Key:
Menma Narrating
Sae Narrating
"Shadows/Persona Talking."
"Humans Talkings."
'Humans thinking.'
"Telepathy/Radios."
A few days after that I ended up spending some time with Akechi, our schedules finally lined so we decided to get coffee.
Menma, wearing his casual attire of dark blue t-shirt with black 'skinny jeans' and sneakers, Akechi was done up in the same thing he seemed to wear everywhere, a tan jacket black gloves and grey trousers with black dress shoes, he was even carrying his briefcase with a black A on it.
"You seriously need to expand your wardrobe, Akechi." Menma said as he approached the brown haired young man, Akechi smiled before nudging him with his elbow.
"Well we can't all be spending our parents money." The Detective said with a chuckle.
"Straight for the jugular then?" Menma questioned with a raised brow, "I'll have you know I spend my own money. And even then, this stuff is from the basic stores. I'm sorry if my radiance blinded you, Goro-kun." Menma laughed with a faux deep voice as he preened.
"Blinded only by your modesty, I'm sure." Akechi assured, sighing dramatically. "Oh dear, how will I recover?"
"Coffee and Curry?" Menma questioned with an impish grin, Akechi's drama melted away almost immediately.
"Yes!"
The duo ended up in Yongen, their objective a little hole in the wall coffee place called LeBlanc, for some reason the store also did curry but don't question it, it's amazing.
Is this going anywhere? We have a limited time and we still need to discuss the Madarame Case.
Ugh, fine. Why do I get the feeling that if someone else was telling you this shit we'd be in Freeza time and this hour would last for like… seventy?
What? 'Freeza Time'? Why are you bringing Dragonball into this?
I KNEW IT! I fucking knew it, you do actually enjoy something! Ha, looks like Prosecutor Mommy isn't so strict after all.
Exuuuuse you, Uzumaki!?
Madarame right? Well, it's a bit of a time gap but I'll try to fill in the blanks…
Before that you gotta hear about how I basically made Ryuji Sakamoto the happiest boy in the world…
"Jiraiya-sensei, thank you for meeting with me - us - about this." Menma once more was dressed up to kill the ladies, a dark red dress shirt under a black pinstripe vest with silver buttons, a matching pair of pinstripe trousers and black dress shoes, his silver ring affixed firmly on his middle finger and his studs seemingly vanished from his flesh.
Jiraiya was an older gentleman looking fellow, long white hair that was spiked to hell and back, it easily fell to his thighs and possibly further. He was donned in a custom business suit inlaid with velvet silk, a folded handkerchief in his breast pocket. He looked quite built for his age, he along with the son of his student easily towering above the other residence of the establishment.
Currently Menma, Jiraiya and the Phantom Thieves were in a high-class restaurant that was frequented by several 'old money' types. The looks the others were getting easily agitating the Uzumaki scion to no end.
"Hey kiddo, no need to be so formal. I am your godfather, no matter how much you deny it." The old man said, his voice was deep and rich and warm smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye. He played for keeps.
Menma leant forward across the long coffee table between them, "Forgive me, Jiraiya-san but you always said to leave relations outside of business meetings."
"Well done, I approve. So, are you going to introduce me to your friends?" The older man said simply, crossing one leg over the other.
"Of course, these are my kouhai from school, Ryuji Sakamoto. Ann Takamaki, and Akira Kurusu… and Akira's cat Morgana."
Akira flushed a little at Morgana being pointed out, though the saving grace was that several wealthy women seemed to have carted their pets around as well, so it wasn't completely out of the ordinary.
The group wore their Sunday best to the meeting, as requested by their 'Acquisition Master'.
"A pleasure to meet you all, tell me, has Menma said anything to you about me?" Jiraiya asked, as a waitress came over and gave them their menu's, "Thank you dear."
"O-Only that you taught his father, Jiraiya-san." Ann said with a slight hitch in her throat, unused to situations such as this, to her it felt like some kind of high-end deal with the devil.
"That's true, hmm… I think it must have been at least twenty years ago. I had a run in with a few punks who were trying to mug me and some random police officer comes and gets in the middle of it, the guy fights them all off like it was nothing, fastest young man I've ever seen to this day." Jiraiya slipped away into the memory as he recounted it.
"I asked him, 'Who are you?' He tells me his name and I say, 'You've got a spark in you kid, and I can't in good conscious let it go unnurtured.' So I tell him that if he ever wants to break into the business world instead of just doing grunt officer work, to give me a call. I don't know what ended up happening but a few months later he calls me and we start working together." Jiraiya had a fond smile on his face the whole time he spoke.
"My plan for Minato was to start him on a few low-tier ventures to see how he'd handle them, initially it was a bit shaky, he wasn't familiar with what had to be done to make certain things succeed but he stuck through it all the way. Fast forward a few years and this little one comes around-" He took a sip from his coffee as he pointed at Menma who remained stoic throughout the story, "-And tells me it's time to lay roots, create something his son can have if something ever happened."
"So my father created Apex. Started from a little shop in some nowhere town, as you instructed, and after years of cultivating it on the side of several other projects, it bore fruit." Menma summarised finally, "It really only started to be a big name recently, and even then we still have contenders."
"But that same drive that kept your father going all these years, burns brighter in you than it ever did in him, kiddo. You're gonna take the world by storm, I know it." Jiraiya assured.
"So it's kinda like that show in America? The Apprentice, or whatever?" Ryuji asked, tilting his head in thought.
"I suppose it is, isn't it." If Jiraiya had a problem with that summary he didn't show it, "I could say that from now on, it'd certainly cut down on story-time." A bright grin lit up the old man's face, making Ryuji match it.
"Pfft, I guess even Ryuji can say things of merit at times." Morgana drawled from his spot next to Akira, the blond haired boy almost reacted on instinct at that point but reeled it in.
"So, let's get down to brass tacks. What do you have for me?" Menma pulled up a briefcase and popped it open, sliding it around to Jiraiya, "Ooh, a medal… authentic too. How'd you get it?"
"Donated to us by someone who no longer requires it." Menma informed in a clipped tone, "You're the first person I thought of when I acquired it, either for yourself, or for someone else. Either way, I know you want it."
"I do enjoy telling stories…" Jiraiya admitted.
"Imagine, if you will. An inspiring story, this could be the inspiration for your next book. The tale of young man, or woman, who is given just such a medal and uses the image of themselves earning their own to shoot for the top." Menma suggested, the old man actually seemed to consider it and pulled out a notebook, "Either that or it could be used for… other means."
"I'd probably say both." The old man said easily, tapping his chin with a pen. His eyes lifted to his godson and narrowed, "How much?"
"10 Million." Menma said immediately, making the other's almost jump out of their skins.
"A little steep. How about 6." Rebuked the old man.
"A genuine article? You'd have to claw it from my cold dead hands at 6. 9 Million."
"So you are willing to budge. Good to know… as you are all just kids this is probably the only way you'll get rid of it. I'll give you 7 Million and nod a dollar more." Jiraiya crossed his arms.
"How about 8 and I give you full details of my initial encounter." Menma offered with a knowing look, Jiraiya seemed taken aback.
"You'd share that with me?" The older man questioned, seemingly dumbstruck.
"Ah. worth that much to you? 10 million. I'll give you an audio recording." Menma said, leaning back and crossing his arms.
"Deal!" Jiraiya whipped out his checkbook and immediately jotted down the intended amount. He ripped it from his book and handed it over, Menma accepted it and shook hands with his godfather.
"'Know your target'. Right Kyoufu?" Menma smirked and slipped the check into a pocket inside his vest.
"I knew I taught you well." Jiraiya plucked the medal from the case and slid it back to his godson, "So, lunch on me?"
"T-te-ten-ten…" Ryuji had seemingly shut down, Ann had actually fainted and Akira looked pale.
"So ferocious…" Muttered the glasses wearing youth.
So you swindled a medal for 10 million yen? What's this 'initial encounter'?
The medal wasn't worth the money it took to get it there, not really. Jiraiya-kyofu has always been hounding me to get laid and tell him all about it for his next book. I essentially agreed to give him an audio-recording of my first time.
Are you serious?
Don't worry. I never said it was good audio.
You sly devil…
The devil, is in the details. My dear Niijima.
How did this exactly make Sakamoto-san happy?
Menma left the bank to meet his peers once more, adjusting his collar he strode towards them, "You all may wish to check you bank accounts." Within seconds all of them had their phones out and slowly their expressions melted into pure glee.
Ryuji however, started crying.
"S-senpai…" He croaked out, Menma looked startled as the young man hugged him, "You got no idea what this means to me man… for my mum, just for my future. You-you...you-"
Menma slipped his briefcase out of his hand and pulled the younger male into a tight embrace, "Ryuji Sakamoto, you can always count on me and your friends to have your back. This is the first step on the long road ahead, but we took it together."
Ann's eyes watered a little, Akira looked like a great weight was pulled from his shoulders and Morgana allowed the moment to pass naturally.
Ryuji pulled back and nodded, accepting the handkerchief that was offered to him to clean himself up, "Th-thanks, Senpai-Nah, thanks Menma. You're a real pal. I know it probably seems hollow, sayin' that after you got us all this money bu-" Menma placed a hand on the younger man's shoulder.
"I get you, it's moments like this where stuff like that has to be said, yeah?" Ryuji nodded and Menma smiled, "No need to fret over perception, we're - as the saying goes - thick as thieves."
Ryuji's dad walked out on him, but not before leaving plenty of wounds that took years to heal, if they even are, his mother raised him on her own. That money meant that a preassure could be taken off her, and him. It was a small way that I could make a friend's life better.
It also set's a dangerous president for ambition, 10 million yen isn't exactly pocket change.
Everyone needs a motivator… where was I before this? Oh right so basically, Yusuke Kitagawa approached Ann to model for a painting he was putting together, apparently blonde and busty is rare. Ryuji and Akira were with her at the time and ended up going to the art exhibition…
"Stop playing with your tie." Scolded a beautiful redhaired woman with light purple eyes, fair skin and a long black dress on. A purse held in her left hand as she swatted her son.
Menma was done up in a white dress shirt, a black vest and tie over that, a pair of dark trousers and dress shoes to finish it off.
"It's tight." Menma lamented with a roll of his eyes. "Why are we even here?"
"Because unlike your father I actually have an interest in the artistic scene." Kushina sniffed with a faux haughty look on her face, "My boy won't grow into a savage if I can help it."
"Hmm. And why did you drag Makoto into this?" Menma prodded further, raising his brow, the beautiful girl on his left enraptured by one of the paintings tucked away in a corner.
"Don't act like she's not having fun, spoilsport." Kushina poked her tongue and snickered.
"Very mature, mum." Menma groaned out, only for the woman to take one his arms and drag him towards the painting Makoto was looking at.
"Aww, big Menma-chan doesn't want to be seen having fun with his sweet mother. Where did my happy little boy go?" Prodded the Uzumaki Matriarch.
"Ahh, Madame Uzumaki so kind of you to appear." An eldery voice struck their collective ears, Madarame Ichiryusai, grey hair held into a conservative ponytail, a small goatee framing his chin, he wore a pale green haori with a dark grey kimono underneath, the man was the picture of humble artist.
"Well after receiving an invite how could we say no, Madarame-san? This is my son, Menma. I'm trying to culture him before his father's brutish behavior sticks." Kushina said easily, a smile on her face.
Madarame chuckled throatily at that, dipping his head to the young redheaded male who seemingly towered above the populace within the art exhibition, "A pleasure to meet you Menma-kun."
"And you, Madarame-san. I must say… for one man you certainly have a varied and unpredictable style." Menma commented as he looked around, "It would seem having had so many pupils over the years has gifted you with talent and variety. Quite the accomplishment."
Madarame preened under the praise, though he did a good show of not being too obvious about it. "Thank you sincerely for your kind words, Menma-kun. If you'll excuse me I must attend to some matters." The old painter walked away to speak with a man in a suit for a moment.
"That dude is suss as fuck." Menma muttered, only to be hit on both shoulders by his mother and his girlfriend.
"Menma! Please control your language in public." Makoto hissed quietly, trying to avoid drawing attention to them.
"Tell me I'm wrong." Menma demanded with crossed arms, "The voices in my head told me so."
"That man… he reeks of malice. I can his foetid odour floods this place!" Came Cerberus' disgusted information, "Kill him! Cease his corruption! Eek out his palace! Come master, we must away!"
"Now-now, Cerb'. Must you be so quick to the prize? The chase is on, to be sure, but our master must find where the prize resides." Swift soothed.
Just to note, Cerberus picking up on that is one of the reasons I ended up more agile than Joker. Most of my free time ended up fixing societal ills.
So you moonlit as Jack to… change the hearts of the masses?
Only those I interacted with through the company. I wanted Apex to be as upstanding as possible, the last thing I'll ever need is corruption around my company.
That's an… interesting approach to it.
Look Sae, at the end of the day all of us just wanted to make the world a better place.
"Voices?" Makoto questioned, "Is this your attempt at humour?"
"What, intuition counts as voices right?" Menma said with a smile.
"No. No it doesn't. Come on before you say something silly." Makoto dragged him off, leaving Kushina grinning ear to ear, only to get a call suddenly.
"Oh… Mina-kun, hello!... What do you mean? Since when? I-I'll be right there." She slipped her phone away and quickly chased after her eavesdropping son and his better half.
"Sochi, your dad needs some help with something, don't wait up at home okay?" She kissed his cheek, and then Makoto's "Have fun you two." Quickly the Uzumaki Matriarch fled the scene.
"What's all that about?" Makoto asked suspiciously.
"I don't know… but I've got this horrible feeling." Menma threaded his fingers into Makoto's, "C'mon, show me the ones you like most."
"Yo~ Senpai, didn't take you for an artsy guy." M&M Stopped dead as Ryuji, Akira and Ann made their way over to them, all in casual attire.
"Mum wants me to be cultured." Menma explained easily, "What about you guys?"
"We're uh… scoutin'. Ya'know, for art 'n' stuff." Ryuji explained lamely.
"We were invited by a new friend, the guy we messaged you about-Oh Kitagawa-kun!" Ann explained before she found the person she was looking for, he wore a purple button up shirt and black skinny jeans, a visible ring of keys hanging off his belt.
"Ah, Takamaki-san. So good of you to make it, and it seems you brought your friends as well." He greeted cordially, though his expression wavered when he looked at the two males accompanying Ann.
"Are you one of Madarame-san's pupils, Kitagawa-san?" Makoto questioned, drawing the young man to her and her boyfriend.
"Yes…" He looked at their connected hands and then took a step back, framing them in his fingers, "Hmmm... you two compliment each other quite well. Could you move slightly closer." Menma shrugged and released Makoto's hand, sliding behind her and putting his hands around her waist and kissing her cheek.
Yusuke had a moment, "Magnificent… Truly a lover's passion flows like a river." He said with a bright smile, "You are quite the couple, if you have some free time I'd love to capture that essence."
"Do we have to be naked?" Menma asked, though from the look on his face it wasn't something he wished to avoid.
"Menma!" Makoto looked scandalized.
"Not entirely no… we can go over the details another time, here… so you may contact me about it." Yusuke offered the redhead a card which he accepted, "Please, enjoy the exhibition. Takamaki-san may I have some of your time?"
"Sure." Ann followed the artist but made a heart with her hands at the couple.
"Interesting guy." Menma said, showing Makoto the card.
"You two are adorable." Akira commented, adjusting his glasses with a smirk.
"Thanks." Menma grinned widely.
"We didn't really… do anything." Makoto tried to brush off the comment.
Anyway, so that's how I initially came into contact with both Madarame and Yusuke. With Cerberus' warning I was more high-strung about getting dirt on the bastard. Turns out the other's already had that all covered so I just had to wait until we got into the Metaverse…
So to cut a long story slightly short, Ann and Morgana did some ploy with Yusuke wherein they would pop open Madarame's Sayuri stash in front of the old guy, thereby making it so the locked off part of the palace actually opened.
Because his cognition of the room itself was altered.
Exactly.
And Kitagawa-san? How did he end up joining your group.
After that little incident…
Jack, Skull and Joker all waited around before giant, gaudy golden palace within the Museum of Madarame.
Jack was fiddling with his guns, trying to spin them on his fingers and sheath them into his holsters in one move, with… varied success.
Skull was pacing slightly to keep himself moving.
Joker just stared at the raised defences with a stern glare, as though willing them to fall.
"So… you guys buy anything cool?" Jack questioned as he dropped Ivory.
"Nah, gave half of my share to Ma and the other half into a savings account for later in life… I thought about some stuff and figured, sure I could buy stuff now but I'm still kinda young and I may not make the best choice." Skull admitted as he continued pacing.
"That's quite mature of you." Joker commented with a smirk.
Skull grinned, "Right? Scary huh?"
"It's a positive change. I'm sure your mother was stunned and concerned." Jack pointed out.
"Yeah she… kinda hounded me about it for a while, and I thought about superheros for a sec, ya know? How they keep their lives hidden from their loved ones to keep 'em safe? Well my Ma can take care of herself, and I felt better being able to get it off my chest… so I told her about us." Skull waited for either Jack or Joker to turn around and berate him, but the Red Rogue kept spinning his gun and the Gentleman Thief didn't even flinch.
"You're aren't mad?" Skull questioned.
"Should we be? It's your mum, dude. If you trust her, that's enough for us." Joker said with a shrug, "Besides, that whole 'double life' thing is stupid. The villains always find out in the leaving the families totally blindsided."
"Right? So stupid." Jack commented, "Ah-ha!" In one fluid move he slipped Ivory out of her holster, made a fake shot and slid her back in.
"Well done." Joker clapped slowly as the Red Rogue preened grandiosely.
"Wait, you guys seriously ain't mad?" Skull questioned, "For real?"
"Skull, really it's fine. So long as we don't go shouting who we are from the rooftops, telling your loved ones - provided they can keep a secret - is natural." Joker assured, "On that note I'm shocked you haven't said anything to the President." This was directed at Jack.
"What do I say? 'Hey babe just going to hang out with those guys your sister is investigating, oh BT-Dubs, I'm one of them.' That'd go down well." Jack said, words oozing with sarcasm.
"Well I assumed you'd handle it with more tact, but basically. Yes." Joker said with a chuckle.
"...Maybe one day soon I'll take her down into Mementos, just to give her context for it all… I just don't know how to broach the subject with her about it. I trust her, don't get me wrong but…" Jack struggled to find the right words and instead shook his head.
"But it's not just about convincing them, it's about what they think afterwards." Joker supplied, getting a nod from his peer, "I can understand that."
"I suppose with Ma I just had an immediate in, she was more willing to accept that I was a Phantom Thief that fixed Kamoshida than a drug-pushing, smuggler." Skull admitted, chuckling.
"And then there's how… controlled she always is, I don't know if she really notices it but she always just goes along with whatever her sister or any authority figure says. Like I said, I trust her, but I don't exactly trust her lawful inclinations." Jack rubbed his hooded head, "Does that make sense?"
"Valid fears generally lead to valid hesitation, though sooner or later you'll have to tell someone." Joker pointed out, "I don't know how long I can keep it hidden from Sakura-san."
"That's the dude that runs the cafe you're stayin' at right?" Skull asked, getting a nod, "We gotta check that place out soon, I'm pretty curious."
"Cafe…? Wait, Sojiro Sakura? Owner of LeBlanc?" Joker nodded, Jack laughed, "That's crazy, I went there with a friend of mine not too long after the Kamoshida case. Small world."
"Maybe next time I'll catch you." Joker said with a smile and a shrug.
"Wouldn't be a very good Phantom Thief if I got caught anywhere." Jack said, nudging Joker with his elbow, "Eh? Ehhh?"
"Yes-yes, very funny."
"Hey look-The grid came down!" Skull suddenly said.
"Inside!" Joker ordered.
They raced across the small courtyard and into the private section of the museum, their goal was to reach the localised security console to keep the outside defences from popping back up, thankfully it was just inside and to the left, the first sight Jack came upon when they entered was a security guard in a red suit with a heart shaped mask., he stood in the way of their immediate entrance so immediately noticed them all.
"Lord Madarame forbids intruders! You shall feel the full force of His wrath!" The shadow exploded before emerging as a large yellow creature with a lion's body, a face that was featureless and black with a long mouth filled with white pointed teeth, and finally a snake for a tail.
"It's three on one, you'd swear these shadows have no self-preservation." Jack muttered, getting nods from his comrades. "A thought just occured to me, remember how everyone's combined attacks against Kamoshida's cup made the thing straight up explode. What if we tried to accommodate that into our usual battle-strat? Ya'know making two moves hit at the same time and see what combos do what?"
"Alright, let's give it a go." Joker said with a shrug, "Suzaku!"
"Captain Kidd!"
"Swift!"
Something resonated in the chests of each young man, they felt a true bond and the power within it for that exact moment.
"Garula/Zio/Freila!" The Wind spun and collected the Lightning, within the core of it was a nestled blast of Nuclear energy, the attack shot off with a deafening boom and struck the Shadow, the explosion rocked the ground beneath them sending each of the Thieves tumbling for a moment, as the smoke cleared it revealed not even a scrap of evidence the shadow ever existed.
"That-" Joker began, gobsmacked.
"-Was-" Jack continued rubbing his hands together.
"AWESOME!" Skull finished with a great whoop of glee, "Hell yeah man, that was incredible!"
That's how the beauty that is Combo-Cheese was born.
Excuse me, the what?
Our bigboy damage attack that killed shit quickly and made life ever so much easier. C'mon Sae keep up with the modern lingo.
….Continuing on.
Right so Yusuke and Ann end up falling into the Metaverse, Yusuke has a few moments of self-reflection and acknowledgement before finally he awakens, we get into a scuffle before beating feat and getting outta there. Resolving to pick up where we left off the next day…"
Menma's vision swam for a moment as he clutched his head, Sae leant over the table and held his face, "Menma-come one don't pass out on me now…" She bit her lip as she worried over him.
"Bleh…" Muttered the Red Rogue as he face planted the table.
[Lair of Alibaba]
Within her NEET-hole, Futaba Sakura used her keen mind in order to find her way into the camera for the interrogation room that Joker was supposed to be in, but in his place was Jack.
She sent a message to the other's that she got a video feed, they were on their way.
"Stupid-stupid-stupid!" Futaba berated herself, "Why did we may such a contrived plan to begin with! Ughh!"
"Futaba!" Akira's voice on the other side of her door sounded, at her behest he came in, ignoring how cluttered the room was, and how twitchy Futaba seemed.
Quickly the rest of the Phantoms piled into the room Morgana, Yusuke, Ann, Ryuji, Haru and Makoto.
"What've you got?" Akira asked, looking at the video feed before them.
"Same place, same conditions. The only problem is the lack of program on his phone to trigger the Metaverse app." Futaba summarized with a frown.
"He seems like he's in a pretty bad way…" Ryuji commented softly, looking over the orange haired girl to see his friend groaning against a metal table.
"Right so… how do we get him out?" Akira questioned, rhetorically as his brain went nuts trying to figure a way out for his friend and comrade.
"Well if he is as you say Makoto 'friends' with Sae-san. Than perhaps he could persuade her to assist him even easier than Akira could." Yusuke said simply.
"That's all well and good but without the program to activate the Meta-nav then he can't get out of there." Morgana said with a frown.
"Troubling…" Yusuke murmured, looking down.
"Surely there's something we can do? If Akechi doesn't get to him then he's as good as gone anyway!" Makoto exclaimed, stress easily visible from her stricken expression.
"Menma-kun…" Haru whispered softly.
"Stop panicking!" Morgana ordered, "He's a Phantom Thief! We all are and the last thing that's going to happen is that Jack goes down!"
"So… what're we gonna do? Words are nice and all but we gotta help him."
"Alright amateurs pay attention." Futaba said with a roll of her eyes, pulling up Menma's phone and putting some strange collar on, "Watch Alibaba work." Her impish grin was offset by the bassy, distorted voice that came out of the collar.
[Interrogation Chamber]
"Ugh, my head… my everything…" Menma lamented, "Right, anyway." Menma sat upright, ignoring the flare of pain in his shoulder.
"Are you alright to continue? We can postpone this until you get a medical?"
"Sae, I'm gonna level with you. I don't think I'm going to walk out of this." Menma spoke, his face downcast, "Not just because of what's going to happen afterwards, but because there's a whole grand plan at play here. We, and by we I mean myself and my cohorts, are using this opportunity to draw out a traitor." Menma informed, resting one arm on the table and leaning in.
"A traitor?" Sae questioned skeptically. "Here I was thinking the Phantom Thieves were above such things."
"It seems we've got to work on our vetting process-not the point." Menma said sharply, "When you leave here, another person is going to come. That person is going to give you some bullshit excuse to come down here, don't believe him but let him pass. Give it a few minutes before you come back down here… I'll have dealt with it. I'm asking a lot of you Sae, but I need you to trust me. There is shit going down here that you need to know about and an hour long interview isn't going to cut it."
"Menma this is absurd, you can't just expect our knowing one another to act as some get out of jail free card, you commit grievous crimes. You have to accept your punishment." Sae said, though the conviction in her eyes wavered.
"Listen up, and I'll tell you what happened each time we fought and spoke with the Shadows of our 'victims'."
Madarame ended up turning into a fucking painting, this was after telling us all that he's the reason Yusuke's mother died, as he just let her expire while having a seizure.
How repulsive. What did you mean by him turning into a painting though?
Parts of his face, ya'know? Each eye, his nose, his mouth…
You sound uncomfortable.
I didn't like being nibbled on by an old man.
"He bit me!" Jack screeched (roared), leaping back to avoid another chomp from the combat form of Shadow Madarame.
"Pfft…" Skull snickered as he summoned his Persona, "Bad Beat!" Kidd slid across his boat and swiped his skeletal hand through the air, each fragment of Madarame was hit with a black raking, slash.
"Ugh! Skull, you just healed it!" Some parts of the painting knitted themselves together at the physical energy being thrust upon them, Morgana looked quite upset… to put it lightly.
"Ugh! Whatever, look it was only the mouth so it's no biggy!" Skull rebuked, "Tag in!" Ann accepted the call and begun rapid-firing Agidyne into the Mouth.
"Everyone take a part and focus on it!" Joker ordered, Fox, dressed accordingly for the name, summoned Goemon to Giant Slice the nose.
Skull and Jack tag-teamed to combine their Persona's attacks, "Ready partner?" Jack questioned, flipping his knife into its holster before holding up his hand.
Skull gripped it firmly, "Yeah, let's take this old bastard down!" Captain Kidd and Cerberus appeared behind the duo. The pair looked at one another before moving in sync, Cerberus burst into golden fire before vanishing, the flames circled the skeleton Captain and funneled into his cannon arm.
"Hades Cannon!" The duo shouted as a great orb of golden energy fired off, all three heads of Cerberus appearing to wipe out the two eyes, Yusuke had dealt with the Nose with some assistance from Morgana, in the meantime Akira and Ann had destroyed the mouth, all parts fell onto the ground before melting in a large black puddle.
From within the puddle Madarame rose, he looked ragged and haggard, Joker gave the signal and all six thieves surrounded the man.
"Damn you all! I am the great Madarame! The Madarame who draws a full crowd every time he opens an exhibit… I am not someone that worthless brats like you are allowed to defy!"
"You still have the gall to speak this way?" Demanded Fox, his assault rifle trained on the man, "You will fully taste the wrath of those who were preyed upon by you!
"Do it!" Joker demanded, the All Out Attack was executed, once more it felt like a blur, every lash, every cut, every strike like a haze of red overtook them all, before the all landed together in a lineup, like something out of Phoenix Ranger Featherman R.
Only you would bring that up at a time like this.
Madarame collapsed, crawling towards his Treasure, the Original Sayuri. Yusuke stood between the failed artist and the token of his desires, his fox mask giving him a stoic air.
"No one cares for true art, they all just want recognisable brands! I-I'm a victim of a broken system, wouldn't you agree Yusuke!?" Demanded the golden robed man.
"Ugh, excuses." Skull muttered, kicking at the pavement in disgust.
"The art world revolves around money, you cannot rise above without the means to do so! I could not return to the way things were! Yusuke you must understand, being a poor artist is no way to live." Plead the Shadow, only for him to be snatching up and held aloft, Fox grabbing his collar and staring him dead in the eye.
"A fiend such as yourself has no place speaking of art! You're done for, along with this abominus world!" Fox spoke, his voice coloured by grim promise.
"N-No! Please, don't just kill me!"
"Return to your true self! Confess your crimes and seek redemption!" Fox demanded.
"You-you're not going to kill me?"
"Swear to me that you will do it!"
"Alright-Alright I swear!" Madarame took notice of Fox's peers seemingly counting them off in his head, "What about the other one though? The one with the black mask?"
"Black mask?" Ann questioned, looking at her friends.
"There's another intruder besides us in this palace?" Questioned Morgana.
Jack cracked his knuckles and moved towards the downed man, "Alright buddy, fess up. Who're you talking about?" Jack rolled his knife between his fingers as he crouched down.
"H-he said that if we ever stepped out of line we'd be disposed of! Just like the Mental Shutdown cases!"
Madarame was all too happy to share the details with us, initially I thought it was a Shadow trying to get out of Returning, but later facts would reveal it to be true. The one at the top of all this had his own personal attack dog that was running about killing people off.
Do you have names for either?
I do. Akechi Goro is the assassin. And his puppet-master is Masayoshi Shido, the man trying to rally support to be elected Prime Minister.
Surely you're kidding? How did you come to that conclusion?
I got confirmation from Cerberus that Akechi was bad news but I kept ignoring it, not wanting to admit it. No body likes to find out their friend's hiding some dark shit from them. Turns out the Goro hole goes further than most peoples.
How do you mean?
Every mental shutdown case that has occured? It's Akechi, I don't know how many people he's killed but those subways get pretty fucking packed. So it's at least in the hundreds.
And how is it you came upon this information?
Akechi doesn't want anyone to know, rightly so, but he's got his own Shadow that follows him around, his and mine had a little chat and the information got back to me. Since Philemon gave me my powers before they naturalised, my Shadow never had to be defeated for me to gain a Persona, nor did I have to fight against any great oppression.
I imagine Akechi is much the same way, though I don't know what source he drew from.
So Akechi's shadow met yours, the two had a conversation and… what? This isn't something you've thought to resolve?
You're the first person I've told about it.
[Phantom Thieves]
"Akechi really is a monster…" Haru said, her eyes devoid of light.
"And that guy had the balls to try and say we are a problem!?" Ryuji cursed, feeling the need to punch something.
"We knew it would be something… but not this." Akira muttered.
"Futaba, why have you still not done your thing?" Morgana prodded.
"He seems to have this under control…" The ginger muttered with a narrow gaze.
[Menma and Sae]
"So… what's the plan?" Sae asked with a low tone.
"When our time is up, you leave. Act completely natural, when you meet Goro in the hallway pull out my phone, pretend to open it but press this button." Menma pointed out the red pulsing eye icon, "I'm going to deal with him on an even playing field. Give me five minutes and then come back."
"Are you certain this is the best option?" Sae questioned with a cocked brow.
"Murder of the innocent, en masse? Corruption of the upper echelons of government? Sae I'm just getting fucking started, if no one else is going to stand up and fix this country? I will. It all starts here."
"Very well… I'm risking a lot trusting you, you know?" Sae said with a flat stare.
"I'll make it up to you, I swear." The silver haired woman nodded absently as she checked her watch, "How much time we got left?"
"Enough for you to tell me one more story." Sae said with a smirk.
"I did promise after all… alright it was just before she awakened her Persona, when we first encountered Junya Kaneshiro. That's who we were pursuing, the fat sack of shit met us at the front of his Palace, a floating money vacuum over Shibuya….
[End]
Hope you liked it, if so/not let me know.
Raxychaz!