Lucina: Hello thief. I see you're still in a pickle.
Ryuji: Um RenRen, who is this?
Ren: This is Lucina. She's from Fire Emblem/Super Smash Brothers. She's checking out our fic.
Ryuji: Ohhh That's pretty interesting. So how are you enjoying it so far Cina?
Lucina: Cina? Well, I am enjoying it immensely so I would like to continue watching it.
Ren: Then let's start the show!
Persona V: Reversing the Wheel of Fate
Chapter Fourteen
[Opening Scene – Shibuya (Nighttime)
Theme of Unknowing Danger: Restlessness from Persona 5]
"What are you guys doing here?" Ann said with narrowed eyes as the group skidded to a stop behind her.
"We came after you," Ryuji said with a frown. "I don't know what's going in that cute head of yours, but how about not doing that and coming back to Haru's place."
Ann heard the compliment, and for a moment, a blush crossed her face, but then a flash of Kamoshida's smirking face stopped that feeling, leaving the only fury in her veins. "Sorry," she said softly. "I have something that needs to be done."
"But what is that something?" Shiho asked fearfully. "Please tell us, Ann."
Ann felt a brief burst of sadness hit her, but once again, anger replaced it. "I can't Shiho. This is something I need to do alone."
"Don't try to go all "Lone Gunman" on us, Ann," Ryuji said with a stare. "I get that you're pissed about what happened. We are too. But whatever you're planning, I have a feeling that you are going to get over your head."
"G-Guys, those people seem to be heading our way," Shiho's voice said as the group began to place white medical masks over their faces, stalking their way towards the group.
"I have the ability to stop him, so I'm going to do it," Ann argued as she glared at Ren.
"You have the ability?" Ren asked in surprise. "So I was right after all. The pressure felt just like when Ryuji awakened his…That's all the more reason to wait and let cooler heads prevail."
"Um, guys?" Haru murmured, also trying to get the trio's attention, the group now closer than before.
"I don't have time to have a cooler head, Ren!" Ann shouted. "What he did to Shiho was unforgivable!"
"We know just. If you just calm your ass and let us explain the plan, we can do this together!" Ryuji exclaimed.
"Guys!" Morgana screamed, which prompted the trio to look at the cat.
"What?!" The three yelled at Morgana, who seemingly shrunk in surprise.
"D-Did they just speak to the cat?" Shiho asked Haru, who looked just as confused as her.
Morgana pointed to the group that was now in front of them. "Them," he answered dryly.
"Oh great," Ryuji muttered as he eyed the group. "More trouble."
One of the Shujin students, a large teenager with dyed orange hair styled in a pompadour, stepped forward and said, "Yo, sorry about this, but Kamoshida sent us to give his re-"
The student couldn't even get anything out due to Ann's knee smashing into his groin before her fist crashed into his face, which sent him down to the ground. "I don't have time for this," Ann glowered dangerously to the group. "So either fight us, or walk away!"
The teens looked down at the sizeable orange-haired teen on the ground and quickly picked him up and bowed to the group before quickly retreating.
"Wow, Ann-chan, that was amazing," Shiho said with surprise.
(Theme of Sadness: Persona from Persona Q2 New Cinema Labyrinth)
Ann glanced back at Shiho then turned back around. "Go back, all of you. This mission is for me alone," she told the group as she began to walk off again, but to her surprise, Shiho was the one that stopped her.
"Shiho…" Ann muttered softly.
"No more storming off, Ann," Shiho said firmly. "Stop and tell us what you plan to do."
Ann took a low, deep breath and said, "Shiho, step aside."
"I will not," Shiho replied, her voice still firm. "Not until you tell us what in the world is going on with you."
Ann narrowed her eyes before she shut them entirely and said, "You wouldn't understand…"
"Today has been a…rough day," Shiho began.
"Understatement of the fucking century," Ann heard Ryuji murmur to Haru, Ren, and Morgana, who all nodded in agreement.
"If anyone is going to understand, it's going to be me," Shiho continued. "So just calm down and tell us what's wrong. We're willing to listen, and he-"
"Stop it," Ann whispered. "You can't keep doing this…"
"Doing what?" Shiho asked.
"Doing this! Trying to calm me down when you're going through so much!" Ann exclaimed angrily. "I know that you care about me, and you know my feelings about you, but you can't keep pushing yourself aside to help me. You keep ending up hurt because of me!"
"Ann…" Shiho whispered.
"What happened to you was my fault. I was the reason you got sexually abused, and when I helped to try and protect you from that piece of shit, he threatened all of us with expulsion! Time and again, you have been hurt by him because of me, and I'm sick of you being in the crosshairs!"
Ann clenched her fists harder, causing droplets of blood to fall from between her fingers. "You all want to know what I want to do, right? Why I'm in such a rush to go to that place? I'll tell you. I'm going to cast him and his pathetic castle into a sea of hellfire and scatter his ashes to the wind!"
"Holy shit," Ryuji breathed out while Ren and Haru exchanged surprised looks.
"Ann! Y-You're going to murder him?" Shiho asked her with a petrified look on her face. At Ann's silence, Shiho took a step forward to her and said, "Please tell me that is not your plan. Please tell me that you aren't going to kill him."
Ann remained silent, but she looked away from the shorter girl.
"O-Oh my god…" Shiho whispered, tears falling from her eyes before she ran forward and hugged Ann hard, her body shaking as she sobbed against the taller girl's chest. "D-Don't do it. Don't kill him!"
Shiho's hands gripped the back of Ann's jacket as she sobbed harder. "Please don't do it. W-We can find another way to fix t-this. Please j-just listen to me!" Shiho cried as she broke away and placed her hands on Ann's face.
"I k-know he's h-hurt me. H-He hurt me bad but k-killing him won't h-help anything. I-I can't lose you, Ann. I-I'm not worth him dying. I'm n-not worth you g-going to jail over and g-getting the death sentence!" Shiho pleaded,
Ann's arms hung at her side for a moment before they slowly lifted and placed them on Shiho's forearms before she leaned down to kiss the shorter girl on the forehead.
"To me, you are worth everything," Ann whispered before she slung Shiho off of her, sending the shorter girl to the ground before she ran off as fast as she could.
"Ann!" The group yelled after her.
Ann ran forward and managed to see an oncoming cab and flagged it down. The cab pulled to the side, and she quickly got in and said, "To Shujin Academy."
The driver nodded and drove away, leaving Ann to lower her head as the cab passed by her friends, unable to look at their enraged, surprised, and in Shiho's case, heartbroken, expressions on their faces.
"Damn it, she's serious about this," Ryuji said with a scowl before he turned to Ren and said, "We need to catch up with her before it's too late."
Ren nodded and held his side and muttered, "But how?"
Haru smiled and said, "Allow me to remedy that issue."
Haru pulled out her phone, and with a few presses on her touchscreen, she nodded and placed her phone into her jacket pocket, and minutes later, a white limo pulled up into the street beside them.
"Let's go," Haru told them with a small smile.
"Holy…Yes ma'am," Ryuji said before he motioned to Ren, Shiho, and Morgana, who all nodded and got into the back seat of the limo, with Haru entering last.
"Do you know where she is going?" Haru asked.
"Shujin," Ren told her.
[Scene Change – Shujin Academy (Nighttime)
Theme of Grim Determination: Thrilling from Persona Q2 New Cinema Labyrinth]
"Thank you," Ann said as she closed the door to the cab behind her as she stood in front of the school.
She glanced down at the alleyway in front of the school and walked into it, and once she was there, she pulled out her phone and saw that strange red and black app pulsating on her phone.
"Hey, do you two have this app on your phones?" Ren asked suddenly.
Ann pulled out her phones and blinked in shock when she saw the same strange app on her phone that Ren had.
"Yeah…How did that get here?" She heard Ryuji ask with excitement in his voice.
"This app allows us to go from our world to that other one," Ren explained with a slight grin. "The guy with the long nose made it for me and my allies."
"Guy with a long…" Ryuji muttered before she saw him shake his head and replied, "Forget it. But this will allow us to go back to that place?"
"Yeah," Ren replied.
"This was the way we took when we got into that world…" Ann said as she looked at the app. "This app will lead me there…" Ann murmured before she pressed the app on her phone
Red and Black lightning streaked across the walls of the alleyway as a feminine robotic voice said, "Shujin Academy-Pervert-Castle."
The lightning suddenly clashed in the middle of the alleyway before a violet-colored gateway appeared in front of her. Through the gateway, Ann could see the wavering form of Kamoshida's castle.
She gave a cold grin and walked through the portal.
Time seemed slow with each step she took from between her world and to her destination, and as she neared the image of the palace, a burst of red flame that took the shape of her Persona exploded against her body, and when they faded, a skin-tight red latex catsuit with a cleavage cutout and zippers with a clipped on tail on the back of her catsuit appeared on her body.
Another burst of flames enveloped her feet, legs, and hands. Once they faded, pink gloves, dark red thigh-high boots were on her body as well.
Finally, a final explosion of flame splashed against her face, and when it faded, a red panther mask appeared on her upper face, leaving her mouth uncovered.
Once the mask appeared on her face, she now found herself in front of the castle, her eyes burning a fiery red before she ran towards the large double doors.
"Thank you, Botan-san," Haru said with a polite smile and bow towards the blue-haired driver, who shot her a wink and a smile.
"No problem, Haru-chan just don't be out too late!" Botan said before she drove off, leaving the teens in front of the alleyway that leads to Shujin academy.
"Are you sure she'll be at the school?" Shiho's worried voice asked.
"Technically, she will be inside of the school," Ren began as he pointed to the alleyway with his index and middle finger.
"But that is going to be our w-" Ren paused as his eyes widened.
The alleyway across the school was pitch black, but there were faint traces of black and red bursts of lightning streaking across it.
"Shit…We're too late," Ren asked.
"Too late for what?" Shiho questioned while Morgana darted to the alleyway.
"She's already in the other world," Ryuji grumbled out with annoyance in his voice.
"I'm sorry, can you repeat that, please?" Haru asked kindly with confusion on her face.
"No time to explain, follow me," Ren said as he began to run, with Ryuji following after him immediately.
"Where are we going?" Haru questioned with narrowed eyes as she and Shiho followed the pair as fast as they could.
"The asshole's palace," Ryuji said before all of them ran through the portal.
[Scene Change – Between Worlds
Theme of Transformation: Anime 01 from Persona Q2 New Cinema Labyrinth]
Time seemed to slow as yellow sparks of lightning began to float from Ryuji's body while a small violet light began to pulse from Ren's chest.
As the group got closer to the palace, the yellow sparks that collided against Ryuji's body were now full-on streaks of lightning.
With each streak that appeared on his body, more of Ryuji's otherworldly uniform appeared until a final bolt of lightning tore across his face, revealing his skull mask on the upper half of his face.
The tiny violet light that sat on Ren's chest grew until his entire body was covered.
An ethereal version of Ren's suit had formed across his body before a flash of violet sparkles coated his body. When the sparkles faded, Ren was now in his otherworldly attire, but the glimmers remained in the air before shooting towards his face, forming his black and white domino mask.
[Scene Change: Palace of Lust (?)
Theme of Palace: King, Queen and Slave from Persona 5]
When the group made it out on the other side of the portal, both Haru and Shiho let out a gasp at the uniform change of their two friends, only for their eyes to grow more prominent at the sight of the looming castle.
"W-What in the world?" Haru stammered out while Shiho just gaped at the sight.
"This is what we were going to tell you two about tomorrow," Ryuji said with a shrug. "However…Ann jumped the gun."
"Ryuji-san, is that you?" Haru asked.
"Yeah, it's me," Ryuji replied as he flexed his right arm and added jokingly, "Who else would own these guns?" which made Haru giggle slightly.
"H-How…W-What…W-Where…" Shiho stammered out, her body trembling at the sheer sight of what she was seeing.
"This is Kamoshida's palace," Ren said from behind her, which prompted her to turn around and blush furiously.
"R-R-Ren? Is t-that you?" Shiho asked as she eyed the masked youth.
"Yeah. Surprise?" Ren said with a sheepish grin.
It was then the four heard the sounds of combat coming from the palace, and Ryuji and Ren glanced at each other. "Welp looks like it's time for the R and R connection to get to work," Ryuji said as he rolled his shoulder.
Ren snorted and said to the pair, "You two stay here. We're going to find Ann and bring her back. If anything happens, you guys bolt. I promise we will explain everything when we come back."
"I sure hope so," Haru murmured. "Because I sincerely feel as if someone spiked my tea…"
"Please, Ren-kun…Ryuji-kun…Be careful," Shiho urged.
"We will," The two said in unison before they ran towards the palace doors.
Ren: So this is going to be the prelude for the longest chapter that the author will ever write so may it take a little bit but you guys will enjoy it so until then…
Lucina: See you next time!
Ryuji: Yahoo!