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 Fourteen:
*Morning: Tuesday 4/19*
Holding a yawn back from revealing her true thoughts, Kairi rests her head upon her prompted arm as their biology teacher, Mr. Hiruta. She watched with the barest attention dispensed to this lesson as the teacher with the smug arrogance drawled on with his introduction. He remarked the students must have been shocked by what happened to Shiho, and Kairi rolled her eyes quietly.
"That's a massive understatement," she thinks, frowning at the tone of the teacher. She truly wondered if any of them gave a darn about the poor girl, based on how hush-hush the whole staff was and according to Ren, bar Shiho's parents, very few know what happened two days ago. It was still hard to believe that it was two days now since a terrible event occurred, and Ann's updates haven't exactly been uplifting to the gang.
Back to Mr. Hiruta, who had the nerve to say he could relate to the poor student, and then he talked about how: "Her eyes were devoid of life as they looked upon this sad, hopeless world". Kairi bit her inner cheek to keep her mouth shut before she ripped into this pretentious teacher. How could this man have the audacity to act like he knew what exactly was going through that poor girl's head and what terrible suffering she had to endure. The princess of heart was truly missing her old school back home, there their teachers cared about their students and something like this would never have happened.
It does go to show how much you appreciated something before it's gone.
Hiruta smartly decides to fall back on the "everyone has a different view on the world" and opts for a test for the students. "And that cope out had nothing to do with the burning glares of the students or the potential backlash you were gonna get…" Kairi thinks smartly. Like he sensed it, he turned to Kairi and asked her the question in mind. On the board is a large arrow-sized diagram with a capital A with a small line followed by a capital B and a long line. He asked the girl which line was bigger, and with a simple glance, Kairi answers they were both the same.
"It seems your eyes see the truth," he praised.
"Through your garbage spiel, yeah, you wannabe pretentious author…" she thinks quietly. The test was just an optical illusion, and he claimed some either saw it or some don't then ask if it was strange that they view the same image differently while Kairi looked outside.
Earlier this morning she and others texted each other during breakfast to discuss their plans and after a few quick recaps on their inventory, Ren effectively assured them they were as ready as they were going to be. Shiki and Eri had "smuggled" the protective gear along with the two blonde punks' weapons, and thanks to the early risers that were Sora and Riku, who managed to stash the medicine on the school rooftop this morning, they have everything they were going to need. Morgana, via Ren, requested everyone who was going to meet up at the rooftop after school to get started.
"So far Kamoshida hasn't done anything else…guess he's biding his time for all this to blow over…" she thinks, "Wonder if he truly thinks Ren and the others will just take the expulsion lying down? I mean, aren't they the first to openly defy his rule?". She returned her attention to class, deciding that maybe boring lessons on optical illusions (why that's part of biology is beyond her) and hoped they'd keep her mind off the event that's taking place.
*Afterschool: Tuesday. 4/19*
Gathering everyone up, the plan was discussed.
"I hope you all understand that our deadline is May 2nd, got it?" Morgana asked.
"Which is in thirteen days…" Riku reminds while crossing his arms, "Sooner we pull this off the better".
"All we gotta do is go to the castle and just steal the treasure from Kamoshida, right?" Ann asks, rewarded by several nods from the others. Then Sora asked a vital question, the treasure itself. This made the others frown with the realization that "treasure" differs from person to person, that one treasure to one person could be trash in the eyes of another, and with it being the sole key to changing Kamoshida's heart, taking a risk on what hew views as a treasure isn't an option. Morgana, luckily and knowing this time, assured the gang. "A treasure is the physical form of the Palace ruler's distorted desires".
"It's the core of the Palace. But if we steal it, what's going to happen the Palace itself?" Rhyme hummed with a curious look. "The Palace will crumble…I think," Morgana replied, again with that hesitation.
"Again with the, "I think" thing…" Neku huffed, "But what exactly *is* gonna be the treasure? Do we have any idea?".
"Nope. Even I don't know what Kamoshida's treasure is gonna be," the cat says.
"Guess we'll see it when we see it. But at the very least, thanks to Rhyme, we've got somewhat of an idea of where the treasure is going to be," Riku says with a small smirk. The strategist smiles shyly at the praise of the oldest member. Ren nodded in agreement to the praise and says: "Basically we need to find that treasure first before we can conclude what it is first. I've got a feeling just finding it and snatching it away is gonna be enough".
"True. But not only that, you guys still need to figure out how his castle works as well. If he's got an army or other specialists for guards," Naminé mentions, "And I'm not referring the heartless".
"We can do some uh, err, scouting, yo!" Beat says with a little struggle. "We'll decide on the group's jobs once we get inside the Palace, and speaking of which," Ren says, flicking out his phone, "Whose ready to go and cause some trouble for the king?".
Nods and smirks from the thieves and after some wishes from Roxas and co, they dive back into the Metaverse.
*Palace Entrance*
Immediately back into the bizarre world, the gang takes in their Phantom Thieves uniform once again, and some praised the combat gear. While their uniforms hide the clothing Shiki and Eri made for them, the protection gear felt weightless yet sturdy. However the two newest thieves were still looking at themselves, Shiki wondering what her clothing was made from while Ann turned her body to see the full suit. She looked and spots Ryuji staring at her with a wide grin, praising her looks.
"Her eyes are up there, Skull," Neku remarked with a smirk.
Ann glares heatedly at the blonde teen, who jumped and quickly tries to assure the gang he was more focused on the fact they still needed codenames. Shiki inquired about the codenames, and Neku explains that to maintain ambiguity and keep their identities a secret from their enemies, they used codenames to communicate with each other. That, and Sora added they just sounded cool for a bunch of thieves. The new girls looked at the others, Kairi grinning excitedly and revealing her codename, and then the others.
"So judging by your costumes…" Morgana starts, with Ryuji agreeing that Ann had both the tail and ears of a feline. "Neko-Chan?" Rhyme offers, but Ann immediately refused. If she was going to be called something bar her name for the rest of the job, she wanted something that didn't make her sound like an anime cat character. Rhyme pouts and muttered, "she's not cute enough to be a kitten anyway".
In the end, Ann decided she would be referred to as "Panther". When Riku asked why that type of cat, Ann weakly states it sounded more ferocious. Morgana cooed she was a cougar and received a stomp to his head with an angry Ann screaming at him. Rhyme blinked in confusion and asked why she got so upset, and Beat says: "NOBODY answer that!".
"I think it works," Ren praised, "Remember how she tore apart her captors and scared the crap out of Kamoshida?".
"Like a panther cornering her prey~" Kairi adds, "I agree, its suits Ann".
They turned to Shiki, humming and trying to decide. "…no Tzu, I'm not calling myself "Neko-Chan", and that's that," she says firmly. Again she pouted and crossed her arms, wondering why everyone didn't want that cutest name she had. Riku offers "Misses Mew" and she blanched, claiming it sounded like she married her stuff toy. Kairi snapped her fingers and says: "What about Tigress? You know because of the claws? And the fact you have a little cub?". Shiki looked at her, then back to her partner in furry crime, and nodded.
"Tigress…yeah, I like it!" she says with glee. Then she proudly puffed her chest and boldly proclaimed she would be henceforth, known as Tigress.
"Righty! Now that we've established Panther and Tigress, onto the target" Ryuji says.
"Okay, that's important but we've got a few things to decide," Riku says, "Keep in mind, a group as big as this is NOT going to sneak in and out without drawing attention".
"Nightmare's got a point. If we want to infiltrate the Palace and get a better idea on this, we're gonna need to split the team up," Ren says. He folds his arms and reminds everyone how far along they had gotten before Ann's capture, along with Sora and his crew's intel on the heartless. As of now, Kamoshida shouldn't have so much heartless remaining so they at least believe if they were fortunate they could take out the remnants of the heartless before the possibly biggest confrontation with the false king.
"So the dungeon's been cleared, right?" Neku asked.
"Hmm…not sure…we never did explore it earlier the last few times we've been done there," Riku admits, "So I'm suggesting we at least, myself, King, and Scarlet head back down and see what else is down there. Maybe something we could use or even get an idea on the castle's secrets".
"Also I think it's important to mention," Rhyme starts, "I managed to get that book of slaves on the second floor of the castle, so there's a chance there could be intel on Kamoshida's past before he became a coach to Shujin".
"Why the hell do we care? You lookin' for his life story?" Ryuji asked.
"Partially, yes. Think about it, there could be something we can use against him. Evidence for example, and perhaps, if we're lucky, an idea on where these distorted desires came from," Rhyme explains with a sigh.
"Hey not a bad idea," Shiki admits, "Who knows, maybe we can find his kryptonite or something,".
"Then we'll leave intel collecting to your group," Ren decides, "We'll make a start on our infiltration and see if we can find where the treasures are located. Any objections?". When nobody objected, the leader of the Phantom Thieves then wishes everyone the best of luck after Beat hands the team their new weapons, and together they all move to start their first heist, with Ren and Neku's group taking their newest entry point while Sora's uses the castle moat to enter the dungeons via the rivers.
Inside the castle and after a quick recollection, the party of eight resumes the original pathway they planned to use last time, sticking closely to the shadows whilst navigating the castle. Soon they come to a dining room, but more for the soldiers in the barracks based on the lack of luxurious décor and not a single portrait of Kamoshida splayed on the walls. The leaders spot two knights patrolling down the dining room, eyes out for anything and anyone that would dare defile the sacred ground of the king's castle.
"Just two guards…" Ren hummed, "Security's pretty lax today…".
"Guess his royal ass-ness wasn't expecting us to come back…" Neku grunts, "Bad move on his end…". Morgana hums in agreement, suggesting they take them down hard and fast before raising the alarm. He stresses they rip off their masks, gesturing the pale jade mask. Together separately, Neku and Ren skilfully and stealthily manage to jump the knights, standing on their shoulders and ripped off the masks, revealing their true forms. Ren's target bursts into a geyser of crimson, before giving birth to three pixies while Neku's team was going to deal with a cait sith and a kelpie.
The pixies fluttered around in the air, then turned their small beady eyes onto the Trickster's group while Beat and Neku rush in on the kelpie. The pixie trio casts the zio spell, which is lightning-based magic, upon the group. They dodged the small storm with amazing speed, and while she flipped in the air, Ann pulls out her tommy gun and began to unleash a hail storm of bullets upon the pesky flying creatures. Her spraying luckily hits them despite the wild and poor accuracy of her weapon, stunning them and allowing Ren to call for Arsène.
"Arséne! Eiha!" commands the Trickster. His Persona burns to life and with a cruel cackle, Arséne throws a hand up and engulfs his victims in three small pillars of cursed darkness. The pixies scream before perishing into the shadows whence they came from.
The kelpie shadow tries to rush into Rhyme's small form, only for the girl to raise her fan up and with Hua Mulan behind her, casts a green barrier before her. The beast collides with the barrier with a heavy thud and is thrown back into the air, which is where it found its grave. Beat flies towards it and slices through it with his skateboard, splitting the ghostly horse in half. While the horse perished, the cait sith swings its large blade at Shiki wildly, trying to cleave the cat-girl in half. But it wasn't the only one with feline grace as Shiki dodged and weaves through its attacks with grace.
She backflips away from a swipe and after two more flips, she commands Mr. Mew. "Go Mr. Mew!" she orders, the black plushie rushing towards its fellow feline. With movements of her hands like a puppeteer, Shiki commanded through Mr. Mew's body to unleash a flurry of clawed punches into the cat's body like a boxer beating a punching bag. With a final uppercut, Mr. Mew sends the shadow into the air, and with one swipe of Neku's armored hand, he blasts the shadow with golden lighting. Annihilating their enemy with ease, and even picking up some cash from their short conflict.
"Ha! Not bad!" praised Morgana, clapping his paws together, "Looks like you've gotten the hang of using your Personas".
"Dude! Where the hell did those come from?" Ryuji grumbles, "Thought if we took their masks off they'd be easier to kill!".
"Yeah, what was that about?" Ann asks, looking at the furball. Morgana blinked, and then explained to the others that they did make their fights easier by ripping the masks off. The knights' base forms were technically more powerful because they were all together and stable, unlike them if they had to remove their masks. The knights were technically just a bunch of shadows all bundled up together like stuffing too many things in a shoebox, and the mask is the only thing keeping them together and powerful.
"When you rip their masks off, you expose their true forms. Hence why there's more than one shadow and variety," he says, "Sides, remember how tough the knights are in their normal forms compared to these small fries?".
"So it's either fighting smaller but tougher enemies vs more but weaker enemies…so much for an easy kill…" Neku grumbles. Rhyme concurs his frustration, especially when she reminds them all they were still far from finding the treasure to start with. Shiki then said: "Then why can't we just stick with stealth and avoiding fights altogether?".
"For real? You seriously wanna chicken out?" Beat asked, "What if we take on something WORSE than these wimps!? I ain't gonna be a weakling and get my ass stomped!".
"Jet's right," Ren says, "Annoying as this is going to be, the best way is to divide and conquer. Sides, who knows what other shadows are gonna be here. Best we're prepared for that". He then gestures the path ahead of them, urging them to get a move on before they replenish their numbers. They exit the dining room and enter what appeared to be a hallway, devoid of guards and monsters, a nice break in their approach and fortunate too. Moving on, they enter another door and come to a room where it could be seen as a storage place with a winding staircase.
Near the start of the stairs, a flight had been destroyed and it seemed Kamoshida has yet to order his men to restore it. It raised some questions for the group as to why, for all his vanity and superficial views, Kamoshida would leave even one room in such a state of ruin. Climbing up the stairs to the top, they spot another guard ahead of them. Morgana gestures to the two leaders, Ren and Neku, to follow his advice and go for a quick kill. Nodding to him, the two use their Phantom Thieves gifts to "stylishly" dance across the hallway using the furniture to hide.
Much like how "Shadow Step" worked, this ability allows them to perfectly hide behind anything with a shadow radiating from it. Even someone as large as a professional bodybuilder could hide behind the side of a sofa and remain hidden. Closing in on the guard, Neku uses his psychic abilities to keep the guard in place by binding them in a cloak of light. Frozen stiff and caught off guard, the knight was helpless before Ren, leaping from the shadows and onto the knight's shoulders. He pried off the mask with some effort, revealing the true form of the guard.
The knight crimson ooze breeds out another fairy, a bicorn, and a jack-a-lantern. Instantly Ann and Ryuji unload their firearms, unleashing a barrage of bullet hell upon their enemies. Their bullets manage to bring the fairy and jack-a-lantern down with ease while the bicorn charges forth towards the thieves, its mighty horns protecting it by deflecting the bullets. The creature nearly closes in on the two, when a large bright green dome shined before them, halting the beast. It recoils in pain, just in time to allow Beat to rush right in with his board and decapitate its head.
Once the shadows were no more, the party congratulated each for another swift kill, while Ryuji complained about his gun not stopping the beast. Morgana lets a small huff out of his furry lips with irritation, explaining to the newbie thief that guns aren't their go-to strategy for everything they encounter. Tragically some shadows have resistances or are even impervious to firearms and some elemental attacks the thieves have. Worse some of them can even be HEALED by elemental attacks or redirect the attack back at them.
"For real!? How are we supposed to deal with that bullshit!?" Ryuji exclaimed.
"If guns don't work, we'll just beat the crap out of them," Neku rebuked, "Who knows? Maybe Tzu can figure out who we can hurt with what".
Rhyme smirked confidently and nodded. They move forward with their infiltration, while Ann contacts Sora's team for an update on any progress. So far according to Kairi, they haven't found anything but shadows and the occasional heartless prowling around the empty dungeons. They lament to inform the others they haven't seen any more prisoners in the dungeons and even in the training hall. Morgana theorized that Kamoshida might be hiding the cognitions in here, like how he was keeping his usual activities to a minimal.
"Maybe Shiho's suicide struck him more than he's letting on. He's likely scared that if he tries to abuse any more students, someone is gonna snap," Morgana says as they explored the castle. "If somebody else from the volleyball team does follow in Shiho's footsteps, there's no way he can cover up his act or lie his way out".
"Seriously, you'd think maybe somebody would talk up at last about that bastard!" Beat growls.
"And then that person will be ignored by the principal and Kamoshida is gonna do worse to them," Ren reminds, "Nobody is gonna speak up now, especially with how everything ended after Shiho".
With that sad reminder out of the way, the party comes to another room. This room seems to be nothing of substance, apart from the prison that had almost the entire room to itself. A large cage in the center of the room only granting enough space for people to walk around it, yet it only holds a single table as its prisoner. The gang looked at the prison and around the place for answers, yet nothing stood out to them and at the suggestion of Shiki, they almost abandoned this room altogether. Until Ren stopped them.
He sees on the ground faint blue footprints circling the cage, a good chunk of them beneath what looked like a goat's head with a chain. He tells Neku to wait near it and then circles around the cage to come to the other side and find the same thing. A goat head with a chain with multiple footsteps around it. He yelled for him to pull and after, he pulled his one down too. Immediately the bars that entrapped the table lifted between the arches and pillars, freeing the table from captivity.
"How'd you do that?" Shiki asked.
"Err…Persona?" Ren says uncertainly.
"Sheesh… it's called Third Eye…another Phantom Thief specialty!" Morgana groaned/explained, "Any thief with enough insight or mental strength can see things without their normal eyes".
"And based on the fact YOU didn't mention it earlier tells me you can't use it?" Neku challenged. The cat went silent very quickly.
The gang entered and upon the table, Shiki picked a sheet of paper.
"The hell? Did that dickhead serious have all this locked up for a piece of paper?" Ryuji asked, baffled.
"You're hopeless…look at the paper. It's a map!" Morgana says, pointing at the face of the sheet, "A map is as, if not more, vital than having the wits of a thief! It'll help us get a better grasp on the topography of the Palace!".
"Topo…what?" Beat says.
"The arrangement of the natural and artificial physical features of an area," explained Rhyme, taking the map, "This will make securing the route MUCH easier…but sadly not only is this map incomplete from the looks of it, but it doesn't tell us where the treasure is".
"There's gotta be more ahead somewhere…we'll just have to keep looking," Ren says, "Least we have something going for us".
The thieves explored more of the castle, taking down more of the knights patrolling the area with stealth and silence. The map guided them to the second floor that towers over the main entrance where below they spot more of Kamoshida's guards. Some heartless were skulking around the shadows, only called out by Morgana's cat eyes. Their path was blocked by a locked door with no keyhole, much like the cage from the other room so they used the traditional thief's way.
Using the archways that outstretched forward enough to walk along with one at a time, the arches were also attached to the pillars ahead of them and connected close enough to the stupid abundance of chandeliers for them to traverse with ease. Skipping and hopping across until they reached the other side, the team resumes their infiltration. The next room they entered was where the map ended for them, and once more relying on their wits and teamwork, the thieves navigated through a winding corridor, took down more knights in the process, and reached the end of the room.
But their way is blocked by another gate like the cage that held the map within. A few complained about another roadblock so soon, but Ren reminds them of the simplicity of this puzzle and gestures the floor again. Once more using the new ability of the thieves, he easily showed the footprints to the others. However, there was a noticeable difference between this one and the last puzzle. The set of footprints gathered beneath it was enough the tip them off, but Neku spotted another trail of footprints from behind them.
Ann follows the trail from behind and sees another chain ready to be yanked and does so. Nothing happened until Ren pulled his, opening the way for them. Inside the room looked to be a dining hall with more cages, no guard in sight.
"Seriously? Even in a dining room, he needs cages?" Ann asks, "Is he that big of a coward he needs to make sure people are locked up even when they're dining?".
Once more Ren uses the Third Eye ability to track and finds that the footprints came from the other side of the bars, but they all gathered beneath this one chain. Neku pulls it, opening the path ahead of them, yet on their far left another set of gates close. Narrowing their eyes, the two leaders stepped into the next room with the others and after that, pull the chain again. Instantly the gate closes and opened the previously closed one. Luckily for them their main path was opened and deciding not to waste time, they moved forward.
The next room appears to be a mix of a kitchen and dining room, likely where the guards and servants would be eating during a larger gathering. Inside were more guards that were swiftly dealt with by Ann and Rhyme ripping their masks off and leaving Beat and Ryuji to tear them apart with the Personas. Moving forward, they dive deeper into the kitchen while navigating through the kitchen shelves stacked with wine and barrels of alcohol, flags of Kamoshida's smug face on red cloth. Ahead was a door that likely leads them further into the castle, but it was locked.
Ren yanks out a lock pick, but Morgana stops him, claiming their lock picks would just jam the door and/or break upon clumsy attempts. The leader rolls his eyes at that jab as his skills, before stuffing the tools back into his pocket and asking what their next plan was if the door was a no go. Neku gestures above a shelf is a ventilation shaft that likely leads into another room, though it was smaller than the one they used to enter the castle on their second attempt.
"Yo, no way we're gonna fit in there," Ryuji laments, "Why don't we just bust down that door?".
"Because that makes noise! And we've been doing good at NOT making noises that warrant a search party so let's keep it like that!" Morgana chastises, "Sides we're not gonna get that door off without explosives or something".
"Then our only way in is through that vent…" Ren sighed while crossing his arms, "Mona can fit in though…".
"HUH!? You want me to go by myself!? What if there's a guard or something!?" exclaims the cat, hopping up and down at the leader. Ren argued he was the smallest and since he was so adamant at NOT raising an alarm he was involuntary volunteering. Morgana slumped with a groan, then agrees only if Rhyme would go with him. The girl pouts and looked at the vent, wondering if she would fit through it even if she was the second smallest.
Deciding time was of the essence, the girl and cat climb into the vent and crawl through it, the girl groaning at the number of cobwebs and coughing at the dust particles. She also thanked her Persona for not giving her a skirt or something that the little cat could see upward. Rhyme trusted the kitten to help them through this ordeal but doubted he was chivalrous as he claimed if his drooling over Ann was any indication.
Their little trip ends with them climbing upon a bookshelf were ahead of them was a guard inside a small room. Rhyme and Morgana crouched and watched him just staring at a treasure chest. Morgana looked at the door and sees it was closed, then turned his big eyes to the guard, and then with a cat-smirk, he rubbed his paws together with an evil cackle. Rhyme stares at him for a moment before he gestures her to lean down for him to whisper something into her ear.
She does and after his plan, she smirked in agreement. Together, they both leaped down from the shelf and as their feet stomped on the ground the guard turns around to face them. Rhyme has her Persona out with her hands glowing green with psych energy while Morgana aims his slingshot at the lone guard, both staring down the guard. The guard stammered, surprised by the two thieves and when they were about to turn into a horde of shadows, Rhyme shoots a ball of psych energy beside its head and into the wall.
"If you even think of screaming for help or draw your sword, I'll take your head off," threatened Rhyme while Morgana smirked evilly.
"Trust us, our fellow thieves are just waiting on the other side of that door ready to cave in your skull~" Morgana threatened.
The guard stumbled backward in fear, making the two-step forward. "If you don't want us to hurt you, tell us where Kamoshida's treasure is," Rhyme interrogated. The guard stammers in fear, revealing they don't know where lord Kamoshida kept his treasure, nor do they even have an inkling where he'd keep it. Rhyme holds back the annoyance from appearing on her face and then asked where the throne room was, and as she said before, it was in the tallest section of the castle. Morgana and Rhyme share a glance toward each other before the cat nodded, that was likely all they were gonna get from the guard.
"Get lost then, unless you wanna see what a headshot feels like!" threatened Morgana, pulling the strap on his slingshot back. The guard scrambles out of the room, leaving the two and the treasure. Rhyme blinked in surprise while Morgana snickers as he approached the treasure chest, surprised by how smooth that went between them and the guard.
"I…I'm surprised that shadow was scared…" she says as Morgana fiddles with the lock. "Shadows have emotions too, you know. Corner them and of course, they'll be scared stiff!" he explains, "They're like those cognitions of the slaves Kamoshida has in the dungeons and his female slaves".
"So intimidation works too…hmmm…I think Jet and Skull will be perfect for intimidation," she mutters to herself, approaching the chest. Inside were several piles of gems and cold, which makes the cat's eyes sparkle with glee and joy. Rhyme gasped at the number of riches before them, grabbing the table and was mentally counting the value of all this in her mind before she shook her head and grabbed Morgana by the scarf. "Come on, we've gotta unlock the door for the others".
After they got the door opened and showed them their first real loot, which made Ryuji grin madly and even bragged on the worth of the loot. Ren compliments Morgana and Rhyme's work before he gestured the barrel nearby and had them hide the chest behind it. He then yanked out his dagger and carved what looked like Sora's crown near the barrel on the wall, saying it'll serve as a little landmark for them to come back for the loot.
Next, the team left the room and entered the next area that Rhyme immediately recognized. "We're here, this is where I found Kamoshida's victim book…" she says with a knowing look. She approached one door and upon opening the door, she sees the same library she had found before. Closing it, she confirmed to the others this was the floor they needed for more information on the king.
"Alright, guess this is where we part ways for now," Ren said with equal measures of worry and confidence.
"You guys sure you can handle the rest of the infiltration without us?" Shiki asks, "I mean we've still got a ways to go".
"Hey don't sweat it! Between the four of us, we got his in the bag!" brags Ryuji, sporting his shark-like grin. Ann confirms his confidence and Morgana boasts it'll finally be a challenge for them at least. Ren rolls his eyes playfully but assured the team that so long as they maintain their stealthy approach they shouldn't have to worry about the guards. He gave them one more nod before his group split off and leave the Player team to their devices. Entering the room, Beat asked what Rhyme was looking for.
"The previous book I found was based on his victims that have either been exploited sexually or been used for beatings," she explains as she scours through the shelves of books, "But there wasn't anything on Shiho or Panther, so my guess is he reserved those two for something else".
"Yeah, remember "Princess Ann"? A completely different girl who was all over that creep," Neku grunts, nearly gagging at the memory. "Guess it wouldn't be a surprise if he's got a Shiho like that hiding in his basement".
"I agree, but there might be more on his history here as well. Maybe something we can exploit like an old injury or perhaps even some evidence of previous crimes," Rhyme says after returning a book.
"You think he'd be dumb enough to leave something like a list of crimes just out in a library?" Shiki asked. "We *are* talking about the same guy who has a literal list of victims left in the open last time…" Neku reminded. Beat scoffed in disgust as he chucks another book over his shoulder, grunting at the lack of information or anything they could use, only response he got from the others was just a variation of "keep looking" retorts.
"Hope King and the others are having better luck…" he grumbled.
*Dungeons*
Using magic to divert the water to carve a path through the streams, Kairi leads the two boys back into the dungeons. They opted to use the mote and follow the source that leads them to the dungeons as opposed to using the same entrance as the others, thinking that starting from the bottom would help them find more secrets they neglected to search the rest of the dungeons.
Unfortunately for the trio, they haven't had any luck. Apart from the security being so light and lax Kamoshida might as well as just leave the whole place unchecked for all the good it'd do. The cells were empty, not even a trace of his slaves or prisoners were to be found. They even ventured to the training room and found it empty as well, not even the equipment was in use and it looked like Kamoshida had his minions clear out the area for evidence.
Riku got into contact with Morgana and reported their findings, suggesting Rhyme's theory on Kamoshida staying low and keeping himself in check might have affected his actions in the Palace as well. Morgana agreed that maybe he was starting to potentially foresee his actions might finally have some form of consequences at last and he's going to be on full alert if something happens in the real world.
"Have you guys found the treasure yet?" Riku asked in his earpiece.
"We're working on it, but according to Mona, he says we should at least be halfway there," Ren answers, "Security is a little tighter up here than I thought".
"You guys need a hand?".
"If you think you're done there, I won't say no to a bit of backup".
Riku says they'll do one last sweep of the area before they head on up to meet them, just in time for Kairi to wave her hands and place a finger on her lips to usher silence. He and Sora looked at her pointing down the hall back to the training hall with narrowing eyes. Approaching the door, they pressed their ears against it, and to their surprise, they heard voices on the other side. A few in fact, but they weren't echoey like the shadows here.
Carefully and stealthily the three thieves entered and spotted someone walking down the hallway and past another door that, as far as they recalled from the previous thieves who entered here. "Who was that?" Kairi asks quietly as they approached the newly made door. Sora frowned and looked at the door, which has the same wooden structure as all the other doors within the dungeon. But when he looked down to the lower part, he saw a red graffiti mark on the door. He crouched and looked at it, which looked like some sort've of monster.
He frowns before Kairi opened the door and the trio ventures forth. Their journey takes them down a winding flight of stairs and the closer they got to the end; they could hear more voices echoing below them. Reaching the end, they slink closer and bypass another door, and found themselves in what seemed to be a small church.
There were two rows of pillars consisting of six with a stone table beneath a giant statue of Kamoshida performing a spike during a volleyball game. A red carpet stretched from the door they came from to the table, several pews organized before the table, and upon said table looked to be a glowing ball of darkness. That wasn't all they see, because ahead by the table were four teenagers. Male while wearing similar outfits consisting of a shirt in varying colors to each other, pairs of skinny jeans, and sneakers.
The one who stuck out the most however was wearing a denim jacket with a brand emblem on his back, a shark with spectacles, and a textbook underneath its fin. He had mop brown hair and wears glasses as well, smaller and sleeker, unlike Ren's glasses with dark eyes. He stepped forward, his sneakers squeaking softly against the marble flooring while he approached the dark ball. He cupped his chin before quietly cursing and turned to his companions, lashing out.
"Who are these guys?" Riku whispered, "They're not shadows or heartless…".
"Do you think they ended up here by accident? Like the rest of us the first time?" Kairi offers, "I mean it seems to be a common trend".
"Nuh-uh, something isn't right about this…how'd they get past the guards?" Sora argued, "I mean even we had to be sneaky".
"But are they Phantom Thieves? Because they aren't wearing anything special," Riku replies, then shook his head, "Either way, I don't think we wanna know what they want with the darkness". His friends nodded in agreement. Together they ditch their cover and approached the group, which earned a squeak from one of the teens. Their leader spins on the three, taken aback from their outlandish clothing despite Sora and Kairi carrying friendly looks in their eyes.
"Who are you?" he demands, his voice soft and slightly intimidated.
"That's our line," Riku growls, "Who are you guys, and why are you the Palace?".
"Hey, don't look at us! We didn't do anything, and we sure as heck haven't broken any rules so back off!" threatened the leader. His words did little to scare the trio, but it does give them a moment of pause and puzzlement. They never mentioned anything relating to "rules" and judging from this teen's outburst, those rules were not to be taken lightly. "What are you talking about? Rules? This a game or something?" Riku interrogated.
"W-Wha? Of course, it's game! You Reapers are so fussy about the rules!" he whined, but then frowned when he took in their looks and age, then asked: "Wait…you guys are Reapers, right?".
"Reapers?" Kairi asked, crossing her arms, "Who are they?".
The leader turned back to his friends, each sharing looks of disbelief before he snapped his head back at them, his scared look turning into indigent and anger. "Oh, I see how it is! You jerks are here to try and complete the mission before us!" he accused, pointing at them, "You think you cosplaying losers are gonna just waltz in here and steal the points for yourself!".
"What the hell are you talking about?" Riku sighed, "Points? Reapers? Game? How about you start making some sense?".
Just then, several beeps echoed throughout the church, including Sora's group's phones. The teens ahead of them yanked out their phones while they slowly did the same, and as Kairi opens her phone screen, she sees a message has been sent to her.
"Scramble: Phantom Thieves Vs The Shark-colars. Winner take all, losers face Erasure," she reads quietly to herself. Shaking her head in shock, she turned to the boys who shared the same look of "what" on their faces. The leader curses and turned to his friends, yelling: "It's them or us! Take them down quickly!".
"Hold on a sec-
Kairi tries but that cowardly leader aims his hand at her and shoots a bolt of psych energy at her. Sora immediately jumps in front of her and with his sword, he cleaves the attack into nothingness. "Hey! What's going on here!?" he demanded, "Who sent us that message!?".
"You don't need to know! Better to perish in ignorance," bragged the leader as his friends channel the psych energy that Neku and his friends possess. Kairi and Sora share a glance, before ultimately following that teen's words of them or us and summoned their weapons. Riku grunts as he called his weapon and slowly Odin appears from the darkness above him, terrorizing the other teenagers that dared to raise a hand at his friends.
"You guys have made a big mistake…" he threatened.
*Elsewhere in the RG*
Watching the scene unfold between the guardians and new gamers while witnessing the Phantom Thieves facing down a horde of shadows and overseeing the Player's seek out information on their target, the Composer lowers his teacup with a cocky smirk.
"The Game has finally begun".
A/N:
Another one down and we're finally introducing TWEWY stuff!
Sorry about the two week delay on this one, things came up.
Questions:
Q1: Thoughts on this chapter?
Q2: How'd like the team jobs?
Q3: Curious with TWEWY stuff?
Q4: Do you like the fights with the shadows being short?
Q5: Which team do you enjoy the most?
Q6: Excited for the boss fights?
Q7: Rhyme being childish?
Always everyone, thanks for reading! Stay awesome but more importantly stay safe!