Chapter Fourteen
Viva la Revolution
Thursday, April 21st
As she went to bed that night, Chiyo turned on her star light and left it on, not caring if the battery died sooner rather than later. Morgana laid on his back, his head going around and around for a few minutes before he shook himself out of his trance.
Come morning, the only thing Chiyo said to Sojiro was that she was working again that night. If he had anything to say to her about last night, Chiyo sincerely doubted he would risk saying it when a customer could walk in at any time. She knew there was going to be a talk in the future, for better or worse. But Chiyo wanted to put it off for as long as possible.
She tried to seem together during class, the only interruption being from Ryuji IMing the girls about the calling card. Ann instantly agreed, though Chiyo just found herself staring at her phone for a few minutes. She imagined how gratifying it would be to take out her frustrations on Shadows in the castle. Or better, beating the shit out of the Shadow Kamoshida; do what she wished she could do when the real one made his ultimatum.
However, as Chiyo sent back her agreement to meet up, she found herself feeling rather concerned. Here she was, reveling in the idea of taking her frustrations out on Shadows… Replace 'Shadow' with 'human' and was it all that different from Kamoshida and the volleyball team?
It was raining by the time school let out, the group took shelter where they could find it on the roof… which was right by the door. They stood, slightly cramped together to fit all of them under what little roof there was. Morgana, unsurprisingly, had the easiest time of the lot. "All right," he declared, "all that's left now is to send out the calling card and take Kamoshida's heart!"
"Couldn't we have just sent one at the beginnin' of all this, though?" asked Ryuji.
"It's not that simple. A Treasure won't stay materialized forever. Once the impression is gone, the Treasure will disappear. I think it'll last around a day, at most."
"The hell?" whined Ryuji. "That's like no time at all…"
"But that's likely why we needed the infiltration route in the first place," Chiyo pointed out. "We already have that taken care of and out of the way, so we don't need to worry about wasting time finding the Treasure."
"Emm… I guess that makes sense." Ann crossed her arms over her chest, accidentally elbowing Ryuji and Chiyo in the process. "So, we're sending the calling card in the morning, then we'll carry out the plan by the end of the day, right?"
Morgana sat back to scratch the back of his head. "Correct. We only have one shot at this. Are you worried?"
Ann shook her head, causing her pigtails to flounce. "I've waited far too long for this. We're going to pull this off, no matter what!"
"So, how are we doing this exactly?" inquired Chiyo. "As of right now, we have no calling card nor a way to be sure Kamoshida sees it."
Immediately, Ryuji's hand shot into the air as though they were in class. "Oooh, leave it to me!"
"Why?" Ann asked plainly.
"Uh, why wouldn't it be me?!"
"This is important," Ann stressed. "Are you sure you can even handle the pressure?"
"I have to agree," piped Morgana.
"I really wanna get him good!" Ryuji said with a slight whine in his tone. He turned his attention to Chiyo, suddenly clasping his hands together in a prayer-like gesture. "C'mon, Chiyo, please! Lemme write it!"
She couldn't help but give Ryuji a lopsided grin. If nothing else, Ryuji made it sound like he already had an idea for the card. "I don't see anyone else offering to do it." Almost immediately, Ann and Morgana gave Chiyo matching droll looks, as though they trying to ask her to do it. "Don't look at me, I assure you any skills I'd need for this are kinda shit. I don't see why Ryuji shouldn't do it."
"A'right!" Ryuji's voice cracked in his excitement.
"Are you sure about this?" Ann asked, eyeing Ryuji. "If they find out our identities, all this work will be for nothing…"
He waved it off. "I know, I know!"
"All right, then!" Morgana said, an excited gleam in his eye. "Tomorrow it is!"
Pursing her lips, Chiyo pulled her phone out and checked the time. "Sorry to cut this short," she said, "but I need to get going. Got a shift at work."
She left Morgana outside of Triple Seven so he wouldn't be stuck in her bag for another few hours. And so he wouldn't risk being discovered and get Chiyo fired. She talked with Shibuya when she could, finding out the girl was a third-year student at a Catholic school.
Chiyo's heart nearly leaped out of her chest when she spotted Morgana watching them from the window by the registers. True, it was better than keeping him in her bag, but what if someone gets suspicious or annoyed and tried to chase him away?
At the end of her shift, Morgana instructed Chiyo to check out the nearest hobby store for a cheap notebook and pen. "You're just going to have me write something, aren't you?" Chiyo asked loud enough for Morgana to hear.
"You have moments of intense emotions. This is a healthier way of getting them out. Or at least one of them. It's not like I'm going to ask you to just stick with this."
Chiyo's cheeks puffed up, she was touched that Morgana was trying to help her. But at the same time, it was taking a bit out of her wallet. At least they were cheap.
When she returned to Leblanc, Chiyo kept her eyes on the floor until she was in her room. She did not relax until she heard Sojiro close up for the night. "Y'know, you have to talk to him sooner or later," said Morgana.
"I'd rather later," Chiyo said before she disappeared downstairs. Though Morgana was right, of course he was, but Chiyo was not in the mood to be told about how wrong she was for feeling the way she did.
In her PJ's Chiyo sat in front of the diary, the entry today being more truthful than previous entries had ever been; all Chiyo needed to do was omit the schemes she was getting up to with Ann and Ryuji. It was easier to do than the days they went to the castle, fewer things she needed to make up. Chiyo had just finished the day's entry when her phone started to ping.
Ryuji: Man, there's so much I wanna write on the calling card. It's kinda tough figuring out what to say.
Ann: Are you sure you're really capable of this?!
Ryuji: Don't worry, I got it. I even made a logo for us.
Chiyo: Ooh, really?
Ryuji: Yup. You'll get to see it tomorrow.
Ann: Well that's worrying…
Ryuji: Anyways, you guys should rest up.
Ryuji: If we screw up tomorrow, we're totally done for.
Chiyo pursed her lips at the thought. What were they going to do if this failed? If this did not work she would seriously consider Kamoshida's offer. But the more logical side of Chiyo told her he would just expel them anyway. Especially now, nearly a week after he made the ultimatum. Chiyo could picture it; laying in a love hotel thinking of… England? (Sure, why not?) While Kamoshida casually let it drop that he was still going to expel them because she made him wait too long. Even if it never came to that, he would certainly look for any old excuse to expel them later. At the end of the day, it was a no-win situation.
Though Chiyo was amused by the thought of Kamoshida's disappointment when he realized she had no idea what she was doing when it came to sex. Then that amusement became a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach when she realized that the fetishization of a girl's virginity and when she lost it was a thing.
Chiyo: We'll be fine.
Ann: Yeah…
Ann: Yeah, of course.
Ryuji: Just remember, we can't trust any shitty adults.
Ryuji: That's why we gotta do this ourselves.
Ryuji: Anyways, let's pull this off and surprise everyone!
Friday, April 22nd
Chiyo left Leblanc before Sojiro could try and say anything to her again. At school, she spotted a crowd of students whispering in front of the message boards. Chiyo pushed herself through the crowd to get a better look. They were all littered with red cards with a message printed on them.
'Sir Suguru Kamoshida, the Utter Bastard of Lust,
We know how shitty you are, and that you put your twisted desires on students that can't fight back. That's why we have decided to steal away those desires and make you confess your sins. This will be done tomorrow, so we hope you will be ready.
From,
The Phantom Thieves of Heart'
The message looked like it was originally pieced together from newspaper clippings before it was scanned and reprinted onto the cards. And the logo looked like the doodle from a kid trying to create their own manga. "I knew it was a bad idea to let that idiot make the card!" Morgana hissed from Chiyo's bag.
Chiyo swayed, shaking her bag in the process. She scanned the crowd to find Ryuji alone in the hall. "So, what'd ya think?" Ryuji asked as Chiyo walked up to him.
"It… should get the point across," Chiyo said noncommittally with a shrug.
"I looked up a bunch of similar stuff online for reference."
"Yeah…" Chiyo heard from behind her. She half-turned to find Ann standing behind her. "I know what you wanted to say, but it sounded like an idiot trying to be an adult."
"Your logo's a little lacking, too," added Morgana.
"Okay, y'know what?" Ryuji said getting on the defense. "That ain't true!"
"A calling card?"
"I heard it was already posted by the time everyone got here this morning."
"Did Kamoshida-sensei do something wrong?"
"Does this mean the rumors are true?!"
"Wait a sec… Is someone gonna take something from Kamoshida-sensei?"
"What's with this weird logo?"
"And who're these Phantom Thieves of Heart people?"
"It got everyone excited," Ryuji said, shifting his weight from one leg to the other. "So it's all good, yeah?"
"Who's responsible for this?!"
The three turned their attention towards the message board to find Kamoshida turning ire on the students, startling those closest to him.
"Look at that," Morgana purred. "A predictable reaction for someone who knows what we mean by distorted desires."
"I think it's hittin' him pretty hard," said Ryuji.
"Did you do this?!" Kamoshida shouted, getting into the face of a first-year before turning to another student. "Or was it you?!"
The student's immediately scattered, leaving their enraged PE teacher on his own. Chiyo kept her face neutral as Kamoshida approached them with daggers in his eyes. "Was it you two?!"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Chiyo said plainly.
"Don't play dumb with me," Kamoshida growled, marching past Ann and up to Chiyo. Ryuji was about to say something, but Chiyo held a hand up to the side, signaling him to stay out. "Keep being a shit like this, and I might go back on my kind offer."
"Somehow, I think I can live with that."
Kamoshida's brow twitch, she could almost make out the question running through his head. 'Why does this little hussy have standards now?' "Fine! It's not a problem. You'll be expelled soon enough anyway."
A familiar sensation came over Chiyo. The school seemed to disappear around the three. Kamoshida's real-world-self morphed into the Shadow Kamoshida. The Shadow glared down at Chiyo with a clear murderous intent. "Come," he challenged. "Steal it if you can!"
Chiyo's expression fell into one of questioning. Was this supposed to happen?
Kamoshida and the school returned back to themselves. The gym teacher looked down at Chiyo with a knowing sneer before he walked off.
Morgana poked his head out from Chiyo's bag when it was safe. "Judging from Kamoshida's response, I'm sure we had an effect on his Palace!"
"Does that mean the Treasure appeared?" Ann asked in a hushed tone. "We'll be able to get it today, right?"
"It's not just 'today.' It's only today. The impact of seeing a calling card doesn't last long, and it cannot be repeated. This will be our one chance to steal the Treasure."
"One day's more than enough for us," Ryuji said confidently.
They met up again in the alley across the street. Chiyo allowed Morgana out of her bag before Ann got the Metaverse Nav out. Outside the Palace, Joker spotted Henry waiting outside the blue cell door. Mulling over it for a few moments, Joker decided to pay a visit to the Velvet Room. She fused Succubus and Pixie to create a Persona called Cait Sith, then Silky and Kelpie to make Andras.
The journey to the treasure room was a breeze compared to the first time around. Skull even voiced how odd this was. Mona chalked it up to the castle simply being undermanned.
In the Treasure room, the cloudy light was replaced with a massive crown. Golden and jeweled with plush, red velvet lining. And about the size of a golf cart. "Aw yeah!" Mona shouted in delight. He started jumping up and down repeatedly. "It really did appear!"
"Man, it's huge!" Skull said thunderstruck.
"What do you think?! It's just as I said! Now we can steal it! Ahh…" Mona started withering in place. "This brings tears to my eyes…"
Crossing her arms over her chest, Panther tilted to the side slightly. "It kinda pisses me off. Why's it so pretty?" She uncoiled one arm and gestured to the crown. "Isn't this Kamoshida's desires?"
"T-Treasure…!" Mona mewled, oblivious to Panther's words.
Eyeing Mona, Skull leaned to the left and whispered to Joker, "The cat's actin' awfully excited."
"Mona, what's wrong?" Panther asked, taking a step towards him. "Is something-"
Without warning Mona leaped up and launched himself onto the crown, nuzzling his face into one of the jewel-encrusted tiers. His purring was audible to the three humans, while he made sounds befitting a cat. Joker's head tilted to the side, eyeing Mona with wide eyes. "Mona, I promise you that's not catnip…" she said.
Ignoring Joker, Mona continued to lovingly nuzzle his head against the gold. "This is starting to get uncomfortable…" Panther said flatly.
Skull marched up to the crown, through the golden coins surrounding it. "All right, that's enough, you stupid cat!" he said, yanking Mona off.
Still, in Skull's hands, Mona's eyes contracted, likely realizing how he just behaved. He squirmed in Skull's hands, forcing the boy to drop him. Cat-like, Mona landed upright and started to nervously rub the back of his round head. "Um… yeah…" Mona said looking at the coin-littered floor. "Forgive me for displaying such an insolent sight in front of a couple of ladies…"
Joker's brow rose and lips pursed. Oh, she was considered a lady now by Mona's standards? If that wasn't a first; maybe she could start laying golden eggs now…
"You were completely out of character too," Panther pointed out. "What was that about?"
"I couldn't stop it either…" He paused a moment to shake his head in a very cat-like fashion. "To think I'd be drawn to human desires this much…" Chest puffing, he smiled boldly. "Doesn't that prove that I'm human?!"
"How should we know?!" Skull asked, his voice cracking slightly.
"A-Anyway…" Mona said clearly looking to change the subject. "You guys need to carry it!"
Groaning, Skull approached the base of the crown. "All you do is bark orders…" He brightened up quickly though. "Still, that was easier than I thought! I thought for sure there'd be some insane trap or something."
Panther approached the base of the crown with Skull. "The Palace will disappear if we take this back, right? And Kamoshida will change too…"
"That should be the case," Mona said as the three students grabbed a hold of the crown.
They stood in a triangle-shape with Panther at the head. "It's heavy…" she groaned under the weight.
"To think it'd go so well," Mona said to himself excitedly. "I've even found three Persona users in the process… My judgment was correct. I made the right choice in making a deal with you!"
Placing the back of his paw to the side of his mouth, Mona let out a haughty laugh. "That's great Mona…" Joker said, straining under the weight. "But can you save all that once we're out of here?"
"Yeah, get a move on before we drop it on you!" snapped Skull. "Make yourself useful and open the door!"
The three found a rhythm of sorts they fell into as they carried the crown out. The struggle was getting downstairs with Skull walking backward. Mona was able to let him know how many more steps they had until they came to even floor.
It felt like they had just walked past the throne when they heard someone chanting, "Go go! Let's go! Ka-mo-shi-da!"
A sudden, spiked, volleyball zipped through the air, slamming into the crown. It fell out of the three's collective hands, much to their surprise and dismay. Before any of them could react, the Shadow Kamoshida, rather gracefully, sailed overhead and landed in front of this throne. He caught the crown effortlessly as it shrunk in size.
The cognitive Ann flounced up to the Shadow Kamoshida, throwing herself over him. "I won't let anyone take this!" Kamoshida announced, lightly tossing the crown in his free hand. "This proves that I am the king of this castle – it is the core of this world!"
"That rat bastard," Panther cursed under her breath. She clenched her hands into fists as she glared daggers at her cognitive self. "That's how he sees me, isn't it?!"
"Yo, pervert," Skull said in a mock greeting. "Were you waitin' to ambush us?"
"Please," said a new voice, "our king has no need."
Joker half turned towards the entrance door, her jaw fell open. Walking past them with swaying hips was a girl with powder grey hair that fell over her shoulders in layers. She lacked the thick-framed glasses and hair scarf the person she was based on wore.
'What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck?!'
The cognitive Chiyo wore a black lacy bra and matching panties. She had on a pair of black heeled boots that went just past the knee; her arms donned a set of black opera gloves. The red bondage rope harness she wore webbed across her upper body and torso, it accentuated her breast and, of course, was secured around her waist… between her legs… There was a bit of black makeup around her eyes, smoky, highlighting her pale eyes and a red devil horn headband sat atop the crown of her head.
Joker watched as her cognitive self sashayed up to Kamoshida. "Have you met my newest princess?" the Shadow Kamoshida asked as the cognitive Chiyo draped herself over him. "She's a bit more… bolder than my Ann-chan. Haven't had the chance to give her a go yet, but I hear she's quite the expert in bed."
"It's quite the honor to be chosen by King Kamoshida," the cognitive Chiyo said, nuzzling her head against Kamoshida's shoulder. "My pussy's getting wet just thinking of it."
"I'm calling dibs, I get to kill that thing," Joker said dully through a reddened face.
"You idiots were the ones who thought they could just walk away with my crown," Kamoshida said darkly. "I'll dispose of you myself, right here, right now!"
"That's our line, you sexually harassin' douchebag!" snapped Skull.
Kamoshida shook his head. "What a selfish misunderstanding."
"How is it a misunderstanding?!" shouted Panther. "You were doing things that you kept secret from others!"
"The people around me were the ones who kept it secret. Adults who want to share in my accomplishments, students who have the drive to become winners… They willingly protect me so that we may all profit from it."
"Profit?!" Skull echoed.
"There are too many imbeciles who don't understand that! Including naïve brats like you and that girl who tried to kill herself!"
"True," Panther mumbled through half-laden eyes. "She's a total idiot. Letting you manipulate her, trying to commit suicide…" She shook her head, giving Kamoshida a deadly glare. "And I'm the bigger dumbass for not realizing that! But no matter what kind of fool someone might be they don't need your permission to live their lives!"
"Drop the attitude, you mediocre peasant!" snapped Kamoshida. "There's no wrong in using my gifts for my gain! I'm a cut above all other humans!"
Joker crossed her arms over her chest. "I guess you would think that after getting away with your shit for so long," she said with a sigh. "You seem to forget that history shows us plenty of kings who were deposed and executed during revolutions. Louis XVI, Nikolai II." She uncoiled one arm and pointed a finger straight at Kamoshida. "Now it's your turn!"
"But you forget something," Kamoshida said, his shoulder's steadily shaking as he started to chuckle. "I'm not just a mortal man like history's fools." He wrapped an arm around the cognitive Ann and Chiyo as black ooze started to surround the three. "I am a demon who rules this world!"
The black substance consumed the three, morphing them into one. Slowly the ooze started to recede, revealing a large pink creature with four arms, a gaping maw, and ram horns coming out of its curly hair. "Wh-What the hell…?" Skull forced out as the creature started to slobber across the floor.
The creature bore a bit of a resemblance to Kamoshida. It had his curly locks and strong jaw; it wore his cape and massive crown atop his head. However his skin was a bubblegum pink; he had four arms, each carrying something in his grubby hands. His long, long tongue lulled lazily out of his jagged maw.
In his hands, he carried a golden knife and fork, a wine glass in another, and a long baton in the other. The wine glass carried the cognition of Ann, still as the dead, bobbing in the wine like a regular ice cube. In front of him sat a golden chalice with the blue-grey legs of naked women sticking out of the rim. Dwarfish dolls in metal masks stood on either side of the demon, chained down to a golden ball.
"I'm allowed to do whatever the fuck I want!" Asmodeus shouted, his voice warbling in his new form. "You goddamn, no-good, shitty brats! Haven't you been taught not to point at people?!"
"Just when that person is someone worth respecting," Joker said, taking her ribbon out at the ready and reached up for her mask. "Cait Sith!"
A small blue-black cat wearing a red hat, red cape, and red boots with spurs appeared. He had on a belt around its waist and carried a sword in one paw. It kind of reminded Joker of Mona in a lot of ways. It attacked Asmodeus with a Cleve attack, cutting into it with its sword.
Skull followed Joker's lead by summoning Captain Kidd and sent out a Zio attack. Panther, however, jumped straight into the physical attacks. She got as close to Asmodeus as she dared and struck him several times with her whip. Joker imagined it must have been fairly cathartic for her.
Asmodeus gestured to the group with his knife, his volleyball players readied themselves as volleyballs fell from the upper parapets. The chained players spiked the balls back towards the group of phantom thieves. "Watch out!" shouted Mona.
Each one of them had a different method of dodging; Skull's was simply to dive out of the way every time a ball came flying towards his face. Panther crouched down, covered her head with her arms, and looked far too terrified to even look up. Joker did a set of one-handed cartwheels to the side. When she landed upright, she tossed her ribbon into the air and performed a series of chaînés towards Asmodeus. As close as Joker dared, she caught her ribbon in one hand, she lifted her back leg up she needled, her wrist moving in small, fast circles, swording the ribbon all the while. Ready for the attack, Joker circled her arm forward, generating energy that struck Asmodeus, once, twice, thrice she felt a sudden weight on her shoulders and saw a blur of black and white fur in the corner of her vision. She turned her head to find Mona, having used Joker to gain a bit of height, pull back on his slingshot and fired three pelts at Asmodeus' face.
"I need healin'!" Asmodeus declared. He poked his fork into the gold chalice, taking hold of one of the legs, and ate it. "Come at me, you pieces of shit! I ain't lettin' you sleep tonight!
"Did he just heal himself?!" Mona shouted.
"It's gotta be because of those thing's inside the trophy," said Skull.
Without warning, Asmodeus signaled his slaves and another wave of volleyballs fell upon them.
Joker ended up taking a ball to the side of the head. She lost balance, falling to her knee in her attempt to catch herself. She palmed the side of her temple in an attempt to ease the sting. "Then we need to cut his source off," said Joker.
"I'll get this!" Skull shouted, sprinting towards the trophy.
Skull pulled his arm back before whacking the trophy three times with his rod as hard as he could. "Hey!" Asmodeus shouted, bringing his golden knife down. Panther shouted Skull's codename, warning him to dodge, thankfully, Skull leaped back safely. "You don't know what this is worth, so stop touching it!"
"Why should we?" Joker asked, readying her gun. "If you can't be bothered to treat your students with an iota of decency, why should we do the same for you?"
She fired another round of bullets at the trophy, successfully putting a dent in the metal. Asmodeus took a swig from his wine glass. The cognitive Ann ended up in his mouth before he spat her back in the glass to continue bobbing among the contents. Asmodeus turned his head to the side; mirroring the movement, his lengthy tongue smacked right into the group in one movement.
Joker straightened herself up, shuttering. God, the mouth was hands down the most unattractive part of the body. All the food that goes in, and can come out. What people bite on out of boredom, or to hold something for a few minutes. Which was to say nothing about how ugly and disgusting lips generally were. Unsanitary, ugly, Joker wondered why mouths were even a thing.
"We might need to take that out, too," Mona said in a low tone.
Panther removed her mask, having Carmen attack the trophy with Agi. The metal of the trophy turned an angry shade of red, the feminine legs hanging off the edge of the cup started kicking wildly. One more good attack and maybe…
Without much warning, the cognitive Chiyo appeared over Asmodeus's right shoulder. She posed, standing far stronger than the real Chiyo could hope to do in heels like those. In her hand, the cognition carried a leather riding crop which she tapped against the opposite hand.
"Naughty children need to be punished," the cognition said in a tone that made Joker's skin crawl. It was the kind of tone that was trying so hard to be sexy that it became grossly unsexy.
The cognition of Chiyo leaped off Asmodeus's shoulder, flipped through the air, and landed gracefully on her feet. Her right knee was bent low as she landed, her opposite leg outstretched to the side. Joker cringed slightly at the sight, concerned about the cognition's poor knees. Fluidly, the cognition rose to her feet and sprinted towards Skull.
She smacked Skull across the face with her riding crop, then chambered one leg to kick him in the crotch. Joker cringed as Skull's face went pale under his mask and he dropped to his knees. "I do not envy you right now," Mona said nonchalantly summoning Zorro.
Zorro swiped his rapier through the air and a gentle green glow of a Media surrounded Skull. The cognitive Chiyo clicked her tongue disapprovingly. "How are naughty children supposed to learn?" she asked wringing the riding crop between her hands. "You've all been bad, bad children."
"Ugh, just stop talking!" Panther shouted, drawing her arm back as she prepared for a physical attack.
She cracked the whip, striking the cognitive Chiyo hard enough that she dropped her crop in shock. But the cognition, instead of turning her attention to Panther, wrapped her arms around herself. Her face was flushed pink; her body shuttered as she moaned. 'For fucks sake!' Joker thought through a twitching eyebrow. What about her suggested she was even remotely masochistic?!
Joker tossed her ribbon into the air as she front flipped towards her cognitive-self. Standing upright, she drove her fist into the cognition's jaw, dribble slid down the corner of her mouth as she started to pant heavily. Twirling on the ball of one foot, Joker effortlessly caught the ribbon. Still pivoting, she sliced the red ribbon through the cognition. Her moans became louder, her head lulled back, her legs started to tremble. "YES!" the cognitive Chiyo cried out. "Harder daddy!"
A shot rang out abruptly, the cognition cried out in ecstasy as she fell onto her side. Joker turned her head just in time to see Skull, blushing something fierce under his mask, put his shotgun away. "Right, let's do this thing!" he shouted, getting his rod ready.
The four of them went in, bombarding the cognition with physical attacks. She paid them mind, her moans and cries made it clear she was enjoying this. Considering this doll was supposed to be her, each cry from her double just made Joker want to pick up a metal folding chair and wack it across the real Kamoshida's head. How did he even come to this conclusion?!
When they broke apart, Skull landed face-first onto the floor. Unperturbed, he managed to push himself effortlessly onto his feet and flashed the gang a 'rock on' hand gesture.
The cognition's eyes had snapped open, her eyes wide. She was singing a note as high as she could manage before she vanished in a puff of black miasma. "Bitch!" snapped Asmodeus. "I hadn't even had the chance to see what she's capable of!"
"Good!" snapped Panther. "Jeez…"
A bang echoed around the room as Joker glanced up to find Skull with his shotgun in hand again. She glanced back at Asmodeus to see the shattered remains of the trophy. Immediately, the thieves surrounded Asmodeus in a semicircle, their weapons were drawn as each lowered themselves into a defensive stance. "No way! This was from when I won the national! You think that you can get away with doing such a thing?!" demanded Asmodeus. "Do you realize who I am?! I am Kamoshida! Don't you idiots get it?!"
"So?" Joker asked plainly.
"Huh? Like I keep saying, I am Kamoshida! I'm the king!"
"So what?" Joker repeated. "What's your point? You're nothing special, just a has-been milking his glory days for all their worth. When you're dead no one's going to remember who Suguru Kamoshida even was. Just like every single person you put down."
"Jeez, we get so worked up over you in reality," said Skull, "but you're seriously lame right now."
"We came all this way to steal that crown of yours," announced Panther. "Will you just give it up and hand it over?"
"Silence you!" demanded Asmodeus. "I won't let the likes of you have this!"
"You still have the energy to say things like that?" Mona questioned. "Then we're going to up our game as well!"
The thieves went all out on Asmodeus after Mona's boast. Whips and daggers slashed into his skin. Skull's rod bashed into the side of his head; Mona's blade slashed at Asmodeus' ear. The four leaped back, away from the demon after the onslaught. Skull landed face-first onto the floor, but effortlessly pushed himself back onto his feet before flashing Asmodeus a devil horn sign and his cockiest grin.
"I'm the king!" Asmodeus shouted, his eyes rolling from side to side in his stupor. "If I'm not, then who is?!"
"Maybe we don't need a king?" Panther argued. "Did you ever think of that?"
"How dare you keep defying me?! Looks like I gotta bring out the big guns! Slaves! Bring over you-know-what!" The tiny slaves around Asmodeus' feet took off, dragging thick chains behind them. "Time for my killshot from when I was active and rockin' it! 'Killshot'… as in I'll make the kill!" After a few moments of waiting, Asmodeus got impatient. "What's the holdup? Where's my damn ball?!"
To the surprise of everyone, a shaggy-haired, downtrodden boy ran out of the shadows, carrying a volleyball in his hands. "I-I'm so sorry, King Kamoshida!" the cognitive Mishima whimpered, shaking at the knees. "I-I have it right here!"
"Too slow, Mishima!" barked Asmodeus. "Worthless chump!"
"M-Mishima?!" gasped Skull.
Panther took a step back. "Why's he here?"
"Calm down," said Mona. "That's only Kamoshida's cognitive version of him! It's not the real Mishima!"
Still, it didn't take a genius to see that Kamoshida saw the real Mishima as a whimpering ass-kisser. Joker called forth Arsene, attacking Asmodeus with an Eiha curse. Panther followed up with an Agi, further angering Asmodeus. "Mishima! Pass it to me! Don't tell me you can't even do something as simple as that!"
Without so much a word, the cognitive Mishima set the ball high enough for Asmodeus to spike. He aimed it straight at the phantom thieves with enough force that they nearly lost balance. "I knew it!" shouted Asmodeus. "I can't go all out with Mishima providing the backup! Hey, shit-for-brains! Get off my court!"
"Don't call him that, shithead!" Joker snapped as the cognition ran off with his tail between his legs.
"Am I supposed to care about what peasants think?" Asmodeus shot back. "I guess I suppose rats are like to rats. Next slave, get out here! Hurry up with my damn ball!"
A girl with her black hair done in a ponytail ran out onto the foyer. She wore a fuzzy white tube top and matching panties with a bunny tail on the backside. She had on a pair of fuzzy white cuffs on her writs, a white rabbit-ear headband with a pink and silver jeweled tiara, and a pair of pink pumps. "King Kamoshida~" the cognitive Suzui sang happily. "I've brought you your ball, just like you asked!"
'Holy shit!'
"Now there's a good girl, Suzui," crooned Asmodeus. He chuckled to himself. "Yeah, all women should obey my orders like this – ain't that right, sweetheart?"
"N-No way!" Panther's hands slowly traveled to her mouth. "What's Shiho doing here?!"
"Panther, calm down!" soothed Mona. "That's not the real one!"
The reassurance wasn't enough to ease the visible chill that traveled down Panther's spine. "Y-Yeah, you're right… But, this is just…"
'Fucked up,' Joker finished silently.
"Goddamnit, this is going too far!" hissed Skull. "Fucking piece of shit."
"Ah, I get it!" declared Asmodeus. "You want to see my killshot again, don't you?"
Joker's eyes gazed up at Asmodeus, he was acting like he was in his own little world. (His own little world, within his own little world?) Perhaps lost in the glory days of his youth. If he was so focused on his killshot, they might be able to attack and stop him. But on the other hand, taking out to cognitive Suzui would cut off his ball supply and prevent anymore killshots.
"We're gonna have to take out that fake Suzui," Joker said loud enough for the others to hear. "That cuts off the killshot."
She could hear Skull audibly gulp. "Doesn't affect the real Suzui," he said to himself. There was a tremble in his hand as he summoned Captain Kidd. The cognitive Suzui shrieked as electricity struck her.
"It's better this way," Panther said, calling forth Carmen. The cognition of Suzui shrieked when Carmen's Agi hit her, then she vanished in a black smog.
"Hmph, even Suzui was useless," Asmodeus said dismissively. "Looks like I'll have to give her some special instruction later… One-on-one!"
"Bastard," Panther seethed, placing her mask back on. "No matter what happens after this, I'll never forgive you!"
"We won't get anywhere with brute force," Mona said low enough for Joker and the others to hear.
Joker's eyes traveled to one of the rose-decorated pillars. From the looks of it, one could theoretically climb up it to the upper floor level. With the proper elevation and maneuvering…
As Asmodeus's tongue lulled from side to side, Joker scooped Mona into her arms and broke to the side, hiding behind the nearest pillar. She peered around the corner and spotted Panther shrieking as the tongue smacked into her and Skull countering with a Zio. Joker pointed to the pillar closest to Asmodeus. "Do you think you can climb up that?"
"Hm?" Mona took one look at the pillar, then nodded. "Of course I can."
"Then try to grab the crown while the rest of us have Kamoshida's attention."
"Ah, I see! I'm small enough, so he won't notice me climb up."
"And he might not have even acknowledged you because of it."
Breaking apart from behind the pillar, Mona bolted for the opposite side of the room, while Joker flipped her way back with the rest of the group. Landing upright on her feet, she summoned Andras. His wings unfurled as he released a Bufu attack upon Asmodeus. "How dare you keep defying me!" Asmodeus shouted. "Now listen up. This school exists because I'm around. You're the only ones who don't respect me, you know!"
"Is he trying to convince us of this… or himself?" Skull asked, reaching for his mask.
Joker shrugged half-heartedly. "I don't know anymore."
Removing his mask, Captain Kidd appeared behind Skull. A Zio attack shocked Asmodeus, causing him to jerk his head back. He readied his wine glass, tilting it back for another swig. With a sudden bang, the glass shattered spilling the red contents and the doll-like Ann onto the floor.
A grin pulled at Panther's lips, her gun weighing in her hands after she pulled the trigger.
"You're misunderstanding it all!" Asmodeus shouted desperately, sounding more and more like a child throwing a tantrum. "I haven't sexually harassed anyone! They came on to me because they wanted to get on my good side! Hey, weren't there four of you...?"
Mona had successfully climbed up on the perverse pillars, up to the banisters overhead. He stood up on the banister and threw himself at the crown. As soon as Mona hit the Treasure, it flew off Asmodeus' head, much to the demon's dismay. "My… my precious!" he cried, flailing all four of his arms.
"Good," Mona said happily, landing catlike on the floor. His scimitar slung over his shoulder. "Kamoshida's shaken up!"
The group surrounded Asmodeus, who sat with his head slumped over, dejected. "I think we can do this!" Panther said excitedly. They were so close she could almost taste the gold of the crown.
For all, it took to take out Asmodeus' cognition of Chiyo, remove his source of nutrition, his wine glass, and to remove his crown, the battle after that was rather anticlimactic. Kamoshida barely reacted when each thief used their Persona's, Joker using Arsene, against him. No snappy argument, no attempt to fight back.
Panther finished him off with an Agi from Carmen before the Shadow convulsed. The crown fell in front of the thieves, a far more reasonable size. The Shadow reshaped itself, once again bearing a closer resemblance to the real Kamoshida. He snatched the crown, holding it close to him as he fled towards the balcony doors.
He threw them open, but the balcony did not offer him an escape route. "What's wrong?" Panther asked coldly. "Can't run away? Nowhere else to go? Aren't you a great athlete? Shouldn't you be able to find another way?"
Enraged, Kamoshida whipped around. "It's always been like this!" he barked. "All those goddamn hyenas forcing their expectations on me! I'm doing this all for them! What's wrong with demanding a reward for that?!"
Joker crossed her arms over her chest, rolling her eyes. Where was the world's smallest violin so she could play the world's saddest song? "Now you're makin' excuses?" Skull muttered with a slight sneer. "We'll do something about that distorted heart of yours."
"Right now, you're seeing the same view that Shiho did," Panther said, her voice was as cold as ice and her face utterly passive. She approached Kamoshida in a steady stride. Kamoshida turned, perhaps in an attempt to find another way out. He was trembling, just barely able to keep his haughty expression. "I'm sure she was scared too… except she had no choice but to jump… What will you do? Will you jump? Or would you rather die here?"
Panther removed her mask, summoning Carmen. The Romani held her arms out at her sides, fire dancing in each palm. The sight was finally enough to completely send Kamoshida cowering. "Do you want to finish him off?" Mona asked, eyeing Panther. "It's your call."
"No, please wait!" Kamoshida whimpered, one arm out in an attempt to placate her. "I beg you… Just forgive me!"
"Shut up!" Panther snapped coldly. "I'll bet everyone told you the same thing. But you…" Her hands balled up, gripping the mask hanging at her side. "You took everything from them!"
Carmen through an Agi, hitting the side of the balcony door. Trembling, Kamoshida lowered himself. "I accept defeat," he said miserably. "You want this? Take it."
He tossed the crown towards Joker, who caught it with little problem. "Go ahead and finish me off…" Kamoshida said with a trembling voice. "You do that… and my real self will go down too… You have that right since you've won…"
Panther felt herself tremble. To the surprise of her teammates, she threw her free arm forward. Carmen, mimicking Panther's movements, threw the second Agi. Joker and Skull looked from Panther to the flying ball of fire headed towards Kamoshhida.
However, the Agi missed hitting the opposite side of the balcony door. Panther brought her mask back up to her face and eased it back on. "You're right. And we have every reason to take the real thing down," she said, removing her hand from her mask. "But if his mind shuts down, he can't admit his crimes."
"I've lost…" Kamoshida said morosely. "You're through when you lose… What am I – What am I supposed to do now?"
"Confess to everything you've done," Joker said plainly. "Everything. And do everything necessary to atone for it."
Slowly, Kamoshida nodded. "All right…" He lifted his head. All signs of the haughty king were gone, replaced with a pitiful shell of a man. A soft glow surrounded his person, growing the longer it stayed. "I will leave now and return to my real self… I'll make certain that I -"
He vanished before he could finish.
The group was not allowed the chance to talk or reflect on what happened when the castle started to shake something fierce. "Hey, just so you know," Mona said casually as he groomed himself, "we don't have time to waste. This place is about to collapse."
"You really couldn't have given us a warning before we made it this far?!" snapped Joker.
"Never mind that now, we gotta go!" Skull shouted.
They ran as fast as they could manage, only somewhat aware that the castle towers were starting to collapse. The glass in the windows started to crack and shatter, the walls trembled. Debris fell around the thieves, creating obstacles in their paths. "We're gonna die!" Panther shouted frantically. "We're so gonna die!"
"Don't look back!" Joker shouted, carrying the crown under her arm.
Panther felt something weight down on her shoulder, spotting a black and white cat in her peripheral vision. "What the-?!"
Ignoring Panther's confusion, Morgana leaped off her shoulder, onto Skull's. Then finally to Joker. "No fair, you jerk!" snapped Skull.
When Morgana, perched on Joker's shoulder like a bird, turned to give Skull a teasing 'meow,' Skull's instinct was to pick up his speed. To take it as a challenge. But a sudden jolt in his right leg caused his leg to freeze up. Fuck, why now? Even after all that fighting, it had to freeze like this? Or was it because of the fighting? Had he pushed his limits?
Skull's attempts to force himself to move through it only made his movements awkward, and painful. Despite his efforts, Skull fell to the floor, a hand clasped over his leg, silently cursing himself.
Hearing Skull's fall, Joker and Panther halted to a stop. "Ryuji!" Panther gasped, moving forward to help him.
Skull signed for her to stop with his free hand. "It's been a while, so I just tripped, is all!" he assured her.
Joker bit her lower lip, a part of her wanted to scold him for trying to brush it off like that. But anything else they had to say after that would have to wait. The infrastructure was beginning to crumble behind them, threatening to catch up with them. Skull pushed himself onto his feet and broke out into a run after the girls.
Refusing to look behind them, the three headed for the first sign of natural light and hoped it would lead them out of the castle.
The Magician Rank 2
Authors Note: The amount of things I had planned for the original version that just happened to end up in Royal just…astounds me. Kamoshida was always going to have a cognitive Chiyo helping him during the battle but I'd originally struggled to work it in organically. Between stepping away from it for a bit, the updated boss fights for Kamoshida and Okumura I had a bit of an 'Oh, duh!' moment.
I kind of went back and forth about Chiyo's reaction to her cognitive self, mostly because I was a little concerned that it came across as slut shaming, or kink shaming. But I think it's made pretty clear that Chiyo's issue is that Kamoshida just made assumptions about her. Plus there's the uncomfortable implications of the cognition's existence alone.