From inside the cell, Kamoshida yelled. "Y-You bastards! You think you can get away with doing this to me!?" Tired of hearing his voice, Kira turned to Sakamoto. "I don't give a shit! I ain't down for any of this!" He said before motioning down the dreary, dank corridor "C'mon, let's get out of here!" He said before they came to a metal gate.
Kira decided to try and open it normally but unfortunately it was locked so she tried ramming into it. "It ain't opening!?" Sakamoto said in surprise before grumbling. "Dammit! Let's try and find another way through."
Kira looked at him before nodding and out of the corner of her eye she saw a broken bridge so she decided to jump over it before successfully landing on the other side. Luckily the metal gate on the other side was unlocked so they ran through it before turning left.
At the end of this corridor there was another broken bridge, however this one consisted of metal stilts with metal lace on top, Kira then poked Sakamoto to get his attention. "Hmm? Wassup?" He asked before Kira pointed towards the broken bridge.
When he saw it, his face paled. "Yeesh…Can we really get across this?" He asked, looking at Kira. "On the other hand, there's nowhere else we can try…Alright, let's get to hopping'." Sakamoto sighed before Kira quickly and carefully made her way across without incident.
The two then passed by a few locked cells before trying the door, but to no avail. Kira then turned to an open, empty cell beside the door. The two looked around inside the cell and Kira was the first to find an opening big enough for them to crawl through. A little while after they started crawling through Kira heard Sakamoto say. "Crap! My bag is stuck!"
Upon emerging from the crawl space, the two of them ended up in the next cell over that was on the other side of the locked door, luckily the cell door was unlocked and they were able to exit. Unfortunately for them, they came to a split in the path, the left one requiring them to cross a bridge, and the other one requiring them to continue straight. The two of them decided to check out the straight path first. "Hey, hold up!" Sakamoto said.
"Hm?" Kira asked before noticing that there were a couple of guards blocking the path forward, the two of them quickly hid behind the corner of the wall. "They'll probably call for backup if we try and take 'em on. We should go some other way!" Sakamoto suggested causing Kira to nod before the pair went back and crossed the bridge.
"Hey, we gotta hide!" Sakamoto suddenly said as the duo was about to pass a pile of boxes. Kira was confused but obliged, causing Sakamoto to point over to where the two guards were. "Over there…They're lookin' for us, right?" He asked her before she nodded in response. "I ain't playin' along with this anymore! We gotta find a way outta this goddamn place!" He said in frustration.
When the coast was clear, the pair ran up a spiral staircase before ending up in front of a wooden door. "*gasp* *pant* I-Is this…the exit!?" he asked looking at Kira who just shrugged. "Hey, let's get the hell outta this place!" he exclaimed before the pair burst through the door only to be greeted by another path lined with metal cells. "Dude… You gotta be joking'... This ain't the exit!? What the hell is this place!?" He asked frantically. After walking for a little bit longer, the two of them were surprised to see large cages with people inside of them hanging from the ceiling. "H-Hey…Look…"
Sakamoto stuttered out while pointing to the cages. "We really did hear people screaming… So we aren't the only ones who got captured! I hope they're okay…" He said, his voice laced with concern, the next thing that the teens noticed was a giant drawbridge that was raised, making the way across inaccessible. "Shit, the bridge is raised! Ain't there some way to open it!?" Sakamoto asked Kira who responded.
"There has to be, let's just keep going down this corridor." Sakamoto nodded in response before the two ended up at a dead end. "Another dead end..? Dammit! How the hell are we supposed to get outta here!?" He said frustratedly as he ruffled his hair. Suddenly out of nowhere the two of them heard an unfamiliar voice.
"...Hey, you there. Blondie! Long Hair! Look over here!" It said, before the pair looked into the cell beside them to see a cartoonishly big headed bipedal tuxedo cat with a yellow bandana and big blue eyes. Sakamoto stepped away from the bars in shock "Gah! What is this thing!?" He asked Kira who just stayed silent before the creature spoke up.
"You're not soldiers of this castle, right!? Get me out of here!" It pleaded desperately as it pointed to the wall where a ring with multiple keys attached to it hung out of the creature's reach. "Look, the key is right there!" Sakamoto stomped his foot down before yelling at the feline. "We're trying to get the hell out of here! I mean, you obviously look like an enemy too!" Sakamoto reasoned before Kira stood in between the two of them.
"Sakamoto, come over here." she ordered before the two of them went back over to the drawbridge to converse. "How about you, what do you think of it?" Sakamoto asked as Kira contemplated. (He's right, it is awfully suspicious that there's something other than a person in that cell but…) Before she could finish her thoughts she heard Lupin clear her throat.
"Do you mind if I intervene?" she asked politely before Kira answered (Nope, not at all). "I don't sense any malice or hatred coming from this creature. In fact quite the opposite, I feel a faint bond emitting from him and a power similar to ours." Lupin responded as Kira nodded and thought (Thanks for the input. I really appreciate it). Lupin just chuckled before saying "I know, I can feel it. I am a part of you after all."
"Kira? Are you Okay?" Sakamoto asked, waving his hand in front of Kira's face. "Yes?" she asked, tilting her head at Sakamoto. "You just kinda zoned out on me." he said before Kira realized that he couldn't hear any of her internal monologue or her conversation with Lupin. "I just had a conversation with Lupin."
She said before Sakamoto tilted his head in confusion. Kira facepalmed before responding. "That female wolf thing that saved our asses while we were locked in that cage?" Sakamoto nodded, obviously remembering her. "So…What did she say?" He asked Kira. "She told me that she doesn't sense any malicious intent towards us and he has a power of his own."
She explained while walking towards the keys that were hanging on the wall and opening the cell. "Ahhh… Freedom tastes so great…" The cat said as he stretched out. Kira kneeled down before asking him. "Alright we let you out, now do you know how we can get out of here?" Sakamoto scoffed. "How would he know, he's just a cat." he said before turning towards the blonde teen and glaring at him.
"Don't call me a cat! I am Morgana!" he said in response before Sakamoto shot back. "Shuddup and hurry it up! You wanna be locked up again!?" he retorted before Kira stood in between them again. "Both of you, knock it off. Do you want us to get captured again?" She asked angrily, causing the two of them to promptly shut up. "Follow me, and stay quiet!"
Morgana said as he made his way over to the raised drawbridge and stood in front of the statue of Kamoshida's face, the pair looked at each other before shrugging and following behind. "Oh well… Guess we just gotta follow it." Sakamoto said. As the two teens approached the statue, Sakamoto spoke up "What are you doing?" He asked curiously before Morgana turned towards Sakamoto "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm lowering the bridge."
Morgana said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world before he turned towards Kira. "You, Long Hair. It seems like you pick up on things faster than Blondie over here." he said, gesturing to Sakamoto while he continued to speak. "Try checking around the mouth of this statue, okay?" Kira nodded before thinking to both herself and Lupin. (Hey, Lupin… Is there anything that catches your eye?) she hummed to herself before responding "Try pulling the jaw of the statue down."
Kira nodded before pulling the mouth of the statue down causing the eye to glow yellow and the drawbridge to lower. "How were we supposed to know how to do that!?" Sakamoto asked frustratedly, resulting in Morgana saying something under his breath. The next thing they knew the group ran right into a guard on patrol before Kira felt the mask appear on her face again while Sakamoto was on the ground scurrying backwards.
"A-Aah! Shit…Shit, it's them!" he cried as Morgana went from behind them to in front of them by jumping on Sakamoto's shoulder before landing gracefully. "Tch… You amateur!" Morgana said to Sakamoto before turning to Kira and touching her leg. "Hey, you! You could fight, right? Let's go!" he said before performing a flip. "Come… Zorro!" he shouted as causing a pillar of blue fire to appear behind him.
moments later the pillar cleared revealing a macho yet thin legged fencer wearing a black, spanish styled long sleeved shirt, a black cape and a belt with a huge Z on it. "Y-You've got one of those things too!?" Sakamoto asked fearfully before witnessing the guard explode into the same red and black ooze from earlier and taking shape into another pumpkin headed specter and a demon-like creature with a long and pointy penis.
Morgana crossed his arms and said "Hmph, we will promptly shut them up!" as he took up a position beside Kira. "Damn Shadows… they've taken up intercept positions! Looks like it's not about capturing us anymore… They're out for blood!" Morgana said to Kira before resuming his speech. "I'll back you up, so fight like your life depends on it! Let's go!" Kira nodded before calling upon Lupin which caused her mask to disappear from her face.
"Let's go!" she muttered before successfully hitting the enemy with a Kouha causing Morgana to look at her. "Hmph, I knew you were an amateur… This is how you fight!" he said before summoning Zorro who waved his rapier resulting in a gust of green wind to hit the pumpkin headed foe knocking it down on the ground. "Strike at an enemy's weakness to knock them down! Use that opening to strike again! That's the most basic of basics! Remember it well! He said to Kira before preparing to attack again.
"C'mon, let's hurry and get through this!" the cat said before hitting the pink demon with a gust of wind causing it to vaporize. Meanwhile the pumpkin headed enemy got back up and hit Morgana, Kira decided to just use her knife because somehow she could tell that the pumpkin headed foe couldn't take many more hits and surely enough after she had finished attacking and her melee weapon faded the enemy disappeared leaving a small amount of cash on the ground, a slightly stronger Kira and somehow she could tell that Lupin was slightly stronger too.
"It seems I have become stronger and learned Cleave." Kira heard Lupin say from within the depths of her mind before Morgana spoke up. "Not bad. Your Persona's pretty powerful." The cat said before Sakamoto interjected. "Persona? You mean that thing that comes out of you two all dramatic-like?" he asked as Morgana nodded "Yes. You saw how Long Hair ripped off her mask when she summoned it, right?" Morgana asked Sakamoto who nodded before Morgana continued his explanation.
"Well, everybody wears a mask deep within their heart and by removing that…" he was about to finish when Kira felt the mask disappear from her face. "Huh? She turned back to normal…" Sakamoto said, causing Kira to look down to see the Shujin uniform back on her body. The anthropomorphic cat put a paw to his chin. "Hm, it looks like you don't have full control over your power yet. The transformation shouldn't normally dissolve like that. After all-" he explained before getting cut off by Sakamoto who was ruffling his hair angrily.
"Rrgh, that's enough! This crap doesn't make any sense!" To which Morgana retorted "Can't you just sit still and listen for once, Blondie!?" until Sakamoto responded "Don't call me Blondie! My name is Ryuji…" Kira sighed at the two of them while pinching the bridge of her nose. "Now is not the time to be arguing with each other." she said as she separated the two for the third time. The two of them nodded as Morgana came over to Kira and gave her three vials of what looked to be medicine. "Come on, we should hurry. It's not much farther to the exit."
The bipedal cat said as he took off in front of the two teens staying within sight of them. Continuing on, Ryuji kept on looking at the people in the cells and stopped in front of a particular cell right next to a raised drawbridge. "Hold on a sec!" He exclaimed as Kira and Morgana turned towards him before Ryuji walked towards it a few steps. "I feel like I've seen what this dude's wearing before…" he said before shaking his head "Dammit! I'm too flustered! I can't remember anything right now!" he growled frustratedly as Morgana turned towards the raised bridge "Come on, let's go!" the catlike creature demanded impatiently, causing Ryuji to turn to the feline and talk back.
"Hold on, dammit!" Ryuji responded as Morgana's face changed to a glare. "What is it? We need to go! Fast!" The cat argued back as a concerned expression formed on Ryuji's face. "But… who are these guys?" he asked the tuxedo cat who reasoned to him by saying. "Do you really think you have time to worry about other people right now!? Besides, they're-" suddenly, their new companion was interrupted by someone. "There!" It said before the trio heard the sound of footsteps followed by the sound of the drawbridge lowering that revealed a guard on the other side. "You should have listened to me..!" Morgana said to Ryuji while still facing the approaching guard.
Taking up an offensive stance Kira turned her head towards Morgana and said "Let's fight." before she felt her outfit change once again. "I'm glad that you stick to your guns." Morgana replied before the two of them were thrust into battle yet again, this time against two small female humanoid looking brunettes with translucent wings wearing blue bodysuits on their torsos with gloves and boots the same color as the suits. "Lupin! Kouha!" She called, as her mask disappeared from her face and Lupin appeared behind her and summoned another orb of light that successfully hit the enemy, however it didn't seem to do much damage.
"Looks like these two are strong against bless attacks" Lupin said as she retreated back into Kira's mask before Morgana spoke up. "Next time, I would recommend trying something else." Kira nodded at her teammate before Morgana attacked with a wind skill on the same enemy that Kira had hit prior, resulting in its death, the remaining beguiling girl attacked Kira by hitting her with a small shock that emanated from her fingertips. Kira returned the attack by summoning Lupin again and hitting her with a Cleave, which caused Kira to wince, as it seemed that she felt the recoil from her Persona using it.
Morgana followed up with an attack by using his cutlass to end the enemy's life as it exploded into a puff of black smoke and some cash fell onto the ground yet again, after the battle had concluded, Kira felt her clothes revert to normal yet again. Morgana then spoke up "All right! Let's get away before more show up!" Kira nodded before Ryuji interrupted "Hold on, we can't just leave these guys here!" Ryuji protested only for Morgana to answer back. "You really don't get it, do you? Hrgh… There's really no time to explain. Look, I'm going. If you don't want to follow, be my guest!" The cat said in frustration before continuing on.
Kira then turned towards Ryuji who grumbled "Dammit…Fine, I'm coming!" He yelled as he started following after the strange cat. After crossing the bridge, Morgana spoke up yet again "The entrance hall is right above here! The exit's close… Keep it up!" Climbing the stairs and passing by what they could recognize as the main entrance and stopping in a hallway next to it. Morgana turned towards the two teens and announced "We're here!" Ryuji, who had remained silent ever since the last argument sighed in relief.
"Finally! We're saved!" he exclaimed as he went to a nearby door in the hallway and tried to open the door "...It's not opening!" he said in surprise before turning to Morgana and glaring at him. "Did you trick us, you jerk!?" Ryuji asked in frustration as Kira shook her head and stood in between the two of them again and turned to Morgana. "Don't jump to conclusions! Over here!" the feline said while pointing towards the door that was closest to him as he ran inside. Kira took a second to glare at Ryuji for being so difficult with everything before following Morgana inside. "H-Hey, wait up!" he called after the two of them.
Upon entering the room, the trio was greeted by three bookcases and a vent with some mesh overtop of it. "Where are we supposed to get out from here!? There aren't even any windows!" Ryuji asked impatiently. Morgana turned towards Ryuji with a disappointed look "Ugh, amateur…" he grumbled before Kira spoke up and snapped her fingers. "The ventilation shaft!" She replied confidently as Morgana replied "That's right! As I thought, you're a natural at this. It leads all the way outside." Ryuji rolled his shoulders as he replied "I see… Then we just gotta get that metallic mesh off!"
Ryuji then proceeded to jump on top of the bookcase, knock off the mesh resulting in a lot of noise before losing his balance and falling on his ass. "Oww… Crap! The enemy didn't hear us, did they?" He asked worriedly before continuing. "Seriously, we're finally getting out of here!" he exclaimed in relief as Morgana interjected. "You should wait on celebrating until you actually get out. Now, get going" he said "But… What about you?" he asked with concern. Morgana smiled before answering.
"There's something that I still have to do. We're going our separate ways." he said matter of factly, before Kira spoke up "Thanks a lot, and try not to get caught again." Kira said kindly before she kneeled down and petted Morgana causing him to testify until ultimately accepting the affection. "Be careful on your way." he said they entered the vent and escaped.