Hello, all! The New World Fool here. Thought I'd interject for a moment before we kick things off to express my heartfelt gratitude to you all for your support for this experiment. To paraphrase Ango Natsume (arrogant douchebag with a very punchable face though he may be), it's thanks to readers like you that writers like me and countless others are able to keep doing what they love to do. And it is my hope that I can continue entertaining the masses who enjoy my work for many years to come. However… I have come to realize that the task of crafting a Persona 5 Royal version of P5S is a rather daunting task. So, to help with this, I have brought a co-author onboard, one CloudStrife07. He will help with the dialogue while I handle the action scenes.
But, that's enough outta me. Let us start the game!
Chapter Three
The Metaverse
No sooner had Ren input the keyword into EMMA than he, Ryuji, and Morgana figured out something was very wrong, as everyone around them disappeared into thin air, despite the three of them having been smack in the middle of a very crowded Shibuya on a hot summer's day, as well as finding themselves encompassed by an all-too-familiar heavy and oppressive atmosphere that reminded them of the adventures the three of them had been on only a year prior to these events.
"I dunno, man… feels like…" Ryuji muttered before he turned and got a good look at Ren and Morgana and cried out in surprise. "Whoa! What happened to you guys?!" he exclaimed.
The reason for Ryuji's shock was patently very obvious. Ren's outfit had changed into a black leather ankle-length tailcoat, a high-necked waistcoat with gold accents, black pants, brown-black winklepickers, and a pair of red gloves. Adorning his face was a white and black, birdlike, domino mask. Morgana, meanwhile, had turned from a normal cat into a cat that looked like something from a cartoon with a yellow neckerchief tied around his neck and a fanny pack with several pouches around his waist.
Morgana, or rather Mona, was quick to point something out to Ryuji. "It's not just us… you've changed too," he said, pointing to Ryuji as he spoke.
"Whoa! For real?!" cried Ryuji, or rather Skull, as the blonde looked down at himself to discover that he was now clad in a black leather jacket with matching pants and knee pads, a red ascot, combat boots, a pair of yellow gloves, and a skull mask.
A serious expression crossed Mona's face as he looked around at the area the trio had found themselves in. Heaving a sigh, Mona knew that there was only one place this could possibly be. "I don't know how, and I don't know why, but it looks like this place is connected to the Metaverse," he said.
A moment later, another familiar voice rang out to the trio. "Well, it certainly seems that way, now doesn't it? The question is, how and why do we have access to the Metaverse again after you all defeated this God of Control, and after we dispelled Maruki's so happy world?"
Ren, or rather, the Joker, froze in place at the sound of that voice as he, Mona, and Skull turned to face the source of the familiar voice to find a young man around their age with shaggy light brown hair, brown eyes, and a stern expression on his face, clad in a body-covering, black and dark blue striped outfit with several black studded belts strapped around his legs and arms, a short black cape and clawed gauntlets, a dark enclosed knight helmet with a black mask with red lenses that resembled a sharp beak that was slid up to reveal his face, and black boots. A serrated sword in its scabbard and a high-caliber pistol in its holster hung at his side.
"AKECHI?!" exclaimed Mona and Skull at the same time in complete and utter shock before babbling about how they'd thought the person in front of them, Goro Akechi, was supposed to be dead.
Joker, meanwhile, displayed his surprise at seeing his old archrival back in the realm of the living in a more subdued manner. "How is this possible?" Joker asked, surprise evident in his as he subtly got ready to draw his knife in case Akechi tried anything funny. "Akechi, you're- … aren't you supposed to be dead?"
"First off, we're in the Metaverse, so the name is Crow. Or Black Mask, either or works for me," Akechi, or rather the Crow, said coldly, cutting off Skull and Mona's babbling. "Secondly, come now, Joker, I'm sure you must have seen me at the station a few months back. I saw you looking right at me."
"...I thought I saw you, but I was convinced I was only seeing things…" Joker said before continuing. "Again, how are you still alive?!"
"We'll talk about how I cheated death once again along with my recent activities later." Crow said "Right now, we have far more pressing concerns."
On that note, Crow proceeded to point across the street where, much to Joker, Skull, and Mona's shock, a group of three, very, completely and utterly, ordinary people that the trio vaguely recognized as being among the crowd at 705, were walking up to one of Shibuya's jumbotrons, which now had a weird insignia on it that quickly changed into an image of Alice Hiiragi, but she looked very different from when they first met her back at her event.
For one thing, her hair was now a vibrant shade of purple with electric blue highlights, and her eyes were a bright and vibrant golden color. She now had a crown and some sort of accessory that had two rather oversized eyes, and although the group couldn't see much of it, she was clearly wearing a different outfit.
"Hey, everyone!" the Alice-like entity said. "You love me, don't you?"
The ordinary people nodded and made noises in confirmation, while the group of masked individuals slowly and subtly reached for their melee weapons, getting a bad vibe from this version of Alice Hiiragi.
Their suspicions were proven true when a thoughtful look crossed "Alice's" face. "Oh, yeah…?" she said thoughtfully, tapping her finger against her chin before an evil and sinister smile replaced her expression a moment later.
"Then you can give me all your Desires!"
At "Alice's" command, several demonic creatures dressed like cops appeared out of thin air and proceeded to capture the ordinary people despite their futile attempts to escape, before reaching into their chests, right around where their hearts would be, and extracting… a jewel?
Strange… what are those gems? They kinda look like the Discord Diamonds from the Mr. Needlemouse games… or maybe the Enigma Sapphire from Needlemouse Resistance… thought Joker before shaking his head and drawing his knife from his coat sleeve. I'll think about that later, right now, we need to deal with these Shadows!
"What the hell was that?!" Skull exclaimed from nearby as he witnessed the Shadows extract the strange gem from a person's chest before they fell to the ground.
"We don't have time to worry about that, Skull!" Crow snapped as he drew his serrated sword and cracked his neck, clearly eager for a fight with the oncoming enemies.
"Crow's right! We'll figure that out later!" said Mona as he drew his blade. "Joker, Skull, Crow, let's fight our way out!"
The three masked humans nodded in affirmation, as some of the oncoming enemies transformed into what seemed to be a wizard flying on a broomstick with a pumpkin for a head and small, female fairies, while others remained the exact same.
"Seriously?" Crow said, an amused sneer on his face. "Such trash like Crypt-Dwelling Pyromaniacs and Beguiling Girls think they have a chance in hell against us?!"
"Technically, their names are 'Jack O'Lantern' and 'Pixie,' Crow," Joker said. "More importantly, they're coming in far greater numbers than they did before. We can't afford to get careless here."
"Agreed, Joker," said Mona with a nod. "That aside, we haven't fought in sometime, so fighting against such weak enemies should be perfect for getting back into the swing of things."
Crow proceeded to charge ahead at the mass of oncoming enemies, striking them with his sword, the swings of which, much to his surprise, were damaging a multitude of enemies at once. Joker, Skull, and Mona achieved similar results with their own melee weapons.
What is this? thought Joker as he and the others continued to fight their way through the hordes of enemies before them. Fighting against the Shadows in the Palaces was way different from this… this almost feels like being in a Regime Soldiers game, hacking and slashing through a mob of at least ten enemies all at the same time…
Joker casted a glance over at Crow, who, as he expected, was having the time of his life mowing down enemies like weeds on a lawn. Joker had always known that, given Crow's bloodthirsty nature, he always derived a special pleasure from ripping, tearing, and otherwise decimating any Shadow unfortunate enough to cross his path, so fighting like this must have been euphoric to him.
However, almost as soon as the first wave of Shadows had been dispatched, a second, much larger wave of Shadows appeared, some of them transforming into more Beguiling Girls and Crypt-Dwelling Pyromaniacs as soon as they arrived, all of them looking for a fight.
"Everyone! Use your Personas!" called out Mona.
"Couldn't have said it better myself, Mona!" cried Joker as he grabbed ahold of his mask. "Come forth, Raoul-" Joker cried as he swiped off his mask, only for Arsène to appear instead of Raoul. "What the-? Arsène?!" Joker cried out in surprise.
Nearby, similar cries of surprise came from his comrades as Skull summoned Captain Kidd instead of William, Mona summoned Zorro instead of Diego, and Crow summoned Loki instead of Hereward.
"Nrrgh, what the hell is this shit?! Don't tell me we've all hit some kind of reset!" snarled Crow in frustration.
"That doesn't matter right now, Crow!" said Mona. "We can make do with what we've got for now, we've got more important things to worry about! Zorro, Garu!"
On Mona's command, Zorro slashed his rapier through the air, creating a decent sized gust of wind that downed a small group of the encroaching Shadows.
"Loki! Incinerate!" snarled Crow as he used Loki to blast the oncoming Shadows with a small blask of fire before following up with a dark energy attack, cleaving a decent gap among the Shadows, before Crow realized something about the attack. "SERIOUSLY?! EIHA AND AGI?! NOT EVEN EIGA, AGILAO, OR MAEIHA AND MARAGI?!" he cried out in frustration at how badly his Persona had regressed. "FOUR MONTHS OF INACTIVITY, AND EVEN I'M ALL THE WAY BACK TO SQUARE ONE WITH MY POWERS?!"
Joker couldn't help but smirk as Arsène pulled off his own Eiha attack, damaging some of the other Shadows. There was little doubt that Crow was the most experienced Persona-User out of all of them, having been at Shido's beck and call, carrying out psychotic breakdowns and mental shutdowns for two years and some change before Ren Amamiya had crossed paths with the disgraced politician and awakened to his powers, becoming the Joker and forming the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, so a part of him was satisfied that Crow would have to regain his lost strength, like the rest of them more than likely had to. Given Crow's nature, if he'd been more powerful than any of them, he'd more than likely lord it over them.
That being said, even with the aid of their Personas, the enemy Shadows continued to pour in. Looking around, Joker caught sight of a nearby lamppost, and quickly darted over to it, before grabbing ahold of the poll and spinning around on it, kicking several nearby Shadows in the face and sending them flying backwards. Seeing the Shadows sprawled on the ground, Joker was quick to take advantage of the opening.
"Everyone, now!" bellowed Joker. As one, the four Persona-Users walloped the downed enemies, appearing as nothing more than shadowy blurs as they launched their All-Out Attack, decimating the enemies.
"God, I haven't felt so alive in MONTHS!" bellowed Crow, an insane look on his face as he let out a cackle.
"Hell yeah! Y'all are way too weak, don't even TRY stepping to us again!" cried Skull.
"But, what the Hell's going on here? Not only do we have our Phantom Thief outfits, but we even have our Personas, the fact that they're our Starter Personas notwithstanding…" said Joker.
Mona frowned in thought. "I'm getting a feeling… is this place a-"
Before Mona could finish his thought, another wave of Shadows, some of them being much larger than usual, while others looked like helicopters with arms holding gatling guns. "Nrrgh, if this keeps up, we're gonna get overrun! We need to retreat!" said Mona.
"Speak for yourself, cat!" bellowed Crow as he started to move towards the Shadows, only for Joker to grab him from behind, holding him back.
"And going in guns and Persona blazing like that is gonna get you killed permanently one day, Crow," said Joker. "We need to fall back, recover our strength, and figure out what the Hell is going on here and how the Metaverse is back!"
Crow growled. "Fine…" he said reluctantly, before joining Joker, Skull, and Mona as they retreated into a nearby alleyway.
A Short Time Later...
As Joker, Crow, Mona, and Skull all ran down the empty alleyway with all of the enemy Shadows out of sight, they finally came to a stop. They all panted in a bit of exhaustion from all the endless fighting they've just gone through, plus the running away.
"Okay, what in the Hell IS this place?" Skull asked, finally catching his breath
"This is the Metaverse, isn't it?" Joker asked in response, looking between his comrades.
"Well that much should already be obvious, given we were just attacked by a horde of Shadows." Crow elaborated in an apathetic tone.
Mona narrowed his eyes, deep in serious thought.
"I think… this could be Alice's Palace." Mona finally spoke
"A Palace…" Joker said calmly "Yeah, that would make the most sense… but I thought we destroyed the Metaverse when we killed Yaldabaoth and changed Maruki's heart. We don't even have the MetaNav on our phones anymore. How can the Metaverse even still be here?"
"Yaldabaoth?" asked Crow, his head tilted in confusion. "Is this Yaldabaoth the God of Control I heard you all mention when we were all talking with that tiny, white-haired girl who was dressed in blue?"
"That tiny, white-haired girl in blue is named Lady Lavenza." Mona corrected Crow. "And yes, Yaldabaoth was indeed the name of that god."
"I see…" Crow said thoughtfully "But anyway, I think it's only more accurate to say that what you really destroyed was just Mementos, not the Metaverse entirely."
"Yeah, Crow's right." Mona continued. "When I said we'd be destroying the Metaverse, I really just meant Mementos. We only had to destroy Mementos in order to change the collective cognition of everyone who wished to stop thinking for themselves and instead pray for a false god to give them everything they wanted. That's exactly what we did… but even though we destroyed Mementos and changed the cognition of the masses, the Metaverse itself still remained."
"Yeeaaah, I still don't get it," Skull admitted with his head down.
"You clueless imbecile!" Crow snarled in annoyance. "What Mona is saying is that the Metaverse will always exist no matter what you do."
"More specifically…" Mona continued "Everyone in the world has an individual desire or even a desire that's shared with many other people. Everyone's heart always has the potential to become warped with distorted desires, whether it's for their own benefit or if it's a desire that's shared with millions of others. Mementos only existed because the collective unconscious of the masses was becoming distorted. It wasn't always there."
"So what you're saying is that even though Mementos was destroyed before, because everyone still has the potential to become warped with desires, Palaces will still continue to exist?" Joker asked. "Then again, Futaba's mom was doing research into Cognitive Psience well before the mental shutdowns started…"
"Yep, and there's nothing that says a new version of Mementos cannot be made later on in the future. If the cognition of the masses becomes distorted again, Mementos will once again take shape," Mona explained.
Joker thought back to his conversation that he had with Lavenza last night, about the new potential danger that threatened to consume him and the rest of the world, which made him into a prisoner of fate yet again. Was a new version of Mementos already on the rise? Was another God of Control being created by the masses? Joker clenched his fists tightly and gritted his teeth. He put the existence of himself and the rest of his friends on the line to fight against Yaldabaoth in order to save themselves as well as the rest of the world. It was already a nightmare to have to face off against an enemy with nearly impossible odds, and facing off against Maruki wasn't really that much better given how powerful he was with his Actualization powers. Now there's the potential that it's all about to happen yet again…
Honestly, Joker and the rest of his group just can't catch a break.
"But one question still remains. How exactly did we get into the Metaverse? Like Joker said, we don't have the Nav on our phones anymore..." Crow asked.
Mona stood there, pondering at the possibilities of how they could have gotten transported from Shibuya in the real world into an alternate version of Shibuya in the Metaverse. Suddenly, it hit him.
"EMMA," Mona said.
"EMMA?" Joker asked.
"Joker, remember when we were trying to enter in Alice's keyword to become part of her friends list on EMMA?" Mona asked before continuing. "After putting in the keyword, EMMA's next words were 'beginning navigation'. I can't exactly prove anything, but I think we ended up coming into Alice's Palace because we used EMMA."
"So you're saying that this new EMMA app is somehow acting as the new MetaNav?" Crow asked.
"That's the only logical explanation I can think of." Mona said "And you all saw Alice on that screen just like I did. No matter how you look at it, that was definitely her shadow. So there's no doubt that this is definitely a Palace of some sort for Alice."
"Dammit!" Skull grunted loudly. "Whatever it is, it doesn't change the fact that we're in deep shit…"
"Then I suggest we try pushing on ahead and try gathering some more intel on this place." Joker suggested with a serious tone. "We're still in the dark about a lot of things."
"I agree." Mona said. "If this really is a Palace, the distortion has to have a core somewhere."
"In other words, we'll have to find the source of Alice's Treasure," Crow said.
"Exactly… I'm even getting a faint whiff of it. If we look around, we may be able to learn what's going on, too. We'll get a better idea of what to do next depending on what we find." Mona said
Skull sighed. "I guess we're doin' this..." he said.
With that, Joker, Crow, Mona, and Skull continued on the path before them. As they ran, they traveled across some rather bizarre looking parts of Shibuya. There were parts of the buildings that were covered with ribbons, there were multi-colored lollipops and candy canes sticking from the ground, and there were even some presents being levitated by a bunch of balloons up in the sky. Considering the keyword on Alice's card, Joker wondered if this was supposed to be what Alice imagined a Wonderland-like version of Shibuya would look like.
They ran across the streets without much of an issue since there were no Shadows in sight… but their luck had just about run out. A total of three overhead lights came on and shined down on top of Joker and the rest as a whole bunch of security guard shadows started to spawn all around them.
"No good - It's an ambush!" Mona cried out.
"Yeah, thank you Captain Obvious!" Crow growled as he attempted to draw his sword.
However, everyone was interrupted when a large, white net came falling down from the sky, landing on top of them, and forcing them to fall down onto their knees. They all tried to get back up onto their feet, but the weight of the net and all the constant tangles they kept on getting caught into wasn't doing them much favors.
"This ain't fair!" Skull shouted
Slowly, the Shadows approached the four intruders. Joker looked up and noticed one of the shadows standing right over him, with a baton in its hand. The shadow slowly lifted the baton over its head before swiftly bringing it down and swatting Joker's head with it.
"AUGH!" Joker grunted in pain.
"Joker!" Mona cried out.
Joker tried his best to stay awake after that blow to the head, but the pain was just proving to be too much trauma for his head to handle. Not long after a few good seconds, Joker had lost consciousness.
It wasn't too long after Joker had lost consciousness that he and the others had been restrained with ropes tying their hands behind their backs, and Mona having both of his arms tied up. When Joker regained his consciousness, he and the others were being escorted directly to the 705 building, which looked like it had been remodeled into looking like a castle. It had the same kind of bizarre look that the last part of Shibuya had, with all the ribbons, candy, presents and balloons. As Joker and the others were being made to walk down the halls of the 705 castle, it seemed like they were being escorted to meet the ruler of this 'Palace' herself.
"How pathetic. You've stopped with your Phantom Thief business for four months and you're already so rusty that you're so easily captured. Just utterly pathetic, Joker," Crow said in his usual dickish tone.
"Oh shut up. I didn't see you do any better." Joker retorted, causing Crow to snarl.
"Shut your mouths and keep moving!" One of the guards shouted before pushing Joker and Crow further along
Soon, they all reached a big set of red double doors with a big pink heart decorated on them, each door with one half of the whole heart. The double doors opened and they all stepped inside the room. Joker silently gasped when he saw Shadow Alice wearing a provocative dominatrix outfit. She has two psychedelic eye decors on her back as her buns and is wearing a pair of high heels. She was holding onto a long, pink flamingo cane while sitting on a large, red, luxurious throne that sat in the middle of what looked something like a pink lit up dance floor. There was also what looked like a carousel that surrounded the entire throne room, with pink horses that were all wearing black leather fetish gear, which sent chills down Joker's back.
Joker and the rest were made to kneel down before the "queen" of this castle with Joker up at the front of the group.
"Who're these lil' guys?" Shadow Alice asked
"Your Majesty, we've captured these thieves, but we couldn't seize their Desires. We have instead brought them to you," one of the sentry Shadows said
Shadow Alice scowled as she stood up from her throne.
"Couldn't seize their Desires? Explain yourselves," Shadow Alice demanded as she slowly and quite seductively walked up to Joker before smiling down on him. "Hmph...you look pretty cool. So, what's your name?"
Joker only stayed silent with his eyes narrowing behind his domino mask. He could tell that she was trying to get his attention by flattering him and even moving around suggestively, and there was no way he was going to let her toy with him like that. He wasn't going to give her such pleasure.
There was a clear sign of irritation in Shadow Alice's eyes as she quickly lifted her pink flamingo cane and swatted Joker in the head with it, knocking him down to the floor.
"AUGH!" Joker cried out in pain from getting trauma to the head a second time today
"Joker!" Mona cried out.
Shadow Alice slowly moved Joker to lay down on his back with her right foot, and she moved her foot down to rest on top of his chest.
"Ah, so you're Joker, huh?" Shadow Alice said as she pushed her foot down harder onto Joker's chest. "Come now, Joker. You need to answer properly when your queen asks you a question."
Unfortunately, Joker could not even say anything at this point. The weight and force from Alice's heel was making it a bit difficult for him to breathe, and even though his face was hidden behind a mask, from what Skull could tell, Joker did not look like he was enjoying what Alice was doing to him one bit.
"Get off of him, asshole!" Skull shouted angrily at Shadow Alice while glaring at her from behind his skull mask.
Shadow Alice looked over at Skull with clear annoyance and disgust.
"Ugh, would you shut your mouth? Or are you looking for punishment too?" Shadow Alice asked, irritation in her voice.
"Wha- You shit! Just try it!" Skull said daringly
"Don't bother, Skull." Crow said "If Joker can't deal with it, what makes you think you could do any better?"
"Oh?" Shadow Alice said as she looked over at Crow. "So, do you want to be a good toy and do as you're told?"
Crow growled at Shadow Alice, glaring venomously at her even from behind the red lenses of his mask.
"If you dare put your foot on me like I'm just some toy beneath your heel, I am going to tear apart your limbs and butcher your entrails with my sword all while recording your screams of agony and your futile pleads for mercy to be added to my music collection, you miserable, worthless weakling!" Crow threatened, his voice overflowing with bloodlust.
Amazingly, Crow's threat seemed to have frightened Shadow Alice a bit enough to make her unknowingly relieve some of the weight from her foot on Joker's chest, allowing him to be able to breathe again.
"...I ...I di- ...I did…" Joker said as he was slowly collecting his breath again
"Joker?" Mona asked as he looked over to his leader and adopted brother.
"Hm?" Shadow Alice looked down at Joker
Joker opened his eyes back up and glared daggers at Shadow Alice while gritting his teeth.
"I did NOT consent for Senpai to STEP on me!" Joker shouted at Shadow Alice "Only Violet is allowed to do that!"
The silence that followed was thick enough to be cut with a machete. However, it only lasted a few moments before it was broken.
"WHAT THE- ?! OH MY GOD!" Mona cried out, utterly bewildered and creeped out. "Joker, of all the witty retorts you could have made, WHY DID YOU PICK THAT?!"
"DUDE! That's personal information I did NOT need to hear!" Skull shouted, feeling equally just as creeped out and disturbed.
"...Great, now I'm sick to my stomach because of you," Crow said with his face looking a little green, wishing he could hold one of his hands up to his mouth.
Shadow Alice, on the other hand, had her eyes bolted open wide. She slowly removed her foot from Joker's chest as she slowly moved backwards away from him.
"...Sen...pai?" Shadow Alice silently uttered.
Joker lifted himself up from laying on the floor and looked over at Shadow Alice. He wasn't really sure why, but he could see that she was trembling… trembling? Was she afraid? Did the word 'Senpai' somehow scare her? Joker found himself utterly confused right now.
"Your Majesty, are you alright?" the Sentry Shadow asked
"...Get them out of here!" Shadow Alice said slightly raising her voice, despite still trembling
"Your Majes-" the Sentry Shadow started to say but was soon cut off.
"GET THEM OUT OF HERE!" Shadow Alice hollered.
With that, the Shadows immediately grabbed hold of Joker and the rest as they were escorted out of the throne room. Joker couldn't help but look back at Shadow Alice, who had now collapsed to the floor, looking like she had either just seen a ghost or witnessed a terrible accident… for what reason could Shadow Alice be so afraid of being called 'Senpai'...?
Not that it really mattered. She was a Palace ruler, and she was definitely not the cute, friendly little idol that she appeared to be. She still needed to be dealt with the same way all of Joker's past targets were dealt with… only problem was that he was still in binds and was being escorted to who knows where.
And thus concludes the chapter! Big thank you to CloudStrife07 for his help with this chapter. If you guys liked what you saw here, then be sure to fave, follow, and review, and join us next time as we arrive at the moment you've all been waiting for: the introduction of Humanity's Companion! See you then!