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 Twenty-Four:

New Playground.

*Saturday: Morning. 7/5*

*Shujin Academy*

"And don't forget, you all have exams this Wednesday coming," Kawakami reminds, interrupting her own lecture. Her reward for this reminder is a choirs of groans, lamenting cries and even some who had honestly forgotten about the exam, much to their homeroom teacher's lament and yet unsurprised sigh. Meanwhile Ren is taking down notes regarding the lesson of the day, "The tale of the "Bamboo Cutter", one of Japan's oldest stories on one hand while others argue its one of the country's oldest science-fiction.

Though Ren actually saw Kawakami's take is more pessimistic yet accurate when you look at it, an old tale of a terrible woman.

He remembers he had read this story years ago, an old tale of the Princess Kaguya who gave her suitors absurd, borderline impossible tasks, demanded gifts and then when everything was said and done she runs off to the moon. According to the tales the men who were foolish enough to go out of their way to meet her demands had suffered terrible fates. Some lost their fortunes; some were humiliated beyond repair and some her tasks had left them severely wounded or even blind.

Certainly there was more to the story but at face value sure he could see where his teacher was coming from. Kawakami explains that character architypes like Kaguya were seen a lot in other forms of literature like stories, paintings, and such. And of course she turned to Amamiya and asked him the literal translation of "femme fatale".

"Fatal woman," he answers confidently, and she nodded in approval. It derived from the French language, which does translate to fatal woman, and there have been characters used outside of just the tale she mentioned. Arthurian legends had a character like Morgan le Fay and Queen Saiome from the Bible just as examples of such a character. She even brought up the famous opera dancer Carmen just to add to her list, and a subtle smirk between him and Ann was had. She goes on more about the character type while everyone either listened or took notes or just dozes off, while he writes down the lesson.

"A femme fatale…wonder if Sora or Neku have ever fought someone like that…could Ann actually pull like that off?" he thinks to himself, "I mean the chances of us needing someone to infiltrate somebody and pull it off is unlikely…plus I doubt Ann could pull something like seduction off…". Ren's mind wanders more and more into the depths of the Phantom Thieves and their new role in society, at the same time trying to deduce and think what they could be doing as they search for a more famous or infamous target.

*Later*

Scrolling through the comments on the Phantom Aficionado site with bored and dull eyes, Xion makes out a loud groan and lays down on the bench and resting her head on Shiki's lap. "Boring…boring…whiny…cry baby…" she lists as her thumb brushes against her screen, "Ugh…meanie…". Shiki looked at the invader of personal space with a look mixed with amusement and irritation but deciding to let the lazy raven to lie there and plants Mr Mew on her stomach while she checks her phone for any messages or updates from her boss, while the rest of the thieves were gathered up in the yard. Ryuji, Ventus and Rhyme were going through the lists of comments as Xion was, and like her they all shared the same sentiments.

"None of these posts are any good. Everybody's just bitchin' about their parents or their boyfriends," groans Ryuji, leaning back in her seat. "Fo' real man…Shit, who cares about your password being changed?" Beat grumbles, "And for shit sake, NOBODY cares that Featherman has a blue ranger!".

"Excuse you?" Rhyme says with a pout, "I happened to like the Yellow Featherman, he at least has a more unique story".

"HEAR HEAR!" cheers Xion.

"Guys, can we focus on finding a Palace?" Ventus asks with a sigh, "We've been scrolling through all these messages, and I can't find anything".

"I'm starting to think we can't rely on this site for a target…" Shiki sighed, "I mean all we're seeing are just petty stuff and either crap postings, memes and just utter cry-babies". She puts her phone into her pocket as everyone else tears their faces away from the screens, tired from their lack of Palace searching. This task of being heroes to the pushed down victims was more harder than the gang had anticipated, and worst of all it wasn't even taking on the bad guys or shadows, just the lack of finding someone worth taking on.

So far Shiki and the other's online search for scum was turning more and more futile with each day passing and even resorting to the local papers for information was doing nobody any favours as all they could find were just reports of minor crimes being solved by the police. Ryuji sighed and states that they'd be better off finding a Palace themselves, but Rhyme then replied: "You know, maybe it is a good thing we haven't found a Palace yet". They all turned to her and she tugged on her collar thoughtfully.

"We have the exams to keep us busy for now, so maybe we could look at this as a blessing in disguise?" she explained. The two punks groaned in dismay at the mere WORD of "exams" and the kinder boy shrugged in agreement. "Guess we should be grateful that all we have on our plates right now is just the exam, not a mission from the Reapers or even a Palace…" he sighed, "Dunno about you guys but if we had the exam AND a deadline plus a mission? I think I'd have a heart attack!".

"Not fun," Xion agrees, "But exams are SUPER scary! So many words, so many things to remember! GAHHH! Fighting monsters is WAY easier!".

The others shared her sentiments.

Then Ventus clears his throat and gestured to the walkway, and when all eyes fall to the walkway they see Makoto. Quickly the party tensed up, minus Xion, and watched her approach them. Upon reaching them, they could see in her eyes she meant business and just by her expression there seemed to be something on her mind. Though she gave Xion an odd look, as if she was expecting her to do something abnormal. Instead the raven waved at her with a big smile and resumed her laying down position.

"Hi Mako!" greets Xion.

"…Xion…" she says, then turned to the others, "So there's been talk about all of you". Shiki quietly gulped while Beat and Ryuji glared at her, Rhyme and Ventus though composed themselves and the older teen asked what she could mean. "Going to the school rooftop. Which is off-limits, as I'm sure you're aware," explained the president, eyeing Ryuji in particular. The blonde barked that they haven't been up there since Kamoshida was caught, and Rhyme added that they only went up there only for the sake of avoiding the coach in the past.

"Besides, the hell does that got to do with ya?" Beat asked with a grunt.

Makoto folds her arms and carefully studies them all like she was looking for something in their eyes. "The trouble maker with the centre of gossip and the infamous transfer student…along with the seven new transfer students and the ones from Kusukichi academy, in one group that has had more encounters with Kamoshida…" she says, "Strange how such circumstances bring people like that all together".

Ryuji and Beat stand up, aggressive yet defensively while Shiki tensed up and Rhyme's frown narrows. Xion however blinks and just looked at her friends, then back to Makoto. "So?" she asked innocently, "We're all friends, SUPER friends actually! Sides, Kamoshida was a jerk to us, we all needed somebody to talk to". Makoto gave her a look that was both irritated and impressed, but then she added they all seem to have gotten to know Kamoshida, mentioning Ren in particular.

"All because that asshole tried to get him and me expelled!" Ryuji barked.

"Sorry who?".

They all turned to see Ren approaching them with Sora and Neku behind him, the leader eyeing Makoto in particular yet his eyes were hiding any concern or judgement. He waved and greeted his friends, tossing Xion a sweet bun which she catches with ease and her grin widened comically. "I'm not too familiar with the coach, considering how little we interacted aside from his usual cruelties, so I have no idea where you got the idea I'm familiar with him", Ren explained.

Makoto's eyes narrowed at his casual response and feels Neku's eyes burning into her while Sora just stands near his orange haired friend. She lowers her arms and says: "From what I heard, Kamoshida used a volleyball team member to spread details about your record. Which put you in the spotlight and for your first week, you were subjected to abuse and rumours from the students. After all that, surely you must hate the man?".

"Does it matter now? He's gone and out of our lives and the lives of other students," Neku asks, "Sides why the hell are you so curious about it?".

"And why are you interrogating Ren?" Sora asked, "He's done nothing wrong and he's a great guy!". Ryuji and Beat backed up their friend while Shiki and Rhyme just glared defiantly at Makoto, protecting their friend. Sensing this, Makoto waved her hand with a sigh, clarifying that she wasn't targeting Ren or offend anyone, reminding them that a lot of students were shaken up by what happened with "Mr" Kamoshida.

"MR Kamoshida?" Neku scoffed, "After all the garbage he's done and the hell he put the students through, you still give him some respect?". Makoto stiffened slightly and for a second her mask shattered before her confident, even smug, look came back. She says: "Its not just those rumours, that calling card-esque rumours haven't stopped either".

"So what?" Sora asked, "A lot of people are talking about it because its just before Kamoshida confessed".

"You're grasping at straws here, Niijima," Rhyme challenged, "I never expected you to care for such tactless stuff". Ryuji quietly muttered the debate on it being tactless but Beat grunts out if she was doing bothering them. "Try to at least understand my position. Being forced to deal with this horseplay," sighed Makoto.

"Horseplay?" Beat growled.

Stepping up, Neku scoffs: "You're the one who harassing our friends and trying to find something that isn't there, so if anyone has to put up with this its us!". Makoto turned her reddish eyes on him, but the Niijima glare can't shake Neku's stare, defiantly challenging her to argue with his point. Sensing the tension growing, Ren stepped in. "You clearly think we had something to do with Kamoshida, but what proof to you have apart from rumours?" he asked. When Makoto faltered and clenched her fist, her target added: "I don't know what you're looking for, but we're just trying to get past what Kamoshida has done to us".

Makoto glares at the students around her, before she huffed. "I suppose you're right…I don't have any real reason to think you all had a hand in Mr Kamoshida's confession…but just so we're clear, the school rooftop is off limits due to incident that occurred…" she sighed, "Sorry to interrupt". And with that, Makoto storms off.

Once she entered the building, the gang breathed a sigh of relief. "Good riddance…" Neku huffed, "But shit…she's on to us".

"Really?" Sora asked, putting his hands behind his head, "But she doesn't have anything on us, right?".

"No but her analyses on us coming together and connecting Kamoshida definitely makes us look suspicious," Rhyme says, "Remember Ann and Ryuji's history with Kamoshida, then Ren, a student with a criminal record, followed by Sora and the others suddenly appearing and Neku's open rebellious attitude to Kamoshida? There is too many connections here to ignore".

"Exactly, but it also means she's following the principal's orders to find out more about the you know what," Shiki groans, "But now we lost our school meet ups…".

"Probably for the best," Ren huffed, "But we need to be more careful in school. If Makoto is eyeing us, then she's just waiting for any leverage to use against us". Then Morgana pops his head out of the bag, shaking his head and meows. "Well it doesn't matter for now. You guys still need to study for the exams coming up. If we're gonna continue being the Phantom Thieves then you need to train your brains as well, since there's gonna be traps that will require some brain power". He gave a catlike grin towards the two punks and teases they'd need it more than anyone else.

They stood up and looked ready to teach him a lesson while the others talked. "So we could have a study session tomorrow at Wildkat," Rhyme offers, "I think for now we should push aside anything regarding the Phantom Thief until we complete the exams".

"Yeah…much as I hate to agree, we're gonna be up shit creak if we try looking for a Palace and juggle the exams…" Neku groaned. Morgana jumped for a second and turned to the others. "Hang on, before we all leave for today, I've got something interesting to take you guys first," he says, "I mean, you all did promise to help me with my mission remember?". They looked at him oddly before Ren folds his arm, admitting they do owe it to him.

With that, the cat requested they contact the others to join them before they all leave the school.

*Saturday: Afterschool. 7/5*

*Shibuya Train station*

With the team all gathered up near the train station, Morgana immediately requested one of the thieves to bring up the website again. Ryuji does so and asked again why he brought them all here, but the cat just enforces his request for him to open the site. After that, he asks for him to find a request that has a first and last name posted within the request. "There are plenty of those on the site but nobody big or famous," Kairi says looking at her GP, "But that's scary that someone would put their full name up on a website like that…".

"Worst is when someone does it without consent…" Riku says with a scowl while looking at his phone, "Hold on I think I got one… "Someone is bath mouthing me in online chatrooms…" yeah, there's a name here".

"No, no, ignore those! Look for ones that are more serious trouble," Morgana insists. Everyone scrolls through their phones for anything, and it was only Ann who found some form of success. "I don't know what to do about my ex who's stalking me. His name is Natsuhiko Nakanohara," she recites, "Says he's a teller at city hall".

"A what?" Sora asked.

"A government worker," Naminé replied simply, "But that's certainly serious trouble if someone who works for the government is stalking someone".

"But a perfect target for us! Right, now someone get the Meta-Nav ready!" orders Morgana with a cat-like grin. Ryuji immediately jumped to his feet excitedly, asking if they were already jumping into a Palace already despite everyone's agreement to lie low. "Hold on a second, we all agreed to an unanimous decision!" Ann argued, "And didn't we all agree we'd hold off on Palace hunting until we get pass the exams?".

"Yes we did," Ren says firmly and looked at Morgana, "And weren't you on board with this arrangement?". "Calm down, we're not going to a Palace per say, but somewhere within the Metaverse that's similar," assures the cat, "Trust me, you're gonna wanna see this!". He looks at Ann and asked her to follow his instructions and asked to input a keyword: "Mementos". He received a few questioning looks from the party, but Ann does what he asks after having someone spell it out for her.

Her phone beeped, startling her and surprising the others. That strange sensation of the world being warped and distorted shakes them as the colours of pink and crimson wash over their eyes.

*Mementos*

Blinking to rid themselves of the colouring blindness, the teenagers and cat look around to see they were still in Shibuya…minus the entire population of the city. Ren looks around the scarce streets to find not a soul of its people, and the sensation here felt massively different compared to moments ago. Everything felt so odd here, breathing and walking as if he was just strolling on the air, a lightness in his body unlike the Palace and yet his senses were sharper than before.

"We're back in the Metaverse?" Rhyme asked, "Does that mean we're in Nakanohara's Palace?".

"You're half right, but half wrong," Morgana explained, "It's a Palace in a sense but not the same as Kamoshida's for example. Now come on, lets head underground. That's where the shadows lie". The cat hops off the railing of the escalator near the entrance to the underground and runs down the stairs to the underground, the others tailing him.

Climbing down the escalator, they followed Morgana further down into the earth that certainly went deeper than the average subway went. Deeper they went the more of this strange place's looks become apparent, as the subway started to meld and shift into a place of corruption and distortion like a heart corrupted by the desires. Red spikes huddle in corners while vein like spreading along the ground to the walls and ceiling. Electronics like those advertisement stands were static and fuzzy like they were out-dated for years, the silence was suffocating.

Climbing down another flight of stairs, the Phantom Thieves reach the top of another flight of escalators awaiting them. When Ryuji whispered what was going through everyone's heads, Neku turns to him and sees Skull instead of the Shujin uniformed Ryuji, making him look at himself and sees his own Phantom Thief uniform was donned by him. Everyone picked up on their sudden attire changes, looking at themselves and crafted more questions in their heads.

"Hold on a second, I thought we'd only look like this if the shadows know about us or if we were perceived as a threat by the Palace Ruler?" Kairi asks, looking at her armoured arms. "Well yeah that's all true. The shadows knew about us the moment we came here after all!" Morgana reveals while placing his hands on his hips. The team glare at him, Ren chastising him for not mentioning this to them earlier. "Don't worry about that, we're safe here," he assures, "I've been coming here to investigate a few times, and for some reason the shadows never seem to come up here to this floor".

"But let me guess, it's an entirely different story when we go down, isn't it?" Neku grunts.

"Yup. Place is teeming with shadows and I'm guessing heartless too…" Morgana sighed.

"Terrific…but what exactly is this place? How about you explain what the "Mementos" is?" Riku asked.

"Purest and simplest explanation of this place? Its everyone's Palace," Morgana revealed. Obviously the gang were lost on that explanation, especially when Beat, impressively, reminded the cat he explained the basics of a Palace Ruler and the distortion of their hearts. Morgana nodded and concurred that he wasn't wrong, but the difference this Palace and Kamoshida's was because of the greater distortion. Kamoshida's Palace formed because his wishes became so distorted they created his place to rule, so instead of everyone getting a Palace of their own, the general public shares one gigantic Palace.

"That explains why this place feels so different compared to Kamoshida's," Riku huffed, "But when you say shared, does that mean its all just put together? Like even between strangers?".

"Kinda of like a collective unconsciousness…or a hive of desires all combined into one based on the public…" Rhyme says thoughtfully, "But if we were able to come here using the navigator, and if shadows and Personas work the same here, does that mean we're still able to steal hearts here too?".

"Bingo," Morgana answers, "But the steps are slightly different though".

"But compared to an actual single Palace, this place is way bigger," Shiki says, "How are we supposed to navigate through it?". Morgana looks at the stairs ahead of them and reveals that Mementos is like a sprawling underground train system that could extend for miles on end, it could even be comparable to the size of Japan for all he knows. He leaps off the railing of the stairs and stands before the group, before he announced the time has come.

With a pose that almost looked like something from Xion's shows, he leaps into the air and explodes into a puff of smoke. Then what dropped from the smoke is a car, with distinct likeness to Morgana. The car was a design based on the Citroën H Van. The paint is dominantly black, with three yellow stripes on the hood (with the middle one being the thickest) and though they are symmetrical with one another, they are asymmetrically aligned with the vehicle itself, as they converge toward his left windshield. On the grille, there is a small golden emblem representing Morgana's biped head. In addition, the headlights represent his eyes, his ears are attached on the front side of the roof, and his tail is attached on the back.

"EVIL KITTY-CAR!" shrieks Xion, leaping back and actually lifts a trash-can up and readied herself to throw it.

"I'm kinda with Xion on this one, when the hell were you able to that?" Beat asked, not even in the Reapers Game had this kind of surprises. Morgana boldly and braggingly assured them that this form came from the way cognition materializes in the Metaverse, with an extra bit of training. He even compared this transformation to their clothing changes, despite everyone pointing out the massive difference between having a change in clothing and changing into a vehicle.

"Hey, cats changing into buses is a very widespread cognition among the general public," Morgana argued.

"But…why a bus?" Kairi asks, "That's an extremely specific transformation…".

"I have no idea…" he says with a frown in his voice.

"BUT WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU DO THIS BACK AT THE CASTLE!?" Ryuji asked. Morgana didn't even have to defend himself this time, everyone looked at the skull wearing punk with looks. "Cramped hallways, tons of stairs to climb and you really think a chandelier hold a bus?" Riku asked. Ryuji quietly and gruffly stuffed his pockets with his hands, grumbling at the cat while Sora folds his arms, humming. Quietly Kairi shuffled near him and asked: "On a scale of one to ten, how weird is this compared to half the stuff you seen?".

"Meh, five out of ten…maybe a four," Sora replied with a cheeky smirk, "Sides if I wasn't held back by that dumb rule, I'd be showing off some really weird but fun stuff".

"Such as?" Kairi asked.

"…magical teacups that act like bumper cars and spin super-fast," Sora says with a shrug.

"…oh darn that DOES sound more fun…".

While they were talking, Ryuji, Panther and Ren already entered the bus, with Ren taking the role as the driver. But when Rhyme approached the bus she stops and peers into the window and frowns. "Umm Morgana…?" she starts, "You…do realize you can't fit all of us in there, right?".

Morgana's headlights blinked and he became very quiet all of a sudden, which confirmed the others' worries that once more thinking ahead was not his strong point. "Also quick question?" Eri says, raising her and then gestures to herself and the other non-Persona users, "What the heck are the five of us supposed to do!?".

"I dunno…I mean, I didn't think you'd tag along…" Morgana says with his voice growing lower and softer with embarrassment.

Riku groaned and chastises the cat for his lack of thought but turned to Naminé and the others. "Then you guys hop into the bus and stay there in case we bump into anything," he instructs, "At least until we're done here". The four of the five nod, though Xion was glaring at the bus with distrust in her eyes and only because of sharing limited space with her friends did she leave her weapon of choice behind. However the rest of the party stared at the bus and the escalator, frowning.

"We really gotta hoof it?" Neku huffed, "And we don't even know how deep or far the target is…".

Shiki nodded in agreement, but then looked at Mr Mew with a thoughtful look and then grinned. She plants Mr Mew on the ground and stepped back as the plushie looks up at his master. "Mr Mew, transform!" she commands. The cat salutes and then leaped into the air and suddenly he grew in size. His legs become long and malleable while his body turned into an actual bus, slightly taller than Morgana.

Shiki clapped her hands together with glee, praising her little plushie while everyone else just stared in awe. Sora quietly leaned into Kairi's ear and said: "That's a ten".

*Level One of Mementos*

Driving and riding through the subway, which was filled with shadows and the occasional heartless polluting the empty dark crimson railways. During the ride, Riku inquired about the difference in the Palaces and this place in terms of changing someone's heart after they found another flight of escalators and descended further into the Mementos. Morgana clarifies that very likely what they'll find is a segment of his own creation, but it would certainly not be the same of a Palace.

Unlike a Palace where there's a room holding a treasure, they would need to find an entrance to the segment within the Mementos. The trouble was he had no idea what the entrance looked like, only thing he had to go on with is the strength of a distortion. Which translated to the party "wander aimlessly until they find something that resembled whatever Morgana deemed distorted enough". Using their communicators to converse while travelling was just as irritating as the search, especially the ones riding the Mr Mew bus thanks to the wind.

The shadows and heartless here were numerous for sure, and despite Morgana being a vehicle capable of running them over, they more often than not had to resorted getting out/off their rides and engaging them. And much like the ones in an actual Palace, they were essentially fodder to their weapons and powers as even alone Rhyme was too much for them. Something that while many members of the thieves cheered for a lax enemies, Ren wasn't thrilled.

As he let Ann drive, carefully, he was thinking on the shadows and the lack of an issue his team were having. Any other leader should be thrilled that their newly formed team was performing above their expectations and having little issues dealing with their adversaries and sure he can't exactly compare those shadows and heartless to Kamoshida's true form, the power gap was far wider than them. But his true concerns were with future endeavours and heists, especially if they were going for more known profiles.

He already thought of the worst-case scenarios if they indeed find a new target who's Palace could be a hundred times worse than Kamoshida's with even more powerful minions at their disposal. Not to mention if that Reapers Game throws a curve ball at them or they could have even had the worst luck of fighting someone in Sora's league, and he did not need an example of what was in store should that come to pass. If Sora's second form is anything to go by…

"Yo, up ahead!".

He looks up just as Ann slammed her foot onto the break and stopped the ride with Mr Mew behind her. Up ahead of the thieves is not a wall but a vortex of red and black with the train tracks warping toward it. "Think we found our distortion," he muses, patting the dashboard of the car, "Right Mona?".

"Right on the yen, Joker…" the cat-car answered, "I can smell the distortion and the treasure ahead". Nodding, Ren informed the others they found their entrance, and together they drove into the vortex.

On the other side, they find only a roadless path with thorns of red and black slithering down into the abyss ahead of them, but more importantly a middle-aged looking man just standing in the middle. The thieves vacate the vehicles minus the non-Persona users and take a few steps closer to the man. "So just so we're on the same page here, a front desk guy at city hall became a stalker to his ex-wife, right?" Neku asks.

"Right…and while we don't know the extent of how much evil he's done, ignoring him is not an option," Ren replied, "Especially if this is only the start".

"Yeah, any longer and he may end up having a Palace of his own," Morgana answers, "Lets go talk to him first".

The gang approach though in split numbers, only four approaches him while the rest hang back just in case. The man's body was covered with darkness, and through his glasses they saw his eyes were yellow just like the lustful king. When he sees four of the thieves, he snapped at them for answers. "Natsuhiko Nakanohara, correct?" Ren asks crossing his arms.

"Who wants to know!?" he shouts.

"You've been stalking your ex-wife, and from what we understand you've also been harassing her on social media," Riku throws in, wondering if that bluff worked. To his surprise, Natsuhiko just barked that she was his property, arguing that she treated him like he was a plaything and even asked what was wrong with payback.

"If that's true, you're just stooping to her level then," Neku scoffed, "You can't just go and treat people like shit because they did it to you. Its just hypocrisy in a nutshell".

"Assholes like you…we're gonna change the heart of all of you!" Ryuji growls, his pipe in hand and body tensed for battle. Natsuhiko snapped back at him, defending himself by saying there were far worse people than him. "What about Madarame…? He stole everything from me, but you idiots are letting him off the hook!? DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT HE DID TO ME!?".

"Who?" Ryuji asked, lost.

This evidently enraged Natsuhiko to the point where he is suddenly engulfed in the same red goop as all the other shadows, and with on burst he is reborn as his true self within the Metaverse. A small shadow with a large hole in his stomach and bob-cut hair. He danced around and taunted the thieves…and received Riku's sword.

With just a single swing of his curved steel, Riku struck him and sent him flying across the field and straight into the wall at the other end of the room. Smashing into the wall with enough force to break parts of it, the shadow falls to the floor in defeat. And as swiftly as it came, Natsuhiko returned to his human form once again. Riku scoffed with disappointment and dismissed his blade, but this victory only furthers Joker's worries.

Natsuhiko weakly gets back to his feet as the four thieves cornered him, eyes trained on him and Ryuji patting his weapon menacingly. The man slumps and his entire demeanour had changed into a tone of defeat and remorse, just like Kamoshida. He apologized, but explained that he became obsessed with her, and couldn't help himself anymore.

"What started this obsession? Surely you knew if she left you, there was no point in stalking her," Ren asked.

"I couldn't stop myself, even if I knew I was wrong… N-not after this person I trusted used me and then disposed of me…" Natsuhiko answers.

"Madarame, right?" Neku asked.

Natsuhiko doesn't respond to the question stated, only explaining the turmoil and pain he endured after this "Madarame" had apparently disposed of him once he found no more uses of him. Fear of being tossed aside again like some worthless thing, and having his wife divorce him was apparently the final push of the edge that lead him to turn into this shell of a man. A cycle of selfishness and abuse and while Ren could sympathise, he firmly called out Natsuhiko for dragging an innocent woman in his troubles and made her life difficult.

"Back off from her, and let her live her life in peace," Neku threatened.

Reluctantly the man contests to the request, but then he asked them if they could change the hearts of people. "Maybe you could change Madarame's heart too…before more people fall victim to him…". Those were his last words before he turned into light and the shadow of Natsuhiko disappeared from the Mementos, leaving nothing but a ball of light. The four thieves look at each other, questioning about the request while Ryuji approached the ball of light.

"Hey Mona! What's this ball?" he yells.

The cat approaches him and stands before the ball, before nodding. "The bud of a Treasure," he says, "If we had left this behind, it very well may have blossomed into a Palace".

"Even with Natsuhiko's shadow?" Ren asks.

"Probably, or it might have created a replica of him and…well lets just say that's a hundred times than the original ruler".

Ren huffed, and tiredly thanked the furball for the heads up before he takes the ball and stuffs it into his pocket. The cat then assured the four thieves that like their previous target, Natsuhiko should have a change of heart by the time they leave the Mementos. He also added that if they needed proof, they could also go back to the website and check if he or the request updated regarding the lady's predicament.

"So, thoughts on this place?" Morgana asked.

"Well we can help people here, which is what Ann and the others wanted to do from day one, take on shadows to get stronger…though right now they're pathetic," Ren sighed, "Mona I hate to say it but training here sounds impossible if Nightmare was able to one-shot that shadow with little to no effort".

"Oh I get your point, but keep in mind, Joker, we're only at the start of this place," assures the cat, "Trust me the further down we go the tougher the baddies get".

"Further down?" Riku asks, "Just how deep does this place go?".

"…I dunno…but maybe you can answer that question today," Morgana says, "Before we head home, I wanna show you guys something".

*Level 2*

Driving once more through the mangled subway, more questions were raised in the vehicles and thankfully for a nice change of pace Morgana was able to answer them. He confessed he had been here before, without a doubt, and knew there was another floor beneath them. They just needed to find the way down, which is the same method as the entrance.

"But you've been here before, don't you have a map?" Roxas asks.

"Nope. And there'd be no point in making one, because the layout changes every time you enter it," the cat-car replied.

The reason was because this place is a fused cognition created by the endless number of people this world is constantly shifting and changing. Meaning they could come and go as many times as they wanted but the world would change as well, which is one of the reasons exploring this place alone was near impossible. Still the cat knew the destination was close, as the floors were similar in layout to each other and while it may change, the rules regarding descending were not.

And after a few more collisions with the shadows and a few dead ends, the party reached the destination and descended into the next level. The find themselves at what looked like to be a regular subway floor, excluding the Mementos theme décor, and ahead looked to be a dead end. When the gang approached it, the guardians immediately sensed something was severely off about this place and if the rules of the Reapers Game did not bind them they'd already be bringing out their big guns.

Despite his friends comments, Morgana placed his paw upon the door and as if they obeyed him, they came apart in four slices before melding together with the frame of the wall, exposing another escalator for them to explore.

"A new area has been confirmed in the depths. Updating guidance information," chimed the Navi-gator.

"…I'm guessing this didn't happen when you came here alone…" Ren asked.

"Bingo. It'd be weird if the deepest part of the Mementos would just be some normal place like this, wouldn't it?" Morgana answers, "And I got a feeling it has something to do with us and our recent Palace exploration".

"Oh…I think I see what you're getting at…" Rhyme says with a nod, "With Kamoshida's Palace gone and people talking about the Phantom Thieves becoming a topic among the people, you think its connected to the depths of the Mementos".

"Right, but before we all decide to go spelunker further in, we should head back," Morgana says, "Remember all we came here for was to change that heart and I showing off Mementos".

"Agreed, no sense in overwhelming us with more information," Riku agreed, and together they all return to their vehicles and speed off back to the entrance.

*Shibuya*

Nearing the Hachiko statue, the gang settled down and had a few drinks to replenish themselves while Morgana explains a little more about the world they visited. The biggest topic was mostly regarding the wall they encountered and opened, with drawing blanks as to why such a thing was even there. Morgana believed that whatever the reason, it was keeping either something hidden away from the world or anyone who could explore the Metaverse.

Rhyme theorizes that if the Mementos is the "Public Palace", then it may be connected to the public's general belief in the thieves, whether its integrity or existence is still debatable.

"But…why do you know so much about that place?" Eri asked, "I mean everything else is always followed by a "maybe" or a "I think".

"I don't honestly, my memories are foggy on that," he admitted, but is adamant that he'd get to the bottom of it, no matter what. The strength in his statement sparked more questions for the others, yet the only thing he has to offer them was Mementos isn't just everyone's Palaces, it's the birth place of all of them. "It used to be that Palaces run by a single person simply didn't exist," he said, "So if we can do something about the greatest cause of distortions, I'm sure my appearance will…".

He stops himself, faltering and even shrinking. Sora sips his drink and then pointed out that must have been the reason he went looking for them. "You need help getting to the end of Mementos…and since me, Neku and Ren were the only ones who could use Personas…" he hints.

"Aww, you just needed friends to help you out~" Kairi teases.

"I-I needed pawns!" Morgana says, trying to deny it.

"Keep telling yourself that…as if you could ever command "pawns," taunts Neku, "You can barely command Ryuji or Beat".

Morgana grumbles, insisting he was purely in this for himself. Then Ann, out of nowhere, asked about his "true form" and asked him if indeed he was a boy, or a girl. This starts a debate among the group, some genuine but mostly teasingly saying he could be a boy or even a girl, but Kairi even suggested maybe he is a car with a heart of its own.

"Or maybe he's a ghost who possessed a car, a ghost cat!" Roxas laughed.

"EVEN WORSE!" Xion shrieks, "EVIL GHOST-KITTY!".

"I AM A MALE! NOT A CAR, OR A GHOST!" mewls Morgana, "…A-AND ALSO NOT A CAT!".

There is laughter among the group, easing into the end of the day. Though not a lot had been accomplished, they certainly can now perform small changes within the Heart of the Mementos, and thanks to the website they can hunt down some worthy targets to change hearts and get some training in as well. Ann did lament/remind them that apart from Natsuhiko there weren't any other ones that stood out. But Shiki reminded her that if they get the Phantom Thieves to have more fame and spread the word, then surely more requests will come in and by completing them, fame comes in and rinse and repeat.

"With all that, we're bound to find a target that's way more known worldwide and boom, the Phantom Thieves will be a hot topic!" Ryuji cheers.

"AFTER we get pass the exams…" Ventus sighed, "We've only got three days tomorrow to prepare".

"…way to bring the mood down…" lamented Ryuji.

The gang all make plans for one desperate study session tomorrow, but they all remain blissfully unaware of an individual standing a few steps from the party.

"That's her…" he whispers.

A/N:

So…apparently, and by apparently I mean "I LOOKED BACK TO PREVIOUS CHAPTER TO SEE I MIS-NAMED SAID CHAPTER BECAUSE I'M AN IDIOT" and found out that for some reason I labelled it as the "Mementos" chapter…despite little to no mention of it.

…I hate me…

I'll be editing that out at some point.

Anyways, we have Mementos covered and exams coming up, but I'll be using the next three days to flesh out more characters and maybe kick start the romance.

Also in case everyone is wondering, no. Jose will not be a part of this story. I think he was the most insignificant character added into Royal and I honestly don't care for him.

QUESTIONS:

Q1: Thoughts on this chapter?

Q2: What did you enjoy most of?

Q3: Xion's hate for cats?

Q4: What do you wanna see next?

Q5: Upset that Jose isn't part of this story?

Thanks for reading everyone. Stay awesome but more importantly stay safe!