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 4
Fall, get back up.
*Leblanc*
"So I got a call from the school…telling me you ditched HALF of your first day.".
And this makes this the fourth adult Ren had single handily upset. True as Kawakami's word, Sojiro was less than happy to hear the kid he oversaw had skipped half of his first day and was probably stewing in his café wondering if the money he was paid to take care of Ren was worth this hassle.
Not that Ren could entirely blame him, he didn't exactly make coming home his priority after he parted ways from Ryuji and the others. He had spent at least two hours of his journey back home exploring more of the big city to get an idea of where what was and even tried to find a place hiring students. That, and he just needed to clear his mind from today's event. His first day here was probably more exciting than his entire life alone, and he was dreading what the future held for him.
"Sorry about that…I did get a little lost on my way to Shujin and…well I uh, kinda got mixed up with a few people," Ren explained. Not a complete lie he believed; Beat DID lead him back to the school after they escaped the castle… there's the whole ordeal with his new associates. Even if this was the lamest excuse he had to justify his ditching, it was better than going with Ryuji's approach of being…well, direct. He had a good feeling Sojiro wasn't in a funny mood at the moment.
"Mixed with who? You already hanging around a bunch of punks?" accused the old man.
"Well I mean, two of them fits the whole punk aesthetic b-but they were just, ya know? Teenagers? We gotta fight the system and junk, you know?" Ren tries with a sheepish smile while scratching the back of his neck, "But the others were pretty cool. Just students who were gracious enough to help me...AFTER I helped them with transfer students".
Sojiro raised a brow at this and judging by the seeming permanent scowl on his face Ren decided it would be in his very best interests to just explain to him everything that happened.
Again, minus the castle stuff.
So he sat down and told his guardian everything that happened, how he met potential new friends, his day in school with those wonderful rumours of the students plaguing him, the coach and all the bad things regarding him, and how the first day went. Needless to say Sojiro sighed with agitation, berating the boy for his tardiness and for immediately making trouble with an athlete that was apparently the saving grace of the school.
"And those transfers? You said a guy named Sanae Hanekoma knows them?" he asked, pinching the bridge of his nose. Ren nodded and told them their names. This makes Sojiro's frown leave as he rests his elbows on the counter of is café, humming. He remarks that Sanae was an odd ball of a cade owner but compliments that those boys would be just fine in his hands. "Hell, better at his place then throwing them at mine…one's enough…".
"…ouch…" Ren muttered with a bored expression, "Just as well I've a single bed…".
"…just behave yourself. You know what will happen if you don't. You do know what probation means, right?" Sojiro asked.
"My life is over?" Ren asked.
"Damn straight".
The old man sighs as Ren's shoulders slump, both in relief that was all the old man had to say and self-pity that his first day had taken such a terrible turn of an event. Being the good boy was a lot harder than he thought it was.
Then as Ren was contemplating about going to bed, the old man gives him a questioning look. He asks his ward a question that the Ren hadn't asked. How did the students know about his criminal record so quickly?
Sure the whole transfer student was going to spark rumours already and obvious for safety measures the teachers obviously would usher caution to the students but never flat out state criminal records. But the moment he entered the building he was already marked as the criminal whose probably had a whole life crimes underneath his belt. And for all the bull the principal spewed from his potato faced mouth, there was no sense in letting everybody know he was a criminal.
He explained to his care taker that he doesn't know how it got out so quickly, not even his homeroom teacher, Ms Kawakami, knew how. But when he mentions a few rumours that the students had in store for him, namely drug possession, carrying a knife or violent tempers, Sojiro rolled his eyes at most of it. He grumpily grunts out he would have known if Ren carried anything like that, and firmly states he wants Ren to keep those rumours exactly that, rumours.
Truthless and baseless.
As he ponders on his care taker's words, he hears a phone going off and almost self-consciously goes for his, then sees Sojiro pull his out and answer. His mood changed almost immediately when the other side spoke and he seemed kinder, warmer.
Ren shrugged with indifference, none of his business. Could be a girlfriend or a family member, maybe. But he just nods to Sojiro and walks off to his room, thinking their little bonding time was over. Until he asked him to turn off the lights and not to forget about lock-up, which caused the speaker on the other side to ask who he was talking to. Turns out Sojiro must be keeping Ren a secret because he assuredly says to the other voice Ren was just a part-timer he hired.
"Better than what Shujin's students been calling me," he thinks to himself as he climbs the stairs to his bedroom. Once he was within his little sanctuary, he drops his bag on the table near the stairs and all but collapsed on the sofa face first, groaning with exhaustion. He shifts on his back and looks up at the ceiling in thought regarding today's events. Ren looked at his hand as he raised it, imagining the blood-red glove that covered his hand.
His mind is riddled with questions about that world, Morgana, Kamoshida, and his other self, and even the school itself. The way that principal Kobayakawa was kissing Kamoshida's backside, buttering him while that self-entitled prick was drinking it all up. That would be bad enough but Ryuji's history with the man and how he acted in the castle worried the boy, if he was that disturbing in the castle, how much worse is he in this…world?
He wonders if he told Sojiro his thoughts on the guy, would he even care or just think Ren was making it up? Probably not a good time to test that, given how much hot water he was in with both the school and his guardian of sorts. He lets a massive yawn and rubbing his eyes, his body called for slumber and he was more than willing to put this bizarre life-threatening day in the past, and with luck, maybe tomorrow would be more merciful on him.
As he throws on his nightwear and climbed into bed, no longer than the second his head hits his pillow, he falls into slumber…
*Velvet Room*
With a gasp, Ren opens his eyes to see himself back in the strange room. Sitting up and when he saw the two wardens and Igor, he climbs to his feet and approached the bars, Caroline remarking he took his time to get here. The other one, Justine, merely informed him their master wishes to speak to him…and informed him to take these words to heart for his own sake. Just what the raven needs…
"First, let us celebrate our reunion," greets Igor still with that creepy smile.
"Is that your way of saying "I wasn't expecting you to survive"? Ren asked with tiredness in his tone. Caroline sneers at his disobedience but Igor chuckles, amused by the boy.
"My, my…you've seen to grown a bit of a backbone, since last we spoke," comments the master with a gleam in his eyes, "Ahh, but that, no doubt, is thanks to the awakening of your powers. Special ones at that. Your rehabilitation can finally begin".
When Ren inquired about this sentence, the man merely brushes the concern aside and states that it is not important, for now. Instead, Ren should focus more on training the power of the Persona he had awakened within him. The boy asks more about the Persona, remembering Morgana never fully explained to them what they were or how they came to be. Igor described the beings as "Masks", much like how Morgana did. They act something like the armor of the heart when confronting worldly matters.
Igor confidently claimed he had very high expectations of Ren and whatever his rehabilitation would bring, but when the raven asked for more clarity, like his question about the matter before it was brushed off as unimportant for the time being. Something was giving Ren the worrying impression that asking Igor for answers was going to be a VERY uphill battle. And those battles were probably going to cost more than an arm or leg.
"By the by…have you come to appreciate the Metaverse Navigator app? Using it shall allow you to come and go between reality and Palaces." Igor says.
"Metaverse App? Palaces? What the hell are you talking about?" Ren asked, grabbing the bars. But upon hearing "app", Ren thought back to that strange icon on his phone. The one with the red-eye and slowly realized it. That app must have been the reason he and the others were able to go to the castle, but as far as he remembers, he had no idea what he did to activate it or even knew how the blasted thing kept coming back every time he deleted it.
"Oh, I merely bestowed it upon you as a means to train you as a thief," Igor reveals. Both the twins, in their way, stressed the importance of the gift to the prisoner, both to be grateful that Igor gave it in the first place to Ren and use it well to become a better thief. His grip on the bars got tighter as the information piled up in his mind, a thief? He was already on probation for "assaulting" someone, adding that to his track record, he might as well tell Sojiro he murdered someone.
"Hang a second! I'm already in enough trouble, I'm not interested in being a thief!" Ren stressed. Caroline snaps and slammed her baton against the bars, shocking them and him for a second before he backed off from the bars. She lashes at him, telling him he had no choice and unless he wants to remain a prisoner for the rest of his worthless life, he'd best comply with the task laid before him. Justine, stern but "kindly", states that should he refuse to accept the role he was fated to play, then an even worse fate lies in the future for him.
Igor rests his chin on a spare hand and says: "It must be disheartening to use the Navigator alone. Worry not, however, I have provided two others who will benefit you, as well as others should you see fit, to use it". All for Ren to grow into a most excellent thief.
"But why would you worry about such minor things? You have already gained two valuable allies, haven't you?" Igor asked, "The Player and Guardian have awakened their Personas, have they not?".
Ren raised his eyes to the man while Caroline and Justine faced their prisoner with a look of predatorial and one of amusement. "Sora and Neku…are they in rehabilitation too?" he asked.
"In a sense…though their circumstances are more complicated than your own," Igor says with a wave of his hand, "The Player knows not, the vital role he plays, while the Guardian's own destiny remains a mystery even to me…but rest assured, they will be vital to your own rehabilitation".
"Hold on," Ren says, grabbing the bars.
Incensed at the audacity of the prisoner demanding more answers, Caroline slammed her baton again against the bars, demanding he'd be silent and go back before their good will runs out. Yet again however, Igor waves off her worries and permits Ren to speak. The Trickster points out something about their Personas, that his is based on one from fiction while Neku's is on a historic figure, but Sora's, he's never heard of. He even revealed the second form he had after his awakening.
All Igor does is smile that wicked grin of his towards the boy, and chuckled. "…he's chosen well…thank you for informing me, Trickster".
Ren opens his mouth before falling backward and through the floor, enveloped by darkness.
A single reaper skull and bright crown shine before him…
*Next Day: WildKat*
It was so strange…when did something so normal and mundane become so alien to him?
Looking at himself in the mirror, dawning the Shujin uniform, Sora opened his arms to check himself out again, drinking in his new attire. First day of school, a world he hadn't set foot in since he returned from his conflicts with nobodies and a group of super nobodies. He could feel his nerves were on fire with anxiety and apprehension, even if this were so much safer and tamed compared to half the things he's done in the past four years of his life.
Mr H was kind enough to provide them with the uniforms, ID's and even supplies for the semester, even handing them some cash for transport and snacks. Though both boys were conflicted with this, Riku had to remind Sora about the "order" and for the sake of maintain secrecy and being able to remain close to Neku and Ren's group without worrying about somebody catching on, this was their only option.
He drops his arms, heads toward his door while picking up his bag and exits his new room.
Leaving the café after a nice breakfast consisting of coffee and bagels, they make their way to Shujin Academy.
"Can't believe this…" Riku says, running his hand through his hair, "I spent a whole year looking for you, go through a portal to a fictional world, end up in ANOTHER world, and my reward? School…".
"Well…least we'll have more friends to hang out with…" Sora says with a small smile to try and uplift their spirits.
He desperately tries not to lament on the thought it would have been so much better if all three of them were going to school…
Elsewhere, Ren settles into the growing ant colony of people gathered up at the subway stop for the train. Luckily for him despite the very screwed-up dream he had endured yet again, he was pleasantly refreshed and even ready for the day to begin. Credit to those bizarre dreams, least they allow him to sleep like a baby, plus he even managed to get up early to have breakfast and even make it to the subway for a decent time.
And maybe it was someone looking out for him, but even if he was surrounded by Shujin students, nobody commented on him. Which were a blessing and a nice break from all the attention he got yesterday. However, maybe it was because somebody else was being the target of the students.
"Hey, isn't that hear?" a girl asks.
"You mean the one with the red ribbon?" a boy asked, confused.
Ren blinks and looks ahead of himself to see indeed a girl with a dark red ribbon. Not only that but she had scarlet red hair tied into a ponytail, wearing the Shujin uniform and to his curiosity, she looked extremely thin. Not anorexia levels of thin if he is honest, but far more fit than your average high school student. He listens in to the conversation of the girl and boy, the former mostly complainer on how she looked far thinner despite both having ponytails.
How that was supposed to make someone thinner is beyond the Trickster, but he wasn't a girl, maybe it was a secret.
Getting on the train was as comfortable as always, being shoved into a tiny metal can that moves with dozens of people. He is near the red-haired girl who kindly offered an old lady to take her seat, and the reward for her kindness was some asshat in a business suit who unceremoniously just sat down on her offered seat. Credit to her she held back whatever indigent response and kindly clarified to the man she was offering to the old lady.
His response? Fall asleep and ignore her.
The girl sighed in sympathy, whether to the man or old lady Ren couldn't say for certain but luckily behind him, he sees another man getting off a seat and quickly placed his bag on it. With a gentle smile, he offers the old lady the seat and glared at one opportunistic man to keep this spot for her. The lady graciously thanked both for their help and sat down, while Ren was shifted closer to the girl.
They bump into each other and thanks to everyone pushing and adjusting their spot, they were pressed against each other. Ren holds back a curse as the girl shyly looks away with a sheepish smile, but not quick enough for Ren not to catch her face. Pale skin like almost everyone else but with dark red eyes that reminded him of a rose and pink lips. He held back a "wow" and clears his throat, looking up at the ceiling of the train to keep his mind off this close encounter.
"S-Sorry about this," she squeaks, "I uh…I hope this doesn't bother you too much".
He looks back at her and sees she was facing him but now has her head downcast, avoiding his eyes. Not that he blamed her, he was just as uncomfortable with their current lack of personal space as she was, except she had more willpower to voice it. But then he just smiles good-naturedly and decides to put his Amamiya humor to good use.
"Well ya know how it goes…nothing brings strangers closer than being confined in a metal locomotive," he joked.
She looks at him with surprised eyes and he immediately regrets trusting his gut. Then, she giggles profusely, clasping her mouth to hold back more laugher erupting from her. That was…not the reaction he had expected but certainly was not complaining.
Finally arriving to the next station, Ren climbs out of the train and unto the platform pushing up his glasses and taking a deep breath. He is preparing himself for another due of rumours, schoolwork and potentially whatever came next regarding Kamoshida...
"Pardon me!".
Ren turned around and sees the red-haired girl jogging up to him. She bows politely to him and even thanked him for his kindness earlier. He blinked before remembering the old lady and brushes it off, rewarding her with a friendly smile of his own.
She then points out his Shujin badge and reveals she was a first year attending too. She sheepishly apologizes for not thanking him earlier and she didn't want to appear rude to her senpai. With a scratch of his neck, Ren awkwardly apologizes for not noticing earlier himself and graciously thanks her for the kindness.
"Oh sorry, I have to get going. See you later, senpai!" she says with a chirp before skipping away.
"O-Oh yeah! Yeah, see you later…!" he says with a wave before awkwardly lowering his hand, "…ribbon girl…".
*Shujin Academy*
Sora and Riku both stood before the entire class of 2-D while Kawakami introduces them to the other students, Sora smiling while Riku looked more aloof and indifferent to the ordeal. Their teacher had assigned them seatings, Riku in the middle of cross of four female students who were eying them both up and Sora swore he saw a girl drool. While he was seated near Ren, to which Kawakami gave him a subtle but genuine apologetic look.
Confused, Sora shrugged it off as he and Riku head for their seats, but when Sora approached his, he gives Ren a friendly smile and even offered a high five to the Trickster, who took it with a smirk of his own, shocking the entire room bar Riku.
Class commenced with a languages, the teacher getting over her shocks quickly to get her mind off this, going over a few kanjis and differences between each one while Sora and Riku brace themselves for a new world of school. But as Ren takes notes, a small rolled up ball of paper plants itself on his desk, nearly startling him. He blinked and opened it, sees a hastily scribbled message.
"What was with that reaction from the class?".
He subtly glanced at Sora, who was peeking up at the board and taking down notes as fast as he could. Ren frowns with understanding, realizing those two still have no idea about his criminal record. Much as he'd like to keep it that way, Igor's words and warning from last night ring out in his mind, and with the possibility of returning to the Palace, he needed these two on his side. Quickly before Kawakami spots him, he writes a reply to Sora.
"Long story, I'll tell you later".
He placed the note back on the boy's desk and resumed his work, letting Sora ponder.
Once they were done with class, the three boys exit the room in time to spot Neku approaching them, waving them down. Once more when Neku spoke to Ren casually without any fear in his tone or body language, most if not all the students were shocked to see another student just casually approach and engage with the troublemaker. The music lover says he's got Shiki and the others waiting for them in the school yard for lunch and wants the three to come join them.
Ren gave him a nervous smile, apprehensive about meeting more people who've probably heard nothing but the rumours abut the poor four-eyed teen. With a bored look, Neku sighed: "The only thing you have to be scared off is a loose button that's visible to the world". The three noticed him visibly shudder, like he remembered something terrible. Neku also promised he put in a good word for Ren, but he couldn't find Ryuji anywhere today. Which is worrying since he's in the same class as Neku and Beat, the latter was on his own for some personal space.
Outside in the courtyard, the four boys walked on the walkway, the two islander occasionally greeting other students while ignoring the ogling of the girls. Something Ren and Neku took note of immediately…and start to feel a little insecure.
"Pretty boys," they both thought with little spite.
While walking towards the gang, Sora passes by the same girl the original trio met yesterday with her accidentally bumping into her. This causes him to almost trip and fall while the girl staggers slightly before apologizing profusely while scrambling away. Managing to reframe from falling face first into the ground by balancing on one leg, Sora collects himself and lowered his other leg back to the ground with a sigh. He follows her with his eyes and spots another girl close to the school building entrance, but his eyes widen with horror.
The poor girl looked as if she had been trampled by a mob, a nasty bruise above her right eye, a bandage around her leg with more around her arms, he could also see a lot of stress infecting her body just by looking at her. Her eyes were dim and almost empty with underlying signs of pain. When he blond girl reached her, walking away together, though barely limping would be the better word to describe the girl's movement.
"You ok?".
Sora looks at Neku, and then nods sadly before following him to the table. The girl's eyes lingering on his mind.
At the table in the corner of the courtyard, Sora sees Shiki, Eri and Rhyme hanging around together. The little blonde stops whatever she was going to say when she spots the two familiar faces, a wonderful and friendly smile spreads across her face and she waves at the two. This in turn warrants the attention of Eri and Shiki, who squeaks and immediately ducked behind Eri. When the former looks at the two, almost in an instant Neku could see the mischievous gleam in her eyes.
"SOOOOOOOO these are the two boys you've all been going on about…~" Eri chirped with a wide grin. The two guardians blink at her while Neku sighed and Rhyme giggled softly, eyes on the spiky haired teen. "You're…a lot more energetic than I remembered…" Riku comments before sitting down. Eri raised a brow at him, cupping her chin and then firmly swear she'd never forget meeting a super model…nor would she let him go without getting his number.
Sora and Riku look at each other, confused. Here, Rhyme chirped that the girl before them is Eri, not Shiki. She explained the circumstances about the "body swap" ordeal, and who Eri is. Thus, Sora asked where Shiki was, but his question earned him another squeak behind Eri. Eri rolled her eyes and gets off her seat…Shiki ducking behind her again.
"…Shiki get your butt out here or I'll tell Neku-
Shiki makes a loud "eep" and practically leaps from the girl, her face alert and eyes wide with terror…and her cheeks scarlet. The orange haired music lover eyes her suspiciously before Riku and Sora take in Shiki's "true" form, surprised by the stark contrast between the two girls. When Shiki's eyes fall onto the two, she shyly waves and holds Mr Mew up to hide her face. The reveal of the plush told the boys everything.
"Mr Mew…yup, that's Shiki," Riku chuckled while Sora playfully shakes the cat's hand, introducing himself. This little gesture makes Shiki lower her little shield and gave the two a friendly smile, while Eri smirked.
"And this here," Neku says, patting Ren's back, "Is apparently our literal partner in crime, Ren".
The girls look at him, while he introduces himself with a smile and a wave before they all settled down into the seats. However when Ren reminds them about the rumours about him, and that everyone here is going to be dealing with a lot of garbage from everyone, Eri scoffed. She informs him that all he has to do is survive a week or two and he'll be old news. Ren wasn't convinced though but then again it is his second day here so who knows?
"So…that Palace thing…" Eri starts, making Ren turn to Neku. He shrugged and states he told them everything.
"Sorry, but we met up with Beat, my brother, and Neku after school," Rhyme says, "We were worried about when they didn't show up at school. And they told us everything".
"…so…do you have any idea what that was?" Ren asks, curious if the blonde has any better ideas. Unfortunately, Rhyme shook her head, saying all this is hard to believe already with everything Neku told them, along with the idea that Kamoshida has an alternative version of himself that's even more disgusting.
"Hold on a second, what exactly is the deal with that guy anyway? Sounds like Ryuji's got a real grudge against him," Riku comments.
"Apart from him being a total creep, a dick head and a stuck of arrogant asshat? Not much really," Eri sings with a wicked smile. Sora blinks at the swearing while Rhyme frowns with disapproval.
"What Eri is trying to say, is that there are a lot of rumours circulating around him. Mostly regarding the volleyball team," Rhyme starts with a worried frown, "The student's part of the volleyball team usually come out bruised, beaten or worse. But the worst part is that nobody says anything about him because of his position in the school".
"Wait, are they true? I mean in the Palace yeah he was a real jerk but what about here?", Sora asked while folding his arms.
"Well he's wearing pants here so that makes him less evil…but I dunno if he's any better," Neku commented with a shudder, "But think about it, there he's a king who can do whatever he wants. Here he's just another teacher, and no matter how much of a blind eye that fatass principal, no way he'd be able to get away with shit he did in the Palace".
"So you think the Palace version of him is his real personality? His true self?" Riku suggests.
"Maybe…".
The seven chatted more about the Palace before the bell rings, dispersing the gang to continue with their school life. Before they all went their separate ways, Rhyme tells Neku she's got the paint for his new project and assured him she'd give it to him before the day ends. Rhyme then heads off to find Beat before going to her own class.
Something in her heart told her to seek him out…
*Elsewhere*
"Son of a bitch!".
With a growl, Beat punches the hand drying machine, and then punched it again, and again and again until he feels the pain in his knuckles and tremors. Several small dents were made in the machine while a fist was against it, Beat's head cast down as he shakily breathes while his whole body shook like he was enduring an earthquake. Stubbornly pulling those tears back from escaping the jail that was his eyes, he dropped his hand and huffed.
Grabbing the sink as the water pools within, he looks at himself in the mirror and almost spat in disgust at the "wimpy" look in his eyes. He splashes his face with water and curses yet again, forcing himself to do what Neku usually tells him to do and calm down. But how can he calm down, especially when he had that nightmare again, that damn constant reminder of his biggest screw-up and how because of him, he and someone important to him had endured a hellish experience. Shaking shoulders as he grabbed the rim of the porcelain sink and if he is even more livid, he would have ripped off the wall and thrown it.
He thought he'd have nightmares of the castle, Kamoshida, or whatever yesterday had shown him, hell he would have taken anything. But no, instead he had to relive that day in his mind. The day he had invertedly dragged Rhyme into the Game, and then her death…a death he caused.
Two times he snuffed out her candle, twice in a week he got his little sister killed. He still had those horrible memories plaguing his heart and mind, and even nowadays he can't help but tense up whenever he sees his sister crossing the road or when she's near cars, that urge to scream her name or run and save her.
"God damn son of a…DAMN IT!" he growls. He hated this, hated how even after everything they had gone through and all the lessons he had learned, it was still a wound that for all he knows will never heal. She forgave him, or at least she claimed to but why would she? Why would anyone forgive him after basically getting her killed TWICE?
"Rhyme…" he whimpered as he faces the sink, then storms out of the bathroom.
Exiting the room and giving anyone who looked at him funny and just figured if he goes to class and just pretends he gave a crap about social studies maybe those feelings would recede until the next nightmare. But when he climbed up the stairs, he heard Kamoshida again.
This time he was speaking to that Takamaki girl and was oblivious to Beat just standing there. That creep of a teacher spoke to her about all the dangers regarding those accidents that have been occurring for a while now. Beat scrunched his nose when he thinks about those weird accidents, an idiot he might be, ignorant he ain't. He's been hearing all sorts of weird-ass accidents lately that were happening WAY more than they should, and those mental breakdowns everyone was going on about were creeping him out.
Takamaki looked like she was trying to get away from the coach, something about being late for a photoshoot. Apparently for summer so she couldn't miss it. Beat hummed and remember Takamaki, or Ann was part of Eri's circle of friends. Sure he never met her directly, but Rhyme went on about her now and then, about how she was a teen model for some fashion magazine that Beat couldn't remember, and because of her connections, she got Eri and Shiki summer drops as fashion designers.
That alone gave the blond punk a reason to respect the blond girl and ignore those bullshit rumors about her and that piece of garbage coach.
He stayed behind to watch this go down, waiting for that pervy creep. As he thought, Kamoshida showed "worry" about her well-being, about taking care of her pretty self and not working to the bone. He even mentioned her saying she wasn't feeling too well, appendicitis. Beat had to think about what that means and remembered Eri had hers removed a few months ago before the new year. Sounds like an excuse to him and based on how Takamaki was putting off the hospital for work, he gathered the notion that she was bull shitting her way out.
Kamoshida then "felt bad" for keeping one of her best friends away from her. Then he had the nerve to bring up Ren and his criminal record, feigning worry for wellbeing. Beat clenched his fist, if there was anybody in this crap hole of a school to be worried about it was this lecherous ass hat. With a faint "thank you" from the girl, she excused herself from the coach and left, making him scoff in annoyance and march away. Beat smirked, that man got denied and it was a girl he fancied to.
"And why are you smirking?".
He jumped with a loud "Gah" and spun around to see Rhyme with her bag in her hands. The younger sibling had a suspicious look in her eyes while at the same time looked like she was having trouble carrying her back due to the inhumane load of books within it. Beat scratched his neck and sheepishly tried to bounce off her question by acting dumb. Rhyme however points out she saw the whole thing with Kamoshida and saw Beat.
This made him frown, knowing it wasn't the coach she was watching.
"What? Ya think I was gonna kick his ass?" he asked.
"No offense but yes. I was worried you would," Rhyme revealed as she climbed the stairs with effort. Beat grabbed her bag and throws it on his shoulder, gesturing her to let him carry it to class. The bell wearing girl has this bizarre bad luck with bags for the past year, no straps seem to last more than a month with her and while she got Shiki or Eri to help keep it together long enough to keep it usable until funds were stable, she never went a school year with one intact.
Beat huffs as he walks with her, Rhyme looking at him. "Beat…you know you're already in enough trouble without assaulting that pervert," Rhyme stressed, "All it takes is for him to just come up with an excuse and you'll be expulsed".
"So what? Not like it'll matter!" Beat huffed, "I ain't got plans for college or shit like that!".
He tried hard not to look at his sister's disappoint look and downcast eyes because he knows he's let her down already with this year. Out of everyone in their family, she is the only one who knows Beat is far more capable than he lets on, and she firmly believes if he just stopped with his self-doubting he'd go far. But he never does because of his temper and stubbornness…as well as his lack of hope for himself. The little Bito knows their last exchange with their parents have done way more on his confidence than he'd ever let her know.
It explained why he moved out and got an apartment thanks Mr H, at least he has a roof over his head. While to a degree she understands her parents' frustrations with him, in her heart she knows why they treat him so harshly while she was much better cared for.
"We're here," he grunts, standing near her classroom and was about to hand her bag to her. Rhyme watches him with dimmed eyes before taking a breath and takes her bag and opens the classroom door. She gave him one more look of guilt and then enters before he could speak to her. The punk groans as those feelings from the earlier rise and with clenched teeth hissed a breath and storms to his classroom.
Inside her history class, Rhyme takes down the notes her teacher drew on the whiteboard while said the teacher was reading a book on history, letting the class finish their assignments. The girl tries hard to concentrate on her work, her second favorite subject, but she couldn't ignore those rude students that were obnoxiously talking about her and Beat.
"Those two are siblings? Dude, they got to be adopted or something! No way that ape is related to her!" one says whispering, and by whispering Rhyme claimed it was their poor idea on what the term meant.
"Yeah, how could a dumbass like him be related to little miss perfect over there?" another one mocks. Rhyme's grip on the pen grows tighter at the nickname, biting her tongue to withhold some snarky response the girls taught her. God forgive her while she may not like swearing or vulgar insults like Eri or Ann use, those students earned her scorn by their talking. "Little Miss Perfect" was a stupid nickname those jerks gave her when she was introduced to the class, only because technically she is a year behind them but because of her exams being aced and her academic levels were higher she could skip a year.
But ever since then, those comments plagued her wherever she goes in this school. There is no sanctuary for her, no spot to have some peace, and whenever she finds it, it's tainted later by her "fans". Not her fault she put the work into her academics and was rewarded for her hard work with recognition and praise, and yet she never feels that pride in those praises. She never once felt something like Shiki or Eri do when their designs become recognized by some celebrity or fashionista, nor does she get the gleam in her eyes like Neku does with his art.
Everything she worked on feels like it is missing something, every achievement in her schoolwork felt empty and just another day of doing her duty as a diligent student, and when people, like Kobayakawa, would flaunt her work she feels as if she were not a student or gifted in the academical world but rather just something to be used as a tool. Most students nowadays can't stand her because of those speculations because they planted her on a pedestal they will never reach.
She sometimes envied Beat, his stubborn refusal to be tied down by people's view on him, working to what he wanted, and being so free with himself. Rhyme truly wanted to be like that, to stop being so polite, so calm, and just taking everyone's comments in stride. But that would disappoint her parents, and after how much they invested in her school, how they worked so hard to get her to this school and how much they…invest in her.
"Behave…be quiet…and don't be a failure…" she thinks to herself, forcing herself not to finish that lecture.
"Don't be like your brother…".
*After school*
Once the day of a normal school finally came to an end, Sora stretching out his arms with a loud yawn and pops a few muscles, groaning. "Man…how can training for the Mark of Mastery be so much easier than geography?" he asks as he and Riku exit the building. Riku hums in agreement, utterly exhausted from that math test to just test his knowledge on the subject.
Fighting heartless was easier than this…
Ren exited the building with Beat and Neku behind the two, Shiki and Eri already at the subway. Something about getting home early to finish one of Eri's new designs. Rhyme stayed back however, wanting to finish some homework before going home. None of the five had any plans apart from going home and even thinking of hanging out on the weekend to catch up. As the climb down the stairs, standing at the school gate is Ryuji. He waves them over to him and after some reluctance, a bad feeling Neku and Ren shared, they approached him.
"I'm guessing you're not over the castle yet?" Neku asked, leaning against the stone wall.
"Nah…can't get it out of my head. I tried to act it was just a dream but…Kamoshida is connected to all this, and I can't just let him get away with whatever the hell he's doing." Ryuji expresses with an aggressive fold of his arms, "I wanna try and find out what's up with that place". He then sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck and reveals that currently, only the five teens before him were the only ones he could rely on.
"Look, I know you guys did a lot for me yesterday, even without knowing me…but I really you're your help with this…" Ryuji says, almost sheepish and even pleadingly. The five share a few glances here and between them all, until Sora and Riku nodded, agreeing to go with his plan. For the other three, giving what Kamoshida had done to each of them, they were more than willing to get some form of payback for what he's done to them.
"Right, all good we're set on taking down that bastard…problem is, how do we get back to the castle?" Neku asked, "Something tells me we won't stumble on the castle just like that".
"And that's usually how I find places and people…" Sora thinks to himself.
The orange-haired teen provided a good point, and as far as they know no one else has reported a castle just appearing from thin air, nor anything relating to that Kamoshida from the said castle. So to find it, the troublemaker Ryuji provides an idea that they just retrace their steps and see if they can recall something or heck, find something that could take them back to the castle. Without any other methods or ideas to go on, the five reluctantly followed Ryuji's idea.
After an hour of retracing, nothing had changed. They tried different ways to get to the school, wait a few moments to see if something popped up, checked themselves in case the Persona users turned in to their other clothes, kept an eye out for monsters and anything. But all they found were nothing out of the ordinary, just the same old day-to-day things one would find on their way to school. Granted Sora got lost a few times along with Riku taking too many wrong turns and being "adored" by his newly obtained fans.
As the day slowly shifted into the late afternoon, the five just gathered up at the school gate yet again.
Ryuji, beginning to doubt the idea, started asking was it smaller than they remembered and even started wondering if it was even at the same spot. That raised some questions for the boys, wondering if it were possible the castle could have moved or relocated itself, and more questions surfaced. This made the two guardians frown at the possibility, recalling several worlds where things can move from one place to the other. One world Sora had been to once was a world where rules and laws have no place there, maybe the castle worked the same way.
"Yo…just sayin', you think if people saw a castle…wouldn't somebody post it or something?" Beat asked while scratching his head. Ryuji sighed and says he already checked his phone for anything about a castle in Shujin…and that is when Ren muttered "phone" quietly to himself before he took his out. Igor's words suddenly rang in his mind and when he touched the strange app in his phone, he called the three to look.
"The hell kinda app is that?" Ryuji asked.
"I think…this is what sent us there, to begin with," Ren says, touching the app again, "Remember yesterday we heard something about returning to reality?".
"Yeah, and hey, look," Neku says, pointing at a set of keywords, "Kamoshida, Shujin Academy, pervert, and castle".
The owner, the location, the problem, and the…Palace. All in the app.
"Beginning Navigation".
"Wait for what-
Once again, a sense of distortion and a feeling of the world becoming alien to them, bending and twisting into something psychedelic. But as they were pulled into this world yet again, Beat swore he heard someone calling his name…
*?*
When they regain their senses and feel the bizarre twisting and shifting of the world phase pass them, they all looked up to see the castle they escaped from looming over them. The same colors and odd atmosphere hanging around them like they were trapped in an alien world. Just like yesterday, they were back in this bizarre world and whatever debate on it being a dream is officially dead. They crossed the lowered drawbridge and headed for the main doors leading inside the castle.
"Well, now we know how we can come and go," Neku remarks before he sees himself back in those clothes again along with the surge of psych powers. Ryuji jumped and let out a surprised shout when he saw the three back in the clothes again. Except with Ren, he feels nothing draining him nor that bizarre lack of control that plagued him before. The Trickster frowns, wondering if this was what Igor meant about his powers, maybe he was adapting to this form quicker than he thought.
That still didn't explain Sora or Neku's powers. Ren watches him looking at his gauntlet and fiddling with it while Beat was making a few remarks about his choice of pins and with Sora rolling his shoulders and flexing his hands, Riku commenting on his attire and powers, Igor's words lingered in his mind, did Igor know they were brave enough to wield a Persona, or was there something else about these two that caught that long nose devil's attention? But his thoughts were stopped when Ryuji questioned the clothes themselves.
"What? You jelly we're looking swaggerlicious?" Ren teased with a cocky smirk.
Ryuji stammered a "no" but he starts going on more about how this castle, this world itself made no sense. How did the app get them here, where did that app come from, and just how any of this was possible were all the questions he was asking while the Beat just looked more lost before they started this revisit. But their moment of baffled confusion was stopped when a voice calls out to them to be quiet. Nearby, hiding behind a round stone pillar is none other than the strange cat from yesterday, Morgana.
"Furball…" Neku greets with a shrug, "Looks like you've stuck around".
"Well it was only because the shadows were acting up, I was wondering what all the commotion was about," he explained with a frown, "And who'd think it'd be the six guys who just barely escape, would come back!".
Neku rolls his eyes at that jab, as understanding as it appeared giving their first foray into this castle. But with the furball back, Ryuji had taken the opportunity to ask the questions that had been plaguing their minds for a while, namely why the school was turned into a castle. But Morgana casually responds to that question with even more questions. The castle is indeed the school but only to the ruler of the castle.
"So when that pervert ass hat acts like he's the king of the castle, he THINKS the school's a castle!?" Beat asked, rubbing his neck.
"It's how his distorted hearts see the school," Morgana explained.
Unfortunately, his method of explaining went over the heads of the two blondes while the other two were still wrapping their minds around it. Ryuji demanded the furry creature to try and explain it in a way that makes sense, to which the cat replied he wouldn't have expected two idiots to comprehend what he was saying. Neku was mentally counting down how much longer it'd take before Beat and Ryuji were going to kick the little guy's head like a football and see how far he'd fly.
But thankfully before any football test would commence, a scream of agony bursts from the castle, catching the five's ears. Morgana frowns with disgust and states the slaves must be going through their "training" again. Another scream runs throughout the castle again, and this makes Ryuji gasp out that the slaves had to be from Shujin Academy, remembering the one they had to leave behind yesterday.
Morgana ruefully explains that likely these are from Kamoshida's orders as this was the slaves' everyday lives here. He also added that likely because of their escape and thanks to Ren, Sora and Neku, they must have enraged the king, and unfortunately for the slaves, they were the victims of his temper. With a loud cry of anger and disgust, Ryuji shoulder tackled the castle door, shaking the door, and screamed for Kamoshida. This burst of anger caught them off guard, but Morgana seemed more sympathetic.
"Hey, Monamsa!" Ryuji says, turning to the cat.
"It's MORGANA!" the cat replied, angrily.
"Do you know where the screams are comin' from?" the blonde, ignoring the correction.
Hesitantly, Morgana does confirm he knows a way down to the slaves but would only take Ryuji there if the three Persona users would tag along with them for safety. The trio of Persona users glanced at each other, Neku sighed and folds his arms while Ren nodded.
"We're already here may as well go along for the ride," Ren says. Neku shrugged indifferently, only going because he knew Beat would follow that blonde hot head to hell and back. And there was no way in hell he was going to deal with a heartbroken Rhyme.
"And you two? Only spiky over there has a Persona, sure you wanna tag along?" asks the cat creature, staring at the two guardians. With a confident smile and a light punch to his chest, Sora boasts this will be way easier with all of them. Riku stresses he wouldn't be going anywhere without Sora in his sights, Personas be damned. Morgana nods and commands them to follow him, with no sense in wasting time when they were all on a short time limit.
He leads them to their escape point, and when he was asked about this choice of an entrance, he went on a short spiel about the basic rules of "Phantom Thievery". He leaps onto a barrel and then onto the ledge of the entrance, assuring the team he would explain more as they went on before he enters the castle. The blondes follow suit while Neku, Sora, Riku and Ren stick behind for a moment. Ren shakes his head and sighed.
"Phantom Thievery…is that what Igor means for my thief training…?" he thinks to himself. Then he looked at Neku as the skull-wearing teen climbs up and enters the ventilation shaft, followed by Riku and Sora. By now both had to have had the app by now, if what Igor says is true about allies who could benefit him, then did they have the same dream he's been having for the past two days? And if they're prisoners like himself, why haven't they met up in the velvet room? And another question that lingered within his mind like a ship in the middle of a storm.
How were Sora and Neku so much stronger?
"Ren, you coming or what?" Neku calls out from the castle.
"On the way…!" Ren replied, jumping to the vent.
Entering the castle once more, the teens hold back their shudders at the creepiness of this castle. It felt bizarre and weirder than the last time they were here. Morgana stresses if they wanted to reach the slaves without causing trouble or potentially getting caught, they'd do what he says. He guides them back to the main hall where they were captured the first time, and like yesterday, they all staggered as the world was shifting and switching from looking like the castle and the main school entrance.
Neku asked if the reason they were seeing the school was that while they were in the castle, it was still their school at the end of the day, just with an illusion of sorts. Morgana praised his quick comprehension but stressed they needed to keep going before a shadow finds them. The five sped off towards the old path they had taken to escape, and soon enough found themselves back in the lower regions of the castle, the dungeon.
They continued for a moment before they reached a gate, where Morgana stopped them and quickly ordering everyone to hide behind the pillar and wall connected to the gate. To the team's dismay, a lone knight was patrolling the pathway. Morgana groaned quietly, lamenting he had a bad feeling there would be guards here. Neku chuckled lowly and reminded everyone of the amount of chaos they caused last time they were guests of the king.
"Looks like fighting is our only way forward now, huh?" Ren asked.
"Yeah…so hope you three can keep up," Morgana comments, "But how about we get an advantage?".
"Always up for having a leg up on my enemies, what's the plan?" Neku asked.
Morgana implores the two that the best option to take before a fight is always from behind, catch them off guard though wouldn't be enough. He encourages them to rip the mask off the guards, which would temporarily break the control ruler of the Palace has over them. He also stressed Beat, Riku and Ryuji stay out of the way, which they begrudgingly do while the Persona users wait for Morgana's signal. Once the knight turned around to resume its patrol, he whispers "now!" and like phantoms, the teenagers dashed towards the knight.
Neku kicked off the wall and soared above the head of the knight just as Ren slides behind the knight, brandishing his dagger from letting it slip down his sleeve, and with a dazzling spin, he plunged it into the knight's lower back. It reels backward in time to see Neku land on its shoulders and grabbed the mask. He ripped it off like a bandage, a gush of crimson ink that didn't smell of blood gushes from the knight. Neku leaps off the knight as its body deteriorates and Ren flips backward from it, Sora dashing forward with Dragon's Key and with a single sweep, he obliterates the remnants of the knight's form.
He spins the key in one hand before dismissing it and turned to the other two with a thumbs up, both nod in approval of their team-up, even Morgana praised their teamwork. With the knight out of the way, they moved onward to the rest of the dungeon. In no time, they arrived back where they first saw found Sora. They also recall Ryuji mentioning a slave near him before they were forced to flee without helping.
Except…the jail cell was empty. Ryuji swore to the gang this was where they were last time they were here, but he growled and ran down further into the dungeon, much to the ire of Morgana and his dwindling patience.
But then he comes running back, saying he heard more footsteps on the way. Likely, as anyone would assume, his yelling earned the attention of another patrol unit, and want to avoid their king's temper taking out on them they weren't going to take any chances. As confident in his powers, Neku had a bad feeling even with his power, and the others by his side, they'd be overwhelmed. And getting caught a second time would not end well for them this time.
Luckily, Morgana approached a door that was shimmering and vibrating like a mirage, suggesting if they use this room they could wait out a patrol. Beat immediately rushes for the door and opened it up, yelling for everyone to get inside before the knights showed up.
Inside, Neku and Ren slammed the door and looked around for something to hold in case the knights attempt to barge in. Morgana however assured them the shadows probably won't come in here. When Ryuji, understandably so, asked how the cat was so sure about it, the cat explains that the distortion here was severely weaker here, meaning the ruler of the Palace likely didn't have as much control over it as he does with the rest of the school. As if to prove his point, the room shimmered and shifted temporality into what looks like a classroom.
"You guys finally get it now? This place is just another reality that the ruler's heart projects," Morgana asked while explaining the basics of this world's rules.
"This is Kamoshida's reality? Shit makes no sense!" Ryuji growled, kicking a barrel almost hard enough to shatter either his foot or the wooden structure.
Morgana explains a little more on the matter, that distorted desires from someone's desires. And that was when Ren mentions "Palace", to the cat's surprise. Ryuji asked why Ren and Morgana referred to this place as a "Palace", and Ren states that because Kamoshida sees the school as his castle, this world came into creation because of those distorted desires within his heart. Neku hummed in agreement, reminding everyone of how he acts in the school.
"Basically in the real world, he's hailed as a celebrity, being a former athlete who brought home a medal. In the school everyone has nothing but praise for him, like the principal constantly kissing his ass," he analyses, "So if he's able to get away with whatever the hell he's doing to the students, he's untouchable. He can do whatever he wants, and nobody can stop him, like a king".
"And that's how this place is made?", Beat asked. Morgana nodded and confirmed Neku's theory. But that only made Ryuji spit out a bitter laugh before once more damning and cursing the man. Once more the team looks at the spiky-haired boy, some with sympathy and curiosity. When Morgana commented on the deep level of hate for the man, Ryuji turned to the gang.
"Hate doesn't even come NEAR to how I feel about that bastard," growls Ryuji, "Everything is his fault!".
Morgana sighed but stressed to the boy that if they were still set on their task, he'd best keep his emotion check. Neku agreed with the fuzzball, reminding the punk that they were on his turf and he has a literal army at his command. Along with that he sat down at the table and asked Morgana for more info on this world, his and Ren's outfits, and more. Ren concurred with the request, adding that it was going to take a while for the patrol to end.
"Guess it'd make things easier on us if you guys get with the program…can't say I'm holding out much hope for those two though…" the cat teased, gesturing the two blondes with his paw.
After another string of insults from the two, Morgana begins his explanation…
*Main Hall*
"W-Where am I?".
Rhyme looks around the main hall with wide eyes mixed with curiosity and genuine fear, clutching her bell. One moment she was at the school, caught Beat hanging around that Sakamoto punk, the transfer student and Neku, tried to get his attention, and then the next thing she knows, she winds up in a place that could only a new world…or a nightmare.
"I-Is this the castle they talked about? B-But how, how is this possible?" she asked quietly, trying to wrap her mind around this bizarre circumstance.
"Well…well…look what crawled into my castle,".
She snapped her head to see sauntering down the stairs with a legion of knights behind him, Kamoshida lecherously ogling her. Just like Neku had said, this may be Kamoshida physically, but the hairs on her back stood tall as if lighting had struck her. This terrifying air around him, the lack of shame and concern for witnesses, what could only be his true self within this world.
"Kamoshida…" she greets, timid and with fear as she takes a step back.
"That's "Master" to you, little lady," he sneered.
He snapped his fingers and commands his knights to bring his new toy, and like obedient dogs, they marched towards Rhyme. The girl darts her eyes left and right before setting her eyes on Kamoshida and taking a page from Beat, she dashes towards him. This catches the knights by surprise and their king as she speeds past them and runs up the stairs.
"GET HER! BUT DON'T DAMAGE HER!", orders the king as the knights scrambled after her.
*Dungeons*
Sora leans backward on his chair's back legs, humming in thought as the information Morgana had delivered swims in his mind. Without a doubt, this world had taken the cake. And here he was thinking the world within a computer was bizarre. First as he thought, his, Neku and Ren's clothes were because of this world, to which Ryuji once more claims made no sense. But to Sora, it does. If anything distorts according to how a ruler pleases within his Palace, hence why the school had been turned into a Palace.
Apparently you would need to have a strong will of rebellion or something of equal to prevent the distortion. The image of the three boys is a manifestation of that, a image of their will. However the cat points out only Ren has the will of rebellion within him, where Sora and Neku were more bizarre to him. Prodded for answers, Neku frowns when he recalls how his Persona awakened within him, how on death's door he yearned to keep going, to expand his horizons and expand his world.
A will to protect one's way of life, as it were.
When it was Sora's turn, he merely takes out the charm from his pocket and holds it out to everyone. Riku's eyes softened at the sight while Neku questions it, and there he reveals the reason he couldn't let himself perish before seeing someone more important to him than anything else in the world. This charm represents a bond between him and someone that's gotten him through the worst, and a promise that when the time comes, they'll reunite.
A powerful will to protect something precious.
But as straight forward as this was, Ryuji was still having trouble comprehending this whole situation, and changed the focus onto their mysterious guide. Morgana swears up and down he is, as he quotes: "A human, an honest to god human!".
Stupidly Ryuji points out the painfully obvious fact the cat was more like…well, a cat. In response, Morgana claims he lost his true form, regardless of how uncertain he is about the whole thing. Riku comments that maybe it wasn't just his true form he lost, and the cat confirms he has no memory of how this occurred. But he swears he knows a way to restore his true self, hence why he first infiltrated the castle…up to the point where he got caught.
"And I was tortured by that jerk Kamoshida! So I'm gonna make him pay!" he swears.
"Hang on a second…something's been bugging me about this…" Riku says, "If Kamoshida rules this Palace, and if he controls the shadows, how strong is HE?".
"Without a doubt, he's the most powerful being outside of us here," Morgana confirmed, "The stronger the distortion, the more powerful the ruler is. But he can't use Personas like us, but like the shadows, once his "mask" is removed, his true self will show along with his power".
"That coward? How the hell is he more powerful? He probably wet himself the moment Ren and Sora showed their Personas," Neku questions.
"If you're saying we can take him now, then you might as well offer your neck to the chopping board," Morgana says, "You three still have barely any real power from your Personas, not to mention it's four of us against an army".
"Hey yo! We ain't going after him are we? Thought we was just lookin' for those prisoners!" Beat asked.
"Of course not," Ren sighed, "If Morgana's right, then we'd just be throwing our lives away. Sides we still don't have that much grasp on this place. Lets focus on finding those prisoners first, and then get out of here".
"…I'm with Ren," Sora says with a nod, "Much as I'd like to teach that perv a lesson, we won't have much of a shot with the way we are, right?".
"…yeah, you're right," Neku sighed begrudgingly. The rest of the teens concurred, though Ryuji more so due to him having no grounds to stand on. Not like he could take on Kamoshida on his own anyway.
With this finished, Morgana states the guards should have moved on by now and says they need to get a move if they wanted to finish what Ryuji wanted to do. The cat cockily remarks he'd be needing the rookies help, to which Sora rolled his eyes. If he wasn't bound by those stupid entry fee rules, he and Riku could have taken over the castle alone. However, Ryuji pipes up, saying he doesn't want everyone to carry the entire load of work for his sake. And from his bag, he takes out a gun.
Neku almost has a complete panic attack and nearly darts towards the wall in shock while Beat yells out in horror.
"DUDE! The hell did ya get that a gun!?" shouts the punk.
"Calm down! It's a model! It just make noises," he assured.
"…a toy, basically," Riku sighed.
"Well not…really? Like come on, it looks pretty real so maybe it'll trick Kamoshida's guards?" argued the spiky blonde. Luckily he did bring some medicine too, just in case they needed it. Least he brought something the gang could use. He hands the gun to Ren, but when he offered one to Neku, the orange haired growls a promise to shove that gun down his throat if he so much as inched closer to him with those things.
"SHH!", Sora hushes, finger against his lip.
Silence falls on the group as he and Beat approach the door, ears planted against the wooden structure. They hear the guards talking outside, thankfully they were chalking the noise they heard earlier was just their imagination. Along with that one of the guards said they heard screaming from the slaves earlier, meaning they must be in the training hall. Then the captain, or someone of higher rank than the average knight, commands they keep an eye and ear out for any intruders before splitting the group up.
"Training hall?" Sora says as they exit the room.
"Or torture chamber…either way, we've an idea where the slaves are being kept," Ren commented, "Now where's that?".
"Can't be much farther, come on!", Morgana says.
They walk down the hallway, but in less than three minutes they spot a guard performing their job, guarding a single door. Neku steps up and states he'd deal with this. With his Psych powers a lit, Neku teleports above the knight and aimed his left hand, chilling his hands in a light cloak of frost. He closes his hand and freezes the knight entirely in a block of ice, then he teleports back to the ground. Using his telekinetic powers, he lifts the knight and chucks it aside, smashing it into pieces after colliding into a wall.
He gave the others a smirk and gestured the door before entering it himself. A few mutters of compliments and some calling him a show-off, they follow in suit, but Sora stops when he hears more guards. Quickly he scrambled behind a group of barrels and hides just as one knight comes down the hall while more from the end runs to them.
"Quickly! Lord Kamoshida's castle has been defiled by another intruder!" it said, "A brat wearing a beanie hat and a bell has been spotted on the second floor! Hurry!".
The knights ran toward the castle hall, but Sora pops his head out, climbing out of the group of barrels. He frowns with the information, wracking his memory…until he remembered.
"Rhyme…" he gasped.
Sora rushes after the others with all the speed in his legs.
Meanwhile, the gang had just gotten out of another quick fight, this time with Ren brandishing his gun with a smirk. It turns out Ryuji's idea of using model guns to "fake out" their enemies wasn't impossible, but it could also be used to combat the shadows. When he pulled the trigger, he fired real bullets at the enemies, and when Morgana brought out a slingshot (his own) without ammo, he still managed to fire a few shots.
He explains that this is a cognitive world because the model gun looks so realistic the enemy perceived it as an actual weapon. When Ryuji, again, doesn't quite understand it, Riku gave him an example. If he were being robbed in an alley way and the mugger had a gun, obviously Ryuji wouldn't think twice if that gun were real or not, he'd be more concerned with how he was going to walk out of this alive.
The shadows were in the same boat as he'd be, to them the gun IS real, but their ammo would be limited based on the firearm. Ren then adds that if this is case, then the enemy would be expecting them to bring guns in every fight, meaning technically they wouldn't have to worry about ammunition if they encountered more enemies per conflict.
"So we've got like, unlimited ammo? Sounds like we're using cheat codes…" Beat commented, then frowned, "Eh? Wait, where's Sora?".
Speeding down the hallway, Sora nearly skids into a wall before he raced towards the gang with a look of panic in his eyes.
"Whoa man!" Ryuji yells as Riku just barely managed to stop Sora from crashing into the others like a train, "The hell's the rush?".
"RHYME'S HERE!" Sora yelled, "The guards said an intruder with a beanie and a bell necklace was spotted in the castle!". Immediately, Beat's eyes widens in terror while the others share glances of panic.
"B-B-But how!?" Beat yelled, grabbing his head with both hands.
The cat groans, and reveals that anybody could enter the Palace, reminding them they were nothing but regular schools students when they first came here. However Beat snapped back, saying she wasn't with them when they came back, to which Morgana says if anyone is close enough to be drawn into the Palace, they can still enter it.
"Shit…! And you said second floor right? At the main hall!?" Beat shouted.
When Sora nodded, Beat sped off back to the main entrance, startling the others and some called his name. Morgana huffed, lamenting Beat wouldn't make it without help, especially if the guards are on full alert now.
"Then looks like you three will have to go on without us," Neku says, gesturing to Ren and Ryuji, "Go find the slaves and do what ya gotta do, we'll go for Rhyme".
Before Morgana could speak, Ren nods firmly. "If possible, once you find her, get her home first and foremost," orders the Trickster. The three nod and quickly chase after Beat, and once they were out of sight, Ren leads on with the Ryuji in tow.
Morgana merely watches Ren with interest, noticing he was the one who made all the calls and everyone just…followed him.
"Hmm…maybe there is more to him then I thought…" Morgana ponders…
*Second Floor*
Quickly running into a room, Rhyme slammed the door shut as quick as she could with all the force in her body. Frantically looking around for something to help bar the door, she finds a dresser on her left and goes to its side. She pushes the dresser with all her small body's might, groaning and grunting with effort as she forces the dresser to block the door.
"Maybe…grr…I should have…gahhh…taking up Eri's offer for karate lessons…oh lord have mercy this is SO much heavier than I thought!" Rhyme whined with exertion. Finally she blocks the door and slumped against the dresser's side, panting and wipes the sweat off her forehead, groaning in pain. She looks up, realizing she had no clue what room she just ran into, and realizes she was essentially a cornered mouse right now should the guards find her.
It looked like a typical library with medieval aesthetic, a velvet red carpet displayed before her with a desk and chair, several shelves filled to the brim with books. The room is alit with torches strewn about the walls and even has a large chandelier above her. Getting to her feet, Rhyme approached the shelves, plucking a book from one row, she opened it and finds it wasn't anything she hadn't expected. This book was nothing special, it was just about physical exercise and methods taking care of one's health.
"This place is based on Kamoshida… his personality and views on the world, if that's the case then maybe there's something regarding the students…" she thinks to herself while putting the book away. Rhyme begins to search through the books for something, anything to help her against the pervy teacher, and be it god's grace or the devil's sick sense of humour, she found something.
A dark red book with a lot of "love hearts" along with some very crude and disgusting metaphors, Rhyme's eyes narrowed at the title of the book. Slave List. She places it on the table and continues the search, something telling her there had to be more here. And sure enough, there are two books that distinctly called out to her, The King and The Queen books. She reads a few bits of the King Book and to her disgust, it was exactly what the title implied.
Nothing more than glorifying that sick pervert, his achievements blown out of proportions, written to make him sound like a god among men and the disgusting ways they describe his "performance" between the sheets. The girl musters all her will to no grab a torch and burn this self-gratifying fanfiction to ashes and move on. Perhaps the book could give the gang insight, maybe Ren and the others could find a weak spot to exploit.
The Slave book was the one she dreaded, for she knew exactly who the focus of this shoddy excuse for literature were. It is a list of names; some she knew and some she hadn't heard off. There were love hearts "circled" nearby the names, likely the ones Kamoshida had decided to spend the most time on either torturing or breaking. Boys and girls alike, she prayed the x marks were just beatings and not something…permanent.
"We could use this…" she thinks.
Before she had any time to decide, the door is banged and shakes with force, making her yelp in a panic. So caught up in finding information on this monster of man she hadn't even looked for a way out. Rhyme stuffs the books into her bag and scrambled underneath the desk, back against it as she heard the door breaking and cracking under the weight of the guards. Her breathing quickens as hears a loud explosive slam, footsteps rushing into the room with clanky metal armour, and several heavy breathers lingered in the air.
Rhyme held her breath even as she shakes in fear, sweating and holding back the tears. Shutting her eyes tight while gritting her teeth, she pleaded for her brother. He'd save, he always saved her…
The girl felt a terrible sense of danger and quickly throw herself out from below the desk just time to avoid being split in two. She scrambled back to the bookshelf with her back against it, staring wide eyed at the guards. Six in total, clustered too close for her to try and scurry past them like she did before, and chances are there could be more guards waiting for her outside if she dared to escape. The knight in front of the platoon stepped forward, sword in hand with its shield at the ready.
Rhyme's hands tightly squeezed the carpet as her heart hammers loudly, fearing whatever horrible fate Kamoshida has instore for her. Be it execution…or worse…
She shuts her eyes and whimpers in terror, waiting for her fate to be decided…until…
"Persona!".
Sounds of steel sing in the air, ferocious gales of forceful wind brush against Rhyme. Then…silence.
She opens her eyes slowly to see the knights were nowhere to be seen, but instead there was someone else standing in front of her with their back facing Rhyme. In their hands were two beautifully made katanas but with key-shaped tips, small pinkish and flowery ring guards with each pommel carrying a beautifully woven chain of red with sakura petals. The saviour turns around to Rhyme while dismissing their swords.
Before Rhyme stands a girl, likely Sora's age wearing what looked like remnants of old Sengoku era samurai armour mixed with modern. Both her arms were covered in a mix of cloth and metal armour, the steel was pinkish white with the cloth grey and tattered, like she was in the middle of a war. Her torso's armour wasn't bulky like the old armour, it was slim and looked as strong as titanium, around her waist is a cloth skirt that is covering a pair of dark pink pants, straw sandals strapped to a pair of clothed feet.
Her hair is a wonderful shade of auburn, her mask is pure white with golden outlines on the design. Like a kabuki mask except for the upper face and not the jawline. It covers her forehead and cheeks, two short horns from the forehead with two red rings around them, five golden teeth below the mask just above her mouth, red war paint was painted around the eye slots all the way to the ends of the cheekbones.
"W-Who are…you?" Rhyme asked.
"A friend…looking for another friend," the Persona user introduces with a warm smile.
A/N:
*Slams face into desk*
I is done…
Okay, we're finally, FINALLY done with all the re-doing!
So before I go, I wanna address something:
To the guest whose been asking about Sora's abilities, he will not be using ALL of his previous powers in this story. Its just for the sake of keeping Sora in the same power level as the others as to avoid him being too op.
QUESTIONS:
Q1: Thoughts on this chapter?
Q2: The changes?
Q3: How was Rhyme in this one?
Q4: Eri portrayal?
Q5: Excited for the other Personas?
Q6: Guess who~
Thanks for reading everyone and even massive thanks for your patience. We'll be going into newer stuff next time! Thanks for the support, stay awesome but more importantly stay safe!