It had been a long journey but the subway car suddenly lurched to a stop. Those who had fallen asleep were quickly woken by the sudden jarring motion. Joker was instantly on his feet as a new sight greeted him from the window of the subway. This was not normal for Mementos. Outside of the subway car looked more like a twisted subway hub then the normal Mementos corridor. The subway car's doors opened with a creaky swishing sound to allow everyone out.
"What the hell is this?" Skull was the first to ask as they all stepped outside onto the platform outside of the subway.
"It's some big, fossil-looking thing. I believe the treasure lies beyond it." Futaba informed them as she slid her goggles down over her face.
"Wait. Look on the side. Our car's not the only one that runs this deep." Fox pointed out. "So this is where those crowds were trying to reach?"
"More than likely," Naoto replied as she rolled her shoulders.
"People are walking in and out of there, so Oracle must be right about the treasure being on the other side of the wall." Queen took a few tentative steps towards the large wall. "It's not a wall but a door!"
"Well let's get goin' then. C'mon, let's stay focused here." Skull's new maturity was starting to shine.
Joker had to admit he was proud. Skull always had it in him and Joker was glad other people were starting to realize it too. Skull was more than the hot-headed blonde he pretended to be.
"After you guys," Rise adjusted the guitar on her back.
With that, everyone moved towards the large imposing skeletal door. The closer they got, the utter magnitude of the door became clearer. Joker put a hand to it as it quickly became clear that even if this was a door, there was no magic switch to open it. He glanced back at his friends to see if they had any idea of what do to next.
"Is this thing seriously a door? How're we s'posed to get past?" Skull cocked his head as he examined the door with a frown.
Just as he said that the door started to ascend up into the ceiling opening a path more than wide enough for everyone to travel through. Joker let out a sigh of relief, thankful they didn't have to do much more than that. In the rest of Mementos there always seemed to be someone guarding the door that they had to fight before they could get down.
"It opened straight away." Mona was the first to cross the threshold before looking back at his companions. "I bet that means we now have access to the inner depths."
"Hold on!" Oracle called out before anyone else could cross to the other side. "The door only opens from this side."
"You mean…? That's just great!" Yosuke sighed, looking downcast.
"Are you sure Oracle?" Aigis glanced back.
"Well, I took a quick peek at the mechanism inside the door and it looks like you can only open it from here. We can get in, but nothing can get out." Oracle explained.
"It's as though whatever lies within has been locked away." Queen stared off beyond the door.
"Wait, so you're saying that the people going in there are choosing a life of imprisonment?!" Noir gasped.
Something about that statement rang a little too close to home for Joker's liking.
"We could leave someone here to open it for us." Naoto quickly suggested.
"I have never felt such eeriness before. Would it be safe to leave someone behind?" Fox asked.
"We don't know, we are all in this together. I think we should head down together." Ken advised.
"We should have a way out once we reach the end," Aigis informed everyone.
"'Should' being the keyword here." Yosuke countered as he crossed his arms.
"What do you think Joker?" Crow turned his attention to the opinion that probably mattered the most to him.
"We all go together or not at all," Joker called to the group.
"Good! We'll find out what's down there once we reach the depths, Come on, let's go!" With that said, Mona took off.
Throwing caution to the wind, everyone started across the threshold to the other side of the door. The sound of the door shutting behind them echoed as Joker took in the sights before him. Large black blocks covered in red designs seemed to mark some semblance of a path while the glowing red lines that converged and headed downwards reminded Joker of a string of arteries heading towards the heart. The leader of the phantom thieves had a feeling that they'd find what those lines led to by the end of this adventure.
"The hell is this place?" Ryuji asked as he stepped up to a ledge and looked down toward where the lines were going.
"It's so creepy." Panther shivered as she looked around.
"So those strange pipes tunneling through Mementos were originating down here after all," Fox observed, as he paid the most attention to the finer details of Mementos it was only fitting he made that observation. "You know, I have been considering this for some time, but they remind me somewhat of veins."
"My sensors indicate that all this energy is being focused downward and appears to be powering something. I don't know what." Aigis informed the group.
"Very strange." Naoto took a step forward examining the red lines.
"From the scans, I know there was some sort of pool of power down there." Rise's eyes followed the flow of energy.
"Yep, it all leads to the deepest part of this place." Oracle nodded.
"Calm down everyone. The treasure is here and with it, we might be able to change the hearts of everyone." Mona's tone was serious as he put his hands on his hips. "There is something down there, and I doubt it's friendly."
"I don't know that I want to find out what that could be, but we must harden our resolves." Queen looked towards everyone. "It's time to head for the depths."
Joker knew it was time to take command as everyone lingered there just past the door's threshold. With a glance over the group, Joker made up his mind about where he wanted everyone. With this big of a group, it'd be a shame to just have four front line attackers, for this mission he'd go with five just because of the unknown that was presented to him. Hopefully, no one would have a problem with him going against the status quo.
"Angel, Queen, Skull, Boulder. Front line with me, we are focused on not using our spiritual power; to conserve it for as long as possible. Mona, Panther; mid-range support. Naoto mid-range cover. Everyone else back lines. Rise, focus on buffs. Oracle you keep us on the right path, this place looks like it can be confusing." Joker commanded.
"Wait!" Rise looked hesitant for a moment. "I want to be on the front lines. Yu gave me Izanagi-no-Okami and I won't let his gift just be idle. So please Joker…" Rise had a resolve in her gaze Joker knew he wouldn't be able to say no too.
"Okay, Skull move to back lines. Princess let's see what you've got!" Joker nodded to the woman as she took her place in the front line.
Joker watched as everyone settled into their roles. While he wasn't completely sure about Rise being in the front line, he was keen to let her try at the very least. Hopefully, Rise had mentally prepared herself for the danger that came with stepping onto the battlefield. If the idol couldn't handle it then luckily Joker had a whole team he knew that could. Looking towards everyone he gave them all a nod before he headed out. Not far from where they came in stood a group of non-hostile cognitions of people, all of whom seemed to be waiting for a door to open. They all wore blank expressions as they milled around like zombies. As the group approach, not even one turned to look at them as their single-minded focus seemed to be on the door ahead of them.
"There are tons of these guys gathered here." Kanji looked towards Joker looking for direction.
"It looks like they're all trying to get past the door." Mona, who had moved up to take a perch on Kanji's shoulder, explained.
"But why's it so crowded?" Panther asked putting a hand on a hip.
"It looks like the door's keeping them all out. Luckily I know da way! Joker to the left! Follow the blocks, there's an opening on the side!" Oracle announced.
Joker looked up at his navigator before he nodded. He jumped to the block on the left and then down to the one below it, then up again. As Oracle already knew, there was an opening large enough for the whole group to get through. It would seem that Oracle's scan would be putting them on the correct path and they would quickly get to the end of this in no time. Climbing through, Joker paused only long enough to make sure everyone made it through the opening before continuing down on the path. It was fairly straight forward, but Joker couldn't shake the eeriness he felt. Like something inside of him didn't want him to continue. Not that it mattered, he'd be pushing through no matter what. Yu and their possible salvation lied at the end of this.
Rounding a corner led to a larger room. Instantly Joker walked in before that feeling he had been feeling before caused his heart to tighten. Looking around, he suddenly realized where he was. Barred cages holding faceless masses. This looked like a prison and something about that just made everything more unsettling to the leader of the Phantom Thieves.
"Woah, this didn't appear clearly on the scans. Is this a prison?" Oracle called as she stepped into the area with the others.
"Who's captured here?" Skull asked as the whole group filed into the large prison space.
"Technically speaking, I would say it's someone's shadow." Queen uneasily stated.
"That is a correct assumption. My scans indicate that these are indeed shadows, but not the hostile kind." Aigis informed everyone.
"Affirmative on that." Oracle chimed in as she kept a hand to her visor.
"Are they saying something?!" Ken look startled before he walked up to prison bars.
"They are saying something," Noir said as she took a step closer to Ken looking a bit freaked out.
"C'mon, don't be out there and come on in." A shadow called as it thrust its hand out of the cage to try and welcome someone in.
Another shadow shook its head. "Don't open the cells okay? I have no intention of leaving this place!"
Joker didn't know what to make of this situation. He was expecting to find something evil down here, not this. Not a bunch of people who wished to be imprisoned. The idea shook him to the core causing him to retreat back a step or two from the cells. This was utter madness. What was going on here?! Was this truly the hearts of the masses trapped down here? Did no one want to leave?
"How interesting." Crow put a hand to his chin, seeming to ponder.
"They feel safe being here?" Fox puzzled out. "What nonsense is this? You're being kept in a prison."
"This reminds me of Kamoshida's castle. They're like the 'slaves' we saw there." Mona did have a point, something about this did indeed remind Joker of Kamoshida.
A shift among the prisoners as a seemingly older one step forward. "That's right. This place is the best in the end. In the depths within is a system that grants desires."
"A system that grants desires?" There was hesitation in Panther's voice as if she didn't fully believe that.
"Something like that exists? Here?!" Skull also seemed to have a hard time wrapping his head around the idea.
"That's kinda messed up." Kanji shook his head.
"If that's what they truly believe it is no wonder they choose to subjugate themselves. This is Shido's dream realized, a mass of ignorant people swayed by honey-coated words." Crow looked up at the people. "He never believed the masses to be intelligent as long as he gave them what they perceived they needed. "
"They're truly 'distorted' just like this scenery here." Fox shook his head, looking a tad uneasy.
"You end up searching for stuff or being troubled because you're outside of prison. There are things you don't need to know to live on." One of the shadows said.
"He's right. Things like the details on the system, the locked 'Quarantine cell'." The older shadow explained.
"Quarantine? Who's locked in there?" Queen pressed.
"I think we can take a few good guesses." Rise folded her arms.
"Supposedly a great and truly dangerous criminal. But who would want to check a place like that?" The old shadow explained.
"He's only dangerous to this distorted way of thinking!" Rise fired back, upset.
Naoto stepped up and put a hand on Rise's shoulder. Rise turned away from the cells leaning slightly into Naoto as she glared towards the ground. It was then the pain started to return to her gaze. Joker forced himself to look away, he just couldn't take that look.
"Hm? Why are you out and about? Where are your restraints?" A guard suddenly called.
Joker turned as another guard appeared from the other end of the large room. Instantly Joker sensed a fight as his hands instantly went for his dagger. Something about the distraction of battle was welcome, it was as if he didn't need to think about the complex world in which people willingly enslaved themselves. Darting forward he struck the closest shadow before they had a chance to surround them even further. The shadow let out a hiss of pain. That seemed to be a signal to the rest of them as they all melted in unison appearing as two new shadows that he had never seen before. The next second Joker's front line joined him in battle. Thankfully because of Joker's quick action the shadows were still reeling giving his group the chance to attack first. Joker was about to open his mouth to give a few quick orders before Rise stepped up.
"Izanagi-no-Okami…" Rise stated, causing Yu's persona to ghost to life next to her instantly. "Protect me..."
Izanagi's eyes seemed to flash at the command and Joker could almost feel the Persona's power as it crackled in the air around it. Joker knew Yu's Persona was powerful, but there was something more to it at that moment. As if it had some sort of unknown power boost. Joker could only believe it had something to do with Rise's own power to connect. Izanagi dashed forward leaping up and utterly destroying one of the shadows. It quickly faded away into nothing leaving the other shadow to look upon the white Persona with fear. Joker couldn't blame it, Izanagi-no-Okami wasn't a persona Joker even wanted to fight.
Queen was up next and quickly struck three times at the shadow. Joker had to admit he loved watching her fight, a serious guilty pleasure for him. Not that he'd admit that, but there was just something about the way her body moved that drew his attention. The shadow wasn't looking so good after Queen's assault and was quickly finished by Aigis as she unleashed a torrent of automatic gunfire from her hands. Joker looked over his team quite pleased with their power.
"That was careless of us. It should be no surprise that this prison has guards." Fox shook his head.
"15 verses two. They never stood a chance." Oracle boasted with a quick grin.
"So other shadows are keeping these shadows here." Naoto looked as if she was trying to solve a riddle.
"It's more than that. They are being kept here of their own volition. The guards I imagine are only to keep the errant ones in." Crow looked to Naoto.
"But what desire is keeping them here?" Naoto looked up at Crow.
"That's probably what we'll find out once we get deeper." Queen cut in.
"Mona-chan?" Noir suddenly called out to their feline companion.
Joker's attention instantly went for Mona. Mona looked slightly distressed as he glared up at the prison cage. He was acting too weird to ignore his outbursts. Joker's gut told him there was something more going on with Mona than he wanted to let on. Something about Mementos was triggering something within him.
Mona folded his arms across his chest. "I've… seen this place before."
"Hold on though, it wasn't open until we all came here today." Panther put a hand on her hip.
Mona shook his head. "Sorry... It's just a sense I'm getting… Still, it feels like I'm really close to remembering something important."
"Y'know, comin' here was what you wanted from the beginning. We just gotta keep movin' on!" Skull nodded giving Mona a small grin.
"On top of that, I'm curious to know what lies at the end of this all." Fox looked around.
"Wait. What about these people?" Noir exclaimed casting a long sorrowful glance towards the prison cell.
"Leave them be," Crow stated. "If the thing that lies at the bottom of Mementos will truly destroy Mementos once we finish it, they will be set free. Like the people on Shido's ship."
"We should get moving then," Ken interjected. "Before more shadows show up."
To that everyone seemed to agree before Joker took the lead again. Up ahead there were a few shadows that the group quickly overcame. What followed next was a strange floor puzzle. With two detectives and several other keen-minded people in Joker's party; it was almost child's play. More shadows tried to ambush them, however, they were nothing more than minor bumps in the road. The group kept heading deeper into Mementos, several more of the floor puzzles awaited them but again proved to be no challenge for the group.
Through another door led to an area that seemed to just spiral down. As they were way over capacity for the Mona van, they all just ran down. After running for what seemed like forever they finally reached another door. Just beyond it was another prison area, but as Joker tried to push through it a familiar face seemed to catch Joker's attention causing him to stop. As their leader stopped so did the rest of the group. Panther seemed to be the first one to notice what he had caught just out of the corner of his eye.
"What?! You're…?!" Panther gasped.
"Kamoshida?!" Skull just couldn't say that name without some spite creeping into his words.
"Sens- No… Madarame…" Fox looked towards the man he had once thought of as a father figure.
"Kaneshiro's over here" Queen announced.
"My father and Shido aren't here." Noir lamented, her voice downcast.
"So it is true." Crow chuckled despite the tone not being humorous.
Crow hated Shido, Joker didn't doubt that. Still, that didn't mean the man wasn't his father. There was something there, even if it was nothing more than confused hatred.
"Hm, your bod's as great as always. C'mon, come closer." Kamoshida was staring directly at Panther as he spoke.
Panther reeled back taking a step behind Ryuji as she glared at Kamoshida. "You creep!"
"Hmph. I'm joking, I don't want any more trouble. I finally get to live without having to think for myself now." Kamoshida's tone sounded dejected and defeated. That didn't mean that Joker could find any sympathy for the man.
"I mistakenly thought myself to be talented. But now I think I'm a fool for wanting too much." Madarame shook his head as he slumped over himself.
"It's no wonder people who can't take a hint get yelled at. I'm done actin' like a big shot. Who cares if I'm stupid? It's not like you get punished for bein' dumb. Nobody needs to strive to be more than they are." Kaneshiro's eyes stared off endlessly as he spoke, looking rather dazed.
"These people seem completely different than they were before." Yusuke tilted his head as if trying to make sense of it all.
"I don't think it's because they had a change of heart though." Queen shook her head.
"Wait. Have they chosen a life of captivity after they lost their distorted desires?" Mona put a paw on his chin seeming to think.
"It's you!" Crow suddenly said as he stepped up to the cage his hands folding around the bars.
Suddenly from the back of the cell, a well-dressed man in a lab coat stepped forward. He had a set of square glasses and had a foreign look to him, possibly Irish or Scottish given his overall appearance as he was far hairier than any Japanese man Joker knew. The guy smirked and stepped up to the bars sitting down just before Crow. As he stepped forward his age started to show, while he wasn't super old Joker had to think he had to be at least in his late 40's, early 50's.
"It's been some time hasn't it laddie? I wee don' recognize ya." The man reached out and pat Crow on the head. "Still, ye be alive I see." The accent was thick as he spoke.
"It's no thanks to your interventions. But why are you here? I thought you left Japan." Crow asked.
"Aye. Shido didn't take a likin' ta me shovin' off so ya could say I'm on an extended holiday. It ain't so bad I s'pose. Sake gets ya just a drunk as whiskey eh?" The man gave a good-hearted hearty chuckle.
"Crow who is this guy?" Naoto asked studying the man behind the bars.
"Dr. Robert O'Neal is my name. Me and the Lad go way back. Don' we? Ya seem ta now have quite the crew. Doin' good fer yerself I see." Robert gave a lopsided grin.
"O'Neal-san was someone from a lab I use to go to. He's a bit of an interesting character." Crow let out the briefest of laughs as he glanced at Oracle before looking back at the man behind the bars. "I have some blessing. Do you know where we are right now?" Crow asked.
"Don' ye know? This be the 'Prison of Regression'." Robert explained extending his arms to the area around him.
"Regression?" Oracle sounded.
"Aye lass. Question fer ya tho'. Don' really seem like captivity. It's the exact opposite, ya hear? The utmost freedom that be available ta ya and all the cunts that desire it. The freedom ta not hav'ta be makin' decisions. The release of not havin' ta think fer yerself. I can drink all day and don' hav'ta worry about nothin'." Robert chuckled.
"Release from having to think? But that's…" Haru shifted her voice sounding concerned.
"Yeah, there be some fookin' cunts 'round here who can't stay put!" Robert's tone shifted to almost a growl. "In other words, boys we got some cunts that escaped. 'Course I'm takin' 'bout some of these cunt's past selves." He motioned to the others that the group had already stolen the hearts of, "them muppets are segregated from this fair world and locked away in their own fookin' castles."
"So those are the Palace rulers." Queen deduced.
"I really gotta thank you for changin' my heart. I got to come back here, after all." Kamoshida sounded genuinely grateful.
"We… send 'em back here?" Skull drawled as his eye went wide behind his mask.
"I don't understand. Just what have we been doing by using the cognitive world?" Fox looked around the group seemingly looking for answers.
Joker didn't quite know how to respond, suddenly he felt the urge to push forward rather than face the reality before them.
"We saved people. We saved each other too, didn't we?" Oracle seemed to have a better grasp on the situation then Joker did and he was pleased with her words.
"Y-You're right. I'm sorry." Fox shook his head.
"Tell me. Who is the ruler here? Who made all of this?" Queen stepped up to Robert, her tone demanding answers to her question.
"Somethin' screwy 'bout ya lass? Don' ya know? It be every cunt here, the general public." Robert leaned forward giving Queen the stink eye.
"What?" Queen took a step back as the realization hit her.
"D-Don't lie outta your ass like that!" Skull glared towards the man behind the cage. "I mean, there was a guard here earlier! That means someone's gotta be lookin' out for you guys, right?"
"Huh." Robert scratched his beard. "Ye may be right… Fer we are the ones lookin' our fer everyone else that ain't got thar' arses down here."
"No." Panther put her hands to her mouth.
Queen shook her head. "So the ones who least want the prison to be tampered with… Are the prisoners themselves."
"That's some fuckin' bullshit," Kanji shouted.
"I agree with Queen's deduction, this is highly unusual and needs to be investigated deeper." Naoto put a hand to her chin.
"What about Crow? He had a change of heart. Why ain't he locked up too?" Skull asked. "Oracle too!"
"My shadow is with me and is a Persona. The same thing happened with Oracle. That reminds me, Joker do you remember what Loki said about who was controlling him?" Crow looked towards Joker.
"Didn't he say the lord of control?" Joker took a step towards Crow.
"These people. The way they act, it's as if they want every part of their lives controlled for them." Crow glanced toward the caged people.
"So you think the one that was controlling Loki might be…" Joker's eyes widened at the realization.
"Correct, the thing at the end of this is more than likely that very same lord of control." Crow nodded.
"A lord of control?" Queen looked startled.
"Your logic seems sound." Aigis agreed.
Mona gave a loud audible sigh.
"Mona?" Futaba called out to their feline.
"I do remember this place… I saw the humans in here... And realized I looked different than them for some reason. …Right! That's when I started to think I wanted to turn into a human!" Mona shook his head as if trying to piece together his fragmented memories.
"Were you created down here?" Queen asked.
"I… don't know. Sorry. I'm still missing a lot of my memories." Mona looked downcast as his whole body seemed to droop slightly.
"I hate to break up this moment but we got Shadows incoming!" Rise suddenly called. "There are quite a few of them this time!"
That warning gave Joker just enough time to launch a counter-attack before the shadows even knew what hit them. Revealing the first group of shadows as Joker tore off their masks. The battle went smoothly, but just as they were finishing it up two more groups of shadows attacked one after the other. By the end of it, some of his front lines were looking a bit worse for wear. They needed a break and as there was plenty in reserve this didn't bother Joker in the least bit. Queen, Aigis, and Kanji were swapped for Ken, Crow, and Yosuke. Rise insisted on staying in the front lines, as she looked surprisingly fine despite this being her first time as a real front line attacker. Joker had to think this had something to do with Izanagi.
With those shadows out of the way, they seemed clear to proceed. With Oracle's guidance, the only obstacle that stood in the way of going deeper into Mementos were the shadow guards that seemed to be everywhere. Joker managed to collect a few new masks as they advanced further, but they were more for collection purposes than actually good Personas. That was until they advanced further down and found a Persona called Thor. A sudden idea struck Joker while they engaged it as he happened to remember it's weakness from the battle arena in Sae's Palace. Luckily he had picked up a Kali during his standard mask collection. Rise as always was the first one up and took out the Persona that was with Thor leaving him alone. Joker was up next and quickly switched to Kali and with a Psiodyne, Thor was forced to take a knee and become downed. The group advanced on the downed shadow as Joker took out his gun.
"W-wait a minute can't we talk?!" The Persona cried.
"You takin' this one Joker?" Yosuke called as he kept his attention focused on the shadow in front of him.
"No, I need to test a theory. Crow tame this one." Joker glanced towards his friend.
"What? Why?" Crow looked frazzled at the suggestion.
"Because you already have Loki." Joker explained simply.
"Tame..?" Thor towards Crow.
"I like this idea," Oracle called from Prometheus as the persona hovered over them.
Crow shifted. "I've never tried to gain a new Persona before, so how does one do it?"
"Ask it to lend you its power." Joker encouraged.
"Lend me your power Shadow," Crow commanded simply as he looked towards the shadow.
Thor chuckled. "I can't just lead my power to anyone. Can you prove you are worthy of it?"
"I dunno," Crow hesitated.
"Pathetic," Thor started but was quickly silenced as Joker fired a bullet next to it causing it to hesitate.
Joker wasn't going to let it get away that easily. A failed first negotiation, but this was Crow's first time. Joker was determined to guide him through the process as much as possible.
"Confidence Crow," Joker advised wisely.
"Right," Crow nodded as he stepped up to the Persona and looked down upon it. "I am more than worthy. The question is are you worthy of me?" There was that cockiness that Crow rarely deemed to show nowadays.
"You think I'm not worthy?! Fine! I'll show you! Wait. I remember I'm not a shadow that lives here. I'm from the sea of souls of you humans. I'm Thor and from now on I'm with you." In an instant Thor's energy condensed to form a familiar long nose mask.
Crow reached out, but the energy zoomed towards him and quickly disappeared into his mask. For a second Crow seemed to stand there shocked. Joker patted him on the back before starting to head off. Crow quickly regain his composure and followed after him along with the rest of the front line group. It was an interesting fact that Crow could actually tame Persona and honestly Joker had been curious about it for far too long to let this opportunity fall to the wayside. If he had learned sooner, their battle in his Palace might have gone a bit differently. No need to worry about that now though. With Crow now able to tame Persona, Joker had to believe that was some sort of new boon.
It was only after their first safe room that they seemed to run into a snag. There was a floor puzzle that by its very nature seemed unbeatable. After struggling with it for about 10 minutes the group retreated to the safe room just to rest for a minute while the brains of the group tried to figure out how to proceed. In doing so Futaba brought back up her holographic map and it was quickly realized that there was a part they had yet to explore. Taking a chance Joker steered his group in the new direction and found a powerful shadow protecting a strange disk. Once the shadow was dealt with and the disk in hand, the whole group fought their way back to the puzzle to quickly discover that the disk was the key they had been missing. After they solved that problem it was nothing more than a simple puzzle that even Joker could have figured out on his own.
A new door was their reward for finishing the puzzle that led down to another spiraling corridor which in turn lead to another prison chamber. This one did not feature mass incarceration cells, but individual ones stacked on top of each other as if this was nothing but some fancy holding scheme. In the middle of the room was a door behind some solid-looking bars.
"Hold up!" Oracle called to the group as everyone stopped. "That's the door I was talking about earlier." She pointed to the door with all the bars in front of it.
"Izanagi!" Rise abruptly called out.
The Persona appeared over them charging headlong at the bars in front of the door. A loud clang echoed in the area but even Yu's most powerful Persona failed to damage the bars in any visible manner. That didn't stop it from taking a few more hearty swings. Next, the Persona tried an elemental attack, but again the bars withstood the assault. More elements, different elements. It didn't matter, nothing seemed to affect the bars.
"Nooooo." Rise called falling to her knees.
In an instant Naoto, Yosuke, and Kanji raced to their friend as she collapsed. The Persona faded as sobs started to echo from the distraught woman. She sounded heartbroken and Joker understood why. If Yu was on the other side of this door, then there was nothing they could do to get him. What were they going to do now? Joker tried to think, but the sounds of Rise's sobbing was a confidence shaking distraction.
"I…" Futaba reached up and took off her googles looking at the door. "I can't find a way to open it. It's as if it was made not to be opened."
"I don't know if this will help, but I remember this place. I was born here." Mona took a step up to the bars and put his paw against them.
"Born? Inside the prison?" Panther asked.
"Yeah. It's been here since I was born. But I remember this place. Someone created me here. To guide all of you." Mona leaned his head against the bars.
"Guide? And who is this someone?" Noir asked stepping up to Mona and kneeling next to him.
"Ngh, I can't remember!" Mona suddenly pounded the prison bars as his ears went flat against his head. "Damn it! I'm so close, but my memory is too foggy!"
"Y'know, hearin' this just makes me wanna know who that dangerous prisoner is." Skull put his hands in his pockets as he looked at the door.
"I.." Mona started but was quickly cut off.
"We found them! The escapees are in front of the isolation cell." A shadow announced.
Several shadows flooded into the room from all directions. Joker's hand instantly went for his weapons as his friends instinctively reached for theirs. All that noise Rise had made to try and break the bars must have attracted this horde. Rise was still down and distraught, she'd need to be protected. Joker went with the people closest to the flood of guards.
"Panther, Fox, Ken, Skull. Take the left side." Joker called out as he darted towards the shadow nearest him. "Queen, Noir, Aigis with me!"
"Alert! Alert! Capture them at once!" The shadow called.
"Crap we're surrounded!" Oracle called as she took a step back next to Mona.
Joker didn't have time to worry about their situation, he instead focused on the battle before them. As soon as the battle started the shadows unleashed their might, causing the group to sustain a good chunk of damage. That wasn't enough to end any of them though and they counterattacked just as good as they got, if not better, as Joker summoned Yoshitsune. The battle loving Samurai seemed elated as it appeared at Joker's side. With a simple command, Yoshitsune unleashed his might. Nothing survived the assault.
As the shadows melted away in defeat, Joker cast a glance to his friends. More shadows were coming in. This only seemed to stir Yoshitsune into an even greater excitement as it rested just under the surface of his sea of souls. Who was Joker to not let this Persona have its fun? Joker flung out his hand calling to the swordsman and it rapidly responded. The remaining shadows were nothing and soon the danger had passed. Joker felt a bit weak after unleashing such a powerful Persona and letting it do what it wished, however, the fact everyone was safe was all the justification he needed.
"This place seems to be under high alert now. We should keep going." Queen advised as she stepped up to Joker and put a hand on his shoulder. Anat's towering form appeared behind her. "Mediarahan," Queen ordered to her Persona.
Joker felt his strength return to him as the healing spell flowed over them. A lot of the wariness that had appeared on everyone's faces lifted as the healing spell seemed to give them a second wind. Joker was glad Queen was keeping an eye on everyone like that, just another instance where he had unknowingly depended on her and she delivered. After flashing his girlfriend an appreciative look, Joker turned his attention to Rise.
"How close are we to the depths Oracle?" Fox asked.
"Not far," Oracle responded.
"We need to fight what's in the depths. We should be able to save Yu if we do." Joker called to the distraught Rise.
"That is what Ren's attendants did say," Aigis confirmed.
"Are you sure?" There was a small spark of hope in Rise's voice.
"Yes, we but have to move," Joker affirmed.
Rise slowly got to her feet with the help of Naoto and Yosuke. She seemed to be pulling the last of her emotional strength together. Joker nodded to her before glancing over his roster of Persona users. Rise didn't look emotionally ready to fight in the front anymore. She was switched out for Panther. Rise didn't protest the decision as she moved to the back of the group to stand with Kanji.
"Now that I think about it, it makes sense Mementos would connect to some places like underneath Shibuya. Everyone crams themselves into packed underground boxes day after day without any complaints. From my standpoint, those are the true inmates of Mementos." Mona took his place among the group.
"So the subways become agents of atrophy, an interesting hypothesis Mona." Something seemed to stir in Naoto's eyes. "I don't believe everyone takes the subway out of choice, I believe the action is more out of necessity than anything else. But being trapped in a hopeless succession is what could be making these people turn to what this Lord of Control offers them. An emotionless liberty from not having to choose, but for things to just continue. Nothing gained nothing lost. Just nothing. But is that what these people truly want?" Naoto looked studied the prisoners.
"There's only one way to find out," Queen announced.
"True. Let's continue." Naoto nodded.