A/N:

Hello everyone! Welcome to chapter 6 of the greatest fanfiction ever written: The gauntlet: a trip through MEMEntos! As you've no doubt noticed, I am not the author of the original piece. I am simply someone who was inspired by the work, and wanted to see if I could continue it! I can't promise I'll finish it, or even that it'll be very good, but I wanted to try my hand at it anyways. I've never written anything before, and I barely ever read, so I apologize in advance if my prose isn't up to snuff or if something reads a little awkwardly.

I've done my best to maintain continuity between the original and this expansion, and I hope to keep the spirit of the original fanfic alive as well. The main change that I'm making is adding some elements from Persona 5 Royal where appropriate, and that a good chunk of these first chapters will take place between chapters 4 and 5 of the original. I'll be sure to mention the specific date whenever it changes, just so things are clear.

With that being said, I'll do my best to update this when I can. I'll put Author Notes at the end from now on. See you next time, and enjoy!

Thursday, November 2nd

The growl of Morgana's engine gurgled loudly in Akira's ears as he sped through the upper floors of Mementos.

"W-what's gotten into you!?" A disgruntled and dizzy Futaba, AKA Oracle when inside the metaverse asked from the passenger seat.

"All the shadows here are low-level. Slow down, Joker!"

He didn't say anything, just kept throwing Morgana's tires over the rails that snaked across Memento's all-too-familiar floors and walls of blood-red mass. If the cat-car hybrid hadn't spent the night in a similarly piss-poor mood to Akira, he would have complained, too.

The others were still at school. Akira's arrangement with his homeroom teacher let him cash in about 90 minutes of free time every few weeks when she allowed him to skip her lesson. Cut away the 20 minutes to get to and from Mementos from his school, and he only had an hour at best to get some answers.

Why, exactly, were Akira and Morgana so mad? Why did Futaba need to fight to keep her lunch down in the passenger seat?

Because a fucking internet meme was forcing every male member of the phantom thieves to participate in 'No Nut November,' an idiotic internet challenge where participants must not ejaculate for the entirety of November.

LuckyLuciano17k. How fucking dare he. Self-pleasure was just about the only pleasure that Akira and his male friends knew! It would be one thing if they had undertaken this challenge of their own free will, but to see it thrust upon them with the delicacy of a virgin couple's first night in a hotel bed, without their consent?

Despicable.

They couldn't just laugh about it and ignore it, either. The pasty white bastard who roped them into this had them wrapped around his finger like an extra-small cock ring. If any of the guys so much as had a wet dream, their entire shafts would be forfeit. To rob a man of his manhood is to rob an ocean of its water, a tree of its roots, a newborn of its mother.

He had to pay.

That is why the instant Kawakami walked into the room to start her lesson, Akira bolted upright, stuffed Morgana the cat into his bag, and texted his surrogate sister Futaba to be at the entrance to mementos in 20 minutes.

Yesterday, Akira and Morgana were barely able to sleep. None of the guys were. They all thought long and hard about just jackin' the beanstalk and jumping off the nearest skyscraper immediately after, for they all would rather die standing than live kneeling. But ultimately, they held on. The Phantom Thieves weren't going to blow their load on suicide just yet, not before fully understanding what was going on and at least trying to fight their way out of this.

Every time the infamous group of vigilantes had encountered a seemingly-insurmountable problem, they'd prevailed through nothing but grit, determination, and the power of their bond as a team. Surely, all they needed to do was investigate this new floor of Mementos with more scrutiny and they'd find the clues they needed to regain the right to bear their arms.

But time was of the essence. They needed answers as soon as possible. Every second that motherfucker Luciano remained alive was another second the innocent men would be denied their freedom.

The three stopped in front of the entrance to the bizarre, meme-ridden floor and exited Morgana's car form as he changed back.

"Ughh…" Futaba clutched at her stomach.

"I think I'm gonna hurl."

Again, Akira didn't say anything. He simply stared at the escalator that would transport them down to that hell.

"Seriously, Joker, why are we here at 10:30 in the morning?" Futaba was getting impatient.

"Mona." He turned to lock eyes with the 2 foot tall caricature of a cat. The bond of camaraderie and shared suffering almost feeling like a thread tying their gazes and resolves together inexorably.

"I need you to find Jose. Make him tell you everything he knows. We'll meet back at the entrance to mementos."

Akira looked at the black abyss beyond the escalators, equal parts determination, rage, and fear flowing through his veins.

"Oracle and I are going to get a better reading on this place."

Morgana nodded wordlessly and leaped backwards into his car form, driving off to find the strange doll-like boy who wandered Mementos.

"Jok-" Futaba was interrupted by her older brother's voice.

"Oracle, we need to get to the bottom of this fucked up floor's nonsense."

"…" Futaba hadn't heard that cold fury from Akira in a good while, this was serious.

"Last time the reaper was on us in 20 minutes, so 15 is all we're gonna have to scan this place. I need every corner checked, every shadow identified, and every anomaly accounted for."

Akira took a deep breath. Right now he was Joker, the leader of the Phantom thieves. As much as he loved his sister Futaba, he needed Oracle's skills now, and could not afford to undermine the gravity of this situation.

"…" Oracle swallowed a lump

"Understood, Joker."

The two descended the left staircase and after a minute that felt more like an hour, found themselves in that all-too-empty floor where this whole mess had started.

"Scanning." Oracle summoned the alien craft that was her persona, hopped up into it, and began tapping away at its instruments from the inside. Joker kept his gaze focused on the winding paths of veiny red tunnels that made up this floor. Visually, it didn't look too dissimilar to the other areas of this labyrinth; Aside from being much larger and more empty than other floors, this one had no train tracks on the road, either. A curious set of incongruencies.

Though nowhere near as good at it as Oracle or Mona, Joker had acquired a sense for the shadows and individual floors in mementos, and could somewhat accurately gauge the danger level of a floor just by how it 'felt' to him. It wasn't something he could describe or quantify, but something in his gut would always hint at how worried he should be whenever he entered a new floor. Not here. Here, there was nothing. It felt like being at the excavation site of ancient ruins. Ominous. The feeling that something larger than you could ever imagine was so close, yet so far away at the same time.

"Joker!" He was snapped out of his semi-trance by Oracle's voice appearing directly inside his head, another unique ability of hers useful for long-distance communication.

"I found something!" she fell from her UFO Persona and landed on the hard concrete of the subway-station-themed entrance to the floor.

"A way down! This floor is completely empty. No shadows, no treasure, nothing. But I did find a path that might take us down deeper."

"How far away is it?"

"5 minutes away if we run, we should go get the oth-WHOOUPP~~!" Oracle couldn't even finish her sentence before Joker grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her off the platform, dashing just a tiny bit faster than Oracle's max speed.

"Which way?"

"Wuaahh!" It took all of Oracle's coordination not to trip over her own feet "L-left! This way!"

At their pace, it didn't even take 3 minutes to reach their destination. As soon as Joker let go of Oracle's hand, she slumped down to her knees, panting and wheezing like she'd just run a marathon.

"Fffrrwwauaaaghhhhh" Oracle gasped for air "What-*huff*-the-*huff*-hell-*huff*-dude!"

All of the escalators that joined the separate floors of mementos had been, as far as any of the Phantom Thieves could tell, completely identical regardless of what floor they were on or which floor it connected to. This was nothing like that. Instead of an escalator, it was just a completely out-of-place, flat, grey, concrete wall that spelled an abrupt end to the fleshy veiny crimson walls that the Thieves had come to associate with mementos.

There was a single metal door with a small window at the center of this wall, which looked comically puny on the huge surface of the unnerving concrete. Just above that door was a familiar-looking exit sign painted green, and to the sides of that two small lights. All in all, it looked like the emergency exit of some warehouse or factory, certainly not like anything they'd encountered before.

"Is that a-*huff*-door-*huff*-?" Oracle asked after she'd caught her breath. "what the hell is going on with this weirdo-floor? Its like an unfinished level in an RPG, or something."

"Is there anything else on this floor?" Joker asked Oracle, still staring at the door, almost as if afraid something might jump out at any moment.

"Uhmm… no, its completely empty. It's so quiet I can still feel Mona's presence bouncing around on the previous floor."

Joker clenched his fist just a tad harder. The feeling that got into him when entering a new floor, that hinted at how dangerous it might be, was telling him to stay away from that door. But what choice did he have? It was clear now that this floor wouldn't tell them anything they didn't already know, and the only other lead they had now, Jose, was Mona's job to find.

They had to keep going, they had come too far to just turn back now. Besides, it would only be a matter of time before the-

"REAPER!" Oracle yelled.

"What!? It's barely been 5 minutes!" Joker whipped his body around to face her. He could suddenly hear the faint jangling of distant chains.

"Shit. Let's go, Oracle!" they ran to the door. Each step that brought them closer twisting Joker's stomach up into a tighter and tighter knot, he ignored it.

The door's handle gave way invitingly, as if it had been greased recently. As did the hinge, the door swung backwards with as much ease as the door to one's own bedroom.

Joker dashed through the doorway, landing on the other side with the clack of his shoes on more concrete.

Oracle was banging on the…air? She had her hands pressed up to right where the closed door would have been were it closed, but a cacophony of blue sparks prevented her from progressing any further. A force field?

"J-joker! I can't get in! There's a barrier here!" she banged her little fists on the air, each sending a ripple of blue sparks flying out through the threshold with a small staticy-sounding 'dzzt'.

Joker ran back up to her and tried to pull her wrists through. No good. He could cross back and forth with no issues, but for some reason it wouldn't let Oracle or any part of her pass. The chains were getting louder and the reaper's roar reverberated through the walls. Looking over Oracle's shoulder, he could see its silhouette emerging from around a corner in the distance. They didn't have much time.

"Scan it, quick!"

Oracle fumbled to pull her goggles over her eyes and scan the strange force field keeping her trapped with death.

"Uh..ahh…" Her words slurred

"The barrier here, it doesn't let you through unless you meet some kinda requirement!"

"What requirement?"

"I don't know! It doesn't say!" she went back to uselessly banging on the force field, sending small blue sparks bouncing off Joker's face.

"Akira, Help!"

Movement in Joker's periphery caught his attention. A shadow? At the entrance to a floor!?

"Good to see you again, Akira."

A familiar voice. One that filled him with rage. The entire reason Akira had decided to bring Futaba down into this swamp of suffering to begin with. He wished it were merely a shadow.

"W-who is that!?" Oracle yelled over the impending Reaper's roars.

"LUCIANO!" Joker instinctively quickdrew his pistol and fired rounds off at the white demon, the smile on his pale face a sinister mix of maniacal and genuine. The bullets phased right through him, as if he wasn't even there.

"LET HER IN, NOW! I KNOW THIS IS YOUR DOING!"

"Only participants may enter." His smile remained unchanged.

"Parti-…" Joker stared off into space for just a fraction of a second as the pieces fell together

"Futaba…!" Akira pulled off his sister's goggles and stared into her eyes. All the facades and nicknames stopped here. Her expression of fear and shock was almost enough to bring him to tears.

"Repeat after me! I agree to participate in…"

"W-wha-?"

BANG RWOOAAAAAHHH The reaper fired off a shot and an unearthly roar, he was seconds away.

"AAhh! I-I-I agree to participate in…!"

Futaba squeezed her eyes shut and brought her forehead up to the barrier. As close to her brother as she could physically get.

"In No Nut November!"

"!?" Futaba yanked her head back so fast Akira thought it might come off

"Are you fucking serious!?"

"SAY IT!"

BANG BANG GWWRROOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!

"IN-IN NO NUT NOVEMBER!"

Snap!

In an instant, Luciano, their tormenter up till now, materialized a few feet behind Futaba putting himself between her and the bloodthirsty Reaper.

Slice!

With a swing of his pale hand, Luciano sent a blade of air careening through the caverns of Mementos at death itelf. The ground around them moved so violently Akira and Futaba had to throw themselves against the doorframe not to fall over. After the ringing in their ears from the sonic boom created by the attack died down, the two could hear the walls and ceiling of mementos come crashing down in a combinations of fleshy splats and stony crunches, the sounds of destruction snaking further and further down the tunnel as the supersonic blade indiscriminately tore through everything in its path.

The 2 seconds that followed were the longest and quietest of Akira and Futaba's short lives thus far.

The reaper had been split cleanly in two diagonally down the center, as if cut by a knife an atom thick. Its halves shot out blood like geysers as they flopped down to the ground useless and limp, painting the already red walls of Mementos an even filthier shade of dark crimson.

Luciano, now their savior, casually clasped his hands in front of his stomach, turned to face them with an inhuman level of composure, put on a soft toothy smile, and said the same words as before.

"You know I had to do it to 'em."

He vanished into a tuft of smoke.

The blue sparks that prevented Futaba from crossing through the door abruptly disappeared, and the girl fell into her brother's arms when the resistance against her body let up. Akira pulled her close, afraid if she might disappear too if he didn't keep her near.

"Ah…fuck…" Futaba's legs gave out and she flopped down to the ground.

Akira could only stare at the now-lifeless tunnel that had almost gotten his sister killed. Adrenaline was the only thing keeping him on his feet. After a few long seconds, he looked down at his sister, who was awkwardly trying to pull herself up using Akira's pants and sleeves as handles for her trembling hands.

They were safe. For now.

Futaba insisted she was okay enough to walk, but Akira wasn't going to let her down until she had the energy to get off his back herself. Through her protests about how she wasn't a little kid anymore, he carried her back to the entrance to the floor. They couldn't dodge the topic at hand for very long, and Akira explained to her what exactly was going on with this Luciano guy, the memes, and the 'challenge' that Futaba was just forced to join.

"Isn't no nut November, like, an internet thing? What does that have anything to do with this?" a She said from behind his shoulders.

"Uhh…yeah, you can't uhh…mastu-"

Donk!

Futaba slapped him in the back of the head. Akira considered dropping her now and letting her crawl, clearly her arms were up to the task.

"I know! Don't talk about that stuff with me!" she huffed.

"I mean the participation thing. You're telling me that white guy who saved us is an internet meme who created this weird floor, shoved a bunch of other internet memes into it, forced you and all the other guys to take part in this challenge, and is gonna cut your wieners off if you fail?"

"…"

Yup, that was pretty much it. Akira was fortunate enough not to have to reveal how dire the boys' situation really was, but aside from that she picked up on the rest pretty quickly.

"Well, how hard can that be, its only a month…" Futaba was thinking out loud, barely more voluminous than a whisper. Thank god. Akira wasn't sure he'd be able to face the shame of admitting the true extent of his addiction to his sister, surrogate or not.

"But that aside, we probably can't leave a pervert like that just wandering around mementos, and if that guy is so strong that he can one-shot the reaper like that, we definitely gotta take him down anyways…"

"Don't tell the others, about the…November…stuf-"

Bonk! Another wack to the head.

"Ew! Why would I?" Futaba gagged "The last thing I want any of them to know is that I had to join this stupid challenge too!"

They arrived at the entrance to 'regular' mementos. Futaba hopped off Akira's back and, with shak legs, managed to make her way over to the escalator with him. They began their ascent back to the familiarity of the upper floors and it was strangely comforting. Normally every time they entered mementos a strange sense of dread set over them, like a faint throbbing headache that won't quite go away. But compared to the sheer insanity that had happened in Luciano's floor, even that felt like heaven to the two survivors.

"We're supposed to meet the others today. Let's just tell them the important bits." Futaba leaned on the escalator railing for support.

"Crazy guy who looks like an internet meme, super powerful and dangerous enemies, and a barrier that uhh…"

"Uhmm…" Futaba snapped her fingers looking for a good excuse.

"That doesn't let girls pass! Yeah that'll work! I'll probably wanna stay away from whatever gross 'guy stuff' happens down there anyways."

Akira exhaled a breath he didn't even know he was holding. He was lucky Futaba was understanding and free of judgement. Sure, she had no idea how depraved and desperate the guys truly were just for a chance to squeeze their hogs, and that the vast majority of their motivation to beat this Luciano guy stemmed from their inability to hold a tug off for more than a few hours, let alone a month…

But hey! Neither did any of the other girls! And they don't need to know! So they won't know! It'll be fine! Yeah!

Akira gaslight himself a few times to try and further calm his nerves. Somehow the mere thought of beating within the bush brought forth some impure thoughts about Makoto and Haru, even after literally nearly dying…

Yeah, the girls don't need to know about that either…

As the two stepped off the escalator, they saw Mona already waiting for them in his car form, thanks to Oracle's message. The bulk of information exchange would occur tonight. For now, the three exited mementos, and Akira saw his sister home before rushing back to school just in time for the next class.

A/N:

Hi again! Hope you guys enjoyed the last chapter. As you can see, I'll be taking a pretty chronological approach with this one. I can't promise a super consistent release schedule due to my job and university sucking away most of my free time, but I do have at least 2 weeks of the story already planned, and the ending is already solidified. So the only thing I really need to do is write, and I intend to do as much of that as I can.

I plan on making individual chapters pretty short on average, I'll probably stick to one perspective or group of characters for the most part. The other big thing is that I don't think I'll be following the original game's calendar. So no palaces, treasure deadlines, or anything like that. Just pure NNN Nonsense.

Not too much else to say, hope you guys enjoy reading the next chapter, too! See you next time!