Sae was experiencing unbelievable levels of frustration when it came to the Phantom Thieves case. They were making no progress and that group was only getting more and more popular as the days went on. "I can't believe this…" She grumbled, sitting along in an area in the Prosecutor's office. "The public believes in the justice of the Phantom Thieves. They have no interest of that principal."
Akechi was standing nearby, giving a nod of agreement with a somewhat downtrodden look. "I am experiencing equal levels of frustration. My comments on TV turned everyone against me. Then again, I won't allow mere criticism to break my spirit." He was at least adamant in his stance.
"We won't keep letting ourselves be defeated either." Sae said firmly. "My suspicion after the hacker's case is now conviction, thanks to the principal's death. The mental shutdown cases and psychotic breakdowns are surely the Phantom Thieves' doing."
"I remember the data you showed me about Okumura Foods. Is that the basis for these beliefs?" Akechi questioned for clarification.
"There have been frequent shutdown occurrences around Okumura lately." Sae said. "If only there was a clear connection between him and the Phantom Thieves." That link was all she needed to close this case. As soon as she had that link, she knew she could take things from there. "Well…it would be problematic if there wasn't one."
Akechi realized Sae was making leaps in logic. This made him sigh. "So…you're jumping the gun here. You really told a man you would terminate his parental authority based purely on your speculation? I'm surprised you would say such a thing to the owner of a café you frequent…."
Sae brushed his concerns aside. "It's all for the sake of the case."
Akechi couldn't agree with this. "You may have the backing of the SIU's direction, but you've been far too aggressive, Sae-san. You're trespassing into police territory. Don't say nobody warned you if this becomes an issue later."
Sae refrained from rolling her eyes. This wasn't the first time that warning was given to her, but it probably wouldn't be the last either. "My superiors said the same thing."
So she was determined to see this through. Akechi decided to drop that subject and move onto something else. "We first need to know what methods the Phantom Thieves are using…the police can't make a move unless that becomes apparent, after all."
"This opponent can't be caught by following the rules. What need is there to stick to formality?" Sae questioned. Rules? She wanted them caught, no matter what, by her own hand.
"So…you wish to ignore protocol in order to reform society?" Akechi asked, sighing. "It's a shame, since we both want to capture the culprit behind the psychotic breakdowns…" With nothing more to say, Akechi turned and walked off, leaving Sae by herself.
.
.
Mona…Mona really messed up. He was inside of Okumura's Palace, but a solo operation was far too difficult an undertaking and he realized this now. He was on the ground, surrounded by a pair of robots that just finished kicking the crap out of him. "I…I really messed up…" Mona groaned, struggling to stay conscious.
"SHALL WE DISPOSE OF IT?" One of the robots asked.
"LEAVE IT BE. WE DO NOT HAVE TIME TO WASTE ON A SOLITARY FELINE." The other robot replied. They turned and left Mona alone.
"Is this…really impossible…alone…?" Mona asked, attempting to stand up. But it was hard, his consciousness was slowly fading. "I can't see…"
Haru approached Mona; she had followed him the whole time, but there wasn't really anything she could do when the fighting started. All Haru could do was watch in confusion at the many things she didn't understand. "How horrible…are you okay…?"
"Who's there…?" Mona looked up. He could see a girl, but with his fading vision he couldn't make her out. "Master…?"
"Oh, Morgana…!" Haru crouched down, holding Mona up so he didn't completely fall over. "Don't die! Stay with me….!"
"Ngh…" Mona was barely conscious. Haru's voice was keeping him awake. Wait…Haru. Why was he hearing her voice?! That didn't make any sense. Despite his injuries, he shook himself conscious, eyes widening when he did in fact see Haru. "What?! Haru!?"
"Eep…!" Haru was a bit surprised she wasn't hearing things. This was in fact Morgana, and he was talking! She dropped him, but he managed to barely land on his feet. "Y-You are Morgana right…? I saw you running here…I thought you got lost…! Wait, if you know my name, does that mean you are…?"
"You shouldn't be in here!" Mona said, looking around. "…How did you get in here!?"
"I followed you." Haru scratched her cheek. "…Where…is this? We were outside of the main Okumura Food's building, but everything changed and we're in a space station now?"
"Agh…" Mona shook his head. "…It's a lot to explain, but we need to get out of here first. It's too dangerous for you. And I'm really hurt…" His healing magic with Zorro could only soothe his wounds but so much. He needed actual rest in the real world. "To put it simply, this is inside the head of the CEO of Okumura Foods."
"…Inside…his head…?" Haru blinked slowly. She didn't understand it, but at the same time…she kind of did.
"Look, we have to get out of here first." Mona looked in the direction the robots that left him went. He wouldn't be able to fight them in his condition, and now he had to worry about Haru. "And I'm not Morgana! I'm Mona, a Phantom Thief!"
"A Phantom Thief!?" Haru's eyes widened. This walking…monster cat was a Phantom Thief!?
"Like I said, we can talk later!" Mona looked to the other door nearby. "We're stuck…we can't go back that way, and this door is locked by DNA recognition."
"…." Haru narrowed her eyes, slowly walking to the door.
"Haru, that's not going to wor-" Mona said, but he was stunned into silence when the door acknowledged Haru's DNA and opened. "Huh…!?"
"…." Haru rubbed her arm. There wasn't any hiding her relation to Okumura Foods after that. "…You said DNA…and I at least know what that means. I'm…the daughter of the one you're after. Kunikazu Okumura is my father."
"…More on that later…" Mona couldn't believe it. Haru was hiding something like this from the group!? Well…actually, this could work in his…no; he couldn't ask that of Haru. It was too dangerous as is right now. "Okay, let's just go…!" Mona took the lead, guiding Haru towards the exit. On the way, Mona was giving Haru a quick rundown of this situation; the important parts anyway; Palaces, Treasure, cognition, and shadows. He planned to give her a more detailed explanation later, but right now she deserved to know at least this much.
On the way, Haru noticed multiple grunt robots slowly moving, ignoring everything around them just to work. A few of them even collapsed on the spot and just broke down. This made Haru stop and her eyes wide in horror. "…W-What is all this? What are those robots…?"
"MUST…KEEP…WORKIN…" The robot on the ground stopped moving completely. It died.
Mona frowned. "…I've done a lot of research on Okumura Foods lately. One of the more prominent rumors is that the employees are overworked…treated like robots."
"What!?" Haru turned to Mona. If she understood things correctly, this meant that her father viewed the people in his company as nothing more than replaceable machines. This thought of hers was only confirmed when two more robots came by picking up the fallen one and discussing how they were going to scrap it and just move on. "That…can't be…" And yet…Haru already felt like she knew. There was a brief spike of pain in her head and she winced. "Agh…!"
"Are you going to let this continue…?"
"Are you okay?" Mona turned back and asked.
"Y-Yes…I'm fine. I'm just…in shock that…the rumors of my father look to be true…I wanted to believe in him…" Haru frowned, continuing to follow Mona, but at a slower pace. Now that she was taking a look at everything around her, this space station felt so lifeless and dreary. Multiple robots were collapsing while those around did not pay attention in fear of falling behind in their own work. Haru never paid too much attention to the way things were done in the company, for it wasn't her place as her father said, but this was…horrible. Terrible.
They almost managed to loop around to the entrance of the Palace, but unfortunately they were caught by a floating spherical security robot. Upon noticing them, it blared out an alarm, causing Haru and Mona to stop in their tracks. "Damn it!"
"INTRUDER ALERT. INTRUDER ALERT." The robot blared. "ALL PERSONEL CONVERGE ON THIS SPOT THIS INSTANT OR RISK TERMINATION." It took a few moments, but several small humanoid robots slowly approached. The same ones that Haru saw being overworked.
"T-There are so many…" Haru said, looking at the dozen of robots that had her and Mona surrounded.
If Mona were not so exhausted, he could easily handle forces like this! But unfortunately his own reckless actions put him in a situation where he was outnumbered and had to protect someone. Left with no options, he called Zorro forth. "Zorro!"
"Must…eliminate…intruders…and get back to work…" Many of the humanoid workers were very slow in their approach. They were doing this because they had no choice, but even as they approached the pair, some of them just collapsed on the spot and stopped functioning.
Even so, Mona did not keep his guard down. They were getting a little too close, so he attacked. "Hah!" Zorro swiped his blade through the air, creating a potent whirlwind that forced numerous robots backwards away from them. Despite the damage they sustained, some of them were forced to get back up. "Seriously…!?"
"GET UP OR BE TERMINATED." The security robot blared at the workers failing to get back on their feet.
"…Ngh…!" Haru felt her head throb again. "This is so horrible…this can't be what Father really thinks of the people in his company…he wasn't like this before…"
"So what will you do about it…?
That voice again. As Haru looked around, she watched more and more worker robots collapse from the stress of overworking. It was even worse how no one else batted an eye. If these were humans….then it was truly awful what her father was condoning: forcing these people to work in terrible conditions just to increase his profit. Okumura Foods was widely successful, but Haru knew the rumors circulating around her father and the company had some merit. She didn't like admitting it; she wanted to believe they were wrong. But she understood the gravity of the situation she was in right now. This Palace was the heart of her father. "…I…I…I cannot turn a blind eye to my father's injustice! I…I need to understand why this is happening!"
"Haru?" Mona turned around as Haru fell to her knees in agony. "Are you okay!?"
"Don't hold yourself back!"
Easier said than done. But Haru's emotions reached a fever pitch, squeezing her eyes shut as a black mask appeared on her face, surprising Mona completely. Feelings she held back for too long bubbled to the surface and she didn't intend on stopping this flow of anger. With a loud yell, a blue aura exploded from Haru, completely swallowing everything nearby.
.
.
September 14th.
Ren walked downstairs to get ready to leave. Futaba was in Leblanc, sitting on a chair. When she saw Ren, she frowned. "Hey…did Morgana come back?"
"…No." Ren sighed and shook his head. He had yet to check his phone, but he was about to.
"I left his food bowl out." Futaba looked a bit sad. "I just kinda expected he'd come back when he got hungry. But I guess not…" Then she had an idea. "Oh! Maybe he went to someone else's place. Let's ask." She pulled out her phone to text the group chat.
Futaba: Morgana's still not back.
Ann: Huh? He hasn't come home yet?
Ryuji: You guys are worrying too much! It's only been a day! He used to be on his own right? So it'll be fine.
Hifumi: I think it's only natural to be worried…he stormed off in the middle of the night.
Yusuke: I think he will be fine. He doesn't seem like the type to go and die so easily.
Makoto: Actually, I think I know where he is.
Futaba: Wait, really!?
Makoto: Haru texted me last night saying she believed she saw Morgana. She tried to follow him.
Ren: Oh…actually, she sent me a text too saying the same thing.
Ryuji: Ain't it possible it was just some random cat? Did she ever text back?
Ren: …She did not send a follow up.
Makoto: I did not receive one either.
Ann: I hope she didn't chase a random cat.
Makoto: I will try to find her at school today and see what happened.
"Ryuji and Inari are being too cold about this…" Futaba grumbled. "But it would be great if Haru actually found him…! I'd feel better knowing he was with someone…oh, I don't mean to keep you. Have a good day."
"Yeah, see you later." Ren nodded and exited Leblanc to head to school.
.
.
On his way to school, Ren overheard two students talking about the Principal's death. "You think the Phantom Thieves murdered him? Why?"
"Think about Kamoshia's victims. The principal was just as guilty for keeping quiet about it. People who take advantage of others for their own personal gain need to disappear. In fact, we need a scumbag cleansing to purify the world."
"Geez…" Ren thought to himself. Were opinions on the matter this extreme? "I hope people aren't looking to us when they say such things…"
.
.
School was a little too busy for Makoto. She would've liked to look for Haru during lunch, but was unfortunately unable to find her. Even after school, when asking around, a few students said the same thing: Haru went straight home as soon as school ended. It was almost like Haru was avoiding her…So she sent Haru a text asking if they could meet after school about Morgana.
Makoto: Haru? Are you busy?
Haru: Oh! Mako-chan. I'm sorry, I wasn't able to find Morgana after all. It was just a cat that looked like him…
Makoto was afraid of that…
Makoto: Oh, I see. Thank you for trying, though.
"That's unfortunate. I guess we go back to square one…" Makoto decided to inform the others of what Haru told them.
.
.
Meanwhile, Haru was hoping that text was enough to get Makoto and the others off the trail…at least for now. She did feel bad for lying to them, but she was following Mona's lead, and he told her they didn't have any plans to deal with her father's palace. So this matter fell into their hands, and right after school, Haru and Mona were infiltrating Okumura's Palace. Now that Mona was rested and recovered, he could feel useful again and properly teach Haru the inner workings of the Phantom Thieves! And right now, they were running circles around the security robots attempting to chase them down.
"HURRY. AFTER THEM." The robots were frantically following Haru and Mona, but were too far behind to even hope to catch them. "WHERE DID THEY GO? WE MUST FIND THEM!"
"Hah! Look at those chumps, they can't keep up!" Mona said, snickering as he and Haru easily outmaneuvered the security robots. It was a lot easier to get around with Haru in more ways than one; the numbers helped, and Haru had the ability to open doors that were locked due to being biologically related to Kunikazu.
"This is quite a rush! Where are we going next, Mona-chan?" Haru asked Mona.
"This way! We'll lead them into a dead end and I'll take them out!" Mona said, bouncing off.
"Right! I'm right behind you!" Nodding, Haru made use of her new abilities to keep up with Morgana. Her outfit completely changed since yesterday. Although she did awaken to something inside her, she was still lacking, which is why Mona was more insistent on taking the lead…plus it also made him feel like he was contributing to something again, but Haru didn't know that.
"THERE ARE TWO OF THEM! DIVIDE AND PURSUE!" The security robots noticed Haru and Mona, but that was all according to their plan. "INTRUDERS DISCOVERED! COMMENCING PURSUIT PROTOCOL!"
"Hah…too slow." Mona said with a confident smirk.
.
.
Since Haru claimed to not have found Morgana, Futaba requested that Ren come straight home after school. There was always a chance Morgana would return if they waited and there was no harm in taking that chance. Unfortunately, there was still no sign of Morgana back at Leblanc, so Futaba's worries returned. "…Mona's still not home…" She sighed.
"I'm sure he'll come back when he gets hungry." Sojiro said to reassure Futaba.
"Onto our next story…" The news was always on in Leblanc, so it was no surprise they would listen in out of curiosity. "Late last night, multiple glass windows were found shattered at the Okumura Foods Coporate HQ."
Ren and Futaba were taken aback by this news. But they couldn't exactly discuss it in front of Sojiro. Futaba pulled out her phone, texting Ren about it.
Futaba: This is that Okumura.
"Other damages have also been reported, including the destruction of a statue depicting Mr. Okumura. However, there were no signs of a break in. Identifying the culprit is expected to be difficult."
"Huh…wonder if someone if someone has a grudge against that guy…" Sojiro questioned.
Futaba: You think Mona charged in there by himself?
Ren: Based on what he said before…I'm worried.
Futaba: Yeah. I know he's a capable cat when he wants to be, but we should go look for ourselves. Let's go to Okumura's Palace tomorrow. I'll contact everyone.
Ren and Futaba nodded to each other. Sojiro didn't understand the context of why those two were silently nodding to one another. So he was just confused. "…?"
.
.
September 15th.
The group gathered at the corporate office of Okumura Foods. They couldn't go inside, but didn't need to. Ryuji stared up at the tower of a building, eyes wide at how large the building was. "Holy crap. This place is huge…"
"It is headquarters of a large corporation after all." Yusuke said.
"Either way, getting into the main building is just about impossible." Futaba could tell just by looking.
"Mona seriously went to a Palace based on somewhere like this?" Ryuji could hardly believe it.
"It's definitely on a different scale than what we've done previous…" Makoto sighed.
"I searched Okumura online. He's totally up to somethin'." Ryuji told the others. "Don't you think he's guilty, too?"
"I dunno…" Ren replied honestly. "I guess we'll find out soon enough."
"I'm positive I'm right!" Ryuji said confidently.
"That isn't our priority at the moment." Hifumi said. "We are here to see if we can catch up with Mona, are we not? I believe we should focus on that first and foremost."
"Fumi's right." Ann nodded. "We can deal with that later. I'm worried about Morgana."
"I know, I know…" Ryuji said. "We gotta make sure we squeeze the juice on those mental shutdowns outta him too."
"You said you found the Palace keywords, right Futaba?" Makoto asked.
"The corporate HQ is outer space!" Futaba said.
"Huh…? The hell?" Ryuji was just dumbfounded.
"Oooh! I get it! Big Bang is space lingo. Haha, got it." Ann was so proud of herself for this one. "That's why it's called Big Bang Burger."
"Er…" Hifumi wasn't sure if she wanted to contest that or not.
"Not…exactly…" Makoto kept things moving along. "The concept behind the store branch came from the CEO himself. "…Is everyone ready? I'm activating it now." Makoto pulled out her phone, typing in the keywords.
And just as Makoto was doing that, Akechi happened to be walking by. He was behind a sign, so they didn't see him. But just as Makoto activated the MetaNav, Akechi was shocked to see his surroundings shifting and morphing before him. "…?!" And just as he looked around the sign to see what the cause of it was, he saw…them….
.
.
As soon as they arrived in Okumura's Palace, Panther looked to see they were already in their Phantom Thieves attire. "We're already considered threats?!"
"We just got here…" Dragon said while looking at her attire. It felt…strange to be in it again. It felt like it had been a while and even now, it didn't feel quite right. But she shoved those thoughts aside.
"President Okumura must be on guard with everything that's been in the news." Queen surmised.
"That bastard! He's just makin' more trouble for us!" Skull groaned.
Oracle ran ahead, truly taking in the spectacle that was the space station. Looking up at the glass ceiling, she could see the earth from afar. "Whoa…"
"It's as though we are in a film…" Fox was utterly amazed. He'd love to sketch this sometime, but they didn't have the time at the moment. "I wish I had my sketchbook…"
"We don't have time for that." Dragon jabbed Fox lightly with her index finger.
"Come on, let's go." Joker led the way. While they traversed the space station, they could all feel how cold and lifeless it felt inside.
"Sure is eerie…" Oracle said as they approached an elevator. The lever was stuck, so with some quick hacking, Oracle made it work. "There we go! It should be working now!"
"That's amazing…" Dragon said.
"I'm very glad we have you on our side, Oracle." Queen was also grateful for this.
Down they went to a lower flower. They were all keeping an eye out for any security robots, but the security seemed light for some reason. That only put the group on edge, cautiously wondering if they were going ambushed at any moment. As they walked, they entered a room where they could see a number of worker robots doing their job. There was one robot that stood out to the others; it was taller and had a red, orange, and gray color scheme. Based on the way it was moving, it was ordering the smaller robots around.
"Robots? There's tons of 'em…" Skull said.
"They all have the Big Bang Burger logo…" Panther pointed out.
"They're saying something…" Oracle narrowed her eyes, adjusting the frequency on her goggles to tune in on what they were saying. "You must adhere to your shifts. If you don't like it, you can quit. However, you will not be compensated…"
"What…is it talking about?" Skull questioned.
Suddenly, one of the robots collapsed. All the others kept working. A few stopped only because the fallen robot fell directly in its path. This angered the taller, slimmer robot and it was shouting angrily. "Oh…!" Panther gasped. She thought the other robots would assist the fallen one, but they simply kept working.
"…They said it's being disposed of." Oracle reported.
"These robots are part of Okumura's cognition, correct?" Fox began. "That means they represent…"
"…They could be the workers…" Joker said.
"I agree. This is most likely how the workers of Okumura Foods are viewed by their CEO." Queen said.
"That's awful…" Dragon frowned. "No wonder this place feels so cold and lifeless…"
"He thinks they're his robots!?" Panther couldn't believe it!
"If they're treated like this in reality as well, then the company truly is exploiting them." Fox said.
This is exactly what Skull was talking about. "See!? Okumura IS a piece of shit! Just like I said!"
"Now isn't the time to gloat, Skull." Dragon placed her hands on her hips, giving Skull a slight pout.
"Mona is our objective here." Oracle reminded Skull.
"He doesn't seem to be here. Maybe he's further in." Queen said and the others decided to go on.
Skull lingered behind, grumbling. "Dammit…" Even when he was right, it was still all about Mona. The trip was still quiet and they finally hit a roadblock with a door that demanded biometric identification. "ONLY AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ARE ALLOWED BEYOND THIS POINT."
"…That's going to be a problem." Orcale said. She couldn't hack her way through a DNA test.
Skull's idea? Shoulder tackling the door, but of course it wasn't going to budge. "The hell's up with this!?"
"There's no way we're going to get pass that…" Panther sighed.
"Should we attempt another path?" Dragon asked. They didn't exactly have a lot of options.
"We've hit a roadblock quite early. Will we have to control the real Okumura's cognition to pass?" Fox questioned, as it seemed like this was their only option.
"Oh, that means Mona hasn't been able to proceed either." Queen said. "So if he's here in the Palace, he would have to be somewhere before this door…"
"Halt vigilante!" A voice called out to the group. They turned only to see a girl standing on higher ground…wearing a black mask.
"Who's that…?" Skull asked.
Queen was immediately on high alert. "Those clothes…could she be…"
"Is that a black mask!?" Dragon pulled her staff out. "Could she be….?"
"Are the reason those people are goin' psychotic…her!?" Skull said.
"Are you the one that's been following us!?" Fox demanded to know.
"….." Haru…did not know what to say. They didn't recognize her at least, but she was still stuck.
"HAHAHAHA!" Mona laughed loudly and obnoxiously. "Enough of your misunderstandings!" He said, appearing next to Haru.
"Mona!" Oracle smiled.
"You're okay, thank goodness." Panther let out a sigh of relief.
"Long time no see, Panther." Mona said.
"…It's been like…a day and a half." Skull sighed.
"If you came for the Treasure, you should just go home with your tail between your legs!" Mona told the group.
"Actually, we came looking for you." Fox explained.
"And we need to know if that's the person in the black mask we were told about and why you're with them." Dragon said.
"She's not." Mona said firmly, clearing up that misunderstanding. "The Treausre will be taken by me and this…this…" OH CRAP. He forgot…to assign Haru a codename. That was the one thing that completely slipped his mind. So he gave Haru a quick once over and just said the first thing that came to mind. "This Beauty Thief!"
"Beauty…Thief…?" Queen stared.
"I'll have you know, she's a Persona-user too!" Mona said.
Well. Looks like they were doing this now. "My name is Beauty Thief…!" Haru said.
"…She really called herself that…?" Panther shook her head. "…Wait a second…that voice…"
Beauty Thief and Mona dropped down with front flips. Beauty Thief placed a hand upon the rim of her hat, pointing her other arm forward dramatically. "We will take the Treasure!"
"…Mona already said that." Oracle rolled her eyes.
"Any tension in the air just flew out the window." Fox shook his head.
"….." Joker stared long and hard at Beauty Thief, putting two and two together. Haru's text saying that she thought she saw Morgana, only to tell Makoto later that she didn't…but Mona was right here and this Beauty Thief sounded a LOT like Haru. "…Haru. Is that you?"
"WHAT?!" Beauty Thief's eyes widened and she shook her head. "I'm not Haru!? Who's Haru!? Not me!"
"…." Dragon lowered her weapon. Her lie detector powers were going strong, although she was certain she didn't need it to pick that lie up. "…It's Haru…"
Panicking, Beauty Thief just blurted out what came to mind. "You are not qualified to be Phantom Thieves! Do you understand what it means to be a Phantom Thief!? An admirable Phantom Thief is…" Uh. What was she supposed to say.
"Yeah, tell them!" Mona grinned.
"…You!" Beauty Thief pointed at Joker. "What do you think it means?!"
"A Phantom Thief is someone who helps the weak." Joker replied honestly and without missing a beat.
"Yes! That's…right…?" For some reason, Beauty Thief was not anticipating that correct response. Joker clearly had his ideals set. "E-Enough with the idle chitchat!"
"Mona, did you bring Haru in here?!" Skull asked in utter disbelief.
"I'M NOT HARU!" Beauty Thief insisted.
This was spiraling fast. This was not the dramatic encounter Mona was hoping for. "Wait! I'll fix this!" He then whispered into Beauty Thief's ear.
"…You!" Beauty Thief pointed at Fox. "Learn to take a hint!"
"Huh!?" Fox had no idea where that came from!
"And you…!" Beauty Thief pointed at Skull next. "You're very vulgar…and very not smart!" She couldn't call him stupid. As much as she was denying she was Haru, she could very much put two and two together and guess which Phantom Thief was a part of her friend group with Ren.
"WHAT!?" Skull shouted.
Next was Panther. Beauty Thief…completely forgot what Mona wanted her to say. "…What was it again…?"
"…Did you come all the way here just to say that?" Queen pressed her index finger against her mask. This was a little more than she bargained for, but at least Mona was safe. Even though she did have some qualms about Haru being dragged into this situation somehow.
"…So, we can agree that there is no danger here…?" Dragon asked the others. "I really think we should sit and talk about this while we're all together…"
"WE WILL TAKE THE TREASURE!" Beauty Thief pointed forward dramatically once more.
"…Haru, please." Oracle didn't know what to say at this point.
"We don't have time for chitchat!" Mona motioned for Beauty Thief to follow him. They walked over to the door where Beauty Thief stood in front of it.
"Dude," Skull began. "There's no point. It won't open…" And then the door confirmed Beauty Thief, shutting him up completely. "HUH!?"
Mona and Beauty Thief turned around smugly. "Don't underestimate us." Mona said cockily. The door opened and…there were a number of robots waiting on the other side.
"Behind you!" Panther warned.
The two turned around, gasping at the number of forces waiting for them. "Huh!? Huh!?" Beauty Thief was not expecting that kind of welcoming committee waiting for them.
"We gotta go!" Mona said.
"It is time for a tactical retreat!" Dragon exclaimed.
"We'll meet up at our usual place!" Queen said.
"Let's go!" Joker said, turning around to dash off. Something fell from his pocket while everyone scattered in different directions, the security robots in hot pursuit.
A few moments of silence lingered in the room, before a man in a Black Mask descended from above. Black Mask looked around, noticing that Joker dropped something in his escape. "Well…what do we have here…?" How curious. Black Mask knelt down, picking up what he could assume to be a smoke ball. "A crafty little Phantom Thief tool? Perhaps they aren't all talk after all. I just had a rather fun idea, and I think this will help bring it into fruition…" Black Mask chuckled lowly, but that chuckle soon turned into a maniacal laugh that echoed through the quiet, lifeless Palace of Kunikazu Okumura. "Heheheh…hahaha…AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"