They had no choice but to fight. Shadow Madarame wasn't handing over his Treasure that easily, but more importantly, Fox absolutely could not stand by anymore and let him get away with his crimes any longer. Even his mother was a victim and this could no longer go on. Shadow Madarame turned himself a painting and hovered in the air. "Now! Let's begin you vermin!" Shadow Madarame said tauntingly.

"You used others for your own despicable desires, Madarame. You aren't even worth the art you 'create'!" Fox yelled, his anger peaking. He had no reason to forgive this man after everything he'd done. He wanted to finish this.

"Let's go, everyone!" Joker shouted.

"Right! Let's go, Captain!" Skull called forth Captain Kidd, who maneuvered about in the air before taking a position behind Shadow Madarame. Captain Kidd pointed his cannon arm forward, releasing a strong bolt of lightning towards Shadow Madarame strike all five pieces.

Panther ran forward, throwing her mask to the side as blue embers flared around her face. "Carmen!" Carmen appeared in front of Shadow Madrame, swinging her arms to release a widespread blast of fire. Combined with Ryuji's attack, the two elements of fire and lightning collided against Shadow Madarame in a fierce explosion, leaving his fate unknown for as long as the smoke lasted. "Did it work!?"

"HAHAHA!" Shadow Madarame's laughed answered their questions. Not only did it not work, but both of their attacks ended up being absorbed by different segments as well.

"What!?" Skull grunted.

"It absorbed our attacks?!" Panther took a step back.

"I'll dye your future pitch black!" Shadow Madarame exclaimed, the mouth segment taking aim and firing off a burst of black paint. Everyone scattered in different directions as the paint splashed onto the ground. Nobody knew what it did, but it seemed dangerous.

"Goemon!" Fox summoned Goemon, who slammed his pipe down onto the ground. A cold mist emanated from the pipe, turning into sharp glaciers that impale all four segments. Unfortunately, the two eyes were the segments that drained the ice, but the mouth was clamped shut and the nose recoiled. "Joker!"

"I'm on it!" Joker sprinted forward with this opening, taking his knife and swinging at the mouth! It seemed like the logical course of action, but unfortunately, even something as so basic as a physical attack could be drained! He learned this immediately when his attack had no effect. "What, really?!"

"Fool!" Shadow Madarame's mouth segment then opened wide to take a bite out of Joker.

"Zorro!" Mona exclaimed, his Persona entering the fray to use his sword to block Madrame's mouth and save Joker. Once Joker was out of harm's way, Mona pulled back to go on the offensive. "Show your might!" Zorro moved its sword in a Z-formation, summoning a cyclone of wind that struck all parts of Shadow Madarame. Though the eyes remained unaffected, the nose and mouth were once again receiving heavy damage.

"Ah…take this!" Shadow Madarame's nose twitched, the sudden breeze making him…sneeze. It doesn't sound threatening, but when this sneeze conjures a surprisingly powerful burst of wind, you look at it differently. Mona was blown away by this gust of wind and hit the ground hard.

"Oof!" Mona grunted, shaking off the impact.

"Take this!" Shadow Madarame exclaimed, releasing another blast of black paint that hit Morgana directly, turning him pitch black.

"Mona, are you okay?!" Panther asked, only to be attack by a bolt of lightning from the nose once more, causing her to halt in her tracks. "Agh…!"

"This is…" Mona clenched an eye shut. This paint made him feel heavy. "I feel weak…"

Joker swooped in, grabbing Morgana and taking him to cover. "That paint must be draining his strength."

"So what do we do about it?" Skull asked. Fox and Panther were keeping Shadow Madarame occupied while they were thinking of a plan.

Joker was looking around, noticing a few buckets of black paint nearby. "Over there! We have to distract him!" He called out to Fox and Panther.

"Got it!" Fox responded, jumping away from the mouth that was about to bite him. "Goemon!" Once again he called Goemon to his side, who brought his pipe down onto the ground yet again. This created a glacier that wrapped around the mouth segment of Shadow Madarame, keeping it from moving freely. "Panther!"

"No need to tell me!" Panther jumped onto the glacier and into the air, twisting her body while sharply throwing her whip forward, cracking it against the left eye. This sudden lash caused the eye to recoil.

As soon as Panther fell, Skull was up next. Just as she landed, her hand extended and slapped against Skull's passing the baton. "All right! One more, time Captain!" Captain Kidd flew from Skull, slamming its ship right into the right eye! With all four segments of Shadow Madarame distracted in some way, this allowed the weakened Mona to move in with the buckets of black paint.

"Have a taste of your own medicine!" Mona exclaimed while covering Shadow Madarame in black paint. It was a bit of a rough landing since he felt so weak, but he pulled it off.

Now it was Joker's turn. "Ame-no-Uzume!" His mask erupted into bright blue embers, summoning the Persona he acquired during their infiltration. Ame-no-Uzume appeared and swung her fans, creating a powerful cyclone that swept all four segments of Madarame up and violently dropped them down onto the ground. "Go down!" To follow up on this, she then brought down a bolt of Zio onto Shadow Madarame to seal the deal.

"Ugh…" Shadow Madarame groaned as his four segments fell into a pool of black paint. With the segments defeated, Shadow Madarame himself appeared, trudging out of the paint due to being kicked out of his transformation. "Dammit, I'm the great Madarame! The same Madarame that gathers a crowd every time he opens an exhibit! I'm not someone that worthless brats like you are allowed to defy!"

"Silence! Enough of your egotistic ranting!" Fox yelled. "Taste the wrath of all those you preyed upon!"

"I'm the great artist, Madarame! If you can't brats can't fathom that…then you'll witness it for yourselves! Behold, my master craft!" Shadow Madarame threw his hand forward, creating four clones of himself; Fury (Red), Joy (Yellow), Sorrow, (Blue) and Mirth, (Green). Their colors weren't just for show, as each one represented an element as well.

"What the…!?" Mona's eyes widened. "He cloned himself!?"

"I can't say that's all too surprising…" Joker said while preparing for round 2. "Considering who we're talking about…"

"Even when backed into a corner, all he can do is produce counterfeits…" Fox grumbled.

"We'll take them all down at once! Captain!" Skull shouted as Captain Kidd went on the offensive once again, shooting a Mazio towards all targets! The bolt of lightning was meant to strike Madarame and his clones, but Joy stepped in the way, absorbing the entirety of the attack. "Huh!?"

"Skull, don't be an idiot!" Mona berated Skull for his efforts. "The colors absorb the element! Use your head for once!"

"Shut up, I get it now!" Skull sucked his teeth in annoyance.

"You can argue later!" Panther chided the both of them. Now was no time for another pointless argument!

Joy lifted its hand up, calling upon its own bolt of lightning to zap the Phantom Thieves. Everyone was blown back, letting out a small cry as the lightning struck down on them. Before they could fully bounce back, Fury then followed up, swiping its hand forward to create a line of fiery explosion upon them all as well, only piling onto the damage. Mona and Fox received the most damage from this attack due to their weaknesses being exploited. "Hahaha! Can't you see now!? You worthless brats don't stand a chance against my craft!"

Joker let out a soft breath, staring at the numbers they were dealing with. 5 vs 5. It was completely even…which made their job a lot harder. But they'd come out on top just like last time…they had to.

.

.

Madarame was pacing back and forth in the art exhibit. After receiving the calling card, he was unsure how these Phantom Thieves were going to strike. As a battle raged on within his Palace, he grew more and more irritated. "Damned thieves, slandering me during my biggest exhibit. I'll make them pay…"

Hifumi returned to the exhibit, unsure what would change or how the Phantom Thieves would even strike. But she did take notice of Madarame's change in attitude. It was a bit more…irritable than when she left. Even some members of the staff were making an active effort to avoid him. "The atmosphere changed so much…" Hifumi mumbled to herself. She then looked down and noticed the calling card left behind. Madarame must've dropped it in his fit of anger. Hifumi glanced around before swiping it, getting a closer look. "Huh…" Realizing where she was, she quietly stuffed it into her pocket and decided to leave for now…

.

.

Shadow Madarame held his hand forward, releasing potent blasts of Almighty towards the Phantom Thieves, on top of what they already had to dodge. This was becoming a difficult chore with so much to deal with at once. "Damn it!" Skull grunted as he took a blast head on, sliding back. "We gotta get past those fakes!"

"Leave it to me!" Joker took his mask off once more. "Berith!" Berith appeared, a knight riding on his trusty steed. Berith galloped forward with its blade in tow, charing towards Fury.

"I got you!" Ryuji crossed his arms, using Tarukaja to up Joker's attacking power. "Get 'em!"

With this boost in power, Joker felt on top of the world. "Power Slash!" Berith dashed towards Mirth, slashing its blade at the clone. Thanks to Tarujaka, this attack did more than enough damage in taking the clone out, leaving wind as a viable open. "You're up, Mona!" Joker said, passing the baton to Mona as he ran past him.

"Zorro, show your might!" Mona declared while leaping forward. Zoro appeared in front of Joy, slashing its sword against the electric attuned Persona to deal heavy damage and stagger it. His next move was to pass the Baton to Panther. "Panther!"

"I got it!" Panther was inches away from slapping her hand against Mona's paw, but she was intercepted by a blast of ice from Sorrow. Her eyes widened and she was knocked down to the ground. "Gh…" And she wouldn't be getting up for a little bit.

"Panther!" Fox's eyes widened before he took the initiative. With Goemon by his side, freezing Fury in place, Fox rushed the red clone of Madrame down, slashing at it with his blade to defeat it. "I shall put you to the sword!"

"You good for nothings! Thinking you can handle my artwork like this!" Shadow Madarame snarled.

"Your works of art are a pale imitation of yourself, which says more about you than anyone else!" Fox fired back.

"Be quiet!" Shadow Madarame released more Almighty based attacks towards the party. Since Panther was down, Skull rushed over to help and bring her to cover. The others had to try and evade. Fox, Joker, and Mona weren't entirely lucky to escape and were pelted by the blasts, but it wasn't enough to take them down. The damage was going to rack up at this rate and they needed to finish this fast, though.

"Ugh…" Fox took a breath, moderately injured from this fight so far.

"We just need one more push!" Mona said.

"Damn, this guy's got a lot of energy for an old man!" Skull was annoyed. They took two clones down but still had two to go!

"Arsene!" Joker continued to switch Personas in the midst of battle when the situation called for it. Arsene flew forward, swinging his claws at Sorrow in revenge for Panther. "Eiha!" Following this attack, a blast of curse was fired upon the blue clone, taking it out, leaving Shadow Madarame defenseless.

"Now!" Skull moved forward, calling forth Captain Kidd. Captain pointed his cannon arm forward, dropping down a strong bolt of lightning directly onto Shadow Madarame.

"GAAAAH!" Shadow Madramae cried out in agony from the direct hit, stunned into place from the aftershock.

Panther got up after being downed for a moment. "Now I'm pissed. Carmen!" Lunging from her cover, Panther used Carmen to throw a rather large fireball forward, which exploded against Shadow Madarame and sent him tumbling along the ground.

"D-Dammit…!" Shadow Madarame got up, staring at Fox. "Is this how you treat your foster father!? The man who took you in and raised you?! Think about all I did for you!"

So he wanted to play this card now? Fox would laugh if he could. But he didn't want to hear any of this. "Silence! Don't waste your breath!"

"Ngh dammit…damiit!…stop it you brats…! Or else…or else!" Shadow Madarame found himself slowly being backed into a corner.

"You think we'll be daunted by such threats!?" Fox asked.

Shadow Madarame created another batch of clones, the same as before, but unlike before….they were hardly responsive. They were all hunched over and exhausted, some of them not even active and just existing! "W-What…!? My master craft…!?"

"They're…not even right?" Skull took note of this.

"Looks like his 'talent' starts to crumble under pressure." Mona said with a sly grin. They had Shadow Madarame on the ropes now and it was time to finish this!

"Let's wrap this up!" Joker exclaimed.

"Right!"

"Don't think you brats can defeat me!" Shadow Madarame wasn't going down like this! He commanded a reformed Fury to attack Fox. It released a blast of fire but…went so far wide. "What…!?" It was even worse than he thought!

Fox was making a straight like for Fury, not concerned about the wave of fire coming his way in the slightest. He slashed at the red clone, Goemon freezing it over instantly to defeat it. "This is where it ends for you!" Fox used the frozen Fury as a platform to push off, passing the baton to Mona.

"Give it all you've got!" Mona shouted while summoning Zorro. Just like before, he focused his efforts on Joy. A turbulent force of wind erupted from the series of blade slashes, lifting the yellow clone into the air before defeating it. "Panther!"

This time Panther wasn't interrupted! She was able to receive the baton, calling forth Carmen as she glared daggers at Shadow Madarame and all his clones. "I'm still pissed, by the way!" Which is precisely why she sent not one, but two fireballs towards Shadow Madarame and his clones; multiple explosions occurring to blow all three of them back.

"Oh yeah, this is more like it!" Skull grinned as Captain Kidd flew forward, slamming the remainder of Shadow Madarame's clones into himself, causing them all top topple over.

"NOW!" Joker yelled as the opening was presented to them. The Phantom Thieves lunged forward, assaulting Shadow Madarame with an All Out Attack! "Finish this, Matador!" One more Persona to wrap this up nicely! Matador was called forth, the macabre dance to finish this one was two decisive slices at the end of the All Out Attack, piercing through Shadow Madarame and whatever defenses he may have hand left. Joker then landed, adjusting his glove while wearing a victorious grin as Shadow Madarame collapsed behind them. "The Show's Over."

With Shadow Madarame down, Fox began to approach. At this point, all Shadow Madarame could do was cling to the Sayuri, backing away in fear as Fox silently drew near. "Eek…!" No one cares for true art! All they care about are easily recognizable brands. I'm a victim in this too! Wouldn't you agree!?"

"Excuses now?" Skull said, panting softly.

"The art world revolves around money! You can't do anything without money! You understand, don't you, Yusuke? Being a poor artist is truly miserable! I just didn't want to return to that life!" Shadow Madarame was pleading his case…but Fox didn't want to hear it.

Fox gripped Shadow Madrame's collar tightly. "A fiend like you has no right to talk about art! You're done for – along with this wretched world!"

Oh god, was this the end? That was the last thing Shadow Madarame wanted. "Please don't kill me…!" Fox threw Shadow Madarame to the ground and he started coughing.

"Return to yourself in reality and confess your crimes – all of them." Fox demanded.

"Y-You're not going to kill me…?" Shadow Madarame asked.

"SWEAR IT!" Fox would not repeat himself.

Shadow Madarame let out a panicked shriek. "Al-Alright! I'll do it…!" He then looked at the Phantom Thieves…noticing something else. "W-What about the other one? The one with the black mask?"

"…What?" Joker glanced at Madarame. "Someone else was in here?"

"A black mask…?" Panther looked to the others. That didn't sound like anyone they knew. "Who's he talking about.

"There was another intruder here besides us!?" Mona was shocked. This implied…a lot of things they didn't have a lot of time to think about right now as the Palace was about to collapse.

"There's no time! Hurry!" Skull told Mona.

Mona acknowledged this and transformed into a bus. "Get on!"

Fox was leaving with Sayuri in hand, but Shadow Madarame crawled towards him, desperately reaching out. "Hey Yusuke…what should I do…?"

Fox took a few steps forward, stopping to look back at Shadow Madarame. "Put an end to all of this and use your own artwork for once."

"Yusuke!" Panther yelled for him to get on. With that, Fox started to walk off.

"Yusuke, wait…! Don't go! Please! Yusuke…!" Shadow Madarame cried out for Yusuke to come back, but Yusuke ignored him as the Palace collapsed…

.

.

With Madarame's Palace being deleted from the navigation app, the next course of action was to flee the scene and return to the Accessway. It was best not to stay too close to the scene. "I guess the mission was a success." Ryuji said while having a canned drink. "All that's left is to wait for the change of heart. …Agh! So bitter! Why'd you get it black!?"

"So this is the true Sayuri…" Yusuke stared at the painting in his hands.

"You're not gonna get all teary eyed and say stuff like 'Mom…' are you?" Ryuji asked.

"To think this painting was the source of Madarame's distorted desires…" Yusuke's voice was low and solemn. "The only saving grace is that my mother doesn't know what transpired."

"The true painting at his atelier has been altered; after all…as ironic as it is now, this one here is her true self portrait." Morgana said.

"It really is a beautiful painting." Ann said with a soft smile. "And although it took some time, it's rightfully in your hands."

"Yes…I'm thankful for that. However, it is impossible for this painting to be acknowledged by society anymore." To Yusuke, this was the greatest shame of all.

"Yeah…but we can appreciate it while it's here." Ren said calmly.

"It would've been obvious he plagiarized it if he used the real name, I'm sure." Morgana added.

"So this is my mother. There's no way I would remember her face clearly…" Yusuke smiled softly. "But I was right about the rush of emotion I felt when I saw this painting…"

Ryuji took off for a moment, returning with a soda he took a few gulps of. Then he burped in Ann's face. Ann, of course, was naturally disgusted by this. "Gross! Stop it!"

"You're so vulgar Ryuji…" Morgana sighed.

"So…what are you gonna do?" Ryuji ignored both comments and focused his attention on Yusuke. "We're gonna keep targeting big shots."

"Why do you do these things?" Yusuke asked.

"To get back at adults and…society in general?" Ryuji responded.

"And it may help give people courage, too." Ren added.

"The courage to stand up for themselves, yes? But how do you know it will work?" Yusuke questioned. It seemed nice in theory, but…

"We don't." Ren admitted. "But we've decided to do this to help those who can't help themselves. There are a lot of people out there who're oppressed by adults and their decisions. So if we can help them…" For a moment, his mind flashed back to that awful night…

"I see. So it depends on the person." Yusuke nodded in understanding.

"So how about it, Ren?" Morgana turned to Ren. "Yusuke would make a great addition to the team, right? Plus we can give our calling cards a little more oomph with them too!"

"He'd make a great member." Ren nodded in agreement. "We've got too many dudes, though…" He kept that thought to himself.

Yusuke was now thinking about the double life he was about to lead. "An artist and a Phantom Thief. This may increase my artistic prowess…"

"You really only think about art…." Ryuji was kind of impressed, but not exactly in a good way.

"I won't take part in any inelegant plans, all right?" Yusuke had to make his stance on that clear.

"Don't worry! You can leave that part to me. Plus, we have a rule that says we can't go after a target unless there's a unanimous vote!" Ann explained. "We covered all our bases."

"Very well. I'm looking forward to this venture." Yusuke nodded. "Although, this talk about the intruder is something that concerns me."

"Someone else was in there besides us…" Ren repeated from earlier. It was a bit hard to believe.

"There's no way to check anymore." Ryuji held up his phone. "The Palace is gone."

"I'll try probing Madarame." Yusuke said.

Ann looked to Yusuke, a bit concerned. "Are you sure?"

"Yes." Yusuke was firm in this. "I'll do what I can to learn about this intruder."

"In that case, we should probably exchange contact info!" Ann suggested. Now that Yusuke was officially joining their group, they needed to stay in contact.

"Agreed. I'll contact you all if anything comes up." Yusuke exchanged his contact info with everyone, then slid his phone into his pocket. It had been a long day and it was best that they get home soon. Home…that was going to be difficult for Yusuke once the art exhibit was over, if this all went according to plan. There was one thought on his mind after everything transpired…

"Goodbye…Madarame…"