Chapter Twelve
The Castle of Lust
Monday, April 18th
They went through their usual entrance easily enough. However, when they left the library with the intention of heading to the foyer, they found the door was heavily locked. Far more complicated than the padlock Mona taught Joker with. Joker had already reached into her pocket for the hairpins when Mona instructed them to head to the safe room instead.
They made a b-line for the safe room they found in the West building beyond the guard's dining hall. Though a guard stood outside the safe room, Joker jumped the guard and successfully yanked its mask off, revealing a pair of Pyro Jack's. When Joker, Skull, and Mona got out their guns – well okay, a slingshot in Mona's case – Panther followed suit. She felt a rush of exhilaration as she fired at the Shadows. "Oh my god!" Panther gushed as they entered the safe room. "Is that what Airsoft is like?"
"I don't think so…" Joker put her Glock away. "I heard it hurts if you're not properly protected."
"So… like a regular gun then?"
Groaning Mona pulled himself onto the table in the center of the room and started pacing. "I wanted to just head straight upstairs from the foyer. I have a feeling the Treasure couldn't be that far behind the doors there. But with the door locked like that-"
Joker injected, "I went through the effort of learning how to pick locks from you last night, and you didn't even have me try to pick it?"
"If our picks weren't just hairpins, yeah! We'd need a proper lock pick to get through that thing!"
"So we just keep explorin' the castle," said Skull. "I was under the impression we'd be doin' that anyway."
"Me too," added Panther.
Sharing a look with Mona, Joker simply shrugged. "Guess we're going to keep exploring, then."
"That's a pretty blasé attitude for someone under the threat of expulsion," quipped Mona. His ears plastered against his skull while his tail drooped. "But I suppose we don't have that many options."
Before they took back off, it was decided that they would collect the money left over from fallen Shadows, then decide what to do with it after this was over. Until then, they would use it on supplies as needed.
The group traveled further down the hall until they came across a fine dining hall. Golden candelabra's lit up the room, wooden kegs lined the back wall. Three large legs of meat hung over an open fire. Mona grabbed a set of the cutlery, saying they could try to sell it in the real world.
There was a Shadow guard standing watch at the end of the room. Going through the motions, Joker caught the guard by surprise, ripping its mask off. In the resulting battle, Mona proved to be a great asset as a healer with Zorro's Dia ability. During a second round of battling, Joker gained a new mask in the form of a red devil called Incubus.
Beyond the dining room, they found a worn-down stairway that lead them to a fine hallway. Joker switched Personas when Mona suggested it, though he was surprised to find she had Saki Mitama amongst her numbers.
"Where'd that one even come from?" Skull asked after the group took out a couple of downtrodden women. He glanced down at Mona. "You haven't seen it in the castle before, have you?"
Mona shook his head. "Not once."
With an awkward grin, Joker shrugged uselessly as an answer. If there was a way to explain what was happening with the Velvet Room, without coming across as a loony, she would use it. But Joker wasn't fully sure if she understood it herself. And she knew that as soon as she said 'There's this jail cell I visit in my sleep-' everyone would look at her like she was growing a second head.
Moving onto the end of the hallway, they found a large room. There was a table in the middle of the room, barred off on all sides, with no clear way to get in. "Looks like there's somethin' in here," said Skull.
Morgana purred, rubbing his paws together as he spoke. There was a glint in his eye that signaled mischief. "If he's protecting it this securely, it has to be important."
Panther crossed her arms over her chest, scrutinizing the area. "I don't see a way in though," she said.
"Logic does dictate there is a way in otherwise…"
Joker drowned out Mona's words as she eyed the carpet. The longer she stared down, the more she could make out something. Footprints began to stand out against the carpet. Joker turned her gaze to the door in which they entered and followed the prints to one of the pillars. A chain hung down from a brass Bicorn head, she almost reached up for it, until she realized the footprints kept going on past it.
Keeping her head down, and ignoring Panther calling out for her, Joker followed the tracks to the opposite end of the room. The prints lead her to another Bicorn knocker. The longer Joker studied this knocker, the more she could see remnants of dribble coating the ring on the chain. Holding her breath, she grasped the chain in both hands and pulled. She could hear something crank to life, slowly, the bars blocking off the table were lifted up, inch by inch. A low rumble of the tumblrs coming to a stop was heard. "Whoa, nice work there, Joker!" Panther said while she applauded. "How'd you know that would happen, anyway?"
"Sixth sense?" Joker offered teasingly.
'Or third eye…' she thought.
There was a map on the table, much to Mona's delight. Though he did notice that the map wasn't quite complete, it didn't give them an inkling where the treasure could be hidden. At best it showed them a couple of floors, but Mona was optimistic about it.
The map showed them the way to the castle foyer. High on the banisters to the west of the foyer. "Looks like we have to get across," Panther said, checking the map. "So do we just… climb down, cross the room, and climb back up?"
"We might end up getting caught if we do that," said Mona.
Skull turned his gaze skyward. "We should just go overhead," he said pointing at the chandeliers. "There's enough for us to climb up and jump to the other side."
"Seriously?!" Panther asked wearily.
"Do you have a better idea?"
"I think I know how we can climb up," Joker said, pointing at a bookshelf by the wall. It was short enough for them to climb onto easily and make their way to the banisters. Leading the way, Joker did just that. At the banisters, she effortlessly walked across and leaped onto the flat, grated surface of the nearest chandler. Once safely across, Joker waved the others over.
Panther was the one who struggled the most in keeping her balance. She held her arms out on either side, walked across the banister at a snail's pace, and kept looking down at her feet. Skull remained close behind her in case she went over. "Try to keep your head center, and stop looking down," Skull instructed calmly.
"How do I do that?!" Panther warbled, struggling to keep her gaze forward.
"Just make sure your head isn't leaning forward."
"L-Like..."
"Like this." Reaching forward, Skull let his hands hover under Panther's chin and guided her head back up. "Now, pick something straight ahead and don't look away from it."
She chose the rope holding up the chandler. Her breath was still shaking as Skull retracted his hands. Willing herself to ignore everything but the rope, Panther walked on. There was still a tremble in her legs, but her arms weren't moving so wildly, and she was keeping a steady pace.
After they each successfully crossed to the other side of rafters, they found a new safe room and took a moment to collect themselves. Mona instructed everyone to take a bit of the Recov-R and spare a few moments to replenish their strength.
As they continued, to Joker's relief, she was finally able to use her newly acquired lock picking abilities to open a locked door and a few chests containing items Mona thought they could sell. Such as a piece of onyx and a pearl. And her collections of Persona increased with Silky, Kelpie, Berith, and Succubus.
Upon finding a small study Joker noticed a book with her Third Eye ability. The title, 'Slave Book' left her skin crawling. But the fact that her new ability picked up on it was a flashing red sign for her to carry it with her. So she slipped it into her pocket with the treasures they collected.
Soon after the group came upon a golden barred door with a black Bicorn head with a chain hanging from it. "Isn't this like that thing from earlier?" Skull asked, pointing at the bars. "We just gotta pull that chain an-"
"I don't think it's that easy," Joker said, pointing at the indent on the gold plating under the Bicorn head.
"Looks like we won't be moving on until we fill that," Mona said through a sigh.
"Crap," Panther sighed. She brought a hand to the side of her head, her fingers intertwined with her bangs. "It's a puzzle in a video game that involves a lot of backtracking. I hate those."
"Lemme see the map," Joker offered her hand to Panther. She handed their leader the map, allowing Joker to study it for a bit. "We may not need to backtrack, there's a library around the corner. There might be something in there."
They found their way to the library, despite its size, and the number of books on the shelves. There was a scent of old books in the air mixed with something Joker didn't have a name for but still made her skin crawl. "For some reason, this surprises me," Panther admitted as the group walked into the library. "After all that perverse shit from earlier."
"I know, right?" Joker agreed.
"Let's see," Skull said, planting himself in front of one of the bookshelves. He started reading off the spines, "'The History of Kamoshida,' 'Tracing Kamoshida's Steps,' Kamoshida's Heroisms,' 'Kamoshida's Law.' The fuck?!"
"There's more over here," Panther called from another section. "The titles don't have any rhyme or reason to them."
Skull and Joker hurried to Panther's side. Each spine had a name that could have belonged to a person. But there was nothing else printed on the spine. Abruptly, Panther let out a sharp intake of breath and backed away from the shelf. Her left hand was balled up in front of her chest, while the other pointed at one of the books. "This book… It has Shiho's name in the title," Her voice shook as she pointed to another book with 'Yuki Noya' printed on the spine. "A-And I recognize some of these names from the girls on the volleyball team!"
"Fucking hell…" Joker breathed out, her eyes scanned the shelves. How many of these girls were just objects Kamoshida gawked at? How many were faced with the same fate as Suzui until she jumped?
Her head list to the left when her gaze fell upon the title 'The King Book.' Her brow arched beneath her mask as she reached and pulled it off the shelf. "Fuck," Skull breathed out. 'Ann Takamaki: The Charming Doll.' And 'Chiyo Kusakabe: The Dancing Enigma.' Holy shit…"
"I'm not trying to change the subject for the sake of changing the subject," Joker said, turning the book in her hand. "But this here clearly doesn't belong on the shelf."
"Didn't you find another book earlier, Joker?" Mona asked from the desk.
Wordlessly, Joker pulled out 'The Slave's Book' from her pocket. She looked back at the books about Kamoshida and noticed there was an empty space amongst the tomes. Joker walked up to the shelf about Kamoshida and slid 'The King Book' into the empty space. An audible click was heard. "Looks like we need to put the books in their proper place," said Joker. She looked down at the book in her hand. "But this one doesn't fit in with the shelf I got 'The King Book' from. We've only seen male players as slaves."
Skull crossed the room to another bookshelf. He ran one hand over the spines, reading the titles printed on them. After a few moments of silence, Skull spoke up, "These over here have the names of the volleyball team members. And you're right, all boys. So, 'The Slave Book' goes over here, right?"
"It should." Joker walked up to the shelf and scanned the titles. "We just need to find the book that doesn't belong-"
Joker winced when she came across 'Ryuji Sakamoto: The Vulgar Ape.' A sick sense of curiosity made Joker wonder just what was inside these books, Kamoshida's specific thoughts, and opinions about his students? "Ah, 'The Queen Book,'" Skull said, pulling one of the tomes from the shelf. "This definitely doesn't belong here."
"Then we just need to replace 'The Queen Book' with 'The Slave Book' and vice versa."
Skull crossed the room and put his book in its place, while Joker did the same with hers. After each book clicked one of the shelves started to move back, then glided to the side, revealing a secret chamber.
On the wall opposite the entrance was St. Andrew's cross in front of a portrait of Kamoshida surrounded by a semi-circle of candles. Once again, the portrait had the artistic aesthetic of a trashy novel. Around the portrait, photos were pinned on the wall, taken at different angles, some focusing on a girl's breasts, her ass, her legs. There were a few pictures of the girl's face, revealing a black-haired girl with her hair done in a high ponytail.
The group stood at the room's entrance, staring inside with wide eyes and pale faces. "The hell is this room?" Skull breathed out. "These pics…?"
Panther took a step back; Joker looked over her shoulder at her companion. "I can look inside alone, see if there's anything of use in here," offered Joker.
Swallowing, Panther shook her head. "No, it's fine," she said, stealing her voice. "If anything, I feel even more motivated to do this now…"
The humans amongst the group searched the room for something. Anything. There had to be a reason it was hidden behind an elaborate mechanism. But there were just more books, wooden kegs, the St. Andrew's cross, more pictures of Suzui…
What was Kamoshida hiding here? It couldn't just be these pictures. Not after those books and cognitive versions of the female volleyball players. "Hey," Panther called, "I think I found something." She held a gold medal in her hand. "It's about the same size as that indent, right?"
"Only one way to find out," said Joker.
"There's somethin' else here, too," Skull said, taking a large sheet of faded yellow paper into his hand. "Looks like another map."
Skull flattened the map across the table, allowing the group as a whole to study it. "Nice find," Mona said, his tail swaying happily.
"So, this one'll tell us where the Treasure is?" asked Skull.
"Yeah, look." Mona pointed at a room beyond an elongated 'U' shape. "It has to be here."
"That's an odd shape," Panther said thoughtfully. "Is it a tower or something?"
"I dunno," Joker said with a list of the head. "I don't know of a medieval tower in that shape. But…. Eh…"
"Considering our current position…" Mona paused scrutinizing the map once more. "I'd say we're about halfway there."
"For real?" asked Skull. "Then what're we waiting for? Let's hurry over there!"
"If everyone's up for it," said Joker.
"Now that we have this map," said Mona. "I'd say we could afford to pace ourselves if we need to. We still have some time."
The medal Panther found fit the indent perfectly, the Bicorn head lowered itself down, allowing them to tug at the chain, opening the door, revealing a hallway. Down the hall, they found a new safe room and checked the map once more before they moved on.
It was not long before they found themselves in a chapel. Potted roses decorated overhead, candles lit the room. And an effigy of the Shadow Kamoshida's likeness stood at the head of the chapel. It was placed perfectly in front of a rose window, giving it a near heavenly glow. "This place is huge," said Mona, "yet there are no guards? That seems suspicious…"
"Accordin' to the map, the Treasure's up ahead, right?" asked Skull. "We don't got a choice but to keep goin'."
Entering the chapel, the four experienced a wave of dizziness. The image of the chapel flickered between the scene they entered and the school gym. "Ah…" Panther moaned, gripping her head. "Wasn't… wasn't that the gym?"
Skull shook his head in an attempt to rid himself of his dizziness. "I get it," he exhaled. "The gym's some kind of holy place for him. He's a god there."
"Make's sense," Joker said as they headed down the aisle. "He has little to no power in other classrooms, so they become safe rooms. Of course, the gym would be something grand."
"I can't believe he could think like that," Panther said as they stopped several meters in front of the effigy. "Especially after what he did to Shiho."
"I see…" said a new, somewhat mechanical voice said. "So you're the ones who tampered with the library. It seems my time waiting here has paid off!"
A Guard Captain appeared rising out from the floorboards like a mythic beast out of the water. "Just as that ape there said," the Captain said, pointing his sword at Skull, "this place is holy ground for our great King Kamoshida. It is preposterous for miscreants like yourself to come waltzing in like this!"
The Captain's body started to convulse before it morphed into a medieval knight dawning a pair of red feathery wings. "You will pay for foolishly defying King Kamoshida… with your lives!"
The knight brought its blade down. The group leaped back; Panther fell back into one of the pews. Skull fell in between them, while Joker stood up on one of the seats of the pews and Mona stood on the back of one of the pews. "I knew this would happen!" Mona cursed, removing a slingshot from his utility pocket. "But between Joker and Skull, we should be okay. Alright, let's take it down!"
Panther, while still struggling to get out of her pew, pulled out her whip and cracked it. The tip hit the knight on its sword arm, causing it to drop his blade. "All right!" cheered Mona. He pulled back on the band of his slingshot. "Nice work, Panther!"
Mona released three pelts in rapid session, hitting the knight in its chainmail. The knight drew in its arms and legs, its wings flapped now and then to keep it afloat. "Shit, it's doin' something!" shouted Skull.
"Everyone duck!" Joker shouted before dropping herself down between pews.
Panther rolled to the side, falling between pews as Mona mimicked Joker. The knight extended himself, releasing a burst of energy. The room shook momentarily, but everyone remained relatively unharmed. Joker was the first to poke herself out from the pews. She had her gun drawn, and fired three rounds at the knight. The knight finished but remained unfazed by the would-be bullets. "Here we go!" Skull shouted, on his knees, one arm wrapped around the back of the pew in front of him.
He removed his mask, summoning Captain Kidd. The pirate captain aimed his cannon arm at the knight, the action caused a Zio to strike the knight from above. The knight lunged towards Skull, who pulled himself up onto the seat of the pew and threw himself three pews over before the knight could strike.
"Arsene!" Joker shouted, removing her mask. "Ravage them!"
Arsene extended its wings, casting an Eiha. The knight drooped, yelling out the Persona's name, Mona called out for Zorro, ordering it to perform a Garu attack. Panther cracked her whip, striking the knight again.
At long last, the knight flinched. It hovered momentarily before it broke apart, vanishing, and leaving behind coins and paper notes. "Jeez," Skull breathed out, leaning against one of the pews. "Didn't realize those things could be that tough…"
"Yeah," Mona likewise panted. "It looks like Kamoshida's making a concerted effort to stop us now…"
"That's gotta mean we're close, right?" asked Panther. "Lemme see the map."
Joker handed her the map, allowing Panther to study it for a few moments. "Yeah, it should be up ahead," she said. "But I don't see any way to get there from here."
"Then there's something we're missing," concluded Mona. "We ought to look around a little more."
"I hate backtracking!" groaned Panther
The group searched for anything useful outside the chapel territories, with no luck. They found their way down one hall, which lead to a spiraling staircase. A spiraling staircase that looked like an ogre dropped its hammer down upon it several times, demolishing several meters of stairs. "Uh… I don't think we're goin' any further this way…" Skull pointed out.
"Should we check somewhere else?" Panther took a moment to look back at the door they came in from. "Emm… I'd hate to backtrack more though…"
"Wait!" Mona pointed his paw up. "Look there!"
Following Mona's gaze, the group found a Bicorn bust hanging out from the parapet a few feet off the ground. Though it was difficult to tell from the floor, the staircase from there on looked untouched. "What about it?" Skull cocked his head to the side. "Are we throwin' a rope over that and climbin' up?"
There was a mischievous glint in Mona's eyes as he crossed his stubby arms over his chest. "Phantom thieves do things a bit more stylishly than that," he said, swaying his tail. "And I know just what'll do the trick."
With a grin that met his eyes, Mona pulled three cuffs out from his utility belt. They were black, meant to be attached to the wrist, with a button by one of the edges. Mona tossed one of the cuffs to Joker, she turned it over in her hands a few times as the cat-creature continued to pass the cuffs out to Skull and Panther.
Joker slipped the cuff onto her wrist, with the wire and button on the inside. Both Skull and Joker were able to conceal their cuffs with the sleeves of their jackets, but Panther's cuff stood out against her red suit and pink gloves. "Good." Mona sounded pleased with himself. "Seems like they fit properly."
"What are they?" asked Joker.
"Just a little something I've been working on on the side. Those grappling hooks should let you zip to hard-to-reach locations in a flash."
"Grappling… hooks?" Panther echoed. "These look like wires."
"Semantics."
"Uh…" Skull looked from his cuff to the Bicorn bust. "So uh… who's goin' first."
"Joker and I will." Without warning, Mona climbed up Joker's coat and seated himself on her shoulder. "I should be the one to see if my gadget works, after all."
"Then why didn't you-" Joker shook her head. "Forget it. I just aim and shoot?"
"Just aim and shoot."
The issue was, Joker wasn't quite sure how she was supposed to aim. When she was fairly certain she had it right, she used her opposite hand to press the button. The line shot out of the cuff, lassoing around the horns of the bust. Mona clung to Joker as she was suddenly pulled off her feet.
She couldn't help the gasp that escaped her throat as the floor disappeared from under her. Nor the rush of panic as the bust came hurtling towards her (or rather, she came hurtling towards it). As she drew closer and closer, Joker held her free hand out and reached for the railing. She brought her feet up on either side of the bust and pushed. Joker guided her hips back into an arch until she flipped over, safely on the other side of the banister.
"Wow," Panther said, awestruck, "guess you really can do anything in this world if you think you can hard enough…"
"Worked like a charm," Mona said, hopping onto the edge of the banister. He waved the other two up. "Come on, we still have a bit of castle left to cover."
Panther followed after Joker, unable to contain her scream as the grappling hook pulled her towards the demon-horse bust. She wrapped one arm around the neck of the bust and reached her other hand up for the banister. Joker reached down, grasping Panther's arm as she carefully uncoiled her arm around the bust. She grabbed onto the banister rail and pulled herself up with Joker's help. Skull followed suit when he was sure Panther was on the other side. Together the girls helped him over the banister.
The group hurried up the spiraling stairway until they came to the head of the stairs where they were met with a large set of double doors. Skull stopped in place, looking across the hall. He motioned for Panther and Joker to check it out. There was another banister directly across the room, but no obvious way to get there. There was a door with withering vines grown over it. "There's something fishy over there," murmured Skull.
"Yeah," agreed Mona. "By the looks of it, no one's been there for a long time."
"I wonder what's over there…" mused Panther. "Should we take a closer look?"
"I think there's something we can use the grappling hook on," said Joker. He pointed at another Bicorn bust overhead.
Mona grabbed onto Joker's shoulder again, before she climbed onto the banister. She aimed the grappling hook, the end attaching itself to the Bicorn bust. A bit more prepared for the grappling hook's effects, Joker channeled her weight allowing herself to swing towards the door instead of being pulled towards the bust.
As Skull and Panther followed suit, Mona slid down Joker's back. She and skull started to pull the brittle vines off the door, allowing them to open it. The room was largely empty, and rather plain. Joker could have sworn there was something whispering in her ear, but she couldn't make out what they were saying. The effect still made her skin crawl and her blood run cold.
Panther shuttered slightly, the hair on the back of her neck standing up on end. "This room feels different from everywhere else we've been so far," she said.
"Yeah," agreed Skull, "and there's something super-suspicious over there…"
"That's…" Mona's voice trailed off.
In the back of the room, in the center of the floor, a plant pulsing red had grown erect. There was something amongst the greenery. To Joker, it looked more like a potato. Mona ran up to the plant, beckoning the others to follow him. Upon approaching it, Joker could see the potato looked like someone had hollowed it out into a skull and put a red light bulb inside it.
"Just as I thought!" Mona declared, practically bouncing on his back paws. "It's a Will Seed!"
"What's a Will Seed?" asked Joker.
"Palaces are locations that grew distorted from their original forms due to their rulers' cognition. When such distortions coalesce into form, this is the result." Mona gestured to the plant. "I call it a Will Seed."
"Distortions… coalesce… into Will Seeds…" Skull mulled over this information.
"Should I try explaining that again?"
Instead, Skull just shook his head. "Just forget it!" He gestured to the plant. "That's a Will Seed. Movin' on."
"So, what do we do with it?" asked Panther.
"We take it," Mona said plainly. "It may not be as prized as a Treasure, but it's still quite the rare find. Making it ours will only do us good… I think."
Panther's head list to the side nervously. "Is it really okay to just take it?"
"If it helps us, I say we take it." Joker shrugged.
"Nothin' shitty better happen when you take it," said Skull. "Like some trap goin' off, or we all end up cursed."
"Wait, why am I the one taking it?"
"Because you're closest," piped Panther.
Instantly, Joker half-turned to find neither Skull, Panther, nor Mona standing at her side. She whirled around to find the trio by the door. "Hey!"
"We're right behind you!"
"Yeah, behind," snarked Joker.
Exhaling, she approached the plant. She could see a thin bit of green growing out from the head of the Seed. Pursing her lips, Joker placed her hand under the Will Seed and gently yanked. It was about the size of a potato, but it had a consistency that reminded her of ginger.
"So, I guess… nothing's happened?" Skull noted as Joker pocketed the Will Seed.
"There are more of these around the Palace somewhere," Mona said, swaying happily. "As far as I can tell, there should be two more left."
"Huh? How can you tell? You smell 'em or somethin'?"
"Yeah, like how dogs can," Panther began before she cut herself off. "Oh, but you're a cat…"
"Not a cat!" snapped Mona.
"Well," Joker breathed out. "If there's nothing else here, we should get moving."
"Yeah." Skull stretched his arms up. "I don't think we have much farther to go."
As the teens walked off, Mona fell behind, glaring at the floor. "I just seem like a cat," he grumbled.
After the group swung their way back to the head of the stairs, they headed beyond the double doors. "Hey," Skull said, pointing to the tower, "take a look at that!"
"That matches up with the map," said Mona. "So it looks like that's where we're headed for."
"Sweet!" Panther pumped a fist. "So we're almost there!"
"Yeah, but we're not fully out of the woods, yet," Joker muttered, pointing at a particularly large guard in front of the only door in sight.
"Guess it would make sense that security's ramped up here," said Mona. "We'll have to sneak around them."
"You mean, on the roof?" squeaked Panther.
"Can you see any other way?" asked Joker.
Despite Panther's initial protest, she did not say much as Joker lead the way up. They jumped onto a rooftop, leaped from parapet to parapet until they found an open window. After going through it, Mona sensed another Will Seed and lead the way, through a vent and outside the castle. The second Will Seed looked identical to its fellow, but with a green orb in its mouth.
Traveling back to the window they entered they followed a hall littered with porcelain figures in feminine shapes jutting their breasts out to the world. The hall lead them to an elevator that had similar décor as the hall, only with butts involved. When all four of them were on board, Joker pulled the lever, which brought them straight down.
Straight ahead was a hall, with a giant portrait of Kamoshida at the end. When the group approached it, Joker tilted her head to the side. Why did every portrait in this castle look like it came straight out of a trashy manga?
"I don't get it, why would this…" Panther gestured at the portrait with her hand, "be at a dead end?"
Joker's eyes furrowed from behind her mask, the longer she stared at the painting, the more she began to see blue. The last time that happened was when Joker spotted footprints on the floor invisible to the naked eye. Licking her lips, Joker approached the painting. Then dug her fingers under the frame and tugged at it. The portrait swung open, revealing a large wooden door on the other side of a small corridor. Joker climbed into the corridor, vaguely aware of the others watching her, and pushed the door open.
The first thing she saw was a black and white tiled floor and a hanging chandelier. "Hey, this looks familiar," Skull said, climbing in after Joker.
"It's the entrance hall!" snapped Mona. "Have you already forgotten?!"
"I didn't realize we would end up here," murmured Panther.
"I don't get how we ended up here," Joker said fiddling with a lock of hair.
"Hey, on the bright side, those soldiers are gone," said Skull. "And we have a shortcut to the treasure now."
Not a bad observation there, Skull," Mona said as Joker pulled the foyer portrait closed. "Guess a broken clock is right two times a day."
Skull let out a scowl before he rolled his eyes. The group backtracked to the elevator and moved the lever further down. They were brought to a small prison, with cages hanging in front of a roaring waterfall. Mona instantly hopped off the elevator and lead the group to a set of doors with vines growing over it.
The Will Seed this time was blue; as Joker dropped it into her pocket the seeds began to glow. She took them into her hands, just as they started vibrating. In a flash of red, green, and blue the Will Seeds seemed to have merged. The backs of their heads melding together. The Seeds had taken on a more metal feel over the previous ginger-like consistency. A single, crystal blue orb could be seen at the center of the skulls between the eye and mouth holes.
"Whoa!" Skull gasped taking a step back. "What the hell was that?! It got all… I don't even know how to describe it…" Shaking his head, he glanced back down at Mona. "C'mon, Mona! You never told us what these Will Seeds'll do!"
"Hey! I never expected tha-" Mona paused, realizing what he was about to say. "I mean, I never expected anything less than that to happen!"
"Nice save," snarked Joker.
The cat-creature chuckled weakly. "What really matters is the power I'm sensing from it. Maybe it could give us an upper hand somehow in the future?"
"Wait." Panther held her hands up. "So we're just… taking it? I'm not totally sure that's a great idea…"
"A phantom thief makes use of any available tool to accomplish a mission. Who knows what we'll find next? If we find ourselves in a situation where this could be useful, let's see what it can do!"
"So you really don't know what it does, do you?" asked Joker.
"We could stand around arguing semantics, or we could continue looking for the Treasure," Mona said, heading back to the elevator.
They went back up, where they found another door. On the other side tiles of the floor were either rising or falling. A guard made its rounds in the middle of the room, missing the thieves as they hid behind the corner. Joker brought a finger to her lips, silencing everyone before she broke out into a cartwheel. She wheeled herself around twice before she maneuvered herself into a full flip. Joker flipped twice before she landed on the Shadow's shoulders. She dug her fingers under the guard's mask and successfully tore it off. As the Shadow convulsed Joker backflipped back to the group, who were each gearing for the upcoming fight.
The guard took the shape of a couple of Succubi. "Now's our chance to strike!" Mona shouted, readying his slingshot. Three pelts fire at the Succubus closest to him. In unison, two separate bangs of a gunshot could be heard at Joker's right, Skull and Panther had gotten their gun's out and were shooting at the Succubus closest to them, not allowing it to counter-attack.
Joker could still hear the shots echoing across the room after the Succubi were gone, it sent a chill down her spine. The ringing only settled down when the group found a safe room. Mona made a brief survey amongst the group, asking if anyone needed any meds, or if they wanted to push forward. Despite the bouts of fatigue amongst them, they just knew they were so close to the Treasure. If they could just push on a little further, just a little longer…
Leaving the safe room, unanimously agreed upon to push on a little more, they found a flight of stairs decorated with red carpeting. They traveled up for several moments until they came across even ground. Their only path was straight through a hall with giant blades swinging like pendulums.
There was, however, a large bust of Kamoshida outside of the hall. By simply pulling the mouth down they were able to stop the pendulums, allowing them to cross over safely. Another flight of stairs later, they were lead to a distorted hall with a guard captain guarding the flight of stairs.
"This majestic tower penetrating the sky represents the admirable King Kamoshida's most sacred place," the guard said upon spotting the group. "It is no place for children like yourselves! Prepare for your punishment!"
"What kind of selfish reasoning is that?!" Panther snapped, using her hands to talk with her. "The only one who needs to be punished is-"
The guard reshaped before Panther could finish. She shrieked at the sight of the Shadow; a sickly blue-green blob with a gaping maw and a head that would give Sigmund Freud a field day. A chill ran down Joker's spine, she couldn't shake the feeling that it was eyeing her and Panther.
With that nagging at the back of her head, Joker had Arsene send out an Eiha, which only did little damage. None of their Persona's abilities did much damage against the Shadow. Not helped by the fact that it had it out for Joker and Panther. Mona became the designated healer while the remaining three bombarded the Shadow with physical attacks.
"So…" Skull dragged out the word as the Shadow disappeared. He was a little flushed under his mask, and he rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding eye contact with the girls. "Was I seein' things or did that thing look like a-"
"Skull, I assure you, we all saw it," Joker said dully, "and I'm pretty sure we can't unsee it."
Panther's shoulders shook. She was pretty sure she found her nightmares for the next few weeks.
The flight of stairs lead the group to yet another hall. However, there was a large set of double doors. It was locked, however, and deemed by Mona to be too advanced for Joker. He did find them a way onto the balcony by using the odd bust of a headless woman showing off her bust and ass to climb up.
From the balcony, they found Kamoshida, seated on a rather plain and dinky-looking throne, despite the rose petals that littered the floor and more perverse architecture. The throne was placed directly in front of a flight of carpeted stairs that lead to a set of double doors. Soldier's littered the room, their common looks did not bring the four any comfort due to the numbers.
"How have you not captured the intruders yet?!" barked the Shadow Kamoshida.
"I apologize, my liege!" shouted one of the soldiers.
Joker hummed briefly. "Looks like the high and mighty king is getting scared."
"I bet he'd never imagine we'd be in the same room as him," quipped Mona cheekily.
The balcony, thankfully, lead to the doors. Opening them the four found themselves in a small hallway that lead to another set of double doors. Wooden and sturdy; there was definitely something hiding behind it.
Beyond the doors, they were instantly met with piles of gold coins, golden items, and colored jewels. Large gold chalices were filled with coins, overflowing with them. Open barrels overflowed with coins and precious jewels, there was so much it was a blessing the sun didn't shine in this world. The group would undoubtedly be blinded by the light alone. "Holy shit, man!" Skull said excitedly. "That Treasure thing's gotta be in here, right?!"
They scanned the room, taking in the sheer number of it all. "Hey, what's that thing?" Panther asked, gesturing to something in the center of the room.
Something floated, with no distinct shape, but still had a gentle glow to it. Grinning in a way that would make the Cheshire Cat jealous, Mona climbed onto an oversized chalice to look the others in the eye. "That's the Treasure," he announced. "We finally found it!"
"This thing?" Joker questioned, pointing at the cloud.
"Just hold on a second. I was planning on telling you more once we made it this far. Simply finding the Treasure isn't enough. We'll need to make it materialize before we can steal it."
Skull leaned against the giant chalice. "Whaddya mean?"
"Desires have no physical form by nature," explained Mona. "Hence, we'll first need to make the real person aware that their desires are in fact a Treasure. Once they're conscious that their desires might be stolen, the Treasure will finally show itself."
"And how do we do that?" asked Panther.
"We warn them. Tell them, 'We're going to steal your heart.'"
"So we're gonna send a calling card?!" Skull exclaimed, his tone a mixture of disbelief and euphoria. "That's totally what a phantom thief would do!"
"Once we do that, the Treasure will appear for certain! …I think."
"Meaning you don't know for certain," Joker said with a sigh. "Of course."
"Either way, sounds like it's worth givin' it a shot," said Skull.
"You are just loving this, aren't you?"
"Our infiltration route is secure," announced Mona. "All that's left now is to pump out a calling card, in reality, then come back to take the Treasure!"
"So, this is it, then?" Panther clasped her hands behind her back.
"Looks like it." Joker looked up at the Treasure. "Let's do this!"
Mona nodded approvingly, "That's the spirit! Once we send out the calling card, there will be no turning back. Let's rest up and be sure we're ready before we send out the calling card."
It was a struggle for Chiyo to keep herself from collapsing onto the floor like a puppet with its strings cut. Her legs and feet were begging for a release, her stomach wouldn't stop growling and her throat was parched.
Somehow, Chiyo forced herself into a convenience store, bought herself and Morgana sushi to split, and a bottle of white peach flavored water. The peach water was more or less a treat for herself; it was her favorite flavor of water and it had been weeks since Chiyo had some. So she drank it greedily.
"I'm exhausted," Morgana moaned as Chiyo stood outside of Leblanc.
"You're exhausted?" Chiyo challenged. "I'm the one carrying you home."
Chiyo shuffled into the café, knocking her glasses askew when she reached to rub her eye. "School kicking your butt or something?" Sojiro asked as Chiyo put her glasses back into place.
"Something like that," Chiyo murmured, walking past him.
Upstairs Chiyo and Morgana silently dined on convenience store sushi. When done, Chiyo wrote a new entry in her diary. More embellishes and half-truths; she went to school and hung out with friends. It wasn't necessarily a lie, that's technically what happened.
When she finished, Sojiro had closed up the shop, so Chiyo headed downstairs to the bathroom to change. Returning, Morgana had already dozed off. Chiyo followed suit after she plugged her phone into its charger and placed her glasses in their case. She was out shortly after her head hit the pillow.
Authors Note: Oof. I can tell writing for Palaces are going to be trial and error.
Royal's inclusion of the grappling hook ended up being unintentionally funny with the other Phantom Thieves just randomly teleporting to Akiren's side. Were we supposed to assume the others had one too or that Akiren was just swinging back and forth to bring everyone with him? Well, I went with the former.