Meanwhile…
Alone in her anarchic mess of a room, Tae woke up from her bed in a sudden flinch of distress, a throbbing headache enveloping her as she breathed heavily. Stumbling down to the floor, She stumbles through into the bathroom, frantically looking through the cabinets.
TaE…
A sudden voice echoed through her mind, making her search more frantically.
DoN't RuN fRoM mE… yOu KnOw YoU cAn'T gEt RiD oF mE…
"No… nononono, where is it!?" she started saying, knocking over a few medicinal jars and bottles.
ThErE's TrOuBlE cOmInG sOoN, aNd YoU nEeD mE…
"Wait… the office!" Tae said, scrambling to the front area.
ThEy WiLl NeEd HeLp, YoU kNoW tHiS…
"Who? Who needs help?!"
… In DuE tImE… SeArCh fOr HeArT sHaPeD cRyStAlS… tHeY wIlL sHoW yOu ThE aNsWeR…
Arriving at her front desk, Tae pulled out a black box from the bottom cabinet, opening it to reveal a red and black tube of pills and a heart shaped gem inside. Taking the circular container, she took out two pills and downed both of them.
… YoU'lL nEeD mE sOoN eNoUgH… i'Ll Be WaItInG…
With that last statement, the voice faded to nothing, causing the doctor to sigh in relief. Slumping down on the chair next to her, she looked on to the gem in the box.
"Heart shaped crystals…" hesitantly, she inched closer to the gem, slowly reaching towards it, only to recoil in pain when she touched it with her finger.
Flashes and visions danced around her vision as she clutched her head, the visions became longer and clearer, until she found herself face to face…
With a little girl.
A smiling girl who looked like a fairy tale princess…
A smiling girl with a knife tainted with blood walking close-
"AAGHH!" Tae screamed, falling on the floor, looking up at the bright lights of her clinic.
"... Alice?"
*BOOOM!*
The entire group plus two evaded another blast of Maragi from the three abominations, or rather, 7 abominations consisting of five different colored Madarames, a gigantic, buff mosquito and a disproportionate succubus like spider woman.
"Everyone, we need to find a weakness!" Mona shouts out, deflecting a Garula with his scimitar.
"On it! Reaper, Arsene Synchronize!" Joker shouts out, both the persona and Phantom thief in question swirled into the ring, enveloping Joker in a black inferno, revealing the combined form of all three.
"That's quite the eye-catching trick you have there." the mystery heroine said, joker looking over to her.
~well then, we certainly wouldn't want them to be disappointed now, do we milady?~
"Point taken." a snap of her fingers drew in everyone 's attention. "Our turn." jumping high, the heroine raised her fist in the air. "Widow, Armatize!" the partner of hers in question, much to everyone's shock, swirled into the heroine much like Joker's transformation, a violet light shined through her body, transforming her instantly.
In place of her previous clothing is a cross between a skin tight violet, black and red suit and a gothic lolita style tailcoat, gigantic bat wings flapping in might on her lower abdomen, and what appeared to be a spool and needle were attached to the back of her body.
"W-What the hell!?" Skull yelled out.
"Another form change!?" Panther shouts out as well.
"Well, then.." Joker chuckled, brandishing his chained knives. "If you're going to help out, then try to keep up! Fox, Akuma, With me! Panther, Skull and Mona take Chado while Shinobi and Noir go for Ritsuka!"
"I see," Spoke the newcomer. "Then I shall also go for this Ritsuka." joining the two girls, the group split off to their respective fights.
Meanwhile… in the real world…
Another bus enters the outskirts of Shibuya, several particular individuals inside were discussing between themselves, all except for one male sitting in the back.
~Oi, Milo, we're here.~ said a tomboyish female voice. The boy in question opened one of his eyes, spotting a floating blonde figure hovering just above him.
"Really? Sweet." he whispered back at them sitting up, he faced the group in front of himself and made himself known with a cough. "Hey guys, are we there yet?"
"Yeah, kid. we're here!" Said a portly male driving the vehicle. "Welcome everyone to Shibuya, our new base of operations!"
"Weren't we here a few days ago, Meat balloon?" another male with an afro questioned. "And about time you woke up dude!"
"Yeah… sorry about that, Megakin. Just had to sleep off something for a bit."
"Well good thing you woke up when you did, we're almost at our new HQ!" a brown haired girl in pigtails added.
~Milo, by the way, I can feel them here…~
"Those bastards…" Milo whispered to himself.
"The what?" Megakin asked.
"Nothing, just some… past memories…"
~and if they're here, then Nan's most likely there, and we know Akira's somewhere around here too.~
"Hey guys, after we set up the HQ, you think I can explore the place? I got a few friends of mine I wanna visit."
"Oh, you have friends?" a ravenette in a school uniform asked besides him.
"Other than us?" a glasses wearing male added.
"HEY!" the whole group laughed as they approached the city, unaware of what trails behind them.
*BOOOM!*
*Clash!*
*Bang!*
Sparks, bullets, and magic flew everywhere as the entire group reunited, having dealt with both Chado and Ritsuka respectively, leaving only the four duplicate Madarames. Outnumbered, the clones attempted to escape, only for three of the four to be entirely encased in ice, courtesy of one surprisingly livid Fox. the last one, the Ice form stammered and tripped, allowing the blue haired swordsman to grab him by the collar, yanking up forcefully from the ground.
"Whoa, dude-" Skull started, stopping as Joker held him back with a hand, Reaper having regained his bearings by his side.
"Let him have this, at least for a second." the leader said, watching as Fox slammed Madarame into the other three frozen duplicates, shattering the ice imprisoning them and grouping them back into one.
"Y-Yusuke, what has gotten into you!?" Shadow Madarame stammered in fear.
"Is that All you have to say? You three desecrated my mother, ruined BOTH of our lives, and you have the GALL to ask that question!?" Yusuke yells, throwing Madarame into the reverted Chado and Ritsuka.
"Don't you get it? No one cares for true art. All they wanted was easily recognizable brands! We're victims of this too, don't you agree!?"
"Y-Yeah, Blu-... Yusuke…. My man, why are you so serious!?" shadow Chado added. "Everything I did was to toughen you up, inside and out. Makes ya better for the… um… character and shit!"
"My darling yusuke… Why? Why won't you accept me? … I tried everything I could for you, i worshipped you.." Shadow Ritsuka wailed. "i just wanted you to reciprocate at least some of that love back… I didn't care what, as long as you cared… I was happy!"
"Excuses now, really?" Skull retorted, Reaper shaking his head.
~ the sad part is that i think Ritsuka's is the only genuine one…~
"The art world revolves around money, after all… you can't rise up without money." Madarame continued."
~Bullshit!~
~I concur.~
"Yusuke, you understand, don't you!? Being a poor is truly miserable!"
"The real world would schew your scrawny ass up and spit you out if i didn't do anything about it, Yu-Man!" Chado chipped in
"Desperate to the point of trying out for brownie points… this is getting worse by the second." Akuma sighed, picking up one of the three treasures along with Noir and Shinobi
I just didn't want to return to that Li-" was all Madarame said before Fox slapped him square in the face, the shadow ruler's face hitting the concrete.
"ENOUGH!" Fox roared, grabbing Madarame's collar. "A fiend like you doesn't deserve to speak about the world of art. Nor would I forgive all the years of torment you have made me suffer through…" he said, glaring at the cowering Jockey. "You're done for… all three of you, along with this wretched world!"
At this point, Madarame was full-on sobbing "NO! Please…. Just Don't kill me!"
Throwing him to the ground one last time, Fox, leered at them menacingly. "Go back to reality and atone for your crimes… all of you!"
"Y-you're not going to kill me?"
"SWEAR IT!"
"AAAH! Alright, I swear!"
"I'm Going, I'm Going!"
"Yusuke… we could never be… i'm sorry…" Ristuka added in one last time.
"W-What about the other one though!? The one with the black mask!?"
~what the fuck are you on about now!?~
"Wait… don't tell me, someone else has been going through palaces!?" Mona yelped in concern. The world around them began shifting and crumbling. As the group began to leave, Madarame clung to Fox weakly…
"Hey, Yusuke… what should I do?" Madarame asked feebly.
"Put an end to all of this and make your own artwork for once…" was all Fox said before turning back to the group, all three shadow rulers slowly faded away the further he went.
"Looks like Blue balls finally dropped em… good for ya…"
"Goodbye… my love…"
"No wait, please… Yusuke, YUSUKE!"
Not too long later…
"I guess the mission was a success…" Ryuji sighed. The group had to meet up near the accessway… well the near group, Akira and Arata were off to the side having a reunion with Nanako and Molly respectively. "All that's left is to see if he had a change of heart or not…"
"To think, this painting would be the source of Madarame's desires… I have no clue about Ritsuka's and Chado's though."
~we got them.~ Arata said the two plus two extra joined the group. ~Chado's was a unique jewel-encrusted paintbrush, for some goddamn reason… as for Ritsuka's…~
"We think you should have it, Yusuke…" Akira finished, handing him over a small jar. Upon closer inspection, Yusuke noticed his last name etched onto the side, and realized that it wasn't a jar; it was an Urn.
An Urn labeled Retsu Kitagawa.
"M-Mother…" Yusuke uttered weakly, nearly dropping the painting altogether as he took the urn graciously.
"It still sounded full too…"
"So her desires were made by my Mother's remains… probably to get closer to me as a result…"
"Yusuke…" Ann said, the others stood silent at the blue-haired artist, who then clutched the urn gently as if hugging an infant.
"The only saving grace would be that I get to be reunited with my mother once more…"
~You're not alone there, bud, we all lost someone in our lives, we're here for ya.~
"Thank you."
"Although it took some time, It's in your hands now, Yusuke. I'm sure your mom would be very proud of you…" Mishima said.
"So… this is the portrait of my mother… and the remains to which I may finally put to rest… to think that I would have the honor of having both…"
~alright, enough of the sadness, we've had enough of that to last next week! It's time we introduced you to an old friend!~ Arata picked up, changing the mood entirely.
"Ah right, everyone, this is my childhood friend Nanako Dojima, and the girl floating beside her is Molly." Akira introduced, both greeting the group respectively.
~It's been so long darling. But we're now back together again.~
~indeed it has, my love. Indeed it has.~
as the group continued, none of them realized the lone female in the background watching them from a distance…
"Hmm…" was the only thing she said as she left the scene.
OH GOD, IT TOOK SO LONG TO FINISH!
The next chapter will be filler so hopefully, it'll take less time to do…
TBH