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 Thirty:
Missing Friends.
*Evening: Wednesday. 18/5*
*Wildkat*
Pacing around the living room-esque space of the café, Eri kept looking at her phone occasionally and then paced in space while Xion tried to reach Neku and the other missing members of their teammates, only succeeding in hearing the same automatic response from each call. The pinkish haired teenager growls impatiently and quickens her pace while occasionally muttering beneath her breath, impatiently waiting for the rest of their teammates to come back.
"Any changes with the Reapers' message?" Roxas asked, placing a tray of coffees on the table, looking at Ventus.
On the couch in front of Xion, the "twin" shakes his head and says: "Just the same thing. No updates or anything".
"GAHHH!" growls Eri, "What the hell!? They shouldn't have any trouble with those Noise or whatever you fight!". She snapped to the others and asked them what else could have attacked them or could Morgana know something about the Metaverse mucking it up. Xion shakes her head, cheerfully saying heartless wouldn't be any tougher without a bad guy powering them up, and Roxas dryly reminded their fiery friend that the rules of the UG and Metaverse were different, but mixing would also be impossible.
"Plus, if we knew there'd heartless or Shadows, Ren would have sent us to tag along," Roxas said with a sigh, correcting himself by establishing he meant the other Phantom Thieves.
The door opens and the rest of the team finally enter the building, immediately gathering up. "Alright, so recap," Ren says, "Kobayashi's back to normal right?".
Xion confirms and even Eri added her boss seemed way more enthusiastic than she did this morning. Ventus even shows the party the mission results on his phone hadn't changed either nor any updates. Ren lets out a frustrated sigh and settles into his seat with the others, voicing the party's worries. "So, what the eff happened? Are they stuck there now or what?" Ryuji asks with a grunt, "Cause Neku didn't mention anything but the mission!".
"Did you guys try to go to the UG?" Roxas asked.
Kairi nodded and said: "Before we came back, me and Sora tried to use Neku's method to transport to the UG but all we did we get some weird stares from the staff at the café and nothing else".
"Do you think there's a time limit or something?" Sora asked, "I mean that whole people going back and forth between UG, and RG was new to the game, right?".
"Hold on…I think Shiki said something about a time limit…" Eri says, crossing her arms, "Something about whenever they completed a mission, they somehow fell asleep and then ended up somewhere else in Shibuya…".
"Then if they completed the mission while in the UG, maybe they were put to sleep before they could get out…" Riku theorizes, "But wouldn't Joshua mention that to Neku before he took part in the new game…?".
"But what was that last part about being in hot water? That sounds like they were in trouble," Morgana added before he frowned, "What if it wasn't Noise, they were struggling against? Or Shadows or heartless". Ann hummed thoughtfully yet all she came up with was nothing, until Eri speaks. "Hold on! Reapers!" she says, "Shiki said they would attack them every now and then if they were like, higher rank or something!".
"And how strong could a Reaper be?" Ren asked.
"I'd guess you could say like, a lesser Palace Ruler?" Eri answers with uncertainty, "I mean she never really gave me an idea but just a guess since they are the ones running the show". Sora concurs with their friend, reminding everyone that Neku and his friends only had psych to rely on while Reapers had both psych and Noise at their beck and call. "Plus, they could have made up a game that's super unfair to them…".
"Either way, if they're still trapped in the UG until tomorrow, chances are someone is going to try and stop them from getting out," Ren says, "But worst of all we don't know about the mission tomorrow. I don't want to jump to conclusions, but it is a possibility someone is working hard to take Neku and his team down".
"Yo fo' real!?" Ryuji asked, "Why the hell!?".
"A team of Players taking down not only veteran Players but also the supposedly legendary Player Neku?" Riku grunts, "That sounds like a meal ticket to a few bonuses". Naminé worriedly agrees with his assessment, concurring that not only would the reputation of taking down those four would benefit the rival teams, but it would also give their own enemies pause or perhaps get the Reapers to back off. "All the more of a reason that we go into the UG tomorrow and find them," Riku says.
"Hold on! What about Yusuke!?" Ann says, "We already agreed to meet up tomorrow!". The others glanced at her while Sora groaned about Madarame's security, and Kairi also added that their "friend" mentioned he'd be out tomorrow with a grimace. "Meaning this COULD be our only shot to unlock that door without getting caught…" Kairi groaned. "But what about Neku and the others? For all we know they're probably running for their lives from Players and Reapers!" Roxas reminds, slamming his hands on the chair.
Ren clasped his hands together as his friends voice their worries, himself no different minus he was vocalizing his argument within his mind. Tomorrow the Phantom Thieves need to go forward with the plan to unlock the rest of the Palace to reveal Madarame's crime, but in doing so would require them to ignore Neku and the others. Though confident in their skills, if the Reapers are as troublesome as the Palace Rulers, how much longer could Neku and the others hold out on their own against them and the other Players?
But if the Phantom Thieves all rush in to the UG, how could they explain to Yusuke the sudden cancellation of their collab? Even if he was willing to reschedule, there is no promises that Madarame wouldn't be there any other day. Bad enough that the team was already down four of their main thieves, but with only seven remaining they were already spread thin. Plus, Ann and Morgana wouldn't be with them for whatever security measures the Palace had for them to contend with.
"…we're gonna need to split the group up," Ren says, raising his spectacled eyes to face the team, calling their attention. "We can't afford to miss tomorrow with Yusuke if we want to help him but putting Neku on the shelf for now is too risky," he explained, "Ann and Morgana will do what they gotta do with Naminé, while me and Ryuji handle with security once the door is opened".
He looks to Sora. "Which means you three will have to head into the UG and find the others," he says, "Much as I'd like to have one of you with us, we have no idea what's caught Neku and the others to risk anything".
"Wait, so you and Ryuji are just gonna go into the Palace alone?" Roxas says, "That's way too risky!".
"I'm with Roxas here," Kairi says, "What if Madarame's Shadow shows up?". Ryuji barked that would just make their job easier, they could pummel him and then steal his treasure once they were done. Boastfully he claimed between him and Ren they'll wipe the floor with their new target, and even reminded them Ann could just use the app to join them when she was done distracting Yusuke. Morgana rolls his large eyes at his misplaced confidence, but Ventus sided with his blonde friend, stating that even with just the two of them they should be able to handle the Shadows if they just make a run for it if things go south.
"Exactly," Ren says, "All we need to do is make sure we get that door opened permanently, and then if push comes to shove, we make a run for it".
"Much as I hate to say it, Ren's plan sounds solid," Naminé sighed, "Plus Sora and the others are more experienced with this sort of work than anyone of us".
"WITH keyblades, what if they can only use psych like Neku?" Roxas argues.
"Improvise, if its anything like magic then it'll probably be a sinch to get the hang of," Kairi reminds. Eri even revealed Neku had given her a set of pins a few days back and would bring them to school tomorrow so they could pick up a few for themselves. "So, are we all in agreement then? Me and the boys go to the UG to find Neku and the others while you go deal with Yusuke?".
"Don't sound like we got any other options…" Ann sighed, whether it was the fear of how this would all play out or the fact she was going to strip for Yusuke nobody could tell. The gang nodded and dispersed for the night.
*Afterschool: Thursday. 19/5*
*Scramble Crossing, UG*
Exiting the café and stepping into the crossing, the three guardians of light look around at the mass horde of people phasing through them all like ghosts forced to walk the world endlessly. Kairi even shivered when someone walked past her, commenting it was like a chill of cold just enveloped her suddenly. Riku quietly remarked the unsettling sensation in his chest, how strange it was to be invisible and even untouchable in a sea of people that usually one couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting someone within the city.
"Okay then…so…what do we do now?" Sora asks, turning to the other two guardians, "Any mission updates?".
They checked their phones and spotted a new mission/text from the Reapers, prompting them to open them up. Kairi reads aloud: "Phantom Thieves, your teammates are currently on the run from being Erased. Rescue them so you can entertain us some more, failure to secure even one of your missing teammates will result in Erasure".
"Just in case we didn't have enough of a motive to find them," Riku grunts. They stuffed their phones into their pockets and headed for the center of the crossing to discuss their plan of action. "So Neku and the others are on the run, whether it's the Reapers or even other teams, so where could they be hiding?" Riku questioned, looking at his friends for any ideas. "They know Shibuya and the Game better than anyone else, so likely they would go somewhere they'd know or keep moving until we find them…" Kairi offers.
"Hey there".
The three turned around to see a group of boys and girls surrounding one girl, likely the leader. She looked to be their age or at least late teens, wearing a unique violet and pink tank top with a black leather jacket hanging off her shoulders, a nicely decorated grey skirt with a loose belt looped around her hips, high black boots. She has dark hair that looked sort've blue when the light highlighted it, eyes were blue with amusement.
"Looks like you three have just arrived in the Game," she greeted with a flashy smile as her "minions" nearly surrounded the thieves. Riku and Sora immediately tensed up at the numbers, while Kairi steps up. "Game? What are you talking about?" she asked, ignoring the looks her boys were giving her, "What's going on here? How are people just…phasing through us?".
"Aww sweetie, haven't you figured it out yet?" the girl says with a touch of smug, "You and your boys are in the Reapers Game after all, hence why nobody else is even complaining at you for being in their way".
"Reapers Game?" Kairi asked.
The girl explained to them like they were a bunch of idiots about their predicament, casually confessing they likely must have died at some point to enter here and laid down the same ground rules Neku's group had explained to them before. The two guardians were occasionally glancing at their friend, Kairi keeping her ignorance and confusion act up while the girl fills them with pointless intel they already knew. "And right now, we've got a mission that is gonna take us to the top," she says, before smirking, "WELL…at least we'll be at the top by the end of the day".
"By the way, what are your names anyways?" she inquired.
"Kairi, and these are Sora and Riku," she introduces, "And you?".
"Hebi Kossori, leader of the Diamond Rulers," Hebi introduces, "And these are my teammates". They all gave their last names to the guardians but their expressions of distrust and clear dislike to them was still glued to their faces. Hebi smirked at Kairi and asked her if she received her mission, but using her best lying face of confusion, Kairi confessed they hadn't checked their phones since they came to. Hebi rolled her eyes and lectured them on being unprepared, flipping her phone out of her pocket and then reads aloud.
"Time to earn some extra points. Rival team the Phantom Players are within the city. Eliminate them to receive a new position on the leader boards. Failure to take down the PP will result in loss of points for the teams of this month's Game".
The boys glanced at each other while all three did their best to hide their shocked looks. "E-Eliminate another team…?" Kairi says, "But why? Like isn't that, against the rules are something?". Hebi shrugged and explained that nobody knows why they're suddenly wanted dead by the Reapers wanted these players out of the Game. Nor did they know who the PP team were or even heard of Neku before, which at least for the guardians gave them a bit of a head start.
"So that's your mission, find them and wipe them out for some extra points. Or don't, whatever floats your boat," she says dismissively, "Least you came in a good day where failing the mission don't mean squat".
"But what about points? Leader board? The heck is all that?" Sora asked.
"Pfft, that's the new food-chain crap they've started. Apparently, each team is on the list of who's worth a damn. Lower you are, the are the less chances of you making it out of this game. And we're currently the third," she scoffed, "BUUUUT the leaves you guys are the bottom if you JUST showed up today".
She eyed Sora and Riku with a look, almost like she was at the market and then turned to Kairi. "But if you're interested, we've a few spots for newbies. So, if ya wanna have a chance to win, all you have to do is ask me to join".
"And if we refuse?" Kairi asked, stepping in front of her view of Sora, daringly. Hebi rolls her eyes and dismissed her with a wave of her hand. "Then you can at least enjoy today off before you become Noise food".
"I think we'll take our chances," Kairi scoffed, and then turned to her boys before walking off. But then Hebi's own group ganged up on the princess and judging from the indigent looks on their faces they didn't like it when someone rejects their boss' offer. When one of them reached for Kairi, like a bolt of lightning Sora appears and grabbed his wrist, hard. Startling the teenager and when another tried to intervene, Riku merely grabbed the collar of his jacket and easily held him up just an inch above the ground. Both boys glared at them, as if daring them to so much as look at Kairi.
Kairi folds her arms over her chest and looks over her shoulder to Hebi and said: "We don't want to fight anyone on our first day, but we're not above beating the snot out of rude and entitled jerks". Hebi's smirk never wanes but she snapped her fingers and like obedient dogs, her crew back off from the three, making Kairi's teammates relinquish their hold on them. Like frightened mutts the two boys immediately backed away from them.
Hebi commands them to get going and find the rival teams while she and her own posse looked in another area. She bids the team a final farewell, her smug smirk never leaving her face while she heads for Tokyu Plaza. When the Diamond Rulers left, the guardians looked at each other.
"So everyone's after Neku and the others but we're meant to save them…" Sora says while folding his arms and tilting his head, "Is this because we're on the same team or is Joshua behind this?".
"I dunno, but if Hebi's telling the truth and if getting those points really will make a massive difference for the other teams, then pretty much everyone and their mother will be hunting the others down," Riku frowns. Kairi agreed with a sigh, and laments that if there's so many teams already then Shibuya's already covered with them. "Hebi's already got a group big enough to cover two parts of the whole city, and with numbers like hers it'd only be a matter of time before they find them".
"And we don't even know if she's the only one with that large of a team, heck maybe someone has a literal school of minions!" Sora says throwing his hands behind his head. Riku nodded and voiced the same worries his best friend had, that combined with Hebi and the possibility of someone having an equal or larger numbers of teammates and covering more than just one district in Shibuya. He then says: "We can't afford to risk spending our time checking one place at a time. We're gonna have to split the team up".
"Riku, there's only three of us…" Kairi starts but Riku cuts her off.
"And we're faster then probably anyone else here. Use Flowmotion to cover more ground!" he argued, "If those teams find them first then they don't have a chance alone!".
Kairi and Sora looked at each other with doubt in their eyes for a moment. "We don't have Personas or even our own keyblades, no splitting up?" she says, "This is too risky". Sora nodded and said: "Yeah…but Neku and the others can fight too, maybe we can get a crash course from them before we do get into a fight". He turned to Riku, "I'll head to Udagawa, Neku knows that place better then his own house".
"Good, Dogenzaka is Beat's spot, maybe they bunkered down there," Riku replied, and then they both turned to Kairi. Looking down and biting her inner cheek, she replied: "Takeshita Street has a lot of stores, Shiki probably knows a few spots to hide or maybe Rhyme". She looked up to them. "We gotta be quick, and if we're lucky we can find somewhere to yank them out of the Game before we're ambushed or worse". The boys nodded and quickly the three of them split up.
"Udagawa huh?" Kuro says, watching from a distance. With a sickly cruel smirk, he raised his phone to his ear and already dials her number.
* Takeshita Street*
Running up the slope just as her Flowmotion disappears from her body, Kairi was panting as she searched the endless sea of people bypassing her, eyes scanning all over the shops and stores for her friends while looking for any key details that would stick out. For all the times she spent with Eri and Shiki talking about fashion, she wished she retained something relating to the stores here that at least gave her an idea on where she'd hunker down.
On her way here, she already engaged with a few Noises and using Psych was not as easy as magic. Too many times she tried to use the pins to aid her in battle it blows up in her face or would fizzle out and harm her instead. Using only the bare minimum of martial arts she learned from Aqua, Kairi was reduced to tap dancing and kicking the Noise long enough to make her escape, and even then, she only managed to escape with just one slash from the bear monsters.
"Bring one potion, Kairi. You won't need two…" she lectured, "Why did I listen to me?".
She stalked the streets and searched for them, popping into the stores at the top of the slope to find them, avoiding contact with other Players by using the pin Eri gave her to check whose mind she could read. Too her dismay after she exited a store, when she used the pin again for the fourth time, the hill was full of Players seeking the PP members. Kairi quietly ran against a wall and peered to see a few Players stalking the area, grumbling about some false lead they had before scouring the place again.
Kairi figured that maybe the other teams were trying to put each team against the other, hoping to keep one team busy and lost then swoop in for the extra points. As they climbed the slope, Kairi rushes past them and into an underpass where more stores were located. She bites her lip and looks around for anything that would clue her in on the location of her friends.
"Hey you".
Kairi turned around and spots two boys approaching her, wearing leather jackets and other punk-esque clothing. She acts as casually as she could before she waved at them and greeted them. "You're a Player, just like us," one of them, teen with dark hair and a pierced nose, sneered at her. "What are you doing here, lookin' for the targets?".
"It's the mission of the day, isn't it?" Kairi asked, staring him down, "Isn't that why you're here?". He growls and almost grabbed her, but Kairi pushes her hand aside and even pressed her finger against his chest with a look. "Don't even think about it, jerk!" she insults, "I'm new to this Game but kicking butt isn't new to me".
Before she could show him, he was suddenly blasted back from her by a green pellet of psych energy. He flies three feet from her and slammed onto his back and with his buddy distracted, Kairi shoves him back with slight restraint of strength. Both jerks on their backs in defeat, Kairi looks back to see Rhyme leaning against a store with her shaky hand aimed at the punks, her face show casing exhaustion and sweat. Kairi turned back to the boys getting to their feet and using the bare minimum of psych knowledge, lifts her hands to show off some her power.
"Back off, or you'll be erased before the Reapers show up," she threatened. Like wimps, the two scurry away from the two and ran. Once they were out of sight, Kairi drops her hands and runs to Rhyme who now slumped on the ground and groaned. Kairi knelt before her friend and checked her, seeing not only was she exhausted and pale, but she could see she had a hand on her left side, grimacing and even her leg had swollen beneath the knee with several black bruises around the limb.
"Kairi…w-what are you doing here?" she asked, hissing, and whimpering in pain.
"We got a text from the Reapers' Game, it said you guys completed the mission, but you were in trouble," Kairi explains, helping her friend get to her feet while holding her, "The next day when you guys didn't come back, we got another text that told us you were being targeted". She explained that only her and the other PT got the mission to save them while every other Player was out for their blood. Rhyme cheekily with clenched teeth reveals she was aware, gesturing her own injuries.
"Crap Rhyme, you look like you haven't slept at all…" Kairi notes.
"Its because I haven't slept at all since…since…" she starts but whimpers a yawn and almost collapsed into Kairi's arms, looking close to just flat fainting. Kairi shakes her head and whips out her phone and quickly texted the others.
Scarlet: "Guys, I got Rhyme! She looks like she just got her butt kicked!".
Nightmare: "No luck on my end yet, King?".
King: "Nothing yet, but I'm looking around everywhere!".
Nightmare: "What about Shiki and the others? Did she say anything?".
Kairi turned to Rhyme and asked. The blonde shakes her head and weakly said: "W-We got separated. I ran here after we were attacked by Noise…b-but I don't know where the others are". Kairi pats her back and texted what she told her to the other two. Then she looks at the girl for a moment before she texted again.
Scarlet: "Guys, Rhyme isn't going to last much longer without help".
King: "Then go back to the RG and get her to Takemi's clinic, maybe she'll help".
Nightmare: "Make sure you tell her I'm your friend, she'll help without a doubt".
Scarlet: "Got it, but as soon as I settle her in I'll come back, okay?".
They respond positively to her offer and once she finished, she lifts Rhyme up and finds a store with the Reapers' mark and quickly makes the transfer between the UG and RG.
*Dogenzaka*
Rushing through the streets without so much as a bead of sweat trailing down his forehead, Riku speeds through the crowd of ethereal citizens, his greenish eyes taking in everywhere within the street for clues for their missing companions while avoiding the Noise to the best of his abilities. With Rhyme out of the Game at least they could narrow down just a bit more, but so far he couldn't find any traces of their missing friends and all he does find are just Noise and even a few Players trying to follow their mission.
Standing at the end of the hill leading up to the next street, Riku looks around and scans the area for Neku's group, sensing only rival Players prowling the area and just avoiding anymore contact with the Noise. He huffed and tries to think of any place within the area Beat knew that could be used as a hiding spot or maybe they had a way to higher ground, or heck maybe they left a decoy behind to try and shake off their pursuers.
"There's no time limit either, so long as the day keeps going the Players can take their time to sniff them out," he thinks to himself, "Between Noise and Players, with them down to three or even separated, they won't stand a chance against a united front". The master looks to the rooftops and uses Flowmotion to gain an upper hand over the Players and use the height to seek out his friend. While the buildings are clustered together, the one he chose to climb was higher than most and gave him a perfect view of the street.
Squeezing the pin in hand, Riku searches through the endless voices and pushes aside the Noise to seek out his target. Dozens and dozens of voices run through his head, yet the Players were indescribable and impossible to tell apart. He then sensed there were a bunch of Noise gathering on one spot within the street, and he sensed many of them being torn apart and just replenishing their numbers like it was nothing. He opens his eyes and runs to the other side of the ledge, gasping in relief when he sees the slayer of the Noise.
Crushing a frog like monster with stone formed into fists, Beat flips over a swipe of the giant bear claws and back kicks it with his skateboard. The punk then performs a single handstand and swung his skateboard in a wild arc that slashes through three leaping froggers. But instead of skillfully landing back on his feet, Beat stumbles and falls to his side, board flipping away and he weakly standing on his knee. Noise continuing to pile up around him, his face contorting into impatient anger and stubbornness.
Behind the Noise, Riku sees Players similar to the ones Kairi had bumped into, boasting at their genius plan to let the Noise either wear Beat down enough for them to come in for the kill or let Beat wear himself out from taking down the monsters, either way would result in an easy victory for the punks. Riku smirked at their plan, finding there is a single, massive flaw in their scheme. And it was in the form of a silvery haired teenager who had a reckless tendency. He leaps off the ledge of the building and with a front flip, he dives towards Beat and the Noise.
As the monsters charged at the punk, Riku, glowing in Flowmotion energies dives down between them and slammed his hand into the pavement. A burst of Flowmotion energy turns into a tidal wave of power that obliterates the Noise and from the shockwave of his impacted hand it knocks the punks off their feet. They look up from their stupor to see Riku standing up right and staring them down, daring them to follow through with their plans. He rocks his shoulders and even cracked his knuckles, smirking evilly at them while using the Flowmotion remnants to highlight his body under the guise of them being psych.
Like cowards trying to look tough, they scurry away from Riku's menacing looks and run, crying for their boss. Out of sight, Riku huffed and turned to his fallen friend. "Should've known you'd rather go down fighting," he sighed as he heaved his friend to his feet and throws his arm over his shoulder, "What happened?".
Now that he got a look at his friend, Riku's concerns for his well-being grew substantially. A black eye and a bruised jaw with tears in his friend's clothing with a bloody arm, bruises decorating his arms and he was even limping if keeping his left foot off the ground was any indication. Spitting out a glob of blood, Beat grunts: "Ain't gonna die yet, brutha…I almost had'em". Beat tried to shrug off his friend's gesture but not even a second in the attempt did he so much as bump against Riku, his pride doing more harm to his body than the Noise evidently.
"Beat, you can't even stand right now. So, how's about we ditch the tough guy act and just say thanks for saving your ass?" Riku asked with a playful smirk. Beat groaned in response, his head down and whatever resistance he had against Riku's aid was gone. The master helps his friend rest against a wall near them and even offered him a healing pin to alleviate his aching foot but Beat shakes his head, panting he can barely stay awake to talk, let alone focus on using whatever fumes of his psych to patch up.
"What happened to you guys?" Riku asked.
"Shit man…we, we got da mission done aight? Then this freaky spider-dickhead attacked us…he a Reaper, that's fo sure," Beat explained, "Son of a bitch was freaky strong too, even Phone just barely scratched him…". Riku grunts, not liking that their strongest member himself suffered under a more powerful adversary. "Phones managed to get a good hit in, but we had to bounce when all of them shitty Noise showed up…but those eff-ing Players started to attack us after that".
"Why didn't you guys come back to the RG? You have the pins, right?" Riku asked. Beat shakes his head and reveals that when they woke up, their pins were swiped by either a Reaper or something, because when they tried after seeing their mission the way home was closed. "That explains it…" Riku sighed but Beat looked at him, asking if they found Rhyme or the other two yet. "Kairi did. By now she should be at Takemi's place, which is where you're going," Riku explained.
"W-Wait, what about Phones and Shiki? They still on the run!" Beat growled and almost pushed himself off the wall to go but Riku holds him in place. "Do you know where they went? Neku say anything about meeting up or what?".
"Nah man…I got those jackass' attention earlier and let those two bounce, been here holding my own against those punks…" Beat said, "So if Phone got a meetin' spot, he didn't say". Riku nods and flicks out his phone and texted Sora.
Nightmare: "King, have you found Neku or Shiki yet? I've got Beat here".
King: "Not yet, I'm scanning all over Udagawa and finding more Players and Noise!".
Nightmare: "Keep looking, I'm taking Beat to the RG, I'll be back soon, stay safe!".
He helps Beat to his feet and quickly runs into another store with Reapers' mark, exiting with another wounded teammate.
*Udagawa*
Sora rushes down the graffitied alleyway with all the speed he possessed, scouring the entire street at least three times in his marathon of a sprint to find their two missing friends. When he reached the wall for the fourth time, he skids to a screeching halt and looked to a streetlight near the wall, seeing something small and black nesting beneath it. Sora comes towards the lamp and his worries only grow exceptionally more when he sees it was the torn-up Mr. Mew plushie.
"Poor fella," he says picking up the roughed-up cat, looking around for the others. As far as he understood, this little guy was Shiki's only means of defense against their enemies, Persona be damned, and now here with possibly a wounded Neku as her only back up, the tables have turned on them. Probably glued on them by this point. He straps Mr. Mew to his waist and jogs around the streets to find his friends but doesn't even get two feet away from Mr. Mew's spot before he quickly leaps over a blast of psych.
Flipping onto his feet, Sora snapped his attention to the direction of the attack and sees Hebi and her cronies. Her hand glowing in a sinister psych light, violet. "Well, well, look at what we caught everyone," she glowers, "A fellow Phantom Player looking for his own". Sora stands up right and narrowed his gaze at her while her minions surround him. A total of fourteen Players including her, likely with plenty of psych pins at their disposal against a boy who has little to no idea on how to use them.
Yup, not a good spot.
"So how'd ya figure us out?" he asked, curious and really buying time for himself.
"Pfft, simple. Those Wild Punks told us that your boyfriend and that red haired bitch stole our points, and I figured if we kept an eye on you, you'd just lead us to the last targets," she explained, smirking. Sora's eyes darkened at the insult to his girlfriend, mentally noting that Hebi was getting a psych to the face if he ever figured it out. "But looks like you only found the toy, not the user…" she sighed, "But ya know, maybe they'll come out if they heard you were in trouble or worse~". Just as she finished that sentence, two of the boys had fired arrows of violet psych energy at Sora from behind.
Using his Flowmotion, Sora flips over them with ease, then spins around and dashes towards them with speed. He jumps and stomps on their heads with each of his boots before using them as springboards to leap into the air over the group. Hebi and the others shot at him with varies psych attacks, blasting elemental and energy based as he dances and flips over these attacks, while forcing himself on the defense. He grabbed the streetlight and flips himself up to the perch on it. Hebi's minions start to coat the post in psych energy, levitating it out of the concrete ground and forced Sora to jump off it.
When he lands on his feet, Sora quickly side stepped a slashing girl's hand, while grabbing her arm and then tossing her into a pile of Hebi's teammates to knock them down like bowling pins. He looks behind him and grabs a trash can lid and like a disc throws it at the Players. Though his "shield" tossing skills were subpar compared to his former companion, his strength made up for the lack of ricocheting because he struck one Player in the forehead and knocked him into his friends.
Then as Sora thought about throwing the trash can altogether at them, Hebi appears in from of him with her hand coated with psych shaped into a hand blade. She thrusts her hand into Sora, missing him but pushing him back with wild swings and more stabbing. She nearly got his eye at one point before he kicked her in the stomach and used her to back flip away from her and the others. But in doing so Sora found himself losing more and more ground to navigate and fight around, and he hadn't taken down that many Players to even give him a breather.
Hebi orders her minions to surround him and keep their psych at the ready if he tried to use the sky as his weapon again, forcing everyone to basically cram themselves in the narrow space. Sora looks for a way out, but far ahead of the Diamond Rulers, he sees his exit was in the making. Taking a deep breath and readying himself to break into a sprint, his Flowmotion power begins to shimmer and coat his body, disturbing the Diamond Rulers. Then he jumped until his feet touched the wall he was backed against and then with a grunt of effort, Sora rockets forth. He leaves crater in the wall and like a torpedo, he bashes through the group and breaks free of his entrapment.
Rolling on the ground for a few rolls and then scrambling to his feet, Sora runs for the slope to escape. "DON'T LET THAT ASSHOLE GET AWAY!" screamed Hebi. But even those who hadn't lost their footing or even been hit by Sora couldn't get any closer to catching him were about to chase him when suddenly a car falls from the sky and blocks off their chase. Luckily nobody was crushed but it was lodged in between the graffitied wall and building on the opposite side of it, trapping Hebi's team.
Sora runs down the slope and comes to a stop when he sees Neku and Shiki at the end, looking exhausted and clearly coming out of a tough battle, but were otherwise fine. The orange haired teen waved at him while Shiki weakly grinned at him before she yells his name and points behind him. He looks to see the car go flying behind him and smash into the building and pouring from the alleyway was Hebi and her team.
"Time to go, run!" Neku shouts as Shiki and he already sprint down the hill.
Sora follows them as they ran through the streets of Shibuya, chased by both Players and now Noise that were popping in from nowhere and slowly swarming the three Players. Sora looks back at the distance between them and the Players, realizing with the way they were going it was only just a matter of time before they were caught by these bloodhounds. He quickly sprints faster to Neku and shouts: "Neku, Reaper marked store, now!".
"104! There's a store with the mark!" revealed the legendary player as they make a sharp turn. Sora grunts a "got it" and then he suddenly throws Neku over his shoulder and grabbed Shiki and tosses her underneath his over arm. Before either one of them could even fathom the gall of being carried like damsels in distress, Sora's body bursts with Flowmotion and suddenly he starts to run even faster like some sort of superhero. Quickly he leaves the Diamond Rulers in the metaphorical dust and leaps over a building and onto another, miraculously carrying his teammates.
"Sora, this is more dangerous!" Shiki shrieked.
"Can you outrun all that Noise!?" Sora yells as he leaps over a large gap and onto another building. Shiki looks to see the near flood of Noise chasing them, and then quickly changes her tone and even encouraged him to run faster. Just as he reached the ledge of another building, a large bat Noise the size of a car appears before them. Desperation filling his mind Sora leapt and stomped on the head of the monster and leaps off it higher into the air, just as frog Noise leap at them. Sora throws Neku up in the air, letting the Player blast one frog with a burst of psych and then spins and slashes the other.
Falling together to the ground, Sora lifts Shiki into his arms as Neku aimed his hand and using another pin in his arsenal, he shoots a ray of ice that extend and widens until he makes a slide the size of a waterslide. They all slide down the frozen ride, Neku skating and keeping his hand aimed to create the slide and guiding them back to the giant tower of 104. Noise still hunted them in the air and on the ground chasing them while likely Hebi and other Player teams now had their eyes on the three remaining targets.
"So much for staying stealthy!" Neku shouts as he freezes the air in front of him.
"You threw stealthy out the window the same time you three that car at Hebi!" Shiki shouts.
"How the heck did you guys get into all this to start with!? Its like you managed to get everyone to hate you, mission or not!" Sora asks as he flipped in the air to regain his balance.
"How's about we save story time for later after we're not being hunted down by pretty much EVERYONE in the UG!?" Neku asked.
As he says this they could see the massive tower that was the 104 building, which made Neku turn to Sora and shout: "Ready!?".
Together they both leapt off the ice slide and once Neku grabbed onto Sora's shoulders, the boy of destiny uses Flowmotion to dive toward the building. Once in range Sora starts to down sideways down the building with his friends holding on to him, and then as he reached the small part of the building attached to the main tower, he leaps off and with Neku using the final portions of his psych, creates a small wave of energy stop their momentum of descent. After that little bounce, they land on their feet and once Sora placed Shiki on hers, they quickly run into the 104 building just as Hebi and some of her teammates spot them.
They stormed into the building but just when they were about to enter a store, their phones vibrated. And with a loud curse of rage Hebi slammed her phone to the ground. Through the cracked and flickering screen, the mission report was in.
"Mission Failed".
*RG: 104*
Collapsing onto their knees in exhaustion, the three teenagers pant and gasp from the exertions their bodies had just endured. Shiki hears her name being called and when they all look up she is suddenly being tended by Eri who almost tackles her into a hug while Xion helps Neku to his feet, and Sora happily collapses onto his back with a tired smile on his face.
As his two friends were taken away to be tended to, Sora climbed to his feet and yanked out his phone to contact his friends.
King: "I found them, we're back in the RG. Scarlet, Nightmare?".
Scarlet: "Oh thank goodness, me and Nightmare are at the clinic with Beat and Rhyme".
Scarlet: "Where are you now?".
King: "Kobayashi's place, Eri and Xion are taking care of them now…meet me there".
Once he sends that text, Sora stumbles and just barely catches himself by clutching the door frame with minimal energy remaining. He looks up and his vision becomes blurry, and this wave of exhaustion was too much for him to stand up. Evidently, he must have looked worse than he feared because Neku gestured him in alarm and Xion sprints towards him.
But that was all Sora could see before finally he collapses…
A/N:
So after looking at the last chapter and seeing how clustered it was, I decided to split the WEWY stuff and focus on that side instead of pitting it against the Persona stuff. Next time we're gonna go see what Ren and Naminé did, but the Reapers' Game is still on going and we'll be coming back to it soon.
Really excited for next time, think everyone knows why.
Questions:
Q1: Thoughts?
Q2: Hebi as a new antagonist?
Q3: How was Sora in this?
Q4: Want to see more Reaper game modes in each day?
Q5: Excited for Yusuke's part?
Can't believe we're at chapter 30 within a year of post, happy out with progress and again thanks to everyone for sticking with this story!
As always everyone thanks for reading! Stay awesome but more importantly stay safe!