Here we go chapter 15 let's see how it goes
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Persona 5 Royal Fanmake Lysandre Arc Chapter 15
A Change of Pace
The next day was Sunday and Aqua was at the counter having breakfast when she got a text from Mordin asking if she will be available for tests soon. She decided to answer later.
"Today's your day off… Are you gonna go somewhere?" Vito asked her "Oh, and make sure you eat your curry before it gets cold."
"Right alright." Aqua said putting her phone away,
"We got an invitation to go out. Let's reply once we finish eating." Gatomon said from within the bag.
Once she was done she goes upstairs to get her shoes on and before heading out decides to check the Home Shopping Channel. She then sees that Leo Galante was here.
"Hey Leo." Aqua said smiling
"Ah, hello kid." Leo said smiling "Say, did you know that you can fathom a person's heart through their art? Yes, true art expresses the heart, which has much to say. 'A picture is worth a hundred words,' right?"
"Wait, isn't that pharse 'a thousand words'?" Aqua asked.
"Ah! True, but geniuses can take a hundred words…and make them feel like a thousand." Leo said with a chuckle "Speaking of which, there is a new exhibit by Lysandre, that master of the Japanese arts. You should go. I expect that you'd learn a thing or two about what qualifies as true art."
Aqua nods keeping quiet on what she knows and looks at the Home Shopping Network.
"Hi everyone! It's time to do some shopping!" Chris McLain said smiling "Here's what we got for you today! Here we go! First up is the Muscle Plus Set! Great for a pick-me-up before heading to work! 2 Stronger Lift S, 2 Harder Core S, and 2 Arcu-Speed S! All in one set!"
"But that's not all! We've got even more to show you!" Chris said continuing "Here's the Outdoors Kit! Master the elements of Fire, Ice, and Electrcity to become a camping master! 3 Blowtorch, 3 Dry Ice and 3 Magneto Coil, all together in one set! How great is that?!"
Aqua listening didn't feel like any of this stuff she needs so doesn't buy anything and leaves the Bistro and head to Vale train station.
Once she got there she bought an Onsen Aojiru which would improve her Kindness despite the bitter taste she chugs it down. She then went to Soundwave's store and sold off the treasure she got and got a new ranged weapon for Zane.
She then goes and enters the Central Street Arcade where she sees Uzi hanging out in.
Uzi sees her and said "Hey, Aqua. What're you doing today?"
"Not sure, what to hang out today?" Uzi asked.
"We have plenty of time so we should spend the day getting prepped" Aqua said with a nod.
"Yeah, I guess it won't hurt getting a change of pace." Uzi said nodding. "Pluse, I really want to talk…or I guess more like vent. You want to grab some ramon? I'll show you my go-to place that caters to both robots and organics."
"Me think this sounds perfect." Slime said happily.
"Yeah let's hang Uzi" Aqua said smiling
"Cool, it's a bit far, but it's totally worth it. The flavor's out of this world." Uzi said smiling "Anyways, it's in Traverse Town, so let's take the train over there.|"
Aqua checks and adds Traverse Town to her train map app and follows Uzi to the train to take them there.
When they arrived they had ordered there food and had enjoyed it much.
"Ahhhh! I love the sensation of feeling energon noodles sliding down my throat! And feeling the programmed sweat dripping over my face!" Uzi said smiling "This stuff's the best! Ramon is life! Light energy soup like this really gets your robotic body going again after a good run, you know?"
"We used to come all the way out here after practice and…" Uzi said happily but then gets sad looking down "Uh, I guess that's all in the past…By the way, I've seen Lizzy around a few times…"
"The blond drone. What about her?" Aqua asked.
"She was always the queen bee of the team and the popular one." Uzi explained "But for some reason it don't look like she's getting along with the others."
"Are you worried about her?" Aqua asked her.
"It does some rather concerning." Slime said nodding.
"Yeah….kind of." Uzi said with a nod. "I've been thinking about what she said….How the whole drone track team was putting up with Gaston's stuff…And how I messed it all up for them…I think she was right."
"They don't even got a club room anymore, so they've been storing all their stuff behind the gym." Uzi explained sighing. "They can't use any school gear either, so they just run laps around the block for practice." She shakes her head "…There ain't really a place for outcasts like that. I should know better than anyone…" Uzi looks at Aqua and said "It's good they're keeping their heads low now though. I don't want them ending up like me."
"But you're doing great." Aqua told her.
"Me agree!" Slime said happily.
Uzi smiles and said "…You know what? You're right. I guess now that I'm thinking about it, trying to fit in is a real pain in the aft. I mean, I'd never have met you guys if I wasn't an outcast, right? So, um… it's all good."
"I guess…?" Aqua said thinking
"For real thought, it's been a lot of fun! Hanging out with you guys is so amazingly cool!" Uzi said happily
"Yeah, I guess so…" Aqua said sweat dropping, but she feels her bond with Uzi grow deeper she sees her Chariot card rank up to 4 and earn a new ability Stealth Dash making her less likely to be found in the Metaverse while Dashing. 'Nice' she thought.
"I just hope there's something I can do to help those other track people." Uzi said thinking "Though, it'd probably mess them up if I tried to butt in…" She thinks and realizes "Oh yeah, we still got to find a new spot for our training. Hm… I'll think about it. No slacking off till then, okay?"
"You got it Uzi." Aqua said smiling
After finishing their hanging out Aqua and Uzi headed home but Aqua decides to spend some time at the bathhouse which was a medicinal bath to improve her charm. It felt relaxing and she enjoyed it. She felt refreshed and her charm improve.
She then heads home and goes to bed.
The next day Aqua was in her school uniform and waiting for the train on the Beacon Line.
"Good thing, I wanted to tell you something." Zane said walking up to her. "Lysandre was talking to a lawyer. I suppose he's serious about suing. I think we should advance our plans. Why don't we go to the Palace today?"
"Good idea but we should do some final preps first." Aqua said thinking.
"True, you never know what will happen in the Palace. We should prepare thoroughly." Zane said nodding. "It's good having a calm, rational person nearby. I'm counting on you."
Aqua nods and sees her train arrive. She soon arrives in class with Alexis, the current class had Benson teaching them. He began when everyone was seated.
"Lysandre, the maestro of the art world…" Benson said smiling "Artists with that good of an eye are rare in Japan. I wonder if he has synesthesia." He sees the confused look on the students "Yes, regarding synesthesia…One of many English terms that come from Greek root words."
"Haven't heard of it?" Benson asked and explained "it's a condition where your senses can cross over each other, like seeing music as colour. There are all kinds of varieties, though some sense combinations are more common than others. We call people who experience this phenomenon 'synesthetes.'"
Benson looks at Aqua and said "Miss. Strife. You were staring off into space, weren't you? Well, your number's up. The root words of synesthesia are 'syn' and 'aisthesis.' What do they mean?"
Aqua sits up straight and thinks. Gatomon said "He wants to know what the root words mean…? It's all Greek to me, but I can give it a try…Here, let's think about this. It'll be easier if we put our heads together. Okay, so… Let's start with 'syn.' I think that's in a lot of other words, too. Like… synergy, and synchronicity, and synthesis. If we think about what these words have in common, then maybe 'syn' means…"
"I think it means, Together." Aqua said in a low voice.
"That's it! 'Syn' means 'together,' or a combination of something." Gatomon said smiling "And 'aisthesis' huh? That's a little like a weird aesthetics. I wonder if it means…"
"Senses." Aqua said thinking.
"Yeah! That's it." Gatomon said nodding "Sounds like we know the definination of the root words. So that means the full word basically means…"
"Senses coming together." Aqua said smiling.
"Yeah, that's it! Phew… We really gotta stay on our toes in this class." Gatomon said happily "I could use a snack after all that brain power… Let's go get a treat after this! Just not any gumballs from Mr. Benson."
"The answer is Senses coming together, sir." Aqua said to Benson.
"Good!" Benson said nodding and smiling "You've been studying! Unfortunately, synesthesia's something you have to be born with… You can't learn it. Some of the geniuses over the course of history have had synesthesia. The composer Franz Liszt instructed his orchestra to play the colour purple. The poet Arthur Rinbaud was also said to see colours in letters."
The rest of the class were impressed with Aqua's answer and Aqua felt her knowledge improve due to it as she smiles.
"Seeing colours in sounds and letters and feeling shapes in flavours and numbers…Geniuses and common people see the world differently." Benson said to the class "Were you able to understand that?"
"Synesthesia, huh…. That's fascinating." Gatomon said thinking "Although, the reason Lysandre sees the world differently is because of his distorted desires."
"We'll help him with that." Aqua said nodding.
After school was over Aqua stocked up on items and crafting material and met everyone at the hideout.
Once everyone had gathered the meeting would begin.
"Zane, we still need to explain the basics to you, don't we?" Gatomon asked the robot male.
"Oh, you mean about the Metaverse and the Nav." Alexis said getting it "Yeah, I guess that stuff is pretty important."
"Please elaborate." Zane asked them.
"Okay, let's start from the beginning." Gatomon said nodding "First, the Metaverse spots where we act as the Phantom Thieves are called Palaces. Palaces are worlds that take form from someone's cognition… A materialization of their reality."
"So do we each hold Palaces within ourselves as well?" Zane asked.
"No, not just anyone will have one." Gatomon said shaking his head "It's primarily those with strong distorted desires…"
"They basically got to be criminals." Uzi said to explain simply "Real jerks like Gaston or Lysandre."
"On the other hand, Palaces can't exist within Persona-users. It's just impossible for them to form." Gatomon further explained. "Basically, your Persona is the true feelings of your heart, which arise from accepting your inner Shadow. Then since you have full control over your emotions, there's no way your desires can get disorted."
"S-So that's how it works…" Alexis said wondering for a while how it actually worked.
"O-Obviously I knew that…!" Uzi said to that. Aqua chuckles knowing Uzi didn't know. Uzi then smiles saying "Oh yeah, and we use the Metaverse Nav app on our phones to get into that world!"
"It's actually pretty simple" Alexis said and explained "Just say a person's name, location and distortion, then you're in."
"Location…?" Zane asked confused.
"Uhhh so like Lysandre's would be 'shack,' then his distortion is that he thinks it's a 'museum.'" Alexis explained.
"How do you know what their Palace is going to look like if you have never set foot in it before…?" Zane asked them.
"Yeah…about that…" Aqua said rubbing her head
"That part's kind of like a quiz or something. It'll probably get pretty tricky from here on out too." Uzi said sighing.
"Hm, I feel as though I have a good graps on the basic concepts." Zane said nodding. "If anything arises which I fail to understand, I'll rely on those more experienced than myself."
"Yeah! I got you covered, newbie!" Uzi said smiling proud.
"Uh… You should probably ask Gatomon if you need anything." Alexis suggested.
"Thinking back to Lysandre though…I can't believe he'd consider pressing charges." Gatomon said thinking.
"Yes, I've never seen him show such anger before. He is most likely quite serious about that." Zane tells them.
"What should we do…? There's no way we'll be able to win if that happens." Alexis said concerned.
"He likely won't act on that threat until the final day of the exhibit: June 5th" Zane tells them. "Simply put, I doubt he would be so foolish as to taint his name with a trial during his exhibition."
"All right, so we just got to steal Lysandre's heart by then." Uzi said nodding. "There's no way we're gonna let him press charges… We'll show people who he really is!"
Aqua nods and said, "Let's get going then."
The others nod as they head into the Metaverse to infiltrate the Palace.
Once inside everyone was in the group was in their phantom thief attire.
"Oh yeah. We haven't decided on the new recruit's code name yet." Gatomon said.
"It has to be 'Hooded'" Alexis said smiling "You know, with that hood like mask and all."
"Heck yeah. That really leaves an impression." Uzi said smiling.
"Are you talking about me?" Zane asked them.
"What do you want your name over here to be?" Alexis asked him.
"I'd say 'Da Vinci.'" Zane said thinking.
"Nope." Uzi said shaking her head. "Well, you've got that mask like Alexis said…and there's those shurikan's you use…All right! You're Abura-age!"
Gatomon snorts a laugh but Zane said "Very well."
"He agreed to it?!" Gatomon said shocked.
"It's decided than! Abura-age!" Uzi said smiling.
"Nuh-uh! Not happening!" Alexis said putting a stop to it and looks to Aqua "Do you have any ideas, Waterwave?"
"How about something on the nose, Ninja?" Aqua suggested.
"Ohhh, just keep it literal, huh? Sounds good to me." Uzi said smiling with a nod.
"What do you think, Ninja?" Gatomon asked Zane.
"It's acceptable." Zane said nodding.
"It's set then. Let's go." Uzi said smiling.
"Yeah, by the way, we should have Waterwave decide who our starting lineup is from here on out." Gatomon said.
"Starting lineup? You mean the ones who'll be going in first?" Alexis said.
"Yeah." Gatomon said nodding "Now that Ninja has joined us, it'll be harder to move around as a group. We'll stand out more too. Considering how we've operated to this point, we should have four started. Anyone else can be backup."
"And I guess we always got to have our leader with us, right?" Uzi asked.
"Exactly." Gatomon said smiling "That's why we'll have Waterwave choose the remaining three."
"And what should the back do? Would it be best for them to stay outside of the Palace?" Zane asked.
"No, they should come in as well, but maintain a reasonable distance from the main group." Gatomon told them. "In other words, the starting lineup is the first wave of our infiltration force. Well, we'll leave the team composition to you, Waterwave."
Aqua nods and decides the line up with be Gatomon, Zane and Alexis to start. They begin heading to the central garden.
We've gotten closer to Uzi and Zane has gotten his code name, now we begin Museum Infiltration.
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