April 17th, 2022: Sunday

The Phantom Thieves had stumbled upon a lot of strange things in the metaverse. It was expected in this line of work. A talking cat. Their gym teacher wearing a speedo. A literal unicorn. Whatever Mara was.

Despite all that, seeing a young girl materialize out of a mysterious cube somehow took the cake.

Joker waved at Sophia. "Hello?"

She brightened. "Hello. I am Sophia. What is your name?"

"Joker."

"'Joker'." Sophia blinked and bounced on her heels. "Okay, I've memorized it. Nice to meet you, Joker."

"Nice to meet you, too…" Joker looked back at Skull and Mona and found them both still staring at Sophia with eyes wide and their jaws all but on the floor. "Uh, Sophia, do you-?"

"Question." Sophia pointed to Mona. "Why is there a raccoon here?"

"A rac-" Mona was shaken from his trance and shouted, "I'm not a raccoon! I'm a cat! I-I mean, no, I'm not a cat!"

Skull pressed his palm against his forehead and rubbed it. "Uh, Sophia, right? My name's Skull. Where did you-?"

"Hello, Skull," Sophia interrupted brightly.

"R-Right, yeah, um, Sophia. Where did you come from, exactly?"

"Were you dumped here by that Alice?" Mona asked.

She looked off into the distance for a split second before she said, "I just discovered that I have no memories. So I do not know."

Skull groaned. "Great. More amnesia."

Joker clapped his hands together. "Okay, group meeting."

The three Phantom Thieves turned and crouched into a huddle. Joker opened his mouth to speak when he saw Sophia had joined in next to Skull.

"Uh, not you, Sophia. Do you mind waiting over there for a minute?"

She nodded. "Okay, Joker. I will wait over there for a minute." She walked far enough away to no longer hear them and began to rock back and forth on her feet, waving her arms in a small circle.

Joker shook his head and looked down at Mona. He spoke in a low tone. "Okay. Mona. What?!"

"Don't look at me!" Mona cried out. "I don't know what she's doing here!"

"Aren't you like some big-shot expert on Metaverse shit?" Skull hissed. "Does that not cover weird-magical-girls appearing out of thin air?"

"She came out of a box," Joker pointed out.

"Right, because that makes it all crystal effin' clear."

"Whatever she is, I can confirm that she isn't a Shadow," Mona offered. "I don't even think she's a threat."

"She called herself 'humanity's companion'," Joker said.

Skull said, "Whatever she is, we still gotta get out of here. I don't want Makoto and Jin to think I ran out on them."

"Same with Tae," Joker agreed. "If we can't get out of this dump, we're going to have a big problem."

"In trouble?"

All three hardened Phantom Thieves jumped at the sound of a little girl's voice interrupting them. They turned and breathed a collective sigh of relief when they saw it was just Sophia.

"When did you-?" Skull began to ask, but Sophia interrupted him again.

"If you're in trouble, I can help," she stated. "I am humanity's companion. My purpose is to be helpful to humans."

She looked down at Mona.

"And cats."

Mona frowned but didn't argue. At this point, Joker supposed, it was the thought that counted. "So, you're willing to help us out?"

"That is correct. What is your problem?"

Joker turned to fully face Sophia and asked, "Can you get us out of here?"

"Hmm." Sophia looked off into the distance again. "Will reaching the surface solve your problem of 'getting out of here'?"

"Y-Yeah," He confirmed. "It would solve our problem."

"Okay, I've got it." She twirled around on her heel and smiled. "I will 'get us out of here'."

"You'll what?" Skull asked.

In answer, Sophia immediately burst into a sprint in the opposite direction, startling the three Phantom Thieves. Mona called out, "Wait, don't go alone! Joker, what should we do?"

"What else can we do?" Joker ran after her as fast as he could. "We follow her!"

"H-Hey, wait up," Skull called out, racing to catch up to him.

"Don't leave me behind!" Mona cried, chasing after them.

As they caught up to Sophia, he noticed an exit leading to a stairway. It would appear that Sophia was true to her word. She really did find a way out.

Unfortunately, she now found herself with three Shadow guards standing over her. It seemed he made the right decision to start chasing after her. She was defenseless down here.

She tilted her head up at the Shadow. "Are you humans as well?"

"Another intruder?" one of them asked, letting out a long-suffering sigh.

"Didn't we just deal with three of these assholes?"

The third guard pulled out a baton. "C'mon, let's make this quick. Break's coming up soon."

Before it could use the baton, a knife was lodged into its face. Black blood sprayed out and it screamed, filling up the area with its wails of pain. Before it could do anything else, Joker's boots planted themselves directly into the Shadow's forehead, sending it flying away.

Next to him, Skull held his lead pipe aloft and brought it down onto a Shadow's head. It exploded into a shower of black fluid as the body dissolved into smoke.

Mona leapt into the air and spun around as fast as he could, turning himself into a buzzsaw. He landed directly onto the final Shadow's chest, cutting clean through it. As the Shadow disappeared and Mona landed into a crouch, he looked down at the Shadow blood covering him.

"Yuck," he moaned. He shook off some of the fluid. "This isn't very becoming of a gentleman."

SKull made his way over to Moan and tiredly placed a hand atop his head. "Hey, probably not the time to worry about it. Looked cool, though."

"Did it?" Mona straightened his posture and crossed his arms. "I am pretty cool."

Joker limped over to Sophia and crouched in front of her. "You okay?"

"Mm-hmm. No problems here." She looked over as the last Shadow's body disappeared. "Why did they attack me? Assaulting someone without prompt is not acceptable behavior."

"How do I put this…?" Joker rubbed his beard, trying to phrase it as simply as possible. "Basically, those guys were Shadows. They're not nice. They go out of their way to attack anyone they don't think belongs. And we don't belong."

"Why don't you belong?" Sophia asked.

"Because…" Joker sighed. There was only one way to put this. "We're the Phantom Thieves. Rebels looking to take down the ruler of this place."

It was partly true. That is what they were once upon a time, but that had long since passed. Although Skull and Mona were more than willing to start up the group again, he was still struggling internally with the idea.

But trying to explain the intricacies of that situation to Sophia would only slow them down. They need to leave now.

"The Phantom Thieves…" Sophia smiled up at him. "That's really cool."

He let out a small chuckle. Such an earnest compliment was endearing in a way, despite their life-or-death situation. "Thanks. I'll remember that."

Joker got up and asked Skull and Mona, "You two okay to go?"

"Yeah, we're good," Skull announced. It wasn't all that convincing, seeing as he was using his pipe as support to keep himself standing. Below him, Mona was using Skull as support.

Joker frowned. They were injured, out of stamina, and still a long ways off from returning to their own world. Their odds of getting out of here were low.

"Listen, Sophia, there are a lot of Shadows out here. Going alone isn't safe, so the only way we're going to get out of here is together. Got it?"

"The only way we're going to get out of her is together," Sophia repeated. "Got it. I will get us out of here."

Joker nodded. "Thank you, Sophia."

"You helped me first. I will now help you. Along with the cat and the skeleton."

Skull perked up from where he was standing. "Hey! I ain't a skeleton!"

Mona snickered. "I guess Skull's short for Skullington now." It was only after he said that that he processed the rest of Sophia's comment. "Hey! I know I look like one, but I'm not a cat!"

Joker winked down at Sophia. "He actually is a raccoon."

Sophia giggled and returned the gesture.

"Joker…" Mona moaned. "My name's Mona!"

Skull gave him a light pat on the head. "It's okay, dude. One day people will stop calling a duck a duck."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Listen up, people," Joker cut him off. He turned around and looked at the opening. "We're low on HP, SP, and EXP. Try to not endanger Sophia or yourselves and stay out of sight."

"Sure thing, Futaba, " Skull said, poking at Joker's use of gaming terminology. "You good to go, Mona?"

"Puh-lease. I was waiting for you."

"Heh. Yeah, sure."

As they made their way up the stairs and through the barren hallways, they took it slow and steady. They checked around every single corner they came across, careful to make sure Sophia didn't wander ahead and get them caught.

It was a tedious affair. Joker's limp was having an impact on their movement speed on top of everyone already being exhausted and drained of any stamina they had when they came in.

Eventually, he wordlessly waved Skull over and leaned on him for support. Despite having a bad leg in the real world, Skull usually moved like nothing had happened to the appendage. Ironically, he was the only one walking without a limp at the moment.

Sophia had picked up Mona and was carrying him around like an actual cat. Joker knew from experience that was usually a bad idea, but Mona looked so tired he didn't even care.

Not that he could blame him. He was about three seconds from passing out as well.

They rounded a corner only to view a Shadow down the hallway. Both Skull and Joker scrambled back, bumping into Sophia and Mona.

"Ow!" Mona cried out. "What's the big idea-"

"Shush!" Skull commanded, holding up a finger to his lips. He peeked back around. The Shadow still had its back to them and didn't react to Moan's cry. "There's one down this way."

Mona groaned. "We can't fight them like this… We'll have to avoid it."

Sophia walked forward and leaned out from behind the corner. "Are you saying that's in your way?"

Joker nodded. "We need to escape, but that isn't happening unless we slip past that Shadow."

Sophia hummed to herself. She then placed Mona down on the ground as gently as she could. "Okay. I got it."

"Hm?" Skull looked back at her. "Got whu-Wait, don't go off alone!"

His warning was too late. She was already sprinting past them and around the corner. Joker pushed himself off of Skull and immediately gave chase after her. He was not going to let her get herself killed.

As they got a look, they saw that Sophia had already reached the Shadow. To their bewilderment, she reached up and tapped the Shadow on the shoulder. "Excuse me?"

The Shadow lazily glanced behind its shoulder before doing a double take. "What the-?! Who are you?! Intruder!"

It twisted and contorted in on itself before exploding into three separate chunks. Those chunks morphed into the distinct shape of a pumpkin head with a wizard hat holding a lantern.

"Jack-o'-Lanterns," Joker growled. It's been a long time since he's seen this particular Persona. It seemed whatever this place was, it still used them as Shadows.

The Jack-o'-Lantern in the center wasted no time in waving its lantern back and forth. It threw a fireball in Sophia's direction with a high-pitched grunt.

Joker tried to move to intercept the attack, but he was both too injured and Sophia was too far.

It slammed into her, consuming her in a large ball of light. All three Phantom Thieves had to shield their eyes and look away. Joker blinked slowly and looked back, terrified to see the charred corpse of Sophia.

Only… that's not what he saw. Instead, he saw four boxes stacked on top of each other, each with distinct markings similar to the carvings on the box that Sophia emerged from.

The boxes flew apart and encircled the untouched and unmoved Sophia. She had changed, though. The hood was now pulled up and covered most of her face, with the rest being protected by what seemed to be a black pixelated screen. Two blue circles blinked as if they were eyeballs.

She crouched low, producing two disks in her hand. The disks, as it turned out, were yo-yo's, and she flung one at the Jack-o'-Lantern in the center. At the same time, one of the boxes stopped and fired a literal laser beam and obliterated the Shadow.

The remaining two balked at the sudden destruction of their brethren, but Sophia gave them no time to mourn the loss. She caught the first yo-yo and threw out the other, smashing the leftmost Jack-o'-Lantern in the face. The remaining three boxes targeted the final Shadow, completely and utterly destroying it with three separate beams of pure, holy light.

Sophia caught the yo-yo and stood proud. She announced, "We are the Phantom Thieves."

"Holy shit…" Skull breathed.

"Is that… a Persona?!" Mona asked, his eyes wide with shock.

Without warning, another mass group of Shadows exploded into existence. The Shadow at the front scanned the Phantom Thieves. "Intruders! What do you think you're doing?!"

"I am helping the Phantom Thieves," Sophia announced as plainly as if she was stating the weather. "Please don't take it personally."

Joker counted twenty of them in total. He gritted his teeth. Even if Sophia did have a Persona, there was no way she could take all of these on her own while he and the rest of the Thieves were next to useless.

Still, he had to try. He wasn't going to stand around and let them kill Sophia.

Joker pulled out his knife and took a stumbling step forward. A sharp new flash of pain ran up and down his leg, causing him to crash onto the floor. He got to his hands and knees and breathed heavily.

Even Skull, the most physically able of the team right now, looked like he was about to drop. Despite all that, he still readied his pipe like a bat.

Sophia turned around and tilted her head at them. "Do you require assistance, Joker?"

Beneath his mask, he raised an eyebrow. "Y-Yeah, if you can…"

"Then I will assist you," she pronounced. When she held up her hand, it emitted a bright blue glow.

Joker's body rapidly regained the energy he had lost throughout their previous battle. He got to his feet and bounced on his previously injured leg. Sure enough, all the pain was gone. He felt as good as new.

So, Sophia had healing abilities, too? It felt similar to Mona's, but like most everything here there was a distinct yet indescribable difference.

Next to him, Skull cracked his knuckles. "Hot damn! I feel like I could sprint the goddamn 400k! You feel it too, Joker?"

Mona produced his scimitar and rested it on his shoulder. "Looks like we just caught our first lucky break here, gentlemen. Our dear Sophia just gave us a much needed energy boost."

Joker flipped his knife into a reverse grip. He dropped into a defensive stand, holding the knife in front of him. "Conserve your energy, guys. Only use your Persona if it's absolutely necessary. That goes for you too, Sophia. Make it quick, make it efficient."

"Right," they all said in chorus.

He took a deep breath. "Go!"

Sophia was the first to attack, sending out her yo-yo's in a wide arc, catching a few of the Shadows directly in the jaw. Before the projectiles could return to her, she redirected the string to smack two more in the chest.

While she provided long-distance backup, Skull and Joker moved in close as a single unit. Joker prioritized speed, slashing and cutting as many as he could. For those he missed or was unable to take out in a single blow, Skull picked up the slack.

One Shadow managed to avoid the slash of Joker's knife, but as it was bringing down its baton to counterattack, Skull grabbed it by the wrist and used the momentum to fling it into the crowd.

Another Shadow was sneaking up on Skull, but Joker tackled it to the ground and stabbed it in the chest repeatedly.

Mona watched as the three practically obliterated the enemy unit. There were still stragglers, however.

A malicious grin crossed his face. "Oh, no you don't!"

He leapt into the air and transformed into the Mona-Bus. He was far too fast for the Shadows to even react, slamming into them at speeds that would not be out of place on a freeway. He jumped into the air above a single, solitary Shadow, who looked to need a change of pants if it were possible for a Shadow.

Instead of crashing down on it in bus form, he morphed back into his normal form and landed on its chest, blade first. He dragged the blade up, bisecting it at the waste.

As Joker cut down a Shadow, Skull grabbed the last one by the neck, lifted it up into the air, and slammed it down onto the ground. The mask shattered into countless little pieces as the rest of the Shadow disappeared.

They stood to their full height and surveyed the now cleared out room. Skull rubbed the back of his neck and let out a satisfied sigh. "Now that right there? That's what I'm talkin' about."

He held up his hand for a high-five, which Joker gladly reciprocated.

Sophia ran up to them and beamed, her smile making it quite clear that she was pleased to have helped the Thieves. "Okay, we beat them."

"Goddamn, Sophia!" Skull threw her a thumbs up. "I had no idea you were so effin' strong!"

"That would have been useful information to know from the start," Joker said in an admonishing tone, but he couldn't hide the smirk on his face. He dropped it before asking, "Why didn't you tell us?"

"You never asked," Sophia replied simply.

All three couldn't help but become embarrassed at that. After all, not one of them had actually asked if she could defend herself or heal their wounds. Lesson learned, Joker thought to himself.

"Are you a Persona user?" Joker asked.

She blinked and tilted her whole body. "Persona?"

"Those boxes you were using during the fight."

"Oh. That was simply a weapon. I needed it to fight."

So she wasn't a Persona user? That would explain why her healing magic felt different when compared to Mona's, but it also raised more questions that she would doubtlessly not have the answers to.

Was there a power in the world that could so closely mimic a Persona like that? Anything was possible in this strange new branch of the Metaverse.

"Sophia," Mona said, "just what are you?"

She looked at him and smiled again. "I am Sophia, humanity's companion."

"Well, I guess you ain't wrong," Skull said, rolling a shoulder. "At this point, I don't really give a shit what she is. She more than proved herself, I say she's a member of the team."

"I would be inclined to agree. Joker? Your thoughts?"

He let out a noncommittal grunt. "We'll work that out later. Getting out of here needs to be our top priority."

"Yeah, the less attention we get, the better," Skull agreed. He turned to Sophia and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Alright, Sophia, for the next however-long-it-takes-to-get-out-of-here, you are now an on-demand Phantom Thief! We'll talk about bumping you up to full-time later."

"I second that," Mona said.

Joker nodded. "Third. We'll need all the firepower we can get. What do you say, Sophia? Care to lend us a hand?"

Sophia nodded and flashed a thumbs-up. "Okay, I got it. I will lend you a hand."

"Are we close to the exit?" Joker asked.

"Not far. Just follow me." Although she still didn't wait for any of the others, she didn't take off running this time.

They made their way through all the trash and filth. There were a few times where Joker had to cover his nose. Being in the Metaverse heightened many of his senses, but this was one of those times where he wished it hadn't.

"Aw, sick!" Skull called out.

The group stopped as Skull walked towards a pile of trash. He tossed his lead pipe over his shoulder and rummaged around in the garbage.

Mona gagged. "Skull, what do you think you're doing?"

"He's right, we don't have time for this."

"Hold on, just one-Hah! Got it!" With considerable effort, he pulled out the object he was looking for and presented it to the others. Gripped tightly in Skull's hand was a metal baseball bat.

Joker snorted. So there really was one just lying around. He honestly hadn't seen that coming.

Skull swung it a few times, testing it out. "Oh, yeah, that feels so much better. Now I just need some barbed wire or some nails…"

"Later, Skull."

"Alright, alright, I'm comin'!"

As they rounded a corner, Joker held up a hand telling them to stop. Skull and Mona did so without hesitation, but Skull had to hold out a hand to keep Sophia from stepping out into the open.

It was a large room with three Shadow guards patrolling the area. Off to the side was a stairway leading to some overhead ledge. Above them were walkways and catwalks that could possibly aid them in avoiding the trouble.

"Shall I take care of them?" Sophia asked quietly.

Joker shook his head. "No. We're not here to fight. We'll use those overhead catwalks to jump across and avoid a confrontation."

"Besides, Sophia, here's your first lesson for being a Phantom Thief," Mona said proudly, placing a hand on his hip. "Always avoid a head-on fight when you can. Watch the masters at work and try to copy us, okay?"

"Okay," Sophia replied, "I'll watch the masters at work. Lead the way."

Each of them crouched low and dashed over to the stairwell one at a time. Once there, Joker was the first to try out the overhead path.

Each catwalk was stable for him, but they looked like they could break at any minute. Sophia and Mona would probably make it across with no problem, but finesse wasn't exactly Skull's strongest point.

As he landed on the opening leading to what he was going to assume was freedom, he signaled for Skull to go next. Skull flashed an "OK" sign and jumped over to the first catwalk. It made a piercing creaking sound, causing each of the Thieves to freeze and press up as close to a wall as they physically could.

For Skull, he laid as flat as a board and held his breath, desperately trying not to make a sound.

Joker saw one of the Shadows look up with a flashlight at the now swinging catwalk. It turned to its companion. "Hey, I think something's up there."

The other Shadow glanced up. "It's probably just the wind."

"Wind? Underground? I'm sure there's something-"

"Look, you're new, so I get why you're jumping at the gun to impress Her Majesty, but take it down a notch, yeah? If we think there's something up there, then we have to investigate. If we investigate, we have to write a report. If we have to write a report, I'm going to shoot myself. You don't want to be an accessory to my suicide, do you?"

"Uh, no, but-"

"Then until we see an intruder, we say it was the wind. Therefore, it's the wind."

"O-Okay?"

Joker raised an eyebrow. Who knew Shadows also skirted their duty when they didn't want to fill out paperwork? It sort of made him relate to them in a way.

Skull took a deep breath and then hopped between the rest of them. They all made incredibly loud screeching noises that the Shadow below insisted was just the wind.

As he landed next to Joker, he shook his head in disbelief.

Joker wordlessly agreed as he signaled for Mona to tell Sophia to go next. It took about thirty seconds to explain to Sophia. She nodded with the enthusiasm of a small child and got ready to leap across.

Joker couldn't help but bite the inside of his cheek. Hopefully, Sophia got what Mona was trying to say. It shouldn't be a hard thing to understand, but in the brief time he knew her, she sometimes took things very literally. Hopefully-

Sophia cut off his internal ruminations by taking several steps back and then making a running leap. It wasn't onto one of the catwalks, oh no, she cleared the gap and landed directly next to Skull and Joker none the worse for wear.

She smiled brightly at them. "Like that?"

They both nodded dumbly. At this point, he was beginning to wonder why he was still surprised at Sophia's superhuman feats of strength and agility.

Mona easily crossed without making a sound, not surprising given his own impressive speed and agility. He stared at Sophia and looked like he was about to bring it up, but he must have agreed that it wasn't worth the hassle.

They made good progress. Only once did they need to take out a wayward Shadow, but Joker was easily able to launch his knife directly between its eyes. It died without making a single sound, dissipating into a cloud of black mist.

"Just beyond here," Sophia suddenly announced, pointing at a large tunnel. "This is the exit to the surface."

"Thank God," Skull said. "I've done enough sneaking around for one day…"

They passed through the tunnel and found themselves in a large, spacious room. An uneasy feeling crawled up the back of his neck and it made Joker shiver.

Something wasn't right. Despite all evidence to the contrary, he was certain they weren't alone. Shadows often had a habit of popping up from literally nowhere.

Right on cue, a larger-than-average Shadow dropped down from the ceiling and crash-landed directly in front of them. Joker could tell it was going to be stronger than the others. It had a strange aura about it, one he couldn't quite place.

He narrowed his eyes and called upon a sense he hasn't used in many years.

The Third Eye wasn't easily explainable. Joker himself wasn't quite sure how it worked. All he knew is that he could see the spirit of what he wanted to see. Whenever he needed to find something, the Third Eye would find it for him and display it in a way that would be easily comprehended.

For example, the Shadow before them had a red outline around it, signaling that it was above their own weight class in terms of sheer strength. Usually, he would avoid these Personas.

But right now, this was their only way out. This thing needed to go down, but most importantly? Joker still needed to vent some frustration.

It leveled its baton at all four of the intruders and growled, "None of you will leave here alive."

It exploded into a shower of gore, replaced with a blue equine with two large goat-like horns protruding from his skull. Its red eyes blazed with fury as it stamped its feet and snarled at them.

Joker scanned the room. The ground was barren of obstacles to either get in their way or to use to their advantage, but there were two scaffoldings hanging from the ceiling. They looked as weak as the ones they crossed the gap earlier with.

An idea began forming in his head.

"Mona, Sophia, take one scaffolding each. When the Shadow moves underneath, cut the rope and drop it on its head. If it's still standing, hang back for support and keep your distance."

Skull stepped up, gripping his bat with both hands. "What about me, Joker?"

"You're with me, Skull. We're going to give that thing something to fight."

Skull bared his teeth.

"Everyone ready?"

"You know it!"

"I'm ready, Joker!"

"Okay. I will drop it on its head!"

That's what he liked to hear. He dropped into a runner's crouch and shouted, "Go!

As Mona and Sophia launched themselves onto the scaffolding, Joker and Skull moved in tandem to distract the Bicorn. The goal was to keep this thing occupied with them alone, to keep it so enraged that it wouldn't notice the others getting ready to strike from the shadows.

They didn't need to worry about keeping its attention. It charged at them, its head low and ready to smash into the two Thieves. Just before it connected, they both leapt out of the way and counterattacked.

Skull smashed it across the face and Joker left three slashes across the beast's sides, eliciting a piercing roar. The strike and cuts didn't faze it for long, as it kicked back with its two hind legs.

Joker, still in midair, positioned himself so the blows would only graze him. Despite his best effort, it still knocked him several feet back and hurt like hell, but he was upright and ready to go for more.

It swung around and came face to face with Skull. He wasn't intimidated, though. He let out a challenging cry and pounded his chest, daring the Bicorn to come at him. The Shadow was all to willing, dropping its head low and charging again.

Joker had thought Skull was going to dodge out of the way at the last second like last time. Instead, he braced himself and lifted up his hands, catching the Shadow by the horns. He was pushed back by the sheer force the Shadow was outputting, but Skull gritted his teeth and held his ground.

They soon came to a stalemate, neither gaining any ground. Joker looked on in shock. Skull had brought the rampaging beast to a dead stop.

Skull grinned and leaned into the beast. Despite the exertion, he was still able to taunt it. "I remember you, you ugly bastard. Just like I remember that you don't like this!"

Electricity arced out of Skull's hands and throughout the Shadow, traveling up and down its body. It flailed in place as he kept up the assault until one of its legs buckled. Skull called upon his Persona to bolster his strength and lifted the Shadow into the air.

He hurled it over directly beneath the scaffolding Mona was standing upon. It landed, sprawled out on the floor. It didn't stay down for long, already getting back to its feet. Skull looked up and shouted, "Do it!"

Mona leapt up and sliced the two ropes holding it up with one smooth motion. As he landed next to Skull, the platform dropped down onto the Bicorn with a sickening crunch. The creature stumbled forward, knocked for a loop but still standing.

Utilizing the distraction, Joker ran in and jumped onto the Unicorn's back. As he straddled the beast, he stabbed his knife into its back to keep himself from falling off. The pain knocked it from its daze and it began jumping in place, attempting to buck him off.

Joker held on for dear life. He had never taken part in a rodeo, but he was pretty certain it felt something like this.

"Skull!" he called out. "Fry it again!"

"Won't that hit you, too?!"

"I'll be fine, just do it!"

Skull frowned but reached for his mask regardless. "Seiten Taisei!"

Seiten Taisei sprang to life and hovered above his owner. The Persona held its hand out and created a ball of lightning. The concentrated energy shot out towards both man and beast with the force of a bullet, consuming both in its painful effect.

Joker screamed as he was thrown off the beat, knife still lodged in its neck, but that was nothing compared to what the Bicorn was experiencing. It hallowed in both rage and pain as the concentrated lightning drove it mad.

Without waiting for the attack to die out, it began to charge blindly at Skull and Mona. They both braced themselves for the assault…

…only for the second platform to slam into the side of the Bicorn's head. Rather than wait for the Bicorn to wander beneath her, Sophia had simply ripped the platform from the ceiling and threw it with all her strength.

She jogged over the Joker and helped him to his feet. "How was that? Was it helpful?"

He nodded, still feeling like fireworks were being set off all along his nervous system, and gave her a pat on the shoulder. "Yeah, it was, Sophia. Good job."

The eyes on her mask turned into two caret symbols as she bounced for joy. "Yay!"

The Bicorn staggered for a moment, trying to keep itself standing. It was stunned, completely unaware of its surroundings

Perfect. Time to rain hell upon the Shadow.

Mona must have been thinking the same. He called out, "It's wide open, Joker!"

"Follow our lead, Sophia," Joker instructed, producing a second knife from his jacket. "This is what we like to call an 'All Out Attack'. Hit it as hard as you can as fast as you can. Take it down with overwhelming force!"

"Okay, I got it." The eyes on her screen grew harsher and more narrow. "I'll take it down."

They each disappeared into a blur, slamming into the beast repeatedly, knocking it back and forth. The assault was simply too much for it. Whenever one blow slammed into its head, another would come from the rear, or the side or perhaps even all at once.

Bruises, welts, and cuts began appearing all along its hide as the four ambiguous shapes of the Phantom Thieves rained down pain upon the creature. All it could do was scream in pain and agony.

Joker delivered one final slash across the throat with his knife before the assault abruptly ceased. They dropped to the ground with their backs to the struggling beast, with the only one turning to look back being Sophia.

Wordlessly, Joker adjusted his gloves as the Bicorn suddenly and violently exploded into a fountain of black blood. He tensed when he actually felt the liquid coating the back of his jacket and hair.

He really hoped this came off when returning to the real world.

"Oh, God, this shit is nasty!" Skull cried out, looking over his shoulder and down at the back of his outfit. "I don't remember Palaces being this gross! Maybe next time we shouldn't pose like a buncha jackasses…"

"Skull, do you forget that style is paramount to being a Phantom Thief?" Mona quickly shook himself, flinging the black blood off in all directions. Skull was standing a little too close and got some directly on his face.

Mona winced when he caught sight of it. "...Although, perhaps we can do it further away from now on."

"Joker, what is this substance?" Sophia asked, walking up to him.

He turned and saw that Sophia had yet to wipe any of the gore from her outfit. It was plastered over what he imagined was her view screen. "Uh… I think it's the Shadow's blood, but the jury is out. Can you… see out of that?"

"Yes. I have perfect 20-20 vision." She tilted her head. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason," he quickly stated. Thinking better, he reached down and grabbed one of the tails of his jacket and began cleaning off her mask. "One sec, let me just… There, now that's better."

The blue eyes blinked before the black screen… disappeared, showing Sophia's face. She smiled up at him. "Thank you, Joker. Shall we be off?"

He snorted. If he had known she could do that, he wouldn't have gotten his jacket dirty. Well, "dirtier". "Skull, Mona, let's move-"

As he turned around, he stopped short, staring in shock at where the Bicorn once stood. In its place, hovering in midair, was a perfect replica of his own mask. It rushed forward to cover his own and he felt the presence of Bicorn sitting alongside Arsene.

It was a familiar feeling, having multiple Personas in his head. He was surprised at how much he had missed it.

"Hey, look at that!" Mona exclaimed. "Looks like you're picking them up again."

Sophia's eyes widened. "The Shadow became a mask. Please explain."

"It's…" Joker waved a hand in the air, searching for the proper way to explain it. "It's complicated. I can take in a Shadow's power and use it as my own, turning it into a Persona."

He let out a breath. "...but usually, I need to talk to the Shadow first."

"That is a little odd." Mona rubbed his chin. "Perhaps because you already had this particular Persona in the past?"

"Could be." Joker would have to ask Lavenza about that when he went into the Velvet Room next time.

He immediately crushed that internal thought. Next time? No, there wasn't going to be a next time. He wasn't even sure if he was going to go along with this, there wasn't time to discuss it.

He brushed that issue aside. A worry for later. Right now, their only concern was getting out of the Metaverse, one way or the other.

Sophia hummed to herself. "Interesting. The exit is this way." She ran down the final bit of tunnel, with Morgana following closely after her, shouting at her to wait up.

Joker shook his head and made to follow, but was stopped when a hand landed on his shoulder.

"Yo, I need to ask you something," Skull said.

"What's up?"

"It's, uh, probably not the best time for this, but I gotta know." He shifted his weight and returned his hand to his side, wrapping his thumb around a belt loop. "You and Tae doin' alright?"

Joker's face darkened. "You really do have terrible timing."

"I know, I know, we should probably wait and it might not even be my place to ask but…" He rubbed the back of his neck and let out a sigh. "It's just… Yesterday, when I made that joke, you guys looked… I don't know if mad's the right word, but it sure wasn't happy. I care about you two and I don't want to see you guys hurt."

Every fiber in Joker's body was screaming at him to tell Skull exactly where he could shove it. He was right about one thing, it wasn't his problem. Why should he worry or care about his friend's relationship?

But that wasn't reasonable in the slightest, and he knew that.

It actually meant a lot to him that Ryuji was willing to reach out to him like this, even if the circumstances were less than ideal at the moment. Sometimes it baffled him that he had gained such a loyal and dependable companion.

He rested his own hand on Skull's shoulder. "Thank you, Ryuji. But we're fine. It's nothing we can't work out ourselves."

Skull looked unconvinced, but he didn't pursue further questioning. "Alright, man. You know I'm here if you need anything, right? So's 'Kot-I mean, so's Queen. She'll hear you out too."

Joker smiled at him and nodded. It was small, but one filled with genuine gratitude.

"Hey! What's the hold-up?!"

Skull and Joker looked over to Mona bouncing up and down at the exit tunnel.

"Oh, hold your horses, we're comin'!" Skull shouted back, stomping over to their small friend. "Honestly, can you be any less patient, you dumb cat?"

"Why you-At least I'm not slow like you, you dumb ape!"

"Yeah, well I have thumbs!"

"How does that prove anything?!"

Joker watched as Skull and Mona traded barbs with each other. He let out a dry chuckle.

The smile on his face soon fell, however. Doubts and worries began swirling around in his head.

Nothing we can't work out?

He prayed that that wasn't just hopeless optimism. He wasn't sure what he'd do if it was.

Skull let out a sigh of relief as he stepped into the city. "Effin' finally!"

He took a deep breath and let out a pleased exhalation. "You smell that? The smell of the city? Now that's what I call freedom."

Joker, Mona, and Sophia exited the service entrance soon after him, finding themselves in the twisted version of Shibuya once again. Joker idly wondered how long they had spent in that hellish sewer.

Mona shook his head at the sight of Skull taking in the atmosphere. "You know we're still in the Metaverse, right? I wouldn't say we're home free yet."

"Yeah, but this is a pretty big step, ain't it?"

Joker's eyes flickered to Sophia. She looked distracted by something in the distance. He followed her gaze but didn't see anything for himself.

"Is everything okay, Sophia?" he asked.

"...the way to 'get us out of here' is nearby."

"Really? How can you tell?"

"I suddenly knew it. Like, PHEEW!"

Joker kept himself from laughing at the onomatopoeia. He wasn't surprised at the almost entirely nonsensical explanation. Nothing about this place had been making sense. "Sounds like a very scientific reason that I see no reason to doubt."

"The exit is close," she announced. "Follow me."

Once again, she took off running without waiting for the team. Joker clicked his tongue and immediately started to chase after her. "C'mon, guys, let's go!"

"What the-For real?! What is her deal?!"

"No time, Skull, we need to keep up with her!" Mona said. They both broke into a run, bringing up the rear of their party.

The run only lasted for a few minutes, with surprisingly little in the way of obstacles getting in their way. Only a wayward Shadow that was almost pitifully easy to avoid. After crossing Central Station, they came across Sophia starting at the roof of a large building.

She looked back at the arriving Phantom Thieves before smiling and pointed up to the top. "The exit is up there."

One of her yo-yo's flashed into existence in her hand. She shot it up to the ledge of the roof. As soon as it was secured, she gave it a tug and she was pulled up in an instant.

The three Thieves stood there, stunned at another of Sophia's talents once again.

"Is there anything she can't do at this point?" Skull asked. He scratched his head as he looked towards the roof. "How the hell are we even gonna get up there?!"

"Actually, I have a solution!" Mona announced, placing his hands at his hips. He rummaged in his utility belt before pulling out a gauntlet and presenting it to Joker. "Here, I was going to give this to you back when we first started stealing hearts, but there really wasn't a need."

"What's this?" Joker asked, taking it from Mona. He looked it over. There really wasn't anything special about it. Just a normal wrist brace with a hook attached to the wrist.

"It's a grappling hook!"

"A 'grappling hook'?" Skull shook his head. "I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure we could've used that in the Palaces."

"Alright fine, so I just forgot about it," Mona admitted. "I've been working on it for the past few years, just to give me something to do."

Up above, Sophia appeared over the edge and called out, "Do you require assistance to ascend the building?"

"No, we got it!" Joker reconsidered his response. "So far, anyway! Just give us a minute!"

"Okay! I will give you a minute!"

He turned back to Mona. "How's this thing work?"

"Just put it on, aim it at the roof, and think about firing! The grappling hook will do the rest."

Joker traded an unsure look with Skull, but he still put it on anyway. Mona usually knew what he was talking about in the Metaverse, this should be no different.

He suddenly felt Mona's weight on his shoulder. It took him by surprise, so he stumbled forward and almost crashed onto his face. He looked over and shot him a glare. "Can I help you?"

"We're going to need to grab onto you for this part," Mona explained. He looked back at Skull. "Grab onto his waist."

"Uh, okay?" He stepped up and looked Joker in the eye. "If you don't tell 'Koto about this, I won't tell Tae."

"Agreed," Joker quickly said.

He winced as Skull crouched down and wrapped his arms around his waist. They both ignored the heat rising to their faces.

Joker focused his aim at the top of the building and mentally commanded the gauntlet to fire. To his slight shock, it did so, immediately launching up and securing itself to the edge of the rooftop.

"Yo, it actually worked?!" Skull laughed. "Man, that's awesOOHOLYSHIIIIT!"

Mid-sentence, the launcher shot them upward at a speed none of the three were prepared for. They all screamed as loud as they could as they flew through the air and past the edge of the roof. Before any of them could react, they all crashed directly in front of Sophia in a heap, with Joker on the bottom.

"So… this is what it feels like… to be Skull…"

"Sucks, doesn't it…?"

Mona slid off the pile and wobbled slightly. "See? Worked- ngh- like a charm…"

Skull got to his feet and stretched out his back. "Joker can keep that charm to himself. I ain't doin' that shit again."

Sophia crouched down next to Joker and tilted her head. "Would you like me to help you up, Joker?"

"No, I'm good." He waved her off and slowly got into a sitting position. He exhaled slowly as he felt the pain and soreness creep into his bones. Oh, he was going to need a good massage from Tae tonight.

He looked at his wrist and flexed his fingers. The launcher certainly had potential, but he was going to need to fine tune it unless he wanted to be shot out into space every time he used it.

"So, this is it, huh?", he heard Mona ask. Joker looked over his shoulder and narrowed his eyes to see the swirling green, partly pixelated vortex.

Skull rubbed his chin. "It's a… thing? What is it?"

"It's fine," Sophia announced. "It leads outside. Everything will get all WOWOWOWOW for a second, but then you'll be outta here."

"Oh, great, she's starting to pick up on your speaking habits, Skull," Mona bemoaned.

Joker raised an eyebrow. That was what their exit to the real world looked like? Normally they just pressed a button near the entrance of the Palace. The fact that there was an actual, physical portal they needed to cross could make things complicated.

"And you're sure we'll be safe?"

Sophia smiled and spoke softly for the first time. "Trust me, Joker."

His gaze went from here, to the portal, then back again. "I trust you."

She bounced in place, her smile widening. "I'm happy you're willing to trust me."

"Not like we got a whole lot of options anyway," Skull muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. He didn't look all too thrilled to be going through a strange portal either.

Joker stood up and gestured for his teammates to follow. As they got closer, he looked back and saw that Sophia hadn't yet followed them. Joker stopped and turned around.

"Are you coming with?" he asked.

Sophia looked… distinctly uncomfortable. Joker couldn't help but feel a twinge of pain. She was so happy and carefree until now, why was the idea of getting out of here bothering her so much.

"I am…" She trailed off and looked out towards the large 705 Shibuya tower. "...what should I do?"

"Staying here is too dangerous, we need to go," Joker said.

He was backed up by Mona gesturing out to the main Central Street hub. "He's right, there are Shadows crawling all over the place. If you stay here, they will tear you apart."

"But…" Sophia shifted her weight.

Skull rolled his eyes. "Oh, for cryin' out loud. C'mere!"

He stomped over to Sophia, grabbed her by the wrist and began dragging her to the entrance. She let out a startled cry, causing Joker to cringe inwardly. While he understood Skull had good intentions, this was by no means the way to do it.

"Skull, stop," he commanded. He didn't raise his voice, but he did put the slightest emphasis on the words.

It was enough to make Skull halt in place and let go of Sophia's hand. Joker walked up, placed a reassuring hand to let Skull know that he wasn't upset with him, but he'd be taking over now.

The wordless reassurance was instantly picked up, as Skull nodded and stepped aside, allowing Joker to drop to a knee in front of Sophia.

"Do you like this place, Sophia?"

She blinked up at him. The question had taken her aback. "Do I… like it?"

"Yes. Do you enjoy being here? Fighting these shadows, hiding from the enemy. Do you like it?"

She processed the question for a brief moment then hardened her gaze. "No. I do not like it."

"Where we're going isn't perfect by any means. It has it's own host of problems. But it's a whole lot better than here." Joker smiled. "Please. Come with us."

She took only a second to come up with a decision. "Okay. I will come with you."

"Good," he said, pleased at her answer. He got to his feet and turned back to the portal. "Let's go."

Skull stepped up to the portal and leaned towards it. "So… this is gonna be safe, right-"

Without letting him finish, Joker pushed him into the portal. Skull's shriek trailed off as he fell in and disappeared.

Mona looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. "That was extremely reckless."

"Sophia said it was fine," Joker argued. He looked back at her with a raised brow. "Right?"

"Skull should be safe and sound on the other side," Sophia confirmed.

"Should be?" Mona repeated.

"It's fine," Joker said a little too quickly. He nodded, more to himself than to Mona. "Yeah."

He took a deep breath, mentally prepared himself, and stepped forward into the unknown.