Spoilers from included and/or represented works abound. Please read this fiction carefully.
The Sephira and Rebecca are all glad that David and Angela both survived. Being the victor, David will immediately move forward. David said goodbye to them all for now, and walked away. Angela also realized that what she said wasn't exactly what she meant. Angela apologized to David as he left and she's reserved.
"Hmmm... I guess the cyberpunk will have to keep going." Angela concluded.
David went away, knowing that Angela is back to her senses, as the words she said after the battle is actually really hers.
And after all, "the winner moves on", according to what General Teddie said. He did say that was the rule, but so far, neither Team Lobotomy-Ruina nor David or his current crew has any proof either way. Then again, David turned back to Angela.
"Oh, one last thing." David said. "About Ikue Higashi..."
"Later." Angela looked away.
"Ikue Higashi, a.k.a. Cure Union?" David paraphrased.
"Hmph!" Angela then ran towards David, and...
There's painful collision towards some invisible barrier. Just like with P-1 Grand Prix of old.
"What's this?" Angela is fuzzy.
"Huh... there's an invisible wall." David noted. "So the loser cannot leave this ring, around the area where the fight took place."
"I see how it works now." David realized. "Thanks for letting me know."
Angela suddenly blushed, much to the Sephirot's embarrassment. Rebecca then left. David then smiled back at Angela before leaving the area for real.
back to the Last Velvet*
"Welcome to the Velvet Room." Elise-X greeted David with a smile.
"Uh... I won, but why did you summon me?" David asked.
"Things has only just begun, and yet you already seem tired." Elise-X noted. "The misfortune that has befallen you can be thought as a sort of trial."
"A trial?" David is confused.
"Indeed. I am an observer on your journey." Elise-X revealed. "I would do nothing so thoughtless as to force you to make choices."
"I just want to stop Genjitsu-no-Omnia and her servants on their way and to save the reality." David told Elise-X. "Not much else."
"You do not need such provocations..." Elise-X told David. "I already know that you shine brilliantly enough."
"Thanks for the compliment. I have attained legendary status, so..." David responded. "But I don't have a Persona. I have cybernetics."
"Yes, that is part of your brilliance." Elise-X replied back.
"What's Persona, anyways?" David asked.
"Personas are masks of resolution strengthened by controlling one's heart..." Elise-X explained. "By forming bonds."
"But one's heart is intangible..." Elise-X continued. "It cannot be seen and cannot be felt."
"When polished, it releases a strong light unlike anything else." Elise-X kept explaining. "But it can also be clouded by trivial things."
"No wonder why S.E.E.S., the Investigation Team and the Phantom Thieves are so damn mentally epic..." David responded.
"Regardless, you should remember that not everyone is as strong as the others." Elise-X told David. "From here on, you will be forced to examine the things known by humans as bonds."
"How will you face the changes to come... and what choice will you make?" Elise-X offered.
Returning to the Crossing Wasteland, which was rebuilt into Promised Crossoverland, David decided to keep Elise-X's words at heart and proceeded. He ran across the horizon, the one he previously encountered during his confrontation with the Keyman.
Invisible walls ensued, forcing David to take a suspiciously specific path.
"Hey, you there!" A girl shouted at David. "You're one a'them participants in that there Grand Prix Cross Edition, right!?"
David activated Sandevistan and walked to the girl. Then he stopped.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What's the big idea!?" The girl is surprised. "You could crash into something or someone, if you are to trip with that cyber implant activated!"
"I've never seen you before." David put himself down. "...sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."
"Sorry ain't gonna cut it!" The girl replied. "What were you gonna do if you crashed on one a'the innocent bystanders, huh?"
"You can't go doing those stunts for long without student council approval." The girl warned David. "Alright, the jig is up. I'm putting the kibosh on this tournament right now!"
"H-hey, wait! Hold on a second!" David stopped the girl. "I'm not in this because I want to be. I'm trying to stop the tournament."
"Why are you here, by the way? Wait..." David asked. "Did you fall inside a TV!?"
"Fall inside a TV? What kind of nonsense is that?" The girl denied knowing anything at all.
David decided not to provoke her.
"I'm David Martinez. I was a famous edgerunner at Santo from Night City until 2076." David introduced himself calmly.
"Huh? 2076? But you're using a phone from year 2022-ish?" The girl is confused.
"Oh no, this is, uh... kind of my device when it comes to contact and interacting..." David replied.
"'Device'?" The girl wondered what's it.
"Um... never mind. Forget it..." David shifted the topic.
"Well, if you weren't around for all that long, I ain't gonna blame you for knowing nothing." The girl responded. "I'm the new student council president and the descendant of the Summer Triangle. Nice meetin' you."
David then quietly but suddenly realized that this can only be a student council president of something from another world. However, because of (being aware of) circumstances beyond his control, he decided to trust her.
"Now, it's your turn to spill." The girl offered David. "You said you ain't in the tournament 'cause you wanna be..."
"Then what're you doing here?" The girl asked. "And what's this tournament about in the first place?"
David explained everything he experienced, found out and learned, except for the fact that 'this place' is inside a television. In order as follows: Brief recap of everything David experienced in the first 16 days after the Zero Point destruction - All he knows of Genjitsu-no-Omnia so far - The commercial - Ikue Higashi, General Teddie and Tempti of Joy may be involved and helping the tournament - Some of his friends directly dragged into the tournament acting strangely - Nanako and the Cube Queen may be dragged into the whole mess.
"So if I got this right, neither you nor any of your friends started this, but some of your friends' acquaintances and Genjitsu-no-Omnia's servants did?" The girl sorted it all out. "Hmmm... well, you don't seem like you're lying."
"So you've grasped the gist of what happened so far as well as what's happening right now." David noted. "Thank you."
The girl laughed out loud and asked David why he thanked her.
"Let's go look." David suggested.
"I oughtta tell you to go home, but I get that you're worried about your friends." The girl concurred. "C'mon, let's go check it out!"
Then both David and the girl ran. Even with the cybernetics enhancements, David is near-constantly out-speeded by the girl, forcing him to briefly use Sandevistan to catch up. And she's very much without catching an extra breath; very impressive considering the TV world and areas affected by it can strain mortal people simply by standing still.
David and the girl ended up in the remains of the original Shin Halberd, which was burned away by Prometheus. However, there's the Chrome, the same substance the Nothing uses. The Chrome is however splattered like an ink from Inklings' Turf Wars.
"What is this...?" The girl is surprised. "Who'd go to all this trouble?"
The girl looked at the Chrome dumbfounded, but the flying monitor flickered to life.
laughs like oh* "Are you on a hot date, cyberpunk?" General Teddie appeared again. "Well, that's fine with me, of course! But shouldn't you keep your mind on the fighting?"
David isn't amused.
"Whoa! You look so mortified!" General Teddie mocked the face. "That's the face I was hoping to see," *giggles*
"Hey, you!" The girl called out General Teddie. "You're the ringleader a'this mess, aren't you!?"
"What's the idea, raising a ruckus like this without runnin' it by the student council!?" The girl argued, speaking fast and clearly. "Pack it in and clean all this mess already!"
"What's that tiny thing?" General Teddie maliciously wondered. "I'm in the middle of an important conversation with that cyberpunk!"
"A yappy little mutt like you should be muzzled and sit in the corner!" General Teddie looked down to the girl. "Sit, puppy, sit!"
The girl suddenly embarrassed, but David quickly stood between her and the monitor.
"I'll take it from here." David defended the girl. "It's alright, there's nothing to worry about."
"That was really harsh, Teddie the bear." David targeted General Teddie verbally. "Can't believe a womanizer like you can would say such things in front of an innocent teenaged girl."
"Hmph! What's so attractive about a shameless liar like her?" General Teddie argued.
"Liar? Do you know something about her?" David asked back.
"C'mon, cyberpunk...!" General Teddie didn't give any details. "Your opponent's getting tired of waiting for you!"
"Would the next challenger come on down!" General Teddie then did the same trick again. Another cloud of smoke rises from the floor (again)...
But this time, it's Tenma Jumpson who appears.
"Phew, I'm glad you're safe, Martinez!" Jumpson appeared. "What's the matter, dude?"
"It's, um... nothing. Are you alright?" David asked. "Has anything odd happened to you?"
"Odd? Nope." Jumpson denied anything odd happened. However, he seems alarmed about David.
"Nanako and the Cube Queen might be in here." David told Jumpson. "I'm heading to the Announcement Zone where General Teddie is."
"I need you to protect this girl for me." David suggested. "She might be a victim of all this."
"Uh... Why do I have to?" Jumpson surprised David. "Do I know her?"
David is confused and feel suspicious about Jumpson. That sense of wrongness again, just like Angela just recently and just like in P-1 Grand Prix at its early moments.
"Jumpson... Not you too...!" David is not amused. "Calm down and listen to me. Can you understand what I'm saying?"
"Huh? What did you say suddenly?" Jumpson seems... off? "I can hear you very clearly. What did you nean by 'you too'?"
Jumpson didn't seem to be that enthusiastic about the P-1 Grand Prix: Cross Edition.
"This is probably a trick the enemy is playing on us." David warned Jumpson. "They're trying to get us to fight each other."
"I'll say it one more time, Jumpson. I'd like you to protect this girl for me." David told Jumpson.
"No, sorry, um... I don't know how to put this." Jumpson seems off. "It just like you're being really selfish..."
"You help people who have nothing to do with you, and I appreciate that..." Jumpson continued. "But where does that leave us? It's always your friends who get put in danger because of your self-centeredness."
David realized that while Jumpson has no obvious change of attitude, but something too warped the meanings that are being said to the point of scathing response. So: whatever happened to Angela is happening to Jumpson too.
"Jump guy..." David mumbled.
"What the...! Mr. Martinez!" The summer-star president then tried to stop David.
David simply shrugged her off, and went on to fight Jumpson.
"Ooooh? Now that's the legendary edgerunner!" Tempti of Joy commented. "You'll show no mercy, not even to another legend, if it's for your own goals!"
"You're a real cyberpsycho with human emotions!" Tempti continued. "Keep it up and bring 'em all down!"
"Sorry, but you need to stay back." David told the summer-star president. "Whatever you see here, try to stay calm. Promise me you won't run away."
The president nodded, and the two fighters battled each other.
"Go ahead, The Legendary Hero behind Jump Force!" David shouted.
"Umbras... dual awakening!" Jumpson powered himself, using the two Umbras Cubes he currently possesses.
David and Jumpson traded blows with each other, the former activating Sandevistan to hastes up, and the latter taking advantage of his own arsenal of powers from Jump worlds. It quickly escalated, damaging much is the battlefield, and the president has to crouch herself. Few minutes later, after continuous blows from both fighters, they're both exhausted. However, David shoots Jumpson as a chance.
"K.O.!"
"A round of applause for the both sides!" Tempti commented. "And the winner is... Mr. Martinez!" *giggles* "What an utter thrashing at the last moment!"
Giggles* "I love all this animalsity!" General Teddie commented. "These cocky, self-righteous 'allies' showing what they works for by beating the crap out of each other!"
"That's the real thrill of the P-1 Grand Prix!" General Teddie concluded.
"How much further are you gonna push this!?" The summer-star president defended David and Jumpson. "Why are you doing it, anyway!?"
"These guys are allies, they're friends!" The girl continued. "What's so much fun about making friends fight each other!?"
"It's alright, one of the best student council president in the omniverse." David told the girl. "But thanks, though."
"It's not all right!" The summer-star president argued. "This is-!"
"Sorry, General, but you're not getting your wish." David told General Teddie.
"What!?" General Teddie asked.
"Did you think this would be all it took to break us all apart?" David questioned General Teddie. "Then what would make us hate each other?"
"Sorry to say, but that's a fucking colossal mistake on your shitty part." David concluded. "I believe in my friends, my partners and the alliance. They'll never get taken in like that."
growls* "You're so stupid!" General Teddie argued. "What kind of an edgerunner are you!?"
"I warning you right now..." David started warning General Teddie.
To be continued...