Persona X TWEWY X Kingdom Hearts

Summary: Trapped in an unfair game? Fighting against society? Changing the hearts of evil adults? Save the world? Discovering oneself? Nothing out of the ordinary for these teenagers.

Chapter 11

Cats on the loose

*Safe Room*

Peeking from the door with only thin enough for a penny to slip through, Neku's eyes narrowed. More patrols were polluting the halls, two in each group guarding the hallway like there is an entire passage was full of valuables. He counted a total of four sets of patrolling guards, far more excessive than Kamoshida's paranoia, and that was with any of them not knowing they had more guests within their walls. He gently closed the door and reports to the other thieves that indeed there are more guards here than before.

"For real? Man…just gettin' here was a pain in the ass…" Ryuji groaned.

Since the party had split up to perform their tasks, Ren's group to reach this spot hadn't been as smooth as their second infiltration. The number of guards was greater than before, and because they were still adapting and learning their PT abilities, there have been some slip-ups. From Beat making too much noise, Ren slamming into a wall when he tried to flip over a guard and even Morgana getting tail caught in a door, making him scream like a banshee.

The fighting was no better, again still learning how their Personas worked was more of a "hit and miss" type of training mixed with a "whatever sticks" thrown into the mix. Luckily thanks to Neku's pins, Rhyme's smarts, and Ren's skills these fights were at the very least less strenuous and less risky than their first bouts with these slaves to the king. But their medicine, Morgana had provided them before, supply is running low and already getting here was more exhausting than the others thought it'd be.

"Why are there so many guards now? This wasn't as crowded before," Neku asked, looking at Morgana.

"You provoked Kamoshida, remember? But then again, he seems to be awfully on guard…" he hummed.

"You think he's intimidated by us or somethin'?" Beat asked scratching his neck, "Like maybe after last time we screwed him over, he's being a little wuss?".

"Considering how many guards there are, maybe he is worried about Ryuji keeping his promise…or maybe because we've actively, and openly, defied him in the real world, it's affecting his shadow form?" Ren theorized.

"That's a likely scenario," Rhyme concurred, "For all his boasts and egotistical attitude, he's a coward in the end. Perhaps there's doubt in his conviction to have you expelled, and in turn that may connect to this paranoia in the Palace".

Ryuji groaned at this, being too complicated to think about, and just asked Morgana how exactly were they supposed to steal the treasure. The cat scoffed at his impatience (and likely stupidity), saying before they could even contemplate on stealing the treasure they needed to secure an infiltration route. When the boy asked what he means, Ren clarifies simply there would be no point in thinking of stealing the treasure until they both, find out where it's been kept and then have an escape route. There would be no point in knowing where the treasure as if they couldn't steal it anyways.

"Trouble is right now; we're struggling against the guards and sneaking around while having the bare bones of practice. Even with Sora and the other two here, I think it'd make our lives, and job, a lot easier if we had just a little more manpower," Ren says, folding his arms.

"It'd be nice if Roxas and the others could help us if they're anything like those three, that's for sure," Neku agrees, "But beggars can't be choosers".

Rhyme nodded quietly, but then hums quietly for a moment and then asked Morgana more about him. She recalls he said something about having no memories of himself or his past, yet he knew so much about this other world and what a Phantom Thief is, which made Ryuji ask the others if this was amnesia Morgana was dealing with. A select few did raise some concerns and suspicions over the subject but Ren assured them he trusted Morgana enough to at least believe he knew what he, do a degree, was doing.

Morgana argued with the others on their lack of faith for him and got even more incensed when Ryuji hints that maybe for all the big talk the little guy spewed, he could be just a regular stray cat in the end. Morgana shakes his and head refuses that possibility, but before he could go on, Neku raised a hand and eyed the door. He and Ren approached it and pressed their ears against the metal frame to hear a few guards talking amongst themselves. They heard something about a princess in an odd place, making the two thieves whisper "princess" questionably to each other, trying to recall anyone who was considered a princess in Kamoshida's eyes.

They heard the guards talking about they were originally pursuing the readings of intruders, and even admit the last one killed themselves which made the two frown. In the end, it didn't matter to them, that they have to bring the princess back to king Kamoshida.

"Yo, who the hell is that princess they're going on about?" Beat asked, scratching his head.

Morgana quickly exited the room, assuring the party he'd investigate what the guards are talking about. Once he was outside, the group all shared the same unamused look that was perfectly explaining their thoughts. Beat groaned about the lack of another answer from the furball, even going on about how every time they asked the furball for answers it's either an answer laced with doubt or he has no clue about how this or that work. Rhyme concurs that while she trusted him to a degree about his knowledge of this place, she can't deny she feels like they must take everything he says with a grain of salt.

Neku agreed with her, commenting that so far the most bizarre thing about all this was him. Ryuji agreeing that Morgana was the most bizarre thing, but then Ren corrects him by using his code name. Ryuji winced, apologizing for his mistake and then even had to remember that his codename was "Skull", which makes the entire group give him an even less amused look, and Beat teasing him that he was making himself look like a genius. Rhyme quietly replied there was a difference between intellect and memory, and both had their flaws in each category.

Then the door opens, and Morgana comes back in, jumping before the gang. Ignoring the comment on how quick his scouting was, Morgana reveals the princess the guards were talking about was Ann. The gang shared confused glances, reminding the cat they had sent the girl back home the moment she came through the app's transportation. Ren quipped Morgana probably mistook Ann for that cognition they saw last time they were here, reminding everyone about that scantly clad girl that threw her arms around Kamoshida.

"Then why was she struggling and questioning everything about this place? And she wasn't in a bikini…unfortunately," Morgana says, quietly whispering the last part to himself.

"Pervert," comments Rhyme, then frowns with the information and then said: "Wait…what if she had the app too?".

"Oh shit, ya mean like us?" Ryuji asked, "I mean it appeared on mine last time…damn it! We kicked her out to keep her safe and now she came back!?".

"Looks like it…come on!" Ren says, opening the door, "We'll have to put a hold on our infiltration, Ann's safety comes first!".

The thieves ran out of their safe room, Morgana leading them through the castle hallway and the dining room, all the while they could hear Ann's panic questions throughout the castle. Asking if this was some sort of filming, who was in charge of all this, and more inane questions that cleared any doubts in the group. This was not Kamoshida's pet. They cut through the dining room and find themselves in the corridor they entered from the previous point of entry and see another way on their right with a row of knights on each side with a lone door in the end, more of Ann's questions hung in the air.

They hear her apologize for touching a suit of armor, that on their left was crumbled and in pieces, with permission. Beat commenting the girl was still oblivious to her situation, wondering how she hadn't put together this wasn't the real world.

Inside the room, Ann was being held up in what looked like a modern torture rack with her captors watching her for any attempts to escape or even defy their king. The girl tries to break free despite both feet and hands bound to the rack, even threatening to call the police if this "joke" goes any further. Approaching her was Kamoshida, remarking about the intruder his men have been constantly talking about, looking more amused than anything else.

More questions just popped in the young girl's head and then seeing herself in such lewd clothing just standing near her gym teacher only created more. She demanded answers, where was she, what happened to the school, and more. Yet her questions were ignored by the king, who just lightly chastised his knights for mistaking the real Ann for his, criticizing them. He then turns to the girl, asking if she was afraid, while she just questioned about his clothing (what little remained) and if he had finally lost his mind.

Kamoshida "kindly" shed some light on the poor girl's situation, revealing that this was his castle, his world of desires coming true, and here, he could do whatever he wanted. Disgusted, Ann even compared this to some twisted red light district, thrashing around to escape her confinements. Her wild thrashes gained praise from the lewd king, commenting on how lively this new slave was going to be, to which Ann barked back.

"This isn't funny! Enough of your bullshit, Kamoshida!" cried the girl while she still struggled to escape, not even entertaining this absurdity. The king smugly turns to his pet and says: "The girl's decided to tell me off. Do you think of that?".

"Princess" Ann replied in a way that was a complete insult to how Ann spoke, so cliched and stereotypical it was like Kamoshida dreamt her up from the old movies of high school girls. She eventually said it was unforgivable of Ann to even speak to the king in such a way, which was all he needed to hear to decide execution was the perfect punishment for his intruder. As his executioner stepped up to perform the deed, another knight but bigger and in golden armor, wondering how he could play with her before the gruesome show began.

That was before the show was cut short.

The knight stiffened and stood up straight before it fell forward before the prisoner, a single dagger in the back of its skull before vanishing. Ann raised her head from the corpse to see the thieves by the entrance, and Rhyme's mask covering her eyes…along with Beat's hands covering her eyes.

Not that the prisoner could blame him, since upon entering the room the first thing the boys and girl see is how Kamoshida truly sees his female victims. The entire room has these strange female bodies that were completely dark pinkish forms wearing red bloomers and nothing else, even their faces are nowhere to be seen. All they were doing were moaning and cheering Kamoshida's name, his glory, and his achievements like they were watching him performing, splayed all over the place as they worked in a brothel.

"This is effed up…" Ryuji gasped quietly, utterly disturbed and horrified by the sight before the gang.

"THIS is what he thinks of the girls on the volleyball team," Neku growled in disgust, "Just possessions".

Ren retrieves his dagger using a trick Morgana had taught him as they approached Kamoshida and the others, the king growling that he was just about to enjoy himself while Ann still went on questioning her situation. Before Ryuji tried to make a step, Ren holds him back and gestures the current prisoner and the knights that were far too close for comfort for the poor girl. Neku and Beat glared at the king while Rhyme subtly looked around for something they could use to escape after a quick rescue, but to her dismay, they were very limited on options.

"How many times are you gonna come back!?" growled the king, sneering at the thieves.

"Until we keep our promise and bring you down, ya effing pervert!" Beat growled, punching his fist into his hand.

Kamoshida scoffed at their words, then turned to Ann, betting that she was not different from them, that she only came here because she was "pissed" at him too. "But, ah… I forgot that chick's name, but it's your fault that she jumped, you know," he says casually. When Ann could only utter a "huh" he twists the knife into her heart that because she was so reluctant to "throw herself" onto him, he had Shiho take her place instead. Ann's eyes widened in horror, while the others burned with hatred as the king's smug smile came back, laughing at them.

"Oh, I wouldn't move, if I were you. One-step and she's gonna join the other chick," he warns as his knights crossed their swords beneath Ann's neck. Cursing, Ryuji stepped back while Neku folds his arms and makes a condescending smirk on his face.

"Oh, of course. The great Kamoshida has to use hostages and his knights to even hold a candle to a bunch of thieves, what a king you guys got," he mocks, "Sheesh…". The king glared at him but turned to his knights and commanded them to get the show started, even hinting he should start with her clothes first, disgustingly leering at the girl.

Helpless and stuck, Ann didn't even whimper a plea for mercy, hanging her head in shame and defeat. She began to wonder if this was just karma finally making her pay for what happened to Shiho, that if she had just grin and grit through Kamoshida's torture would her best friend be safe. Her lament was exactly what the pervy king wanted, bragging that she should have looked and acted like that from the start, that her friend didn't have to suffer if she had been more compliant. The girl whimpers her friend's name and a near sobbing apology.

"Don't listen to him!".

The girl turned to Ren, whose eyes were burning with rebellious fire and will. "Look at what happened to Shiho! She was abused by this bastard! She and so many others, and here he is, laughing at the fact he forced someone to take their own life to just escape from him! He doesn't deserve this victory over you, he doesn't deserve you to break down in defeat!" Ren shouts.

"And he doesn't deserve to get away with what he did to Shiho! YOU can give her the justice she was denied!".

Ann just stared at him, speechless and even…admiring. The burning rebellious spirit in his eyes, no, not just his. All of them were defying this bastard's rule, his arrogance, and disregard for those he had harm. She was no different from his other victims. No more…she will not let this monster toy with her anymore, she was losing her mind over this stupid situation where she should have seen it all from the start.

Even when her abuser was trying to take control all over again, she shot him down with a bite and a steeled will she had never possessed before. "I've had enough of this…you've pissed me off you son of a bitch!" bellowed the former obedient girl with the fire of rebellion finally awakening.

Along with something else.

"My…it's taken far too long".

Ann starts to thrash around in her confinements as her eyes take on the orange hue like so many others before her, sweat ran down her forehead. Wildly shaking her head as the voice boomed within: "Tell me…who is going to avenge her if you don't?".

Shiho's form appeared in the poor girl's mind, her broken body with a broken spirit and nearly dead eyes. Her final words to her best friend were the truth that had gone unspoken for far too long, the suffering of so many others had finally been brought to light only after a tragedy. The very man who did this to her closest friend, laughing and disregarding her would get away with it. Oh no, not ever again.

"Forgiving him was never an option…" the voice says truthfully, "Such is the scream of the other that dwells within".

Screaming in pain, Ann slumps in her confines as the voice continues within her mind. "I am thou, thou art I… we can finally forge a contract…".

"…I hear you…Carmen," Ann whispers, before raising her head high at long last to show her mask to the world, "You're right. No more holding back!".

Terrifying Kamoshida as her new partner breaks free of the chains binding her, Carmen proudly boasts: "There you go…nothing can be solved by restraining yourself".

"Understand? Then I'll gladly lend you my strength", Carmen promised. And once those words were gone and a contract forged, Ann rips her mask off, letting her blood spurt out before being bathed in the fires of her awakening. Her power almost knocked the pathetic king, now cowering in fear behind his knight, off his feet while the others smirked in satisfaction, a look of pride shines in Ryuji's eyes. No sooner had the fires vanished, Ann suddenly charged towards the terror-stricken knight on her right and kicked its sword, impressively, out of its hand.

Defying human limitations she leaps into the air and grabbed the sword. Falling to the ground, she claims her first kill by removing the false cognition of herself by decapitating her. The body faded into shadows before disappearing altogether. She stood tall and faced the false king, now donning her Phantom Thief outfit at last. Her outfit consists of a skin-tight red latex catsuit with a cleavage cut-out and zippers, a matching red panther mask, pink gloves, dark red thigh-high boots, and a clip-on tail on the back of her catsuit.

"You know what? I'm not some cheap girl you can play with…you scum bag!" she growls, even as the king weakly insulted her, "You stole everything from Shiho…you destroyed her… now it's your turn!". With a flick of her wrist, a blazing rope trails from her hand and materializes a whip, and with one loud snap from it, Ann runs towards Kamoshida. His knight quickly intervenes and swings its sword at the girl. The newly awakened rebel swings her whip, coiling around the blade, and with impressive strength, she yanked the weapon out of its hand.

Ryuji rushes in with his iron pipe and with both hands gripping the weapon, he swings as hard as he could and smashed the helm wearing minion, nearly breaking it off the neck. The defense was gone and Kamoshida was exposed to the others, all drawing their choices of weapons and each of them already deciding on how they were going to harm this coward. That was until Rhyme quickly erects a green barrier around the party just in time to shield them from knives falling from the dark ceiling above. The king steps back for his jesters to leap down from above along with more knights being summoned before the king. Kamoshida's terrified expression shifted into a victorious look, but this does nothing to deter the party.

"Oh lookie here, target practice!" Neku bragged and no sooner does Rhyme disable her barrier, he fires a ball of flames at one knight. The ball bursts into a small fiery explosion, breaking the formation of the knights just as everyone breaks apart to deal some carnage.

On his board in the air thanks to his wings, Beat dives down and slammed the belly of his weapon onto a knight's face. He front-flips and grabbed its helmet donned head with one hand and then speeds his board like his namesake and starts to spin around while twisting the knight's helmet. His board smacks into the nights close by before he releases the knight with the ruined neck, performing a backflip with the board and sending a jester to the air.

Ann throws her whip at the flying jester and wrapped it around its stomach, then roughly tugs it back down to the ground, creating a whiplash and likely breaking its spine if it does have bones. Once it slammed into the ground with a nasty cracking noise, she spins around and kicks aside a swing sword from the sneaking knight, and surprising the others, she calls for Carmen's power and once her Persona hovered above the girl, she ignites the knight in ablaze.

Two jesters ganged up on the strategist of the party, holding her fan up to hide her expression as she slowly backs away from them. They leaped at her with knives in hand, and in doing so Rhyme lowers her fan then jumped back from it. Below the jesters where Rhyme stood before is a half-circle-shaped item with the kanji "bomb" stapled upon it proudly. And true to its namesake the moment they were in range, it detonates and takes them with it, while the strategist smirked behind her fan.

She spins around and tosses it towards a jester sneaking up on Morgana, slicing its back and distracting it long enough for the furball to spin around and with Zorro, creates a razor-sharp gale of wind that eviscerates the jester. Morgana leaped into the air to dodge another attack from behind, missing his chance of being crushed by the towering shield, and dances backward from the swiping sword-wielding knight. With a cat-like smirk, Morgana jumps again in the air, the eyes of the knight never leaving him and that was its final mistake.

With a roar catching its attention, the knight's final view was of Ryuji rushing in with his iron pipe bathed in lightning, and a single swipe before all went to darkness.

Ryuji bashes the fallen knight aside, rushing towards a jester throwing knives at the dancing Ren, his body sparking with lightning as he picked up speed. He shoulder tackles the knight with a burst of power, knocking it off its feet and then jump kicks from it, letting Ren finish it off with a single shot from his gun, piercing the skull. The leader of the Phantom Thieves gives his friend a nod of gratitude and then turned to shoot down three more jesters with impeccable accuracy despite only using his firearm sparingly.

He flicks his dagger from his sleeve and tosses it across the battlefield, straight as an arrow into the head of a jester before Neku slashes it to pieces with blades of the wind. The Reaper lifts his freezing left hand and aims at three descending jesters from above, closing his hand into a frozen fist and encases them in ice. He then uses a pin with the "Discharge" ability and then several bolts of electrical discharges burst around his frozen prisoners, shattering them into nothingness.

The orange-haired teenager spins on his heels to see Ren aiming a gun in his direction while a knight loomed behind him. Neku aims his hand and fires a bolt of psych energy just as Ren fires a single shot from his gun, taking down the knight behind the reaper and the knight perished under Neku's superior power. They smirked to each other as in the air Beat dives down onto another knight's face and Ryuji slammed his weapon into their back, their combined attack knocks it off its feet and onto its back. The skull-wearing punk turned around and calls for Captain Kidd to send a bolt of lightning onto their enemies, shocking a group of knights and paralyzing them.

"Hua Mulan!" Rhyme calls out, summoning her Persona in a blue blaze, the Chinese heroine spinning her staff. Slowly white gale of wind forms around the paralyzed knights before ripping them apart into shreds. The two jesters remaining rushed towards the girl but were caught off by Ann erecting a wall of flames to stop their charge. As the flames roared to life, Ren and Neku appeared from the flames, dagger, and wind-blade in hand and together they slew the two heartless that remained. They stand together as the other thieves gathered up, but Ann suddenly stumbled and then collapsed onto one knee.

"W-Wha…what's wrong…with…me?" she groaned, a bad case of exhaustion taking over her form. The gang glanced at each other, knowing history has repeated yet again. Ren reached down and helps her to her feet, throwing one arm over his shoulder, and says: "You're exhausted. Awakening your Person will do that," he explains, "Right now's the time we go".

"For real!? We were all fired up to go after the treasure and now we gotta bail?" Ryuji asked.

"We've been spotted AND slew the guards, right now the whole castle is going to be on full alert for us!" Ren lectures, "We can't infiltrate while the security is on high alert and take care of Ann as well".

"Joker's right, Lady Ann's safety comes first and foremost!" Morgana concurs.

Before they could escape, however, Beat and Neku stepped in front of the group, now before the team is Kamoshida and even more knights. The king smugly looking down at the group, bragging that reinforcements had arrived and soon enough the rest would either fill out the room or be waiting for the thieves on the outside. He gestures to Ann, asking if she had enough of rebelling against the king and would finally accept her role as his newest pet, to which she replied with a firm "screw you".

"Pfft, doesn't matter in the end what YOU want. What I say goes, and I say everyone here is going to be executed for treason and assaulting the king's men!" Kamoshida boasts.

"You forgot to add making the king shit himself in terror," Neku taunted.

Even as Neku taunted the king, two jesters reappeared from the abyss of the darkness from above and then dived towards Neku. Rhyme calls his name too late for him to react, and yet just as the heartless close in on the reaper, they were suddenly slashed in two by an invisible force. Neku blinks and sees someone landing next to him with impeccable grace and nimbleness. Slowly the newest addition to the battle raised her head to face down the enemies of the thieves, in a pounce-like position. The reaper's eyes widen with realization, seeing those eyes and hair.

"S-Shiki?" he whispered.

"Hello, sorry I'm late…a-am I late?" the girl asked with a bit of hesitance in her voice, realizing this was the first time the party has seen her in her Phantom Thief look. Much like Ann, Shiki's uniform consists of a cat-like design, wearing dark crimson leather gloves with small claws on her knuckles while a crimson sleeve adorned with silvery lines around her biceps and arms with a vest that exposed her stomach dressed in dark red and green with a black graffiti of a tiger's head on her back, a long plaid designed combat shorts reaching to her knees. Her footwear consisting of high boots with red tuffs around the cuffs, prongs on the heels.

She even had a pair of lint lock pistols on each hip, her hair was the same up to the neck where it was attached to her mask and hair, flowing orange locks. Her mask was that of a tiger skull adorned in dark steel crystal with its fangs on each side of her lips. Seeing his best friend here made the reaper glare at Ann, knowing this girl was the reason Shiki was dragged into this fight. He scoffed and praised the cat-girl for saving his skin, but then laments she might have been better off looking for a way out for herself.

"ANOTHER ONE OF YOU!? HOW MANY OF YOU FILTHY THIEVES ARE THERE!?" Kamoshida bellowed exasperatedly.

"More than enough to take you down, that's for sure!" Shiki counters, "And we're leaving this dump!".

"Oh? And just how are you going to do that? I'm the one with the small army here!" bragged Kamoshida.

Shiki smirks and then placed her thumb and finger, pinched together, against her lips and whistles. This startles the team for a moment before suddenly several tremors are occurring, making some stumble and nearly fall on the knees, the whole castle shakes as behind the doors to their freedoms, several knights are yelling in panic and judging from the noises, getting pummelled. Shiki gloats that she has her own little "army" just waiting outside, and he was about to make his grand entrance. Slowly the wall behind Kamoshida and his men begins to shake before ultimately it all collapses in a thunderous fashion.

The wall falls apart like brittle withered stones and behind the thick dust, a giant creature walks through the rubble with stomps so heavy it sent mini tremors through the floors. All eyes bore witness to the newest guest of honor. Neku couldn't help himself, other than to hold his head and fight with all his might against the urge to just break into laughter while everyone else excluding the newly awakened rebel stares in shock and Kamoshida's side, terror.

Looming over them all like a house is a giant Mr. Mew.

"…what the eff…?" Ryuji gasped.

"Mr. Mew?" Shiki calls out, making the cat raise its giant plush head towards her, "Smash".

The cat slowly salutes his master and then turned his patched eyes onto Kamoshida's forces, raising its arm. Kamoshida screams in terror as the cat smashes his knights into a paste, kicking some aside like a football player and swiping its claws around the field, striking all in his path to protect his mistress. The thieves cheered for the cat giant, Neku patting Shiki's back approvingly before they all dash an escape. Luckily Mr. Mew keeps his eyes on Kamoshida's men and made the thieves' escape much easier for them by slamming his arm between the thieves and the knights.

Once Ren and Neku got everyone to run ahead of them, Shiki calls for Mr. Mew. The cat kicks aside another three knights before he suddenly reverts into the small plush toy again in the air before falling. Shiki leaps into the air and calls for her Persona.

"Grainne Mhaol!" cried the cat thief.

Bursting forth from a blaze of blue fire, the famous Irish legend of folklore arisen from the oceans of history. Riding a massive ship that looked like it belonged in a royal navy, wielding a cutlass in one hand and a pistol in another with wavy red locks, a pirate bandana while donning a cat-like grin. She blessed the lass a burst of air and she catches her best buddy in the air before landing on her two feet and racing to join the others in this escape from the castle.

Following closely to the others, Morgana leading everyone to their newly discovered entry point while Ryuji throws Ann over his shoulder to run (much to her dismay). They re-entered the main hall in time to see the other three thieves taking down even more knights from Kamoshida's army. Kairi slices three in half with one swipe of her blade just as Riku blasts two into oblivion. With one stab Sora puts down another knight and then spins around in time to parry another sword, then kicked it backward. He turns to Ren's group with a wave and stabbed the fallen knight, yelling that the whole castle was going crazy.

"How many knights does that bastard have!?" Beat shouts over the fighting.

"Too many! And this is the fourth horde we've taken down!" Riku reveals as he leaned back and evades being cleaved in half. He shoots a black ball of darkness and blows up the offending knight, "I think we're gonna need to head out!".

"Agreed!" Ren says, slashing another knight, "Anyone got a way out?". Morgana jumps and pulls out from his scarf several small balls in grey; his plan clear to the thieves. Ren gives the command to use them once the group huddles up and then after handing some to the others and with Kairi and Rhyme at the ready, the four chosen slam the balls onto the ground, engulfing the group in a thick plume of grey smoke that forced the knights to cough and shield their eyes. Together Rhyme and Kairi used their Personas to erect a pillar of stone that elevates the group to their escape point.

Exiting the castle together, the thieves perform a reluctant retreat at last.

*Real World: Afterschool Friday: 4/15*

Back in Shibuya yet again with their party slowly but surely growing in numbers, the gang took a few seconds to adjust to this world and finally take a breather after today. Everyone sigh, the thieves more out of frustration their plan to infiltrate had been cut so short thanks to the intervention of Ann and Shiki while the latter two were panting tiredly and almost collapsing on themselves. Neku turned to the girls and inquired how they were, while Shiki laments she was completely worn out more than Eri's one-year-old clothing, Ann was more lost on what just happened today.

Morgana comforts the blond-haired woman, assuring that while they were safe here in the real world a lot has indeed happened to the two girls that earned them some answers to what's happened today. Ren offers they go somewhere else, lamenting they would stand out too much here in such a big group, so Kairi rings Naminé and asked her to prep some coffee, and maybe prepare Xion for the evil kitten coming back.

With that, everyone gathered up at Wildkat.

Settling down into their seats, the two new PT members sipped their drinks of choices provided by the others, and even some snacks made by Ventus were enjoyed amongst them. They told their story on how they re-entered the bizarre world again, how Ann and now Shiki, have the strange app on their phones like Ren and the others, how Shiki awoke her Persona and up to the reunion. Morgana compliments the two for awakening their Personas, especially Shiki so quickly and even her ability with Mr. Mew.

Shiki casually chatted with him about it while Ann sat on her seat in disbelief, still having time processing the fact she was chatting away with a cat. Which made Ryuji ask Morgana why suddenly these two can understand him where before Shiki could only hear him meowing. Rhyme theorized that because they've experienced the Metaverse with him speaking, maybe it somewhat influences them here too. Naminé concurred with her, saying ever since she and the others met Morgana they've understood him day one.

Ryuji sighs that he was convinced Morgana is still a regular cat, despite the insistence of the furball. Sora on the other hand asked Ann how she and Shiki were holding up the whole they argued, asking them if things somewhat started to make a little more sense to them. Ann admits it was still a process, her Persona, that power she wielded. Kairi gave her a watered-down version of Morgana's explanation, stressing it was their only way to fight in the other world and it was born from a will of rebellion, like almost most of the others.

Ren also explained to the girl what their goal was with Kamoshida, changing his heart to get him to confess his sins for abusing the students and Shiho. That the only way for anyone to get any justice for those victims was to get him to confess, which was why the Phantom Thieves, Morgana's words, were born. Ann seemed skeptical at this, but Riku and Ryuji added that both the volleyball team were keeping quiet while the parents and teachers were either turning a blind eye or they can't do anything either with the principal protecting Kamoshida.

Roxas joining in that person like them complaining will only get shut down and any evidence they do get can either be swept under the rug or turned against them. Much as the party lamented it and even with the possibilities that they could potentially end up taking the coach's life, this was their only way if justice is to be served. This inspired the girls to plead for a place amongst them, that for Ann she wants to make him pay for what he did to Shiho. Just Ren's story alone told her he was gonna keep on like Shiho's suicide never happened even after what he did to her.

Forgiveness wasn't an option, and he was unworthy of any form of such. Shiki was no different, stressing she can fight too and Neku could vouch for her as a partner. She was done letting everyone push forward while she waltzed behind them, that she was no longer interested in just slowly catching up and wants to rush in too. The team shared a few glances, while many of them have agreed they needed the extra numbers to make their jobs easier, they also had to consider that Ann has no experience and Shiki's powers were still up for question.

Neku though vouched for his partner, stressing that in a pinch she's a lifesaver. "Shiki can learn with us, and you saw what Piggy can do. Imagine that against those dumbass knights and whatever shadows are there, she'd save us a lot of heartaches," he advised.

"Whose "Piggy?" Kairi asked.

"HE IS NOT A PIG!" Shiki chirped, "Mr. Mew is a cat!".

"Hey, what about me? You all saw me; I can handle myself!" Ann interjects.

Ryuji voiced his doubts, but Ren reminds everyone that they are no more experience than they are. Even with a little experience they certainly proved they were competent enough to fight, and with some training and maybe even Phantom Thievery, they'll be able to catch up in no time and then some for themselves. Naminé voiced her opinion that they still haven't seen everything Kamoshida's castle has to offer, and who knew what else could be laying in store for them. Xion nodded enthusiastically with her bestie, saying the bigger the numbers the scary they are.

Morgana proudly swears he'd protect Ann from harm with a confident smirk, Neku reiterates that "Sora or one of the others can watch her" and glared at Ann, accusing her that even if they refused her aid she'd probably go on alone either way. She cockily admits she would have, and Kairi teased that didn't end so well on her end last time. She chokes a response to the redhead, but Riku agrees that because she does have a way in now thanks to the app she'd be more dangerous if they just leave her be.

Sora comments in an off-hand manner that any attempts of being sneaky would be thrown out the window thanks to Ann, who Neku points out that history would have a terrible repeat if they agreed to keep her out. Ventus then adds that Shiki would be no different, and giving what they told them about today, having them as backup or even their secret weapons could catch Kamoshida off guard. Ultimately Ryuji asked Ren, the appointed leader, what he thought on the manner. The raven looks to the two girls before he turns to Sora and Neku, inquiring their thoughts.

Neku vouches for Shiki firmly while Sora says both Ann and Shiki could make their fights easier together, considering how they handled themselves last time. Neku agreed with him on this, and says the more teammates they have, they could do other jobs as opposed to having an army infiltrate the Palace. Ren nodded, pleased with their comments, and agrees that while he didn't like the idea of having novices fill up their ranks at such a time, he couldn't deny they were vital in their escape and their potential only assures him they'd be more beneficial in the long run of their task.

Ann smirks while Shiki grinned gratefully, and then reminds them nobody bar herself has Ann's contact details. Another number exchanged between them all, another new teammate. Then Naminé points out while she's happy for everyone that they have new friends to the team, she stresses that they needed to have a spot for them all to meet up quickly when the time to plunge into danger strikes again. Morgana agrees and suggests that they should make a secret hideout for subjects like these, and sadly Wildkat wasn't an option during the day, based on the residents' experience.

Ren asks if the school rooftop could work for them since most of their day is spent at school and if they just come up with excuses such as hanging out with friends, nobody would bat an eye. Kairi however reminds them that the rooftop was technically off-limits to the students, thanks to the student council but Riku confidently stresses that so long as they all take their time going up and carefully, they should be able to use it with much fuss.

The hideout agreed upon, the team agreeing on who was on board and what the goal is, everything seems to be in order…until…

"Wait…what about you?" Neku asks, pointing at Morgana, "If we're gonna work together, how are we supposed to keep in contact with you?".

"Well I can't contact you guys from the Palace so I'll just stay in this world," he says, "That said I'll need someone to take care of me". He eyes Ren and nominates him as his caretaker, and he should feel honored. He curtly responds he was shaking with giddiness. The rest of the team admit they couldn't take Morgana, Sora's group because this wasn't their home and Mr. H probably wouldn't allow a pet here, and Roxas pointing the glaring Xion who was glaring at the fuzzball.

Everyone else wouldn't be fit for him, so sadly Ren was the only one they could ask to care for their newest friend. Reluctantly he conforms to the request and agrees to contact everyone later about what comes from this new arrangement before everyone bids each other a goodnight.

*Evening: Leblanc*

"This…is where you live?" Morgana asks with a raised brow just as Ren grabbed the door handle. "Yup," replies Joker.

He enters the café with a soft greeting and sees Sojiro nod to him and then to a customer sitting in both, making the boy subtly flinch. He wasn't aware business hours extend so far into the evening, and excuses himself with a nod, walking ahead and avoids eye contact with the customer. Until she asked who he was, and he turns to her, to avoid being rude. She wore very goth-themed clothing with dark bluish-black hair, even has a choker around her neck. Sojiro just repeats he was a part-timer worker to her and Ren affirms he also lives here as partial payment.

She hums in thought before going back to her drink, dismissing the boy. Ren glanced at Sojiro, who gave him a "talk later" look and gestures to his room. Not wanting to stir the pot, Ren was about to go to said room until the woman finishes her drink and thanks to the older man for his beverage. They pass on some greetings and farewells before she leaves, only Ren and Sojiro to occupy the café. Curiously, Ren cupped his chin in thought, swearing he's seen her somewhere before.

"Who was she?" he asks.

"Oh her? She's a regular here. She's the head doctor over at the clinic down the street," Sojiro reveals, "There's a rumor going around that she gives crappy examinations, and on top of that sells some weird homemade medicines".

"Homemade? Like what, lemonade scented tea or something?" Ren inquired.

"Not sure, never been there myself so those rumors could be full of crap," Sojiro admits before he sighed, "They should just leave her alone. It's not like she's getting in the way of their lives…".

He hears Morgana kicking in his bag and meowed a question, making Ren adjust his bag roughly to make him stop before he gave away his existence to the old man currently housing Ren. Sojiro stared at him for a moment before he yawned and says he was done for today, bidding the boy a good knight and telling him the usual. Eager to go before Morgana does something, Ren bids him a hasty good night and scurries to his bedroom.

Inside his little sanctuary, he lets the cat out of the bag and onto the bed. Upon seeing his new home, Morgana was, for a lack of a better word, bewildered. He compared the state of the room to rival an abandoned house. Ren curtly reminds him this is where he lives, and if he has an issue with it there's plenty of space on the streets, and before the cat could retort, he suddenly curled up. Ren looks behind him and sees Sojiro watching him, frowning.

"…uhh…I was practicing my meowing?" Ren offers, "It's for research?".

"Why the hell do you have a cat and why did you bring it here?" Sojiro asked.

Ren explains the cat had nowhere to go and it somehow clawed into his heart (he had to apologize profusely for the pun) and felt the need to care for the little guy. Sojiro looks at him then at the cat and sighed. He reminded Ren that this was a restaurant, so animals were an absolute no-go, however, he had a thought on the matter. If Ren had something to help keep his good behavior up and if owning a pet can teach him some responsibility, maybe even show people he was compassionate.

Reluctantly the old man agrees to let Morgana stay here on the ground that Ren keeps it quiet during opening hours and not to let it roam downstairs or Sojiro would throw him out. Morgana quietly murmurs "you can try old man" and Ren gently pets him, jokingly requesting he'd be nice to their landlord, or they can start sharing a trash can. Sojiro also reminds him the cat was going to be his responsibility and he'd have little to no hand in it before leaving the two.

Morgana comments on him being understanding despite keeping Ren in such a small and cramped dump of a room, remarking that then again he was just a normal cat to everyone else. Ren agrees that at least they can still talk without someone catching on to them, but stresses he'd best keep his complaints about their home to himself lest they both find themselves on the streets. Then he sees Sojiro coming back up with a plate of food, sighing. He kept hearing Morgana calling out for food and felt bad enough that he was willing to feed him, but Ren was going to wash the dish.

He then asked if Ren named him yet, and Ren admits that "Morgana" was the chosen name. Sojiro hums the name and lamented he hoped he could name the furball before leaving the two.

"Whoa…looks like the chief likes me better than you," teases Morgana.

"Being a small helpless furball will do that…" Ren remarked before he sat down on the bed, "But you gotta admit, this is a hell of a lot better than Kamoshida's cell, right?".

"Yeah…can't disagree with you there," Morgana agreed. Then he looks down and talked to Ren about the question they asked him about his past. He weakly admits he doesn't remember anything about his birth, that perhaps the Metaverse's distortions made him lose both his memories and form. Ren asked does he still believe it's a human form or even a cat, but the little guy vehemently denies any other form bar human, unconvinced he was anything less than human. He went on about how if they purge the distortions that somehow they'll lead him to the truth, that it was the distortions is the true cause of his lost form.

"Do you even know how it happened?" Ren asked.

"Yeah I've got a pretty good idea, that's why I was in the Palace, to begin with," he says before admitting that when he was in that other world he never felt hungry. Ren admitted that even with all their strenuous exercises there he didn't feel the need to eat like he did when he got out, wondering if that world was preventing things like hunger or needs for a bathroom to occur to their bodies over there. Maybe their Personas was halting basic human needs…

Once the furball finished his food, he assured Ren that their new arrangement wouldn't be one-sided. Thanks to his "dexterous" and "knowledgeable" nature, he has a lot of intel on infiltration tools but when Ren questions his claims, the cat refuses to elaborate until they have a deal. In exchange for keeping Morgana here, he'll teach Ren, and maybe the others, about the tools used for infiltration like the smoke bombs he used. Ren folds his arms and while he was still skeptical about Morgana's knowledge of the Palace, the smoke bombs helped them out of their jam, and if that was just the start of his tools who knows what they could use.

"If I agree to just take care of you, you're gonna teach me and the others how to make tools?" he asked for clarity.

"You know it, do we have a deal?" Morgana asks.

"Fine by me, so long as they're not faulty," Ren agreed.

So with another deal made, Ren and Morgana were about to call it a day after some hints and advice from the furball, but his phone vibrated, and he sees it was a message from Ann.

Ann: "Thanks for everything today. You saved me and I didn't even thank you properly for it".

Ren: "I appreciate it, but don't forget about Ryuji too, okay?".

Ann: "Yeah I did a few minutes ago before I messaged you. I just wanted you to know that. Anyways, see you guys tomorrow".

"You guys send messages to each other using those things?" Morgana asked as Ren settles into his bed, and he responded with a "yeah". He yawns and bids Morgana a good night, both agreeing they had a lot of work to do tomorrow.

Both unaware that unseen forces were about to visit a guardian.

A/N:

You have no idea how frustrated I am that I didn't post yesterday.

Warm welcomes to the newest additions to the thieves, and next time we'll introduce how the team got their gear, a new character and an added fuel to the fire.

Questions:

Q1: Thoughts on this chapter?

Q2: How was the fighting?

Q3: Shiki's PT uniform and Persona?

Q4: Which fluff pairing do you wanna see?

Q5: Curious about the strangers from the previous chapter?

Q6: Excited for the heist?

Anyways everyone, thanks for the patience and support. Stay awesome but more importantly stay safe!