Catch-22: The Turnabout of Fair Play
By: M14Mouse
Summary: Yu does his own negotiation with interesting results.
Disclaimer: Don't own them.
This chapter was betaed by lovely AKatsinTcups
Everything is negotiable. Whether or not the negotiation is easy is another thing.-Carrie Fisher
The group saw Shadow Futaba in the distance.
"Come. Follow me," Shadow Futaba said as she disappeared into another hallway.
"Damn it….Can she stop with that?" Ryuji said to the ground.
"I don't think that she can," Makoto added.
"We have another problem. The other direction leads to another possible way to open the next door," Morgana said as he waved his paws down the two hallways that branched off in different directions.
"A suggestion, perhaps? We break into two teams. One will handle the doors and the other see what Futaba wants. I will send Lilim along incase it's another trap. It will also a good opportunity for me to train Skull and Partner for a bit. Work on improving their skills," Yu said to the group.
"Might be a good idea. We can cover more ground this way," Ren said looking at the others.
"Alright! We can show Sensei how much we improved!" Ryuji said excitedly.
"Right!" Ann said as she gave them the thumbs up.
"I don't know…." Morgana said uncertainly.
"Silly cat. They will be fine," Lilim said as she puts her hands on her hips.
"I AM NOT A CAT!"
"Yes, you are. Stupid cat! STUPID! STUPID!"
"I am not stupid!"
Another reason was this. The others were getting antsy. It wasn't good for the group.
"Calm down," He said stepping between Morgana and Lilim.
Morgana and Lilim paused and looked at him.
"Sorry, Sensei."
"Yeah…sorry," Morgana said as he looked down at the floor.
He kneeled down to Morgana's level.
"Thank you for your concern, Mona, but it will be fine," He said as he put his hand on Mona's shoulder.
Mona avoided Yu's gaze then bolted down the hallway.
"What is his damn problem?" Ryuji asked him.
"I fear my presence is making it worse…," He said with a sigh.
"No. Mona has been acting like this for weeks. I wish that he would talk to someone even if it isn't us," Ren said.
"Hopefully, we can resolve this issue after the palace. If not…" Makoto added.
"I could ask some of my friends to talk to him. Maybe, a persona user outside of the group will help," He said.
"That is an idea," Ren said.
"It is better if we talk about this later before Mona gets too far ahead of us," Makoto said.
He nodded as Makoto and the others went after Mona. He turned his attention to Ryuji, Ann, and his shadow friends.
"Ready?" He said.
"Ready, Sensei!" Ryuji said excitedly.
"Alright!" Lilim said as she followed his group.
"Let's go!" Ann said with a grin.
"Hee hoo!"
The group went down the other pathway to see two shadows circling around the room. They pressed themselves against the wall.
"Joker usually take off their masks," Ann said softly.
"I'll do it," He said as he drew his sword from his sheath.
"Are you sure, Sensei? I mean…I can do it," Ryuji timidly injected with.
He and Ann looked at each other.
"Hee Hoo?" Black Frost in confusion.
Black Frost was probably right. Ryuji wasn't subdued at all.
"I'll do it. Besides, it is practice for me," Yu said as he sneaked behind the shadow. He slashed the shadow's back making it fall to its knees. He grabbed the mask from behind and ripped it off, the shadow busted apart into an Isis and Naga.
"Okay…Black Frost and I will handle the Naga. You two show me what you can do with Isis," He said.
"But we don't have any Psy element attacks…"
"What do you have?"
"I have fire attacks…and I know a heal spell but…" Ann said.
"I have some attacks and lightening attacks. I am not going to lie, Sensei…. I don't mind when Joker gives the orders."
"Ahh but Joker isn't here. What do you do?"
Ann and Ryuji looked at each other.
"Uhh…Find their weakness and do an all-out attack?" Ryuji questioned more than answered.
"If that doesn't work, what else do you do?"
"Attack it until it goes down?" Ann tried fidgeting a little.
"And?"
He almost laughed when Ann and Ryuji looked at each other again and a metaphorical lightbulb go off above their heads.
"OH! I can use some fire attacks and Skull can melee it!" Ann exclaimed, lighting up at figuring out a plan..
"That's a good idea! Let's do it!" Ryuji said leaping into action.
Yu turned to Black Frost.
"Ready?"
"HEE HO!"
It didn't take them long to finish off the Naga. One ice attack and a cut of his blade for the Naga to go down. He told Black Frost to stay with Lilim as Yu watched Ryuji and Ann.
"Go, Carmen!" Ann called out as she used a fire attack on Isis. The shadow screamed as it fell to the ground.
"Alrigh' Cap, Swift Strike!" Ryuji said.
With their combined attacks, Isis disappeared into smoke.
"Good job."
Ryuji and Ann high five each other.
"We did awesome!"
"You two worked well together. I have definitely seen improvements. Perhaps I should add some more elements to test you two."
"Ahh…man. I was just getting the hang of it," Ryuji said with a sigh.
He chuckled softly.
"Shall we move on?" He said.
The next shadow attack proceeded much the same. He finished off one of the shadows and watched as Ann and Ryuji took on the other two shadows. It took them moment to get their footing, Ryuji almost getting hit with an attack. He was able to dodge it and regain his footing, taking out the shadow with his counterattack.
Ann's focus was much better. He saw it slip when Agilio missed, but he was really happy with how far both of them had come.
Once they defeat the shadows, Ann and Ryuji seemed to be a little down.
"Man…I almost got nailed." Ryuji said as he kicked the ground.
"I lost my focus," Ann added in with a sigh.
"Very true, but you did defeat the shadows and no one got hurt. You also realized your mistakes and worked to correct yourselves. So be proud of yourselves, I am," Yu said smiling at his students.
Ann flushed and Ryuji scratched the back of his head.
"Anyway…let's move on," Yu said as he cautiously checked ahead for more shadows.
After turning down another corridor, they found another shadow.
"Hey, Panther, I have an idea. Lemme hold your whip," Ryuji asked, holding his hand out to Ann and making a grabbing motion.
"What are you going to do?!" Ann cried out, protectively placing a hand on her whip.
"I was going to tie them up."
"That would never work! They wouldn't stay still!"
"Unless we surprised them from behind!"
He rose his hand when he saw Lilim about to interfere
He wanted them to figure it out for themselves.
"That's stupid! They could turn around and attack us!"
"Not if we clothesline them first!"
"With what?"
"With your whip of course!"
"Hmm…Hey, Black Frost? Can you freeze the floor for us? Just where the shadow is, okay?" Ann asked him after taking a second to calm herself.
Black Frost nodded and gave Ryuji and Ann a thumbs up.
"Hee Hoo…"
Black Frost put his hand on the floor forming ice under the shadow. Ann tossed Ryuji one end of her whip nodded to each other when the shadow turns around. They rushed toward the poor shadow clotheslining it hard, causing Yu and Lilim to wince. The shadow hit the ground and disappeared into smoke.
Ouch…
Black Frost cheered then he went over and gave Ann and Ryuji high fives.
"Good thinking both of you," Yu said with a smile.
"ANUBIS!" Lilim shouted behind them.
He turned around to see the floating shadow approach them.
"One has been watching," Anubis said.
"Man…we are totally out of our league," Ryuji said behind him.
"Maybe, we should run," Ann suggested.
He rose his hand slightly. The others paused in place and Black Frost grabbed to his other hand.
"Thou are curious why a bearer of scales would be so watchful."
"You speak some of the old tongue? Interesting. Thou isn't like the peterman. He speaks only in the new tongue. In sooth, my queen is curious of one actions."
"Interesting. One believes that thy queen is aware of our actions thus she led us here. Methinks that thou knave nay my student."
"How thou dare speak!" Anubis said with groan.
"….Sensei…" Lilim said nervously.
"Howbeit…thou doesn't deny this truth. One is disappointed in the bearer of the scales for trying to carry out such falsehood"
"Falsehood?"
"Sensei…he likes his scales. All about truth and being light as a feather sort of stuff. He is so gloomy. SINS! FEATHERS! SUCH A DRAMA QUEEN! He is probably trying to judge you for one reason or another. He does that to everyone," Lilim whispered into Yu's ear.
"Probably to separate me from the others. Thanks, Lilim," He said making her beam.
"Shut up, you quean!" Anubis said angrily at Lilim.
"Make me!" Lilim said with her hands on her hips.
"Thou are avoiding the truth. One believes that one should be judged for such falsehood," He said.
Anubis stared at him.
"Contest of wits?"
"Nay, contest of truth."
"What is thou boon?"
"Thou boon shall be thou soldiers leave this floor and thou students allowed to move forward to the next area."
"Thou cannot control the next area in my queen's domain."
"One understands that limits of thou boon. One worries about the safety of my students. Thou boon would allow them some rest in their journey though thou queen's domain. Thou boon?"
"Thou will come with thee to see the queen."
Bingo.
"Aye. Thou boon is reasonable. One accepted one contest."
"Thou boon is also reasonable. One accepted thou contest."
Anubis floated down to his level. He placed a feather on one end of the scale.
"Thou put something of value on the other end."
He put away his sword and removed a necklace from around his neck. He dropped the necklace on the scale.
"A key?" Anubis said in confusion.
"A key," He said with a nod.
He watched as the scale with the feather dropped and the scale with key go up. It wasn't very high up but it was enough.
"Hmm….," Anubis said.
"Yes?"
"Thou has passed. Thou can remove thou key. Now it is one turn…"
He took his key off the scale and put it back around his neck.
Anubis put a glowing rock on the scale. He watched as the scale with the glowing rock dipped down and the feather goes up.
"Thou falsehood troubles thy."
Anubis sighed.
"Thou won. Thou speak the truth."
"One tries but one is human. One has his own trappings. One finds if thou accept those traps….thou can see the truth"
"Aye. Ye understands. Thou students are lucky to have such a mage as their teacher. Thou boon will be done. It is one honor to meet such a mage," Anubis said with a bow.
"Same," He said with a bow.
Anubis returned to his sitting position and snapped his fingers. In flash of light, he was gone.
"Well…that's done. Shall we move on?" Yu said as he turned to the others.
The group had this dazed expression. In his head, he heard a slight chuckle and a clap.
Well done, lad.
"Holy shit…" Ryuji said.
"That was amazing!" Lilim said as she clapped.
"HEE HO!" Black Frost said as he clapped along with Lilim.
"Wow…I can't wait to tell the others. How did you learn to talk like that?" Ann said.
"Shadows, mostly. Some like the archaic language. I picked up a few things," He said.
Thou remembered?
One does.
Izanagi talked a lot like that in the beginning. The longer they had been together, the more the archaic language faded out of Izanagi's speech.
Unless Izanagi was mad, then it came back in full force.
Ann stared at him with awe.
"Wow…"
He chuckled.
"We need to move or the others will be beat us to the next stop."
"We can't have that…let's go!" Ann said as she pointed the way.
He listened as the others talked animatedly amongst themselves as they made it to next major door. It seemed a weight was lifted from their shoulders. It made him happy.
They didn't see Shadow Futaba anywhere when they arrived.
About ten minutes later, the others came. They looked slightly confused.
"The shadows are all gone…." Makoto starting saying in confusion, but Ryuji cut into the conversation.
"Hey guys!", He ran up to Ren excitedly, "DUDE! We clotheslined a shadow! IT WAS AWESOME!"
"It was! We used my whip and Black Frost helped out. it was awesome. He iced the floor for us and BANG!" Ann said happily.
"We totally need to use that in our next battle."
"I know, right!"
"Sensei was awesome. He made our drama queen eat his words. He made the shadows go poof!" Lilim added in.
"He made the shadows leave?" Makoto questioned in awe.
"Yes, you should have seen Anubis's face! He was so disappointed that he lost!" Ann said.
"Wait…what did Sensei do?" Ren asked.
"He talked to Anubis. There was a lot of thous and ones…and some words that I have no fucking clue. But it was totally awesome!" Ryuji explained in excitement.
"You did a negotiation?" Ren said in amazement.
"I guess? Not really. Mostly, it was a type of contest." He said with a hum.
The others stared at him.
What is with the staring? Did he have something on his shirt?
"Unbelievable," Morgana said in awe.
"I like to go with Sensei next," Yusuke said as he rose his hand.
"Only if Joker doesn't mind you switching out," He said with a chuckle.
"Of course." Ren nodded motioning towards Ryuji to take Yusuke's place
"I think that we should move forward. From what we gathered from Anubis, there is more to the palace."
The others nodded and went through the door. There was a light and scrambled picture on the wall.
"Is this some kind of picture?" Ann asked as she studying the wall.
"Odd. The design seems to be scrambled somehow," Yusuke said in curiosity.
"Maybe it's kinda like a puzzle? Joker, can you change the picture?"
He watched as Ren unscrambled the picture.
"Ohh! It's together!" Ryuji said.
"What's this a picture of?" Ann said as she examined it.
"This adult seems to reading to a crying child? Hm, the emotions of the artist are often depicted in the art they produce…I can sense…serious pain harbored in her heart" Yusuke said.
"I should never have had Futaba…" An unknown voice rang out.
"…Is that voice coming from the mural?" Makoto said.
"…She was always such a bother…"
"It seems you caused your mother a great deal of trouble, Futaba-chan. She must have some kind of maternity neurosis," Another voice said.
Suddenly the reflector on the pedestal rotated and caused the light to be redirected at the mural. The wall with the mural vanished revealing a long hallway that ended with another door being unlocked from the light hitting it.
"What was that?" Ann said.
"Likely a suicide note," Yu said.
"Could that be what Futaba remembers of her mother's suicide?" Yusuke said.
"It is a possibility," Makoto said.
Yu leaned against the wall staring at the empty space. He heard Ryuji saying how sick that was to tell a child.
He agreed and it broke his heart. But something was bothering him about this whole thing.
"Sensei. Are you okay?" Ann said as she snapped him out of his thoughts.
"I'm fine. Just thinking. Are we ready to move forward?"
The group nodded and jumped down the ledges to the main floor then up the stairs to the next door.
"Yes! We are getting closer to the treasure!" Morgana said.
"And we found a safe room," Ren pointed out stepping to the door.
Thankfully, there was less arguing this time as the group moved in and out to mark it on their map. Ren opened the next door and went down another hallway. Soon, they made it to a series of ledges that lead down into yet another hallway.
Finally, in the hallway after that, he saw Shadow Futaba standing in the middle of it.
"You're late. What took you so long?" Futaba asked before walking down the hallway without waiting for an answer.
"Urgghhh…that's it! I've had up to here with her!" Ryuji groaned.
He almost wanted to point out that he was doing what Futaba wanted them to do anyway, which was continuing down the hallway.
But as the group moved forward, he stopped. He looked further down the hall, then at the floor before taking a few steps back. He held an arm out stopping Black Frost and Lilim from following.
"Hee Hoo?"
He heard the others scream and the ground start to shake.
"AWWWW! Get back!" Mona shouted
The group ran back down the hallway to where he was standing, a giant ball rolled passed them.
"THAT IS IT?! I HAD IT!" Ryuji said as he kicked the ground.
"That was…exciting…" Ann panted.
"EXCITING!"
"Okay, guys…let move on. Look there is an opening," Ren said as he pointed to a hole in the wall.
The group went across the hallway and started to file through the hole. Once Ann stepped through, he kneeled down to follow her. But then ground started to rumble as another ball dropped down into the hallway. He picked up Black Frost and Lilim and pulled them back into the previous hallway.
Before Yu could try again, suddenly, more huge rock balls fell until the hallway was filled with them.
Hmmm….
"Sensei! Are you okay!?" Ryuji shouted.
"I am fine. I will find another way to join you all. Keep going," He shouted back.
"Okay!" Ann shouted.
"Ahh…man…we have to walk around," Lilim said with a sigh.
"Hee hoo…"
Hmmm….
"Hello, Futaba-chan. You wanted to talk to me?" He said as he turned around to see Shadow Futaba standing behind him.
The shadow's eyes widen slightly.
"HEY, Futaba-chan!" Lilim said as she waved.
Black Frost hid behind him and stared at her.
"It's okay," He said as he patted Black Frost on the head.
"Hee ho…"
"I am surprised that you picked up on that," Shadow Futaba said.
"You tried to separate me from the group earlier with Anubis. So, I figured that you would try again."
"Lilim helped."
"I am an awesome secretary!" Lilim shouted.
"Yes, yes you are," He said to Lilim.
Lilim beamed.
Shadow Futaba just tilted her head.
"So, you wanted to talk to me?" He said bringing things back on track.
"You have piqued my interest. Your shadows…the way you handle yourself," Shadow Futaba explained.
"Experience, really. As for shadows, you're not so bad. Probably because she is already at her limit."
"You noticed."
"I noticed. I have seen it here and in the others worlds that I have traveled. When someone tried to suppress themselves, a shadow appears. The shadow is their true self. The same applies here. In real life, they are coaches, artists, drug dealers but….behind it."
"Greed…lust…one of the seven deadly sins wrapped in a bow."
"That is a good way to put it. Your case is a little different. Her thoughts are so extreme…so lost in grief that you are now the more rational of the two. You are the part of her that knows she has nothing to do with her mother's death. That is why you have been helping the thieves."
"I haven't been helping them."
He tilted his head and grinned.
"I have been leaving them puzzles! My other self would have done that too!"
"…Which they have figured out with ease."
"I have to give them some challenge! And…And…I can't make this stealing heart thing easy for them! They have to prove their worth…uh….I will die if I didn't do anything"
He laughed then paused at her last comment.
"Futaba-chan?"
"You know…when the thieves talked about you, I expected you to be older…with a beard."
"I expected you to be taller…from how the thieves described you," He said in amusement.
A small smile appeared on her face.
"I have a feeling that the real Futaba is going to like you."
End of The Turnabout of Fair Play
Next Chapter: The Clarity of Moments
A/N: Before I get into my note. Here are what the hell Yu and Anubis were saying.
Peterman=thief
Mage=wise man
Quean=an impudent woman or woman
In sooth-Actually
Howbeith= nevertheless
I wouldn't go into much. Just this chapter was fun to write. I always kind of felt sorry for Ann and Ryuji since I sort kicked them out of my party once I got Makoto and Yusuke. So, I wanted to make it up to them. There has been a slight change of plans…the secret base has moved back for a bit (Now, you guys will get The World Within, The Lines, The Recovery) Anyway, thank you for wonderful reviews, kudos, favorites, etc. You guys make my day!
Now for the World Ranks:
Rank 1: Training with Sensei can offer stat boosts and/or special moves for you and your party.
Rank 2: Shadow Friends: Now Sensei's shadow friends can get in on the action…although the results may vary.