," sneers the king, gloatingly, "Too bad for you little shits".
Ryuji barked his name in disgust while Morgana, Neku and Ren stood their ground, even as Ren's clothes shift back into his Trickster clothes. This was the worst situation they could be in, between being outnumbered, having no clue how to use his full power, or even knowing how to fully maintain this form, but now with the added load of someone's wellbeing on Riku's back, the odds that should have been even for them then is now fully in Kamoshida's advantage.
The king smirks evilly at Ren, then frowned with annoyance when he sees Riku and Sora. "And who are they? More rats who dare defile MY castle!?" he demands, snapping his head to the guards. Meekly, the guards revealed that the boy was just in the jail cell when they went on their patrol, nobody had any memory of him ever being caught or seen. Riku was the same, minus the prison. The pervert king scowls in annoyance and then looks back at the boy, before cursing. Not even he knew who this prisoner was, stating he nor Riku couldn't have been from Shujin.
"If they're not from Shujin…then who are they and how did Sora get here?" Ren ponders as the boy remains docile.
"…Kai…ri…".
Riku glanced back at his best friend before turning back to Kamoshida. Just in time to have Neku step in front of him and blast a charging knight into nothing. Quick as lightning, Riku jumps to the side in time to spare himself and the boy from becoming two halves of themselves, barely missing the taste of steel in his back. He turned around to deliver a kick to one knight's chest to give himself and Sora some space, performing impressive acrobatic flips to evade being sliced in two as Morgana leaps towards the offending knight.
He lops off the head and then leaps toward another while Ren dances around to keep the boys safe.
Ryuji tries to tackle a knight to throw them off guard, but he might as well have run into a wall for all the difference he was making. Riku curses as more knights started to attack him and ignored Ryuji after they pinned him down, Kamoshida's orders after all. He narrowly avoids getting a sword to his cheek while he flips around in the air to dodge being skewered, praying the boy was unharmed during this whole ordeal.
Neku dashes around a knight and encases it in ice, turns around to use a pin and rapidly stabs another knight with a bladed hand. He pierces the armour and upon the final strike, renders the knight into a pin cushion, then uses the flame pin to trail a wall of fire to give Beat some reprieve and protection. He sees Riku is still dodging and evading the knights while taking the very rare opportunities to kick them aside while keeping Sora safe. Riku jumps away from a sword nearly lopping his head off and makes some distance from the knight.
But when he landed on his feet, a knight smashes its shield into the silver head's body and throws him off his feet. Riku and the boy both go flying as he smashed into the wall and the boy rolled onto the ground like a doll. He groaned in pain and spits out blood, quickly scrambling to his feet in time to roll away from another stab. Riku rolls backward onto his feet in time to rise his head and see Ren plunging the dagger he carried into the back of the knight's neck.
Killing them, Ren looks for the fallen boy being approached by Kamoshida. He shouts for the pervy teacher and runs at him, only to be bulldozed by two knights at once and they pinned him to the wall, binding his arms. Morgana tries to reach for the sleeping boy but between being the only one who could still fight and be swarmed by knights, he was on his own. Not even Riku could reach his best friend in time, for the moment he got even kicking range of the pervert, he was shield bashed, blind sided and thrown into the wall.
Hovering over the boy, Kamoshida delivers a kick to his stomach, laughing at him. He taunts him, mocking him for being such a useless sack, and berates him from sneaking into his castle, demanding if he knew who exactly ruled this place. But when he gets nothing but silence, his cocky arrogant smile leaves his giant jaw endowed face, and it melts into a look of insulted fury. He kicked the boy harder, and this time even lifted him off the ground and throws him at least a foot away from him. His eyes narrowed when he sees the boy was clutching something in his hands.
He approached him and reached down, ripping out the item and holds above the docile boy. "The hell is this piece of junk?" he asks no one, looking at it like it was filth. The boy's body twitched as the head goes lower, downcast while the teacher berates his item, mocking him. "This is important to you? Hmm…be a real shame if someone…broke it?", Kamoshida says with a malicious smile on his face.
As he laughs at the idea while the trio struggle, the boy curls into a ball while hearing the voice of his best friend screaming his name…
"You're not giving up…are you?".
With a startled gasp, Sora opens his eyes and finds himself in the darkness. Nothing was here, not a sound to be made save by his own making, he feels neither warmth nor cold from this strange dark place. Panicking, Sora looks for the charm and when he looks up, all he sees is a Darkside clutching the charm that held him together in its giant ugly clawed hands, ready to crush the small piece of light. Sora almost reaches out to stop them, weakly and even…hesitantly.
Where was he? Who was that voice who called out to him? And why…why was he so scared?
Oh…but he knows.
Looking at his hands as they were shrouded in shadow, the light had grown dimmer and dimmer as he remained trapped in a world of endless seas and skies, his faith in one day reuniting with those who held such significance spots within his tender heart growing weaker and weaker. That charm, that charm is all he has of her…the one person who he'd die for repeatedly. A bond between them that withstood everything the worlds had thrown against him.
It was so easily snatched away from him…was it…truly hopeless?
"This trial may not be faced alone, you know".
The voice calls to him again, not the one who guided him here per se, but another that sounded strong, powerful even. Like a true master of the legendary weapon, he carried within his heart, and it even sounded…comforting to him.
"Time and time again, the bonds you have forged have guided you to walk your road to the end…time and time again, your bonds have stood against the world's worst…and now, here you stand with those bonds still connecting to your heart…" it says. "Now forge one with me…and live…walk your road with your head held high, so that one day, you may return to those who held your heart together".
"I am thou…thou art I".
Sora sees before him a pair of dark blue lights in the form of eyes and a mask…and without a moment's hesitation, he grabbed the mask…
Before Kamoshida could crush the charm, Sora leaps to life and snatches the charm in his hand with inhuman speed, so swift and dazzling it was like he moved faster than light itself. The pervert stepped back with shock as Sora held the charm in his hand once more, head down to stare at it before he raised his face to the king, his men, and Ren's team. With glowing yellow eyes, Sora reached for his face and grabbed hold of the mask that binds his other self, and with a cry, he rips it off.
A splash of crimson flies from his face before he is engulfed in holy fire. A powerful shockwave booms from him, shattering the windows, shaking the ground, bellowing winds blow all around, and ripping the carpet. The wave even sends nearly all the knights aside, crushing their beings with raw power alone, even the escapees and Kamoshida had to force themselves to stay grounded by grabbing the ground.
With one more yell from the white fires, they vanished before the eyes of those who witnessed something spectacular. Standing there in armor that resembled the nobility and justice of a true king, Sora stands tall. Wearing a massive set of plate mail armor that was large as a man, black and red steel with shoulder pads circular with black dragon heads carved into it, arms matching his third adventure clothes color scheme with metal greaves with his crown stamped on the backhand.
A chain-mail skirt of sorts around his waist to behind his knees while wearing black steel armored pants, boots like his normal ones with more metal, and even a horn on the toe tips. Resting in his left hand is a giant shield the size of himself, red-rimmed on the outer line while being bright white with the black dragon stamped on the face of the mighty shield. In his right hand is a remodified keyblade, dimple key with silver edges, the blade was shining like rays of the sun with the ring guard being small and round like a circle, his crown as its token.
On his back is a long dark velvet cloak reaching to his feet with the dragon king embroidered on it, his head wearing a helmet shaped like a dragon's head, black and dark blue with piercing red eyes above his. The top half of Sora's face is shielded in armor while below his cheeks and jawline is wearing a dragon's maw.
Sora holds his shield closer to himself and raised Dragon's Key high and with one single swipe of this majestic weapon, he decimates Kamoshida's remaining knights. Only the king acting like a coward was he able to be spared from meeting an early demise, ducking his head and throwing himself to the ground. The knights perished by the power of the true king, who stared down the quivering man. Kamoshida scrambled backward until he falls on the stairs leading up to his castle's floors, shaking in terror.
"W-W-What the hell…!? Who are you!?" he demands without an ounce of his arrogant-filled authority.
"Not your prisoner anymore, that's for sure," Sora says, "I dunno who you are or where I am, but the next time you even think of touching this," showing the owner of his heart's good luck charm, "We're not going to be as nice".
"W-We?" squeaks the king.
Sora huffed, his shield disappearing and reappearing on his back, grabbing the sword and stabbing it into the ground straight. A being from bright golden flames roars to life behind him from above, it spreads its mighty wings so far that shadowed Kamoshida in darkness, a humanoid dragon with black scales and reddish flesh, piercing red eyes with overwhelming power pouring from its very being. "The real king of the castle, Bahamut!", Sora proudly proclaims.
One last scream of terror from the cowardly tyrant echoes through the hall before he runs for his miserable life, leaving the thieves and knight behind. When he was gone, Sora's armor shines for a brief moment before it vanishes and leaves him in what Morgana and Ren guessed was his other self's clothes.
Sora now wears a dark red t-shirt with a black and white jacket, the top in black with the lower half is white with two dark blue belts wrapped around his waist with a buckle shaped like a heart. Baggy black and white pants in reverse pattern to his upper clothing, black shoes with red steel tips, and two dark red straps around the body of the shoes. His glovelettes were black with red wraps around them, fingerless. His crown necklace hanging freely down his neck while a crimson red version of it is embroidered on his back.
His mask is dark red and shaped like a dragon's skull, reaching from the sides of his forehead down to his jawline, the center having an outstretched upper maw of the dragon while his eyes were encircled.
He blinks and looks at himself with a "whoa" and starts to turn and twist himself to see what he wearing. "Where did all this come from? And…where am I?" he says to himself, looking around the castle for the very first time since he came to this world. Even now he knew this wasn't the final world anymore, yet it was a world he has never set foot in, nor could he shake this oddness. Looking at his hands, he feels something was off about him, something lacking.
"Oh man…don't tell I lost my powers…again," he groaned and slumped, "Riku's never gonna let me live this down…".
He turned around to see most of the gang just stare at him with bafflement, but the moment he sees Riku slowly getting to his feet, Sora blinks in disbelief. He bravely and with shaky hope in his voice, uttered his best friend's name. No sooner did he finish the second syllable, Sora is immediately wrapped in a tight hug from his best friend, chuckling lowly and shaking even. Sora freezes on the spot, taken aback from this display of physical affection.
He honestly couldn't remember the last time he and Riku ever hugged, if ever. But he couldn't care less and hugs his long time best friend in equal measures of relief and joy, laughing while crying his name out. Oh how wonderful this was, to finally see someone, ANYONE, again. Not being alone in that place, no more isolation or wandering aimlessly.
When they break apart, Riku chuckles at his new attire, gesturing the mask. Blinking, Sora touched his mask with a little "whoa" uttered from his lips and gestures himself again. Then he leans to the side to see the others and then sees Neku, grinning.
"Neku? Hey! Long time no see!" he greets with a large smile. The same smile he gave the fellow Persona user the day he first met him, cheesy and full of life. Not even the usually standoffish teen could help but smile back at him, waving.
"Good to see you haven't changed at all spike…" he jokes tiredly.
Sora laughed good naturedly before he looks at the others, asking who they were and more questions about where they were. But all those following questions were put on hold when Morgana points out that likely more enemies would be following up the defeat of their commrades.
"We can explain this later! Time for you guys to get out of here!" the cat stresses.
They all agree and quickly Morgana leads them to their escaping point. Morgana leads the gang into a small hall where using the left door, they entered what looks like a small library. Something told Neku reading wasn't a particular past time for Kamoshida, and if it was, he wasn't curious to learn his reading tastes. Morgana points out the ventilation shaft with a metal mesh adorned. That was their ticket out of this place.
Though Ren comments on how modern that was and how it clashed with the aesthetics of this place…nobody knew why that bothered him so much.
Neku uses his telekinesis ability to rip off the mesh and gently lowers the thing back to the ground as quietly as possible. "We're finally getting out of here," Ryuji says with relief in his voice.
"Don't celebrate just yet. Do it WHEN you're actually out of here," Morgana stresses before telling them to get going.
"And what about you? You're sticking around?" Ren asked.
"I've still got something to do here. This is where we go our separate ways," he says.
"Well try not to get caught again," Ren replied with a chuckle, "Thanks for your help".
Farewells were given, the six teenagers climb up the bookshelves and crawl through the ventilation shaft, leaving Morgana to whatever goal he still had to achieve. The humanoid-looking cat folds his tiny stubby arms and contemplates the uses of the six teenagers, especially the three Persona users…
Something told Morgana he'd be seeing them real soon…
A/N:
And we are done! All three series main stars have finally met up, and while I still have chapter 3 and 4 to retell, they won't be as heavy copy pasted as they were here, I'll be fleshing out more in a few parts, especially for the KH group. So I hope you enjoyed this lengthy one.
Now full disclosure, the only reason this chapter was as long as it is, is because I wanna try to get back to where we left as soon as I can so I don't bore you all with repeats. I really appreciate the patience everybody.
Only questions I have are these:
Q1: How long do you want these chapters to be?
Q2: How was Riku and Sora here?
As always everyone, thanks for reading. Stay awesome but more importantly stay safe!