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-Nine:
New rules, same place.
*Afterschool: Wednesday. 18/5*
*Shibuya Crossing*
"Okay…we're at the crossing now…" Neku answers, speaking into his phone with Ren's team and Xion on the other end, "Once we go in, chances are we will be cut off from each other like the Metaverse, so keep that in mind Xion".
"Okie dokie! Have fun!" chirps the raven with glee in her voice.
"*Sigh* just remember to keep Eri in the loop if you see any changes or notice anything with her boss. Remember we've got a lot riding on the success of this mission," Ren reminds, "And mind yourselves in the UG, I have a bad feeling Personas won't be a thing there".
"Sure as hell wouldn't be surprised…" Neku grunts, "Stay safe everyone". He pockets his phone and ends the call with his two compatriots, approaching the other three former Players. They stood by Hachiko café, finishing their drinks before plunging themselves into familiar but unsafe waters once again. Once everyone was briefed and after Eri and Xion arrived to their workplace, the four gathered up at this newly opened café and readied their gear. So far nobody seemed to have noticed any changes but upon entering the café, Rhyme noted a Reapers' skull spray painted just on the small sign near the door.
Memories awoke in their hearts when they saw the signs, an old rule and trick used by the Reapers back in their game days. Whenever they left their markings on a part of the building's property, Players could enter the store as regular customers, which at least stayed off starvation and provided them with means to combat their foes. Now for these RG residents, according to what the smug silvery haired teenager explained, they were still able to enter the UG without the usual requirements of one's life to end.
Looking at the new pin he was given, Neku makes a noise of uncertainty in his throat as he stands outside the café. "Yo, fo'sure we gonna go in?" Beat asked, "Mean…ain't so complicated aight?".
"I'm just more worried that it's a one way transport…" Rhyme says, voicing Neku's fear, "Did Joshua actually say we can come and go as we please?".
"I mean we have to right? Like, how else are we supposed to help you know who?" Shiki argued, looking at Neku's pin, "We really don't have time to argue this". Neku nodded, concurring reluctantly with his best friend and looked at the café. He clenched the pin as he walks in, followed by his friends. Once through the doors, they surveyed the café and found nothing out of the ordinary and even could say felt no changes. Until Beat elbowed Neku and almost subtly gestured two teenagers in the corner.
"They weren't there before…and we didn't see'em comin' in," Beat whispered. Neku glanced at them and then plucks from his pocket his old Player Pin, and then gently squeezed it in his palm. Closing his eyes, suddenly dozens of voices ran through his mind like a dam had burst, several topics popped within. He opens his eyes and takes a breath, quickly exiting the café with the others and as soon as they did, they knew.
Phasing through people like they were figments of their imaginations, the strange air that tasted like filtration and unease settling within their stomachs. They were back in the UG.
"We're…really back…" Shiki whispered, holding Mr Mew up closer to her face, "This feels so creepy…".
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I almost prefer the Metaverse…" Rhyme replied as she looked at herself, "Looks like Personas are not an option for us". Neku looked at the pins in his hand, the first classic set he used during the first week here and after checking the others' pins, he nods. "Yeah, pins are still a-go here," he sighed, "Guess Ren and the others wouldn't have been any help here after all".
He stuffs his pins into his pocket, stepping into the centre of the crossing with the others, slowly adjusting the fact they were ethereal to everyone else here. When they did however, a terrible shock struck their hands, causing everyone to yelp in pain and clutch their limb. Neku hisses and looked at his clenched hand, seeing a faded glow of red and black light behind his digits. Gulping dryly and with shaky fingers, Neku unclenched his hand and exposes his palm's tattoo. With rough graffitied style numbers representing a time limit.
"Damn it…" cursed the champion of the previous game, shaking his hand and turning to the others, "This is still here".
"Son of a bitch…prissy kid couldn't have come up wit another timer!?" Beat growls. He then huffed and points to the building where their "target" was and suggested they get this over with sooner rather than later. Thankfully 104 was just up ahead of the scramble and even better was with them being ethereal they could bypass the people with ease. So with the knowledge in mind, the four walked towards the building, and tried to stir up a chat between them all to create some levity to their predicament.
However just as Beat got closer to the building, he suddenly slammed against an invisible wall and was blasted back onto his back with a yell. He sat up and rubbed his face with a growl, snarling at the invisible wall and threw some colourful words at it. Rhyme looked at him and then at the wall, gently touching it. Her had recoils from the sudden shock of pain jolting into her palm, making her retract it and whimper in shock, her eyes narrowing with realization and familiarity.
"Oh great…this," she sighed, "Blocked off areas…".
"OH COME ON!" Beat snarled, "WHO DA FREAK PUT THIS HERE!?".
Neku growls in his throat, remembering the cut off areas during the week, some days you'd only have two areas in all of Shibuya to explore or complete the task you're given. And worst of all these walls were neigh-unbreakable, save for a few where Beat demolished them back in the day. Neku had a feeling somebody must have upgraded the walls to avoid another rhino demolishing them like they were made of parchment paper.
"But our mission is ahead of us…" Shiki reminds, "So maybe its just locked off for us until we, you know, complete a Reaper's mission?".
"Yes, I remember that was a gimmick of theirs back then…" Rhyme hummed, and after a quick look around, she spots a man standing on the sidewalk near the cross line and streetlight. She points to the man, who was dressed in a red hoodie with a dark t-shirt and a pair of jeans while carrying a green bag over their shoulder. Causally standing by watching people pass him like a regular dude, minus the black wings on his back. The four exchanged looks of concern and caution before Neku approached him with the others trailing behind.
He stands before the Reaper, who's face is obscured by the cowl of his hood. Neku folds his arms and said: "Let me guess, you want us to do mission before we can pass, right?".
The Reaper chuckled. "Well now, somebodies familiar with the rules," he chuckled, not even raising his head to greet Neku, "But yeah hot stuff, you on the ball". He stands up right and gestured behind the teens, "Here's your mission punks, get rid of them Noise and I'll let ya pass".
Behind the party of four, glitchy black and white static forms appeared slowly taking shapes of monsters. The Noise.
Four Garage Wolves, backed up by three Mosh Grizzly and several pestering Gabba Bats. While they appeared in hordes, from memory Neku knew these were the bottom of the totem pole Noise but considering their "new" grounds and recent experience and change in combat, this slightly worried him. He takes out his pins and pinned them to his sleeve, already feeling his psych powering up while Shiki planted Mr Mew on his stubby feet, the little guy coming to life and even taking up a fighting stance before his master.
With a grunt, Beat dropped his skateboard and plants one foot on it with a toothy smirk, and his sister crossed her arms in a stance, her hands glowing in green psych. Their team lead raised his hand and shouts: "Mute these freaks!". They leapt into battle, for the first time in a long while on their own.
*Metaverse: Madarame's Palace*
Gathered around at the entrance to the Museum, the Phantom Thieves, especially the new visitors, take in their target's Palace of choice. Kairi shared the same sentiments as Ann had and everyone held no more love for the vain building, commenting that the shack certainly held more appeal than this over gaudy designed building. "Naminé must have nearly thrown up by the look of this place…it looks so gross…" Kairi says.
"For real," agrees Ryuji.
"Okay, okay, if we're done judging Madarame's sense of style, let's get going," Ren says with a chuckle and turned to Riku, "Alright, show us the way in". Riku nods and quickly the thieves dash through their discovered pathway and in five minutes, they return to their entry point, only this time Morgana brought a rope for them to use to get and out.
Inside the gallery, the gang drank in their new realm to pillage and explore, Kairi especially getting giddy and even a little bouncy as she takes in the sight. This causes the cat to take note and inquire why she's so suddenly hyped for this.
"Well…I mean, I know we're doing this to help Yusuke and the others but…we're technically robbing a museum right?" she asked.
"In a sense, yes. Why?" Morgana replied.
"Oh come on, is nobody else as excited as me?" asks the princess, "This is like every thief's dream, and it's a standard heist!".
Grinning, Ryuji pumped his fist and concurs with the red haired samurai, bragging that their first real famous person is a famous artist. No doubt the boy was thinking of the glory and reputation the Phantom Thieves will gleam from this, and together they started to excitedly discuss what they'll liberate from this place and even wondered if they should snatch a huge painting just for the thrills of being thieves. Sora and Riku exchanged very concerned looks, wondering if Ryuji was a debatably bad influence on their long time friend…
"If you really want to steal a painting, you can AFTER we find the treasure," Ren says while stuffing his hands into his pocket, "For now lets focus on the goal at hand". He leads the group towards the next room but Morgana quickly dashes in front of him and stops the leader with a meow-sounding "wait". Pressed against the frame of the doorway were machines on both ends, and though very thin a keen set of eyes could spot two barely visible red lines head level and stomach level.
"Lasers," Morgana says, "Probably security ones too".
Riku frowned, stating they were not here the last time they investigated. Morgana offers a theory that Madarame may have been slightly disturbed by the rumours and believes the lasers here are a result of his sudden paranoia. "Right, I guess Naminé and the others bringing up the plagiarism might have bothered him," Kairi said, "But didn't he take it in stride?".
"Could have been just a cover up, maybe after all those artists he's crushed with his influence nobody has outright questioned his legitimacy," Riku offers, "But tightened up security only means the shadows will probably be patrolling now".
Ren hummed in agreement but smirked at the security with a gesture of his hand, showing that Madarame's paranoia must be minor because there is a sizable gap for them to slip by. They duck under the lasers and resume their exploration, avoiding the security shadows prowling the area by leaping on top of the walls displaying the paintings in the middle of the room. Like dancers of the night, the Phantom Thieves leapt and dance in the air as silent as ghosts, evading the mindless and dull-sensed guards.
They reached the hallway where they discovered the truth behind these paintings, but unlike their first obstacle, the entire hallway was littered with infrared lasers that looked like an aftermath of a spider's party. Even with some gaps in between them there was too many lasers to slip by without touching another, and with clumsy members like Ryuji and even Sora, going through it normally was not an option. Luckily for Joker, he uses his wrist-wire and grabbed Ryuji and holds him tight just as Morgana leapt onto his shoulder.
Like a performer of the highest skill, Ren pulls the three of them over the lasers and lands on the opposite side of the room, dropping Ryuji onto his stomach. He cockily grins at Morgana, ignoring Ryuji grumbling about dragging him like some helpless girl. Ren turns to Sora's group and bows at them, which in response they all sarcastically applaud him for his style, though Riku comments on Morgana's lack of progress with providing those devices for everyone else. Morgana yelled back he was just one cat…then quickly corrects himself.
The three guardians glanced at each other before they all smirk and turned back to the lasers. Suddenly glowing with Flowmotion, the three thieves dashed towards the lasers, ignoring Morgana's shriek and Ryuji's warnings. But instead of touching the lasers, Sora and his friends stylishly danced and leapt around the lasers like they were performing acrobatics at a circus, performing incredible leaps of faith, and skilfully avoiding the lasers. The Flowmotion enhanced their speed and awareness was empowered thanks to their Personas, essentially making these three intangible for the lasers to even brush against their hair.
Flipping over the last wall of lasers, the three guardians stood before the three teammates, the two gobsmacked by their skill and Ren only having his arms crossed. He then applauds them in response, before saying: "Show-offs".
Sora smirked and patted his friend on the shoulder before following Riku to the main reception with the others in tow and coming to the same cut off spot they were in yesterday. Before the statue, Riku reminds the others that this is as far as he and the others came last time, so here on out they will be traversing through unknown waters. "Then that means security is probably gonna be tougher from here on out, so make sure you don't bump into any of the displays or touch them," Morgana says, namely eyeing Ryuji.
The punk growls at him before the others sped off.
So far as they could see there was little in the ways of variety of traps in the hallways, which were getting smaller and more narrow. Ren made a mental note on this when he thought of the others and their growing team, realizing they would have had more trouble had they all been here. Their small run leads them to another display gallery, but when Morgana offers they use the same method of navigation they used before, a guard just turns the corner of the display wall and shined its flashlight upon the others, blinding them.
"HEY! WHO ARE YOU!?" it demands with its distorted voice. The out cry from this monster alerts its fellow guards, all amassing behind it before they all burst into other forms of shadows. Three koppa tengu, three makami and one apsaras. The guard in front of them all however had an ominous violet aura of flames surging around it, before it burst into the same red blotch as all the other shadows, except it was violet and black like the heartless. Now before the Phantom Thieves stood an ogre sized demon, an oni.
Not only did it dwarf the party in height alone but muscle mass, wearing what seemed like a Sengoku era monk's robe while carrying a large war axe that had clearly just survived the testament of time. Its skin was dark violet with sharp teeth, two horns and eyes burning with rage.
"So much for the stealthy approach…" Ren comments as everyone draws their weapons.
The oni heartless immediately brings down its giant axe upon the group, forcing everyone to split up and dash at their enemies. Sliding underneath a makami's barrage of nuclear attacks, Ren calls for Arsène as he reached behind the beast. The pillager of twilight bursts forth behind his chosen rebel, Ren leaps into the air and turns on the beast with his gun out with a wild grin, and as his firearm bleeds with darkness, he unloads an entire magazine into the beast, riddling it with bullets. The makami's thin body was torn apart.
The apsaras dances around Ryuji's swings like she were made of mist, gracefully avoiding the punk's wild and powerful strikes. She keeps backing away from his pipe, making the boy curse her and his taunts fall on deaf ears. The shadow shoots mist at him that even when he just avoids them chilled him as if he had stuck his hand into a freezer. Growls as the ghostly shadow flutters away from him, forcing Ryuji to call his Persona.
"DODGE THIS!" he shouts as Captain Kidd boomed to life behind the punk, and with a point of his finger, Ryuji shouts: "ZIO!". A small jolt of lightning booms down from the air atop of the shadow and the shock not only damaged her but paralysed it. Ryuji leapt towards her and with all his pent up anger, he slammed the pipe directly on top of the head, killing the shadow.
Kairi's sword clashes and sings against the oni-heartless' weapon, deflecting the massive piece of sharp metal away from her. But the size and muscle difference between them was a massive disadvantage to the princess despite her empowered form, and the oni was homing in on her namely while the others finished off the several shadows that were starting to spawn behind it. She managed to block another swing that launched her off her feet and create some distance between it and her.
When she falls to her feet, Kairi stands up, calling Asura to her. The ghostly Persona appears above her, her many swords out and ready to cleave her foes. "Asura!" she calls, grabbing her mask and yanking it off: "Hakaze!". She brings down her blade upon the pole of the oni's weapon and then with a slash so quick it seemed like she didn't even move her arms, she slashes the oni's chest and makes it stagger backward.
Quickly she pulls her sword back with both hands, then with a quick step forward she leaps and plunges the blade into the oni's heart, piercing it all the wall through and even placing the hilt of her blade against it's chest. The oni growls as it stares down the masked princess, reaching for her head with a quick dash of its hand. Morgana then leaps from nowhere and slashes at its over sized hand and almost slices it in half, then kick-jumps off its face as Kairi removes her sword and leaps backward from the bleeding shadow.
"King!" she requests.
Sora brings down a tengu with one stroke of his mighty blade and runs towards the oni as it steps back and almost trips over its own feet. Grabbing his sword with both hands, Sora swings the blade into the oni's legs, slicing them and using it as the final steppingstone to bring it down like a tree. As the oni falls on its back while Sora dashes away from becoming a pancake, he calls: "Nightmare!". Like a shadow appearing from the oni's worst nightmare, Riku appears from the darkness above them and with a flip, he impales the oni in the skull with his blade, removing it from the Palace forevermore.
With their bigger threat removed from the fight, it took Ren and Ryuji little to purge the gallery of shadows like they were nothing but minor annoyances. As the oni's body fades away, the intense atmosphere recedes into silence once more.
They dismiss their weapons with sighs of relief and then turned to each other, Ryuji boasting on how easy this was starting to get for them. Some agreed, though Ren seemed more concerned with this victory than anything else. But before he voiced them, Ryuji, high off their victory, speeds ahead with Morgana boasting the Palace has nothing on them, making the other three chase him. Ren sighed and followed, deciding his worries must take a back seat for now.
The next room was a much more open space than the others, which perturbed Ren when he notes there was nothing here that triggered his sense of security. No shadows patrolling, no cameras or even security lasers. All that was there was just a pedestal and a golden vase resting on top of it. His fellow thieves bar Morgana seemingly agreed there was something up and yet they still proceed forward towards the next room. But as they passed the golden vase, Morgana stops them, surprised they'd just ignore the loot before them.
They looked at the vase but then Riku tells him: "Its just a piece of junk. We've got bigger treasures to steal".
"Yeah and that looks WAY to awkward to lug around," Sora added.
Morgana however seemed to be ignoring their logical responses because his eyes glowed with the gold light in his cat eyes, purring at the golden sheen. Kairi scratched her cheek and with a nervous tone, implores Morgana he does not do what she was afraid he was gonna do. The cat jumps on the pedestal, much to the others annoyance and Ryuji voices his own frustration but Ren looks and swore he saw the pedestal suddenly get a little shorter. Then he remembers Morgana's words of wisdom, and then yelled: "GET BACK!".
He jumps back from the vase and the others, just in time for walls of lasers to appear around the group and trap them in. Only by doing another flip backward was Ren able to avoid being caught by these blasted lasers. Morgana being in the centre with the golden vase, leaving Ryuji on his own while Sora was trapped with Riku and Kairi on her own just narrowly dodging the laser. Unlike their last laser obstacle there was far too many narrow gaps between each line, meaning even the guardians couldn't slip past.
"Ooh…no…" whispers Morgana, "I must have tripped the security".
"You freakin' idiot! And you were lecturing US to be careful!" Ryuji growls, "Now what? Just run through them?".
"No way, that'll bring every shadow in the Palace here," Riku says wisely, "And I really don't wanna test how we'd fare against an entire army of shadows with this number".
"Terrific…" Kairi pouts, then notes Ren, "Hold on, Joker isn't caught".
Ren waves at the others, saying he was in the clear from where he was standing, and thankfully no shadows were barrelling down towards them so it seemed the worst of tripping the security was just entrapping the thieves in the lasers. But that didn't relieve the others when their teammate couldn't spot a way to deactivate the lasers, which prompted him to have a look around while the others hung around. He just missed Riku commenting on not having any other option.
"Really hope the others are having better luck than us…" Ren thinks.
*UG*
Blasting the last of the Noise into dust, Neku shakes his hand to throw off the psych energy from it, just in time for Beat to skate up to him with an elbow bump. "Heh, those punks ain't nothin'! Totally shredded them!" boasts the punk as he kicks up his skateboard. They turn to the girls who were in no less better shape than the two, if nothing Rhyme looked even more proud of herself than before. It was actually amazing for the orange haired teen to see how strong they were in comparison to their first time in the UG.
"Guess all that work in the Metaverse was worth it…" thinks the former anti-socialist teenager, rocking his shoulders. He turns to the loitering Reaper and approaches him and was given a smirk from the red hoody man. "Well I'll be damned, never seen a pack of Noise being ripped apart so quickly like that, even with the new teams popping all over Shibuya," he praised, "Nothin' to it for you punks, huh?".
"Damn straight! You talkin' to veterans here!" bragged Beat. This made the Reaper's smirk thin out and even turn more cunning. He shrugs and tells them they beat his mission, so the pathway to 104 was theirs to explore. He then walks off with a salute to the four, disappearing into the ethereal crowd of Shibuya's inhabitants, leaving the area. Shiki frowns and commented on that look on his face when Beat dropped their previous experience here.
"I wonder if they ever had a previous winner of the Game come back for another round…" Rhyme ponders, "Doubtful as it may sound, Shibuya has quite a set of characters".
"Yeah, but he didn't seem to know us and we don't know him," Neku reminds, "Or at least I don't…Beat?". Beat shrugged and confessed he doesn't remember much of the Reapers since they won their final game, sheepishly admitting he barely remembered half of them when he was a Reaper at one point. "But who cares? We got our way to deal with this mission, so lets bounce and get it outta the way!" he says, full speeding towards the building.
As he runs to the building while being chased by a worried Rhyme, chastising him for his lack of patience, the partners stay behind to speak. "Its sometimes hard to believe his memory is that bad…" Shiki sighed, "Think if weren't for Rhyme, he'd probably forget about school".
"Forget?" Neku asked with a small smirk.
"Let me dream and hope for my friend, Neku!" argued Shiki with a small fierce smile on her face, then she sticks her tongue out at him. The music lover rolls his eyes before crossing his arms. "So far so good though, the Noise aren't a problem anymore and 104 is just up ahead…" he mulls, yet his eyes narrowed. This was going far too smoothly for his liken, and if there were no more Reapers up ahead then that would mean, if nothing had changed, helping Kobayashi regain her passion shouldn't take much for them either.
So why couldn't he shake the feeling that this new mission was too easy for them and worse, what was the real danger of coming back?
"Neku?" Shiki chirped, "You okay?".
He shrugged and said: "Yeah, I'm good. C'mon".
He leads both of them to 104, unaware that another Reaper was watching them with interest.
*RG: 104*
Bidding a good day to another satisfied customer, Eri patrols around the floor to check if anyone else needed her expert advice on what worked for them while Xion, miraculously, maintained the register. The raven's bubbly and cheerful personality begets a very observant and mathematical genius, based on the fact she didn't need a calculator to add up the cost and prices of the sales, but also true to her word she was keeping an eye on their boss.
Ichika Kobayashi, the owner and founder of this newly established store had recently returned from her ventures in America to help run the store after it had finally been opened after all the refurbishing and clean up. A respectful woman who was in her thirties with clear skin wearing a wonderful but very business like dress that Eri felt was unsuitable for her boss, considering how expressive and open she was, even her usual wild multi-coloured hair was gone and now is just black and straightened. It was a relief that she didn't enforce a stricter dress code. Even her blue eyes were lacking of that passion.
As the reddish haired teenager helped a pair of girls pick out their clothing, she couldn't get her mind off her boss' sudden change of character in the last few days since she came back to Japan. Whenever they worked together she was so passionate and lively whenever they made sales, engaging with the customers, and even helping them find their perfect styles, it was like she had the body of an adult but the spirit of a youthful teenager. A second best friend to the designer.
Now though she seemed so business like but also devoid of that fiery passion she knew she carried within her heart. Her usual smiles were gone and only the "customer service" smile came up here and there, she spoke more softly and lazily like she just wanted the day to be over and done with. A massive difference that Eri found completely out of character, and it worried her to the core, like suddenly everything she was so passionate about along with all their hard work would be for nothing.
Kobayashi hadn't even interacted with Kairi and the other two new girls enough for them to note changes but if Shiki were here she'd be able to tell her boss had changed. As the girl helped pick out clothes for her client, she just stared at the clothing that her boss designed and a sense of dread consumes her and her worries grow, what if her boss had given up on this venture? What would happen to this place?
Looking at her customers, both high school students though one of them was a little more on the heavy side and clearly looked so awkward she wanted to scurry away from this place. But the clothing here not only caters to those of the "model" or normal sizes, but also those who had what her boss called "extra beauty" to be modelled. The clothing Eri had picked out was a beautiful green and cream casual wear that went well with a nice pixie cut, and after trying them on the girl looked absolutely radiant.
Her boss's motto and firm belief that size and weight mattered not to the wearer, but the beauty on the outside only matches the beauty on the inside. Something Eri had taken to heart when her boss first hired her as a store manager and then after teaching the girl's the ropes of the business, it was like she had taken on a mentor role than their boss. And every time they worked together it was some of the best times she had ever had, and every day was a breath of new ideas flooding their minds and it only motivated Shiki and Eri to pursue their dream of their own brand one day shining on the tv of 104.
Now that her boss had taken on this forlorn and weary looks, it honestly scared Eri. The only reason she hadn't lost her mind with worry was because of Neku and the others' belief that she was under the Noise's influence, or whatever that meant.
*UG*
Inside the store, the four Players neared Kobayashi just as Eri walks past them, oblivious to their arrival as they expected. Neku flicks the pin in his hand and as he scanned, Kobayashi's thoughts ring out in his mind.
"Another day…so little sales…so little customers…I thought by having a brand that caters to every body shape, having those teens being so friendly and welcoming would bring in more people. Was I wrong?".
"Those girls are working so hard to make this place worth the money I spent investing it, but I can barely get out of bed, and just thinking about coming in just makes me wanna stay in bed. Maybe, maybe this wasn't a good idea after all…".
"God damn it…why is this so much of a pain in the ass now?".
Neku sees floating around the owner were Noise indeed, and it seemed they were growing in rapid numbers. Any longer and they could probably fill out the store building on their own and being trapped in the UG right now with a store worthy amount of Noise wasn't on his list of good outcomes. He turned to Shiki and said: "She's really out of it. Looks like the Noise is using the store's lack of success to drag her down emotionally".
Shiki frowned. "B-But that doesn't add up. She said we're doing great with sales and advertisement…" she argued before looking down, "W-Was she lying?".
"That can't be true, according to the reviews on the site," Rhyme says raising her phone to everyone, "There has been far more nicer reviews than negative, and even then these negative reviews could be trolls or spiteful customers".
Neku turned to the Noise behind them, slowly taking form of those frog like monsters, prompting him to drop his shoulders. "Beat, all yours".
With a bark of a laugh, Beat dashes forward like a speeding train on his skateboard, shrouded by psych energy. The froggers leapt at him as if they were welcoming death just when Beat rushes past them with ease, ripping them all apart like they were made out of paper. Like their first bout, the Noise fell to their overwhelming might, and luckily they must have been the ones in charge of the nest that was Kobayashi, because Neku couldn't pick up anymore Noise from her.
They looked to see her suddenly straighten up and shake her head, her blue eyes suddenly glowing again with life and even her expression was one of confusion. "W-What? What is all this?" she asked quietly. With a shaky tone, she told Eri she was leaving for a moment and walked into the back room, leaving both her and Xion to maintain the store. The two girls looked at their departing boss before even getting a word in, and that was the team's cue to get going.
Leaving the store and standing outside the main building, Beat happily exclaimed that the timer had vanished from his palm, showing them his now bare hand. Neku opens his phone and sees that their mission had been cleared from his home screen and showed a "Mission Complete" message instead, leaving them in the clear.
"BOYAKA! We totally wrecked them Noise!" Beat boasts with a laugh, "Didn't even need Jokester or King to back us up!".
Rhyme and Shiki smile in agreement and even Neku sighs with relief, but then his eyes were glued to the store again and suddenly he growled. "Well, well…that was the fastest mission completed I've ever seen".
The other three followed the voice and when they spotted the speaker, suddenly their victorious mood has taken a nose-dive. Casually approaching the four teenagers was a relatively young man who clearly graduated from teenager to young adult, wearing a bizarre set of clothing Shiki had ever seen. A black jacket that exposed a lot of his tanned torso, the pattern was like a spider's web, long black glovelettes that reached his elbows and were fingerless, a pair of denim jeans with tears around the ankles and knees, three brown belts held together in the middle with a Noise skull. His hair was quilled backward brown with one a single stray hair hanging over his amber eye like a hook, a scar on his cheek bone.
On his back were Reaper wings, and even from the distance between them Neku felt his psych energy was something entirely different compared to the other Reaper. The punk smirked wickedly at the four, looking at the orange haired teenager. "Neku Sakuraba, the famous victor of the Reapers' Game, back in the UG," he greets, "And not with one, or two, but three veterans at once? Talk about a happy reunion, eh?".
"Who da hell are you!?" Beat growls, "Ain't never seen ya before!".
"Pfft, course you haven't, ape. I'm one of the rising stars of the recruits," boasts the Reaper, "I am Kumo Tamashi, one of the enforcers of this new game". His smirked widens, and as his body glows in psych, he finishes with: "And I've been DYING to meet you".
*RG: Madarame's Shack*
Taking a small intake of breath as she and Yusuke set up their respective cavasses, Naminé glanced at her phone occasionally to see if Ren or Neku had sent a message about their tasks, but she's yet to receive any updates on either side. Only things she's been getting were victim updates from the twins and Xion reporting every few minutes her boss was still being a sticky in the muddy. Her text not hers.
Much as she would have liked for them to pull a speedy job and call it a day if only to delay the confrontation she will have with Yusuke, Naminé had no other choice but to indulge in his collab to maintain cover. With Ann sitting on a stool modelling for them, Yusuke and the blonde had started to draw the girl in question. Though Yusuke was focusing on Ann, Naminé was mostly scribbling a few drafts of the castles she's seen as potentially her next pieces, hoping to look like she was drawing Ann. She could draw her friend, but in her artist professional opinion she was born to draw places, not people.
If that terrible portrait of Terra was any indication…
But after three hours of doing nothing but draw, she couldn't imagine how stiff Ann must be feeling from sitting in the same position for hours on end. "Guess all those hours modelling finally paid off," she thinks, "Then again being lazy and having a chair probably helped her".
Then as she added in the shadows of her sketch, Yusuke slumps and sighed deeply, as if he was exhausted. "Its no good…" he lamented, prompting his fellow artist and his model to sit up and look at him. From where she sat, Naminé leaned back to glimpse at his work and even though unfinished and certainly a rough sketch, she saw nothing short of excellence on his end. Not so detailed but a finely drawn sketch of Ann.
"Sorry, am I the problem?" Ann asked.
"No, no of course not. I'm having trouble staying focused," he says, "My apologises but we'll have to resume this another time". Ann and Naminé glanced at each other, the older teen giving her a "well now what?" look and even mouthed at her to do something. Naminé tapped her pencil against the canvas, biting her lip in thought in an effort to muster up the bravery to ask the question that may be connected to his lack of focus. Inhaling through her nose and exhaling, she lowers her pencil and decided to risk it.
"Yusuke…about those rumours," she says, "I…I have been giving it a lot of thought and…I want to ask you about them".
A sigh is audible from the man, and he sits up, frowning at the girl and even repeating that she had heard nothing but garbage from those who were envious of Madarame's success, nothing more. "Certainly there are many who have an issue with his success, but I can't help but feel as if those rumours have more truth to them than your sensei is letting on," argued the blonde, "Does the name Nakanohara mean anything to you?".
Yusuke freezes and his eyes were averting from Naminé's, as if she had struck him. Ann stands up and asked him again if that name did have any meaning to him, pushing him. "I…no, no it doesn't," he argued as he stood up, but Naminé joined him. "He was a student of Madarame for a number of years, and when his work was being published under your sensei's name, he was ostracised from the art community and labelled a copycat," she revealed, "And he even mentioned you as his next apprentice".
"That's preposterous," Yusuke rebuked, "He left because he and sensei had different ideas on art. Evidently he tried to besmirch my sensei's name and was rightfully called out for such slander!".
Naminé clenched her fist and then stood before him and asked: "That painting in the exhibit, wasn't that yours?". Once again he looked away from her, and his silence only confirmed everyone's words and beliefs. She asked him why he would let the man steal his own piece and pass it off as Madarame's when he, a master of the arts, could have made his own. Yusuke defends his master by saying he was suffering from an artist's block and he, his student, was obligated to help him.
"By letting him claim your work? And what if he never gets through his artist's block?" Naminé challenged, "How much longer can you just bite your tongue?". While they argued, neither noticed Ann sneaking away out of the room, excusing herself to use the bathroom. Yusuke argued that he owed that man everything, and any good student would do anything for their sensei, but the girl brought up the anger and pain he was in every time someone complimented his work, the praise he rightfully deserved going to someone else.
She even brought up everything Nakanohara said about the abuse and the students being used as tools for the selfish sensei to exploit until they are of no use to him. Yet the blue haired boy would deny and argue until his cheeks would turn blue, a never ending cycle of going around with their arguments and beliefs. "And what if YOU got artists block? Would he lend you a piece of his own?" she challenges, "Or would he tell you to figure it out alone?".
"That…he…" Yusuke tried to argue but his clenching fists told her he had no way to answer that without calling his bluff. He shakes his head and claims she didn't know what his sensei was like, and just in time for Ann to come in with a bright smile. "Hey! Maybe we should all cool it for a bit?" she offers stepping in the middle, "I think Naminé's just a little worried about you, like Madarame said before!".
The two looked at the girl, who forced a smile on her face and asked Yusuke if there were a way he could regain his focus so he could draw again. Yusuke frowned though the anger in his eyes dimmed, looking at his canvas in thought before he turned to Ann. "If you are willing to bare everything to me…" he said, and then with burning passion, he finished: "I will put my heart and soul into creating the best nude painting ever!".
"…eh?" was all Naminé was able to get out.
"NUDE!?" shrieked Ann, jumping with her face bright red and a shocked Naminé was left behind, the girl's eyes were so wide she could rival tyres, "H-H-H-HOW DID WE ESCULATE TO THAT!?".
"To think I'd be able to create a nude painting with my most ideal model," Yusuke says, blissfully unaware of the sudden change in the air and the embarrassment he was causing Ann. Even when the girl was demanding answers as to why suddenly they went from modelling to full on nude and even asked aloud if that was legal. Naminé confessed that it had to consensual and both were of the same age so long as painting was all he did, nothing illegal stems from his request. But Naminé's words only made Ann demand more answers from the boy, who was only thinking aloud.
Luckily for Ann, the only silver lining in this request, was that Madarame is out in the afternoon with the art exhibition going, meaning they could use the shack to their heart's content. "Y-Yusuke, you should give Ann time to-
"Oh of course. I'll work around her schedule, but I would be greatly appreciative if she came before the exhibit ended," replied Yusuke.
"That's not what she means!" Ann shouts.
But once again in his own world, Yusuke commented on procuring more supplies and seeing as his sensei was coming back soon, he had to cut their meeting short. Ann tries once more to argue but Naminé rubs her temples and says they were going, bidding Yusuke a good day. Ann storms out with a grumble and as Naminé grabbed the door frame, she glanced back at Yusuke's back before with another sigh, leaves the building.
Looking down at the supplies, Yusuke rests his head against the table. "Naminé…".
*Outside*
"Nude!? Is he out of his mind!? No wait don't answer that! HE IS!" Ann growls and curses, "UGH!".
"Nude?".
The two turned to see Ren and the other thieves approaching them, looking weary from their venture into the Metaverse but there was obvious frustration in their eyes. Naminé relays what's transpired between them and Yusuke, how defensive he was about his sensei and now that in order to maintain this collab, he's asked Ann to model nude for him.
"He did what!?" screeched Morgana, "HOW DARE HE!".
"Sounds like it ain't gonna be semi-nude either…" Ryuji remarked, which sent the cat in a full stuttering mess of the idea of Lady Ann. Ann snarls at him to get his mind out of the gutter before she throws him in said gutter. Naminé assured the girl that it may not come to pass if the others manage to retrieve the Treasure and make Madarame confess, which prompted her to ask them were they any closer to reaching it.
"About that…we've sort of ran into a snag," Ren sighed, "Halfway through we found ourselves being locked out by some form of security". In a garden within the Palace were walls of infrared lasers that scaled up to a building, and even with Flowmotion the thieves had a better chance of winning the lottery than getting through without tripping the alarm. "Morgana however says that with a security measure as tight as that, that means there's something ahead that's worth keeping safe".
"Which means either the Treasure is closer than we thought or something of equal measures of worth," Riku added, "But problem was there is no way to disable it",
"Apart from opening it from the other side…" Kairi finishes with pout, "Meaning we can't open it ourselves. Only clue we got from it was that plaque that explained the details of the door and a weird pattern on the big door". Ann stops her flustering anger and asked if she could describe it, which Kairi did to the best of her ability and then to their blessed fortune, Ann takes out her phone and shows them a picture she had taken before inside the shack.
"AH HA! That's exactly the same pattern in the Palace!" Morgana says with glee, "We have our way in after all!". Morgana cleverly explained that if the door within the Palace shared similar designs as the one in the real world, it reflects on Madarame's heart. With such high security features surrounding the Palace door, it means Madarame didn't want anyone to see what lies beyond it, and if the door were to open in the real world, then the one within the Palace would open.
"Which leaves us a way in…but does that mean Madarame can't close it again once his cognition changes?" Sora asked. Morgana nodded, praising his faith in him. The boy confessed that he wasn't entirely sold on the idea, but figured it made more sense than nothing else. "Problem is that door in the shack has a pretty hefty lock," Ren comments looking at the picture, "And I have a feeling Yusuke isn't in the mood for anybody but Ann and Naminé coming over".
"Even if I could sneak away for a moment to use the bathroom, picking locks isn't my forte," Naminé said with a grimace. Morgana bragged that all needed was time and a hair pin for the job, though time was essentially if he needed to time when Madarame got back before he could unlock it. The problem he mentioned was keeping Yusuke busy long enough, and then he smirked at Ann with Ryuji catching on.
"WHAT!? Are you saying I gotta do what he wants!?" Ann shouts.
"Oh come on, you don't have to get fully nude…" Ryuji tried to argue, but Ann shot him down when she saw his drool on his lips. Kairi speaks up that while she saw the logic behind Morgana's plan and beyond the lewd ideas Ryuji had, what was their back up plan if Ann gets caught or does something that puts Yusuke on the defence. Sora asked if they could use the Navigator to escape, but even he seemed to doubt it.
"I can go with you," Naminé offered, "If needs must I can distract him with questions…?".
"And then we leave Morgana to pick the lock, the rest of us wait in the Palace to ensure the door stays open," Ren says. Ann grumbles that the guys probably could have charmed Yusuke to be his nude models, eyeing Riku and Sora in particular. The boys blinked obliviously, while Kairi looked at Sora and already imagines what a model Sora would look like…then averts her eyes and quickly wipes her jaw, ignoring the smirk from Ren.
"Okay so we have a plan for tomorrow…hold on, have you guys heard anything from Neku or the others?" Sora asked, "We just got back".
Ann and Naminé shook their heads and then Riku was about to shoot Eri and Xion a text about the team, but then he gets a phone call. Answering it and using the video chat he holds the phone in the centre of the group.
"Hey, anyone there?" Eri asked, appearing on the other end.
"What's up?" Ren asked, "Has your boss been cheered up?".
"Kobayashi is acting weird but looked like whatever Neku and the others did work but…they haven't come back either," Eri said. The other exchanged worried looks, but then everyone's phones vibrated, and while Riku had the call on-going, the others checked their phones.
Their eyes widened.
"The Phantom Thieves' Players have successfully completed their mission, but it looks like this victory is gonna be a short lived one! The champions of the previous games are seemingly in hot water! Hope they can last a little while to give us a show!".
"Guys? Hello? What's up!?".
"Somethings happened to Neku and the others…" Riku grunts.
"And just when things couldn't get any more complicated…" Ren sighed.
A/N:
We're closing in on Madarame being exposed~
Only one real question for this one, and the story overall.
Would you guys prefer fights to take a massive backseat, say only for mini and main bosses? I'm only asking because honestly the minions don't pose as much of a threat as they do in the games.
Also there won't be another update for awhile due to work obligations so starting from February 5th, chapters will be posted on Sundays instead!
And finally, I'm thinking of doing an anniversary story for my original crossover, would you be interested in that?
Thanks for reading everyone! Stay awesome but more importantly stay safe!