"Alright Kioku, are you ready?" Ren asked, now hosting Kioku in his office.
"Yes sir!" Kioku nodded before closing her eyes.
Ren sighed. Hopefully, this will go better than yesterday.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Interesting," Kioku said as she entered the velvet room, and immediately started looking around. "This is a very cozy place. Maybe we could have something like it at the house?"
"Oh? Planning on ripping me off huh?" Ren asked teasingly.
"Well, I don't think we have to worry about her putting us out of business. Our cafe serves a unique purpose after all." Lavenza said in an amused tone, before taking out a glass of milk. "Here you are. To soothe your soul."
Kioku sniffed the glass before a smile spread across her face. "Ohhhh! Almond milk! My favorite!"
She quickly started drinking the milk, gulping down with gusto, until the glass was empty.
"Thank you very much," Kioku said, giving her a pilot bow.
"You are more than welcome," Lavenza said.
"Alright, let's do some stretches and enter the palace," Ren said.
"Yes sir!" Kioku nodded.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
After heading through the door, they found themselves transported to the inside of an amusement park.
Around them were all sorts of rides, food stalls, games, and more. As well as shadows, taking the form of families with no faces, walking all around them, enjoying themselves.
In front of them was a stairway, leading to an underground entrance. On the door to that entrance, it said Omoide Jail.
Kioku hissed as she saw the name on the sign. "Omoide."
"Omoide," Ren repeated as he tried to place where he heard that name before. Eventually, it came to him. "Wasn't that your old last name before you were adopted by Midoriya?"
"Yes," Kioku growled, saying it as if admitting that caused her pain. "And I hoped to never see, or hear that name again."
"Are you going to be ok?" Ren asked her, taking a good look at her to see if she was ready for this.
"I'll be fine sir," Kioku said, her tone livid and her eyes focused on the door. "Let's just do this already."
With that, Kioku walked down the steps towards the door, with Ren following behind her.
She kicked the door open, revealing a dingy hallway, lit by flickering light bulbs.
The two walked down the hallway, looking out for threats along the way.
All the while they could hear the sounds of the people above them enjoying themselves. Their laughter echoed throughout the hall, causing Kioku to grow more and more tense, clenching her teeth harder as they went.
"Breathe." Ren reminded her.
Kioku started deep breathing, aggressively. Sounding like a bull before they were about to charge.
They arrived at the end of the hallway, into an entry and reception hall. With a shadow behind the desk.
That shadow was that of a very generic-looking child, with an extremely smug expression, wearing a prison guard uniform.
Upon seeing them, the guard smashed a button, and alarms went off.
Suddenly from the doors, more kid guards came in, bit batons.
"Oh? What are you doing out? Get back in your cell!" Shouted one of the guards.
"Mistakes like you have to be locked up!" Said another guard.
"Kioku get ready," Ren told her to pull out his weapons. "Focus your-"
"Loki," Kioku said as she stared at the shadows with hate-filled eyes.
Red fire exploded from her body, before moving behind her and taking form as her Persona.
What formed behind her was humanoid but very clearly inhuman. Their entire body is covered in black and white stripes like a zebra, including the two horns atop its head. The only parts not covered in those stripes were its black and red hair. Lastly, it was holding a large red greatsword, that almost looked like it could be made of blood.
Kioku opened her hand, and a spiked club appeared in her palms.
"Oh," Ren said, shocked by this sudden development.
"YAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Kioku let out a battle cry before leaping at the shadows.
Kioku slammed her club down on one of the shadows, splattering it across the ground.
Loki appeared in front of her, and slashed his sword through three more shadows, cutting them in half.
"KYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Loki let out a scream, and red mist flew out of his mouth, covering the rest of the shadows.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Suddenly all the shadows screamed as their eyes turned red, and they quickly started flailing around, beating each other with their weapons, tearing each other apart.
And as they went mad and killed each other, Kioku just kept destroying them with her club, a sadistic, gleeful grin spreading across her face. "Hahahahaha! Ahahahahahahaha! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!"
Ren could only watch, as Kioku and her persona tore through the shadows like tissue paper. It looks like her persona can make shadows go berserk. Corrupting them in a way. That's pretty useful, but I wonder what effect that's going to have on her. This is HER mind after all.
After Kioku made quick work of the shadows the way was clear.
Kioku took a deep breath, taking in the afterglow of the battle. "I wish I could do this in real life."
"You wish you could tear people apart with a club and drive them insane?" Ren asked, wondering if maybe they should leave.
Kioku's eyes widened as she realized what she just implied. "U-Uh, that's not what I meant. I just wish I could fight like my siblings in real life."
"Right. Well, it looks like you awakened your persona pretty easily. Still, be careful with that ability it has. We're inside your mind, so who knows what'll happen if you keep using that." Ren warned.
Kioku pouted briefly, before sighing. "Yes sir."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Going deeper into the prison, the two found themselves in a large cell block, filled with empty cells.
And standing there waiting for them, was another guard. This one a teenager, with bright pink hair, holding a whip.
"My my, did the mistake come to get tortured all on her own." The shadow cackled. "I hope you don't think that'll make me go easy on you, little sis."
"I'm guessing this is your older sister," Ren said, recalling Kioku's file.
"Waroku." Kioku hissed, the grip on her club tightening. "I'm going to tear you apart! HA!"
Kioku launched herself at the shadow, the club held high.
"Wait! Ren called out.
The shadow swiped her whip forward with alarming speed, slamming it into Kioku who went flying into a wall as a result.
"Grrrrrrrrr! Loki!" Kioku shouted out, ignoring the burning pain and only focusing on her opponent.
Loki appeared in front of her and slammed and slashed his sword down towards her, sending a red energy slash towards her that tore up the ground as it traveled.
Waroku jumped to the left to avoid the attack, only for Ren's grappling hook to wrap around her neck, before slamming her into a wall.
"Agh! Don't fuck with me!" Waroku shouted as she ripped the wire off her neck before sending her whip out towards Ren.
Ren ducked under the whip and pulled out his pistol, shooting Waroku in the face.
The bullets seemed to only annoy Waroku, focusing her attention on Ren, she unleashed a flurry of whip strikes at him.
Ren dodged most of them, but one swipe smacked him in the face and made him face-plant into the metal bars of a cell.
Waroku got ready to attack him again when Kioku came down from above and slammed her club down on her head, then Loki appeared in front of her and slashed at her, creating a massive wound across her stomach and chest.
"AGH! You little shit!" Waroku hissed, as she spun her whip around, hitting Loki and Kioku, sending them away from her.
Waroku turned to Kioku, who had fallen on her behind as a result of the attack and got ready to initiate another attack when she was suddenly hit in the back by dark energy from Arsene, making her stumble forward and drop her whip.
Ren sent out his grappling hook, wrapping it around her leg and tripping her. "Now!"
Arsene shot out a big blast of dark energy, and on the other side, Loki sent out a big blade beam.
Both attacks slammed into Waroku at the same, exploding upon Collison, leaving a cloud of smoke and dust.
When the smoke died down, Waroku could be seen missing a good amount of her body, with what remained of her fading away.
"Damn it. Can't believe I lost to you." Waroku groaned as she slowly vanished. Then she smirked. "Still, don't think you're off scott-free, you brat! Even when I'm gone, I'll still be here. With you. That fake family can't do a thing, not when you know you belong here. Ahahahaha! Ahahahahahaha!"
And with that, she faded into nothing.
Kioku walked up to the spot where Waroku had been and spat on it. "Good riddance."
"You good?" Ren asked her, dusting himself off.
Kioku nodded, but as soon as she tried to move, she winced a bit.
Ren sighed. "Alright, we're done for today."
"Wait no!" Kioku said, before coughing, taking a moment to recompose her. "I mean, sir. I can keep going. I'm fine!"
"If you get any more banged up then this your father will kill me. We're leaving." Ren said sternly, as he turned the other way. "Come on."
Kioku pouted but obediently followed anyway.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Woah. That's a lot of purple." Ken said as he arrived in the velvet room.
"Welcome to the velvet room," Lavenza said, quickly pulling out a drink. "Cola?"
"Heck yeah!" Ken said as he quickly gulped down the soda, and once he was done he let out a loud burp. "Nice."
"...Ryuji. He reminds me of Ryuji." Lavenza said after thinking about it for a moment.
"Nah, Ken only ACTS dumb, he's actually quite bright when he wants to be," Ren said.
"Not sure if that was an insult or not," Ken said, giving Ren a suspension-filled glare. "And who's Ryuji?"
"A man with a heart of gold, a mouth like a loudspeaker, and about 2 brain cells," Ren said fondly. "Anyway, let's get ready for the palace shall we?"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Woah," Ken said again, as they arrived at the palace.
They'd ended up at the entrance to another prison. In front of them was a path lined with two large black walls, with barred-up windows on them. The floor was bright green, with Cricut patterns on them.
Surrounding the whole prison complex were massive black walls, and above them, was what looked like glass, with a familiar hourglass symbol in the sky, which was bright green.
"Are we inside the Omnitrix?" Ken asked, taking a good look around.
"Seems like it. Maybe your cognition thinks that a part of you is trapped inside the Omnitrix." Ren said. "And I think we both know what part that is."
Ken scowled, looking down at the Omnitrix on his wrist. "Yeah…Let's go meet him."
With that, the two walked forward into the prison.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The two eventually made their way to an open area, with the Omnitrix symbol on the ground.
In front of them was a massive black gate, also with the Omnitrix symbol on it.
And in front of that gate. Was Eyeguy.
"Eyeguy?" Ken questioned as they approached.
"It's a shadow, taking the form of one of your transformations," Ren explained. "And if I had to guess, he's the one guarding this gate."
"Turn back now Ken," Eyeguy told them, all his eyes focusing on Ken. "It's for your own good."
"I…" Ken hesitated for a moment, before shaking his head and giving Eyeguy a determined look. "Let us pass. I need to whop my own ass."
"If that's what you want, then EYE will be your opponent," Eyeguy said, taking a battle-ready position. "Don't say EYE didn't warn you!"
BRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
Eyeguy shot out two lasers at them, and both of them barely managed to jump to the side and dodge in time.
"It's hero time!" Ken said, pressing the button on his Omnitrix, causing the dial to pop up.
But everything was blank. All of his transformations were gone.
"Huh!?" Ken cried out in confusion.
BRRRRRRR!
"Aghhh!" Eyeguy hit Ken with a laser that froze everything but his head.
"Don't expect any of us to help you here. This is all for your own good!" Eyeguy shouted.
"For his own good? Locking parts of yourself away never helps anyone." Ren argued, dodging another laser, before firing at Eyeguy with his gun.
The bullet slammed into Eyeguy's arm, causing him to flinch for a second, before responding by growing more eyes on his chest, and shooting more lasers at Ren.
Ren started running, flipping and dodging the attacks shot out at him. "The more you repress something, the stronger it becomes! You can't fix a problem by ignoring it!"
"EYE think you should shut up!" Eyeguy shouted as he continued attacking. "You really think that ugly thing should ever be released?! So it can wreak havoc and ruin everything it touches!?"
"It doesn't have to ruin everything!" Ren argued as he kept dodging. "You don't always have to live with that fear, that hatred for a part of yourself! Things can be better! By mastering yourself! Conquering your fears! You can live a better life! But that can only happen when you face your flaws head-on! Arsene!"
Arsene appeared behind Ren and shot out dark energy at Eyeguy. The energy slammed into his chest and sent him skidding back.
"Hiding from your problems doesn't make them go away." Ren looked over at Ken. "Ken, do you want to get better? To finally put your past behind you?"
"I…Yes!" Ken shouted as she started trying to break free of the ice.
CRACK!
"You're right! I need to face this!" Ken said as the ice started to crack. "Which means I need to. To stop being such a coward! Proteus!"
Suddenly, Ken burst into green flames, as the ice shattered.
The flames took from behind him, into Ken's new persona.
Its top half was that of a man, bare muscular chest, with long green hair that connected to his green beard. But its lower half was a big mix of creatures. Horse legs, with a serpent tail which became a lion tail at the end.
"Woah! It's…kinda weird looking." Ken said taking a good look at his Persona.
BRRRRRRRRRRRR!
Eyeguy shot out another laser at Ken, but Proteus went in front of him, before turning into a wall, blocking the beams.
"Cool!" Ken said in awe, before getting a wicked smirk on his face. "Let's kick some butt!"
Proteus then turned into a huge dragon and unleashed a wave of fire onto Eyeguy.
"EYE EYE EYE! That's hot!" Eyeguy shouted as he was swallowed by the flames, his body burning up. He combined all the eyes together into one big eye and shot out a huge laser at Proteus that pierced through the fire.
"I don't think so!" Ken shouted, as Proteus stopped its attack and turned into a mirror, reflecting the laser causing it to slam into Eyeguy, sending him flying into a wall.
"Let's finish him!" Ren shouted. "Arsene!"
Arsene appeared and shot a massive black energy mass at Eyeguy.
"Let's do it Proteus!" Ken shouted, as Proteus turned into a cannon, and fired a cannonball at Eyeguy.
KABOOM!
Both attacks landed, exploding on impact and shaking the entire area.
When the explosion died down, Eyeguy remained, heavily injured and with swirls in all of his eyes.
"Ugghhhhh." He groaned as he fell to his knees.
"Had enough!" Ken shouted out, giving his transformation a stern look. "I'm getting through. No matter what! For me, and for my sister. She shouldn't have to worry about this either. So for both our sakes, get out of my way!"
"...Eye see," Eyeguy said, and then his body slowly started fading away. "So be it. Eye hope you know what you're doing."
Ken smirked. "Who do you think you're talking to? Of course, I don't. But I'll figure it out. Probably."
All of Eyeguy's eyes rolled, and then he was gone.
SWOOOM!
Suddenly, the Omnitrix symbol on the door lit up.
"I think that means we can progress," Ren said. "The gate should open, now that we've defeated the gatekeeper."
BUMP BA DUMP!
"Huh?" Ken looked down at his Omnitrix and found that Eyeguy's silhouette had returned. "Woah! I got Eyeguy back! Guess we convinced him to help us get through!"
"Alright, let's call it a day," Ren said.
"What!? Why!? I can keep going!" Ken argued.
"Sorry to say, but I'm one who's a bit tired," Ren said, rubbing his eyes. "I've been going in and out of palaces for the past 2 days, and it's starting to get to me. Sorry."
"Oh…it's fine." Ken sighed in disappointment. "Guess that makes sense. Don't want you ending up like Izuku."
"Thanks." Ren nodded, as the two of them turned back, and walked towards the exit.
"By the way, what's a Proteus?" Ken asked.
"Greek God of Shapeshifting," Ren explained.
"There was a god for that?" Ken asked, curiously.
"The was a Greek god of poop. They had a god for everything." Ren chuckled.
"Heh. Poop." Ken laughed.
And that's it for the palaces for now.
Please review and have a nice day.