NewWorldFool: Hey, everybody! NewWorldFool and CloudStrife07 coming at you with the new and improved version of Chapter Two! Well, we don't really have much else to go over, so let us start the game!
Chapter Two
"Beginning Navigation"
A familiar piano melody reached Ren's ears, rousing him from his slumber. Opening his eyes, Ren found himself looking up at the ceiling of an all-too-familiar blue prison cell, complete with the rattling chains hanging from the ceiling and the steady dripping of water into the metal toilet nearby. One look down at himself and realizing that he was clad in a ragged black and white prison uniform further confirmed his suspicions.
The Velvet Room? But… why? thought Ren as he sat up from the slab he was lying down on, confused as he looked down at himself before a familiar voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
"It's been awhile, hasn't it?"
Ren turned his head towards the sound of the voice to find a small girl with long blonde hair wearing a blue dress holding a massive book that seemed much heavier than something the little girl could reasonably carry.
"Welcome… to the Velvet Room," the little girl, Lavenza, said, a sorrowful look on her face.
"Lavenza…" Ren said in a whisper as he felt a small smile forming on his face at seeing his old ally again.
Ren stood up and made his way towards the chained cell door. However, noticeably missing from his position at his desk smack dab in the middle of the circle of other prison cells, was a gremlin-like man with a long nose wearing an old-fashioned suit.
"Wait, where's Igor?" asked Ren
"My master is taking a vacation to recuperate from his ordeal from being held captive by Yaldabaoth. He still hasn't fully recovered his powers." Lavenza explained before her sorrowful expression returned. "That aside… I know not whether to rejoice or bemoan this reunion."
"All things considered, I'd probably go with both," said Ren. "I mean, it's great to see you again and all, but… the fact that I'm here and wearing these clothes must mean that something's up."
"Indeed," Lavenza said with a small nod. "I must warn you of the danger that threatens to consume both yourself and the world whose heart you strove so greatly to change and save from the illusion of eternal happiness."
Ren sighed. "Figures. I leave Tokyo alone for a few months, thinking I can finally hang up my tailcoat, and it turns out my work is still not even finished." he said.
Lavenza smiled. "If it helps, my older siblings' guests sometimes had to go on more than one journey, and sometimes they even had journeys within their journeys, much like with the Enlil incident," she said.
Ren cocked his eyebrow in confusion. "Your elder siblings' guests? The what incident?" he asked.
"Oh, that's a story for another time," replied Lavenza. "As I said before, I must warn you of the ruin that threatens to consume both yourself and the entire world. A most loathsome prison has manifested… your current appearance is ironclad evidence of this. You have become a 'prisoner of fate' yet again."
"You know, Lavenza, I honestly can't say I understand exactly what you're saying. I don't recall ever feeling imprisoned by anything as of recently." Ren said, scratching the back of his head as he spoke.
"That is understandable. This is something only felt in the depths of one's heart. Someone, even now, plots to lure you into a disastrous fate," said Lavenza. "Confronted by this evil will, your own cries out, 'rise against it.'"
"As one who rules over power, my duty is to witness the path you take. Should the world continue down it's current path, all that awaits you is destruction." continued Lavenza before she looked Ren dead in the eye. "Have you the resolve to defy such a fate and face the distortion that yet again threatens your world?"
While he remembered all of the terror that he felt when confronting his two last major enemies that were supposed to mark the end of his days as a Phantom Thief, Ren still remembered how the strength in everyone's hearts to see their justice to the end as well as to live the lives they all wanted to live… even though one of them didn't get to see the next day after their last successful victory.
Ren felt so sure that whatever evil deity was awaiting him couldn't possibly compare to the last two deities that the Phantom Thieves already had to face. Ren felt a confident smile across his face.
"Of course." Ren said.
A smile crossed Lavenza's face. "That is the Trickster I know so well," she said. "Just never forget: I am always by your side."
No sooner had the words left Lavenza's lips than a familiar alarm began to ring loudly, causing Lavenza to turn in the alarm's direction.
"The time has come," Lavenza said seriously as she turned back to Ren. "Let us meet again soon. Until then… pleasant dreams."
As soon as Lavenza finished talking, Ren's vision began to go dark, and he felt the sensation of sleep pull him back into its grasp.
The Following Morning-Shibuya Station Square-Near The Buchiko Statue
Ren, with Morgana securely in his bag, made his way through the sweltering summer heat towards Ryuji, who was waiting near the large green subway car that Ren remembered his Sun Confidant, Yoshida, had once given speeches in front of, prior to taking office once again.
"Wassup?! Ready to buy some campin' shit?" Ryuji asked Ren, who simply nodded. Ryuji sighed before he continued talking. "Let's hustle to the store so we can finally chill out for a bit… it's already way too hot out."
"We're in charge of picking up the barbeque, right?" asked Morgana. "Go ahead and lead the way, Ryuji!"
Ryuji rubbed the back of his neck as he spoke. "Yeah… I dunno where it is," Ryuji admitted before an idea popped into his head. "Oh, right! We can just ask the app!" he said as he pulled out his phone and brought up EMMA. "Hey, uh... EMMA?" Ryuji asked the app.
"Hello. Do you need something?" EMMA replied.
"Yeah, uhhhhh… show us that store you told us about…" said Ryuji.
The phone pinged and a map appeared on the screen. "Displaying the optimal route to your destination," said EMMA, impressing all those present.
"Whoa, look at this sweet map!" said Ryuji.
"It can even figure out how to help with a vague question like that?" Morgana said, clearly impressed by the app. "This thing's a whole lot more useful than I thought!"
Ren, however, was feeling rather concerned about how EMMA could understand a question like that. This was the first time Ryuji has ever used EMMA, and an AI should naturally only be able to work as a person's own individual computer. There's no way Ryuji's version of EMMA should have been able to know what he was talking about. Only Futaba's version should be able to know since the search history was already in the database… Ren feared that EMMA was probably too smart.
Ryuji was beaming from ear to ear. "Great! Let's get this over with so we can plan tomorrow's feast!" he said happily.
As Ren and Ryuji began to follow EMMA's directions, they soon found themselves face to face with a large, hollering crowd that was shouting loudly about someone.
"ALLIIIIIIIIICCCCCCEEEE!" squealed a random girl from the crowd.
"ALICE! I LOVE YOU!" called a random guy from the same crowd.
"Huh?" Morgana said, poking his head out and looking at the large crowd. "What's all the racket?"
As if responding to Morgana's inquiry, EMMA spoke up from Ryuji's phone. "I have a suggested event for you," the app said. "A promotional store opening is currently underway at the Shibuya 705 Building storefront with Alice Hiiragi."
"Huh? The hell's a 'suggested event?'" Ryuji muttered to himself, confused, before realizing what EMMA said. "Wait… for real?! Alice is here?!"
"First things first," Ren said, pulling a can of Calorie Magic from his bag, cracking it up, and taking a swig from it before passing it to Morgana, who likewise took a drink. It had been a running gag among the Phantom Thieves to take a drink of whatever drinks they had on them, be it coffee or soda, whenever Ryuji or anybody else said "For real." assuming they had any at the time. "Now then, who's this Alice Hiiragi that's got everybody so riled up?"
EMMA was quick to answer. "Alice Hiiragi is a Japanese fashion model and performing artist. She has gained attention with her 'adorable look' and 'unique sense of style.' She is active in a variety of medias and genres. She has become a pop culture tastemaker and continues to amass a devoted young fanbase," the app explained.
"So she's an idol, like Risette?" Ren said thoughtfully, recalling an old Persona of his by the same name "Wonder if she has a song called 'Die for Me'…"
"Wow, EMMA makes her sound huge," Morgana said. "Is she really all that popular?"
"Oh, I dunno, what kinda answer's that crowd givin' ya?!" Ryuji exclaimed excitedly. "Alice is just over there… I can't believe it!"
"Honestly, I couldn't care less, Ryuji." Ren said with an unimpressed look on his face. "Odds are this Alice chick will be completely forgotten in about six months, eight tops."
Ryuji sighed. "Dude, you haven't changed at all, have you?" he said. "It's on our way into the store, why not check it out? She's totally cute enough for this to be worth it!"
"Ryuji, need I remind you that I'm already happily in a relationship with Sumire?" Ren said, his expression growing slightly annoyed before heaving a sigh. "But, fine, whatever, let's go check it out."
And with that, Ren, Ryuji, and Morgana made their way towards the 705 Building, where there was a stage and a large crowd surrounding it. On the stage was a woman a couple of years older than Ren and Ryuji wearing a very colorful and unusual looking outfit. Clearly, this girl was the Alice Hiiragi that EMMA mentioned, and Ren couldn't help himself but cringe in discomfort at the very sight of Alice.
"Hi, folks! Thanks for coming!" Alice said, beaming at the crowd before her. "A shop that carries one of my very own brands is opening here today!"
"Have you ever dreamed that you could be someone else, even if just for a little while?" asked Alice. "Well, I know a place where that dream comes to life! A wonderland where you become whatever you want to be!"
"Now, I've got one question," said Alice. "Does anyone wanna visit this wonderland with me?"
As one, the crowd, barring Ren, Ryuji, and Morgana, loudly blared the affirmative, causing Alice to chuckle.
"Aw, thanks!" beamed Alice. "Then I have a surprise for you! I'm giving away one hundred invitation cards as a special present! They're magical cards that will make you have an even better time in Wonderland! Enjoy…"
Alice grabbed a large stack of cards and descended the stage, handing them out to random people as she walked among the crowd. Of course, most of those gathered had the typical fanboy or fangirl responses to coming in close proximity to a celebrity, vowing to never wash their hands again and the like.
It wasn't long before Alice made her way over to Ren, Ryuji, and Morgana, before stopping in front of Ren. "Oh! Those are some quality specs!" she told Ren.
"Well thank you, they're fake." Ren replied as he tapped a finger onto his glasses frames.
Alice stood there in silence, a look of unexpected surprise was plastered onto her face. The silence didn't remain for very long as Alice started to snicker before bursting out in laughter. Alice was laughing so hard at Ren's response that she couldn't help but hold onto her stomach and bend over a little.
"I'm sorry-he-he-he-he." Alice laughed before being able to get back her composure.
Alice stood straight back up and looked at Ren.
"Sorry, I just wasn't expecting a response like that. Anyway, hope you like the store!" she said, handing Ren a card and continuing on her way.
Ren turned to Ryuji. "Come on, man, let's get going. We gotta get the barbeque for our camping trip, and I really want to get out of this heat." he said, earning him a nod from Ryuji as the pair of them began to walk away.
"Geez, what was with that crowd?" asked Morgana.
"To be fully honest, Morgana, I have absolutely no frickin clue." replied Ren.
Ryuji, meanwhile, was excited about the encounter they'd just had. "Man, I can't believe I saw Alice!" squealed Ryuji. "She was just as cute as I thought she'd be!"
Ren rolled his eyes. "Glad you feel that way. Personally, I think her outfit's weird. She looks like she was dipped in a giant vat of sherbet ice cream or cotton candy or something." he said.
Ryuji chuckled and shook his head. "You just don't get it. Her bein' different's what makes her so awesome!" he said.
"Well, she's all yours," Morgana said. "My heart still belongs to Lady Ann alone."
"And mine still belongs to Sumi, now and always," added Ren.
"Yeah, yeah, ya don't hafta tell me about your love lives…" Ryuji said dismissively.
"In any case, are you satisfied now?" Morgana said. "We need to hurry up with the shopping, it's way too hot out."
"Fine, fine…" Ryuji said before he remembered something. "Oh, yeah! You got one of those cards from Alice, right?"
Morgana laughed. "Yeah, he did. You just got blown off," he said.
"Can it! There were just a ton of people around!" snapped Ryuji.
Ren just simply shook his head with his eyes closed as he took a closer look at the card. "Alice Hiiragi's Wonderland?" Ren read aloud.
"Just looks like a boring old ad to me," said Morgana before noticing something else on the card. "Wait, there's some fine print here… here's my EMMA keyword: Wonderland. Please become my friend!" Morgana read aloud.
"What's a keyword?" Ryuji asked with a look of confusion.
Ren looked at Ryuji with a deadpan expression on his face.
"Really, Ryuji? It's what we used to enter the Metaverse with the Meta-Nav… Although, in this case I highly doubt cognitive psience is involved," Ren said.
"Now that I think about it, didn't Futaba use something like that yesterday? She said we could become friends through EMMA!" said Morgana.
"Yeah, do it! C'mon, Ren!" Ryuji said excitedly.
Ren only shook his head in denial. "I'm not interested," he said.
"What the heck, man?!" Ryuji cried out.
"Ryuji, I already told you that I'm happily in a relationship with Sumire." Ren said rather sternly. "If Sumi were to know that I just added some random idol onto my EMMA's friend's list, she'd most likely be upset with me."
"She can't be upset if she knows that Alice is just a friend, dude." Ryuji argued optimistically.
"I don't want to risk it." Ren fired back.
"Well, why don't you at least try testing it out first." Morgana suggested. "You could test out putting in Alice's keyword so you can know how to befriend everyone else on EMMA, and then you can remove Alice from your list. After that, you can let Ryuji have Alice all to himself."
Ren heaved a sigh. "All right, fine. I guess it wouldn't hurt to at least test out the befriending gimmick…" he said before pulling up EMMA and imputing Wonderland.
What happened next, however… was something that Ren, Morgana, and Ryuji were not expecting.
"Keyword successfully entered. Beginning navigation."
NewWorldFool: And thus concludes the chapter! Join us next time as Ren, Ryuji, and Morgana return to the Metaverse, and cross paths with an old frenemy! See you then!