Persona 5: Tainted Soul
Chapter 6: A New Day, A New Trumpeting Climax
As dawn broke over the Aldrich residence, the young blonde slowly opened his eyes. For once upon arriving here, he felt the weight from before, finally lifted for now as it was giving him another chance to continue onward.
"Mornin' sunshine. How does it feel to be free from that asshole Kamoshida?" Vice asked him.
"Like a butterfly." Cody responded, as he stretched out.
"Sweet! Well we better head out, heard the boss wants us to assemble at his place." the demon noted before heading into the Gunderphone.
"Roger that." He nodded, as he got dressed and walked out to see a napping Alice. He smiled softly as he covered her up before patting her head.
As he exited his house however, the blonde could have sworn he heard the sound of a train passing by. But there was no sign of any railroads or monorails where he lived. So where did the noise come from?
"Did you hear that?" Cody asked Vice, hoping that the demon took notice of the noise as well.
"Hm? How odd, we don't live near any train stations or railroads... Might just be our imagination, aibou." Vice noted.
"I guess so. Though I swear… that noise sounded kind of familiar to me…" the blonde noted before the duo made their way to Leblanc as nearby, small specs of dust seemed to follow the young boy.
Opening: Like Flames - Tensura Slime Season 2 - Opening 2
/PRELUDE/
As Revi and Vice flies through the night sky, we see glimpses of Ichigo and Naoya before the title zips past the duo
/Fate repeats all over again, The voices of my heart say
Time is not enough, it's over/
It soon jumps to Cody standing alone in a hall of mirrors, Vice being on the other side of the mirror before he turns around to see Mementos and the various monsters wandering it's corridors.
/Belief that makes me who I am, light doesn't fade away
Made my mind up now, it's better/
Meanwhile, Ren is sitting alone in the jail cell of the Velvet Room, looking towards the camera as a ghostly visage of Arsene appears before him as he smiles wickedly.
/Yeah I know it's not an easy road, lured by your hands/
It then jumps into a montage of Ryuji jumping for a bit before running, Ann with her back towards the camera fixing her hoodie, an artist holding his paintbrush in front of himself with one eye closed, a cat wandering through an alleyway, Makoto practicing judo, a NEET looking over something on her screen, an heiress looking over her garden, a gymnast practicing her routine, and finally a detective looking over some notes
/Even if it rains don't be swayed, being same as always/
It then jumps to Ichigo watching over the streets of New York, Nigo standing in the middle of a ruined battlefield alone, V3 looking towards the Pyramids of Giza, the prone body of Riderman on a beach in Tahiti, X floating down into the depths of the Mediterranean Sea, Amazon roaring into the night sky causing birds to fly up from the trees of the jungle, and a pair of graves in the middle of a beach with the helmet of Stronger resting on the left grave while a bouquet of flowers was near the right grave.
/Want to feel my destiny, Open my eyes to be braver/
As the shadow of the villains of past Rider and Persona titles haunt Cody and Ren, they soon turn to see a light where they notice the chains holding them back. Luckily, they spot Touma turn towards him and reach out for them, allowing them to break out and transform.
/Get up now Get up now stronger I believe in myself
Stand up now Stand up now shouting
I'll never run away/
It then transitions into a battle scene where Revi and Vice team up as they battle alongside the Phantom Thieves, transforming into their different forms to help each team member. Meanwhile, Ren soon awakens Arsene as several silhouettes of other Personas appear behind the original Phantom Thief before he and Ren perform Eigon.
/I might lose control... It's a perfect world/
It then transitions into showing Cody lost in the devil's world before he sees the Deadmans standing in his way, as Aguilera summons the eight Palace holders behind themselves with her Vistamp.
/Destroy all of it, in the end it's for our good/
As he panics, he notices the spirit of Maria embracing him before he sees the past Riders from Ichigo until Saber appears by his side, their lights shining down enough to allow him to obtain the Rex Vistamp, summoning Vice in the process.
/Let me shout like flames/
Afterwards, he and Vice share a high-five before it jumps to an ending shot of the twelve heroes standing behind a spotlight in their Metaverse garbs.
"Leblanc, huh? How… ironic." Cody noted, as they reached the shop before they entered it. The scent of coffee and curry hitting his nose upon opening the door.
"Howdy. Glad to see that you two got my text." Ren greeted the pair as he saw the two enter.
"Are we the first ones?" Cody asked, looking around at the empty shop.
"Seems like it." he noted as the pair sat down, "Here, try this. It's my first attempt at brewing coffee." he told the pair before offering Cody a cup for him to try.
Yet the moment a single drop of coffee hit his tongue, he quickly threw his head back, only to swiftly head to the bathroom to spit up the coffee. It was horrendous.
"Yeah, that bad?" Ren guessed, knowing that he screwed up.
"Bad? I thought I was tasting grounded manure!" Cody coughed.
"No wonder you said that it was your first." Vice added as he chuckled at Cody's face and Ren's slight disappointment.
"Don't make me force feed it to you.." Cody glared.
"I'm intangible, remember?" the demon reminded his host with a shrug and a smirk, "How the heck are you going to force feed me Ren's beginner's coffee?"
The two soon looked at each other, "Want to keep a bottle on standby in case we're in a Palace?" the leader offered.
"Gladly…" Cody accepted.
They soon heard the door open as Ryuji and Ann walked in next waving to the others.
"Hey guys!" the other blonde of the group greeted before noticing the scowls on Ren and Cody, "Uhhh… Did we interrupt something?"
"Just some evil planning on Vice is all." Ren waved off. "Welcome you two."
"What else is new?" Morgana sarcastically asked.
"So what's up with calling us all over here? Found a new target?" Ryuji asked.
"Kind of." Ren noted, "I was thinking we could look over possible targets together."
"Heck yeah! Sounds good to me!" Ryuji grinned.
This made Ren smile as he got up, "Let's have a small talk upstairs, just in case anyone is listening."
The group were soon motioned the group upstairs to where Ren currently lived in. As they noticed how cramped it was, among the small junk that remained up there. It truly felt like it was being given to occupy by a criminal.
"This is where you live?" Ann gawked.
"What a dump…" Vice chimed in.
"Hey, it's at least kind of comfy." Morgana chuckled before the group sat down.
"Alright then, what do you have for targets Ren?" Cody asked as the others turned to Ren.
"Mostly heard a few rumors these past few days. Certain people either turning on each other or the occasional Deadmans sympathizers." Ren said, as he placed a small sheet of paper with the notes and such he learned from it.
"Sounds kind of good. We do need to do a few small jobs while waiting for the next big caper." Ryuji noted.
"Speaking of, how do we even tackle this? If they don't have a Palace, how can we change them?" Cody questioned.
"Oh, leave that to me. There's already a place like that." Morgana chimed in.
This surprised the group. When they turned to Ren, he confirmed the cat's claim.
"We'll show you in a bit. Trust me, it surprised me too, when Morgana showed me. Let's just say, once we get there? We should have some supplies with us." Ren informed the others.
"Alright, let's hope you're not pulling a fast one on us cat." Vice noted.
XXX
As the small group was outside of Shibuya, they wondered what Morgana had planned as all he said was to meet here. Of course, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, nor any signs of a Palace or even a Dead Zone. in store for them.
"Okay, what we were doing here, Morgana?" Cody asked, as he was confused as the others.
"Relax a bit. Now, get out your phone, we're diving in." Morgana said.
"Wait, you already found a Palace?" Ryuji questioned.
"In a sense."
"Then does that mean you know who the ruler is?"
"Somewhat."
"So Mona, what's the keywords for this Palace?" Cody asked the cat.
"Mementos."
That was an odd keyword, but they entered it as in seconds the world warped and twisted into what would usually be for the Palace, as they soon saw not much had changed other than the color and tint of the world, even they remained in their normal clothes.
"Okay, this is odd…" Vice noted… only to see that he was visible once again, "Wait what now?!"
"Woah! Vice is visible!" Ryuji gasped.
"Of course he is, now, let's head further down." Morgana chimed in, as he lead the way.
They soon began to move towards the entrance to the train station that the cat was walking down. But as soon as they passed those last few steps, their outfits quickly changed into that of their Phantom Thief attire.
"Huh? Wait, does this mean we were spotted?" Panther questioned.
"Since the moment we stepped in." Mona pointed out.
"So, this is some kind of mega-Palace?" Skull pondered.
"In a way. You could say this is…. 'Everyone's Palace.'?" Mona pointed out.
"Even us?" VIce asked as he pointed at himself and Cody.
"Until you unlocked your Persona's? Or in your cases, became a Kamen Rider? Yes." Mona nodded, "This is Mementos, the Palace of the Masses."
"Alright then, let's get started on ticking off these names on the list." Joker noted, "Mona, if you will?" he asked the cat.
"Roger that, Joker." Mona nodded, "So, in Mementos, you could say is the birthing ground for those who could gain Palaces. Hence why its known as 'The Palace of The Masses.'" He informed the group.
"It's also what connects our world to the world of demons." He explained, "We ended up running into several Giff Juniors when Mona and I entered this place last night. At least you weren't telling me to go to sleep for once."
"Hey, this was important!" Mona huffed.
"So if we find any fledgeling Deadmans here, then we can find whoever stole the Vistamps too!" Revi realized.
"Correct, and those that use is, also have a seed of a Palace within them. If we take that, that'll change whoever is in control and make them repent." Mona informed.
"Sweet! So we got your own personal magic dimension to help people with!" Skull cheered, "Mona, Joker, you guys are awesome!"
"Aw shucks." Mona smiled as the cat thief hugged him.
"Now, we best get moving. It is a long ways away from our new destination." Joker chimed in.
"Wait, we have to walk all the way there?" Panther questioned.
"No need to worry, Lady Panther! I got this down." Mona said, hopping off of her before he jumped into the air.
Morgana soon began to mimic Ichigo's famous transformation pose, much to the surprise of the three Rider otakus.
"Morgana… HENSHIN!"
"Wait, why am I being lumped in with Codes and Skull? I'm a demon for fuck's sake!"
Did you forget that you watched all of those shows with Cody? You kind of fit the bill too.
"How mean, readers!"
Soon, as Mona jumped into the air, a puff of smoke formed out, before flying out of it was…. A van?!
"Mona just became a Transformer!" Skull gasped.
Joker though…. Looked not as pleased as he walked over and pinched the car's whiskers.
"You're telling me, we didn't have to walk all that way before, and you could become a car?!" Joker asked with anger in his voice from knowing Mona could do this.
"I-I was just saving this for when all of us were together! This takes a lot out of me!" Mona whined from the pinch.
"Hey! Knock it off with that! That's Cody and I's routine!" Vice snapped at the pair, "Or maybe Ikki and I if this was the regular Revice…"
Joker sighed before shaking his head, "Well, we have a way to get around now. Let's hop in." He said, opening the door for the others to ride in.
"I call shotgun!" Vice called out.
"Hey, no fair!" Skull complained, "I wanted to ride shotgun!"
"Stop complaining and get in, already." Ann sighed, pushing the two into the van.
"Yes ma'am…" the two groaned.
"Don't worry Panther, Revi will make sure that Vice and your boyfriend are well behaved in the back." Ren said in an attempt to fluster her.
Ann wasn't fazed as she kicked him into the back of the van with a huff as she climbed in. As everyone sat down, they soon realized one important thing….
"Wait, who's driving this?" Revi called out.
"Me, duh!" Vice reminded them.
"No way." The group said in unison, quickly kicking him into the backseat with Joker.
"How about you Panther? I mean you were taking some driving lessons before the Kamoshida incident." Skull asked the cat thief.
"Y-Yes… but I've failed each test…." Panther sighed out.
They soon turned to the other Japanese-American of the group.
Revi sighed out as he got out and moved to the front of the car before hopping into the driver's seat.
"You guys owe me for this." He complained before he strapped in and began to drive the van off.
"I'll be sure to tell you the test answers then~!" Vice chimed in with a small tease.
"I ain't no cheater." Revi waved off.
"Says the guy who has a demon instead of a Persona." Mona pointed out.
"Wait, does that even count as cheating?" Skull questioned.
"Can we get going already?!" Panther groaned.
Revi nodded as he stepped gently on the gas pedal as they soon drove off into Mementos. The group were surprised at how empty the train system of Shibuya was while in Mementos.
"The Shadows hangin' around here are real creepy." Skull observed as he looked at the black sentient pools patrolling the area.
"You have to realize that they're nothing but prey! Grow a backbone, Skull." Mona grumbled.
"Sides, as long as we do our best to avoid them, we'll be fine." Revi added on.
"Ooh, Look! There are Giff Juniors roaming the area just like Joker said they are!" Vice chimed in as he moved to the window to observe them, shoving his way into the other passengers' faces in the process.
"Can I hit him…?" Panther asked with an angered groan.
"Hey, don't make a mess back there demon! I'll charge a cleaning fee!" Mona growled.
"Ahh, just get Joker to wash you!" the demon pointed out before returning to his spot.
Soon, Joker noticed something off the corner of his eye, it was a human with a dark aura. A dark aura somewhat similar to King Kamoshida.
"Revi! Make a hard right! I think we just found our target!" he called out.
"Hm? Roger that." Revi noted, quickly spinning the wheel as it turned and quickly tilted the van to the turn.
The van soon began to get on the tracks while on the chase for the human who was quickly making a run for it, shaking it's inhabitants in the process.
"Ow ow ow… This road's so bumpy." Panther grumbled.
"Whoa, Panther, they're huge! I don't know where to look when they shake!" Vice said with a perverted chuckle.
"Oi, don't perv on my friend like that!" Skull growled at the demon as the two began to brawl.
"Guys, I will turn this cat-van around if you keep squabbling back there!" Revi warned the group.
"What's going on in there? You better keep off Lady Panther, demon!" Mona hissed.
They soon stopped as the human reached a dead end, allowing Mona's headlights to illuminate their first Mementos target. They group soon got out as Mona turned back to his normal form, as they approached the human with the dark aura.
"So this is the target? What gives?" Skull frowned.
"Easy now. Let's focus." Joker called them out.
"Alright, so who do we have here boss?" Revi asked the leader.
"From what we could gather, this is Natsuhiko Nakanohara. Seems he was dumped by his ex, and he's been recently stalking her for it." Joker informed the group.
"She's mine! I won't let her get away!" The Shadow hissed out in anger, as it seemed his twisted desire was to be back with his ex.
"Yeesh, talk about obsessed." Skull groaned, "Alright, let's put this guy's desire out of his misery."
"What? You kids think you can keep me from her?" the Shadow growled at them, "Fine, I'll deal with you first then!"
Soon, the shadow darkened as it took the shape of a red demon with large arms and a odd haircut as it howled out.
"Recognize the creature Vice?" Joker asked Vice, noting the demon's knowledge of these kind of creatures.
"Hmm, seems to be a Obariyon. Mostly known as a 'piggyback demon' from folklore. He's weak sauce." Vice waved off with boredom.
"Looks like we got some easy pickings then! Take them down, Captain Kidd!" Skull declared as he summoned his Persona.
"Aye kiddo! Fire away!" Kidd announced, launching several cannonballs at the Shadow.
Obairiyon dodged the attack before leaping forward with a Lucky Punch at the pirate thief, who easily blocked the attack.
"Too easy!" he noted before winding up for a powerful swing that caused the Shadow to splat on the wall.
"Owie! You meanie!" The red demon hissed, soon jumping from place to place only to soon lunge at Ann. "You look tasty!"
"Sorry, but you're not my type!" Panther stated before giving the Shadow a crack of her whip.
As she lashed it out, Panther wrapped the Shadow up before tugging it high into the air, giving Ryuji a chance to let out a powerful thunderbolt as it, causing the Shadow to shiver and plummet to the ground.
"Alright, I'll finish things here!" Vice chuckled before grabbing the Obariyon and using it like a paddleball, defeating it soon after.
"P-Please! Spare me!" The Shadow pleaded, turning back to its human form, "I-I… I know I was in the wrong. But… it was because of Madrame who stole everything from me, that I hurt my ex."
"Madarame? Why does that name sound familiar?" Panther pondered.
"Who cares! Let's just do what we did to Kamoshida to him!" Vice said, "Let's not get any eyes from Maya-sama on us though, she's way too scary than any cop."
"Repent and turn yourself in. As well as apologize to your ex." Joker stated, twirling his gun in his hand for intimidation.
"R-Right away! Just don't hurt me!" the Shadow said as he soon faded, as standing there in his place was what looked to be a small jewel.
Joker pondered before taking it as it formed into what appeared to be a necklace from the old owner.
"Well done, Joker! Mission complete!" Mona cheered.
"Tsk, such weaklings. I thought that I would have granted his wish easily…" a mysterious voice growled, much to the group's confusion.
"I got a bad feeling about this." Vice said.
Soon, a new figure appeared. It looked at first to be sand, only for it to form into that of a Elephant-esc monster. One that had a rat on its shoulder as it appeared to be based off of an old story.
"Wait a minute…" Revi said before noticing the sand that was at the mammoth monster's feet, "Sand… that's no Deadman. That looks like an Imagin!"
"You mean, that thing's one of Den-O's monsters? But I thought you said that Den-O wasn't real!" Skull questioned the dino Rider.
"He isn't. But… maybe…." Revi noted before his eyes widened before he slapped himself in the face. "Decade must've accidentally connected the other worlds with ours…."
Soon, a set of very, very appropriate words came to the whole group's mind as they realized how the Elephant Imagin was made real.
"Onore Dikedo…" the group groaned out loud.
"Prepare yourselves!" The Imagin shouted, soon blowing wind out of its trunk to toss the group away.
"Hang on!" Joker cried out as they tried to keep a hold of whatever they could grasp to brave the wind the elephant was bellowing.
"Skull! Set up a fast ball special!" Revi requested to the teammate.
"Aye aye!" Skull declared as he readied his spiked bat.
Revi soon took this chance to jump from the barrier he was holding onto, to let the torrent of wind carry him swiftly towards Skull. The punk-theif smirked as he slammed his bat against Revi's feet, propelling him forward and through the torrent of wind towards the Imagin.
REX STAMPING FINISH!
The young rider extended his leg for a spinning Rider Kick, connecting to the Imagin and breaking through enough to stop its attack and forcing it to the ground to tumble from the hit, giving the others a chance to breath and fight back.
"And it's a home run~!" Vice cheered before readying the OhninBuster 50, "Now let's tear him apart!"
The group then zipped around, cutting through the Imagin before they landed. However before could Vice count down, the Elephant Imagin bellowed his trunk much to his surprise.
"Wait what?! How did he survive that?!" Revi gasped.
"Seems like this one's a tougher foe than the Deadman we've fought." Joker noted.
"No duh! He's a legacy monster type!" Vice pointed out, "Of course the current heroes can't beat him. We need Den-O's power!"
"We don't even have that Vistamp yet, so how even can we?" Skull pointed out, dodging a blast of wind.
"Grah, retreat!" Joker called out, "We need to regroup somewhere!"
The others nodded as Vice used the gun mode of the OhinBuster 50 to shoot the ground around the group, kicking up enough dust to cover their tracks and allow them to escape the Imagin's view.
"Tsk. They can't run forever." the Imagin growled before he began to stew on his words, "Den-O… isn't real…" He soon began to smirk evilly as the realization hit him, "It seems that I may have found a world where I could actually succeed in regaining my own time?"
XXX
WELCOME BACK TO THE REAL WORLD...
"Whew, we lost him…" Ryuji groaned as the group collapsed from the escape.
"Great… and just when I thought this would be easier, we got another problem!" Ann groaned out in frustration. "Anyway we can get that jerk back here so I can smack him?"
"Decade's faced Natsumi who constantly placed him in a fit of laughter. He'd outmaneuver you." Cody panted out.
"Well this sucks, now we got a psychotic elephant kaiju running around Mementos whose out to kill us!" Vice roared, "Can this day get any worse?!"
*BOOM!*
Heavy rains soon began to fall on the streets of Tokyo, much to the demon's dismay.
"Don't… say anything… please…" Vice whined before returning back into his host's body.
"At least we're near someplace familiar to dry off." Cody noted as he spotted Iwai's shop just a bit down the street.
The group nodded as this would allow them to dry off and wait until it was more clearer to head back as they entered the store, much to the owner's dismay from the sight of the teens.
"Yeesh, couldn't have picked somewhere else to wait for the rain?" he questioned them.
"I am sorry about all this." Ren apologized for the group.
"Meh, it's better than today's boring drag. I'll get a heater for you kids to dry off quickly." Iwai offered as he stood up to find a working heater for the teens to dry off and warm up from the rain.
As they waited, the group decided to ask something of Cody.
"So, since you know what that thing was. Mind giving us a bit of a history lesson on what an Imagin is?" Ann asked as she and Morgana were the only ones of the thieves to not have seen Kamen Rider before.
Cody nodded to them, "Imagin are… practically humans from the future. But something happened that caused them to lose their future, so they traveled back in time to reclaim it, by any means necessary." He informed the group, "They became twisted and changed from the sands of time and thus turned into Imagins. Monsters who grant the wish of whoever they're contracted with. Only that is a two way-streak…"
"So the Imagin… used to be human?" Morgana asked the pair, "They're… almost like me in a way."
"Yes, but now they're nothing but monsters from a lost time." Cody nodded, "So when they grant the wish, they can now travel into the contractor's past and destroy their past to reclaim their own time."
"So how did Den-O stop them?" Ren asked, "We need to make sure that Mementos is safe or else that thing is going to be affecting the minds of so many people, even those in Palaces."
"We can't…" Cody shook his head.
"Because the system used isn't real here, isn't it?" the leader of the thieves asked.
"Exactly, and in to defeat them fully, you have to also travel into the past which the Den-O system would provide. They can't be beaten by any other way. And since there is no way to do that…" Cody noted, showing off that this would be an enemy they can't beat.
"Dammit… just when we thought we could actually help people, life throws us this thing." Ryuji grumbled, "This effing sucks…"
"If Decade was still around, it'd be easy to fix this. But as usual, he travels around and barely returns." Cody sighed. "Only way we can figure this out is if Fenix has some way to make that happen?"
"Well, why don't we go to them for-"
"NO! NO WAY! NO HOW!" Morgana protested, much to Ren's shock, "Did you forget that we're supposed to be Phantom Thieves?! This means that no one should know who we really are! We were let off the hook for now with George, but what if any of the other Fenix higher-ups find out about us? We could be exposed and brought to the authorities, and that's even if that crazy Rider otaku hasn't already leaked our existence to them."
"He's right. Plus, who's to say that we aren't the Imagin's target? We could put more people in danger." Ann nodded in agreement.
As they began to ponder on a solution, Cody noticed something on Iwai's storefront. Confused, he got up to see what it was and was shocked to see it.
"Wait, that's a Rider Ticket. That's the thing Den-O uses to travel through time!" he realized.
"Huh? Wait, you're saying we can beat it now?" Ryuji questioned. "What makes this ticket special?"
"That all depends on if it's not a toy." Vice noted before his eyes widened, "Wait, I'm getting weird juju from this ticket, and I've seen Code get a lot of these things from online stores. I think this might be the real deal!"
"What are you doing there?" Iwai asked as the blonde foreigner turned to the shop owner, "You mind not getting the merch wet?"
"Er, sorry! Kinda got distracted and wasn't paying attention!" Cody apologized, quickly hopping back so he wouldn't get everyone thrown out.
Iwai sighed as he rigged up the heater and allowed the group to warm up.
"Ahh~! Warmth!" Morgana purred as he lied down near the heater and began basking in the heat.
As they did, they heard someone walk into the store, and it didn't seem like he was a regular customer either. The person was a young boy. He was a young man in a school uniform with a pair of glasses.
"Hm? Kaoru? What are you doing here? I thought I told you, I'd be working late." Iwai said to the young boy.
"I'm sorry, I was kind of worried about you." the boy, Kaoru apologized.
"Huh, who's that?" Cody pondered.
"Ngh, nobody you kids need to know." Iwai said, showing some protection to the teen.
He soon looked towards the counter and soon picked up the Rider Ticket, "Huh, dad I didn't know you were a fan of Den-O." Kaoru asked.
"It… just happened to drop by my place. I was going to surprise you on your birthday tomorrow." Iwai said.
"Wow, uhh… thanks. I was looking for a good Rider Ticket for my Ride Pass." he said as he hugged the man, leaving the teens surprised.
"So… is this guy Iwai's son or something?" Ren asked Ryuji.
"I'd say so. Guess he doesn't want others to bother about him with it." Ann noted, as she understood wanting personal life away from work life.
They soon nodded as the boy placed the Rider Ticket in his pocket. As the group dried off their clothes, the rain soon began to stop much to their relief.
"Finally! I thought tha-wait, no I am not jinxing this again. I am not going to be like Ryotaro!" Cody grumbled before getting up, "Anyways, I'm gonna head off. See you guys tomorrow."
"Just remember to ask George if there's any way we could get a Den-O Vistamp!" Ryuji called out, only for Ann to pinch his ear in annoyance.
"Aye aye, captain~!" Vice said, "Have fun being whipped by the cat girl!"
"Keep up that comment and you're next, Vice." Ann scolded the demon.
Soon, the group left one by one, including Kaoru, leaving Ren and Morgana there to leave. However, before they could, they heard a phone ring on the storefront.
"I thought I told you to leave me alone, Tsuda?" Iwai frowned from the call.
'Tsuda?' Ren thought as he stopped in his tracks.
"Joker, what's wrong?" the cat asked only to be met with a silencing motion by the boy.
"Come on, Iwai. We were sworn brothers together! Can't have any sympathy for me?" The voice responded on the phone, at least enough for them to hear their conversation.
"I thought I told you that I'm done with this shit?" Iwai reminded whoever was on the other side of the line.
"We both know, that's not true… Once a Yakuza? Always a Yakuza." The person said on the other line.
'Yakuza?!' the two thieves thought.
"I said I was done. Everyone else agreed to let me go. I'm just wanting a good life with my son…" Iwai frowned, knowing this was more than just a call to 'catch up'.
"Oh come on, Iwai. You sure about that? I heard a couple of guys wanting the Gunmetal Mammoth back.
"That's not me anymore…"
"Then, let's make this simple… You do a few jobs for me? And I won't hurt your 'son'."
"YOU STAY AWAY FROM KAORU OR I SWEAR I WILL KILL YOU! YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MAD DOG WHEN HE TRIED THAT SAME SHIT!" Iwai roared in anger.
"Then do these small jobs for me, and I'll leave you two be? Unless… you don't want him to know why his mother abandoned him for drugs, do you?"
This shocked Iwai and the pair as Tsuda could see that had an effect on the man, and judging by Ren seeing the color fade from the man's face, the voice was right.
"Just tell me what I need to do…?" Iwai said, giving into the demands.
"Great! I heard that a couple of guys wanted some of your 'tusks' to help speed up the process. Hope to hear from you soon~!" the voice noted with a giddy grin.
Iwai sighed out, "I'll get them ready for use…" He said, hanging up as he slammed his fist into the wall, denting it before he went into the back, only to come out with actual guns this time to fix them up.
"Dammit… I wish I didn't have to deal with this shit…" he grumbled under his breath before he got to work.
Luckily, Ren and Morgana were able to leave without him noticing.
"Damn, so Iwai used to be a part of the Yakuza?" he asked the cat.
"Now it makes sense as to why the airsoft guns were so high quality… Because he knew how to disassemble them and turn them into actual airsoft components." Morgana noted.
"And that wish. I got a feeling that Elephant Imagin might target him somehow." he worried, "We should tell the others about this right away."
"Agreed." Morgana nodded with his judgement.
XXX
The next day, Cody was entering Fenix as he entered George's room, which was filled with tons of Kamen Rider memorabilia, from toy belts, to figures, to even helmets.
"Ah! Welcome to my Rider Den, Aldrich-san! What can I do for you this time around?" George questioned, as this was indeed a surprise to see the young Rider asking for help for once.
"Well, I'm kind of wondering what that list you got over there was." he noted as he pointed at the small piece of paper in the researcher's hand.
"Ah, just my notes for Vistamps and which ones I rather keep and those that should be sealed away or destroyed." George shrugged, "I came to the conclusion that I only want 50 back instead of the mass that I held before the assault."
"Huh, well maybe I could see that list? Maybe we might be able to get them back from the Deadmans?" Vice suggested.
"Hm? Eh, might as well. Help yourselves, kiddo."
They soon looked at the small list, only to see that was really a stamp rally paper in the shape of the number 50 with several animal stamps on it.
"This is the list?" he asked the man as he noticed that each stamp had a smaller square in the lower left corner with a Rider symbol on it.
"Pretty much, I wanted to make sure that every Vistamp has a Rider to go with that animal." George explained.
"Huh, only four of them are original?" Cody noted from the list as he could tell one of them was his Vistamp.
"Those are the proto-Vistamps I made to help create the Revice System. Of course, the boss wanted us to use the T-Rex for the main system, but I had complete say over the other three." he explained, "Good work on getting that duplicate Rex Vistamp by the way, that was the last thing I needed to add in the R-Factor into the thing and make sure your Remix doesn't go wild… again..."
"S-Sorry…" Cody lowered his head, as he was still reminded on why using a Remix on a non-purified Vistamp could do to him.
Going berserk was just one of the more luckier side effects of it.
"Well that explains why a bat, spider, and cobra are also Riders alongside us." Vice noted before the pair saw a symbol of a mammoth on the list.
"What does this Vistamp do?" Vice asked the researcher.
"Ah, that gives the raw power of a mammoth to you two. One for defense, the other offense. A good combination, I might stabilize it with Den-O's R-Factor in it once I find something to harness it." George noted.
This gave the pair an idea as Cody thanked him for the list. After they returned to the Phantom Thieves' hideout, he soon showed the list to the group.
"Alright guys, looks like we're gonna be hunting down the Mammoth Vistamp this time around!" Cody declared as he pointed at the aforementioned Vistamp's symbol, "If we can find this Vistamp, then we can easily turn that Elephant Imagin into sand."
"Easier said than done. Who knows if one of them is even in Japan or somewhere else? Deadmans are global." Ann noted.
"Or even if the Deadmans have them…" Ryuji added in.
"Well regardless, it's at least a start on this hunt." Ren noted, "As much as the logistics are complicated, it's the only lead we got in terms of how to stop the Imagin."
"Let's just hope it's enough and we won't need to do a Phase 2 or worse, a Phase 3 form." Cody shivered.
"I am too scared to ask what those mean…" Morgana shivered.
"Phase 2 just means they get to go into the past. And Phase 3 turns them into Kaiju's." Vice informed the others.
"Well then, let's get Vistamp hunting before we end up in a Godzilla movie!" Ryuji piped up.
"So, what's the plan Joker?" Morgana asked the leader, who was taking in all of the information.
"We'll have to go out and find any odd sightings or word of mouth. We have to follow it up and make sure it's a Deadmans and it's real. Don't want false information leaking around either." Ren noted, "If we got a lead, we will inform the others about it and if its true? Mementos trip to secure their hearts."
"Got it!" they declared as they split up and began to search through the city for any signs of a Mammoth Deadman.
XXX
Cody and Vice were on-route first, heading around the marketplace underground for anything. Some whispers here and there, alongside words of odd people sulking around. Even one about a familiar ghost tape, but so far it leads nowhere to them.
Ren and Morgana were going through some of the back alleys, knowing the shadows would be a good start for any shady dealings. Using Morgana's heightened hearing, it helped them pick out certain lingo and phrases. Even coming across a few future Thefts in Mementos, but ones they could handle alone. Yet so far, they have not found a trace of Deadmans.
Finally with Ryuji and Ann, they were exploring well… Big Bang Burger of all places. Ann wanted to reject the idea, but Ryuji insisted as they went in, mostly for Ryuji to stuff his face. But right before Ann could just storm out, she noticed one customer in line. While he seemed normal, on his wrist was the same tattoo that Iwai had, a lizard.
'Who's this guy?' she thought as she could see that Ryuji was also staring at the man, but for a different reason.
The delinquent noticed something off about his movements. It looked like he was concealing something. His free hand kept grasping his side pocket on his pants, as if something important needed to stay still before anyone noticed. Ryuji would know as he did this for spare change he wanted to save up on.
"He's hiding something…" he said to Ann.
"Now that you mention it… Yeah he does." Ann nodded in agreement.
Soon after the man bought some food to go, the two tailed him to see if Ryuji's hunch was right, as they followed him through the city as close as possible. They soon find him approaching a small group of others, each one with a smirk on their face.
"Alright, boys. It's time for us to do a little… reminder on why to not leave the boss' side." he said as they turned towards a man not too far from there.
"Oi! Oishi!" one of the guys called out to the man, shocking him.
"W-W-Wait, Tsuda?! What are you doing here?!" he gasped.
"I heard you planned on fleeing to Nevada. Is that true?" one of Tsuda's accomplice, Masa, questioned him.
"I-I was already granted pardon by the boss. He said I could go." One of them said.
"Oh no, you don't get to leave the crew. Once you enter, you can never leave!" Tsuda declared with an evil grin, "And we're here to make sure of that!"
"Bring it out, Tsuda." Masa said, with a smirk as he watched from afar.
He then took out the object he was hiding within his pocket…
"The Mammoth Vistamp!" they gasped.
MamMOTh!
He then turned to see the contract form as a large green Deadman with yellow origami-like elephant armor appeared by Tsuda's side.
"What the?! What the hell is that thing?!" Oishi cried out as he fell on his butt and backed away.
"He's my new power, and he's here to make sure that you don't even think about leaving this place." Tsuda said as he marveled at the Mammoth Deadman as it trudged forward at the terrified Yakuza member.
Quickly, Ann tried to call Cody about what they had just witnessed. But Ryuji? He couldn't just sit there and watch someone get hurt or killed by a Deadman! He soon bolted out charging towards and tackling the Deadmans to the ground.
"Go! Get going!" Ryuji shouted to the terrified Yakuza.
"Eh? Who the hell are you kid?" Tsuda questioned him.
"Someone who's not gonna sit by and let you kill them!" Ryuji growled, glaring at Tsuda and Masa.
"Tsk, oh look! We got a badass over here!" Masa mocked him as the rest of the Yakuza members laughed at him.
"Ryuji, get the hell out of there!" Ann tried to call out to him without getting caught herself.
"Say, why don't we put Iwai's new toys to the test? Hold him." Tsuda ordered the Deadman, as it easily flung Ryuji off of it, before holding him still.
"Ryuji!" Ann cried out.
"Hey! He's got a friend!" one of them called out.
Ann's eyes widened as she tried to bolt, only to be easily caught and dragged out into the open, as Ryuji hissed in anger.
"You leave her out of this!" He shouted, struggling against the Deadman's hold.
"Oh really? And what are you going to do about it, tough guy?" Masa said with a smirk, "What do you think we should do with them?" he asked Tsuda.
"Well, we can't have witnesses after all. While some fun with this pretty thing would be a good time. We do have a schedule to keep. I'll use my Deadman to take care of them." Tsuda stated.
'Crap, what do we do now? I can't summon my Persona into the real world.' Ryuji thought as he tried to think of a way to save himself and Ann.
"I thought we also had a deal that you wouldn't cause troubles, Tsuda?" Iwai said, soon walking into view with a frown. "These two are some customers, and if they go missing who knows what that'll lead to?"
"Iwai?!" they gasped in shock.
Tsuda sighed before making the Deadman put Ryuji down while the Yakuza members let Ann go.
"You always were soft, Iwai." Tsuda said, looking to Ryuji and Ann, "And if you two squeal? I'll make sure your family pays for it. Come on, boys."
They soon left as Iwai gave a silent apology to them before the pair were left alone to lick their wounds.
"Great… we're now stuck in this…" Ryuji groaned before lowering his head, "Sorry… for getting you involved Ann. I just couldn't sit there and do nothing."
"We both knew what we were getting into with this. I'm more touched you'd try to take the bullet for me." Ann smiled softly.
The two then hugged before they got back on their feet. They soon turned to see Ren, Morgana, Cody, and Vice arrive.
"Aw, we interrupting a touching moment?" Vice snickered out.
"W-What?!" Ann gasped as she pushed Ryuji back to the ground.
"OWW! What did I do?" he asked the blushing cat thief in confusion.
"You can smack Vice later, you two. You both okay?" Cody asked, as it was obvious that they both had something happened to them and it made him worry.
"Could have been better…" Ryuji grumbled before he got back to his feet, "We found the Vistamp though."
"But… it's with the Yakuza…" Ann added on with worry.
Ren looked away, "Shit…" he cursed.
"So now what? How do we even approach this now that we have to target the Yakuza?" Morgana questioned.
"Maybe I can try and get into their side and snatch it?" Ryuji suggested, much to Ann's displeasure.
"With how we flopped? They'd know you'd be up to something." she reminded him, shaking her head.
"Well how about Joker? He's the only guy that Tsuda wouldn't see or know. I'd do it, but they'd realize that Fenix is onto them or that Ryuji and Ann snitched on them." Cody suggested.
"I already have some reputation. Who's to say some of them haven't heard about me already?" Ren shrugged.
Despite knowing this to be very dangerous, he knew to be serious about it as well.
"Well they don't know that you're connected to us for one." Ryuji pointed out.
"Just be careful, okay Joker? We can't mess this up at all." Morgana warned him.
Ren soon nodded before the group left, leaving the boy to approach Iwai at the airsoft store.
XXX
Iwai soon noticed the concerned look on the young boy's face as he walked to the storefront the next day.
"Back so soon, kid? Something wrong with those airsoft ones I gave ya?" Iwai questioned him.
"It's nothing, they're working great." Ren reassured him, "It's just, I want to ask you about something."
"I told you before, I only will sell you the packaged airsoft guns. I can't do custom orders." Iwai waved off.
"I'm not talking about the custom orders, it's about something else." he reassured him, "I'm just here to ask some questions."
"Questions?" Iwai noted, knowing this to be different from before. Even Ren's attitude felt different than the last time… could.. He even be…?
Iwai soon looked around to make sure the store was empty before he walked over to close the shutters of the windows and door, while flipping the sign to 'closed' before turning back to him.
"Meet me in the back. This is something that should best be spoken in private." the man told Ren coldly.
Ren soon followed him into the back as it was a simple office, yet the panels around the walls showed it was soundproof, making sure nobody peeped on them as Iwai closed the door before leaning against it.
"So, what exactly do you want to know?" Iwai asked him.
"I want to help you with any job you need. I heard about your… 'exclusives' and I want in." Ren requested.
Iwai took notice alongside his tone. The older man could tell this was serious, but not blackmail, which gave him some relief. But to ask a kid about this was rough.
"You sure about this?" he asked him.
"Yes… I already have rumors about me going around. If they want to be scared of me? Let them, and I'll show it." Ren said to the shop owner.
He soon chuckled to himself, "Yeah, I guess this could work." he noted, "Hey, I think I might be able to grant your request. But you better have the money. These things are worth hundreds of thousands of yen per unit. Sometimes they even reach the millions, depending on how I feel."
"I can handle this." Ren nodded, showing his resolve and his guts to the owner.
"S'that right?" he noted as he got to his feet, "Look, I ain't a bad dude. I've been known to compromise from time to time. For example, you help me out with my 'business', smuggling goods, destroying evidence, making sure Tsuda doesn't go overboard with his little pet, and as a reward I'll introduce you to the special menu. It's got good prices for a punk like you. Whaddya say? Not bad, huh? "
"You got a deal." Ren nodded in agreement.
"Pleasure doing business with you, kid." Iwai noted before they shook hands before handing him a card, "So, when I don't got any business goin' on, I'll have you do some miscellaneous chores."
"I understand well." Ren nodded, as now he was in business.
"Must be pretty exciting for a kid like you, huh?" Iwai asked him.
"You have no idea…" Ren said with a similar smirk. "What can I say? I have the heart of a rebel."
He soon received Iwai's contact info with the usual warnings when it came to the black market. If he was caught, they never saw each other. Ren nodded before he walked away with resolve.
XXX
"Welcome back!" Morgana called out as Ren came back to the others, soon sighing in relief.
"So, how did it go?" Ryuji asked.
"Got in… but this is heavy stuff already." Ren sighed out.
"Yeah, if you get caught, then your rep is going to get worse." the cat sympathized, "Well at least it'll help the guy and make sure we get that Vistamp."
"True, this is for the greater good and for the innocent." Ren nodded as Ann came over with some tea for him to relax, "Thanks."
"So for now, we can only wait and hope they don't catch on. Let's hope this is worth it." Ann noted with cautious optimism.
"It's all we can do. Luckily with me around him, they won't even know we have a secret listener should he need to 'keep quiet'." Morgana smirked with some pride knowing he can do this while the rest can't.
"Yeah, yeah, rub it in." Ryuji rolled his eyes.
The group soon laughed it off before they walked away. However, unbeknownst to them, there was someone listening in on their conversation… and they had recorded the whole thing.
XXX
As a few nights pass on, Ren did the deeds and work he was told to do. Luckily, it truly never was anything too dangerous. Either he'd watch the shop or deliver certain goods to a few extras that Iwai told him about. But soon, he was called in for something that Iwai stated could be 'Waringly' which Ren easily took notice of.
The leader texted the others to head into Mementos as this could be the chance they needed, as he went off to meet with Iwai. Once there, he noticed the Ex-Yakuza looking more worried with a hint of anger than the usual annoyed look.
"Hey kid… Ready for this?" He called out to Ren, as it seemed the shop owner was ready to head out.
"Yeah, I guess…" the leader of the thieves said before feeling a lump go down his throat.
They soon went to meet Tsuda at the place where the deal was meant to be handled, an abandoned pier. Though upon reaching there, it seemed Tsuda wasn't alone as Masa stood next to him, with a familiar young man being held by the Yakuza member.
"What the?! Kaoru?!" Iwai gasped, "Tsuda, why the fuck do you have my son!?" he snarled at the man.
"Hey now! Don't be so angry about this, Iwai. This little brat heard many things about us from our meetings. So we made sure you both understand not to snitch." Tsuda waved off. "That includes your helper over there too."
"Seems this is going to be a bit tougher now…" Ren noted under his breath.
"Kaoru has nothing to do with this! Just let him go!" Iwai pleaded.
"Oh we will. I just want one new thing from you, Iwai." Tsuda said, walking over as he held out the Vistamp, "Why not forge a contract with it, like me? With it, you'll gain a whole new power to abuse."
'He's offering Iwai the Mammoth Vistamp?!' Ren mentally gasped.
"New power….?" Iwai muttered as he looked at the stamp.
"And if you don't… Then maybe we'll just tell your son everything about you?" Tsuda whispered with a smirk, as it seemed he made this trap for them both.
XXX
Within Mementos, the group headed off to where Mona sensed the Shadow and Deadman, as he had to join them for this, otherwise it would take too long for them to travel to.
"Alright, this should be the spot." Revi noted before stepping out with the rest of the thieves.
"Nice, now let's bust some monsters!" Vice cheered.
"We should hope this works, otherwise Joker won't have any backup." Ann noted with worry for their leader.
"If he thinks he can handle it on his own, without me? I'm sure he'll be fine." Mona nodded in response.
"You brats again?" A familiar voice rang off as the Shadow of Tsuda walks over to the group, glaring at them.
"We got you cornered, Tsuda! Hand over the Vistamp and leave Iwai alone." Revi declared to the Yakuza.
"Oh, I think it's you guys who are the ones cornered, kid." Shadow Tsuda laughed with his arms crossed, "Boys!"
Suddenly, several mole-like monsters appeared from the ground and surrounded the group. All of whom were blue with various axes, claws, and drills on their arms.
"Eh?! More Imagins?!" Vice gasped out.
"What's going on?!" Panther asked.
"I happened, Kamen Rider." a voice familiar to the thieves confirmed as from the shadows stood the Elephant Imagin, now accompanied by the Mammoth Deadman.
"Should've expected this, huh?" Tsuda cackled out. "Soon Iwai will be back in full swing and we'll rule this new era!"
"Wha?! How did you get that Imagin on your side?" Revi questioned him.
"Simple, we both are going to benefit from this, as he gets his Senpai back, and I get a completed Contract to go back and reclaim my era." the Elephant Imagin explained.
"Shadows, Deadman, and Imagin, oh my!" Vice gasped in horror.
"Now then, boys! Take care of these would-be heroes!" the Elephant Imagin ordered the Mole Imagin.
"You got it, boss!" they affirmed before charging at the Phantom Thieves.
"Let's begin, minna!" Revi shouted out to the others to get them pumped up.
They soon started battling against the Mole Imagin while having to deal with several Giff Juniors that joined into the scuffle.
"Damn, we're surrounded!" Skull growled, "Come on, Captain Kidd! Time to do some crowd control!"
"Aye! Let's blow these landlubbers away!" Kidd shouted out, sending a rain of cannonballs at the enemies.
"Thanks for giving us some breather room!" Panther thanked the pirate thief before taking out her gun, a replica SMG, and started firing it off on the Imagin. This gave Skull a similar idea as he dove for cover before firing off several shotgun blasts at the Giff Juniors.
"Heh! We're getting a little trigger-happy eh?" the Elephant Imagin questioned them, "Well then, time for us elephants to blow you guys away!"
The two kaijin then fired off a large gust of wind at the team, making them lose their footing as they tried to block the jets of air being fired at them.
XXX
Back in the real world, Ren and Iwai were left with a holdup as Tsuda stared them down as he waited Iwai's answer.
"Well Iwai? What do you say? Want to make a deal with the devil like I did?" he offered the former Yakuza member.
"Dad, what's going on? I'm scared!" Kaoru yelped as he struggled to break free.
Iwai stared at the Vistamp, as he took it up. At first it looked like Tusda won and Ren was in more trouble, only for the ex-yakuza to sigh. "Kaoru? I'm sorry that I've been distant. The truth is, I used to be part of the Yakuza as the "Gunmetal Mamoth"… and these two were my bloodbrothers within it." He told Kaoru before looking to him.
"But that is no longer me. When your mother… tried to sell you for drugs? I declined. But she wouldn't take no for an answer and left you there with me, telling me that at the very least that I should be a better parent than her. The moment that happened, I decided to leave the Yakuza and raise you. You deserved a proper life, far from what I was given and what happened. I truly do care and love you like a son, Kaoru." Iwai said to him, showing his heart to the others.
This touched the group as Iwai's smile soon turned into a vengeful stare at Tsuda, who looked shocked at the former Yakuza's speech.
"I won't give into your demands, Tsuda. I'm going to stay true to who I am now. Even that may mean my own arrest." Iwai said, taking out his phone as he dialed up Fenix for this, "Hey, is this the guys with the Kamen Rider? I think I found your little Vistamp."
"IWAI!" Tsuda hissed out in anger, as he tried to take back the Vistamp from Iwai, only for Ren to rush ahead and tackle Masa first to free Kaoru.
"Thank you, Amamiya-san." he thanked the leader of the thieves.
"You're going to pay for that, kid!" Masa glared, only for a punch from Iwai to be thrown.
"Tsk, you've gotten rusty since I've left, haven't you?" he chuckled before he grabbed him and tossed him into the nearby wall before slamming his foot into the man's skull.
'Geez! Just went ham on him, why don't ya?' Ren thought as Iwai scoffed at the downed Yakuza member.
"As if I'll let you get away with this, Iwai…" Tsuda glared, reaching in his pocket to draw out a gun as he pointed it at the two.
The two blood brothers were soon left glaring at each other while Ren and Kaoru watched on.
"Now, you're going to give me the Vistamp back, or else I'm popping a bullet in your little brat's head!" Tsuda threatened him.
"Fine, fine. Just curious on one thing is all… Why sell yourself just to bring me back?" Iwai questioned Tsuda, causing the Yakuza member to flinch, "I was given pardon in full. I was allowed to be given this life and suddenly you want me back? Why?"
"Because… You left me, Iwai…" Tsuda said clenching his fist. "We were blood brothers. You were basically my Aniki. And you left… all for what? For this… This stupid kid?!"
"That woman saw something in me if she thought that I would take care of Kaoru. She could have gone to anyone else, and yet she chose to go to one of the most infamous people in Tokyo." he speculated.
"You don't know that! For all you know, she just wanted the drugs and left him because that was more important! So why then?!"
Iwai then chuckled, "You know, it's kind of funny. I asked myself the same thing when she gave him to me, but then I learned a little something called humility. Seeing Kaoru grow up through rain or shine, experiencing what it's like to be a parent, it helped me realize that I needed to turn my life around if I wanted to give myself and Kaoru a better life." the ex-Yakuza member soon reminisced, "If I had just stayed, then likely my sins would have caught up to me and done something much worse than this. So, if I can choose to change myself for a better future, why couldn't you?"
This made Tsuda snarl before Iwai noticed the Mammoth Vistamp begin to glow alongside something in Kaoru's jacket. The young man reached in his pocket and took out the Den-O ticket as it seemed to glow as well, resonating the two's bonds before the Vistamp disappeared from Iwai's hand.
"What the?!" he gasped as the pair looked around for the stamp.
'Wait… could it have…?' Ren noted in his mind, pondering if the Vistamp was being sent to his ally?
XXX
"Ha! Give it up thieves, you're cornered!" Shadow Tsuda laughed at the Phantom Thieves as they struggled against the Elephant Imagin and the Mammoth Deadman.
"This sucks… I don't think we're going to make it, guys…" Skull grimaced as the group were all injured and more. Even with the skills from Mona and Panther to heal everyone, the amount of enemies made it hard to retain.
That was when a red light appeared before Revi and Vice.
"Oi! Is this thing on?" a cocky voice called out.
"Eh? Who's that?" Vice got out.
"Oh, nice! Finally got to hear from my kouhai!" the voice laughed as Revi realized who was speaking to them.
"Momotaros?!" Revi got out in shock.
"That's right, it's me! Well, I just noticed that we were missing a stray ticket when we saw your little struggle with this asshat. And thanks to your thief friend, we were able to use that R-Factor Tsukasa told us about to use the Vistamp to call you guys!" Momtaros, the red Imagin of Den-O, said.
"I have to be dreaming right now… There's no way this is happening…" Mona got out in shock.
"The Metaverse works in mysterious ways, I guess…" Vice said with a shrug.
"Now then, use our power to kick this guy's ass! Your leader is in a bit of a pinch and needs you guys fast, so get going!" Momtaros said before the light soon floated into Revi's hands as from the light came the completed Vistamp of Den-O, the Mammoth Vistamp.
"Well then, shall we begin?" Revi smirked as he pulled the stamp on his driver before taking it out, forcing Vice to fly back into his host's body as he held up the new Vistamp and clicked the button.
MAMMOTH!
Revi breathed on the stamp before pressing it against the stamp screen to scan it, as Vice came out, with another ethereal stamp as red ink filled it this time while the text 'screen' popped out from behind him.
COME ON! M-M-MAMMOTH!
COME ON! M-M-MAMMOTH!
Vice: Dude, WTF?! How did Momotaros use the Vistamp as a phone?! It makes no canonical sense!
Revi: How should I know? All of this is still new to me! At least we can take care of these guys now.
Vice: Guess this is what we get for being in a Persona crossover, the collective consciousness somehow finds a way to screw with another show's canon.
Revi: Crossover? What are you on about this time, Vice?
Vice: Ahh, it's nothing!
Revi then placed the stamp into his Driver and turned it as Vice slammed the new stamp onto Revi, the demon performing Momotaros' classic pose as he flew around and transformed himself..
BUDD~Y U~P!
BIG TUSK ALL ACROSS! LIKE A BOSS! MA~MMOTH!
FROM THE TRUNK, WE'RE AT A CLIMAX!
His form soon completely changed as a red and white object slid down the train track-like helmet, opening up to reveal two new red eyes with white tusk-like sideplates and small red eyes. His armor, while retaining the same color as his main form, changed to that of the chest armor of Den-O Sword Form, while gaining two 'tusk-like' swords on his back.
For Vice, he gained two red shoulder pads and shin guards, while he had a small peach-design of the Den-O helmet with mammoth-like traits and two large red shields on his forearms as on his back was a mammoth face.
This was their newest form, Mammoth Genome.
"Ore… Vice desu!" the demon declared.
"Sweet! New form, baby!" Skull cheered while Ann and Mona were surprised by the transformation.
Shadow Tsuda soon snarled and transformed into a large purple demon sitting upon a toilet seat with horns, yellow fingerless gloves and socks, and a full beard.
"Vice, Demon Dex this guy!" Skull called out.
"Roger, roger, sir!" Vice saluted. "Well, this is Belphegor! This nasty demon on a toilet, is one of the representations of Sloth. Oh and he's very associated with many forms of debauchery."
"How about we make him get off the crapper and off his high horse then!" Mona quipped as he jumped out, reeling back his sword, and slammed it hard enough to throw Belphegor down to the ground.
While that went on, Revi was dueling against the Elephant Imagin as their blades clashed, as the mammoth Rider easily backed up to throw one at the Imagin, and the other one towards the Mole Imagins, cutting them down with ease as they erupted into an explosion.
"Damn you! How did you do this?!" The Elephant Imagin questioned.
"As if I know." Revi shrugged, "At least we get to take you down! Vice! I need a little help over here!"
"Ha ha! It's Remix Time!" the demon laughed.
…
"Never reference Youtube Rewind again, Vice. Like… ever…" the mammoth Rider grumbled as he initiated the Remix.
REMIX!
BUDD~Y U~P!
Regardless, the two came together as Revi was in the back seat this time as he posed for the main body and back legs, as Vice standed tall as Revi placed the tusk swords against him while the Vice Shield Arms formed the rest of the body and his tail becoming the trunk.
HISSATSU! DOSUSATSU! TOASU! MAMMOTH!
"Alright everyone, better fasten those seatbelts! Shipan-shinko!" Revice laughed before charging forward on a floating railroad track, ramming into both Deadman and Imagin before landing a powerful blow on Belphegor.
The Remixed Mammoth form rushed along through the tracks, taking both the enemies for a trip as they slammed the Deadman, Imagin and Shadow against the walls of the area, as this gave them others a chance to end this.
"All Out Attack, let's go!" Revice called out before all four started dashing through the trio of monsters. As along the tracks, the other thieves raced along side Revice as they shot, slashed and struck the monsters before the Remixed Mammoth throws the three off of the tracks.
MAMMOTH! STA~MPI~NG~ FINISH!
"The show's over in!"
3!
2!
1!
Revice then landed and let out a mighty trumpet from his trunk as all three exploded in either 'blood' or fire.
OUR SPECIAL ATTACK, REVICE VERSION!
Shadow Tsuda was soon left on his knees, out of his Shadowy monster form as he looked at the group with worry.
"P-Please! Spare me! I do not want to get crushed!" Shadow Tsuda pleaded as Revice stepped forward.
"Do you want to do the honors, Skull?" the Remixed Mammoth asked the pirate thief.
"Yeah, I will." Skull said, cracking his knuckles as he walked over.
The Shadow Yakuza member flinched as if he was about to get punched to lose his head from the bat, yet instead was given… a card?
"What?" he whimpered, "What am I supposed to do with this?"
"It's our card. We'll be taking your corrupted heart and treasure. Take this chance to be better for yourself and society." Skull said, "That's what we Phantom Thieves of Heart do."
"You… you don't want to kill me?" he asked them.
"No, death is way too easy of an escape from punishment." Panther stated, "It's living with those mistakes that's the hard part."
"The best thing you can do is turn yourself in and confess to your crimes." Mona added on.
"I… I will…" Shadow Tsuda accepted as his head drooped, "I'll confess to the blackmail, the orders I gave to Iwai and using my past connections to the Yakuza to turn myself into the law.."
"That's good enough for us." Revice said before splitting apart and changing back, "Just one more question. Where did you get the Vistamp?"
"I… honestly don't remember the person's face… Only that he said he upholds what the Deadmans speak of and their teachings…" Tsuda said, looking up, "I don't think he was part of them, but is willing to use their names for whatever schemes they got."
Shadow Tsuda then disappeared after that, leaving the group alone as back in the real world, the real Tsuda suddenly felt a wave of guilt flow over him.
"Man… so someone out there is making schemes and using the Deadmans name to use on their victims? That's messed up." Skull noted with a worried look.
"As well as very influential. If they can even scare or use a Yakuza for their schemes, who knows how big they are?" Panther nodded.
"Let's keep tabs on that guy for now. We need to get to Joker ASAP!" Mona reminded them as the group quickly remembered.
"Right, we need to get to him and fast!" Skull gasped.
The group quickly nodded as they raced back to the entrance to escape Mementos and head to Joker's side.
XXX
"I… I am so sorry for this!" Tsuda cried out as he quickly got on his knees and bowed before Iwai, much to his confusion.
Iwai however sighed as he turned to Ren, "Looks like your guys finally got the job done, didn't they?"
"Huh? What do you mean?" Ren asked with confusion.
"I still remember that little chat that blonde kids had about demons and thieves had when they first entered my store, and since you seemed to know them, I put two and two together." the ex-Yakuza noted, "Don't worry though, we know how to keep a secret. Right, Kaoru?"
Kaoru nodded as Ren sighed in relief.
"Thank you, Iwai-san." he thanked him as the leader of the thieves bowed to him.
They soon heard the sirens before several Fenix members come out, weapons drawn as they quickly arrest Tsuda and Masa. But before they could question the three of them, Cody and the others came over, informing them before they nodded and left them alone.
"Are you okay, Ren?" Ann asked the leader.
"Yeah, thanks to Iwai." Ren told the group as he explained what happened on his end.
"Guess that explains how this came to us then." Cody said, holding up the completed Vistamp.
"Yeah, so that's one down, 8 to go." Ren noted.
"Nice!" Ryuji cheered, "Oh, Ren! You are not going to believe who we heard today!" he said with an excited tone.
"Hm? Who?" Ren asked before they told him as he looked surprised. "That… is new."
XXX
Meanwhile, a mysterious kaijin soon wandered the streets of Tokyo, snarling as he watched the busy city life.
"When is this? This looks nothing like when I last left off…" it growled in a male voice. Standing there was a humanoid monster with red skin, and fur on its body as it appeared to be lion in design. It seemed this wasn't the last of the new invaders to this world.
XXX
A/N
HackerEX: Uh oh, looks like we got a Grongi on the premises, and a previously unseen one at that.
Striberx: Seems so. Guess this isn't the last of the past Kaijin's and their advances.
HackerEX: Pretty much, next time we got Kuuga's Grongi arriving to Cody's world, with the first Heisei Rider now being next on our list of Rider Confidant tributes.
Striberx: Mhm! Alongside who'll be the confidant that'll give Lion? As we see on this chap, we have certain ways to get the Vistamps to be collected, shown and completed other than George.
HackerEX: Plus, it gives us an excuse to allow a 'passing of the torch' moment between Cody and Vice from past Riders, like here with Momotaros. Even if it was in literal spirit.
Striberx: Indeed. So for those worrying it getting inflated of Rider cameo's like with my Ghost story? Don't worry. A majority of them will only appear/sound off in Mementos or in a Dead-Zone.
HackerEX: Plus, we've already decided on the physical cameos too. Speaking of, looks like we got a new Rider in Jeanne for canon Revice.
Striberx: Which was a very nice surprise indeed. For those wondering? Only Daiji will be returning as the main choice rider. We do already have a way for Daiji and Kagero to appear. As for Demons and Jeanne? Well, for the former we can't say much onto who it is this time. But for Jeanne? We're giving it to Maria, as this'll still help fit the family dynamic that Revice has.
HackerEX: Pretty much, as for when she will show up? If I had to guess, likely around Futaba or Sae's Palaces. Though, I'm not sure on how Lovekov would be modified to fit Maria…
Striberx: I got ideas in the works for how it'll go. Just need more time to think it through, alongside letting Revice keep going far enough for us to work with.
Until then, later minna!