June 24th.

The group all gathered at the Accessway, preparing to infiltrate Kaneshiro's palace again. This time there would be no more distractions and they could proceed with the operation. They still had a few weeks, but a task like this was best done as soon as possible. "Is everyone ready?" Ren asked.

"Before we go, I have a question." Hifumi was leaning on the railing on her side, staring curiously at the others. "Well, less of a question and more of a concern."

"What is it?" Makoto asked.

"I was just thinking…maybe we should be more mindful of where we go into the Metaverse." Hifumi began.

"Ah, it's fine." Ryuji waved a dismissive hand at her worry. "Look at all these dues walkin' past us and not even giving us a glance. We may as well not even be here. No one notices when a piece of trash goes missin' from the garbage, right?"

"Please stop saying that." Ann's head lowered.

"I don't think I like that comparison either." Hifumi shook her head. "But even though you're right about that, you never know who is watching. To tell the truth…the reason I didn't meet with Ann on Sunday is because I wanted to surprise her with how early I showed up. I saw you guys…and I saw you all go in. I thought I was seeing things, so I needed some time to myself."

"You saw that?" Yusuke blinked before giving Ryuji a stare. "Nobody would notice, huh?"

"Once again, Ryuji is proven wrong." Morgana sighed. "What an idiot."

"Wh…!?" Ryuji couldn't believe he was being framed as the bad guy here. "Don't blame this just on me! You were the ones who cosigned on the idea too! So we're all at fault!" If he was going down, he was taking everyone with him. They couldn't exactly argue since he wasn't wrong.

"Er…" Hifumi just looked at Makoto, who pressed her index finger to her forehead and sighed.

"I think it's best if we just take Hifumi's suggestion into consideration. We don't know who'll be watching. Especially with people like Akechi-kun keeping an eye out." Makoto ultimately suggested.

"Yeah, good idea." Ren nodded. "Now, are we good?"

"Yes, let us proceed!" Hifumi gave a firm nod.

"Alright!" Ryuji grinned. "I'm gonna bust loose!"

.

.

With a simple press of a button, the group was in the Metaverse, standing outside of Kaneshiro's bank yet again. Everyone was in their Phantom Thief wardrobe and the first thing Skull did was look Hifumi over. Now that he got a good look of her kimono and all… "You know…damn…"

"…?" Hifumi stared at Skull, unsure if he was checking her out of the outfit. Boys like Skull were definitely the reason her mother didn't want her hanging around them. "What are you looking at?"

"Yeah, Skull." Panther placed her hands on her hips, glaring at Skull. "What are you looking at?"

Skull, realizing Panther was giving him a chance to back out of this, immediately straightened up. "I…I was just, uh…thinking that we needed to give Hifumi a code name!"

There was that feeling again; though it was clear Skull was lying, she also sensed it much like the other lies before him. But she'd let it slide for now. "Codename?" Hifumi tilted her head.

"It's how we communicate here in the Metaverse." Morgana explained. "We don't want to go saying our real names in someone's Palace. We don't know if it'll have some sort of effect…plus, we're Phantom Thieves. Codenames are a necessity!" He said that last bit with an impish smirk.

Hifumi felt like she understood. "I see…so what are your codenames?"

Panther took the lead on that one, pointing to herself. "I'm Panther. He's Joker, Skull, Mona, Fox, and she's Queen." She pointed to the others accordingly.

"Why Joker?" Hifumi stared at Joker, who just stood coolly.

"Everyone has one Persona in their heart." Morgana began. "But he's special. I don't know if you saw it before, but he has the ability to change Personas in the middle of a battle. That's why he's called Joker, because he's our trump card and ace when it comes to fighting strength."

"Oh! That's incredible!" With what she was told beforehand, Hifumi could now see why Joker was leading the Phantom Thieves. "So…what is it that makes him so special compared to everyone else? Why does he have that ability?"

"Uh…" That was…a good question that no one had an answer to. "Joker?" Queen turned to Joker, all eyes now on him.

"There's a long nosed man…" Joker began.

"Nope. I think I've heard enough." Panther shook her head, turning her attention to Hifumi. "We need a codename for you now…um…."

"This is probably harder than Queen…" Skull was racking his head. "Uh…Kimono?"

"That's just what I'm wearing." Hifumi shot that down fast.

"Moron…" Mona scoffed at Skull's name.

Fox held his hands up, using his fingers to make a portrait with Hifumi focused in the center. "A timid woman who turns into a fierce warrior, crushing all those in her path. I think Venus is a fitting name."

That name just made Hifumi think of the inevitable photoshoot her mother was setting up. "For personal reasons, I'll put that one on the back burner. Next?"

"What about General? You seem to have a fairly good grasp on positioning and all." Queen suggested.

"Hm..." Hifumi was considering it. "I hardly think I look the part, but it isn't a bad idea. It may be the one I go with unless someone else has any ideas?"

Joker was thinking back to their shogi match the previous night. Hifumi had some type of ferocity he couldn't describe until now. "Dragon."

"…!" Hifumi's eyes lit up instantly. "I love it."

"I can see it." Panther had a slight sweat drop. She was also recalling the time she tried playing Shogi with Hifumi. That was…an event.

"Dragon?" Skull scratched his head.

"Of course!" Fox suddenly exclaimed. "Why did I not see it before? The mask embodies a courageous, blazing spirit that can only shine in the heart of battle. Such ferocity is truly becoming of a dragon."

"It was the mask, wasn't it?" Panther turned to Joker.

"Mostly." Joker shrugged. But Hifumi seemed to like it.

"Dragon it is!" Hifumi, now dubbed Dragon, gave a firm nod. She was taking to her new codename very well.

"I'm glad you got something cool on the first try. Joker tried to call me Sexy Cat when we were first starting out." Panther cut her eyes at Joker.

"It was a joke…" Joker sighed.

"Anyway, enough messing around. We've got our new member set up." Mona was cutting the banter short. "Are you feeling alright enough to fight?"

"Mhm." Dragon nodded. "I must admit, I do feel a little heavy, but I feel unhindered nonetheless. I can do this. I simply have to grow used to summoning Belle Star and fighting."

"Alright. Let's go." Joker firmly nodded and led the way back inside the back from the secret entrance.

"…" Hifumi followed behind everyone, placing a hand on her mask. She wanted to test if she could take the whole thing off, but it wouldn't budge, unlike Ann who could take hers off before…

.

.

Security within the bank was a bit tighter at the front than before. Considering this was now the third time the Thieves snuck their way inside, it was no surprise they'd be met with more resistance than before. "As expected, security got tighter. But we're done in this area anyway." Mona was looking ahead, surveying the area. With a quick motion of his paw, he ushered the others onward with Joker taking the lead.

Dragon felt a bit bad that she slowed them down initially, but there was no time for all that. Instead she asked a more relevant question. "Where is our destination?"

Queen pulled out the map to show Dragon, pointing to the lower section. "As you can see, the map displays subsequent floors below this one. We've surmised that the Treasure is waiting on a lower floor. But we only have half the map…"

"You got that from the security room? That seems rather inconvenient for an establishment, but oh well." Shrugging, Dragon took ahold of the map and started to look it over. "So we need to descend…"

"With this cardkey," Joker showed it to Dragon. "We can get where we need to. Feeling alright?"

"I admit that the movement is taking some getting used to…" Dragon gave a firm nod, still growing accustomed to how fast and stealthily she could round a corner or hide behind an object. But it was an oddly exhilarating.

"It'll be second nature, don't worry." Panther assured Dragon.

Sneaking along the first floor, they came to a door that required a card key. Joker swiped it and opened the door. The room led to an elevator shaft, but they were on top of the elevator. Fox peered down into the black abyss below. "This appears to be for an elevator…I believe we can descend using this."

"By riding the elevator down when it comes up?" Skull questioned. "I guess that's a pretty good idea. They'd prolly be waitin' for us if they noticed we entered."

"Here it comes now!" Mona spoke in a whisper. There was no way of knowing if anyone in the elevator would be able to hear them or not. As soon as the elevator came into view, everyone hopped on it and rode it down to the lowest floor it went to. After it stopped, they had to glance around for a way out.

"There." Queen pointed to an air duct. "That should carry us somewhere."

Dragon paused. "Wait, we have to climb through that?"

"Don't worry; it's not as bad as you think. We can all fit through there." Joker said while being the first one to crawl through the duct.

"That's not…the issue…" Dragon took one look at her outfit. She was now becoming self-aware of how potentially revealing it could be at certain angles. But she was also embarrassed to mention it.

Panther completely understood, being the first and only girl in the group for a while. "I'll be behind you, don't worry!" She said, cutting her eyes at Skull, who just threw his hands up defensively. "I wasn't gonna say anything…!" And deciding to exit the conversation

"Er…" Dragon paused for a moment. She wanted to suggest being in the rear, but…there were a lot of conflicting thoughts. "Okay…!" Ultimately she just followed behind the others, crawling through the air duct. "It's very dusty in here…agh…"

"These vents are by far some of the worst we've crawled through." Fox pointed out.

"Now you tell me." Dragon and Queen said in unison.

After crawling out of the airduct, they found themselves on some railing on the ceiling. Before they could go any further, Shadow Kaneshiro's voice echoed out from the intercom. "Those damned thieves think they can walk around my bank, can they? Under no circumstances will you let them in any further! Tighten security as much as you can! Understood!?"

"It's becoming increasingly obvious where the Treasure is now." Fox remarked. Shadow Kaneshiro was getting very flustered and they had only descended just a little bit.

"Kaneshiro…" Dragon felt a brief surge of anger upon hearing his voice.

That reminded Mona. "Hey, don't lose your cool if you see him. We need his Shadow alive so we can change his heart."

"I…I know…" Dragon let out a heavy sigh. "We're all here because we cannot forgive his actions…I am aware of that. I'm just…mad I was an unknowing pawn in his scheme."

"But you have the chance to make that right." Queen told Dragon. "I know you're angry, I am too. But we have to do this the right way."

"…Mhm." Dragon gave a quick nod. Queen was right. "I will restrain myself as best I can, thanks. Can I…try scouting ahead?" Joker gave her a nod and she went around the corner, mostly to test out her new mobility and all. The coast was mostly clear, but she held a hand out to stop everyone. "Wait…! Look!" She pointed to security cameras at the walls.

"For real?" Skull groaned. "Security cameras?"

"Considering this is a bank, I can't say I'm surprised." Panther pursed her lips. This just made their infiltration that much more difficult. "But they're everywhere. Who knows what will happen if we step into one of those cameras."

"I see a box all the way down there." Mona pointed to the opposite end of the hallway. "It looks like it powers the cameras…but we won't be able to reach it…" Just to try it out, he pulled out his slingshot and aimed a pellet across the hall at the box. Unfortunately he missed. "Gah!"

"Hah! Let me show you how it's done." Skull stepped from around the corner, pulling out his shotgun.

Queen had to interject. "Skull, I don't think…" Too late. Skull fired, but the shotgun didn't have that much power at long range, so while the bullets did hit, it didn't do anything to the electrical outlet.

"That's how it's done, huh?" Mona crossed his arms, staring at Skull with a knowing smirk. "Idiot."

"Shut up, you stupid cat!" Skull huffed.

"Um…" Dragon tilted her head. Panther did explain how the guns worked here, but it was only now that she was wondering if she had one. Lo and behold, of course she did! It was a bit larger compared to everyone else's though. "May I…give it a shot?" She wasn't sure if she had the ability to fire it at Shadows yet, but it could at least prove useful here.

Skull turned to see what heat Dragon was packing, only to recoil in surprise. "A sniper rifle!? Hot damn…!"

"Whoa…" Joker took a step back.

"Let's see…" Dragon got into position, using her left eye to aim through the spoke. "I hope this works…" Her aim was a bit shaky, this was the first time she'd ever done such a thing. But luckily she wasn't dealing with a moving target, so this made for a good first shot. Her finger squeezed the trigger, a bullet rocketing from the long barrel, across the hall, and into the electrical box. As soon as the bullet struck the cameras were shut down. The recoil of the shot almost took Dragon off balance, but thankfully that was after the fact. "Oh…! That worked!"

"Nice shot, Dragon!" Panther gave Dragon a thumbs up. "See, Mona? We've nothing to worry about!"

.

.

The trek through the bank continued. The Thieves were determined to slip through while being noticed as little as possible. As they walked, Dragon almost walked right into an infrared laser! Luckily Joker was able to pull her back just in the nick of time. "Careful."

"Wh…!?" Dragon's eyes were wide as Joker pulled her back. "Huh…?!"

"More than just cameras now?" Queen was a bit annoyed even though this was to be expected.

"We should be able to get down from here…" Mona said, but his ears twitched upon hearing people talk. "Wait…I heard something over there." Everyone crowded around the nearest doorway, staying out of sight as two high ranking security guards talked it out. Compared to the other security guards they saw and slipped past, those two were much larger and their golden coloring stood out.

"I heard those intruders were causing havoc…" One of the security guards said. "They've been crushing security cameras left and right somehow. That's why Kaneshiro wants us to…"

"Really…? But what about the two keys?" The second one questioned.

"As long as we hold onto them, they have no way of going any further. Their little robbery ends here." The first one said.

"…So they're holdin' onto two keys we need to get further." Skull whispered. "So let's just kick their asses!"

"Hold it, Skull." Mona's expression was serious. "You saw those two, right? They're not ordinary Shadows."

"But we need to get those keys from them…how are we going to do it?" Panther questioned.

"We can observe for now." Joker suggested.

"It doesn't look like they're planning on moving." Fox said and he was right. Those two Shadows were comfortable.

Queen then hit upon a plan. "So…what if we lure one of them away? There was the monitoring room with communications…"

"Of course!" Dragon nodded. "If we break apart their formation, we can tackle them individually and as swiftly as possible. I think splitting up is the best option; we outnumber them after all."

"I don't think that's a bad idea." Queen was in agreement.

"Wow, we have two geniuses instead of one…" Skull rubbed the back of his head. The way they came up with a plan that fast scared him.

"Joker, Skull, Mona, and I will go to the monitoring room to lure one of them out. Dragon, Panther, and Fox, you stay here and prepare to engage the other one as soon as the coast is clear." Queen said.

"You can count on us." Fox said. With that said, the team split off into two groups. Fox, Dragon, and Panther waited for Queen and the others to double back to the monitoring room.

A few moments later, Queen's voice came through the intercom. "Come in, security room! This is the monitoring room! We've been ambushed by the intruders and need backup! One person should be enough!"

"Roger that! Backup is on the way!" Having said that, one of the security guards hurried from the room towards the Monitoring Room! It didn't see the other three thieves lying in wait and ran right past them.

Now making sure the coast was clear, Panther led the signal to attack. "Let's go!"

.

.

The security guard made his way to the monitoring room, only to be surprised that there wasn't a soul there. Was he too late!? "There's no one here…!?"

The door then closed behind him, Skull giving a wide smirk. "Not quite." Joker, Queen, and Mona appeared beside him, blocking off his exit.

"Wh…!? That comm was you!? You bastards!" The security guard wasn't going to be fooled like this! His body contorted violently, erupting into his true form, the Tornado Devil. The Tornado Devil swung his dual sided blade to the side, creating a fierce gust of wind that nearly blew everyone off their feet.

"Whoa!" Skull grunted while feeling his back hit the wall. "Shit, that hurts…! Let's go, Captain!" Calling forth Captain Kidd, Skull commanded his Persona to circle around the Tornado Devil. "Bam!" Captain Kidd fired off a Zionga from his cannon, but the bolt of lightning missed due to its target evading. "Wha!?"

"Zorro!" Mona was up next; calling forth Zoro to slash at the Tornado Devil with a wind based attack. Much to the cat's surprise, his attack had no effect on the enemy. "It didn't work?!"

"It must be immune to wind!" Queen called out. Just as she did, the Tornado Devil slammed its blade into Mona, throwing him into the ceiling. "Mona!"

"Meoch!" Grunting from the initial hit, Mona flipped in the air, pressing his feet to the ceiling while drawing his saber. "If wind doesn't work, then we do it the old fashioned way!" Leaping from the ceiling, he flipped around in the air before bringing his sword down onto the Tornado Devil, who countered by bringing up one of the sides of its blade. Sparks flying from the collision of blades.

While it was distracted in dealing with Mona, Joker and Skull leapt into action. Skull used his club to whack the Tornado Devil's left leg, while Joker used his knife to slash at the right leg. The combined assault forced the foe to lose its balance, thus allowing Mona to push forward and knock it backwards. "Nice," Joker gave Skull a nod. "Queen!"

"I'm on it!" Queen was already riding Johanna full throttle. "Feel my rage!" She slammed Johanna right into the Tornado Devil, knocking it back into the communication system.

"Alright Queen!" Mona grinned.

"On me!" Queen exclaimed, leading the All Out Attack. Joker, Mona, and Skull followed suit, assaulting the Tornado Devil from all angles before it had a chance to recover. Queen landed the finishing blow, keeping her back turned to the enemy. "Justice has prevailed."

It didn't take a lot of effort to defeat the security guard with a coordinated assault. They even obtained the Right Key for their efforts. "That's one down." Joker said. "Let's hurry back to the others."

.

.

Even though they had less numbers, Dragon, Fox, and Panther were still holding their own well at the same time. The other security guard was a Raging Water Demon, using its large sword to attack the three of them in wide sweeping motions. This also served as good practice for Dragon. "Belle Star!" Half of her mask came off as she summoned her knight, sending her forward to clash with the Water Demon. Her green eyes narrowed a bit as she felt how difficult it was for her to call forth her Persona compared to the others. It was a good thing she had this backup. Belle Star held on strong, before the Water Demon used the other side of its blade to strike. Dragon took a step back, wincing just a bit. Her affinity for resisting physical attacks was a handy one. "I'm fine!"

Fox sprinted forward, drawing his katana in the process. Once close, he engaged in swordplay with the Water Demon. As fast as Fox was, this security guard was high ranking for a reason, each of its slashes held a lot of weight, which Fox had to compensate fighting with his speed. "I will cut you down!" As he slashed, his mask burned off to allow him to summon Goemon. "Strike!" Goemon swung his blade down, freezing half of the Water Demon's body over.

"Tough shit, kid!" The Water Demon scoffed. Fox didn't have a chance to relish in this small accomplishment as the Water Demon broke free, slamming its fist into Fox's chest to send him flying backwards.

"Fox!" Panther and Dragon gasped. "That's it!" Panther called Carmen forth, allowing her Persona to shoot off a gigantic fireball towards the Water Demon. It leapt back at the last second, so the Agilao only hit the floor, the ensuing explosion creating a cloud of smoke.

Dragon ran through the smoke with her staff extended, aiming a few jabs at the Water Demon. It was able to parry her strikes and she was mostly kept on the defense, stepping around the wide slashes that sought to hurt her. Fighting was more difficult than she anticipated, but this was the only way she was going to learn. Ultimately she was knocked back, but managed to land on her feet. "Mm…the frontal assault won't work well against such a skilled fighter…" Dragon glanced around the room. At the end of the day it wasn't very large for a fight like this, but…

"Any ideas?" Panther asked.

"Yes. Fox, Panther, engage the enemy. I have a plan!" Dragon asked. The two nodded and rushed ahead. Dragon had to focus on using magic, a specific spell she had used before. "Panther, weaken it first!"

"Of course!" Panther nodded and summoned Carmon once again, only to use Tarunda! This debuff decreased the strength of the Water Demon, meaning its attacks would be far less potent than they had been.

An emerald light wrapped around Fox's body as he used Sukukaja, increasing his speed. This allowed him to close the distance much faster than before. "We'll strike before they know what hit them!"

"Damned brats!" The Water Demon spun its blade in a rotary fashion, sending multiple spears of ice towards Fox and Panther.

"Gh...!" Panther had to stop in her tracks, crossing her arms as several spears of ice collided against her. While she wasn't instantly knocked over, the elemental attack still hurt plenty. "That hurts…!"

Fox took the lead, drawing his katana to cut down the spears of ice. Since he resisted it, he had no issues dealing with them. Once close, he baited the Water Demon into swinging, only to circle around to its left, slashing it with his sword. "Hah!"

"GAH!" The Water Demon staggered back. Before it had the chance to recover, Carmen's feminine hand gripped its face. "Gk…!"

Panther wore a smug grin and snapped her fingers. "Go!" Carmen let loose a potent burst of fire that sent the Water Demon into wall. "Dragon, it's all yours!"

"Ngh…" The Water Demon was slowly pushing itself up. Pushed into a corner by these brats!? "I'll crush you!" But when it looked up, it saw multiple orbs floating around its body, causing its eyes to widen. It looked in the back, where Dragon was pointing her hand forward, hair flowing upwards as she made use of a powerful spell.

"Megidola!" The orbs of almighty magic all fired off beams at the Water Demon before it knew what happened. That was all it took to take care of it. The Water Demon was defeated and they received the Left Key as a result. Dragon let out a heavy breath and leaned against the wall; using that one spell took more out of her than she thought. "Whew…"

"Are you okay?" Panther looked to Dragon with some concern.

"I'm alright…I just need to catch my breath." Dragon gave Panther a reassuring smile.

While Fox picked up the left key, Joker and the others returned. "Looks like you guys had it covered, as expected." Joker said.

"Indeed." Fox said. "We've the keys and a map now as well."

"The other half? I guess we're only halfway done then, huh?" Skull looked at the map on the wall, deciding to pry it off.

Dragon pointed to the security monitor. "That door is just below us. We can descend from there. That's what the two keys are foe."

"Let's go then!" Skull exclaimed. Upon reaching the door in question, Skull took the left key while Panther took the right. "They go in here, right?"

"On three." Panther said. "1…2…3!" On that cue, the two of them turned the keys, opening the large door ahead of them. "We did it!"

"Nice teamwork, everyone." Joker acknowledged everyone's efforts. Having a bigger group was turning out to be a good thing if they could pull off plans like this. "Everyone did great."

"I'm starting to like the size of our team." Mona said with a triumphant meow.

The good vibes didn't last very long once they stepped through the door. The group stepped into a tunnel which allowed them to see just how much money really was in the bank. They were all in shock. "That's…so much money…" Skull was taken aback. Just this week alone he'd seen more money than he'd ever come to possesses in two lifetimes. "I wonder how much I could buy with this…"

"I wouldn't touch it…" Panther huffed.

"Yeah…this is all dirty money. Obtained from all the people he's targeted." Just looking at it made Queen sick. "I can't even stand being near it."

"I've never seen so much money before, but knowing where it comes from fills me with a sense of unease." Fox said.

"There's only one way to stop all of this." Mona stared at the falling bills.

"We have to take this heart. We can't make him give back the money he's likely already spent, but we can stop him from taking anymore." Joker was walking down the hallway to the elevator.

Dragon followed behind, her hand clenched into a fist. How much of this money came from people she knew? People she played Shogi against? On the one hand, she wanted to know…but on the other, knowing how much damage she unintentionally caused to others would just infuriate her even further. "He will pay for this…"