Inside an unknown realm…
"Huh!? What the!?" gasped Violet as she, Joker, Mona, Seraph, Ryoji, Skull and Blanc look around with surprise and confused looks on their faces and saw that the Shibuya place where they're now is still the same yet completely different at the same time, which is now completely devoid of the huge crowd of people except for them and is night-time instead of daytime.
"Where the heck are we now!?" said Blanc.
"How should I know where we are!? And doesn't it feels like… Whoa! What happened to you all and since when are you here with us, Mochizuki!?" said Ryuji with a shock look on his face at Violet, Joker, Seraph and Blanc in their phantom thieves outfits, Mona in his alternate form and the appearance of Ryoji in his human form.
"Huh? Oh, you're right. I'm indeed here with you all instead of inside Minato's soul." said Ryoji as he look down at himself.
"Not just him showing up and standing with us and also not just us, you change too." said Mona as he raised and pointed his paw at Skull.
"Whoa!? For real!?" said Skull as he look down at himself and saw that Mona's right about his outfit change into his Phantom Thief outfit like Joker and the others did.
"Strange… Very strange." thought Seraph to himself about their current predicament.
"Looks like the place that we're in now is connected to the Metaverse." said Mona as he turned to glance at a tall, huge and bizarre-looking building with the word Shibuya and the numbers 705 on it in the distance in front of them.
"Oh my god. I think you're right, Mona." said Violet with a concern look on her face. "Still, how is it that we got transported into the Metaverse?" asked Violet concernly to the others.
"We don't know, Violet." said Joker as he raised and put his arm around Violet and pull her close to him for a reassuring hug.
"This is a joke, right? Someone pinched me, please." said Skull.
"As you wish, Skull." said Seraph as he fulfill Skull's request and pinched his arm really hard, which make him yell out in surprise and pain as he quickly move away from Seraph and rubbed his arm.
"Ow! That effin' hurt and I didn't mean it, Seraph!" said Skull as he glared at Seraph (who shrugged his shoulders at him).
"Really, Seraph?" thought Blanc as he shake his head at Seraph.
"What's going on here, who are you people and why are you all wearing such elaborate outfits and masks too!?" demanded an unfamiliar girl's voice suddenly to them, which make them flinch and tensed up and gasped in surprise before they turned to glance and saw a fair-skinned, long crimson-haired (which is tied up into a ponytail), silver-eyed girl (wearing a sleeveless mint green tank top with a short sleeve dark green bolero jacket over it, knee length black jeans and white shoes on her feet) that they never met before standing behind them with disbelief and shock look on her face.
"What the? How did you get in here!?" said Skull in disbelief to the girl.
"Oh great. I'm getting a sense of deja vu here." thought Joker as he shake his head.
"Have you forgotten what I tell you last year, Skull? If there's anyone nearby us when we activated the Nav then whoever he or she is will be dragged in with us." said Mona.
"Yeah, he's right, Skull." said Blanc in agreement with Mona.
"Huh? What is that thing, a talking monster cat!?" said the girl as she glance at Mona with a freak-out look on her face.
"I'm not a monster cat!" snapped Mona as he scowled at the girl for calling him a monster cat.
"Yeah, he's not a monster cat. He's Mona and he's our friend and one of our teammates." said Joker calmly to the girl.
"I-Is that so? Anyway, who are you all and where the heck are we now?" said the girl as she take another look at the place around them. "Hold on, isn't this place Shibuya?" added the girl in confusion to them about the place.
"Yeah, it is but it's not the same Shibuya that you know about in the real world." said Blanc.
"It's not? Then why…" said the girl in more confusion to them.
"We'll explain more to you later. Right now we need you to trust us and to stick close to us so that you don't wander or run from us into danger, alright?" said Violet calmly and reassuringly to the girl.
"… Alright, I guess I'll stick with you guys even if you guys are strangers that I just met and talk to." said the girl as she slowly nodded to Violet and stick close to them.
"Wise decision and may I ask who you are, miss?" asked Ryoji slightly curiously to the girl.
"Huh? Oh, I'm Isamu Toudou." replied the girl as she told Ryoji and the others who she is and they all nodded and tell Isamu their codenames so she know who they are.
"Hm? Hey, look there, everyone. Looks like we're not alone and not the only ones that got transported in here." said Joker as he noticed 3 guys standing together in front of a tall building with a large TV screen on it.
"Aren't those the guys that we saw among the crowd at the new shop that's just opened by Alice Hiiragi at 705 storefront earlier…" said Mona.
"Yeah, we did, Mona. Why are they…" said Blanc as he nodded at Mona before he, Mona, Joker, Violet, Seraph, Ryoji, Skull and Isamu saw the large TV screen on the building turned on and showed a familiar yet different-looking Alice Hiiragi that had pink hair with some blue streaks on it instead of green with lavender streaks, yellow-coloured eyes instead of dark purple, 2 huge psychedelic eye décor and a crown on her head and wearing a quite revealing and provocative dominatrix black and dark pink outfit instead of the unusual-looking dress that they saw her wore in Shibuya in the real world.
"Hey, everyone. You all loved me, don't you?" asked Alice to the 3 guys (who nodded to her) while Joker and some of his teammates and Isamu watched in silence.
"Oh yeeeah? Then you can give me all your DESIRES!" said Alice as she smirk cruelly at the 3 guys, which confuses them before they (and Joker, his teammates and Isamu) saw several white masked figures in security guard uniforms walking toward the 3 guys, grab hold of them before they could run off and escape, plunge their hands into the 3 guys bodies and take some kind of glowing magenta-coloured gemstones out of the 3 guys before releasing and dropping the 3 guys to the ground.
"Whoa!? What the hell was that!?" said Skull with a shock look on his face at what he and the others and Isamu watched the white masked security guards just did to the 3 guys.
"Whatever it is they did to those 3 guys, it's not good." said Blanc.
"D-Did they just plunge their hands into those guys and took some glowing things out of them!? Oh my goodness!" gasped Isamu, shock as well.
"Yeah, they did and calm down, Toudou-san. You too, Skull-senpai." said Violet calmly to both Skull and Isamu (who nodded and calm themselves down).
"There's no time! We'll figure it out later! Joker, Skull, Seraph, Violet, Blanc and Ryoji, let's fight our way out and protect Isamu Toudou from them at the same time!" said Mona to Joker, Skull, Seraph, Violet, Blanc and Ryoji as they got into their fighter stances while also protecting Isamu from the large group of white masked security guards approaching them.
"Dammit! Fine, let's do this! We'll TAKE all of you on!" said Skull.
"Stay sharp, you guys! We haven't fought in some time. Just warm up a bit for starters. It'll come back to you guys soon enough and call out your Personas too! And Violet, we leave you in charge of watching and protecting Isamu from these guys!" said Mona before he glance and gave an order to Violet.
"Understood, Mona-senpai! Stay close to me, Toudou-san!" said Violet as she nodded at Mona before telling Isamu to stay close to her and she did.
"They intend to take all of these things on!? Are they serious and "call out your Personas", what do they mean by that!?" thought Isamu in confusion in her mind at them and got her answer the next second.
"Come, Raoul!" said Joker as he called out his Persona and a black-skinned, red-eyed slim male figure wearing a long sleeve vivid red jacket with gold trims on it over a white shirt with a black necktie around his neck, black gloves on his hands, long black pants with a black belt tied around his waist and thigh high black boots with gold studs on the side of the boots on his legs, a red fedora hat on his head and a huge pair of mechanical and leather bat-like black and gold wings behind his back showed up behind Joker.
"Diego!" said Mona before a blue-skinned, yellow-eyed broad and muscular black masked male figure wearing a long-sleeve buttoned-up white shirt with a black cape behind his back, light blue gloves on his hands, long blue jeans with a silver-coloured belt tied around his waist and with a rapier sheath on it and light brown shoes on his feet and holding a black and silver-coloured spiral rapier in his right hand showed up behind Mona.
"William!" said Skull before a white skull-faced, red-eyed thin male figure wearing a short sleeve black shirt with a long sleeve black, white and yellow hooded jacket over it and with a cape down his back, long black pants and yellow shoes on his feet with a silver and orange-coloured long cannon weapon in his right arm and standing on a sleek-looking white boat like a skate-board showed up behind Skull.
"Robert!" said Blanc before a white-skinned, brown-eyed male figure wearing a long sleeve black and white stripe shirt with a simple black cape draped over his left arm, long white pants and white shoes on his feet showed up behind Blanc.
"Ella!" said Violet before a beautiful and completely white figure of a woman wearing a sleeveless white dress with thigh high silvery white boots on her feet and holding a bouquet of white and yellow daisy flowers in her left hand showed up behind Violet.
"Messiah Picaro!" said Seraph before a black-skinned, white-haired, pale blue-eyed magnificent looking male figure with long red gloves on his arms (and with a yellow chain wrapped around his left arm that connects to 3 coffins with the images of red-coloured nuns on it), another pair of red and yellow winged arms around his waist and a huge yellow spiky halo circle and a long yellow sword behind it's back showed up behind him while a red and black aura showed up and completely covered Ryoji's form before the aura dissipated away to reveal a yellow skull-faced, black, red and yellow terrifying male figure wearing a long sleeve black coat with a black and yellow belt tied around his waist, elbow-length yellow gloves on his hands, a cape of coffins with the same images of red-coloured nuns on it and long yellow boots on his feet, Ryoji's alternate form named Thanatos Picaro.
"What the!? Why did several bizarre-looking things in more elaborate outfits appearing behind them and one of them turned into a terrifying-looking creature!?" thought Isamu with a more shock look on her face as she saw their Personas showed up and Ryoji transform into his Thanatos Picaro form.
After Joker, Mona, Violet, Seraph, Skull and Blanc called out their Personas and Ryoji transform into his Thanatos Picaro form, they proceed to charge forward and began fighting and eliminating the large group of shadows with their weapons and Personas (and Joker make use of the street light and street signs metal poles to do swift spinning attack on the shadows to take them out) while Ryoji eliminate them with his own power and long sword weapon and Violet and her Persona Ella fight and take down the shadows that approach her and Isamu but after a while of Joker, his teammates and Ryoji fight and take down the large group of shadows, more showed up and take their places and despite Violet trying her best to fight the shadows and protect Isamu, some of the shadows somehow managed to separate Isamu from Violet and her Persona.
"No, Toudou-san!" thought Violet in worry and fear for Isamu (who fell to the ground and watched the shadows surrounding her with a frighten look on her face) as she and Ella try to get past the shadows to Isamu to no avail.
"Oh no! Is this really it for me? Am I gonna be killed by these things and die here?" thought Isamu in worry and fear in her mind at her grim predicament.
"What the hell are you doing sitting here all numb and unmoving for!? Get up and run or do something to protect yourself from them if you don't wanna die, goddammit!" snapped Joker in a loud and reprimanding tone of voice to Isamu.
"Joker-senpai!" said Violet as she scowled at Joker for reprimanding Isamu.
"Huh?" said Isamu as she glance in surprise and confusion at Joker reprimanding her before a stern and determined look appear and replaced the previous looks on her face. "He's right. Why and how could I let myself thinking and letting my own feelings of fear of getting hurt and dying consumed me? Not anymore because I don't want to die yet, not by the hands of these things and in this whatever kind of bizarre place I'm in!" added Isamu angrily to herself as she stood up from the ground and glared at the shadows standing around her.
"Now that's more like it." said an unknown refined and feminine voice of a woman suddenly to Isamu (who gasped and look around for the source of the woman's voice and can't see her anywhere). "Still, to think that all it took is the words of the boy in the black coat to make you find your courage hidden within your worry and fear to stand up. Guess you're just a malen'kaya devochka who needs a boy like him to encouraged and hold your hand every baby step of the way, hm?" added the woman's voice mockingly to Isamu.
"Don't you call me a little girl and don't assumed that I need some guy that I just met and know nothing about to hold my hand every step of the way just because he managed to make me snap out of my feelings of worry and fear! I'll showed and prove to you that I'm not a little girl, whoever you are!" snapped Isamu angrily at the woman's voice.
"Really? In that case, I look forward to it to how you can showed and prove to me that you're not a malen'kaya devochka." said the woman's voice smugly to Isamu (who gasped and groaned out loud when she felt an indescribable pain suddenly wracked her head and body while her eyes turned from silver to yellow). "I am thou, thou art I… Shall we forged the contract between us now?" the woman's voice told Isamu as a black and white bird-like mask appear on her face.
"Certainly we will, Sonya!" said Isamu confidently to Sonya as she grab hold and ripped the mask off her face, causes blood to burst out and run down her face (and make Joker, his teammates and Ryoji watched with surprise and worry looks on their faces) before a strong beam of dark blue flames suddenly appear and enveloped around Isamu before the flames died down to reveal Isamu, whose outfit had change into a different looking short sleeve black and white corset-like shirt with dozens of tiny black buttons on it, a long sleeve black bolero jacket with yellow wave-like patterns on it over her shirt, white gloves on her hands, long black pants and knee-length black boots on her feet and holding a black and grey sledgehammer weapon in her hands while a white-skinned, long waist-length elegant brown-haired, dark purple-eyed woman wearing an elegant-looking short sleeve dark purple Russian dress with dozens of white rose designs on it, a matching purple hat with two white feathers sticking out on the hat, long golden gloves on her arms and dark blue wings behind her back appear behind Isamu.
"You guys, did you guys see her just went through the process and awaken to her Persona like we did last year?" said Skull to the others with a surprise look on his face at what Isamu just did.
"Yeah, we all did, Skull-senpai." said Violet as she nodded at Skull.
"Which means we got ourselves a new member for the Phantom Thieves and we need to tell the others about her when we get out later, right, Mona?" said Blanc as he glance at Seraph.
"Yeah, you're right, Blanc." said Mona as he glance and nodded at Blanc while Joker, Seraph and Ryoji stay silent.
"This feeling… it feels great!" thought Isamu as she savor the feeling coursing through her body for a few more seconds before she raised her head to glared at the shadows that still surrounds her, raised her hammer and proceed to charge toward the shadows to attack and eliminate half of them while calling and ordering her Persona named Sonya to attack and eliminate the other half with Aqua and Mudo skills (Water and Dark skills) until she managed to get rid of them and make her way to rejoin Violet and the others (who also defeat and got rid of the shadows that surrounds them).
"That was awesome, Toudou-san! To think that you'd go through the same thing like we did last year and had an awesome and pretty-looking Persona with you!" said Violet in an impressed tone of voice to Isamu and her Persona after she rejoin them.
"So do I. But even so, I still didn't expect that I'd…" said Isamu before she fell silent due to another large group of shadows showing up and replacing the ones that they just fight and defeated. "Are you kidding me? Another large group of them? Just how many are they?" groaned Isamu.
"She's right! Why are there so many of 'em!?" said Skull in agreement with Isamu.
"This has gone from really bad to downright frustrating, you guys." said Blanc.
"Thank you for that, mister obvious." said Ryoji in annoyance at Blanc.
"Enough, you two! Mona, is there any way out for us to escape these horde of shadows?" asked Seraph as he glance at Mona.
"I'm looking, I'm looking… Hey, over there! That place looks like our best bet!" said Mona as he raised and pointed his paw at an alleyway between two tall buildings behind the bus stop to their left.
"Good job spotting it, Mona! Come on, let's run over there now, everyone!" said Joker concernly to his teammates and Isamu and they all nodded to him before they turned and run toward and into the alleyway while attacking and preventing the shadows from pursuit them and once they're far enough inside the alleyway, they stop to catch their breaths and rest a little.
"Looks like we're safe from those shadows for now." said Blanc.
"Thank goodness…" said Violet with a relief look on her face.
"Okay, what the hell IS this place?" said Skull.
"Isn't this place the Metaverse, Skull?" said Joker.
"Possible. But I think… this could be Alice's Palace." said Mona concernly to Joker, Violet, Skull, Blanc, Seraph, Ryoji and Isamu, which make them had disbelief and shock looks on their faces while a confused look appear on Isamu's face.
"A Palace? But I thought those were done for, though! I mean, we don't even have the Meta-Nav on our phones anymore!" said Skull.
"Skull, I get what you mean but should you be saying such things out loud with her close to us?" said Blanc as he gestured his head at Isamu.
"It's fine because didn't she go through what we did last year so there's no harm in letting her know about it, Blanc." said Skull.
"Fine." said Blanc.
"I don't know what's going on… But I don't think anything else could explain this. You guys saw Alice on the screen just like I did. No matter how you guys look at it… That was her Shadow." said Mona as he shake his head a little before he glance at Joker.
"Yeah, you're right, Mona." said Joker as he nodded at Mona.
"We just happened to wander into Alice's Palace using EMMA… That would be the most logical explanation." said Mona.
"The more I hear them talk, the more confused and worry I am about the things they just said." thought Isamu in more confusion and worry in her mind at their conversation.
"Dammit! Whatever it is doesn't change the fact that we're in deep shit and we'd someone else here with us too…" groaned Skull as he briefly scratch his head a little.
"We need more intel. Let's investigate the area. If this really is a Palace, the distortion has to have a core somewhere… We need to find the Treasure. I'm even getting a faint whiff of it. If we look around, we may be able to learn and know what's going on, too. We'll get a better idea of what to do next depending on what we find." said Mona as he glance at Joker.
"Yeah, guess that's the only way for us, Mona." said Joker as he nodded at Mona.
"Guess we're doin' this…" sighed Skull.
"Look, I know that you're feeling tired after awakening to your Persona but do you think you can hold on and accompany us in investigating the area just a little bit longer, Isamu Toudou?" asked Mona as he glance at Isamu.
"Mona, I don't think that…" said Ryoji as he started to shake his head.
"Yeah, I think I'll be able to hold on a bit longer." said Isamu as she slowly nodded at Mona.
"Huh? Are you sure you can, Toudou-san?" asked Violet concernly to Isamu (who glance and nodded to her).
"Alright and try not to force yourself from going on too much." said Seraph.
"I know." said Isamu as she glance and nodded at Seraph.
"Very well then and stay close to us, Toudou-san. Let's begin the investigation, everyone!" said Joker to his teammates and Isamu and they all nodded to him before they run out of alleyway, look around and saw no signs of Shadows anywhere, glance and nodded to each other and as they started running toward the tall, huge and bizarre-looking building, bright lights suddenly shone down upon them, which make them stop running while the same large group of shadows appear and surrounded them again.
"No good! It's an ambush!" said Mona worriedly to the others.
"Oh no!" gasped Isamu with a worry look on her face.
"Huh? What's that above us?" said Skull as he glance up and got his answer the next second as a huge and heavy rope net drop down upon them, making them fall and pinned down on the ground, including Ryoji in his alternate form.
"This ain't fair!" complain Skull as he and the others struggle to get themselves free from the rope net trap to no avail while the shadows approach them, grab and yank the rope net off them before they grab and tied them up tightly with ropes and bring them straight toward and entered the bizarre building.