Chapter 5: Not a Cat!

With introductions out of the way, Mona—Morgana, he insisted, is eager to guide the girls out from the dungeons, not the sewers like Akira had thought. He did praise her forward thinking in looking for a non-standard exit.

"Lady Ann, Dame Akira, I promise to repay the favor of helping me escape this awful place!"

Ann rubs at her tender wrists nervously. "How did you end up here, anyways?"

"I was investigating the Palace for my own reasons. Maybe I'll share more when we aren't deep in the lion's den," he answers, scurrying forward from corner to corner, peeking out in search of any guards.

While the coast was clear, an agonized scream echoed up from deeper in the dungeons. Ann started, her head whipping towards the source of the sound. "What was that!? Is there someone else trapped down here?" she asks all too loudly. Akira and Morgana shush her at the same time, but the damage is done, as a knight bursts forth from a pool of black and red.

"Stop! Intruders!" The knight raises its sword before jerking in place, sinking back into its birthing pool of darkness before erupting forth once more, this time as two creatures instead of one, another Jack O' Lantern and fairy girl. In unison, Akira and Morgana rush forward to face them, Ann ducking behind the corner they'd been peeking out from.

"How'd two of these things pop out of one knight?" Akira asks as she tosses her knife into her left hand and sinks into a steady crouch.

"Shadows operate on different rules. One cognitive servant can contain multitudes." Morgana draws a comically oversized - for him - scimitar over his shoulder. "Now, let me show you what an old pro can do!" He throws out his arms at his sides and lifts his head, shouting, "Zorro, show your might!"

Akira can't help the snort of laughter that forces its way up to her face as she sees what manifests behind Morgana. In her heart, she feels Judith stirring in recognition of another like her, as Zorro stands proud and tall behind his summoner. Dressed in all black finery, a brilliant silver Z-shaped buckle at his belt, and holding up a comically undersized rapier in a large gloved fist, Zorro looks utterly hilarious.

He's shaped like a dorito! That man is a triangle!

With a swish of his blade, gusts of wind blow down the Jack O' Lantern, giving Akira an opening to follow-up. Remembering how quickly her magic had handled the first fight, Akira tears off her mask to feel Judith surge forth once more. "Drown in it!" She cries, darkness consuming the small creature like last time. Turning back to downed Jack, Akira reaches towards her thigh with her right hand—

She blinks. There's a holster underneath the slit in her outfit's skirt, but it's empty. She hasn't owned a model gun since her arrest. And even then, it was just a model! Why was her first thought to draw it and fire at the Shadow?

While she was distracted, Morgana jumped in and sliced the enemy to nothing with his sword. "And that is how it's done!" He turns to her with a grin and a swish of his tail. "You could use some experience, but you've obviously got some serious control over your Persona. How long ago did you awaken?"

Akira blinks. "Persona? You mean Judith? Uh, like half an hour ago, Mona-chan."

Morgana's eyes widen comically, an impressive feat when they're already so bulbous in his huge round head. "REALLY!? B-But you're not even tired! And your will of rebellion suits you like a glove, I assumed you were at least adjusted to it—"

Akira shakes her head. "Can we talk about this later? At this rate, we're just asking to get ambushed again."

Ann pokes her head out from the corner sheepishly. "I'll be good," she murmurs quietly, a faint blush betraying her embarrassment over causing the fight.

"Follow me, I remember passing a Safe Room when the Shadows dragged me down into that dank cell." Mona waves the girls forward and rushes off towards the next set of bridges. Akira can't help but smile as she races after him, checking behind her to make sure Ann didn't get left behind.

Morgana leads them to a door that… doesn't look like it's all there. It sort of shimmers like a mirage in the distance, made all the more disorienting for the fact that they're only a couple of meters away from it and watching it convulse. Not sensing the ladies' trepidation, the cat fearlessly opens the door, gesturing them inside.

"Wait, is this… a classroom?" Ann looks around as the castle storage room shifts uncertainly in between itself and a Shujin classroom, with desks and a chalkboard, but with the crates of the castle occupying odd spaces before the room shifts back.

"This is a Safe Room. Think of it like a blind spot in the Palace Ruler's cognition," Morgana explains, perhaps a bit unhelpfully.

"I'm sorry, Mona-chan, but you're going to have to explain at least half of those words." Akira crosses her arms and leans back against the wall next to the door.

"Yeah, I mean, obviously we're in a palace, but the ruler's cognition? Do you mean Kamoshida?"

Morgana grins. "You've got it! Kamoshida is the ruler of this Palace. That's with a capital-P, by the way. The fact that castle is synonymous with palace is just coincidence. A Palace is the distortion inside the Ruler's heart. You said this was a classroom, because Kamoshida sees the school as his castle!"

Akira blinks. "Ann-kun, before we got here, didn't you say Ryuji-kun called John 'the king of the castle?'"

Ann gasps, "You're totally right, Akira-chan! We were talking about how creepy Kamoshida was being. Ugh, I can't believe I ever put up with his bullshit! So this is what he sees of the school? He called me his 'Princess'! If I never hear him say the words 'my Ann' again, it'll be too soon." She wraps her arms around herself, a wave of shivers rolling over her.

Mona shakes his adorable head. "Apologies, Lady Ann, that you ever had to suffer the gaze of that irreproachable lecher!" He turns to Akira as she tries to stifle her giggles. "Is something the matter, Dame Akira?"

"N-No, psh," Akira tries to pull herself together, "I-I just think your uh, 'gentlemanly disposition' has… overwhelmed me."

Mona lifts his chin up, preening in delight. "Why, thank you for the compliment, fair dame! As one thief to another, you also carry yourself with a notable confidence."

"Y-Yeah, super confident right now, totally," Akira manages to force out between her grinning lips. He's so cuuuuuuuuute!

"Well, if you two are done, I have another question." Ann's posture stiffens as her eyes dart towards the door. "What were those screams from before? You said we were the only ones here…"

"Those are Kamoshida's slaves. Cognitions from the school that he… abuses."

Ann's jaw drops. "Are you kidding me!? You mean like, he's torturing these kids at school, so in his head they're being tortured, too?"

Mona, all cheer and vim, smiles. "Exactly! Wow, you two really catch on to the nitty gritty of the Metaverse's cognitive workings quick!"

"There's another word I'm gonna need explained later."

"So Kamoshida's actually doing this shit! There's always been rumors, and… and bruises, but no one ever said anything about abuse!"

Mona shakes his head. "That's just the way it is, Lady Ann. There's nothing we can do to help without getting you safe, first."

"He's right," Akira says. "We need to get out of here and get to school. We can figure out… well, everything, afterwards."

"This is so messed up," Ann moans, clutching at her head in obvious frustration. Akira shares a concerned look with Morgana. Getting out was definitely the priority.

"Our exit point is just behind that door!" Mona whispers, pointing to the one door that just happens to have another Shadow patrolling in front of it. "If we can catch the guard by surprise and rip off his mask, the Shadows will be shaken, and we get off a preemptive strike!"

Akira nods, and rushes out when the knight next has its back turned. With a fierce kick, she hamstrings it right in the joint of its leggings, and as it stumbles forward she hops up its back, reaching around to tear off that ridiculous mask. "Peekaboo!" She cheers as with a bloody tear, it comes off in her hand and vanishes.

She flips back as the Shadow sinks and reforms into—

"GROSS!" Ann screams from a ways back, as a red-skinned demon curls up into a fetal position midair, a dark and phallic horn larger than its torso poking up from the area of its crotch.

"Such a vulgar display will be removed!" Mona cries as he summons Zorro, who thrusts a fist forward and wallops the fiend over the head.

Before it can recover its bearings, Akira rushes in, raising her foot up and smashing it down on his. As the Incubus (because what else could it be?) yowls in pain, Akira jams her dagger into its overly large head, as it goes cross eyed and vanishes in a cloud of dust.

"I wish seeing that thing in Kamoshida's head was more of a surprise," Ann grumbles.

Akira opens the door to reveal an empty room, mostly indistinguishable from the other rooms they'd passed thus far. Mona waddles in and jumps in the air with a little wave. "We made it! Here's your way out, ladies."

"Wh-where's the door!?" Ann cries, frantically searching the room for the supposed exit.

Akira taps her shoulder and nods to the window. "Don't need one. We've got a ventilation shaft right here."

"You're a natural at this, Dame Akira! Just as I expected," Mona beams, and Akira can't resist the urge to pat his head.

"All thanks to you, Mona-chan," she says with a grin.

"Aw, shucks…" Morgana flushes under the praise.

"But that's got one of those grate things over it!" Ann points out.

Akira huffs a little, hopping up onto the shelves. She braces her back against the wall, rears her foot forward, and lets her legs do the work to smash the metallic mesh off into the shaft.

Ann sighs in relief. "We're finally getting away from this awful place!"

Mona shakes his head. "Hold your celebrations until you're well and truly out. Good luck, ladies."

Akira pouts. "You're not coming with us, Mona-chan?"

"I have something I still have to do. I came to this Palace for a reason." He grins confidently. "Don't worry. I won't slip up like that again. Kamoshida won't even know I'm here this time, nyahaha!"

"Thanks, Morgana." Ann throws him a smile before taking Akira's hand to help her up to the shaft.

As the ladies slip out of Kamoshida's Castle, Morgana crosses his arms, staring at the ventilation shaft. "To think, such kind women could be sucked into so twisted a Palace. But they were able to escape his clutches on their own. Resourceful and brave… Dame Akira and Lady Ann truly are strong. Especially Dame Akira…"

A/N: I am SO SORRY that there was an unplanned hiatus last week! It's just that finals were SERIOUSLY stressing me out.

But guess who got her motherfucking Associate's Degree? THIS BITCH RIGHT HERE Y'ALL!

I wanted this chapter to be a little longer, but I've cut it short for the sake of getting it to you all now!

If you like my fic and want to see more fics like it, join the Fanfiction Treehouse server on Discord. I'm one of the founding members, although this is my first consistent project to actually warrant regular plugs.

/9XG3U7a