Catch-22: The Plan to Resolve
By: M14Mouse
Summary: Haru and Morgana get some training. Yu starts working on his theory. Veles get to fly (which he hates.)
Disclaimer: Don't own them.
Yu asked as he appeared outside of the safe room. He leaned against the wall and waited. Few moments later, the others started steaming out of the room.
"Sensei Gambler! Are you okay? Are the brothers okay?" Haru said as she approached him. She looked slightly panicked.
"They are fine. I left them with Ume. She will cheer them up," He said.
"Ume? Cheer up people? I don't think that it is in her nature," Yusuke said.
"She goes about in a strange way but she does cheer me up. One of my maids was commenting on my outfit then Ume commented on her outfit. She made the maid cry. I know that it was mean but she commented on my outfit and made me smile. But! Later, she made the same maid laugh," Haru said.
"She is pretty bad at it but she is awesome," Ryuji said in agreement.
It is nice to see Ryuji open up to other people.
"Well, I'm glad that Ume can cheer up the brothers. They always seem to be on the quiet side and don't interact with us much. They seem really sweet even if they get every sport wrong," Makoto said with a smile.
"That is part of their charm. It was rather amusing. In their place, I would have said the same thing," Yusuke said.
"I am surprised that they didn't want to come with us," Makoto asked him.
"I told them that I would have plenty of protection. I also told them that I will going into space. They weren't too happy about that," He said.
They aren't the only ones, laddie.
Ahh…GOMP doesn't like space.
Not all of us come with a disco ball.
Ahh…no need to be jelly.
Lassie, I am about jealous of you as I am at bad ale.
Hey! What is that supposed to mean?!
He sighed.
We have work to do. This isn't very productive.
Fine…Fine…I will be good.
"But space sounds exciting!" Ann said.
"It will probably be like a roller coaster," Yusuke added.
"Urgh…" Morgana said.
"It does sound fun. Shall we?" Ren said with a grin.
He saw Ren moving side to side with nervous energy like a kid in a candy store. Ren was really a thrill seeker at heart. Maybe, on their next outing, he will take him sky diving.
"We should be going," He said with a nod.
The others nodded their heads then Ren opened the hatch.
Flying through space is much like getting suck through a straw. The air pulled toward the next airlock. The amount of curse words that Veles knew were impressive.
Once he landed, he dusted himself off.
"THAT WAS COOL, MAN!" Ryuji said excitedly to Ren.
Ren had a small smile on his face.
Maybe, he should take Ryuji and Ren skydiving next time.
"That was fun. I don't mind doing it again," Haru said.
Maybe, he should plan a group trip.
"Okay, guys…we have shadows up ahead," Futaba said.
"Okay, Mona…Noir. You two up front. It's your turn. I fear that I won't have time after this to give you my attention. With Akechi now on the move, this will be the best time," He said.
Raccoon isn't running around if that helps.
He must have taken another way. Perhaps, one of the ships attached to the docks.
It is possible. There is a lot of movement going on down there. Also you call Akechi Raccoon?
Black Mask. Lurk in the shadows. Makes a whole bunch of noise and mess wherever he goes. Raccoon. It seems to fit him, lassie.
I like it.
He chuckled softly.
"Do you think that I'm ready?" Haru asked Morgana.
"You are ready," Morgana said with a nod.
"Okay…Joker, you decide who is your backup will be just in case," He said.
"Gotcha, Fox?" Ren said as he turned to Yusuke.
"Understood," Yusuke said.
"Should I get the shadow?" Ren asked.
"No, I have it," He said as he approached the floating robot. He reached out and grabbed the mask from the droid and ripped it off. The droid let out a scream before bursting into a Kaiwan.
He turned to Haru and Mona.
"Show me what you learned," He said as he stepped away.
Haru looked wide eyed at him then nodded.
"Right…let's show Sensei what we got!" Morgana shouted.
"Yes, we shall!" Haru answered back.
He circled around the battlefield and watched. Haru has definitely improved since the beginning. There was fluidity that wasn't there before when she wielded her ax. He saw Morgana's confidence in London but it was good to see it with the others. The energy that he brought to the fight wasn't chaotic. He didn't need to prove something anymore. He offered suggestions and issued commands to Haru without that bite in his voice. Haru offered her own suggestions as well. Their teamwork is one of the best that he has seen within the group.
As their teacher, he couldn't be prouder and a little sad.
The shadow burst into smoke once it was defeated.
"Well done," He said with a clap.
"Good job, Noir!" Futaba said happily.
"Wonderful work," Yusuke said.
Ryuji gave them a thumbs up.
"Awesome work, man."
"Well done, both of you," Makoto said.
Ren smiled and nodded at the pair.
Under the mask, he could tell Haru was turning red.
"So, what went well and what didn't?" He asked the pair.
"Well…we work well together. I can feel myself getting better," Haru said.
"We did. I don't think that we did anything wrong, Sensei," Morgana added.
"You didn't. The only thing that I could see that Noir needs work is her balance. At some points during the fight, I was afraid that you were going to fall over. I know that the shoes don't help but try to balance out the weight of your body with the ax."
"Understood," Haru said with a flush.
"Well done…and next, the fun part, Oracle…your spray paint or rather Fox's paint that he let you borrow," He said as he held out his hand to Futaba.
"Uhh…HEY! How did you know that?!"
"Man, I thought that you knew that Sensei knows everything," Ryuji said.
"He shouldn't," Futaba said with a pout.
He chuckled.
"I have eyes in the back of my head and I just saw the paint on your hands," He said as she handed him the can.
"What were you planning to do with it?" Ren asked.
"Hehe….Nothing," Futaba said with a grin.
"You know, we don't believe you when you say that," Ann said to Futaba.
He shook his head.
"Anyway, we are going to do some target practice," He said.
"Target practice?" Haru asked.
"You will figure out the way to immobile a shadow and take it down. If there is any difficulty, I will help. There is a catch…you have to hit the marks that I leave on the shadow. Take a moment to figure out your plan."
He watched as the pair leaned over and started whispering to each other.
"We can…."
"Maybe if we did this…"
"Oh….Oh!"
"That is a good idea…"
The pair stopped whispering and got to their feet.
"Okay, we are ready, Sensei," Haru said.
"Very well," He said as he glanced around and saw a shadow in the distance.
"A moment, please."
He said as he turned away to approach the other shadow. Its light started flashing until he reached out and ripped off its head…mask. Its robot shell burst into two Kaiwans.
He turned to Haru and Morgana.
"Your turn," He said as he stepped to the side.
"Lucky Punch!" Morgana shouted as Zorro performed the move and knocked one of them down.
Haru threw some type of bottle at the other one and instantly the creature went to sleep.
He smiled as he shook the paint can and sprayed different targets on the shadows. He stepped as he watched Morgana and Haru go to work. Morgana used his slingshot to hit some of the targets that he placed. Haru used a combination of her ax and her persona on the target.
They focus on one target before moving onto the next one.
He tried hard not to smile.
"You miss one, Noir."
"I got it. Hit that target while I get that one, Sempai,"
"Gotcha."
"Ooo…nice hit!"
"The same!"
"WHOA!"
"Yes!"
The pair cheered when the last shadow disappeared into smoke.
He clapped at the pair.
"Well done," He said.
Haru's face started turning red again.
"That was…kind of fun. I never thought about doing that," Morgana said to him.
He smiled softly.
"But that isn't what Sensei was trying to teach us," Makoto said with a nod.
"Oh?" He said. He was curious to see where Makoto's mind was going.
"I believe teamwork was one. I also believe you were trying to make us think outside of normal battle situations."
"Very good. Yes, part of it was fun. What we do is very dark and dangerous. If you stare into the darkness long enough, there is always a chance that it will stare back and swallow you whole. Little moments of fun here and there don't hurt. It reminds us to be human."
"Like when Support Buddy and I show off our super move. It will be totally awesome!" Futaba added excitedly.
"That scares me for some reason," Ann said to Ryuji.
"As you should be," Futaba said with a grin.
"Don't scare them yet. We still might need them," He said to Futaba causally.
"I guess you're right," Futaba said with a sigh.
The group just stared at them until Ren started coughing and laughing into his hand.
"We should move on," Ren said.
"Good idea," Ann said with a nervous laugh.
The group started moving through the space maze. He could hear Veles grumbling in his head.
Hee Hoo.
Can it, Firestarter.
He Ho He Ho
He chuckled softly.
Still can't understand him but I can tell he is making fun of me. Honest to the gods, your soul is crowded. You should off the Firestarter.
Pyro Jack says you are an idiot and you should enjoy the ride. I don't mind. It makes me feel less alone. Some of them are quieter than the others. Some drifted into my conscience when they wanted to say something. Mostly, it is you, Izanagi, Isis, Kohyru, and Sraosha. Although, High Pixie and Pyro Jack have been coming around more often. High Pixie because she likes you. Pyro Jack because knows that it annoyed you.
Hee
Asshole.
"Sensei Gambler?" Haru said behind him.
"Yes, Noir?" He said as he turned around.
"Did…you do anything like this…with your friends?" She asked.
"Hmm…yes after we thought that we caught the killer," He said with a small smile.
It was Chie and Yosuke's idea. Of course, Teddie agreed to it as soon as he heard it. When they finally brought it to him, he didn't have much choice to agree.
Puppy dog eyes.
All of them.
"I shouldn't have agreed to it. Naoto told me as such but she agreed to come along for reasons. We brought skateboards and skates into the tv world. We sort of had a little party. It was ridiculous and stupid but…we had fun. Of course, that was really the last time we had a party or needed to celebrate for a while," He said thoughtfully.
There was a moment of silence as they reached another air lock. He didn't laugh when Veles started cursing again. He came close.
Völliger Bockmist
Stronzo!
Estar pedo!
Wow…he is getting creative with the swear words. Do you even know what they mean?
German, Italian, Spanish.
Impressive. Don't worry, GOMP. We are almost there.
If looks could kill….
Once they landed, Veles started to cheer.
"I'm curious…you said that you figured out Akechi's method. What is it?" Makoto whispered as the others faced off against a shadow.
"I think that he has a way to manipulate shadows. He hinted at the fact that he could do worse. So, that begs the question, what does that mean? What is his worst?" He said softly.
"You have a theory."
"You change people's hearts. You defeat them and talk them into seeking forgiveness. From the news, we know breakdowns and their violent aftermath. So…what do you think Akechi does differently?"
"He doesn't talk to them…maybe, he kills them?" Ryuji said as he turned pale under his mask.
"Torture them?" Yusuke said as his eyes widened under the mask.
"I saw him shoot a man then I found out later that he was dead. But I wonder what he does to make them violent?," He said.
"Could it be the power of his persona?" Haru asked him.
"Possible."
"Until we see Akechi in action, we can only guess," Makoto added in frustration.
"This sucks, man," Ryuji mumbled.
"It does." He added.
The group was silent when Ren and the others came back.
"Wow…you guys are gloomy. What happened?" Futaba said.
"We were discussing some things. It wasn't a pleasant topic. After the palace, we need to talk," Makoto said.
"Raccoon boy?" Futaba added.
"Raccoon boy?" Ryuji said in confusion.
He nodded.
"Yes."
"Oh, boy. On the positive, we're almost there. Veles can stop cursing up a storm," Futaba said with a grin.
When we are in Mementos, I'm going to drop her into the center of the Earth and see how she likes it.
Be nice.
Futaba just grinned.
The group took one more space pipe before they reached the elevator. As the group filed into the elevator, he closed his eyes to see if Akechi was around.
Nothing.
Hmmm….
"Whoa…what is this?" Futaba said as she pointed ahead of them. It looked like a huge spaceship of sorts.
"The treasure is nearby." Morgana added. His attention was focused on two figures in front of the treasure. It was the cognitive version of Haru and himself. He couldn't sense any other presence. They were alone.
They were speaking in French.
"You can come with us," The cognitive version of him said.
The cognitive version of Haru shook her head.
"No…I will stay with my father until the end," She said.
"Even if you know that this isn't going to end well…"
It broke his heart to see the cognitive version's sad smile.
"It will end when it will. Thank you, Sensei, for trying."
The alien version of him sighed then turned to him. He looked at him then at the real Haru.
His alien self smiled softly then nodded.
He nodded back.
He turned to the others.
"I think that it is time to change a heart, don't you think?"
End of The Plan to Resolve
A/N: We are slowly wrapping up this palace. I'm going to started for editing the first couple of chapters. One, because I realize Word picks up different mistakes than Google Docs and vice versa which I never realize before (Mostly, I write in Word.) Anything to help with grammar and spelling. :D Two, I realize that our favorite thieves can't call Yu Gambler even in life-or-death situations. So, I will go back and a few Sensei because of that. Anyway, thanks for kudos, favorites, etc.