"So, I'm guessing that's where the final pieces are?" Shiho asked.

"Only one way to find out. Let's go." Yu ordered as he got on one of the moored boats.

"Do any of us know how to sail?" Morgana questioned.

"It appears everything's already done for us. Plus, there's a paddle in the ship, if we need it." Akechi pointed out, which was enough for everyone else to get in. Yu undid the line holding the ship in place, and almost immediately it began drifting to the Ami Ito , almost as if compelled by an unknown force to approach the vessel. As they approached it, a fog began to seep in, and the light of the sun dimmed, blocked by the boat's imposing figure. The Team arrived at a giant hole in the ship, with the only light now being from within.

"And so, the mighty Phantom Team disembarked. Where others would be frightened off by the ghoulish sight before them, the resolute heroes had wills of steel, and pressed on in their noble quest." Hifumi said, albeit more quietly this time.

Yu surveyed the area. Right now, he and the others were standing a room with water that was only a few inches deep, with broken chandeliers that dimly illuminated the room. But there was something else in the room which disturbed Yu and the others. Hanging from a support beam was a human body with a bag over his head, and on his body the word "Traitor" had been branded on his chest.

"So this barge… is where traitors go to die." Akechi said.

"And aunt Ami must be the biggest traitor in mother's mind." Hifumi added.

"Where do we go from here? I don't see a way up." Morgana pointed out.

"First thing's first." Yu replied as he entered a set of shimmering doors. With the Safe Room marked, he joined the others in brainstorming ideas.

"Think we can make our Personas fly us up?" Yu asked, summoning Izanagi to test his theory. The god grabbed his master, but try as he might, he couldn't get Yu more than a few feet off the ground.

"Alright, that didn't work. Anyone got any ideas?" Akechi asked.

"Yea; we make one." Shiho replied, summoning Boudicca and having her fire at a platform. The result was a great deal of crashing and noise, but when it was over, they had some kind of path upwards in the form of crates and broken boards.

"Well, that works. Let's get going." Yu said, grabbing onto the nearest hanging platform and climbing up that, like he was in a platforming video game, with the others quickly following him up. It wasn't long until he found himself on a walkway that led to an archway which no doubt led further into the ship. But what was strange was the fact that wasn't tilted on an axis like everything else. The others arrived, and also noticed how out of place the even walkways were.

"Shouldn't these be tilted?" Morgana questioned.

"It looks like we're not alone. Stay sharp everyone." Yu ordered.

"I heard something! We may have intruders!" A voice yelled from beyond the archway. A voice that obviously belonged to a Shadow.

"Quick, everyone hang off the edges!" Yu loudly whispered.

"Why? We can take them." Shiho replied.

"We don't know how many there are, and we don't want to get swarmed." Yu replied.

"Fine!"

The Team did as Yu said, and it wasn't long until the Shadow entered. Unlike the others, which had variation of samurai armor, this Shadow didn't have a shirt on, his pants were torn rags, his hands were more akin to claws, and his mask was reminiscent of an Oni, its fangs dripping with blood. It looked around in a way similar to a hound sniffing the air. When it got close enough to the ledge, Akechi reached up and grabbed its leg, pulling it over and sending it plummeting to its death. With the immediate threat gone, they pulled themselves back up and made their way through the archway.

"Holy…" were the first words out of Yu's mouth when he saw what laid before them.

The group was looking at the interior of the ship in its entirety, but the entire hold had been stripped of virtually everything. Instead, all that there was a massive labyrinth of paths, criss-crossing like headphone wires in a person's pocket. Jutting out underneath these paths were wooden beams. Hanging from these beams were bodies, both men and women, some had their guts spilling out, some were hanging from their hands without the lower half of their bodies, but all of them had one thing in common; they all had 'Traitor' branded on their chest.

"Geeze. Where do we even begin with this?" Morgana asked with a heavy sigh.

"Good question. Venus, can your Persona give us a hand?" Akechi asked.

"But of course. I'm trying to map out the correct path now."

"Wait, really? But we don't have a map." Yu replied, pulling out his phone, the static confirming that this area was virtually unknown.

"Guess it's another one of my Persona's abilities."

"That'll save us a ton of time later on!" Morgana exclaimed.

"I'm so glad you joined us." Shiho remarked.

"Alright, we have two paths, left and right. Which one?"

"Left. But there's a Shadow."

"We can take it." Shiho replied, cracking her knuckles.

"Let's not rush blindly." Akechi replied, getting an eye roll from the girl.

Yu led the charge, but since he knew that there wasn't some kind of horde waiting for him, he didn't wait for it to turn around, instead slashing it when it spotted him and charged. The monster dissolved into a puddle and reformed into a cluster of scantily-dressed girls with teal skin. Yu and the others reached to summon the inner selves, but the women proved to be faster, one of them launching an ice attack that knocked Shiho down. Surprised by how fast she went down, Yu didn't call Izanagi, leaving him vulnerable to an attack by another girl. Akechi summoned Robin Hood and tried to fire, but the Shadow he was targeting dodged. The fourth girl charged Morgana, but the Velvet guide dodged out of the way, and used the opening to counterattack with a deep sword strike and a metal pellet to the throat, finishing her off. Yu got up and decided to call upon a different Persona.

"Genbu!"

One of the creatures that they thought way back during the trials emerged next to Yu, and it quickly spewed fire, only to be dodged by its target.

"These bastards are fast." Akechi grunted as Robin Hood let loose an arrow that would again miss.

"Worry not noble archer! Your queen commands forces of immeasurable power!" Hifumi boldly declared, grabbing everyone's respective pieces and slamming them on different positions. A green light engulfed everyone, and suddenly, they all felt lighter on their feet, but their vision was also sharper, more refined, and they felt like they could shoot the wings off the fly. Shiho got up, ready for round two.

"Alright. Let's try this again." Shiho growled, summoning Boudicca and launching an attack for the second time. This time, the assault hit. This time, the Shadow went down. This time, the creature didn't stand a chance. Once she was vaporized, Shiho transferred her power to Akechi, who used it to destroy the third woman. The final one, in a panic, surrendered, and Yu convinced her to join them. With the surprisingly tough battle over, Yu turned to his team.

"Alright. We underestimated the Shadows. Let's try to not do this again."

"Yea." Shiho agreed as Morgana patched them up.

"Thanks for the support Venus. That could've gone much worse without your help."

"Anytime Ace. Oh, and when you arrive at the crossroad, take the one that goes up." Hifumi explained.

The group continued their way upwards, and they came at a crossroads, there were three distinct paths; one went up, one went to the side, and the final one went down and led to a chest. After picking the lock and obtaining the goods inside, which Morgana called a "Goho-M", which could teleport them to a Safe Room, the team continued their ascent, finding remarkably little in the way of security. No traps, no barricades, not even another Shadow. It was just them and the lifeless corpses that occupied the broken barge. Finally, they arrived at another archway, and above this was a sign that read "Captain's Cabin", and from within, they heard groans and wails of agony. Having learned from their previous skirmish, the four quietly entered the room, and saw a man locked in a chair with a basket over his head, and with him was a Shadow that was carving up his skin.

"You will submit to our Shogun, or met a fate worse than death!" It hissed, raising a red hot poker for another strike. Yu rushed towards it, and ripped off its mask, transforming it into a flying black goat with a ball of fire between his horns. The others summoned their Personas, with Akechi leading the attack with Robin Hood hitting it with a ray of light, knocking it down.

"Oh, now it's super easy. All-Out Attack!" Yu ordered, and every member following through, bashing, hacking, and slashing. When it was over, Akechi had a smug look on his face, smirking at how easy the monster had been bested. Only for him to get pulverized a moment later by a sudden blast of curse magic that knocked him back. Yu and the others looked, and the Shadow was still very much alive and kicking.

"How'd it survive that?! An All-Out Attack's our strongest move!" Shiho pointed out.

"Guess it wasn't strong enough. Alright everyone, stand your ground! We can still win this!" Yu replied.

The flying goat flapped his wings just as Akechi got up, and four straw dolls appeared directly in front of each Trickster, and a needle began poking into each. Yu sidestepped his doll as soon as it appeared, but the others were caught of guard by theirs, and when the dolls exploded, Yu realized it was the same move he used on Morooka back at Kobayakawa's Palace, but on a larger scale. Morgana literally vomited blood, Shiho clutched her throat as if she couldn't breathe, and Akechi's eyes rolled into his head as his body fell to the floor. In a single strike, this Shadow had almost completely eliminated the Phantom Team and nearly ended Yu's rehabilitation. The Wild Card knew that he stood no chance alone, so the first thing he did was keep moving, calling upon Izanagi to round up the bodies of his comrades. The goat tried again and again to hit Yu, but the teenager proved to be too illusive. Izanagi told his master that all the other Team members were wrapped up together. Yu made a mad dash towards his friends, and when he arrived at the bodies, he pulled out the Goho-M, slamming the device onto the floor. A bright light emerged from the impact, and it vanished as soon as it came, with the Tricksters vanishing with it.

Yu found himself back in the Safe Room at the bottom of the ship, along with the bodies of Akechi, Morgana, and Shiho. Almost immediately, he summoned a Persona with a healing spell, but the magic proved to be ineffective, the corpses still as lifeless as ever. So Yu went to the next best thing; Morgana's utility belt. Opening up all the pockets, he viciously shook it until all of the contents had dropped out. He frantically searched for something, anything that could help them. Grappling hooks, smoke bombs, lockpicks, and…

"What the hell?"

Yu found a string of beads attached to each other. There were about four of them, and they were teal green in color and big enough to fit in some… naughty places. Izanagi approached them too, just as curious as his master.

"Are those…"

"It would appear so. Didn't know Morgana was into that kind of stuff."

As Yu said that out loud, he had a revelation; apparently, Morgana enjoyed these so much that she carried them around even in the Metaverse, so she must have used them plenty of times. And he was touching them. He flung them away at once, and when he did, one bead hit Morgana's face. The bead vanished, sinking into her skin like how a coin would fit into an arcade machine, and the woman's eyes flashed wide open and she gasped for breath, bolting upright lightning quick. She looked around to get her bearings, and once she did, she immediately grabbed the string of the remaining three beads, breaking off two and tossing them to Akechi and Shiho.

The other two Tricksters had a similar reaction, except Shiho clutched her chest and Akechi grabbed his head. Yu let out a sigh of relief. He didn't lose them. Not today.

"Good going Seeker. I'm impressed you knew what the revival beads were, even though I didn't tell you about them." Morgana congratulated.

"Wait? Revival beads?" Akechi asked.

"Yup. Special beads made by Master in case any Trickster fell in battle."

"Oh, that's what they were." Yu muttered.

"Yea. Why? What'd you think they were?" The guide asked innocently.

"Nothing nothing. Why didn't you tell us about these earlier? I would've had less of a meltdown at Shujin Nation if I knew you could bring me back from the dead."

"Well, as you can see, we've only got four. Or one now. Plus, they have to be administered no less than ten minutes after death, before the soul leaves completely. Also, I figured that we wouldn't fight as hard if you guys knew you could get a second chance."

"Makes sense. Why bother getting it right the first time if you could get a do-over?" Akechi replied.

"Is there a way to get more?" Shiho asked.

"I dunno. You'd have to ask Master about that."

"I will when I see him again. But for now, let's focus on beating that thing." Yu replied.

"Good point. We've been able to win decisively so far. What went wrong this time?" Akechi asked.

"We got cocky. When I was starting out in volleyball, there were a few games where I thought 'I don't have to pay attention. We got this in the bag.'. We lost every game that happened."

"Pariah's right. Kobayakawa's defeat made us think we're invincible. Now that we've been reminded that we're not, we ready for round two?" Yu asked, to which everyone gave a resolute nod.

"Perfect. Venus, did you manage to do an analysis?"

"You're in luck Seeker. That thing's weak to holy magic and wind of all things."

"Alright. Here's the game plan. Pariah and I will go in first, grab his attention. Ace, you and Carmen will follow and take turns keeping him down. Don't go for an All-Out Attack, keep him in a corner. While you two are doing that, Pariah and I will hit him with our guns, and use our Personas if we run out of bullets. We're gonna keep it up until that bastard's dead. Any questions?" Yu asked as he finished explaining.

The others looked at him, silent and ready.

"Alright. Then let's get to it."

With that the Phantoms retraced their steps up the tangled paths of wooden walkways all the way back to the captain's cabin, where the Shadow had turned its attention back to the mystery prisoner. As Shiho and Yu prepared to rush in, they heard Hifumi speak.

"By royal decree, this skirmish will end quickly!" She cried, slamming everyone's pieces down on multi-colored squares. They all felt faster, stronger, tougher, like someone had given them all a massive boost to everything they had. Yu looked at his girlfriend, who nodded with a smile, and the two charged.

"Hello asshole! We're baaaaaaack!" Yu yelled as he summoned Izanagi, who unleashed a cleave. The Shadow diverted its attention back to the intruders, only to be knocked down by a gust of emerald wind, followed by two spears of holy light. Shiho and Yu pulled out their respective guns and unleashed a hail of bullets. Yu's strategy had worked perfectly. Between the attack from before and Hifumi's power-up, the Shadow didn't last very long at all, fading to ash before Akechi could get his second attack in. With the threat gone, they all let out a cheer.

"Now that that's over with, let's keep going." Akechi suggested.

"Hold up. I want to see who our mystery prisoner is."

Yu walked up to the man and pulled off the bag. And was greeted with a face that looked almost exactly like his.

"My God." Was all Akechi could say.

The cognitive Yu was missing an eye, his lips were swollen from repeated attacks, his jaw was slack, no doubt because it was broken, his chest had deep cuts, like someone was trying to carve words into his skin, and on his back were leeches, which the Team promptly removed.

"So this is how mother sees you; a helpless prisoner she can torture to her heart's content." Hifumi spat venomously.

"Not only that, but based on the hanging bodies I saw out there, I'd say she'll do more than show Sae what I've done if I don't bend to her." Yu added.

"All the more reason to take her heart." Shiho replied.

"Right. Let's keep moving, can't have too much to go." Yu replied, freeing his cognitive self. Directly ahead was a ladder, which he and Akechi climbed first, followed by Morgana and Shiho. Waiting for them at the top was a single room with the only thing in it was a golden box. Opening it, Yu contacted Hifumi.

"Hey Venus, how many pieces do we need?"

"Let me see… just one actually."

"Ok good. Because that's all I got."

"That's the gyoku. The leader of the armies. The most important piece." Hifumi replied as the book drew a sketch of what he held.

"Alright. Let's all meet up in the Castle Safe Room."

The Tricksters made their way out of the room, back through the ship's main hold, and into the Safe Room. Teleporting back to the room where Kaito and Hifumi were waiting. Placing all of the pieces on their respective board places, Kaito gave a deep and respectful voice. But it also sounded… frail, weak. Like it took everything for him to move his lips.

"Well done. You have earned the right to challenge me. To best me in battle would mean you would have access to the shogun's personal quarters. To fall to me is to forfeit your life. Would you like to play?" He asked.

"Alright Venus. We're in the home stretch. Just need to beat him, and we can finally get to the Treasure and send the calling card."

"Actually Seeker… there might be a problem." Hifumi began.

Yu let out an extremely deep, and annoyed sigh. Hifumi took it as her cue to explain.

"You said that this world was affected by cognition. Well, mother knows of father's prowess with Shogi, and to her knowledge, he cannot be beaten." The girl explained.

"And because she thinks he's invincible, you're afraid that you won't be able to beat him in here, no matter what you do." Akechi finished.

"Precisely. If we're to continue, it'd be best if we did it after she saw me beat him in the real world."

"Can you?"

"I haven't so far. But I know I can. He's been training me since I was a child, and so much is depending on me. I promised to not let you down, and I'm a woman of my word."

"Alright, so tomorrow, you beat your dad in the real world, we send the calling card, you beat your dad in here, and then we steal the Treasure."

"Ummm, I wouldn't recommend that Seeker. Palace security is at its max right before a heist. We can't risk a Shadow interrupting the game." Morgana pointed out.

"Plus, we don't know how long the game will take, or how much more of the fortress we have to go. Better we treat tomorrow as our last day of infiltration." Akechi added.

"But tomorrow's my last free day. If we miss that, then by the next time we can infiltrate the Palace, we'll only have two days before Mitsuyo makes good on her threat." Yu reminded.

"Don't worry Seeker. We'll win." Shiho reassured.

"I know we will. We beat Kobayakawa. We can beat Mitsuyo." Akechi replied.

"If there's nothing else, I advise we leave. It's probably very late in the real world." Hifumi suggested.

As Yu walked through the streets, he noticed that yet another thunderstorm was brewing. When a lightning strike stuck a nearby antenna, Yu saw something strange out of the corner. Strange, but familiar; the azure glow of the Velvet Room door. The glow was coming from within an alleyway, and there it was, with Caroline sitting at the top of its frame, dangling her feet without a care in the world. When Yu approached, she quickly turned her head towards him and smiled.

"There you are inmate."

"Hey Caroline. Why are you here? In the real world, I mean?"

"Master has decided to extend the list of places where you can access the Velvet Room's services, especially if you're going to be traversing both Palaces and Mementos. Now get in. My sister and I have something to discuss."

With that, the door opened just as Caroline jumped off her perch, and before Yu could react, she literally kicked his butt, forcing him in. Once again in the Velvet Room, his clothes changed to his prisoner outfit, and Caroline managed to get in without having to walk through his cell. Inside the Room, Igor was nowhere to be seen, and neither was his desk, with only the twins occupying the space. Justine began the conversation.

"You're probably wondering why we asked you here."

"Well, it was more like 'forced' but yea, I am."

"We have a request for you inmate!" Caroline replied, standing at attention.

"Oh joy." Yu said, rolling his eyes.

"After we helped you with your courting attempts, we decided it's only fair you return the favor." Justine continued.

'Helped'

"That favor is simple; you are to bring us artifacts from your world!" Caroline finished.

"Um… what? Why?"

"It's been a tradition of the Velvet Room Attendants to receive glimpses into the waking world. It's interesting to see how humanity has changed." Justine lied.

"Alright, fine. What do you want?" Yu asked.

"Some form of entertainment from your world. It can be a movie, video game, or manga." Caroline answered.

"Alright fine."

"Excellent. Now that that's out of the way, do you have any other business in the Velvet Room?" The attendant asked.

"Actually yes. I need some Personas fused."

With some new creatures to arm himself with, Yu quickly made his way back into the apartment complex, lazily stumbling his way into his current home, and he was very surprised to see Makoto waiting for him.

"Makoto? What are you doing up so late?"

"Waiting for you, actually."

"Why?"

"Well, for starters, you're up far past curfew. Eleven PM. Tsk tsk tsk." She scorned, shaking her head.

"What do you want?"

"First, what were you doing up so late?"

"I was… helping Akechi with something."

"With what exactly? It wouldn't happen to have something to do with the thugs from when you first got here?"

"Who? Oh… no, this is completely different. He thinks it's a lead on a case he's been working on, but it could also be a wild goose chase, so he doesn't want Sae involved."

"I see. I'll have to check with him then. Now, as for why I stayed up so late for you."

Makoto fidgeted about, as if trying to figure out how to best say.

"If it isn't too much trouble, I'd like to come with you next time you go to work for Sis."

"Really? Why?"

"Well… we… we haven't really had too much time to ourselves. And since you've been here… you've had more time with her than I have in the past three years combined."

"Alright sure. But just so you know, it's not my choice to spend time with her."

"Oh I know. But still." Makoto replied, a bit forlorn in her tone.

"Yea sure, you can come. Though whether Sae-san lets you stay or not I don't know."

"That's fine. And thank you." The teenage girl replied with a warm smile, which Yu returned before going inside his room. The teenager had stripped off his clothes, ready to change and go to bed. But the moment he opened his drawer to pull out some pajamas, he heard a crack of thunder, and he knew Makoto heard it too. Knowing what was to come this time, Yu prepared himself. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a very specific costume. Something that he knew would embarrass him to no end, but at the same time, would calm her down to no end.

"Y-Yu?" Makoto's voice squeaked from beyond the closed door. Her volume was down compared to last time, but Yu could still hear the desperation in her voice. Grabbing what he saw and putting it on, he went over to the door.

"I'm here!" Yu replied, flinging it open.

Tears were starting to form in Makoto's eyes, but those quickly vanished the moment she saw Yu. In his panda costume.

"Pffffft…. HAHAHAHA!"

Makoto burst out laughing, pointing a wobbly finger at the man standing before her. She clutched her stomach as she barreled over, gasping for air and wheezing the whole time. Under normal circumstances, he'd either be embarassed or furious, but for now, he was just glad she wasn't hurting. A sudden boom of thunder rippled throughout the room, and Makoto covered her mouth with her free hand, as if she was told to stop laughing by Sae, and she had to suppress the giggles.

So apparently her laughter can override her PTSD. That's very interesting.

Another crack of thunder, and Makoto's laughing fit started to subside. The phone rang, and Makoto raced to pick it up.

"Hey Sis. Don't worry, I'm fine." Makoto answered hastily, knowing who was calling and why.

"Narukami was ready this time?"

"Yes."

Makoto began to snicker.

"Sis… he's wearing his panda costume!" She said with a snort.

"Really? Well, I'm just glad you're alright Makoto."

"Don't worry Sis. I'll be fine."

"Alright then. I trust Narukami will stay with you until you go to sleep?"

"If it comes to that, sure." Yu answered.

"Alright. Good night Makoto."

"Hey Sis, wait!" The teenager implored.

"What is it?" Sae replied, alarm clear in her tone.

"Is… is it alright if I come with Yu-kun to work with you next time he goes?"

"You want to visit me at work? Why?"

"Because… I hardly ever spend time with you. And this could be our only chance."

"… Fine. But only if you have all your homework done."

"I will! Thank you so much Sis!" Makoto replied.

"Good night Makoto." Sae repeated, hanging up this time.