I do not own either Persona or Percy Jackson. If I did both of them would have Castlevania style animated shows. A guy can dream right?
Ren was currently doing his share of the chores; it was something he got used to after being here for a few weeks now. This week it included shopping. Himself, Mona, Haru, and Ryuji to be specific, were on grocery duty. Thankfully there was a Costco near their hideout which allowed them to buy in bulk. Very useful, considering they were shopping for 9 people and a cat. The blonde-haired boy, in front of him, was getting agitated and Ren couldn't tell whether it was because of the heat, Haru's earlier attempt at driving or the current task at hand.
"RAGGH! This freaking sucks. We gotta drag all this shit around the block and back to our crappy hideout. Which mind ya, has no AC, and were coming up on summer pretty darn' fast"
It had gotten humid enough in New York City during May, that they had switched to attire more fitting for summer even though it was still spring.
Ren had on a white button-up with the top 2 buttons open and a black wife beater underneath, and dark jeans with brown leather shoes.
Ryuji was wearing a tank top although instead of his trademark yellow this one was blue. A blue Yankees baseball cap was sitting backward atop his head, his attempt to 'fit in' with the crowds of New York. He was wearing beige cargo shorts with a large belt that had an excess of holes in it.
Haru was wearing a low-cut rib-knit purple cardigan with light jeans that were almost faded in appearance. She had white slip-on shoes to complete the look.
Ryuji hung his head in disappointment as if he was a marionette whose strings were cut, as he loaded up the Monamobile with an industrial-sized pack of ramen noodles. "Maaann, couldn't have had Ann magic us up some food or somethin' with that mist shit she can all of a sudden do now?"
"We both know that's not how that works, Ryuji. The mist can only make you think something is there, not create things from nothing." Ren supplied as he handed Ryuji a 48 pack of water to put on the bus.
"I think we've done well with the hideout so far. It could be worse, Ryuji. Between Ren, Yusuke, and Futaba, we have all 5 floors functioning at some capacity …" Haru said a bit somberly.
Ren figured it was due to her having a hard time adjusting to their new situation. It wasn't easy going from the lap of luxury to being one step away from being homeless. Well, technically they were homeless or at the very least squatters. Though Ren knew it wouldn't do any good to mention that. Still, he had a surprise for her later that he hoped would lift her mood
"Also be thankful, bonehead, that I have graciously allowed you to use my beautiful interior for food transport," Morgana said proudly with a hint of smugness
"Big talk for a van that can't drive itself"
Suddenly, the vast blue sky that did not have a cloud in the vicinity; grew dark.
Ren found it odd that the scenario kept occurring, something didn't smell right to him, and it wasn't just the ozone in the air. Ren had a couple of ideas of what it might be or who thanks to one of his personas. The question at hand was why. "Sheesh hurry up guys let's get a move on! It's gonna rain and you guys know how I hate water."
"Yeah, yeah cat we're going." It seemed to Ren that Ryuji had an idea as well, based on how he was frowning at the now growing clouds. Seiten Taisei must've had an instinct for these things in this new world.
"Trickster, 100 meters behind us". As soon as he heard the flute player's voice, he felt the gaze on him.
"Ryuji and Haru must have felt it too. Although, this might be a perfect opportunity to get some answers…"
Both had not ceased their movements to not arouse suspicion, but the subtle movements of their eyes scanning betrayed them. Morgana's engine had also stopped purring.
"Ryuji, you drive the bus home."
Ryuji tilted his head in response to Ren's words "Why me?"
"Because me and Haru were planning to walk home. We have a couple of more things to get along the way."
Ryuji nodded in understanding, closed the back door of the van, hopped in the driver's seat, and then pulled off while giving them the 2-fingered salute out the window leaving the Fool and the Empress behind. Haru looked at Ren in anticipation, and he nodded his head for her to follow along, just as it started raining.
They walked through the streets of Brooklyn purposefully in the wrong direction to lure their tail away from their hideout. By the view of the many storefront windows they passed, Ren noticed their stalker was wearing a trench coat and a broad-brimmed hat.
Ren would've been insulted by the cliche (Considering it was in the mid-80s today) if didn't know the person in question was wearing it to cover up the probable horn on his head, or to draw attention away from his singular eye in the middle of his forehead.
He had spotted 3 demigods while loitering in the supermarket parking lot. No better place to find demigods, right? If one is looking for prey, they must simply wait at the prey's feeding spots. He had done this since ancient times when he would stalk the Greek agoras and would continue to do so.
He smelled 4 demigods, but he only saw 3 people, he figured his hunger was getting the best of him especially since the 3 he could see smelled pretty powerful. It was like waving a bone in front of a dog.
He heard their conversation, then he saw the baseball-capped one drive away leaving the 2 scrawny ones behind. He wasn't too happy about one of them escaping, but it couldn't be helped, he'd just hunt him down later after he finished with the other two. After all, he had the overpowering hard-to-miss smell of dumplings about him, even despite the rain.
He hadn't had Chinese in a while, but he guessed he could have it for dinner later.
As he followed them the smell became overpowering, especially for the boy. The girl she smelled…. ancient. That was a rare delicacy on its own, like a truffle if he had to put words to it, but the boy? He smelled like a steak seasoned with all the right spices.
If he didn't know any better, he would have sworn the boy was a god with all the smells he was giving off, that blended in to give him a mouth-watering aroma. He was drooling at the thought
He was so caught up in the mere thought of tasting them, that he didn't notice when he had turned into an alleyway. He turned his huge head in search of the 2 delectable morsels and saw neither one in his sight. He took a couple of steps further into the alley but before he could turn around, he felt the cool kiss of metal on the back of his neck, and the distinct sound of the safety being removed from one of those boomsticks humans liked to use sometimes. He was taught that human boomsticks had little to no effect on him, but this time his instincts screamed DANGER. He stood completely still lest he wanted to go back to Tartarus.
"Now, I'm going to ask you a couple of questions. Answer me truthfully and I might let you go back to wherever you came from."
The cyclops froze in his oversized boots as the velvety smooth voice reached his ears." I-I-I'll do whatever you want, just please don't slay me".
An airy giggle responded back to his pleading
"I just love it when they beg like this. What a rush!"
His blood went cold at the sadistic remark that was just casually said. The worst part was that he couldn't even see the owner of the voice. Though he was certain it was the girl he was following. Cyclopes never forget a voice.
"What do you know about the thunder god?"
He decided to play dumb "W-W-Wha-What do you mean? I don't know a damn thing!"
All of a sudden, a gunshot sounded, and the Cyclops ducked his head and body in response, only to find that he miraculously still had a head on his body.
When he tilted his head up, he found that now he was staring down the barrel of the boomstick. Rain dripped down the cold metal cylinder. He saw a blood-red glove holding it in a nonchalant yet firm grip. The teen in question was the one he was sure that he was following, except now he was wearing a white domino mask with black markings, a 3-piece tail-coat over a waistcoat with black pants. His eyes were now golden, which seemed to bore into everything he looked at. His mask seemed to be striking a chord in his memory, a rumor he had heard.
"That was a lie, so I fired off a warning shot. Next time you won't be so lucky. Now answer truthfully."
He decided at this point coming clean was his best chance at making it out alive–and maybe getting some revenge once he let his guard down. He smiled and showed off his crooked yellow fronts, as who exactly the teen was came to his mind.
"I knows youse guys, you those damned masked demigods! Okay, I'll tell ya. I'm surprised you haven't heard about it. Word even reached low-lives like me. The king o' the gods had his sacred weapon stolen: his symbol of power. Buzz on the street is that his brother the sea god took it. He had 'is brat sneak n' take it. So, now there's a war brewing. Gods and Demigods at war with each other. Plenty o' good eating for folks like me. See this rain? It's his doin'" A crack of thunder accompanied his words.
"Just let me confirm. Noir?"
The Cyclops was confused for a moment then he felt a hand on his back followed by a splitting mind-numbing headache. It felt like someone was rifling through his mind, poking and prodding until they finally found what they wanted. He felt as if his brain would explode, and his lungs were held in a vice grip. Despite how much he tried to thrash around he was firmly held in place.
He gasped and fell forward as the hand finally left his back
"He's clean, Joker. He's telling the truth this time"
He gulped and wheezed huge breaths of air after the mental attack
"Now…. Will you…let me go ''
The teen then gained a muted smile on his face, but it did not reach his eyes.
"Sure, I'll send you right back where you came from. Noir, will you do the honors?"
"Of course, leader," said the cheery voice.
His eyes widened and turned towards the girl in question, disregarding the gun to his temple. All he saw was her cavalier hat and her purple gloves holding an ax just as large herself above her head, and a streak of lightning behind her.
"You bastar—" was all he got out before she swung her ax, and the Cyclops knew the chaos of Tartarus once more.
After the Cyclops had disintegrated into dust Joker and Noir transformed from their thief costumes back into their civilian clothes.
"I saw you take his wallet Ren, was that really necessary?"
Sure enough, Ren had a big brown leather wallet in his hand. His eyes gained that mischievous glint that Haru knew so well.
"He was trying to eat us Haru, I was sure nobody would notice if I took it, but I guess you caught me—" He transformed just his hand into that familiar red glove.
"Red-handed" If it was anyone else that pun would have elicited a loud groan, Ren was sure. But for Haru, it seemed to be just the thing she needed. She couldn't help but laugh at his bad pun.
"I'm glad I could see you smile again; I know it's been a hard adjustment, but we'll make it work." Just then the sky started to clear up. She then smiled warmly at him.
"We always do, Ren" He held out his hand to her
"Now what do you say we go back to the others,"
"Yes, let's" A blush adorned her cheeks as she grabbed his hand. He then led her back out the alleyway and onto 39th street and onto 1st avenue, where their hideout was located. As they walked toward the formerly abandoned power plant building. Ren reflected on how they had got to that point
A few weeks earlier
When they had come through the door portal, they were deposited in what appeared to be the middle of a park at night.
He figured it was a park based on the ring of skyscrapers, he could see in front of him through the windshield. He almost thought he was still in the metaverse at first but saw the area was way too expansive and detailed for that. Not even Sae's palace had even come close.
Joker then looked through the driver's side window to see that there was also a lake to his immediate left. He then looked down and, at that moment he noticed 3 issues with the situation:
1. They were still in the Monamobile. In the real world no less
2. He was still holding Queen's hand
3. They were all still in their Thief outfits…. In the real world….no less
The second issue resolved itself. Joker and Queen's eyes met, and a mutual agreement flashed between them to let go at the same time. Joker then went ahead to get out of the van and the others promptly followed suit. Mona then managed to transform not into his bipedal form but his ordinary cat form. He looked confused for a moment then hopped onto Joker's shoulder.
Skull hunched over hands in his pockets as he surveyed the surroundings "Just where the eff are we?"
Panther raised her hand "Oh! I know, hey Oracle can your laptop find out where we are?"
"Already on it Panther! Mwehehe" The cyber-suited girl quickly sat down on the grass cross-legged and pulled out a laptop from…somewhere. Joker had been meaning to ask her where she kept it. After a minute or two of typing, and a couple of times shooing off Fox who tried to peer over her shoulder, she finally gave her answer.
"I hope you guys know how to speak English! It seems like we're in New York City, Central Park to be exact"
"New York! Isn't that like the capital of America?!"
Crow rubbed the side of his mask in exasperation. "How you got this far is beyond me. The capital is Washington D.C, Skull"
Fox once again was peering at the laptop"Do you know how to speak English, Oracle?"
The girl adjusted the goggles atop her face "Why yes, I do Inari, it happens to be the lingua franca of the hacking world!"
"How interesting, my sensei had me learn it for similar reasons, he would frequently do art tours in America."
"Wha-hey! If you knew English all this time, why did you always have me translate for you?!" A flabbergasted Panther yelled out
"Who am I to deny you, when you so graciously volunteered your services?" Fox shrugged his shoulders
"That was because Skull asked me too!"
Fox put his hand to his chin "Well, I've also seen Joker, Queen, and Noir also having conversations in English."
"What?! Really?! You guys suck!" Panther looked at the three teens in question
"To be fair, me and Joker only started seriously picking it up after the Mejed incident,"
"Am I seriously the only one who doesn't know how to speak English now?!" Skull slumped in his stance
"I don't know how to either Skull-senpai. You're not alone." The hopeful and innocent determination in Violet's eyes only served to make him slump further.
"Nyahaha, that's what you get for not paying attention in school you numbskull"
As he saw Skull open his mouth in response to Mona, Joker then decided to take control before the conversation devolved into an argument.
"Guys, I think we have bigger problems right now. We wouldn't want the cops to come across 9 costumed teens and a cat in a park during the middle of the night. I doubt they'd take too kindly to us" the others then seemed to become aware of the situation.
"Oh yeah, we are still in our thief outfits, we totally need to do something about it. I really don't want to be caught dead looking like this in the general public" Panther motioned to her revealing latex suit and tail.
"Funny how you mentioned the time, Joker. I'd like someone to get a paper to confirm, but my laptop updated itself and you guys are not going to believe this."
"What is it Oracle?"
"My laptop currently says it's April 1st…."
"So, we missed a month or two, big deal" Skull said cutting her off
"2006..."
At Oracle's discovery, the other Thieves had varying reactions ranging from contemplative, to surprise, to shock, and some were just plain dumbfounded that Maruki in fact, had delivered on what he said.
"So let me get this straight…" Crow began while taking a pensive expression by putting his hand underneath his chin and tapping his foot.
"Not only has Doctor Maruki sent us to another world where supposedly gods and monsters are real. Said world is also 11 years in the past from our own? Joker, can you send us home? You beat that god of control thing, did you not? So, you must have a power that rivals his."
"Impossible. The power is there, but something is blocking it, something otherworldly in this reality." The deep baritone voice of Satanael echoed in his mind
"Satanael says it's possible…" At those words, some of their faces perked up.
"But something in this world is blocking him." Their faces fell again. Crow was about to open his mouth to say something else, but a cacophony of hisses interrupted him. It sounded like rustling leaves but then Joker remembered Oracle said it was April 1st in other words the middle of spring not fall.
"Be careful Trickster, monsters have you surrounded" This time a feminine voice sounded in his head.
Joker at once relayed the news to his comrades
"Quickly take formation-we're surrounded" The Thieves hastily formed a circle around Oracle. Each thief was shoulder to shoulder with two others. Joker was right next to Crow on one side and Queen on the other. Mona had jumped off Joker and onto Oracle's head, waiting for the first signs of action, the wings of his persona around her like a cocoon. They saw the pairs of yellow eyes moving unnaturally in the dark, staying just out of sight.
"Demigodsssss." The voice rasped out "We hunger for flesh, for sssso long… we wait for one to appear but 10 appearsss instead…. We have been graccced with thissss meal, by the crooked one. Enough to feed ussss for a long while. The godssss children shall fill our belliessss"
"I don't know who the hell you think you are! But, I'm on nobody's menu, and neither are my friends! Seiten Taisei!"
Skull summoned his persona, and a tall humanoid-like ape riding a cloud appeared. The cloud had a face on the front and a spiked collar around where its neck would be. The ape itself donned a regal-looking green, red, and blue chest plate, waist plate, and shoulder pads, all held together by chains. He had golden bracers on his dark biceps, a yellow billowing cape, red gi pants with green and red shoes and to compliment the look he had on a helmet complete with a visor and yellow protrusions on the top giving him a punk rocker look.
He waved the staff in his hands that said 8000k and sent a bolt of lightning into the darkness towards the would-be attackers, the scream following assured that he hit his target. The other creatures fanned out from their downed comrade and drew in closer. Some stepped into the light of the various streetlights around the area.
Once they did, Joker saw what they really were. They had the upper body of a woman (some of the topless he might add) and the lower half of what appeared to be serpent trunks for legs. They moved as if they were walking and slithering at the same time. Joker observed that they wielded various weapons ranging from swords and spears, to even a couple of archers in the back
"Careful guys there's about 20 of them left" Oracle warned from the center
"That means there's some for each of us to slice and dice, try to keep up," said Crow a little too excitedly. Then again that was normal for him Joker supposed. Crow then charged off to a pack of straggling archers by the water, serrated sword in hand. Joker almost felt bad for them. But he couldn't feel pity right now, as he focused on the 2 snake women in front of him, one wielding a sword, and the other a spear. With a new unknown threat, Joker didn't have the luxury of fine coordinating the others. Besides, he was confident in their capabilities-both individually and as a team.
With just a thought he summoned his dagger and engaged the two enemies. The spear user would be an utterly helpless target if he could get into close range, and he had just the tool to do it. He smirked and held his right arm forward.
With a flick of his wrist, a grappling hook shot out from under his sleeve, it wrapped around the torso of the surprised monster who expected him to simply rush in.
With a swift kick off the ground, he used the momentum of the grappling hook to drag himself forward to her position. She tried to raise her spear in retaliation to the incoming opponent, but Joker twisted in mid-air, used his feet, and landed on the shaft of the spear, using it as a springboard and landing on her shoulders. He swiftly crouched down on top of her shoulders and plunged the dagger into her neck and the monster promptly burst into dust.
"Wha-huh?"
This confused Joker as he was used to shadows withering and then dying, giving him enough time to jump off. Not the instant vaporization that just happened.
The sudden burst left Joker in a bit of an awkward position as he fell to the ground. The sword-toting monster tried to use this to her advantage and took a step(?) forward. Before she could get any closer, Joker threw his dagger, halting her advance, and forcing her to parry the thrown object with her sword.
He then tucked into a roll as he hit the ground. He transitioned his roll into a side jump and summoned his gun. He fired precisely aimed shots to hit her hand and wrist and forced her to let go of the sword. With the snake woman now defenseless he rushed in and jammed the barrel under her chin. He looked up and saw the utter look of surprise on her face.
"Wh-Who are you? "she rasped out
He flashed her his signature smile "We're the Phantom Thieves" then he squeezed the trigger and watched as the monster dissolved into dust.
With his battle now finished he retrieved his dagger and took stock of the various other battles going on. He saw Fox slash through some monsters currently encased in ice.
Noir was an absolute blur of whirling death aided by her persona Astarte's psychokinesis skills to keep her going. Any monster fool enough to get close to her was utterly annihilated. Though she looked a bit sick after she finished, and Joker could see swirls in her eyes
"Something to work on later" he thought as he watched her rush to the bushed to puke
Queen was making short work of the spearman, as just as he thought, they were utterly helpless once someone got in close. Therefore, Queen was the worst possible opponent. It seemed like she didn't even need to use her persona, her pure raw strength enough to break the spears in two.
Scorch marks were around Ann as she had summoned her persona Hecate. A red-skinned woman with a dark dress and top baring her midriff. She was companied by 2 dogs on chains who were currently holding 3 snake women who were lightly dozing. No doubt put to sleep by the persona in question.
Skull was being destructive. Which was par for the course given that in Mementos a number of false walls were found as the aftermath of Skull, his persona, or both crashing into it. Ren was pretty sure the count was currently at 25.
A bunch of destroyed trees, benches, and overloaded lights marked his combat area as he dived kicked his last opponent, and then ran to help Oracle and Morgana. The latter was lecturing him about property damage. If Skull's half-lidded eyes were any sign
He was also glad to see Violet finally get into the tandem of working with her persona. She and Vanadis's fighting style looked more like dancing with spins, twirls, and pin-point slashes supplemented with bursts of light. All designed to take advantage of even the smallest of weak spots, hoping for a surefire kill. Fitting for a gymnast.
He didn't even need to turn his head to know Crow already decimated his opponents if the voice that said, "Tell me how it hurts!" was any indication.
All in all, a pretty good battle against what he was now sure was dracaena, as the hoarder persona informed him. It almost felt a little too easy. He looked at the area through his third eye just in case and saw the water was tinged blue in an area.
Without warning, the water near the edge started to bubble where Crow was. "Look out!" was all he got out before a spear came flying out of the water.
Crow backstepped from where he had been, and not a moment too soon either, as the spear now stood where Crow had been a moment ago. Out of the water, another dracaena appeared. Except this one was way bigger than the others and had a trident and net instead of a spear and sword.
"I'm assssuming you must be the bossss, either that or a zoo must be missssing their lizard."
Joker assumed a snake joke and mocking her would get her blood boiling and her attention off Crow who was closer to her.
"Inssssolence, you dare mock us? You will pay for it when I have your head on my dinner plate and your blood as my drink"
She charged(?) at him. The hand holding the net cocked back and was ready to throw wherever Joker tried to dodge.
"Use me, Trickster, my wind shall blow away her net right back onto her." He heard the voice of the cupbearer inside his head.
He switched his mask and then waited for the moment the snake-woman would throw her net. He feigned a backstep and she took the bait launching the net.
He then called forth his persona, and in a blaze of blue flame a man no taller than himself appeared, he had pale-colored hair, copper skin, and amber-colored eyes. His most striking feature was that he wore a horned headdress with a fin on the back and fin-like bandoliers on his chest and arm guards. Both of his hands stood outreached with the left one having a goblet in it. He had on a sky-blue kilt and sandaled grieves also adorned with fins. This was Baal the Mesopotamian god of fertility, weather, rain, and wind.
He pointed his cup-holding hand at the incoming net and a burst of green-tinged wind blew it right back at her. The net caught the top half of her large body and completely disabled the effective use of her trident.
Baal then made a gleaming scimitar appear in his right hand, but right when he was about to use his signature skill "Aymur" a blazing hot red sword appeared in the gut of the large snake woman. It then dragged upward and out through her right shoulder, cutting through both the snake woman and the net. She then burst into the same dust like the others before her, revealing a black and white striped figure with dreadlocks holding the butt of the sword with a pair of tongs acting as a handle.
The image of Crow's persona, Loki's slasher smile as it held the unfinished sword would always be unnerving to Joker, even if he didn't show it on his face. Behind it was the familiar dark-suited bird helmeted Crow who had a similar executioner's smile on his face.
"Don't steal my prey Joker, no one asked for your help!" he snarled as Loki disappeared. Baal decided this was his moment to leave as well and burst into blue flames, back into Joker's mind.
"I didn't see your name written on it. Besides, maybe you wouldn't need a partner if you knew how to dance," He gave Crow his best shit-eating grin, who in return gave him the one-finger salute.
Just then they heard sirens in the distance "That's our cue to leave. Anyways, let's regroup with the others, they should be about done."
He made a sharp whistle come from his lips, as he leaped onto the nearest branch, waving his hand and beckoning for the others to follow.
The main thing Joker loved about being a Phantom Thief was the enhanced strength and agility it brought on. With the battle now finished the team quickly leaped into trees, traversing branch by branch until they finally got to the edge of the park, where they then leaped onto the top of the power lines and used that to spring to the nearest rooftop. Joker hoped they hadn't inadvertently knocked out the power for the city block.
After they landed and took a moment to recollect themselves, Queen was the first to speak. "I think we should go over what just happened"
"What jus' happened was that something was tryn' to eat us"
"I don't think she was referring to that Skull," said Noir trying to soothe her teammate
"Well, I think that part was pretty important, I am nobody's full course meal!"
"What about that time back in December when-"
"-We promised not to talk about that, Fox!"
"Anyways, I think she's talking about the whole calling us demigods thing before they attacked us. That was odd to me too. You know along with the fact we "happened" to be dropped right where they were waiting." Violet emphasized
"Thank you, Violet. In myth, demigods were well… The children of a god and a mortal parent, to tell the obvious. However, it seems like in this world the gods never stopped having children-"
"And apparently they're a monster's favorite midnight snack" Fox lamely finished
"There's also the fact we were mistaken for demigods. I don't know about you guys but I'm pretty sure both of my parents were normal humans. That makes me think the signature our personas give off made them think we were demigods" Oracle supplied
"True, all our personas are mythological gods, save for the myriad of beings our leader uses." Fox pointed out
"I'm also willing to write off the sudden ambush as a coincidence, which doesn't seem like Maruki's style after he's worked so hard to 'Save us' But I am curious about that 'crooked one' they mentioned. It might be a lead to get home"
"I caught that too Joker, as much as I'd like to start digging it's getting late. We should find somewhere to stay for now," Morgana said from atop Oracle's shoulder
"Also, what about our costumes? I really don't want to go around looking like this, I'd much rather be in normal clothes thank you." As soon as Ann said that her costume disappeared in a blue flame leaving her in the winter civilian clothes she had on before the Mementos excursion.
"Whoa!? How did you do that Ann? You're back to normal!" Skull exclaimed
Ann's eyes swiveled nervously for a couple of seconds, then she closed them and tried to gather her thoughts "I just thought about it, and it happened"
"Sweet! That mean, we can go Thief at a moment's notice here!" Skull was elated at that news and started to morph back and forth between his thief gear and his civilian clothes
"We should probably get down from here and scope out a place to stay before any more of us change back" Ann then nodded and in a flash of blue fire, she returned to her thief outfit.
"Already on it leader! I looked it up on my laptop. There's an abandoned power plant not too far from here in Brooklyn, right down 78 and through the battery tunnel."
"But it's abandoned Oracle, is it really livable?" Noir asked, concern leaking into her voice.
"It isn't, but Prometheus is telling me its creation power still works here although limited. I can fix the basic stuff and make it more livable structurally, but it'll be up to you guys to move all the junk out the way and do the fine-tuning"
"That reminds me. What about the mess in the park we just left? The authorities would surely be on high alert once they see all the damage our fight caused."
"Ah, don't worry about that. Hecate tells me that there's a constant layer of magic she can feel called the 'mist' in the air here. It prevents normal people from seeing weird stuff. They'll probably see the weapons those snake ladies left behind as like baseball bats or something like that. And the damage as a freak storm"
"Well, that's convenient," Oracle remarked
"It definitely is," She beamed. Ann then paused for a moment. "She also says that if I work at it, I can actively use it to keep people away from us when needed."
"Would you be able to teach the rest of us?" Joker asked genuinely curious and interested in this new ability. That combined with stealthenols would virtually make him untraceable. He saw that Morgana had the same glint in his eye.
"She says you of all people should have the affinity for it, but she'd rather wait until I'm good at it myself before I tried to teach someone"
"That's pretty fair I guess, Lady Ann," Morgana said with a slight note of disappointment in his voice.
" If we're done let's get moving" The others nodded at Joker's words and started to parkour their way down the side of the building and into the alleyway. Morgana transformed back into the van and the others went into their civilian outfits once they were under the cover of darkness in the alley. Makoto took the wheel this time as she was used to the high volume traffic of Tokyo, so New York wouldn't be too much of a difference for her. Before he got in the van, Ren took the opportunity to grab a paper at a nearby post at Futaba's request to confirm the date.
It took them about 30 minutes to get to the place Futaba mentioned. Along the way, they got a grandiose view of the Statue of Liberty which Ryuji gawked at and Yusuke took out his sketchbook to draw.
It was ironically a beacon of hope in the night skyline, not just for coming to a new country but the beginning of a new journey. He could feel his persona's buzz in anticipation, one, in particular, gave off a homely feeling.
Ren had always wanted to visit America (The Hawaiian school trip aside) and see the sights…Not like this though. But beggars can't be choosers. With his record it'd be hard to get another chance to travel out of the country under his own power, so he might as well enjoy it while it lasted.
When they came upon the abandoned power plant many things went through Ren's mind, but Ryuji voiced out the most prevalent, though it was more vulgar than how he would put it. Not even Leblanc's attic was this bad when he got there.
"What the shit! This place looks like it'll fall over if we breathe too hard!" As if to illustrate Ryuji's point they heard something collapse inside.
Akechi looked at the building with harsh eyes"For once I agree with Sakamoto, it will take forever for us to get this up and running"
"Rome wasn't built in a day, and I said I could make it structurally livable" Futaba pushed her glasses up. Summoned her persona and began altering the building. Judging by the mwhehe he would occasionally hear, Ren assumed she was also making her own personal modifications to the building.
"Might as well stop complaining and get to it, the faster we do this the faster we can go to sleep." Sumire paused for a moment and brought her hand to her chin "Maybe get something to eat first and then go to sleep, I need my caloric intake for the day after all"
Makoto looked a Ren "That reminds me, we also need to find a bank to exchange our currency"
Futaba looked up from her phone "There's also a seafood place nearby we can go to once we do"
"Oh, seafood?! Did you say seafood?! Can we get tuna?"
"Ren-Ren told me you just had tuna this morning, you fish maniac!"
"That morning won't happen for at least 12 years in this world, you blonde monkey. And besides, why should I listen to you when you're the same way about ramen." A tick mark appeared on Ryuji's head
"Some things never change no matter where or when we are," Ren agreed with the radiant beauty. "As long as I have my friend though we'll make it through somehow"
It had taken them the better part of 5 days to get the basics up to code. Yusuke and himself had worked overtime to get two of the bathrooms in working order (two because the girls refused to share one with the boys). Yusuke came in surprisingly handy as it turns out he had to often fix things around Madarame's atelier especially once the other students started leaving and he was the only one left. It also baffled Ren how the boy who knew how to work plumbing and wiring, and even basic shower installation, didn't know how to fix a rusted lock. But who was he to complain as he lighted his workload?
Ryuji and Akechi were in charge of the bulk of the junk removal and general demolition as needed since they were two of the more…destructive members of the team. They had plenty of material to work with as the powerplant was filled with discarded car parts, metal machinery, broken glass, and rusted iron and steel from bygone days. Their personas made it simple work to cause mass destruction in a short time. They also used them to help make basic furniture such as tables and chairs out of spare metal to try and save on cost.
Ryuji's part was crucial as since they were staying in an abandoned power plant, for any power-based refuse such as turbines and generators, he and Ann were the elected officials to dispose of it given their resistance/immunity should a stray charge should happen.
Makoto, Ann, and Morgana were in charge of the shopping. Between the 10 of them, they had brought over two million yen or a little under sixteen thousand USD. They couldn't cash it in right away at the bank since both Futaba and Makoto warned them that the American IRS would notice and investigate if any transactions over ten thousand occurred, and they weren't too keen on having the American FBI on their tails after the experience with the SIU of Japan. They ended up exchanging for nine thousand for them to work with to start. Though Ren figured they would go through that pretty quickly without an outside income to supplement it. Makoto and Ann had volunteered to get the things that couldn't be made out of metal such as bedding, a fridge, sheets, and a TV if they could swing it. Morgana came along as the transportation. (Turns out he had foldable seats, though Ren did see him praying to the wishing star) Also to make sure the two girls didn't go overboard as their sense of money wasn't as frugal as the boys.
Haru and Sumire were on patrol duty more often than not. The Phantom Thieves found out quickly that them all being in the same place attracted monsters more than idol Risette did perverts. Thus, it was necessary to have someone guarding at almost all times. Or at least until Ann or someone else could learn warding magic.
It helped that they sometimes dropped money or other spoils of war that could be traded into a pawn shop, which added to their funds.
They were confused the first time a monster dropped a couple of drachmas though. Ann, Ryuji, and Sumire wanted to cash it in, seeing it was solid gold, but a quick search from Futaba told them it was ancient Greek money. Under an almost unanimous decision, (Ren being the only nay) the coins were given to Ren to hold onto under the reasoning he'd find someone weird sooner or later to take the coins. The fact that even Akechi had nodded his head in an agreement made Ren question how weird his life really was. A question that even his personas left suspiciously unanswered
With the constant renovations and help from their personas, the plant was finally coming together as a hideout. The outside had been restored, the garbage removed, and all the undergrowth burned down and removed.
The building itself was in the process of being painted. Futaba's creation ability had completely changed the inside. It was a five-story building with a bunch of steel beams running and connecting through every which area before, giving it the name jumping jack powerplant, but the combined efforts of Futaba and the demolition crew had changed it into 5 separate wide open floors each connected by stairs at two different points on each floor.
They had also installed a pole giving ease of access to a lower floor. On the first floor after the water had been drained, and the generators, cars, and coal removed, had been converted into a street-level garage/storage area for any vehicles and knick-knacks they came across.
The second main floor had an open area that could be used for training, given it had enough room to summon their personas safely in. They had plans to get Mats, weights, and dummies once they had the income
The third floor was arranged in a ring with the railing allowing one to peer over to the second floor. The floor itself consisted of the various dormitory rooms for the team members. Most of the rooms still looked similar, with a mattress in the corner, a cheap 3-drawer plastic cart for any spare clothes, and a coat hook in the corner of the room. Though some had given their room a splash of personal touches, such as Yusuke's various sketches dotting his room and Akechi's corkboard (The others started calling it a conspiracy board, much to his chagrin). Makoto's had the 3 godfather movies sitting neatly in a corner. The first thing Ren had done was search his room for audio bugs, knowing their resident hacker. And sure, enough within the hour he found 4 of them. He didn't tell the others, as he felt they should be wise enough to find them on their own at this point, having known Futaba for close to a year now.
The fourth floor had the kitchen and dining room on one side and the bathrooms on the other, one for the boys and the other for the girls. The kitchen did have a dry erase board listing whose turn it was to cook on any given day. Although Yusuke's name had been banned after he tried to serve them a dinner of beansprouts. Instead, he was given extra dish duty. The chore list was also in this location serving the same purpose
The fifth and final floor was the lounge area where the TV was found, though it was big, it was an old model with a giant back, and a VHS slot on the bottom, flat screens weren't exactly affordable at this period. Futaba had managed to hotwire it to get cable reception so there wasn't too much complaining. The floor also doubled as the meeting area for the team's PT meetings
After the first week or so, they had fallen into an easy pattern. Akechi had started investigating, trying to follow leads and get a general lay of the land. It wasn't uncommon for him to be unaccounted for long periods, sans Futaba's bugs. Yusuke had started to gain some definition now that the other team members had him eating actual meals instead of just bean sprouts.
They all had agreed to make a concerted effort to speak English to learn faster. Sumire was picking up faster than Ryuji, but the former track star had still learned enough to at least be able to order and hold very basic conversations.
Ann had begun training in trying to manipulate "mist" as Hecate called it, and Ann seemed to be a natural at it if the pranks she pulled on the boys were any indication.
Her favorite was manipulating part of the wall to look like a door only for the unsuspecting victim to smack into the wall. She had gotten Ren with that one a couple of times before he started to learn the subtle signs he was being manipulated. Though he did admit the disappearing, reappearing paintbrush trick she pulled on Yusuke was hilarious.
Work still continued on the hideout, however, with more small-scale projects rather than the large-scale cleaning they started with
The training was a constant. They first learned how to summon and dissipate their costumes at will, even to a point where they could use some of their powers in civilian clothes. Ren was even quicker on picking up partial transformations. It came in handy when he could just summon his gloves as needed when renovating the building.
Typically, the sounds of someone working away down on the first floor could be heard at all times of the day. Ren was a frequent opponent asked, as his unorthodox fighting style kept the others on his toes. Haru had been his most aggressive opponent, it was a common trend, with her frequent shifts on patrol. She had the current record for most monsters defeated.
Sumire had also regularly volunteered for monster duty as they called it, as she still viewed herself far behind the others in terms of ability and saw it as an opportunity for practice. Haru had joined for reasons unknown. The fluffy-haired girl was more of an enigma to Ren. He got the sense she had joined to work out some stress and misplace some aggression, but then he saw that it ran deeper. She tried to mask it but there was no fooling Ren. He saw how she looked at the others as they went on to do the various tasks of the day. He saw the small frowns that she'd quickly cover up with a demure smile. He resolved himself to talk to her soon before it got any worse.
They had finally reached the powerplant or as they had started calling it, the "Thieves Den" Before they could enter the garage, Ren stopped in place causing Haru to bump into his back with a thud and a squeak at the surprise action. Ren turned to face her and after a pensive moment, he decided to be blunt and ask what was on his mind.
"Hey, Haru, you know I can tell something has been bothering you since we got here, and I know it not just adjusting to a new situation. Would you like to talk about it?"
She hung her head at his insinuations but then looked up at him and smiled sadly "I guess you wouldn't be our leader if you didn't pick up on things like that."
"Haru, I'm your friend before I'm your leader. And I care about how my friends are feeling. I care about you. You, and all the others as people first," Haru's eyes widened, and a blush formed on her cheeks at his words.
"I-I guess I've been feeling a little inadequate lately Ren, it seems everyone has found their role in shaping the den and keeping the team functioning meanwhile I'm just…Useless outside fighting" her voice rasing at the last part
"Haru you know that's not–"
"-But it is. I can't shop like Mako-chan and Ann-chan because my sense of money is dull. I'm not good with tools and wrenches like you and Yusuke-kun. I can't help Futaba-chan get documents. My persona is even too destructive to help out Ryuji-kun and him"
Ren noticed she had slipped back into Japanese and was waving her arms back and forth out of pure frustration. Instead of saying something back, Ren had decided actions were louder than words. Ren grabbed, and then tugged Haru's hand and guided her towards the back of the building. What awaited them made Haru's eyes widen in shock once more.
The concrete back part of the area next to the river had been replaced with a 15x15 patch of dirt that had already been tilled. Ren produced various packets of seeds from his bag and put them in the shocked girl's hand.
"W-Wh-What is this!? I'm pretty sure this wasn't here yesterday?"
"Yeah, I got up early today. You know one of my personas is currently Baal, right?" She nodded her head in understanding and he continued
"Fertility falls under one of Baal's domains, so it was simple to have him convert the earth 'back to its natural state as he put it." Ren raised his fingers in air quotes for each word.
"Foolish humans have been tainting the land with this concrete stuff for centuries, I was only happy to take some of it back"
"Yeah, a bit too happy, boomer"
"Says the little deviant with the teddy bears"
He ignored the conversation among his personas, something for him to deal with later he supposed.
"I figured I'd bring a piece of our old lives back here to you." He motioned to the new garden "Not to mention it'd help save on-" He was cut off as Haru slammed into him, her arms wrapped around his back, and she buried her face into his chest
"It's perfect Ren" she mumbled out, muffled by his chest. Ren slowly wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back. Even after a couple of weeks in a new world, she still managed to smell like coffee with a hint of cinnamon. Although he wasn't one to talk, his time at Leblanc made him permanently smell like coffee and curry. He got caught up in the feeling of the hug he didn't know he even needed and started to bury his face in her soft hair and squeezed her tighter. He tried to disregard the soft sensations on his chest. The love goddess was laughing at him, but he ignored it, he was much too enjoying the feeling to even care, hands roaming the surprisingly firm muscles in her back, built from many days of ax-swinging and woodchopping.
He was in a good mood at least, until he heard someone clear their throat behind them. Ren opened his eyes and saw Ryuji standing nearby at the end of the field, looking as embarrassed at catching them, as Ren was being caught. The two quickly broke apart, and Ren saw her entire head was engulfed in a powerful blush.
He sputtered "Uh-da-I-Umm, Dude, Futaba said she felt you guys come back, so they sent me to come to get you for the weekly meeting," he said as he scratched the back of his head
"ThankyouRenIllseeyouatthemeeting" She spewed out before dashing past Ryuji and into the building.
Ryuji and Ren looked at each other. Ryuji swung his arm around Ren's shoulder "Dude, you are like a chick magnet. How do you do it? C'mon, you can tell me! Man-to-Man" He emphasized this with playful punches to his friend's mid-section.
"What can I say? I'm just lucky I guess," he said with a teasing smile and a flippant wave of his hand, then walked off
"Wha-hey, you can't just get away with that one. I saw that movie too ya know, I was right next to you last week"
—-
They had all gathered on the fifth floor of the den. Ren took his place standing near the end of the metal table. They had ironically mirrored their positions whenever they'd ender a safe room in a palace. Which made it all the weirder for Ren to see it happen while they were in civilian clothes.
"Alright let's begin" Started Morgana as he hopped up onto the table
"We're still in the green, thanks to monster-slaying, we still have about two thousand, not counting the rest of the yen, though we might wanna start thinking of ways to supplement our income and the new garden Ren made should help cut cost once things start growing."
"Thanks, Queen, who's next?"
"Speaking of, me, Noir and our leader had a monster encounter at the supermarket."
"It was a cyclops. Noir took him down pretty easy. We did get information out of him. He mentioned that all the freak storms that have been happening lately are all Zeus' doing"
"Interesting Joker," Akechi said as he stepped closer to the far side of the table. "Pomona said the same thing,"
"Pompeii? Isn't that the town that got covered in ash by that volcano?"
"No, Yusuke senpai, Pomona is the goddess of fruit trees…I think. Also, isn't she Roman?"
"Then, how the eff you just stumble upon a freaking goddess too?" Ryuji said eyebrow raised
"It simply doesn't matter. The Romans' main gods were virtually stolen from the Greeks. They share the main pantheon, just slightly different aspects. Zeus and Jupiter are the same person as far as this situation goes. As for Pomona," Akechi crossed his arms "Believe it or not she was just sitting in front of a hotel posing as a statue. I would have missed her if Loki hadn't said anything. When I approached her, she called me a 'northern bastard'"
"Like you haven't heard that one before" Ryuji mumbled under his breath, though it was still loud enough for Ren to hear
Akechi paid no attention to Ryuji and kept going "She refused to talk at first and told me to go back to Boston until I had my sword under her neck. She then she might've let a couple of things slip" He stated as if it were a simple fact of life.
"She told me that Jupiter's master bolt went missing during the winter solstice and he placed the blame on his brother, Neptune."
"The Cyclops told us that too. He told us that Zeus thought Poseidon used his son to sneak in and take it." Haru added.
"Jupiter has demanded the bolt and in retaliation, Neptune has demanded an apology-both by the same date: The summer solstice"
"Or what happens?" Futaba asked as if choosing her words carefully
"War," All three voices echoed at the same time
"War amongst the main gods of a pantheon would be a catastrophic event, it should only be used as a last resort" Satanael's voice echoed in Ren's mind
"It's also very reckless. Trust me I should know, Satanael should too" The love goddess said spitefully
"We all know the horrors of war in some way shape or form," The flute player said poetically yet somberly as a sad piece echoed in Ren's psyche
The rest of the team looked uneasy at the spoken word.
"What's your call Joker?" Morgana asked and Ren felt the rest of the team look at him in response.
"This may be one of our only leads, but I want to do some more research on the Greco-Roman gods before we make a decision."
"How convenient. If I may ask, leader," Yusuke pulled out a pamphlet and handed it to Ren. "The New York Metropolitan Museum is having a special exhibit on Greco-Roman Art and history that lasts through the week. I have been wanting to go for a while now, and this seems like a golden opportunity to glean some information"
Ren had been looking for a way to get information. He could only find so much at the library before it had to close. Even then it seemed each myth had like three different versions. Even Futaba had trouble making heads or tails over which versions they were dealing with. Going to a museum and seeing the live pieces would be the equivalent of going straight to the horses' mouth.
"Seems like a good idea, I'll go with you, would anyone else like to come?"
Ryuji waved his hand in front of his face "Nah. I'll pass, I can't even read English yet, barely speak it too. Besides museums are boring"
"I can't even make fun of you for that one because you're self-aware. But sorry, Joker, me an Oracle are supposed to do basic exercises and I'm there in case she hurts herself"
"I'm not a baby, Mona. I'm sixteen if you count my birthday as passed since we came here in April. Though I do appreciate the support"
"Can't, I signed up for monster duty with Violet. I want to actually try using mist manipulation in battle and get a feel for it."
"I'm sure you and Yusuke have it all in hand, Ren," Haru said with her hands under her chin fingers interlocked
"You just want to attend to your new garden. Don't you?"
"You know me so well, leader," She smiled at him and giggled. For some reason, it felt predatory to Ren. Ann and Ryuji sweatdropped at the scene
"I'll go with you two," Queen chimed in. Ren was grateful to her for breaking up the weird atmosphere Haru was giving off
"The Metropolitan Museum is said to be the biggest collection in the western hemisphere, I've been wanting to go there at least once myself" Her eyes gained a shine Ren knew was sparked by her love of books and knowledge
"Fitting for the High Priestess" he heard one of his persona's say.
"Okay so it's us three," He looked at Yusuke, and Makoto respectively.
"Alright, we leave at 8 am tomorrow, be prepared" As they nodded in consent, Ren thought that tomorrow would be very enlightening indeed.
Makoto's Notes
#2 Tsukuyomi
This persona makes Joker…more Joker if that makes sense. He's a lot more playful in nature and tends to make puns revolving around the word "Show". I know he likes to say "It's Showtime" a lot but does he really need to make a pun about it every five seconds? His favorite seems to be "I'll show you!" Anyways, the main difference between this and normal Joker is that this one seems a lot colder somehow. It's easy to tell the puns and playfulness are just a thin veneer hiding an underlying madness. Whereas normal Joker's puns and banter are responded to in kind by the other members of the team, this one just brings about an awkward silence and nervous laughter. I've even caught him sneering when he thinks we're not looking after a failed pun. It's frankly unnerving combined with his fighting style while using this persona.
He fights with dual daggers, mainly hacking and slashing. The persona fights in the same savage way with its jet-black sword, excelling after knocking down an opponent. Its signature move is called "Abyssal Wing" where the persona envelopes the target in everlasting darkness. Most of us just stay back to avoid getting in the way. I'm usually on the front lines along with him due to my resistance to its curse and darkness-based skills.
Fox is outright antagonistic when Joker has this persona, in stark contrast to the friendly rivalry with Izanagi. Joker welcomes it as he seems to like fighting when he has this persona. To be honest, I can't tell what's colder, Yusuke's ice, or the atmosphere between the two boys. Thankfully it hasn't devolved to blows, or I might have to knock both of them out.
AN:
And that's chapter 2! We're just about done with the set-up and the pre-Lightning Thief stuff. The plot is really gonna kick off in the next chapter. Lighting Thief is going to be somewhat of a ride-along story, but the plan is to deviate more as the story progresses through the books. I do hope you'll bear with me.
Haru's little arc there simply evolved from the first scene in the parking lot. I wanted to switch up what they were wearing; winter clothes don't exactly translate to late spring. Then it came to me that without money Haru would dress completely different than how she normally would and wanted to emphasize that. Then it occurred to me she would probably take being basically homeless the worst out of everyone, and I just kinda went from there. The hug scene was a shout-out to Battle of the Labrinth, where Percy is hugging Annabeth and Malcolm walks in on them.
Until next time Takamura out
P.S: For those who are interested, the ages are the following at the start of the story
16: Futaba (2/19), Sumire(3/25)
17: Ryuji (7/3), Ren (9/15), Ann (11/12), Yusuke (1/28)
18: Akechi (6/2), Haru (12/5)
19: Makoto (4/23)
Some may have noticed Makoto's birthday did pass in the universe. She and the others watched the godfather movies in succession on VHS. The closest equivalent to a Yakuza movie XD. The chapter was already long enough so maybe I'll make an omake probably one detailing everyone's various birthdays one day. That and a room description scene for everybody My Hero Academia style. Matter of fact I was toying with doing a side story called Ren's Probationary Journal which would include omakes, persona builds, side POVs and general info. Would you guys be interested in that? Similar to Buku's Thieves Den
DOOT76: 1. Yeah, I kinda crapped out in that intro. I figured since I was catering to both fandoms, I'd explain who they were and what they do for the PJO fandom since 5's story is basically completed when the story opens up. It was something I wanted to consult another writer on but if I waited for them, it would have been months, (Ch 1 was actually completed for about a month just sitting on the hard drive) and I felt I was dragging the chapter. I'll keep that in mind for future reference with characters and settings maybe I'll edit ch 1
2. That was an AU I was thinking about but, it would have been hard to recon the personas which I want to be the major point of the story. If someone else wants to do it, I'll gladly read it. Hell, one of the reasons I'm doing this is to inspire others like I was