Morgana: Hello, true thieves! This is Morgana, aka Mona from the Phantom Thieves, and I'm coming at you live from the comfort of a living room with Ryuji.

Ryuji: *grumbling* the things I put up with

Morgana: Stop being so grumpy, you idiot. This chapter is where I make my Meow-valous debut, so I hope you guys enjoy the show!

Ryuji: That's not all that happens in the chapter.

Morgana: It's the only thing that matters *smug grin*

Ryuji: Just start the damn chapter!

Persona V: Reversing the Wheel of Fate
Chapter Three

[Opening Scene– Palace Dungeon
Theme of Awakening: Awakening from Persona 5]

Ren took a step forward and chuckled darkly, a dagger appearing in his hand with a burst of blue flames. "I warned you Kamoshida to leave them alone…And now…" Ren dashed towards the group as he shouted, "You'll pay for your mistake!"

Kamoshida stood up from the ground, looked to his fallen knights, and shouted, "Get him!"

The knights nodded, and with an explosion of inky black and red energy, three Crypt-dwelling Pyromaniacs floated in the air. "Get him!" Kamoshida shouted.

The two of the four shadows launched themselves at Ren while the other two stayed back, flames glowing wildly in their lanterns.

Ren side stepped the first pyromaniac and leaped into the air and kicked the second one in its pumpkin-shaped head, sending it to the ground before he landed on the ground and sliced through it, causing it to explode in the same inky black substance it was born from.

Ren leaped to the side to avoid a burst of fire from slamming into him before he shouted, "Arsène!"

With a laugh, Arsène appeared in a flourish of blue flames and reached his hand out to the pyromaniac, and a burst of red/black energy shot up from the ground and pierced through the body of the pyromaniac.

Ren immediately followed it up with two quick slashes of his dagger, causing it to explode before flipping to the right to avoid a burst of flames from the other two pumpkin-headed pyromaniacs.

Ren dashed forward and shouted, "Ravage them, Arsène!"

Arsène reappeared, and in unison, the pair cleaved their arm/dagger into the two Pyromaniacs. As Arsène disappeared, Ren followed it up and cleaved through the monster from top to bottom before cleaving the second monster from side to side, causing them to explode into the black substance.

"Was that all?" Ren asked, his eyes turning to Kamoshida's shocked form. "If so, you are pathetic."

Kamoshida let out an arrogant laugh and said, "I am the ruler of this castle, you worm. There is no defeating me!" With a burst of inky black energy, Kamoshida's body disappeared from view.

(Theme of After the Battle: The Power of the Heart from Persona 3)

"Coward," Ren muttered before he turned around to the gobsmacked duo of Ann and Ryuji. "What?" Ren asked curiously. When the pair continued to stare, Ren repeated, "What?" in a defensive tone.

"Seriously, dude?" Ryuji asked. "What the fuck was all of that?!"

"What?" Ren asked defensively.

"That thing you summoned, those monsters. Your stylish clothes, Kamoshida, this place. Like, I don't know about you, but that stuff seems like a good start!" Ann exclaimed.

"I don't know what this place is. All I know is that all of this feels somewhat familiar…" Ren explained truthfully.

"What do you mean?" Ann asked.

"It feels like Déjà vu, you know?" Ren replied. "I've never done any of this before, and yet it's like my body knows the motions."

"Yeah, that sounds nuts," Ryuji said.

"Well…When I met Shiho yesterday, I had a brief image of this scene. It was of us three, and we were standing above her. She was on the ground, bleeding, and Ann, you were crying…" Ren explained.

"And at that point, I knew nothing about you guys at all…I remember seeing Kawakami-sensei somewhere…And there are some other faces I don't recognize…But that's all I can tell for now," Ren finished.

"Shiho…She was bleeding, and we were around her?" Ann asked with panic.

"Yeah…from the muffled voices I heard from the students around us, we didn't cause it, but I don't what happened," Ren said.

"Wait…That thing… Arsène. He said he was the 'Rebel soul that has been reawakened from his heart.' Your heart…" Ryuji said. "Maybe he has something to do with these images."

"I do remember seeing something like Arsène when I first showed up to this city but thought I imagined it," Ren admitted. "All I know is, I have all of these images in my head. All jumbled up and confusing."

"We can talk about that later," Ryuji said. "I mean, all this shit is crazy and all, but you saved my ass from certain death so let's get out of here and then start the questions."

"You said it," Ann replied. "Now lead the way, Ren."

"Great. Now. I have a feeling I know where the exit is, but we will need help," Ren said. "So let's jet before more of those knights show up."

The two nodded, but when Ryuji took a step forward, he suddenly fell to the ground. "Shit, you're injured. I forgot," Ren said as he rushed to Ryuji's side. "Well…That changes things. Ann, you stick by me. Ryuji, I'm going to need you to lean on me."

"That's all I can do honestly," Ryuji said, but Ren could hear the bitterness within his voice.

Ren wrapped his hand around the back of Ryuji's and placed Ryuji's arm around his shoulders, and said to Ann, "Let's move… "

[Theme of the Palace:
King, Queen and Slave from Persona 5]

"I thought I'd seen it all in this place, but this…This takes the cake," Ryuji stated with a blank tone in his voice.

Sitting a cell before Ryuji, Ann and himself was an anthropomorphic and biped form of a Tuxedo cat with a large head and eyes, with a yellow bandana and a utility belt.

"Awww! It's an adorable kitten!" Ann squealed happily.

"I'm not an 'It.' or a kitten! I'm Morgana," Morgana said defensively, albeit with a tiny blush across his cheeks.

'She's not kidding. He does look adorable,' Ren thought to himself with a chuckle. He knew from the many jumbled images that he knew this one, probably better than Ann and Ryuji. This little guy was a constant figure in his mind, both in wherever the hell they were to in the real world.

He felt as if a hole was filled when he gazed at the figure currently grooming itself in the cell.

"He looks alright," Ryuji said as he shrugged, then added, "Well, he's pretty cool looking. Hey little dude."

"Hello to you too! Who are you guys?" Morgana asked.

"I'm Ren. This is Ryuji and Ann, and we need help getting out of here, and I think you know how to do that, right?" Ren questioned.

"Well, of course. I am a master thief after all," Morgana stated rather cockily, which made Ren quirk an eyebrow. "Here. There is a key over there. Let me out, and I'll get you out of here."

"Fine. Ann, mind grabbing the key for me?" Ren asked her.

"Sure," replied Ann as she walked to the key and placed it into the cell's keyhole and twisted it left, then pulled the compartment open, letting Morgana free.

"We're trusting you now. Please don't let us down," Ann told Morgana, who nodded.

"I shall not let you down," Morgana said with a salute and a smile. "Now come on, we need to get outta here."

"Lead the way," Ren said as he adjusted Ryuji and prepared himself for a lot of running.

The four ran through the castle's basement, avoiding any sort of battles due to Ryuji being wounded and Ren carrying him. Throughout their travels, the humans noted the presence of kids dressed in their uniform hanging from cages attached to the ceiling, each one making Ren more unnerved.

But after ten minutes, they came upon a kid trapped in a cell, which caused Ryuji to gasp in shock. "Wait…I know this guy. He's on the volleyball team…"

"What?" Ann exclaimed as she rushed to the cell. "This is Ikari-san…What is he doing here?" She asked.

"We need to get him out of here," Ren said.

"It won't do any good," Morgana stated.

"But why?" Ryuji asked.

"He's only a cog-" Morgana was interrupted as the shouts of three knights interrupted him.

"There they are!" The knights exclaimed while stopping in front of the group.

[Theme of Battle:
Last Surprise from Persona 5]

"Shit," Ren said before he looked to Ann and said, "Ann, if you don't mind…" as he motioned to Ryuji.

Ann nodded and took Ryuji from Ren.

"I'll help you out with this," Morgana said with a grin as the shadows broke away to reveal three Beguiling Girls, floating in the air with their tiny wings, wearing a purple leotard with red hair.

"This will be easy!" Morgana said as a cutlass appeared in his paws.

Ren tossed his weapon in the air with a cocky smirk and dashed forward towards the first pixie and swiped at it with his dagger, but it managed to avoid his swing with a giggle.

But the giggling girl wasn't quick enough to avoid a kick to its body, sending it backward.

"Ravage them, Arsène!" Ren shouted.

Arsène appeared behind him and opened his palm, and that familiar black/red energy shot up from the ground and pierced through the first beguiling girl.

The pixie shrieked in agony before her body dispersed in the inky black substance. "You hit its weak point! Looking cool!" Morgana said as he blocked a palm from his opponent before he shouted, "Come forth, my other self!"

A large figure dressed in a Spanish nobleman's suit with large yellow eyes embedded in a large top hat and two spikes signifying his mustache appeared behind Morgana with a burst of ethereal blue flames.

With a swing of his rapier, a burst of wind slammed into one of the girls, leaving Ren to finish it off with a stab to its chest.

Immediately after the fall of its compatriots, the third pixie tried to escape by running past them. Ren and Morgana twisted their bodies and launched their respective weapons at the retreating Beguiling girl, impaling the monster in its back.

The girl shrieked in agony as it fell to the ground, where it exploded into an inky red and black substance.

[Theme of Victory:
Victory from Persona 5]

"And that's that," Ren said as he twirled his dagger on his index finger before launching it in the air then catching it.

"Meow-velous victory!" Morgana exclaimed as he hopped around excitedly.

[Theme of the Palace:
King, Queen and Slave from Persona 5]

"It's intense every single time," Ryuji said out loud.

"Yeah…." Ann murmured.

Ren and Morgana turned around to face the two and said, "We need to keep moving."

"But what about Ikari-san?" Ann asked them.

"He's not real," Morgana said. "I'll explain it when we get somewhere safe, but we need to move now."

Ren could see the reluctant expressions on Ryuji and Ann's faces and said, "I trust him. He doesn't have a reason to lie to us. We saved him after all."

"Alright…" Ann said with an unsure tone.

The group continued through the castle dungeons until they stopped in front of a room with two large double doors. "I heard something coming from this way," a knight said a few feet in front of them.

"Quick! Into that room," Morgana said as he opened one door and Ann opened the other, allowing for Ren to walk inside with Ryuji before they walked into the room and closed the door slowly.

"We safe in here?" Ryuji asked.

"We are," Morgana stated. "Kamoshida's cognition is weaker here than anywhere else, so he can't see all as he would in the rest of the palace," Morgana explained.

"His cogni-wha?" Ryuji asked.

"Cognition," Ren repeated. "It is the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses," Ren explained. When he saw the blank expression Ryuji was given him, Ren flushed.

"Sorry. Essentially, Cognition refers to the concept of humans perceiving the world and viewing what they see as reality. When enough humans collectively perceive something, that concept becomes real," Ren explained.

"Huh…Wait, so that's like if uh…I bought a toy gun in here. If I believed it was real here, then it would be real!" Ryuji said with an excited tone.

"Exactly," Morgana said with a smile.

"But that doesn't explain what happened to our school," Ann said.

"It's simple, Lady Ann," Morgana began.

"Lady Ann?" Ryuji mouthed to Ren, who looked equally confused.

"This is your school," Morgana said. Moments after he said this, the room they were in briefly changed into a classroom before reverting to a room in the castle.

"Holy shit. Then that means that Kamoshida thinks of this place like his damn castle!" Ryuji exclaimed angrily.

"His castle…" Ann said. "He did have a crown, and those knights referred to him as "King Kamoshida," but to think he rules our school like this is so egotistical!"

"It makes me worried about how he perceives the students," Ren said.

While Ren saw a horrified expression on Ann's face, Ryuji's face showed a look of unfathomable rage. So much so that Ren could feel him trembling against him.

"The knights sound far away. We need to keep moving," Morgana told them before he pushed the door open.

The trio followed Morgana until the group reached a room with a vent on top of a dresser. "This is the exit to the place. You guys better get out of here," Morgana said.

"But what about you?" Ryuji asked.

"I still have something to look into," Morgana told them. "I'll be fine. Now get out of here."

"Alright. But don't get captured again and run as quick as you can if you do," Ren said sternly.

"Alright, alright," Morgana said. "Now go!"

Ann climbed up the dresser, pulled the vent from the wall, and helped Ren get Ryuji to it before wiggling her way inside of the vent after him.

Once the two were gone, Ren turned to Morgana and said, "Listen. I have a feeling we're going to be back here, so if we do, meet me or us outside of the castle."

"Really? You guys will want to come back?" Morgana asked suspiciously. "You all nearly got killed here."

Ren tapped the side of his head and said, "Things are pretty jumbled up here, but I know the gist of what this place is. You saw Ryuji's face when he saw that cognition of that student. I have a gut feeling that he will want to save them all."

"But I told him they weren't real," Morgana said.

"But they are real in the real world. If this place is what Kamoshida believes it is, then there is far more to what he's doing with the students in the real world," Ren replied.

Morgana was quiet for a moment before he said, "Alright. If you guys come back, I will be outside the castle."

"Dude, come on!" Ryuji's voice shouted from outside the vent.

"Thanks. See you then," Ren said before he leaped up the dresser and climbed through the vent.

[Scene Change – Shibuya (Daytime)
Theme of Shibuya – Tokyo Daylight from Persona 5)

"I can't believe we made it out of there," Ryuji said as he sat against the wall of an alleyway in the real world with Ann standing beside him, hunched over and panting.

Ren stood across from the pair panting as well. His clothes had returned to the Shujin academy attire, but they were heavily ripped up, and his face, like Ryuji and Ann's, was beginning to swell.

"From the look of the sky, we're back in the real world," Ann said.

"Great…I'm sure we're super late to school," Ren said. "Boy, my first day in this city, and this happens. Just my luck, eh?"

"Yeah," Ryuji said but a grin appeared on his still bleeding face. "But this gives me an idea on how we can get away with being so late."

Ren and Ann looked at the toothy grin of Ryuji's and then stared at one another, but it was Ren who replied, "How?"

"How well can you guys act?" Ryuji asked.

[Scene Change – Shujin Academy (Daytime)
Theme of Shujin Academy: Want to be Close from Persona 3]

"Oh my god! What happened to you three?" A teacher bellowed as the three came into view of Shujin Academy.

Before Ryuji's plan, the trio looked as if they were in a scuffle but now, they looked like they had just finished a war.

With permission from Ren, Ryuji had ripped the right sleeve of Ren's blazer and the white shirt beneath it, leaving his arm bare while Ren completely removed Ryuji's blazer and stuffed it into his book bag and ripped several areas of his shirt.

"These guys…" Ann said, tears filling her eyes. "T-They tried t-t-t…" Ann lowered her head and began to sob.

Unaware to the teacher, Ryuji and Ren were tickling the curve of her back to get the desired reaction.

"Takamaki-san was going to show me around," Ren said, playing up the exhaustion he felt. "But these guys tried to abduct her. Sakamoto-san and I followed them and saved her…"

"You foolish students," The teacher said. "You should have called the police."

"We did," Ryuji said. "Both those effing guys didn't answer!" Ryuji then winced and groaned out, "Even shouting hurts…"

"I see. Well, I will speak to the police regarding this at once," The teacher said. "Until then, let's get you three to the infirmary."

Behind the teacher's back, the three shared a grin before ascending the stairs, but when the trio entered the school, it was as if everything was put on mute.

"That's weird…" Ryuji muttered as he limped between Ann and Ren.

"What?" Ren asked.

"I've never seen an entire school shut the fuck up before," Ryuji said as they passed by several students who were gawking at them.

"Language Sakamoto," the teacher said while looking back at the group.

"Sorry," Ryuji said.

"This is so bizarre," Ann said with a frown.

"It can only get better from here, right?" Ren asked. At Ryuji and Ann's silence, Ren repeated, "Right?"

"And there you are, all cleaned and patched up," The nurse cooed to the trio.

"Thanks, Arisato-san," Ann said with a clap and a smile on her face.

"Anytime, dears. I have to run to get more supplies. You stay put until I get back," the nurse said before she walked out of the room.

A few seconds after the nurse left, Ryuji smirked and whispered, "See, easy as pie. We should thank that asshole for giving us the perfect alibi."

"Speaking of the bastard," Ann started. "What do we do when we see him again?"

Ren shut his eyes in thought. "I have a feeling that we should keep what happened between us for now. I doubt he has any idea about his castle."

"What makes you think that?" Ann asked.

"Just a hunch," Ren replied before he opened his eyes and added, "But if I'm wrong, we nail that asshole."

"My man," Ryuji said as he held out his fist for a fist bump, which Ren gave with a grin.

Ann gave the two a look before the nurse door swung open to reveal Kamoshida, which instantly put the three on edge.

(Theme of Danger: Troubled from Persona 3)

"Oh, Takamaki-chan. I just heard about what happened," Kamoshida said as he walked into the office and shut the door behind him.

"It's ok," Ann said with a smile. "Ryuji and Ren were there to help me."

"Yes…I am glad for that as well," Kamoshida said as he stared at Ren and Ryuji, both of which glared in response.

"You wouldn't have been in that situation had you taken the ride this morning," Kamoshida said. "So from here on out, I will drive you to and from school every day."

Ren and Ryuji shared a look of disgust, but before either could say anything, Ann frowned. "That is sweet and all, Kamoshida-san, but I can take care of myself. This was a one-off event that I doubt will happen again."

"But I insist," Kamoshida said.

"Dude, back off," Ryuji said heatedly.

"She said she doesn't need your help, so leave it at that," Ren followed up calmly.

"Haha, if you are sure, Takamaki-chan," Kamoshida said, but Ren could hear the undercurrent of anger in his voice.

'That's not good…' Ren thought.

"Well, I must be off. Have to get my star team in shape for the upcoming meet," Kamoshida said before he turned around and walked off, but Ren noticed his fist had been clenched.

"Remember what you said earlier before we walked in here, Ren?" Ryuji asked.

"That it can only get better from here?" Ren replied.

"Yeah, well…Call it a gut feeling, but I think things are going to get worse," Ryuji said forebodingly.

Morgana: And that is the end of this chapter. The two battles went quick but don't always expect that. It's only going to get longer and rougher. The next chapter is where it begins to deviate a bit from the canon story so I hope you guys enjoy the show.

Ryuji: And maybe give more revi-

Ann: *covers Ryuji's mouth* Until the next chapter!