Disclaimer': I own nothing.

Ren Amamiya was walking home from school right now. And. today was as boring as yesterday. There were no interesting questions, and all the problems were easy to solve. Ren didn't realize how boring it would be without hanging out with his friends.

"Well I guess I can finally truly understand Ryuji when he's said that school was boring." Ren said with a sigh.

"But it's boring to you for a different reason than that idiot." Morgana told him, popping out of his bag,

Then they both felt a headache appear just as quickly as it vanished. But when they looked around they saw that their surrounding area has changed.

They were now in a traditional Japanese village, though the entire area, along with the sky was tinted green.

Ren then took a look at both him and Morgana and gasped. Right now he's in Phantom Thief attire and Morgana was in his Metaverse form. But something felt off here. But neither could put their finger on it.

"What just happened?" Ren asked Morgana. The cat then crossed his arms in contemplation.

"I'm not sure." Morgana told him. "I'm not sensing any Shadows. But I don't think we can take it easy."

"Agreed." Ren said before walking alongside Morgana. Ren then checked his phone to see if the Meta-Nav was back on it. And (un)fortunately it wasn't. Which means his was something else entirely.

"Let's split up and look around." Ren, suggested to Morgana.

"Yeah. We might be able to find more information faster when we're split up." Morgana then nodded. Right now, information of any kind was important to them, so the reward far outweighed the risk in their opinion.

They both then started looking inside the buildings for a clue. Ren used his third eye to help look for clues about where they were. But when Ren reached an old poster of some old enka singer, Ren then ripped it off, revealing a hole I'm the wall.

Ren then saw what looked like a small passageway that led to somewhere. Ren entered it to see where it would lead him to, but when Ren reached the end,

It was a mountain of porn magazines. No, mountain wasn't right for what this was. It was more like an ocean of porn for whoever made this place. Ren then picked up a porn magazine to check it out for clues. Yeah, clues.

Thirty-five minutes later

Ren then came out of the room, having felt like he's pieced together pieces of a puzzle he didn't know that he's been doing.

"Okay, Morgana, what did you find?" Ren asked him.

"I found freshly cooked sushi and equipment to cook sushi." Morgana said, bring out said sushi on a covered platter. Ren couldn't help but feel like a few pieces were missing from it.

"I found these." Ren told him, showing Morgana a couple of the porn magazines.

"Wah-Joker!?"

"Every single one of them contains titfucking." Ren said to Morgana, while skimming through it once more. "Also breastfeeding, milking and groping." Ren told him. "All 1569 of them." Ren told him.

"What's with that specific number!?" Morgana asked him.

"I've spent the last thirty-five minutes skimming and counting them. And this was an important clue."

"I think I figured out who this place belongs to.

"So this place probably belongs to an old perv who's also a sushi chef." Ren told Morgana confidently.

"Why are you so sure about that?" Morgana asked him. They could belong to literally anyone, nevertheless someone so specific.

"Because who actually uses magazines these days?" Ren asked him.

"...Really? That's your logic?" Morgana deadpanned at him.

"These magazines are of a high quality. Not to mention that there are 1569 of them here." Ren continued. "They are definitely important to someone who doesn't really know how to use the internet. Also take a look around." Ren told Morgana.

"There are old buildings but some of them have older models of light bulbs in them." Ren informed him. "I've also found old sewing machines and kimonos, something that would be common in the youth of those who are over 80, where disassembling a kimono to clean it was still a relatively common practice. I've also found several old kamados here." Ren told him.

"I see. So either the person who made this place loves old Japanese stuff, or they were around to see and use it." Morgana said, seeing Ren's point. "And if it's the latter, then that means this place is a cognitive world."

"So there should be a way to exit it if it's anything like a palace." Ren told him.

"Impressive as always, joker." Morgana complimented him.

"So how's was the sushi?" Ren asked Morgana.

"Hmmm! So good!" Morgana said as he ate it.

"Really?" Ren asked him. Maybe he should try some, but then again trying sushi in a place like this probably wasn't a good idea.

Ren then felt like he saw the tree behind Morgana move slightly. Ren then honed his senses to use his Third Eye.

"I can feel it." There was a blue aura emanating from the tree. There was no doubt about it now. That tree was an enemy. Not only that, but there were at least a few dozen of them in this area alone.

They were weaker than him and Morgana were, but all of them were hiding. 'Either try to deal with them right now, or let them get the jump on us later.' Ren thought while looking around. They were probably going to be a pain either way.

"Well no risk no reward." Ren said before pulling out his gun and shooting the tree, but before the bullet could reach it the tree jumped right out of it's spot and turned into some kind of puppet. Just then, the other different colored puppets in hiding came out as well.

"What? They're not Shadows, or Cognitions, what are they!?" Morgana said, confused about what was going on here.

"Just something we've got to take care of." Ren told him calmly. Ren took a look around him with the third eye again and noticed that a few of them had a part on their bodies that were glowing.

"They're weaker than us, but there are a ton of them, so let's stay calm."

Ren then slashed through one of the puppets with his knife.

"Right. We can take care of them." Morgana said, calming down a bit.

Ren quickly dodged a flame blast aimed at him before hopping onto the shoulders of one of the puppets and shooting through its head with his pistol.

Morgana for his part was also doing well against the puppets, slicing off their parts with his sword and managing to dodge them thanks his tiny size. But one managed to grab ahold of him and held Morgana over their head. but the second they did that, Morgana turned into his Morganamobile form, crushing it and the ones closest to it. "Mwheheheh! Nice try!" Morgana taunted them.

But a puppet managed to get close to Ren.

Ren decided to guard against the fire blowing puppet instead of dodging it due to a lack of time. A part of his sleeve was blown off from the fire blast.

"What?" " Ren said, shocked. The puppet then went in for another attack, but Ren immediately shot it through the head, stopping it's movements.

Ren then took a look at his sleeve. His sleeves were definitely burned, but his arm was fine?

This has never happened before. No matter what attack he's been hit with, serrated blades, guns, almighty attacks, chainsaws, and Megidoloans, his clothes were always fine. Sure there were some rips and tears, but nothing that couldn't be patched up. But now they were being shredded easily, but his body was fine? What's going on here?

But while Ren was distracted by the fact that his clothes were taking damage now, a group of puppets tried to attack him. But before the puppets figure could even touch him,

"Joker!" A bus car rammed into them, running them over and knocking them over.

"Watch your back!" The not-cat - said to him in exasperation, not expecting him of all people to be caught off guard so easily.

"My clothes ripped." Ren told him nonchalantly, showing off his torn up sleeve.

"What!?" Morgana was completely surprised.

"This place is definitely different from palaces." Ren told him.

"Yeah. We should probably be careful." Morgana said in agreement.

"So it's about time we start getting serious?"

Ren then dodged what looked to be a laser beam before cutting the head off of the puppet that fired it.

Ren then tried to summon a persona, but….

'I'm not sensing anything inside me other than Arsene.' Ren thought while looking deep inside himself.

"Arséne!" Ren yelled out, ripping off his mask and summoning his first persona.

"Eiha!" Ren called out blasting a few puppets with a curse attack, completely destroying them.

"Cleave!" Ren called out, having Arsene cut through one of the puppets with his heel while Ren was doing the same with his knife.

Ren shot it the second it opened it's palm to blast themm, causing it to explode.

Ren then felt a surge of power inside of his body and looked to see that the star they got from Jose was still glowing.

'Don't have one with Morgana.' Ren thought to himself. 'And the light isn't shining as bright.' Ren decided to try something out.

"Arsené!" Joker yelled out while jumping into the air, Arsene appearing by his side, and immediately releasing a huge curse attack at the enemies immediately taking out a huge number of them.

"Shows over." Ren said while tightening his gloves.

"Okay, since we have free time, let's talk." Morgana told him.

"How's the sushi?" Ren asked him while looking at a piece while contemplating on eating it.

"It's definitely restoring my spirit pool." Morgana told him while eating it.

"Jose's Wishing Star is still working a bit." Ren told him. "But it's not shining as brightly."

"Looks like it can do a one person showtime attack." Morgana said with his arms crossed. "Though it was definitely weaker than how the previous ones acted. And it was a lot duller than what I'd expect from you."

"Arsene felt weaker than before." Ren said, choosing to ignore the last comment. It was an in the moment action, how could he possibly prepare something better?

"Yeah, so was Zorro." Morgana mentioned. "I think it's because we didn't use them in the past few months so they degraded quickly."

"So a persona is like a muscle?" Ren asked him. "Do we have to start 'working out' again?"

"Looks like it." Morgana told him. "But I'm sure we'll be back in the swing of things in no time."

"Hopefully soon enough." Ren said before eating some of the sushi to recover his energy. It was actually ridiculously delicious. Morgana wasn't kidding about that.

"Hmm. The young man and the cat are certainly quite skilled." Hanzō said to himself. If they fight Gessen academy they could probably win against them. But Hanzō needed to see their skills for himself further. After all the low level puppets weren't good for testing someone's skill after they reached a certain point of power. It's time for the specially modified ones.

He's also going to need to test their level of conviction. This might be the one that could get through to them.

Just then three more puppets appeared in front of them. They were obviously more powerful due to having bigger body frames than the ones they've fought before. The one in the middle being the biggest of them.

"I'll take the one in the middle. You try to handle the two behind him." Ren told Morgana. "Unless it's too much for you."

"Heh. It's going to be a cinch for me." Morgana bragged.

Morgana

"Hold it Joker. I'm sensing something powerful that way." Morgana warned him.

"So that's probably where the master of this place is, huh." Ren said to him.

"I'd say that we should prepare for whatever can come our way. But…." Morgana told him before sighing.

"We have no choice but to take him head on?" Ren suggested to him..

In front of them stood an old man wearing traditional clothes, who while still muscular for his age, didn't give off a threatening atmosphere at all. In fact the guy felt like a goofy grandparent.

"Joker, that's the guy." Morgana told him.

"Yep. He's definitely stronger than us." Ren said after confirming it with his Third Eye. His aura was deep red. He's definitely not someone to underestimate because of his age.

"Oh? So you're capable of telling that much I see? Then do you plan on running away?" The man was talking like a big bad villain boss in a manga, but it was obvious to both Ren and Morgana that his true nature wasn't something as serious as that.

"Not like we can." Ren told him. "You'd probably keep us here if we tried."

"So it looks like we only have one option." Morgana said to the old man.

"You could just point us to an exit." Ren said after thinking about it some more. "Or you could just let us out."

"The only reason we're using doing violence, is that I doubt you'd do them." Ren said with a vicious smirk on his face."

Hanzō then released some kind of pressure from his body, which managed to make Morgana uneasy, but Ren stood firm in spite of it.

"Oho. You really are strong willed." The old man complimented him.

"Thanks. It's not something I feel people praise enough about me." Ren told him.

"It's the first time someone your age has managed to withstand my killing intent." Gramps told him."Maybe this won't be as easy as I thought."

"He's weak to nothing we've got!" Morgana told him. "So just hammer away at him with your attacks!"

"Arséne!" Ren summoned his persona.

"Eiha!"Arsene then fired off a curse attack at the enemy, but the old man smashed the ground causing rocks to fly everywhere, making them be the target of the attack and creating a dusty smokescreen.

"Be on your guard, Joker." Morgana told him.

Ren then tried to find him with the third eye, but this old guy just disappeared. Until he noticed a red aura above himb in the smokescreen .

"Eiga!" Arsene then fired a stronger curse attack at him while he's in the air, but the old man easily dodged it.

"Garu!" Zorro then sent a wind blast towards him whilst he's in the air to knock him off balance, which succeeded, but only for a second because the old man managed to rebalance himself pretty quickly. Ren then performed a leap and tried to slash at him from above, but his attack was dodged, only getting a few hairs off of him, before being sent flying by a kick to the face from the old man.

Morgana then jumped up into the air and tried to crush him by turning into a car, but the old man simply lifted the MorganaMobile up while using his legs.

"It's important to lift with your legs, you know?". The old man said before throwing Morganamobile at Ren who dodged by jumping above it, only to become a target for his opponent's sword. Ren tried to block with his knife only for the old man to turn his sword's direction in midswing, getting a hit on Ren's other sleeved arm.. air.

Ren thenb

"Arsene! Cleave!!" Ren called out to his persona who's heel matched the old man's sword, who then proceeded to deflect the bladed heel, before readjusting his sword and slashing at his personas leg.

Slashing at Arsene's leg, Hanzo jumped back the moment Arsene tried to instinctively swat him.

Ren then felt the same pain on his leg.

"Trickster. This is no normal man." Arsene told him. "Yeah, I figured that out after he brought us here." Ren told his persona.

"There are still tricks in your pocket. Or rather our pocket."

"How about you try this."Arsene said, giving Ren an idea for a technique that he's never used before. Ren then felt a strange sense of power flow through him. It wasn't like an energy for a showtime attack, it felt like something else entirely. Something….more permanent.

Ren then knocked him into the air by using his a shot from his gun that somehow managed to hit him.

Ren then rushed towards him in the air, before performing a series of slashes in it with his knife, keeping him in the air for around 12 seconds.

"Oh? That looked like an aerial rave, but not quite." Old man said to him.There were definitely shreds in his clothing now, but it was definitely not enough.

Morgana then got up but was spinning around and was having a hard time staying still and standing up straight.

"Joker, you okay?" Morgana asked dizzily. Ren then brought out a paper fan and hit him upside the head with it. "I should be asking you that." Ren said to him.

"Time for a good old fashion-Harrisen Recovery!" Ren then knocked Morgana upside the head with a fan.

"Whew, thanks." Morgana told him. "Time for some payback!"

Morgana then charged at the old perv and tried to slash at him with his sword. But his small body made it easy for him to throw Morgana at Ren who threw his knife up in the air and caught him with his own hands.

By the time he's appeared before them Ren's knife has already been near him, and Renn grabbed it while letting Morgana go, and slashing at him, missing again by a few hairs. Ren was then knocked down to the ground by a punch to the gut.

"You truly are skilled for your age." The old man told him. "If you fought my granddaughter, there's a high chance that you could win."

Ren grabbed the ground, as if in irritation, cleaning his fist before rushing back at the old man.

"Screw you!!" Ren screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Thought you were calmer than that." The old man remarked to him. But before the swing could reach him, Ren threw some dirt into his eyes, and then slashing at him, but his opponent was able to dodge it, easily with Ren only getting a cut into his clothes.

"Tch." Ren looked disappointed that his trick didn't work.

"You're a clever one, huh? Acting as if you're enraged in irritation to lure me into a trap."

"I'm told that I'm quite the Trickster." Ren said to him.

"To let your opponent wipe his eye, you truly are cocky aren't you?"

"I doubt it would matter anyway." Ren told him. "Not against someone like you."

"He's barely taking this seriously." Ren told Morgana. "Even after we blinded him."

"It feels like we're fighting Lady Lavenza." Morgana groaned.

"It's not that bad." Ren corrected him. "We could probably deal with him if we were at our best. We needed everyone at their best just to fight her."

"Yeah. But I remember us winning in the end."

"Well then we better start double times out there." Ren told Morgana, "After all, we've got people waiting for us."

"Well need a plan if we want to win." Morgana told him.

"I've got an idea." Joker told him. "Can Zorro use Lucky Punch yet?"

"Yeah." Morgana answered, not seeing where this was heading.

"Here's my plan." Ren told him in a whsiper, shocking Morgana for a bit, before nodding along. .

"I see. We might need to go that far." Morgana told him. This was something they've never done before, so it might be a bit risky though.

"Hmm. I wonder what they plan on doing next." The old man asked.

"Lucky Punch!" Morgana called out! Sending a boxing glove that managed to hit the old man in the balls.

"Got a critical attack!" Morgana called out.

"Gahh!" The old man cried out in pain. Ren then winced in sympathy for him. It might have been his plan, but he's still feeling bad for him. But this was also the opening that they needed.

"Time for an all out attack!" Ren called out immediately before the old man could get up. Ren and Morgana then blitzed him with speeds that he's unable to keep up with, faster than anything they've shown him before, dealing multiple attacks on him.

Ren and Morgana then proceeded to pose before an explosion happened behind them.

"I see. You're capable of things Shinobi had no idea of." They then heard the old man's voice from behind them. "You may be the one we need right now."

The old man then walked out of the explosion looking no worse for wear. The only difference was that he's missing his shirt and most of his pants. Thankfully it covered enough to hide his crotch.

The old man then raised his sword.

"Hanzō-style, Blooming Slash!" the old man yelled before drawing his sword and immediately ending the battle.

Ren and Morgana were soon sent flying due to the wind pressure from his sword slash, and quickly went unconscious with the former's clothes being completely destroyed

After the old man sheathed his sword Ren and Morgana soon .

"You truly are a 'big guy' in various ways, huh." Hanzō said after unfortunately getting a look. "Been far too long since I've fought against a male. Forgot how to correctly attack them."

m.